Riley_monthule
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- Joined
- May 20, 2024
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As someone who's been rear ended 7 times I'm a huge believer in having a dash cam and just installed one on my new tacoma. I was hesitant at first because I thought I'd have to run a wire down to the fuse box or dash to power the camera as I'm used to older cars but found out you can actually tap into the power off the digital rear view mirror. I do believe this only works with the digital rear view mirror but I'm not 100% sure so please correct me below if I'm wrong.
I ended up going with the Garmin Dash Cam mini 2 - Dash cam link -
Apparently this was a popular camera in the 3rd gen and it doesn't have a lot of features but is small, connects easy enough to your phone and gets the job done. It also doesn't have any rear camera options which I normally go for but my view out the back is already blocked by my camping setup and I'm not going to run a camera to the tailgate area so just a front facing unit it is!
All you need to make it work with the 4th gen is this adapter - adapter link -
Now this adapter is different from the last gen so make sure you order this one or similar spec for the 4th gen.
Here is two YouTube videos on how to instal these exact compenents on the 4th gen. Should take you maybe ten minutes. quick install - longer install video
Note: If you have a preferred dash cam or want one that faces the cabin area too the adapter will still work as it just supplies the power to whatever you plug into it.
Complaint: Why the heck doesn't Toyota just use the damn cameras already on the car!!!!! All new Toyotas have a front facing camera for safety sense that would work perfectly as a dash cam and then the higher end specs like mine have full 360 cameras which would be amazing to have recording in case of a crash but no they don't do it. You still have to stick an extra thing onto your windshield on a brand new vehicle. I asked my friends in the calibration field why this is and apparently there's not really a good reason besides the extra cost of development. It's clearly possible though as Tesla has done it and that seems to come in handy all the time for owners in wrecks or as the vehicle is parked and it catches hit and runs. Maybe someday but that's my rant haha.
Let me know if you have any questions and happy dash caming!
I ended up going with the Garmin Dash Cam mini 2 - Dash cam link -
Apparently this was a popular camera in the 3rd gen and it doesn't have a lot of features but is small, connects easy enough to your phone and gets the job done. It also doesn't have any rear camera options which I normally go for but my view out the back is already blocked by my camping setup and I'm not going to run a camera to the tailgate area so just a front facing unit it is!
All you need to make it work with the 4th gen is this adapter - adapter link -
Now this adapter is different from the last gen so make sure you order this one or similar spec for the 4th gen.
Here is two YouTube videos on how to instal these exact compenents on the 4th gen. Should take you maybe ten minutes. quick install - longer install video
Note: If you have a preferred dash cam or want one that faces the cabin area too the adapter will still work as it just supplies the power to whatever you plug into it.
Complaint: Why the heck doesn't Toyota just use the damn cameras already on the car!!!!! All new Toyotas have a front facing camera for safety sense that would work perfectly as a dash cam and then the higher end specs like mine have full 360 cameras which would be amazing to have recording in case of a crash but no they don't do it. You still have to stick an extra thing onto your windshield on a brand new vehicle. I asked my friends in the calibration field why this is and apparently there's not really a good reason besides the extra cost of development. It's clearly possible though as Tesla has done it and that seems to come in handy all the time for owners in wrecks or as the vehicle is parked and it catches hit and runs. Maybe someday but that's my rant haha.
Let me know if you have any questions and happy dash caming!