2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid:

The dashboard lamp behind the radio is way too bright. I have to dim down the brightness at night, then brighten it during the day to see the speedometer. I hate the hassle of adjusting it in the morning then back again at night. I thought about some sort of window tinting for the radio console.

Any suggestions?

 

I can't figure out how to dim the radio/plasmacluster console. The dashboard dims via turning the trip odometer **** to either bright or dim, but this has no effect on the radio &/or A/C lighting which is very distracting for night driving. A call to the dealer service department yielded no answers (i.e. lighting is not adjustable). Any ideas or advise?

 

If your car's radio and climate lights don't dim along with the dashboard, there is something wrong with the wiring. The dash lights, radio, climate control, and shifter lights should all dim when you turn the dimmer switch that's in the speedometer display. (It's this way for 2007 models, and I assume that they wouldn't change it for 2008)

If yours doesn't, I'd take it to the dealer and ask them to fix it. If your dealer service department says that it's normal- take your car to another dealer.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks. I'll request the work order with my first oil change at the dealer.

 

Mine also dims all the dash lighting, BUT the instrument lights dim faster than the radio/HVAC lights, so it's not really possible for me to get the combination of brightness that I want either. My wife drives it mostly and doesn't mind. If it were my daily driver, I'd be installing an extra resistor in the wiring to the radio/HVAC illumination to take it down a notch or two. Then, the overall dimming control would at least achieve a better balance.

 

I find the radio dims nicely along with the rest of the dash, but then, I have the Nav unit, so maybe there's a difference.

 

That might be the difference. I don't have Nav, and while the radio and climate controls do dim, they start out brighter than the instrument cluster. So, when the radio/climate is nicely dimmed, the instruments are almost off. I think a simple resistor in series with the radio/climate lights would fix it, but it's not worth the trouble for a car I drive maybe once a week.

 

Drive mine daily and have to say the only time I've ever even noticed the light levels of the dash console or radio/etc console was the other week when I didn't realize my headlights had slipped out of "auto" mode and were in fact off as I was driving down a well-lit street at 2am. The dash console lighting got very bright under those circumstances, until I switched the headlights back to auto.

 

I turned down my dash lights last night using the Trip ****. I don't think my radio readout dimmed at all though. My TCH is a late 2007 model.

I drive with the dash lights just off the lock position on the trip. I find they dim at night just right when the headlights are on. I usually use the Auto position on the headlamps. During the day there plenty bright and easy to see all the speedometer readouts.