Hi Everyone. For those that either didn't have the digital rear view mirror offered in their Platinum trim package or never came in any package I want to share my install of an aftermarket option that is way more cost effective than the original offered from Toyota.
When my wife and I started looking at the Highlander in 2022 as our family was growing we fell in love with the 4th gen. We were excited about everything that came standard in the platinum package but were disappointed to find out, as many have pointed out here on the forum, that Toyota pulled the digital rear view mirror at that time.
We still found one that checked all the other boxes (exterior and interior color and price with no markup) and decided to pull the trigger and went with our purchase in 2022. Overall I have to say we are very happy but not having the digital rear view mirror makes it a bit harder when completely packed in the back boot to see the cars behind and since then it has always been something that I have wanted to retrofit at a later time. I was a bit disappointed to find out that all in the parts would cost nearly $2,000 so I stopped looking altogether until I stumbled upon a dash cam digital rear view mirror and started looking into that as an alternative.
The mirror I ultimately settled on is called Auto-Vox T9Pro and it not only shows a clear view behind but also serves as a front and rear dashcam. What drew me to this product is the fact that rather than it clipping onto your original mirror it basically replaces the entire mirror and comes with a couple different attachment points to fit different windshields. The installation was rather straightforward as the instructions pretty much outlined the steps pretty well and there are some good YouTube videos out there of others that have installed this in their vehicle. It is about half an inch or so shorter in length than the OEM and it does not include the home link buttons for the garage door opener. I don't mind the size and an all honesty I hardly noticed the difference. As for the home link, I totally use that all the time to open our garage door and so I purchased the retrofit kit for a little over 150 instead and rather than installing it on the headliner I basically notched an opening on the coin holder door and basically tapped to the fuse box that is right beneath it to the same two fuses (one for constant power and one for illuminating the buttons on accessory power) that I used to hardwire the mirror. Since the rear view mirror hard wires requires both a constant battery connection and an accessory connection I simply used the dome light for the constant and the socket power for the accessory since the socket power only comes on with the ignition in the one or two position. The rear view mirror kit came with some clever little fuse taps that were the same size as the fuses that are in this fuse box (I think they're mini fuses). The only drawback was that the kit came with a bracket that was too small and therefore the mirror was touching the headliner near the sunglass holder but before returning it I reached out to the manufacturer and explained my problem and they not only got to me within a couple hours but also sent me a free bracket that is longer than the one that came in the kit and I received that in a couple days which I was amazed! That was awesome customer service on their part. Aside from the wires for the power which I tucked near the headliner windshield and routed behind the A pillar curtain air bag down to the driver's side fuse box, I ran the backup camera wire down through the sills on the driver's side and up to the tailgate and mounted the camera right next to the backup camera where Toyota mounts the OEM digital rear view camera. The kit also came with a wire to a GPS antenna which they recommend to put on the dashboard but I simply mounted it away from the fuse box above the knee airbag under the dash out of sight and it still picks up the signal very well.
The last minor setback and really isn't a setback at all but is a bit different than the standard with these type of aftermarket mirrors is that the kit did not come with a micro SD card whereas other kits that clip on to the original mirror typically do. That again wasn't a deal breaker for me since micro SD cards are fairly cheap nowadays and I picked one up through Amazon for about 10 bucks.
So in summary, for those who were frustrated like me where their car did not come with the digital rear view mirror that was offered standard just a year before and did not want to spend an absurd amount for an OEM retrofit that quite frankly doesn't even record, then this is probably the next best alternative. Time will tell how long and well this will last but I may just pick up another one just to have it on hand in case down the road the current one fails. It does come with the standard 18-month warranty which is pretty cool in my opinion considering that going the OEM route and purchasing a second hand digital rear view mirror from eBay or a dismantler (if you could find one) comes with no warranty at all.
I hope this helps somebody else out there, thank you for reading.
I forgot to mention this mirror also auto dims which a lot other competitors don't which was also a nice bonus that makes it feel OEM.
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
When my wife and I started looking at the Highlander in 2022 as our family was growing we fell in love with the 4th gen. We were excited about everything that came standard in the platinum package but were disappointed to find out, as many have pointed out here on the forum, that Toyota pulled the digital rear view mirror at that time.
We still found one that checked all the other boxes (exterior and interior color and price with no markup) and decided to pull the trigger and went with our purchase in 2022. Overall I have to say we are very happy but not having the digital rear view mirror makes it a bit harder when completely packed in the back boot to see the cars behind and since then it has always been something that I have wanted to retrofit at a later time. I was a bit disappointed to find out that all in the parts would cost nearly $2,000 so I stopped looking altogether until I stumbled upon a dash cam digital rear view mirror and started looking into that as an alternative.
The mirror I ultimately settled on is called Auto-Vox T9Pro and it not only shows a clear view behind but also serves as a front and rear dashcam. What drew me to this product is the fact that rather than it clipping onto your original mirror it basically replaces the entire mirror and comes with a couple different attachment points to fit different windshields. The installation was rather straightforward as the instructions pretty much outlined the steps pretty well and there are some good YouTube videos out there of others that have installed this in their vehicle. It is about half an inch or so shorter in length than the OEM and it does not include the home link buttons for the garage door opener. I don't mind the size and an all honesty I hardly noticed the difference. As for the home link, I totally use that all the time to open our garage door and so I purchased the retrofit kit for a little over 150 instead and rather than installing it on the headliner I basically notched an opening on the coin holder door and basically tapped to the fuse box that is right beneath it to the same two fuses (one for constant power and one for illuminating the buttons on accessory power) that I used to hardwire the mirror. Since the rear view mirror hard wires requires both a constant battery connection and an accessory connection I simply used the dome light for the constant and the socket power for the accessory since the socket power only comes on with the ignition in the one or two position. The rear view mirror kit came with some clever little fuse taps that were the same size as the fuses that are in this fuse box (I think they're mini fuses). The only drawback was that the kit came with a bracket that was too small and therefore the mirror was touching the headliner near the sunglass holder but before returning it I reached out to the manufacturer and explained my problem and they not only got to me within a couple hours but also sent me a free bracket that is longer than the one that came in the kit and I received that in a couple days which I was amazed! That was awesome customer service on their part. Aside from the wires for the power which I tucked near the headliner windshield and routed behind the A pillar curtain air bag down to the driver's side fuse box, I ran the backup camera wire down through the sills on the driver's side and up to the tailgate and mounted the camera right next to the backup camera where Toyota mounts the OEM digital rear view camera. The kit also came with a wire to a GPS antenna which they recommend to put on the dashboard but I simply mounted it away from the fuse box above the knee airbag under the dash out of sight and it still picks up the signal very well.
The last minor setback and really isn't a setback at all but is a bit different than the standard with these type of aftermarket mirrors is that the kit did not come with a micro SD card whereas other kits that clip on to the original mirror typically do. That again wasn't a deal breaker for me since micro SD cards are fairly cheap nowadays and I picked one up through Amazon for about 10 bucks.
So in summary, for those who were frustrated like me where their car did not come with the digital rear view mirror that was offered standard just a year before and did not want to spend an absurd amount for an OEM retrofit that quite frankly doesn't even record, then this is probably the next best alternative. Time will tell how long and well this will last but I may just pick up another one just to have it on hand in case down the road the current one fails. It does come with the standard 18-month warranty which is pretty cool in my opinion considering that going the OEM route and purchasing a second hand digital rear view mirror from eBay or a dismantler (if you could find one) comes with no warranty at all.
I hope this helps somebody else out there, thank you for reading.
I forgot to mention this mirror also auto dims which a lot other competitors don't which was also a nice bonus that makes it feel OEM.
