after getting my tsx my coworker ended up trading in his car to get a 2012 tsx as well. I noticed a minor difference between the 2010 and the newer 2012 models. In his car (2012) the footwell lights were much brighter compared to mine. After looking underneath I noticed that acura decided to update the lense of the led lights in the footwell with a transparent cover.

On the 2010 the cover/lense is barely transparent at all, its basically a thin piece of black plastic.


to do this mod, its almost as easy as replacing map lights with led bulbs.

pull down on the trim panel underneath the glove box



the bulb with harness is held with a plastic holder which is also the black cover/lense for the bulb. to remove it you simply turn and remove as the holder is keyed to fit.







after removing the bulb with its holder from the gray harness you have to remove the cover from the bulb holder. Its held in by 2 plastic tabs be careful when removing the plastic cover.




after that drill out the center of the cover and reconnect everything

 

not sure why i like the footwell lights but i did this easy 5 min mod for a little extra floor light not over powering like neons but now its just right.

 

wow as soon as i get a day off im doing this ASAP

 

Doing it tomorrow. Thanks

 

damn you guys barely know about this? this has been done since the 2010 tl..

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...light=footwell

 

I wish I could turn them on and off like the interior lights or use them as ambient lighting while driving at night.

 

couldn't it just be wired to a switch?

 

yea you can wire it up.. all you have to do is put a switch inbetween.

 

Yeah, I'm with you, I don't quite see the benefit of this either, but thanks to the OP for taking the time to post this DIY.

 

Awesome DIY man, did it in a bit longer than 5 mins (no drill :p )

cheers!

 

I drilled mine while still in place....no issues.

 

nice mod

 

badass!!! I will be doing this today....thanks!

 

sweet mod...did this yesterday and all the sudden i wanna go driving in the night..lol. thanks.

 

How did you do this without a drill?

 

Cool breezy mod...but from that pic isnt all that blue....distracting?

 

the camera had to be set to night mode for longer exposure so the blue looks brighter than it actually is. it is hard to show it from pictures. I love the color in the footwells.

 

Thanks for the thread!!! I just did it, and it took like 2 minutes. It's a quick and simple job and it looks great!!! Here's a question though. On my 2009 TSX, those lights would stay on even when the doors were all closed and I was driving. However, on my new 2012 TSX SE, those same led's that are red now completely turn off, is there some kind of bypass? Or is it a setting somewhere?

 

Seems intresting.. Idk why i still think my little 2 dollar leds from ebay is alot better.. say if i get tired of em ill just rip em out! lol

 

I didnt even know the TSX had footwell lighting... is this only a special edition thing? I have never seen it in mine..

 

The SE's footwell lighting is red, and only seems to function when the doors are open. It would be cool to modify the lighting so that it operates with the headlights like the non-SE TSX.

 

it could be the lights are now wired to be on with the door lights and dome lights.

On the 09-10 it is always on with the headlights.

 

I have a 10... i haven't noticed it. Maybe mine dosen't work or something. I'll have to go under the dash and have a look.

 

Did the mod today, looks pretty nice. Not all that bright though (But better than before, where i didn't even know the car had lights there). I may just wire a LED strip up instead of the single LED.

 

Is it possible to wire an led strip directly to the wires of the stock footwell?

 

Should be. I didn't check the voltage on the stock wiring yet, planning on doing that tomorrow. Hopefully it's a 12v but i'm thinking it may be 3.3v or 5v or something. I'll try tomorrow and post back.

 

Voltage is 11v. So an LED strip can be wired up... I don't think the single stock LED is bright enough so i will probably wire up an led strip.

 

Yes.

 

Looking into this later

 

Its an awesome mod. First thing i did when i got my car.

 

Nice DIY!

 

A nail & hammer worked. used boxcutter to clean it up tho. but yeah, do-able without a drill.

 

nice! they should sticky this for future reference

 

I did mine last week while on a conference call. Pretty sweet.

 

Any tips on pulling down the trim for both passenger and driver side? I'm afraid I'll break a clip or something so I want to be sure there's no special technique. Just take a deep breath and yank it down?

 

^ I'd like to know this also.

 

Ive pulled the trim multiple times. Open the glovebox. grab trim from the bottom and pull straight out. Then unscrew the 2 screws holding in passenger side trim, pull straight up. For the driver side trim open up the little drawer, unscrew the panel and pull straight towards you. Driver side trim is the same process as passenger side trim.

There is a guide posted somewhere, but its really easy to figure out for yourself.

 

Just went out to try this and yes you just pull it down. Turns out the 2011 model has the clear cover too

 

I managed to get it too. Just pull down and the red clips will come out. Driver side was a little more tricky cause it has the tabs that reach over onto the steering wheel panel so I just snuck my hand in through the side to pull the light out after pulling one red clip.