Downhill assist

Has anyone used the downhill assist? What's it really needed for?

 

i havent used it. seems crazy to me to let the truck control its own speed on a steep sketchy downhill.

 

I've never heard of it. Is it on all the Tacoma's (or at least newer ones)?

 

it uses the engine to brake the truck going downhill. this especially benficial driving In low traction situations when using your brakes would actually lock up and cause the abs to kick in. I have a manual transmission and use the engine to brake almost exclusively when offroading or driving in ice and snow. The downhill assist in the automatics essentially does the same thing as leaving your truck in a low gear descending hills.

 

Its actually much safer than using the brakes.

 

is he just talking about using lower gears?

or is there like a down hill assist button???

 

The downhill assist essentially uses lower gears. There is a button.

 

it also uses the brakes.. it keeps my truck at about 1mph

 

i just use lower gears and my breaks

when i'm going down hills, i am constantly switching gears and using my breaks

it works perfectly

 

As whippersnapper said, it is a 4-low feature.

It is to be used when going down steep hills, and greatly improves traction by reducing the chance of the wheels locking up, which could lead to sliding and/or losing control.



It is primarily an offroading feature, and it is extremely beneficial, from what I understand (I drive a manual, see below).

It is only available on automatics. Manual transmissions do not need downhill assist, as downhill assist is very similar to leaving the truck in a low gear with a manual.

What downhill assist does, in layman's terms, is tighten the connection between the engine and the transmission, or allow less slippage in the torque converter.

Downhill assist does not allow the transmission to spin faster than the engine, when in a low gear.

If you need to go slowly and carefully down a bumpy hill, use it.



Bibliography
torque converter info

 

another reason why OR>Sport