2010 4x4 Tacoma Accidentally Hit Differental LOCK

I have a question about my 2010 Tacoma DB-Cab V6 4x4. I was driving home the other night and went to turn off my fog lights and ended up hitting the differental lock while I was going about 50mph. When I hit this button, I saw the flashing red indicator and immeditalley pulled over and turn the diff-lock off. I read the manual and it says its engaged when it stops flashing, so I figured it did not engage going that fast. I guess my real concern is did I mess anything up? Is there a feature that keeps this from engaging while going to fast and what a bad spot to put the diff-lock, espically at night. Any insight would be greatly apprciated. Thanks everyone!!!

 

Yea the computer is designed to only engage while in 4lo and in neutral, so it would not have hurt anything by hitting the button.

 

Did you hear a voice saying " What are you doing Dave ? "

If not , you're fine .

 

Done it many times looking for the fog light switch in the dark (light on fog switch is burned out). No problem, as others have mentioned the computer won't actually try to engage the locker unless you are in 4lo and at a crawl.

 

You didn't read enough of the manual!

Again, it only works in 4 Low on 4WD trucks... No way you are on the freeway doing 50+ in Low 4WD!

Like the 4WD lights, flashing means FAIL (and try again)... a SOLID light means it is engaged.

Heck, you don't need it anyway... you have A-TRAC... but I bet you haven't ever tried that either?

We are here to help... so ask away!

Some more data:


This is the card in your sun visor:



This is the lable on your door:



When your rear differential is locked... these ALL will be lit up:

 

AWESOME... I just wanted to make sure and for all you guys, thanks for the relief. I just know I dont want to mess anything up on this truck. Bye the way TOYOTAS are the BEST. THANKS EVERYONE!!!

 

Hey David, can you please explain how A-trac works, and which is better, A-trac or F/R lockers, and why?

By the way those little red, green, and yellow lights on the dash there= "Pretty much go anywhere" right?

Haha jk

I've had too much caffeine

 

What you should have heard was "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."

 

Touche

 

You see we can all have some fun with our Tacoma talk!

For newbies with Off Road 4WDs:

How A-TRAC works?= push the button when in L4!

Which is better, A-TRAC or front/rear lockers?= neither, they are just different but will both get you there... A-TRAC comes installed at no extra price, however!

Who hates A-TRAC?= Those who don't have it!

 

whoa whoa whoa.. so to use a-trac i push the button when in four low.... what if i pushed the button last time and didn't unpus it after.. do i still push again?! or what if i pushed it accidentally while trying to plug my ipod into the auxilary switch while on the highway, do i still push it again?

Does a-trac work in reverse?

Lastly, someone told me that if i put the truck in 4-low and hold the truck with squiggly line button i will be able to do a burnout with 1 front tire and 1 rear tire and the others two will remain still.

please confirm and comment. MY manual is in the glove box under a lot of junk so i'd rather not grab it!

 

On a serious note it is easy to hit the wrong button and get some kind of flashing light. Maybe in the next gen we can convince toyota to use voice commands for activation of these modes. Something like 'engage super unstoppable tacoma mode' would be good to swith everything to 4-low locked and a-trac....

 

YES
NO
YES
YES
MAYBE (if traction is equal, all 4 may burn out)

 

"Lastly, someone told me that if i put the truck in 4-low and hold the truck with squiggly line button i will be able to do a burnout with 1 front tire and 1 rear tire and the others two will remain still."

for newbies, this is a semi-trick or bs question as pushing the VSC OFF switch in L4 does nothing, since there is no VSC or TRAC in L4. In L4 (unless A-TRAC is on), the differentials are open, and the tires with less traction will spin of the two per axle. The beauty of A-TRAC or lockers is the spinning is stopped so the traction tires can drive you ahead.

 

That is quite funny, but remember, there are newbies and kids out there who might just do something as stupid as that!

The beauty of 4WD and specialy low range and traction controls/ lockers is that you can CRAWL up and through difficult stuff slowly so as to NOT destroy your 4X4! Like a tank or tractor... not a Baja 1000 Trophy Truck (which are 2WD... as are nearly all off road racers).

 

Actually one important thing everyone forgets to mention is the Roll sensing airbag button. Not sure if anyone has had one deploy on them while offroading... but i know i always hit that one in a sticky spot just in case.

My understanding is it will sense a rollover before it happens... designed for higher speed rollovers so it doesn't deploy after you've rolled but as your rolling. That said Im sure for you crawler types, there are occasions when you get to that point.. would hate to get punched by the air-bag while trying to negotiate a trail.

 

Good job Christian!

 

You're fine man, all that stuff has built in safety... It is pretty much idiot proof... I recently was going about 65-67 and tired to engage my 4hi.... It just beeped at me until I got down to the max 62mph then engaged....

 

Hi Perry,

Just curious... if you needed to be in 4WD at 62 mph... how were you able to get up to that speed without it?

Thanks, it should answer a lot of questions TWers might have?