Crawl Control a "gimmick"?

As much as I enjoy getting in fights with @Rock Lobster... He is right you know

From Toyota itself..

Ergo wheel needs to slip first for traction control to kick in.
Thats why Electronic traction control does not have snow mode because absolutely and utterly sucks on snow and ice. Traction control needs a wheel to slip to react, and it needs atleast one wheel on good surface for reference. Once you put Traction control on ice it goes stupid.
Here is 4runner MTS with no Snow setting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfkB4vltQTU

 

i have down hill assist control. It activates immediately when turned on and does not "wait" until I loose traction to apply the brakes and work. It uses the brakes to moderate the speed first. Otherwise, I am careening out of control before any braking occurs if all you use is wheel speed sensors for abs. Crawl control works similarly going down hill but you can dial in the speed. It also automatically, brakes the down hill brakes stronger then the up hill brakes. For normal driving, you don't want a system like this as your brakes are working all the time and you normally, only want them working when wheel spin detected.

You only use this system temporarily.

http://www.whyhighend.com/crawl-control.html

The system uses the wheel sensors for the abs, but also uses the other sensors too. They can call for braking force too. Otherwise, how would a (or all) braked wheel that it wasn't turning, had lost traction and had to release force for control. It has a speed sensor. And different from your cruise control which only uses the trans and accelerator, it uses brakes to moderate speed as well.

 

Gee aren't we talking about crawl control !!!, why are you bringing in Trac control. That has to use wheel spin as otherwise you would wear your brakes out if they controlled everything. Are you telling me that to keep your speed down, the Taco in crawl control has to wait for lost traction to control speed ????? It uses trac control sensors but others as well...attitude sensors, speed sensor etc.

 

It uses trac control. But, when crawl and down hill assist is used it has to use other sensors too. Attitude sensors and speed sensors. Are you telling me that raw control can only use the transmission to control speed ??? It uses the brakes !,!,
You don't use drawn control but temporarily so they aren't used all the time. Trac control responds to wheel spen so brakes aren't used all the time...it still uses that system... it also uses other sensors in addition.

 

No they are not. Which brings us back to my first post in this thread.

 

So, if you are only referring to the "Atrac" part of crawl control, we should revisit our disagreement. I was and have always been referring to "crawl control" the only reason I brought in the trac control was to say that it was PART of crawl control. Of course, wheel spin is an integral part of it, I have read that part too. But, the brakes and the system for crawl control in general DO NOT NEED LOSS OF TRACTION to activate. In agreement now ?? That does not mean they never react to wheel spin.

Isn't Atrac a gimmick when it first came out. Others had the same argument because it was just a type of traction control ?

Abs at one time was a gimmick, stability control for many. All of these systems ( except abs) are evolutionary not revolutionary. I don't have it obviously and will hold judgement.

 

My fingers are wearing out. I feel like I am typing the same things over......
If I give you one instance where the brakes engage without loss of traction, will you concede ?
I will take that as a yes.
You dial your speed in then begin to go down a hill....does your truck roll up to a speed greater then your dialed speed and only slow down because of the gearing. No. It uses your brakes to help moderate your speed if the speed is greater then the braking force of the gear you are in. I can tell you that my down hill assist starts working to control speed before I loose traction.

 

If all you talking is Crawl Control than you are way off.
Crawl Control controls nothing more than Throttle position. You could duct tape your gas pedal and it would have been the same thing. DAC and Traction gets to be ON when you press the button when you turn the knob you set position on throttle that's it.
Oh BTW in old days "Crawl control " was called Hand throttle. Google Land Cruiser Hand throttle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtulAGpGkV4

 

Now wait, you keep adjusting the situation to fit your supposition. That is illegal in debate. I mearly corrected the statement that you NEEDED loss of traction for crawl control to help you. I can tell you from experience, that going through a rough area there are both up and down hill. This is not a static but dynamic discussion. During any travel experience, speed control is essential and even without loss of traction and especially after acceleration to get over an obstacle at that time, any device like this will control your predetermined speed without any input from a lost traction indicator even though you are not officially, going down hill. I assume you could extrapolate it to any speed control opportunity.

 

Nothing more then throttle positon ? Funny

 

Back in 2004 toyota was one of the very few car makers to put stability control, before it was mandated, standard in all their SUVs. Stability control adds electronic electromagnetic sensors that detect if the car is spinning in one direction while the driver is trurning in another. It also can detect if the car is going up hill or down or has any other inclination concerns. Toyota used this system in their AWD cars to help divert power from front to rear before wheel spin occurred.

Most other AWD car makers do the same, especially Subaru which can send up to 90 % of it's power to the rear. It's why a Subaru will climb an icy hill better then a Tacoma 4 wd which is stuck at a locked 50% and tends to loose steerage with the spinning front wheels...while my wife passes me and waves.

I gues my point is, there are a lot of other sensors too and not just the wheel spin sensors at the wheels that are available to Toyota. Boy, wouldn't they be dumb if they didn't take advantage of them. So, you can "say" it's a gimmick...and I don't disagree...but I don't agree either till I try one out.

 

@Rock Lobster isn't saying this doesn't work he is just saying its a gimmick because we already have all the technology with the traction just they have added cruise control! Which is pointless off road because you go obstacle to obstacle...

I could be totally off but thats what I'm taking from this thread at this point!

 

Crawl control is a gimmick so that they can say its the only mid size truck to offer it. Go take your shiny new crawl equipped 2016 offroading and you won't go any further than the 4runner, 1st or 2nd gen, or jeep guys.

Gimmick for wannabe offroaders.

 

The main thing that crawl control can do that you can't with a pedal is control the braking force to each wheel independently. Even regular cruise control doesn't control the brakes, nevermind to each wheel separately.

Jeff

 

I don't need to spend 36k for another knob. I'll keep my atrac which still hasn't been used.

 

If you were using your new crawl control on a nice flat trail enjoying your day and you come across a small log across the road you aren't going to just let your truck slam into it and then adjust for the log and crawl over it.

The only way I could see this being useful is if the driver were drunk and stuck in a mud hole, enabling crawl control would keep them from flooring it and sinking the truck..

 

Exactly. What I some times forget is the brakes and the gas pedal are suggestions. The computer decides when and how much they are going to be used, and with the brakes, independently. The next, steer by wire.

 

Id love to have it! I love knobs and buttons! Hence I have the off road..

I would like to see something like (I think) Subaru STIs have where you can select how much power you want to put on each wheel.
That would be a ton of fun off roading!

 

Go over here... http://expeditionportal.com/forum/
Check out what some of those people do with their Subarus....