Crawl Control saved my ass today. I’ll never talk sh*t about it again

I’m a skeptic at heart, and quick to judge stuff like “crawl control” as just a gimmick. My mind was changed today. I attribute the fact I didn’t total my Taco to crawl control.

I went out for some snow fun on the local FSRs today. I climbed up the sunny-side of a local mountain in dry, deep snow, no problem. Crossing over the summit onto the shadow-side of the mountain, I unexpectedly slid down about 100ft of snow-covered ice on the road. Luckily the road was straight, and the ruts on the road mostly kept the truck going straight. Under the top dusting of snow, the road was solid ice. After cleaning out my underwear, I realized there was no way to turn around, and without chains (a big mistake I will never repeat) I would never be able to get back up over the hilltop to go back the way I came. Furthermore, I’m outta cell range, so help isn’t coming anytime soon. My only option was to press on down the shadow-side of the mountain and out. The rest of the road down was much more exposed, and in some places steeper than what I had just slid down, so I was shitting bricks.

Long story short, I put the Tacoma in Crawl Mode and slowly, over the course of about 45 minutes, drove down a section of road I would normally have driven in 10 minutes. The Crawl Control worked extremely well. Myself and the truck arrived in one piece. There is absolutely no way I could have driven what I drove with any degree of safety using gas and brake separately, no matter how experienced I might think I am. Furthermore, having a manual transmission truck in this situation would have been murder, so I ended up feeling a little more warmth towards the shifty 6-speed auto as well.

Learned a couple hard lessons I won’t soon forget: Travel with chains, and don’t smack-talk Toyota’s latest “gimmick” in case it saves your ass one day.

Anyways......my two bits, take it or leave it.

 

Good to hear how well it works! Glad you made it out unscathed.

 

Thanks. So am I. In all the time I’ve spent off-road, today was the most scared I’ve ever been. I came real close to serious trouble today, and am still a bit shaken. I feel like an idiot for putting myself in that sort of jeopardy, and am just really thankful it ended as well as it did.

 

Nice! There’s nothing like those butterflies that hit when you realize you are really stuck and there may be worse happening if you make the wrong move. Another thing that may help if anyone needs the traction is to shovel gravelly dirt if you can find it onto the part of the roadway for your tires, helped me back out of a similar situation too.

 

Sounds like the making of a Toyota commercial

 

Believe me, I am the last guy to ever “tow the party line”. I don’t base my life on a brand, but wanted to share that this Crawl Control is legit, at least in the situation I found myself in.

 

And here I thought it was a cool story, bro.

 

I did a similar trip in my 87 Jeep, only difference was:no crawl, no auto. Ended up ditching it in crusty ice/snow around a killer corner. That was late December of 91. Finally got it out in April of 92.

 

Now that is a story!

 

glad you made it out. i'm a manual so i'd just have dirty underwear in that same situation.

 

I’m not criticizing the manual. My last 4wd was manual and I miss it a lot of the time. Just not today.

 

I love using crawl while descending steep hills. It does the work, do you don't have to
Although when I got high centered I tried and tried crawl and it just couldn't do it.

 

good read

 

I used crawl control on my last off road run. I was climbing a rocky/muddy/uphill in New Hampshire and it worked very well, really smooth, I actually felt like I cheated. If the truck came equipped with "tools" I will use them, why not? Good story OP and glad your good.

 

Glad CC was able to help you out of a sticky situation.

 

Not possible. After all, crawl control is just a cheap gimmick and any guy with a manual truck would have been able to do the same with their eyes closed.

 

Scary stuff.

Glad you navigated through that without incident. Good to know the tech wizardry worked out well.

I have an aversion to heights.....that's a nice way of saying I'm skeert as shit of heights. I'd have freaked the hell out in the fubar situation you found yourself in. Hate driving in the mountains as a result. Offroading there would have my nut sack drawn up for sure.

 

Good story Bro...

 

Also try not to wheel alone or at least make sure somebody knows your travel plans and routes.