How well does the Adaptive Cruise Control work?

How well does the adaptive cruise control work on the Tacoma? Can you commute on the highway in heavy traffic with it or will is deactivate in stop/go traffic?

Does it leave too big of a gap in front of you where people can come over in your lane making it slam on the breaks?

I used it one on a rental but the area I was in was much more rural and not as may cars as where I live.

 

It leaves a big gap.

 

Its nice on the highway as it will slow down and speed up to the speed you set it at. You can also adjust the distance between you and the vehicle in front. I am not sure I would trust it in heavy traffic.

 

It works best for highway. While it does have 3 settings for the gap, it does not have the ability to brake, only coast. So no on the stop and go traffic. Also, it can be very aggressive on the throttle - if someone slow changes lanes it will go near full throttle and drop gears to reach the set speed again.

Edit: It can use the brakes, to some extent.

 

On the 2018s, it shuts off below 25mph. It’s slow to respond to people that brake suddenly, even at the full follow distance setting. If you don’t do your own braking you’ll rear-end someone. So it’s only good for maintaining a gap at highway speed and you still need to watch for people braking suddenly. TSS 1.0.

I still enjoy using it and having it, but my wife’s Volvo goes down to standstill and reacts almost immediately.

 

Don't use any cruise control in heavy traffic.

 

Oh, I didn't realize that it didn't break at all especially since part of the safety stuff it has the emergency breaking. So I probably wouldn't be able to use it much at all since a normal day commuting is so congested and cars slow down and speed up constantly.

 

It works great. A month ago I drove from Tennessee to Minnesota in two day - I would set the cruise control and basically just let the truck control things. All I did was steer for hours at a time. If I didn't have it I would miss it, and I generally hate electrical conveniences.

 

If someone gets in front of me and is going slower than me it will brake.

 

It will definitely brake. Definitely.

 

It lost definitely slows with aggression if someone cuts in front. The hard throttle when someone changes lanes is jarring a bit. I’ve come to like it now that I understand it. I hated it on my wife’s Highlander.

 

That is self driving territory. The collision avoidance is a totally independent system.

There is open pilot self driving add-on compatible with some Toyota's, only with electric power steering though.

 

It's more sensitive than a teen age girl that got dumped on prom night.
Useless if it starts to snow or anything gets on the eye.

 

Sorry but this is false, a Gen 3 with TSS 100% brakes on its own with DRCC engaged.

From Toyota:
“If a driver is traveling slower than you, or within your preset range, DRCC will automatically slow your vehicle down without deactivating cruise control. If DRCC determines you need to slow down more, an audio and visual alert notifies you and brakes are applied. ”

Toyota Safety Sense has two levels of adaptive cruise control:

• Dynamic Radar Cruise Control from 25-110 MPH (what the Tacoma has)
• Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control from 0-110 MPH (not available on Tacoma)

Read all about it here: https://www.toyota.com/safety-sense/discover/feature/drcc

I use it and like it but am always prepared to retake control especially when the traffic gets heavier.

 

I like it. My step sister does 95% of her driving with adaptive cruise control on. She has a 2018 TRD Off-Road

 

Is there a way to turn it off and run without adaptive?

 

Yep, you're right. I just looked myself. I was thinking of a different vehicle I guess. It does say in the manual it will output a warning if it cannot slow enough, so I assume it has a limit of how much brake it can use.

 

I use my Dynamic Cruise Control everywhere I drive. I have a 2019 OR with all the bells and whistles. Mine will maintain speeds up and down hills even shifting into lower gears and using the brakes if I start going too fast down hill. I kind of wish I could toggle that feature.

I use mine around town in traffic and as someone else said you can adjust the distance to the car in front of you between 1 and 3 car lengths. My truck will apply the brakes if needed to slow down. Below about 28 MPH it beeps and shuts off. The cruise cannot be turned on if you are in "S" mode below 4th gear which is something else I would change if I could.

The system in my truck will sound an alarm and spike the brakes if someone cuts in front of me or I'm closing too fast on another vehicle for the parameters of the system. An example would be someone ahead of me in traffic has a signal on and is turning out of my path. The truck will alarm and spike the brakes way before I would and it can be annoying in that regard. It's obvious that while I can see a car turning out of my path that will be well clear of the road by the time I get there, the computer apparently treats it as an object that will remain in my path.

So we had a section of highway heading into the big city that was torn up with construction for a couple of years. Speeds would vary between 35 to 65 MPH due to traffic and lane shifting etc. I got to where I didn't want to drive my wife's car because you couldn't use cruise without constantly fiddling with it. In my Tacoma I just set the top speed and spacing and let the truck speed up and slow down with traffic.

If you choose, you can press and hold the cruise control button for 1.5+ seconds and it reverts to more traditional Cruise control operation.

 

Compared to the adaptive cruise in my previous car, this system is awesome, it accelerates strong when the vehicle in front of me speeds up or leaves my lane.
In the Kia I had it was embarrassing how slow it accelerated.

 

I despise it. I also drive excessively fast. I guess if you drive like a little ol' lady, it is probably great. Because I am passing everything, the sudden slow down has almost resulted in a crash because I see the car in front an plan to get around, but before I change lanes, it cuts the power and puts me at risk of taking out the car to my left due to the loss of momentum.