How well does the Adaptive Cruise Control work?

It goes without saying not to use cruise control in the rain. But definitely do not use radar cruise control in the rain. If the rain picks up enough the sensor loses sight of the tail lights in front of you and floors it to try to make it up to the set speed.

You also have to be vigilant when driving around trucks or trailers with irregular tail lights or even no trailer lights at all, they don’t register and it’ll keep on going right at them.

 

Uh, that's not how ACC works. If it was, then driving in the middle of the day when tail lights aren't on would net the same problem. There's a million different models of cars and they all have unique tail lights...

I've driven in torrential down pours with the ACC and not had any problem and probably 60% of my ACC usage are on two lane back country highways where trailers of all types are super common...again, never an issue.

 

Now, I may be talking out my ass, but I'm fairly certain that TSS uses both the front radar AND the camera attached to your rear view mirror.

So rain doesn't cause it to instantly kill you.
But I have had it turn itself off during ice fog/rain. Have to clear the radar sensor and the windshield then it works again.

 

Drove from Tennessee to Nevada using ACC. IMO It is great at interstate speeds, I used the maximum distance allowed. It does get on the brakes and throttle hard. It is alarming how hard it brakes when a vehicle switches lanes in front of your vehicle. Maybe its just me but I still have issues completely trusting it to stop and find myself reaching for the brake pedal. When I hit the rough roads in AZ the acc and lane departure would shut off.

 

My wife's 2019 and my 2021 both have the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, I use it all the time. My wife didn't use it much when she first got her truck, but she is warming up to it. I think it makes it a lot easier to drive on the Interstate going and coming from work.

 

I totally HATE it! If there was a way to have it removed, I would do it. I also HATE that it is the DEFAULT when you push the button on the cruise control stalk. I tried it for about two days, when I first bought my truck, and couldn't stand it. I mostly use Cruise Control for around town, as the cops here are insane about speeding above the speed limit of 25mph. But when I tried using the DRCC, the dang thing would hit the brakes about a block ahead of where the stop signs were! I thought this dang thing is going to wear out my brakes if I don't do something! And even though it can be adjusted SLIGHTLY for distance on the highway, again, it still hits the brake when I don't think it should, again putting needless wear on the brakes. So no thank you, I completely hate it, and once they ever come out with a way to completely get rid of it, I will do so, making Classic Cruise Control the default!

 

As most have mentioned it works best on highway - long stretches of highway in my opinion. Worked perfectly when we picked it up in Kansas on our way back home. Until the jerkwads that like to pass and cut right back in front of you with less than or right at 1 car/truck length...causing the cc to freak out and slow down. Tripped me out the first time it happened.

 

When I use it it's constantly searching for gears, even on almost flat hwy's.

 

The DRCC is one of my favorite features on both my wife's Camry and my Tacoma. Those that want to whine about it, go ahead. I absolutely love it.

 

It doesn't work by "seeing" tail lights. It radar based.

If you drive it while it is snowing, and if the radar gets covered in snow. You get a dash warning like "clean radar" and ACC (and other radar based systems) turn off. If there is enough rain to confuse the radar, it would shoot a warning and turn off.

 

Oh it will brake alright. A muppet pulled in front of my while I was cruising along on the fast lane and it slowed me right down. And not using the emergency braking either.

 

In-vehicle camera is used for auto-high beam function and pedestrian detect. ACC mainly uses input from the radar.

 

I don't really have a dog in this race. Regardless here is my experience (For work, I typically rent a car for a day or three every other month or so):
- Late 2018 I drove a new Rav4 from Florida to VA in 2 days. 95N most of the way. Speeds on 95 constantly change, I found it very useful to just set the ACC on 80mph and it followed the car in front of me MOST of the time as speeds varied from ~50-80. (Never tried it <50)
- this year I was in a new Chevy full size sedan (Monte Carlo?). It was very nice, but controls not very intuitive. The Rav4 ACC if figured out on my own while driving in 30 seconds. I fiddled with the Chevy one 10x that and never got it to work to my satisfaction, just seemed to be regular CC that would down-shift/coast to slow down on big hills.

 

Looked it up finally. It's a two part system. Camera tells it what car to pay attention to, otherwise every time the road curved you'd slam on your brakes every time there was a car next (in front) of you.

https://www.toyota.com/content/ebrochure/CFA_TSS_precautions.pdf
"
Situations such as a dirt, rain, snow, film, ice or sticker-covered/broken front Toyota emblem blocking the radar or camera all may affect DRCC operation
"

 

That's a long CYA document. Sort like those two minute drug commercials where they spend 20 seconds telling you how wonderful it is and the rest of the time telling you how many ways it can kill you.

 

My favorite being: Treatment for restless leg syndrome can cause "an uncontrollable urge to gamble".

 

Easy! Either replace your grille with an aftermarket TRD Pro grille and tell the service department what you did, or you can just request for them to disable it. But once it's disabled, it's disabled for good until another module is installed and calibrated.

T-SB-0026-20

 

In-vehicle camera? I have a 2019 SR and the only camera I have that I’m aware of is the backup cam. I do have TSS and dynamic cruise radar. Also have auto high beam. Where’s that cam lol

 

Box by your rearview mirror

 

Sure enough, learn something new every few weeks about this truck lol. Read my quick start manual and then went to the truck to see for myself.
Thanks