Lane Trace Assist

Distractions can be from more than just your phone. And for those who are constantly phone distracted, you want more nannies not less. I would prefer the human out of the equation completely. And you won't change this behavior, it is just going to be. FSD like on Teslas give me more comfort than not.

 

When I sold my 1997 for a 2021 I wanted all the safety features. The 2021 had lane alert but no assist. 2024 brought lane assist and all sorts of other more advanced features with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0. I like lane assist, the gentle pull on the steering wheel reminds me I may be moving outside of a proper lane.

I was looking through these TSS settings. I wanted to know that the dash graphic with a vehicle and three surrounding semi-circles did... There was a setting that remained unchecked. PDA.... Proactive Driving Assist. I do not remember disabling it, so it might be off by default, but I turned it on.

It does all sorts of things that I did not anticipate.
--It tells me I am trailing too close to another vehicle alerting me on the dash and pulling back on acceleration. (The PDA is apparently different than the collision alert which is more attention grabbing with dash red alert and aggressive braking).
--PDA automatically slows the truck at a traffic circle with crosswalks. According to the manual PDA detects obstacles (pedestrians, animals?) and brakes. But it slowed without any "obstacles" present. This must be part of the sign detection which is also on, but before turning on PDA there was only a dash warning about the crosswalk not an intentional slowing. You can also feel the lane assist in those same traffic circles. It is more of a reminder than something that takes over completely...

According to the manual p275 and p643 there are ways to customize how it works.

Some of this could be viewed as overly protective, hence the ability to disable some of them like PDA and lane assist.
I admire the fact that Toyota has included all of this functionality into Safety Sense 3.0 (much like Subaru) as standard equipment.
Insurance must also like these features? My insurance rate was reduced $200 annually from my 2021 to 2024 model.

 

Very true, I don't think assist features make cars less safe, I can see the argument that the features could make a driver more complacent about paying attention. I do see vehicles that I know are equipped with assist, and they still drive like absolute shit. I read something yesterday about the Bronco not being a top saftey pick, bad headlights and assist not detecting pedestrians probably because of the headlights. I don't see how taking the human equation out of the picture would benefit there. Less people on the road would limit many of the problems. I saw the car phone episode of Seinfeld the other day where Elaine is terring around in a Mercury Sable while on the phone, just like many people do on the road today. I do notice more women holding their phone while driving than I do men, statistically I wouldn't know which sex is more prone to phone usage behind the wheel?

 

This 100%. Fk all the distracted drivers I’ve lost a loved one because of them. Why can’t they have the discipline to pull over or wait until you reach your destination to text is beyond me.

 

My only complaint with this feature is that it turns off while towing.

 

Yeah. People complaining that it turns off after 30 seconds of not touching the wheel make me want to ask for their travel itineraries so that I can be elsewhere.

 

That's the whole point. Now broadly deployed, the ADAS systems stats show how effective they are for protecting us from people who are bad drivers.

 

You'd think so but that's wrong. The bad driver can drive just as bad with all ADAS available on a vehicle, the systems are passive. The systems do not take over driving the vehicle. Don't believe me try it.

 

Few are SAE levels 3-5, but they do control brakes, throttle and steering for short bits of time. Even the ones that only warn are proven effective. I'll let you argue against the significant reports, studies and validate the effectiveness. The goal or point is not any expectation to make bad drivers good. The point is accident avoidance and reducing injuries. That's proven to be effective and why most all the new fleet has it.

 

I don't care what a report said in a controlled study when I see people in vehicles with ADAS driving poorly. Maybe if someone is just a bad driver ADAS might help them, maybe they shouldn't be driving? If people choose to make bad decisions on the road ADAS isn't going to make a difference. There is no argument to the contray.

 

You're still not getting it and I'm not going to argue with such a miss when the many millions of vehicles with it plus so much insurance, state and federal crash stats tell the story of how effective.

For prospective buyers and new owners, the Toyota TSS 3 is very good. Beyond our having 3 vehicles now with ADAS systems, we tested several before our Tacoma purchase, I've had short and longer term rentals with competing systems, and experienced some more in fleet vehicles. The mix of sensors is good, granular control is nice against others, and it is better than many for false positives. My biggest criticism is not having the instant total bypass button I know some have. If I choose the bypass with my wife's German car it bypasses all an turns off the backup camera which is not so great. It is really impressive against some for spotting bike/ped in the dark and fewer false positives in snow storms than some.

I don't disable it except for the PKSB temporarily when I do some work. We lost a family member in an accident someone else's fault and that also helps me know the importance of keeping it on.

 

I’d advise against letting go of the wheel for too long. Sometimes the system will see something, and try to turn where it shouldn’t.

 

I think the exclusive color for 2027 is going to be called panty twister.

 

I've been turning off PCS off to keep it from doing what feels like riding the brakes far to early in slowing traffic. Maybe I'll try disabling PDA instead. Thanks.

 

I disliked the same deceleration assist.
I unchecked DA in the PDA custom settings.
It is much better, the dash based warning about follow distance is active, but no braking.