OK, so here's my first Tacoma newbie question(s)....

I've been reading through my Owner's manual(2015 TRD Offroad) and I'm seeing a few things that I'm just not clear on exactly what they are and/or do. Can someone 'splain them in simple terms so I can understand? Thanks in advance!

- Diff lock is the easy one. No problem there.
- A-Trac - Think I have this one. It uses the brakes on a spinning wheel so power gets sent to the other side(tire with traction).

- Auto LSD... Is this On by default and you can turn it off if needed? Does this work sorta like A-rac except just on the rear
- I keep seeing "VSC" ...what does it stand for and do?
- TRAC? Is this the same thing as A-Trac or Auto LSD or what??

 

A-trac:yes, it does that, as does LSD. It is just much more aggressive. You have to be in 4-lo, and push the atrac button for it to work. VSC is vehicle stability control. If you take a turn fast and skid, it puts the brakes on the correct tires and corrects the skid, almost instantly. I messed around with it a lot this past winter, it always straightened me right out. It could help avoid some serious accidents. TRAC is just the normal, daily driving mode. If you ever get stuck/wheel spin, the abs will kick on if a tire is spinning and stop it, allowing the other wheel on the axle to get the power. If you press the traction button by your steering wheel once, it will say trac off, auto LSD on your dash. Auto LSD is just a more aggressive TRAC. If you press and HOLD the traction button, it will turn ALL of your traction controls off. You would do this if say you wanted to do a donut or something, so no traction controls kick in. If you are ever on a hill steep enough to make you roll backwards while in drive, hill start assist will kick on. You will hear beeping, see a flashing light on your dash, and hear a grinding noise. This feature scared the shit out of me the first time it happened, I thought something broke on the truck, as it sounds bad. It prevents the truck from rolling backward on a hill. I am also fairly new to all this stuff, but this is the best explanation I can offer. Somebody else with more experience will surely offer advice.

 

Hello David, and welcome to TW! Here is a post that will explain all of the doodads and doohickys that your new truck has.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/a-trac-trac-auto-lsd-explained-easy-to-understand-i-hope.70551/

James

 

Awesome. Thanks!

 

So reading through the thread posted above.... my truck has hill start assist? Is this always automatic? No on/off?

 

Ill add on with a related newbie question. Do the trucks come with hill assist standard, or was it an option? Wondering if my 2010 has it. Have not been on a hill yet.

 

Hill Start Assist (HAC) is standard on all TRD Off-Road Tacomas. At least, from what I understand it is. See here.

 

I have a RC 4x4. I'm a minimalist.