Brake assist

2019 toyota tacoma TRD 4x4 sport. Okay so I have read so many things about this. I am VERY confused. While test driving the truck, I was trying to test all the features as well. I want to know they will work should I ever need them and want to know what to expect a feature to behave like beforehand as well. So here is the problem. The truck will slow me down from a car in front of me. It feels like I am actively pushing the pedal myself even though I am not. Fine okay. So coming up to a stop light with a car in front of me, I wanted to see how far away it would stop me from a collision or if it would. The closer I got to the stopped car, the feeling of truck slowing down all of a sudden just stops and I come up on the car in front of me really quick. I had to slam on the brakes because the truck went from keeping me at a safe distance from vehicle in front, to just NOT doing it at all which I thought defeats the purpose of this feature all together. The dealership told me that it is not made to drive for me and that I have to be really close to the car I am going to hit for it to stop me????? So I do not get the point of it keeping me 1 to 3 car lengths behind a moving vehicle only to quit working if that vehicle were to come to a stop. I do not expect it to drive for me, I am just trying to figure out the features and how they are suppose to work. Hopefully I would never need it, but you can not always predict the future. I might need it one day and would like to know it works. I have seen all of the exact opposite problems of it engaging too much. Mine stops engaging at all on a stopped vehicle. My speed also went up after it stopped engaging. While there is a stopped car in front of me. Is this normal? Please help. Also did not come with an owner's manual from dealership. PLEASE HELP

 

The truck usually won't engage emergency braking at slow speeds or if it senses you're braking. It's algorithm that determines an emergency event is complex.

... It's really best not to test out the safety features. They're nice when they're there, but, please pretend that they aren't there.

 

Working as designed. User has wrong expectations.

Manual can be downloaded in PDF form from Toyota for free.

 

It seems highly irresponsible to be testing the collision avoidance system on public streets using random cars.

In any case, I can’t answer your question. The collision avoidance system has never engaged for me and I hope it never has a reason to. It’s not something that should be relied on.

Is it Friday?

 

This was a fun read, some time back
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...xes-and-it-didnt-auto-stop-what-the-f.579027/

 

Welcome! I’m not being mean, but I couldn’t make it though that monstrosity of a paragraph, but I think I have the gist.

on my dash, I get a message, something like
“Safety braking unavailable when speeds below 23 MPH”
So yeah, it turns off at low speeds.
Definitely go on Toyota’s site and DL the owner’s manual, it's long, but there’s lots of good info.

 

Welcome to the forum

As far as "testing" the system -- don't.

Treat it more like a seat belt -- it might save you if you need it but you hope to never need it.

You can download the manual or purchase one on e-bay if you prefer an actual book.

 

Kinda like don't try to open a locked car door at 65 mph just to see if it will actually open.
Tried that when I was about 7 years old. No seat belts back then either. Quite lucky to be alive after that one.

You have to be going over 32 mph ( i think it's 32 mph don't quote me on that ) for these features to engage.

I have found myself gazing at something else when someone suddenly slows down and the truck beeps at me and kinda auto-brakes
so yea it works, but like the fine print says: Don't try this at home ...

 

You're describing the radar cruise control, which disables at something like 27 or 28 mph and below. It is not like some other manufacturers that will completely stop for you and resume cruise when traffic is moving, it will only brake to keep you at a safe follow distance down to 27-28 mph, then radar cruise disables (what you felt when the brakes were no longer being applied), and then the only way it will intervene from normal driving operations is to emergency brake if it detects a crash is imminent. In my experience, radar cruise control is best suited for the highway and not in town driving, there's too many variables in town to rely on it completely. Long press and hold the cruise button to enable "normal" cruise control that just maintains a speed with no adjustment for vehicle follow distance. Use the radar cruise on the highway, but even then it's not foolproof and still requires you to intervene in certain situations (i.e. vehicles in turn lanes close to you sometimes freak it out, and coming up on someone moving MUCH slower than you causes it to react pretty abruptly. Like others have mentioned, it's much safer to figure this out by reading your manual than to test it out to see it's limitations in live traffic. You can look here for a digital copy of the owner's manual:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/pdfs-of-tacoma-owners-manuals-up-to-2022.746660/

Some relevant sections from the manual: