Looking for help identifying possible cause of sporadic deceleration

I'm a brand new owner of a 2012 TRD TX Baja Crew Cab (106k miles). In theory, I love it, but I've only driven it 50 miles so far and I'm experiencing an odd issue.

Driving at about 45-55mph I was on a winding highway with a slightly tight turn. As I rounded the bend, it felt almost like a grinding or rubbing and it felt like it was in the front right. But my RPMs dropped, my speed reduced more rapidly than just coasting / no accel. It almost felt as though I was braking or the tire was locked up, but if front left truly seized up I would have expected more of a skidding and alarming deceleration and this wasn't that extreme.

As my speed reduced to maybe 40, this took about 3 seconds or so, the truck seemed to go back to normal and felt like it was operating normally. During this occurrence, I was just cruising along in cruise control.

I noticed some red salt on the road from some recent weather / ice (there was no ice, it was 100% dry at this time), and I thought maybe it was a traction control thing? But somewhat rapid decel doesn't sound like any traction control I've ever experienced.

This happened a second time later in the day. This time it was more like 35-40mph, and the turn was a little bit tighter than before, and I could be crazy and it could just be due to the direction of the turn but it felt like it was coming from the front right this time (first occurrence was a right hand turn, this second occurrence was in a left hand turn).

After the vehicle "recovered" again, it went right back to normal operation.

The other thought I've had is maybe my tires are too large (33's) and as the centrifugal force from the (slightly fast) turns I'm taking compress the front right springs and the tires are turned, maybe the tires are making impact with something, rubbing and causing the slowing? The deceleration felt a little too extreme for this to be what's happening, but I'm wondering if it's possible.

Another possibility is something in the 4wd system. Both occurrences were on asphalt / normal highway, and of course I was not in four wheel drive, but if something were wrong with the 4wd system could it be erroneously engaging,, though I'd expect if that were it it would be even more violent a symptom.

Please help. Let me know if you have any ideas. Truck is super clean and has had all scheduled service. Any suggestions for things to check or try are appreciated. It is extreme enough I feel like I definitely need to figure it out or something is going to be damaged or it could be dangerous to drive the way it is.

 

Sounds like you might need to recalibrate the VSC system.
The VSC can come on in tight turns and certain braking conditions.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ibrate-your-vsc-computer-the-easy-way.467485/

 

This if your VSC light is flashing when your issue is occuring.

 

VSC didn't flash, at least that I saw. I looked down to see if any lights were on and didn't notice any VSC or any lights whatsoever...

 

Interesting, your description sounds just like false VSC activation.
The VSC system is known to not play well with lifts and larger tires especially if it isn't calibrated after such work is done.