Cruise Control ‘22

1 year and 10,024 miles of ownership.

WHAT is up with the cruise control in these things?!?

Bought the rig in Maine and drove near/at sea level. Plenty of power. Decent mpg with mixed driving. Cruise worked a treat even WITH the radar component active. All was smooth as butter.

Moved out to SD/Black Hills and, well, long story short, I absolutely hate driving this rig out here.

I know the altitude (~4-5k) doesn’t suit the NA engines well and that was expected. I lived out here for 4 years and had an FJ that was a gutless wonder on the highway, but never had the same issues with the cruise as this Runner does.

She’s completely stock. Cruising around anywhere it seems the cruise control can’t decide if it wants 5th?3rd? Some weird hybrid of 4 1/2? RPMs all over the place. Speed gets over by 1 mph and it’s a two gear downshift. Speeds then drops by 2-3 mph under “set” and it’s another 2-3 gear downshift, all hands on deck, tach-ing out to gain the lost 2-3mph.
Same results with and without radar enabled. (That radar blows goats btw)

Anyone else having similar issues? Thinking of running into the dealer to see about a re-flash of ECU/TCM. Thinking maybe the altitude is not being comp’d with the ECU.

My other “daily” is a 1ton GMC Dually. Granted, it’s a turbo-diesel and a 10spd, but driving that beast is a dream with the cruise, and WAY better mpg.

 

It was the same in my 2010 Tacoma. I manually downshift on hills or use the throttle to maintain speed myself. A supercharger helps but that’s not a realistic fix.

 

Yep. I’ve owned many a Yota through the years. 86 Runner; 95 Runner; 08 FJ; 00 Tundra; 16 Tundra; Carollas, celicas, Avalons.

Fun fact: the exact same CC mechanism in our ‘22 runner is the exact same CC mechanism I had in my ‘86. I can say, rather definitively, that THIS CC in the ‘22 is the absolute worst. The radar function is a rear-end scenario just waiting to happen. Lol

 

I don't think mine is that bad, though where I live is flatter since I'm on the coast. Honestly, whenever I get into really hilly terrain or when I'm up north in the mountains I don't use cruise. It just can't handle it, the engine just doesn't make enough power. Yeah, it's un- aerodynamic and it's heavy, but the number of gears in the transmission and lack of power certainly don't help.

I'm sure you're familiar with this technique, but what I do is shut the cruise off, gain speed on the downhill, and then try to at least maintain the speed limit on the uphill, then repeat. I also shifted in and out of sequential as needed, because I figure if it's going to be hunting around anyway, I'd rather control it.

 

Oh yes. I do all the “tricks”. Smooth as silk. However, when the missus drives, she sets it and forgets it.
Drives. Me. Nuts. Hahaha

Guess I just used to the CC in my Dually. That thing is flawless. 10 spds and ridiculous amounts of torque and power. Just smoooooth.

I DO love taking the Runner off road though. That’s her sweet spot

 

Yeah, having 10 gears and nearly a thousand foot pounds of torque must be really nice, lol.

 

I had the same issues traveling for long distance the other day. The catch up mechanism of the ECU and the response on the gears is too slow. It doesn't know what to do if it slows down or goes to a lower gear . The lag is way too long for the system to shift properly. Issue is this, we preset the speed and so the computer knows not to go up from there and that is like a ceiling for the ECU so the gears just don't know what to do. You would think in this day and age of AI and tech, these systems would respond better and faster.

I say tune it with one of the vendors here and probably get the aggressive tune because this one will give you the fastest response. This cruise control needs a brand new design, IMO.

 

I have found that the transmission and cruise control do not hunt, (down shift) as much since I removed the 285’s and installed 265’s.

 

My 3rd gen tacoma (2018) did exact same thing on hills

 

You're better off just leaving it in S4 in the hills. It's geared for fuel economy, so the slightest bit of resistance will require it to downshift.

I wonder how this is possible, since your '86 had a throttle cable, and the 5th gen is drive by wire.

 

Probably talking about the control stalk, Toyota has been using that same stalk since dinosaurs roamed the earth.

 

I'm trying to remember what the one in my '94 looked like. I know the ones in my '85 Supra, '85 Celica, and '87 MR2 were different.

 

I have a 22. Got it in June. I know exactly what you’re saying. I absolutely hate it. Hate it. We drove in the mountains as well and I absolutely hate it.

 

^Agree and it’s one of many reasons why I like Toyota^

My 97’ Tacoma used the same CC stock design.

 

I wonder how this is possible, since your '86 had a throttle cable, and the 5th gen is drive by wire.[/QUOTE]

Same stalk. Kinda tripped me up when we bought it. Lol. Definitely not the same system.
My initial thought was: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Well, Toyota screwed this pooch.

 

Same stalk. Kinda tripped me up when we bought it. Lol. Definitely not the same system.
My initial thought was: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Well, Toyota screwed this pooch.[/QUOTE]

What is your cruising speed up in the hills? It might be easier to run it in S4.

 

The first vehicle I had with cruise control was a 1985 G-wagen. It was controlled by a tiny accessory stalk like the 4Runner. Using a stalk again feels nostalgic. On the G-wagen the cruise control manipulated the throttle by way of a small vacuum canister.