New 4Runner owner asks what us S+ tranny setting?

Coming over from a 2006 Tacoma to a new 2024 4Runner. Same V6 and same 5 speed tranny.
What is the purpose of the S+ setting on drive?

 

It’s just a gear limiter like shifting into 4,3,2 or 1. Nothing else.

 

When would I use S+? When trailer towing?

 

Anytime you want to manually downshift like trailer towing or going down a long grade. It defaults into 4th when you shift over. If you notice gear hunting in 5th when towing then drop it over to S and it will shift into 4th.

 

As mentioned, it's handy to control hunting on big hills or windy days. It's also indispensable off-road. Pretty often in 4Lo you want to stay in lower gears.

 

I find 4S very useful going up long grades. My scangauge 2 will read tranny temperature and by preventing the torque converter slipage driving in "D", I see much lower tranny temperature. The temperature drop is fast as soon as I shift from "D" to 4S. Also, when driving around town 4S gives gears 1, 2, 3, 4 and the truck is more responsive.
The higher RPM remind me when road speed is as high as I dare to avoid speeding tickets!

 

I have read that if you bump S mode into 5th (how that's any different than being in D, I don't know) often enough, the truck will learn and default to 5th when selecting S mode. I have no experience on that front, however.

 

I don’t think it will because I don’t expect any pf the Toyota’s system to be smart but I don’t know.

 

So you can downshift for engine braking and keeping the revs up for better throttle response. It works the same way as rowing through the 4-3-2-L gate in your Tacoma, but a bit more intuitive. The 4Runner is about 800 lb heavier than your Tacoma, so you can be expected to use engine braking more often.

Moving the shifter forward in the S gate doesn't force an upshift; it merely authorizes the computer to use the higher gear if computer logic dictates it.

 

I use S mode every time I drive my 4R and I have yet to see a change. My truck always goes to S4 when I go into S. I'm okay with that since most of the time the reason I go into S is to prevent shifting into a higher gear / lockup.

 

Never happened with mine. On my Tacoma with 6-speed, selecting S mode also goes to 4. I think its a human factors carryover from 4th gen 4R / 2nd gen Taco where moving the shifter from D sideways goes to 4. 4th gear is 1:1, so Toyota doesn't associate performance driving with overdrive.

 

It never has for me either. I read that it is only a possibility if you shift to 5th while in S mode fairly often, which I don't believe many, if any, do.

 

Guys... "S+" is not a "setting". The "S" position is the setting that puts the transmission into faux manual mode. + and - are merely labels indicating which direction to move the lever to manually select a higher or lower gear. I know many of you know this, but the OP clearly doesn't and wanted to make sure he understood that you move the lever over to S and then you must manually push the lever forward/backward to upshift or downshift on the fly.

 

As far what happens when you go from D to S, yes... it will downshift to 4th automatically. After almost 5 years with my 4Runner, I've never had it stay in 5th when moving over to S. And I also only shift to S so I can manually downshift to accelerate without having to mash the pedal to the floor and rev to 6K lol.