Engine stops then restarts in park?

Sometimes on my new truck after driving and pulling into my parking spot, as soon as I put the transmission into Park, the engine dies. Then immediately on the dash I get the half circle arrow A icon that comes on with a countdown from 10. Then it starts back up.

I find this odd. Why does it do this sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't? Yes I know I can turn the button off so it stays running, but I'm wondering what the function of this factory setting is. What's it have to do with being in Park?

 

Happens to many of us. Drives me mad. Bad programming. I often plant the brake pedal forcing the shutdown and then shift to Park, ( it won't restart ) or just push the Auto Start/Stop button before parking. Theres an in-line S/S button dongle available that keeps the Auto S/S turned off. If your A/C is running the kill and restart in Park won't happen either.

 

I don’t know why it does that, it is a PIA when I pull into my driveway and it shuts off for a second and then turns back on. The only time I like it is when I pull up to a bank and put it in park at the drive thru. If I’m going to sit there for 5 minutes I guess it’s good for the truck to shut down for half of that time. I like how the system works and you can control it normally at a light. I think the glitch is when you put the truck in park, your hitting the brake hard enough to shift it, but also engaging the auto start stop.

 

Hmm, maybe, I'll have to pay attention to that.

 

That makes some sense, half of it anyway. Gotta push hard enough to shift into park, which is also hard enough to shut off. But then why the restart?

 

Geezus, more Nanny state nonsense. Can a Carista turn this crap off permanently?

 

Like Ryan said it must be because your immediately undoing your seatbelt,,,which makes sense why it stays off at the bank

 

Nope. - $30 inline dongle will fix it keeping the Auto S/S button ON. You can still override by using the button. Avail on Amazon

 

Well it's not the seatbelt. Drove it around the block, left the belt on intentionally long after putting it in park, and the engine still stopped.

 

Undo seatbelt before stopping, it will stay running.

 

1. I don't know. It seems to have a mind of it's own. I'd like to know how it's exactly supposed to work. I tried to read the owners manual but it's so confusing. I cant even tell what feature it's talking about. My last new truck was 17 years ago. This is overwhelming.

2. No, if I'm in D and at a stop light or something, unless I really stand on the brake, it stays running. I can live with that. It's the stopping then restarting in Park I don't like.

3. No. If I hit the button, it just stays running. So I know people will say the solution is to always hit the button. I don't want to have to do that, and more importantly, I'd like to know how this feature is supposed to work and if mine is malfunctioning.

 

The more you drive the truck the more familiar you’ll get with it. It’s one of the best set ups on the market because you can control it. It doesn't always allow it to work, depends on the electrical load going on in the truck. My truck works way more in the hotter months than cold. When you come to a stoplight, if the truck allows it, it will say on your gauge cluster to hit brake harder or something like that. If you come to a light and the dash says unavailable then that’s the case. You’ll get used to it don’t panic or hate on it too soon. The shutoff at park you’ll probably just have to get used to because it’s more finicky. If it really bothers you then pushing the button is the only way. Likes others have said once you get used to how it works, you’ll be able to control when it works.

 

My belt doesn’t matter either. I’d agree the S/S would probably be programed to shut the truck off in Park if the batt is up and no heavy loads are running on the alternator. (which it does perfectly) However, when it shuts off it immediately starts right back up and idles. A total wasted cycle on the starter. That’s why before shifting to Park I’ve been pushing the brake hard to Stop it, then shift to Park, and then tap the ignition button before releasing the brake. (Shutting it down in Stop mode) Parking brake sets perfectly and all is good. Stop/Start simply needs to be programmed not to restart within X amt of time after a shut down while in Park.

 

Ok, I drove around all day today paying real close attention to when the motor would stop or not after going into Park, trying to identify a pattern. Nope! Totally random. Sometimes it stops going into park, and sometimes it doesn't. Doesn't have anything to do with the seatbelts that I can tell. Totally has a mind of it's own. Super aggravating. It would be one thing if there were an identifiably logical reason or explanation why it stops, but not as far as I can tell. I'm talking normal driving. No towing. No loads. No hard running. Just errand around town and a few miles on the highway.

Going one further, sometimes it immediately starts back up after shutting down. Sometimes it displays a countdown and waits a few seconds before restarting and sometimes it stays shut off. WTH.

Is there an explanation from Toyota out there on how and why this "feature" is supposed to work. Again, the owners manual is useless.

 

If you press the brake hard the engine shuts off. If you shift from D to P immediately after the engine shuts off, it will restart.

If you come to a stop while pressing the brakes hard to get the engine to shut down, then you can avoid the engine from restarting by waiting like 2-3 seconds before shifting to park. The engine will atay off.

 

I cannot stand that annoying feature. My frustration is further exacerbated by the reminder of how much technology, and thus co$t to the consumer that went into developing and implementing this annoying nonsense. I was forced to leave myself a reminder to disable it.

 

Even if I do not press the brakes hard, it sometimes shuts off when I put it into park. And sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes it starts right back up. And sometimes it doesn't. Riddle me that.

I'm still looking for a Toyota sourced explanation of how this feature is "supposed" to work. So far, everything here is apparently conjecture.

 

Best to disable it every time. Saves wear and tear on everything. I don't dare buy the chinese dongle, but that's an option also.

 

I get the same annoying behavior. I was thinking that it just me pressing hard for a full stop and park that triggers the stop. But I also agree that is isn't always the same and super annoying. Why warn us that the truck needs to keep running at idol after freeway or hills just to shut it off when I put it in park? I try to remember to turn of the auto-stop, but I do like if for some driving. My habits tend to be all or nothing.

 

I hate to say it is what it is but that’s how the system works in all Tundras. Your truck is not messed up your just going to have to get more accustomed to it and deal with it OR push the button every time. Enjoy the rest of the truck

 

You have to let it shut off in drive, wait more than 2-3 seconds once the engine is off, and then shift to park. The engine will stay off. You can wait 5 seconds with the engine off and it won’t restart.

 

Mine will sometimes shut-off and then restart 1 second later when I shift into Park. (With Auto-restart enabled) Most of the time it doesn't do this and will shut off and stay off once I shift into park. I haven't found any reason for the difference. (non-hybrid)

I suspect it may have to do with how much electricity you're using when you shift into park, the truck does the normal thing when auto-restart is enabled which is to turn off when shifted into park, it then sees the battery level drop cause you're running the AC, radio, lights, etc. and so it restarts the engine to avoid draining the battery. Seems like Toyota needs to adjust the algorithm a bit.

 

This is proof of how soft we have become-

The trucks I grew up with had 3 pedals, column shifters, drum brakes, had the suspension of a roller skate, with cloth seats and metal dashboards. Oh yeah, you had to fiddle with something or other nearly every weekend on those antiquated mechanical machines. Probably had a coffee stained Chiltons behind the seat on everyone of them, oh yeah, storage space, wait what? You had 8 feet of Detroit Heavy Metal behind that single cab to put your stuff. Your drink holder was your knees. You should have heard the whistling the AC units in those trucks produced, which was roll the window down. The heat those old trucks produced always smelled like antifreeze and scientists have determined that they were so good at heating that they are to this day the ultimate cause of global warming. Most of them didn’t have 4WD, but if they did, YOU HAD TO GET OUT OF TRUCK AND TWIST THESE KNOBS ON THE WHEELS, THEN MONKEY WITH A BUNCH OF LEVERS IN THE CAB!

Now we can’t be forced to press A SINGLE BUTTON FOR HALF A SECOND that the manufacturer had to install to appease our Woke Ass Gov’t. in our space shuttle vehicles that are a pure marvel of engineering and manufacturing and would prefer to plaster their objections to this difficult task to some agreeable unknown souls on a virtual platform.

If our society crumbles we have no one to blame but ourselves.

 

I have no problems with it. Pulling up to stoplights and drive-ups it never shuts off unless I press down harder than normal. The 2020 Ram 1/2 ton I traded for this Tundra was the exact same way.

 

Just bumping this to see if anyone has found an explanation of how this feature is actually supposed to work? I just drove home from dinner, a short 3 mile trip home. Pulled into my parking spot and put the truck in park. The engine shut off upon going into park and then immediately started back up. Not even a second between shut off and restart. Makes absolutely no sense. Why? I can't possibly think of a logical reason for that. I have a technical brain, I want to understand the engineering behind this feature. It just has a mind of it's own. It seems purely random on when it stops and when it restarts. I can't stand not understanding it.

 

It doesn’t make sense at all. That’s what we’ve all been saying for a long time. I and dozens of others have all reported it to our dealers to no avail. Needs a software adjustment to not restart before a set period of time. There are workarounds. We just shouldn’t have to use them.

 

Nope. Stayed buckled.

 

I was able to do some testing. For the most part you have to leave in auto stop for about 2 seconds before placing the vehicle in park and then shut off before unbuckling seat belt.

Either unbuckling the seat belt or putting it in park before the 2 second timer will restart the engine.

Sometimes if it doesn't auto stop, but you put in park for 2 seconds before unbuckling or shutting off it will auto stop the engine but its not consistent.

 

ANd for some reason that serves a functional purpose?

 

I'm guessing the logic is to make it very hard for someone to exit the truck with the key on but the engine off. I'd say that you would probably have to be really dumb not to realize the car is still on but just watch an episode from "Just Rolled In" on youtube and lose all faith.