Pressed Gas Pedal, Won't Go

Weird occurrence yesterday. Leaving my neighborhood, stopped at a stop sign, turning right onto a main road, that has heavy traffic. Find an opening and go, about halfway into the turn, no throttle at all. Truck acts like it's in drive so it's slowly moving forward but absolutely no response from the gas pedal. I tap it a couple of times while I'm verbalizing to my wide, "What the hell it won't go".

Finally after I get going straight and cars are slowing down behind me, it acts normal and allows me to accelerate.

Another mile down the road is another right turn. To test it I did the exact same thing. But as expected, tires start to break loose, and traction control kicks in.

Weather was wet and rainy.

It was frustrating because has the cars not stopped it would of 100% been an accident at my fault. But the damn truck just wouldn't go no matter what.

Anyone have any insight? It didn't feel like traction control/throttle modulation, it felt like throttle was completely cut.

 

Take a look at this thread.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/throttle-lag-surge.106155/#post-2731440

 

Thank you! I even tried searching but I guess my wording was off.

 

I’ve experienced this a couple times myself. Not a good feeling. Seems like a software update is needed, and how about shifting down into 2nd after stopped at a stop sign briefly? Throw that in the update too Toyota.

 

Dead Pedal
I had same issue and almost got T boned. I have noticed it more right after I start the truck when it has been sitting. Once it is fully warmed up I haven’t had the problem. I no longer pull out in traffic if I will need instant power, I wait for a bigger gap in traffic.

Trans Won’t Downshift to Lower Gears.
I had the TSB on trans shifting down when coming to a stop done a while ago. It improved for a while but is back to how it was. It only downshifts to 1st If I come to full stop and speedo reads zero. If Im rolling at all it stays in 3rd or 4th and the torque converter works hard to get me going again. I hate this and wish TOYOTA could reprogram our trucks so it down shifts to lower gear when slowing down for a stop sign or similar driving event. Plus it could help gas mileage because engine isn’t straining to get truck moving again.

 

Is it possible Toyota thought people would/should actually come to a full stop at a stop sign?

 

It’s not always a stop sign. For me every day at my kids school it’s uphill with speed bumps. So I slow down for the large speed bump then get on the gas and sound like a teenager trying to learn the clutch while still being in 3rd gear.

I have investigated this by using manual mode and it is 100% only going down into 3rd gear, if I force it into 2nd it’s fine, 1st is even better.

 

Any chance you wearing work boots and hitting brake and gas at same time?

 

Mine does it too. I have started to prepare by shifting into manual shift mode and into a lower gear and that seems to help. The transmission programming seems to either take too long to adjust or needs a full stop. I asked for the service advisor to look at this (during my first service) but they told me it was normal!

@koditten I do wear work boots occasionally!

 

An engineer would absolutely think in black and white logic or limited logic. Maybe they programed shift to first only after zero stop. That unfortunately does not always translate to real world drivability.

 

I’m pretty certain even when I stop and speedo reads “0” it does not shift down to 1st gear. I’ll have to see here when I head out soon.

 

Toyota has a software update for the pedal lag however I still had a lag so after researching I found that the Pedal Commander solved the lag completely.
The Pedal Commander also does not void your Toyota warranty.

 

One of my "favorite" times for this to happen is at a 4-way stop when I get there a second or 2 before another car, like a few minutes ago. Then try to go... and no go... so the other driver might think I am one of those indecisive idiots and then go himself just as the Tundra really takes off. It didn't happen this time, but I can see a collision from this in someone's future. I seriously hope Toyota is working on this problem.

 

Bottom line.. Toyota is likely going to wind up being responsible for some awful fatalities that could be avoided. Not sure you can't legally be liable since you have posted about knowing that this condition exists on your vehicle. What a mess!!! Good luck!!

 

I'll be fine. I have adapted my driving style to always expect this to happen until it doesn't. Most times it doesn't. And I plan on telling the dealer on my next recall visit to get it on the record.

 

That may work for you, but may not work out so well for others. I'm not an attorney so I won't pretend that I am, just something folks might want to consider looking at. Good luck!

 

It should be noted, this isn't a problem with every 3rd Gen Tundra. Mine accelerates smoothly and predictably from every stop or semi-stop. I drive almost exclusively in the normal mode. In Sport mode, the throttle is almost too responsive for my taste. Eco mode feels sluggish.

Matt

 

2024 with a build date in October I think. My first few accelerations are a bit wonky when cold. Today it wasn't just lag, but a high rev as I started. I was trying to go nice and slow as there is construction out front, so no need to get going fast. From 0-10, it seemed like it wanted to really rev up. I don't think I've seen the fully debilitating no-go situation, but sometimes when in "normal" or "eco" it seems to hesitate a little. I think only after a start or when cold.

 

Must be 's! Glad I have the possiblity of cam tower leaks and poor MPG to work around.

 

I learned to always come to a complete stop before I turn. Eliminated the problem. I do want a solution though>.

 

Has anyone tried this throttle module from Shift Power USA? https://shiftpowerusa.com/search/sp09/?make=7&model=71&year_search=30 Available on

$199 Faaftech SP09 Shiftpower 4.0+ Throttle Response Controller for Select 2011+ Toyota, Lexus and Subaru Models. Check Compatibility in Product Details.

Amazon or Slee Offroad:
Seems similar to a pedal commander. I haven't noticed any bothersome lag in my '23 plat but I just came across this item when looking at the dual qi charger at slee offroad.

 

A throttle controller type device won't help here because its not a matter of the input, you can in my testing push the pedal to any % and its ignored.

 

If you want a good idea of a procedure without a scantool the best I can come up with is to start the truck cold, accelerate to 12 mph, then gradually decelerate at about 3-4 mph make sure you tap or lightly press the brake, at 2mph quickly transition from brake to accelerator input. If you have a scantool or gear indicator you can do the same but just mash the gas the second the shift status goes back to first gear.

 

Hmm. Have you tried a throttle controller with no results? I'm just picturing the lag I had on my '20 Tacoma, which many used a throttle controller or re-tuned the trans with overland tailor tuning like I did. The OTT tune completely changed the truck experience. Hopefully OTT will come out with something for 3rd gen Tundras that will help.

 

Throttle controller were very successful on the Tacoma, this is because often to schedule a downshift or disable Akins mode you really needed to push the pedal a lot further than you think you needed to. The setup didn't produce a lot of torque at low rpms. The after market tunes did fix/refine a lot of the tables. A lot of 3rd gen "lag/deadpeal issues" were at cursing speeds, and it was just a matter of mashing the pedal further to get a (often over) response.

I've logged these delays with a high speed logger, Each data point below is about .125ms apart. You can see that throttle input has nothing to do with the delay. When this condition triggers there's over 1/2 second delay before the engine commands any throttle. This pattern does not show up everywhere every drive. Its not a constant, only a specific condition seems to trigger it.

Now what people say its "about 2-3 seconds" I've never been able to see something that long in the data the max I've seen is about 750ms, but this below did sure feel like forever in my mind. Keeping in mind it takes a second or so from when the engine commands the throttle to open for this heavy truck to actually start to move again.



What "normal" looks like

 

I'll echo this, when I had my issue I was tap dancing the throttle after it didn't work and the truck responded to no inputs.

 

Hey RLC177, its been a minute. I thought I could ignore these issues but alas I'm back. I have another appointment tomorrow to look at all this stuff and see what's changed in the last 6 months. (reminder, this is for the same thing as others. Sluggishness and pedal delay. Quick question- while you were logging all of your data a few months ago did you ever see a correlation between current gear and engine performance? I ask because I've always said it feels like its starting in a much higher gear than it should which would explain everything bogging down until about 2500+ RPM. If you have data about what the transmission is doing with it's shifting point I'd love to see it. Im having a heck of a time digging out more detailed, anecdotal data that I can present next to your data (again).

Thanks again.

 

The delay I log is ALWAYS after a downshift to 1st gear. Looking over the data its pretty consistent downshifts from 3 to 1 or 2 to 1 when coming to a stop. 3 to 1 occurs at 16-14kmph and 2-1 around 4-8kmph depending on what gear. (Using kmph since that's what the PID reports) I'm mostly focusing on the pressed the gas pedal and nothing happened condition, while having that issue occasionally I do note the pressed gas pedal and things are unsmooth/jerky.

As far as the specific delay I see its best to have someone with a scan tool hookup and look at the Shift Status PID at the moment it goes from 3 to 1 or 2 to 1 punch it too see if there is delay.

Since the recall for the Transmission that updated the TCU to the latest version I've yet to experience any delays beyond 375ms. Prior I did catch delays ranging from 400 - 700ms.

As far as not getting full power until after 2500, that's basically how the ECU works. There are limits on the torque, as the vehicle speeds up the limits for each gear go up. If you came from a prior generation engine, the logic was much simpler.

Essentially I find that factory calibration is pretty spot on but because of some delays when downshifting its a little jerky or unrefined starting out. Unfortunately I doubt Toyota refines this much more and maybe an after market tune can improve it like the 3rd gen Tacoma's. Probably this summer or so when they catch up.

 

I've seen 10-20 seconds. Wish I had that logged...

 

I guess the struggle I'm experiencing is that nothing is consistent. 15-20% of the time the truck drives great, its got the power on demand and it grabs 1st without issue. The rest of time I'm dealing with the known issues (dead pedal, acceleration lag, lunging). I could wrap my brain around all of this if it weren't so intermittent, that's what makes me believe that the issues that I'm experiencing are not normal and they directly effect safety and driving satisfaction. I quite literally hate this truck. I'm kind of wondering if I should just sell it and buy something else. I owe $55k and trade value is $55k (doesn't mean someone will buy it at that but its a start).