Putting in Park = Kill the Engine

I'm 2,500 miles in and loving the truck. So far, I have dodged all the known "bugs" others have posted about...except...

The one thing I do have is the intermittent annoyance of the truck shutting off when you go to park and the parking brake sets just to fire right back up so I can shut it off. Most times it just about kills the motor but doesn't. I have tried it with the auto/start/stop off, not pushing my brake pedal hard, etc. It is still just very random.

Anyone had any luck getting this corrected?

 

Mine shuts off when I put it in park. I just assumed it was part of the auto start/stop feature. I do find it annoying though. Sometimes it will shut off, and I will reach up to hit the ignition button to turn the truck off and it will fire up just to turn off again. I generally try to look at the positives, but I can't figure out the actual purpose of that feature. Half the time, when I am trying to engage it, it won't work for whatever reason. "Auto start/stop unavailable" or some message pops up. And other times, it does weird stuff like this. It can't be saving me any significant amount of fuel.

 

If you turn off the Auto Start & Stop by pushing the button on the dash left of the steering wheel it won't turn off when shifting to park. I have also noticed that for some reason it is also linked to your seatbelt. So if you have your seatbelt on then take it off your truck will fire right back on. (This is if you don't have the Auto Start & Stop turned off)
Also if you don't want your truck to automatically put the parking break on every time you shift to park then press and hold the parking break button, keep holding until the message on your dash pops up saying the "EPB" is disengaged.

 

I've tried turning it off with the button. It has no impact on the stall (or near stall) condition. I have not messed with the seat belt on or off prior to shifting into park as I usually don't release the seat belt until I'm about ready to step out. I will try shutting off the parking brake, but I don't think it is creating the pull on the motor when it engages.

 

I saw a post on a rav4 forum about disconnecting some plug from the hood latch, which completely disables the auto start/stop feature. I am going to look into that this evening to see if it is worth messing with, or even possible on the Tundra. I'd suspect that it would be similarly configured across all Toyota vehicles for cost reasons, but who knows. The only downside, from what I read, is that it also disables remote start, which may be annoying in the winter months.

 

This actually sounds like a “real” problem with the trucks since this is the only place I’m seeing it and my truck doesn’t do it. I’d have the service dept look into it when you take it in.

 

Makes perfect sense. Has to start in order to shut off. What next? Windows down before they go up…especially when raining? But you can unplug the transmission to bypass that feature.

 

There's already a thread in here discussing this concern (link below). I don't necessarily think it's a problem or an issue but I'm sure Toyota at some point will push a software update to correct it for the rest of the population that does. But I will say that it has everything to do with the auto start stop feature. Most people when parking, once the vehicle stops, will hold the brake pedal down firmly and almost simultaneously shift into park. During that very short period of time the truck doesn't know if you are parking or if you're stopped at a stop light/stop sign/drive thru/etc. so it wants to engage the auto start stop feature. But then the truck basically says oh crap you're not just stopped you're actually shifting gears so it fires the engine back up.

Either disable the auto start stop feature or lightly press the brake pedal when parking so the auto start stop feature doesn't engage and it will stop happening. That's what I do and it works fine.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/engine-stutter-or-stalling-when-putting-in-park.107111/

 

Yeah, this doesn't work. I've tried the auto/start off, the light brake pedal, the slowly shift into P. It still does it. Just not all the time. It seems like it will do it 5 to 10 times and then it doesn't do it again for 10 -15 times. It's going to the dealer tomorrow for recall(s). I will ask them, but my guess is they just don't have any answers yet. It isn't a huge thing, just an annoyance.

 

If you stop in D, let the engine shut off, wait a couple of seconds, and then shift to park it won’t turn the engine on. If you shift to P immediately after stopping and auto-stop shutting the engine down, the engine will restart.

 

Yes!
I agree, which reinforces my post above that this is definitely is an auto start stop feature thing. By waiting the couple of seconds you're not "confusing" the computer's recognition of when the auto start stop feature should be activated/deactivated.

 

Whole auto start/stop feature is 100% garbage.
I disable it subconsciously without even thinking about it immediately when I start the truck.

 

^^This^^… started day one…