Radar Sensor - Cruise Control

2019 SR5 Crewmax - I had a scary event happen on a 4 lane highway in misty/wet conditions. I had the cruise control activated at 73 mph when all of sudden the truck disengaged the cruise, the truck lost power and a warning message flashed across the screen saying "clean radar sensor" with a yellow flashing triangle. I quickly disengaged the cruise control and floored it to keep being hit from behind in traffic. I pulled off the road when it was safe, said a prayer of thanks to God and then cussed Toyota all the way home. I have owned Toyota vehicles my entire life and never ever had a problem. Now with all of the radar crap on this base model, ALL of it will be turned off !!!!! Anybody else have a problem with their "radar"?

 

I am sorry to hear of your issues. Maybe I am the odd guy out, but so far, knock on wood, my 2018 SR5 radar has worked flawlessly.

 

Yes I have had this same problem and always when it is raining or misting. reported it to the dealer but they say it doesn't log a code and there is nothing they can do but note it. it has happened 4 times now in 5000 miles. it also says PCS is off. Mine is an 2018 limited double cab 4x4 but no suspension mods. But I have found that you can still use your Cruise if you hold the on/off button for a few seconds when turning it on instead of just taping it.

 

Mine works well but I havent tested it with any rain or with snow/ice on the windshield. The manual has steps to turn it off and use normal fixed speed cruise control. All these safety features make me nervous also. Just too many variables for a computer to handle without fitting with 1000 sensors and redundancy. A simple camera and radar approach is just too simplistic to manage real world conditions.

 

I had it happen twice in 18,000 miles. I always forgot about it when I took it in for service.

 

Wait. Your truck shut off or the cruise control just disengaged? You’re making it sound as if the truck lost power. If so, that has nothing to do with the radar. Either way, you can’t permanently turn it off. It automatically defaults to on every time you start the truck. Manually turning it off every time would get old quick. I’ve had no issues with mine.

 

Same thing happened to me today in heavy rain, very startling for it happening the first time, just another reason to remember they are driving aids, not self driving. Personally I think alerts and cutting power are the appropriate thing to do, rather than just driving on. I just know from now on to be ready, or have it on manual cruise in heavy rain.

 

Your truck didn't loose power when the cruise disengaged, it just coasted. If you get anything on the sensors (cruise, park sensors) or the front camera those systems stop working until you clean the sensors. It is all described in detail in your manual.

 

Happens when I get more than a quarter inch of ice built up over the sensor. Just cuts cruise and warns you. PCS will shut off as well since it uses the same radar.
Also had ice and snow on the windshield block the cameras behind the rear view mirror and turn off auto headlights and lane departure.
All come back when it melts, clears off or you clean it. (2018 Limited)

 

Hmm. Good to know since I just bought a Tundra and was learning the systems. Regular cruise is fine for me. I turned the LDA off, too.

 

I use the adaptive cruise all the time and have had good luck so far, however when weather or traffic gets a little heavy and there’s a lot of lane changing, etc, I am at the ready for the system to just get confused. I only expect so much if you think about what these little cameras and sensors are trying to do, and managing pretty effectively.

 

It's with EVERY radar cruise control out there. It was doing what it should do. I couldn't get proper readings so it switched you to manual control. If you rain-x your sensor it makes a MASSIVE difference (your Toyota logo on grill). I've just learned if it's mucky on the roads, ice build up to expect it to stop working and switch to normal cruise control vs radar cruise. If you are new to the technology though this can be a scary first moment. Glad you figured out what was going on. Safe future travels in the tundra to you.

 

LDA Sucks on these however once used to it radar cruise is great. I drive 30-40k miles a year so it's a blessing for me

 

I L-O-V-E the adaptive cruise control: it makes my typical highway driving much improved.

Yeah, I get it. If the sensor gets dirty or covered in enough ice, etc., it doesn't function properly. THEN, I use regular cruise control until I pull over and can clean it. No problem.

I also like to put the lane departure alert on IF I FEEL TIRED.

Now, while I hate Rain-X in general, here is an interesting usage:

So, yeah, the sensor has to be clean. [Totally get your point about too many bells and whistles, but that's a preference issue.]

 

Thanks for all of the comments. Thank goodness for manual override. Yes, the Entune stereo isn't the greatest and yes the truck doesn't get very good gas mileage BUT overall, I'm enjoying the heck out of my new ride.

 

Cruise dis-engaged. Was going up a hill at the time so if felt like the truck had shut off. Scary moment. Guess manual override each time must be the answer; like it or not.

 

Mine has been problem free, but it's also a good practice to avoid using cruise in bad weather

 

Excellent point; so noted.

 

I don't use it, I use the manual one. Sometimes it is kind of nice, but for the most part I find it to be a pain.

 

I use it on occasion. It can get confused if I am in a gentle left sweeper and it sees a slower car in the right lane and thinks it is right in front of me. It slows down and sometimes brakes, very annoying.

Also, one time I was on a two lane road and the car in front of me pulled over and stopped. Radar cruise thought I was about to rear end him so slammed on the brakes, freaked me out.

Dan

 

I use the radar cruise on long trips on I-10. Fall in behind a tractor trailer and set cruise at 2nd or 3rd setting and watch you mpg's climb

 

It happens in rainy weather for me. They really should warn you about it. If you press and hold the cruise again it will turn on but without the radar stuff so you got to be careful not to run up on someone's ass. Technology is great but it's not perfect.

 

no, It's a Toyota thing, it's just a crappy system.
Had an S-Class in the family for many years, no such issues driving in the northeast, rain snow ice. This technology is over 14 years old.

 

Welp the explorer, expedition, navigator and Escalade all have the issue so I will just agree to disagree.

 

non issue here. user pushing a system beyond its capabilities and hardly the trucks fault.

radar could have been shut off and speed maintained with normal cruise though not recommended in current weather conditions.

understanding the technology that's being employed by the operator goes a long way.

I too have had a disengage. but I'm aware of the system's limitations, I can't expect a radar and a camera to paint (map) what's ahead when it can see through a set of contaminated lenses, cruise shouldn't be used in wet conditions and it's clearly stated everywhere. chosing to ignore the warnings results in system failures which cause the end user to complain about crappy technology and not their own shortcoming as an operator.

 

Can confirm this same issue with the vehicles I've tried (Ford, Mazda, Cadillac, Dodge...)

I've come to learn there are two types of systems out there. I'll use the Toyota marketing terms just 'cause:

"Dynamic Radar Cruise Control": This is what we have in our Tundras. I think of this as the "dumb" version of dynamic cruise control systems. It's designed to do exactly what you experienced.

and

"Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control": Not available on Tundras (at least up thru 2019). This is the "smart" version. Stop and go. Much better handling of a much wider range of traffic conditions. Can bring you to a full stop, then back up to speed, better detect lane departures and turning vehicles on two lane highways, bad weather... and everything in between. It too has limitations, but they just seem less reachable than the DRCC version.

When comparing vehicle to vehicle, before deciding one sucks or not, its probably important to understand if you're comparing apples to apple or caviar to boba.

Toyota's implementation of the DRCC version is the best I've used, within the limits of the system.

Cadillac's implementation of the FSRDRCC is amazing. Dangerously so. Can easily lull you into false security and lack of paying attention. But man oh man its nice.

Why two different systems? All I can figure is costs related to hardware and software and/or vehicle size. The latter seems to only really be an option on higher end vehicles and/or more nimble vehicles, while the former seems available on many of the rest.

Just FWIW.

 

I live in Pennsylvania where we have a lot of leaves falling in October.... I was driving down the highway when the wind blew a bunch of leaves in front of my truck...... The radar picked it up and slammed on the brakes like there was a car in front of me ....and there was nothing in front of me. That system is terrible. I am lucky I wasn't rear ended.

 

You revived a 4 year old thread lol.