RCTA Off?

Friday I towed my 16ft utility trailer for the first time.....outside of my driveway. I had no issues backing the trailer, with or without the little cone thing turned off. I did notice that there was an indicator on the dash in red that said "RCTA Off". I suspect that when I plugged the trailer lights it activated.....or the camera sensed something.

What is RCTA and what do you guys think happened?

Thanks

 

Rear cross traffic alert. When a trailer plugged in, truck turns it off to prevent alarms when backing up with the trailer.

 

Thanks! So does this RCTA have anything to do with the truck not jamming the brakes while backing up the trailer?

 

The truck braking while backing up has to do with intuitive parking assist. RCTA is just to let you know someone is coming from your blind side as you're backing up, and all it does is warn.

 

To the left of your sterring wheel there a bank of switches on the dash. Top row, last switch on the far right is car hitting a cone. Click that it turns the sensor off to the reverse backing safety (it will de displayed on your MID and this tells you that it is off.

 

And I find that if I don't turn that off while backing up a trailer the truck brakes will jam on without notice and harshly enough so as to risk people and objects inside the truck moving around. The harshness of the sudden brake is nearly dangerous IMHO.

 

I am able to back my trailer with or without that turned off is my point. Someone told me that the truck senses when a trailer is plugged in and automatically turns it off.

 

When you plug in a 7-pin connector, some features turn off like RCTA and PKSB. Nothing happens if you plug in a 4-pin though as far as I can tell. PKSB or parking support brake is the one that brakes the truck when reversing with a trailer and the button for that is on the dash to the left of the steering wheel. But like I said, it automatically turns off when a 7-pin in plugged in. When PKSB is off, you’ll see a warning light of a car with a cone behind it, like on the button for PKSB.

 

I am using a 7pin to 4pin adapter. But as I said before, I can back the trailer with no problems without turning off the little cone thing.

 

My RCTA off light was on when I used the 4 pin. I was towing a Uhaul motorcycle trailer last week. Didn’t see the parking assist turn off though. Just the RCTA off light was on. First time towing with my 2022. Light turned off as soon as I unplugged the trailer and returned it. Didn’t have to mess with the setting.

 

The manual says that if a 7 pin is not used, then the trailer is detected via the blind spot monitor. In that case, the RCTA is disabled but the PKSB is not disabled. The PKSB is only disabled when the trailer brake controller detects a trailer and that’s done via the 7 pin connector.

 

"The PKSB is only disabled when the trailer brake controller detects a trailer and that’s done via the 7 pin connector."

My trailer does not have brakes, but I used the 7 to 4 pin adapter. Would the above statement still apply?

 

I think it depends on how the brake controller detects the connection. If it uses the brake signal wire to detect a closed loop, TBC probably cant detect a trailer if a 4-pin to 7-pin adapter is used. I only have a trailer with a 7-pin so I can’t check.