Toyota Tundra 2010 - Turning on headlights = loss of accelerator pedal

Toyota Tundra 2010 - Turning on headlights = loss of accelerator pedal


1 - My ABS and VSA lights came on one day. I jammed on brakes and no ABS, so it’s not just the light. Now they are on intermittently. No pattern that I can detect.


2 – If I turn the headlights on, the cruise control will not work.


3 – When I turn on headlights or parking lights, the accelerator pedal becomes unresponsive. Engine is unaffected. If I take my foot off the pedal and then re-accelerate, everything goes back to normal.


4 – My Toyota guys ran a diagnostic, and replaced a brake (light) switch.

Then reset codes. Still a problem.

They think it MIGHT be a $2000 brake actuator, but not sure. I think they were on the phone with Big Toyota, but still no answers.


I don’t want to spend $2000 on the part alone, that MIGHT be the issue.


Hoping for a concrete answer before spending that much $$.


Thanks.

 

@waltkurtz Do you happen to have aftermarket LED tail light bulbs installed? One way or another you’re getting power feeding back from the tail light circuit to the brake light circuit. It could be LED bulbs, it could be a bad ground connection, or a short in the wiring, one of the bulbs, or in the trailer electrical socket.

Turn on the tail lights, then have someone apply the brakes. Make sure both lights get brighter like they should.

Whatever you do, don’t pay for a 2K module. Your symptoms are EXACTLY what happens when the brake light circuit gets power feeding back. The “brake override” programming is why you loose throttle, cruise stops working because the engine ECU thinks the brakes are applied, and the ABS module is smart enough to know you aren’t braking even though the signal says otherwise, so it logs a fault and lights up the ABS light.

 

Nice response!
Sounds like you had some experience. The dealership would never divulge that type of info... They would just charge $2k and laugh at the poor soul.

 

Thankfully not from issues on my truck, but saw it a few times on Tacomaworld, and I put food on my table by solving issues not unlike this on commercial trucks.

Unfortunately you’re not wrong about what a lot of dealers would do.