Does anyone else HATE some of the technology that Toyota put in these?

So my last 3 trucks have been Ford's, and this is my first ever NEW car, and my first Toyota. I bought Toyota because I hear they are reliable and nice, and Ford had a 9 month wait time for me to get a new truck.

I have been using my Tundra as a normal truck, move a boat sometimes. Help my uncle on the farm move a trailer from time to time. Move a trailer to help my grandmother move. But for whatever reason I feel like the technology in this truck, makes me feel like whoever wants this truck, doesn't use it for ACTUAL truck stuff.

Case 01: First time I am hauling a trailer I was helping my Grandmother do landscaping at her new house. I load up the bed with plants and dirt, and load up a small 10 foot trailer with rocks and more dirt. I pull down her one way street and attempt to back into her driveway, an easy feat. Or so I thought until I realized my truck would see the trailer in the rear sensors and ABSOLUTELY SLAM on the breaks. Next thing I know her neighbors are looking at me from their yards as I look like I don't know how to back in.

Case 02: Similar trial, backing in a boat at the launch. It thinks the water is a solid wall and slams the brakes on me again. All while yelling at me for not having my seatbelt on, which is pretty common to my knowledge when launching a boat.

Case 03: I was driving through my uncles farm to harvest fertilizer from the cows. I drive slow, I don't wear a seatbelt and neither do my 2 passengers. And not only does it scream at me for that, but literally all the tall grass.

If I have tools or something heavy in the back seat, it thinks is a person and proceeds to yell at me profusely.

Can anyone link me with information on how to hack/bypass all this stupid sensor shit and be able to turn it on/off. I want all this technology when it is convenient to me, but to think I cant set it to a mode to ignore this is crazy to me, and something I never had issues in with my Ford that had ALL the same technology, but when I was in tow/haul mode or programmed a Trailer it did not do this to me.

 

Gotta take it to the dealer to get that shit shut off. You can also have them turn down the volume on the seatbelt chime.

 

three things

1) read the manual regarding the brakes while backing up a trailer. hint, push the button on the side that looks like a car hitting a cone while in reverse

2) get the carista and plug it in and turn off the seat belt alarms, etc, its cheap and easy.
https://carista.com/en

3) enjoy your tundra

 

Read your manual and you'll solve 75% of your problems. The other 25% can be done via Carista

 

Sadly, this expensive technology is poorly implemented, and the manual not user friendly. Eg the repeated beeps due to sensors when the truck is driven in snow, or the repeated VSC message when the MTS is set. When you have to re-set TOWHAUL every time you restart, even the trailer stays 'detected'. Etc. Seems that software integration is lagging with the Tundra.

 

So I will order the Carista, but it is still upsetting that I have to buy something extra to stop an annoying feature. But for your response to 1). I did do that. I tested it in an empty grass field and it still slammed on my brakes when it got relatively close to scissoring. About 8 inches from my bumper, but like I don't want it to do that, I want complete control to ease into my brake and not SLAM them. I tried creating a trailer profile, having it in tow/haul mode and yes, even pushing the button that "turns off" the parking sensors. I updated a few weeks ago and tested it again after the update probably 2 weeks ago and it still does it. Is this a known issue? Because I saw a youtube video of someone saying that silly little button would fix it but saw others commenting they were having issues just like mine.

 

Pay special attention to the section in the back of the manual for "Customizable features".

 

I actually did, but I was graduating college, I worked while in college for a good amount of money, and got an even higher paying job and got suckered into "life creep". I wanted a bigger screen with the limited. It was also the first ever NEW car i got and I did not grow up with money, so I wanted something nice. I learned my lesson and will probably end up going back to my Ford XLT if I continue to just hate the tech in Toyota, otherwise I would consider trying the SR5's.

 

So another person who has these quirky bugs. I work with DCS systems which is just computers that run chemical plants. I am pretty familiar with technology but my Ford was leagues better integrated and it was a lower trim XLT compared to my Limited Tundra.

I see a lot of people tell me "Read the manual" Or "Turn off the parking sensor" but my problem is that I read the manual which is vague and sometimes straight up lies because stuff doesn't work how the manual says. The truck gets updates that makes the physical manual obsolete. And finding an update digital manual on Toyota's website, good luck.

 

What updates did you get that make the manual obsolete?

 

So update. I looked into the Carista, and it has a subscription plan. Which is all fine and good but I have done really good this year about cancelling ALL subscriptions. So good that it was my new year's resolution. I don't subscribe to any streaming services, I sail the seven seas. Any company that sells a subscription I just find an alternative. I have saved a substantial amount of money, and don't want to break my resolution to fix Toyota's shortcomings. Now it looks cool all the features I didn't even know I could disable, but can anyone here verify that if I buy this Carista, by one month of the service, then immediately cancel, will it negate the settings I have changed?

Or even worse, if I bring it in to get serviced at toyota, will they just reset my sh7t? Because if it does then I just don't want to even try.

 

I bought my truck in September of 2022, and have updated a few times, but the trailer issue/ parking sensor issue has NEVER worked. Like if I back in a trailer and turn that off, it still brake checks me for seeing the trailer. So the update is not the problem, it just also is not the solution.

And Updates making the manual obsolete meaning, if my manual says "press this button to make it to where you can back in a trailer without the truck automatically braking", but it does not do that, then the manual is wrong. I phrased it poorly in that quote.

 

nope, buy it, change what you want, cancel after a month and only renew if you want to change something else later, the changes stick

 

Thank you. That makes it a little less frustrating.

 

I do know what you are talking about with the brakes and backing a trailer but once I learned about the magic button it does not happen anymore. Is it still under warranty? Maybe your sensors need to be re-calibrated?

Also, If you buy the OBD dongle from Carista, you get a month free on their app. You can then cancel without paying a subscription. Their dongle works with other free apps in case you need to check codes at some point in the future.

 

Yea the mid refresh f150 is definitely nice. I think the XLT is the sweet spot with ford blue cruise. Lots of standard features for 2024 I wish other companies would follow suit Toyota.

 

I enjoy a lot of stuff about my toyota, better Gas mileage, it genuinely feels better than a lot of F150's I had, to include a few lariat's. I love the fact that I don't have to pay for Toyota's subscription to get access to Apple Car Play or android auto, which Ford and a few others are pushing. I just want to buy my truck, own it, and have access to features that I paid for.

It wasn't til this forum that I found out that they play engine noise through the speakers, that is a feature that I don't know if I can turn off or have to pay to get a third party accessory. I just can't image an industry quite like the automotive industry that does crap like this.

Can you imagine if you bought a PC and couldn't adjust the volume because the manufacturer decided to make it only have 1 volume. That is dumb.

 

Yeah I feel your frustration it can get annoying very quickly. Hopefully you can get it resolved and get some “actually help” I’m not 3rd gen owner but I do love all tundras but I’m not so sure on the new gen time will tell and hopefully Toyota will figure it out.

 

FYI. Carista can turn off the engine noises.

 

Odd, as a 2022 this truck is probably close to two years old and you're just now going off on the electronics nannies? I would think most of this would have been sorted by the owner in the first 30 days or so. Especially one with digital controls experience.

When you jump back to Ford spend some very careful time with it in advance to understand their chimes, backing up with a door open and so on. You may find it's more intrusive than you remember.

Good suggestions in the thread. Good luck.

 

Just use the trial to change everything. No reason for an ongoing subscription

I purchased mine a long time ago when it was a one time fee. Surprisingly they still honor that.

 

The button on the dash left of the steering wheel (car backing into a cone symbol) is the Parking Support Brake (PSB). Turn that off, and your truck won't slam the brakes on when backing up a trailer. That feature will remain off thru ignition cycles.

The Intuitive Parking Assist is the one that sounds off multiple warning beeps and buzzers depending on how close you get to other objects while parking. I leave that one disabled permanently also because I find it incredibly distracting when I'm maneuvering in tight spots. It is enabled/disabled in the MID gear menu. It has the P and cone symbol.

I had both these turned off when I backed my boat all around today. My boat trailer has a 4-pin connector. I didn't mess with any of the towing setup nonsense. Everything performed predictably with none of the problems described in the OP.

 

It's better than a Ford, and it took me alittle time to re educate myself from my lariat. How many times I had to get the keys turn on and change the prb option so I can stand on them to wash the truck. Toyota open door press button and done.
Side mirrors don't tilt down in reverse unless you get into the hex code and manipulate the code.
Toyota I just have the adj knob L or R and it does it automatically.
Folding mirrors again I believe it's another hex code hack unless you have the top option Ford.
Toyota is just a button.
My shifter has lighted indicators/ford at least my 2018 did not.
I'm just sharing what I see and I had a 2012 sr5dc tundra to a 2018 lariat Yes night a day but now with this 2023 platinum I see alot of convinces that I didn't have then I did ,THEN I see how much better I like buttons and not having to hack the build as code or get into settings. XLT's are now in the lariat price range from just a few years ago and I'm reading Ford locked the build code now so no way to add some features.
I find alot of info just on Toyota how to videos like I did with Fords how to. Most of my frustration was due to myself and not having any patience.

 

Read the OM0C051U.pdf manual… After a few weeks, we hope the following acronyms RSA, AHB, SRS, ELR, ALR, DAC, ACC, MTS, VSC, PCS, LTA, BSM, PKSB, RCTA and their little icons and linked buttons will be of familiar to you. Glad that ‘AUTO LSD’ is not legal in Canada, and as least the HORN which is not *if equipped, was easy to find .

Recently, with a Toyota Yaris Cross rental, it took us half an hour to find how to open the fuel tank cap, this with the help of the gas station attendant. The manual was just not mentioning where the d… lever is located; finally, by low light, found it hidden in the rail of the driver seat.

 

I have a 2024 and have towed a handful of times now. I haven’t had any issues backing up to my trailer; however, I do have to turn off the pre-collision non-sense when parking in my garage because the sensors think I’m going to slam into my shelves as I inch forward. That auto-braking sound is awful, btw.

 

Sell it and buy an SR model.

 

SR is a neutered car
No gas tank, no mirrors, no tow/haul, no trailer brake controller
Just a grocery getting commuter car
@Eurodriver

 

Great point about dealer resetting the changes made with Carista. I bought it for the A/C fix, but is not seeming to be fixing it. Mine still sounds like it is blowing hard, but not much air is coming out

 

Can not tell if this is troll post for Ford.

Most well appointed trucks have tech features that are relevant.

To date my truck has not not failed or disappointed for work, leisure, touring, carrying tools or fishing.

Stuff that is heavy in the bed.

I use tool boxes

Cheers

 

I mean I had a comment a ways up about how Ford's (post 2020) are just not good. They had so many problems getting chips, poor build quality, and delays of up to almost a year. I test drove a 2022 Ford and it felt cheap. Like Ram 1500 cheap. I used to be a car porter while I was in college and got to travel in all kinds of vehicles. I found that every toyota, no matter what model or year had relatively good build quality, down to their corolla's. Ford was always hit or miss depending on year, and GM were laughable, especially the high end ones. I am coming from a 2016 F150 and one of the reasons I sold it for this, was because at 85,000 miles I was getting small stuff break on my truck regularly. Like my running boards falling apart, tailgate not latching properly, and my gas cap flying open while driving down the road. I won't lie, the truck was used to park at a college lot (LSU) where kids literally beat my truck up with their doors and would throw nails in front of my tires, not to mention how poor LSU campus roads are. As soon as I got out of there she needed some TLC.

So when I was buying my first new truck, it only made sense that Toyota in 2022 was making the best truck you could buy for a 1/4 ton pickup. Also my neighbor has a 2012 Tundra with 270k miles from him going to his fishing camp a lot, which helped sell me. I got to porter an old 1st gen Tundra with 500k miles and it felt still like it had some life in it. I just had these grievances which may seem like petty complaining, but I plan on having this truck hopefully for 15-20 years. I would hate to pay this truck off and immediately trade it because of previously mentioned complaints, that is wasteful.

I would say that I am enjoying my Tundra about 95% of the time, but it makes it even more frustrating when the little things I am complaining about are so close.