COMPLETE loss of throttle as I was crossing a two lane highway

I experienced a loss of throttle entirely today for a couple of seconds while attempting to leave from a stop and cross two lanes on a highway with my child sitting in her car seat behind me. I have 2400 miles on my 2023 Limited Tundra 4x4. I reached out to my dealer today and scheduled to have it dropped off Monday. Then I had to see if anyone else was experiencing this and it looks like a few of you described what I experienced exactly. (Donas already told me he got rid of his after Toyota couldn't fix it) I can't seem to find anywhere that anyone had it resolved. Could anyone share any resolution you have had with this issue?

I must say, that was the scariest two seconds of my life. If we were t-boned, that would have hit the side that both of us were seated and we would have been helpless.

To be absolutely clear, this is in no way turbo lag or lag of any kind. It was in fact a complete loss of throttle for about two seconds as I just got into the first lane of a two lane highway when the truck's pedal was pushed down. It just coasted for a couple of seconds. Prior to, I was at a complete stop and sitting for around 15 seconds waiting for a gap in traffic to pull out and turn left into the median to merge. I pumped on the pedal twice after it stopped accelerating and then a moment after doing so, the truck decided to go back to accelerating. No lights, warnings, errors or anything popped up. There was nothing in front of me to have the truck attempt to stop on its own. No breaks were applied, it was purely loss of throttle. My daughter and I were sitting ducks.

This has never happened since I bought the truck with 6 miles on it.

I have a 2023 Limited 4x4, TRD package. Non-hybrid. The temperature here was about 77 degrees. The truck was started up minutes prior and ran about a quarter mile going through one other stop sign to the stop sign at the highway after being parked for around 2 hours. Weather was overcast and no rain. Roads were dry. Truck is stock besides a bed cover.

Thank you ahead of time for any info you can send my way.

I feel as though I may have bought a death trap from Toyota.

 

Had that same thing happen in a Dodge Cummins. Scary as hell. I ended up replacing the throttle position sensor and that fixed it.

 

I'm no technician, but I would assume 2 things. An engine safety feature, like the BMWs have, that while the engine is still cold it would not go passed certain RPMs. The other would be a possible loss of communication between your throttle position sensor, ECU and the auto on/off feature which rendered your truck a sitting duck or dead stick. These are random thoughts...

 

I think we all can agree that whatever Gen. you like or don't, this is pretty unacceptable for a new truck. Hope the dealership figures this out for you. Good luck OP..

 

There is a TSB that resolves this issue. Search this forum and it will show up. 100% fixed the issue in my 2023

 

Platinum w/ TRD package? No such thing..I smell BS

 

Sorry, I meant Limited.No BS here, it happened yesterday. I had a Platinum F-150 prior to this limited Tundra so I mixed it up.

DMackler, did you have the same thing happen? Please share if you find the TSB, I looked last night and found nothing other than one that resolves a hesitation and a surge around 8th gear. I didn't see one that referenced anything about total throttle loss. The closest one I found was T-SB-0111-22 and it didn't seem to describe quite what I experienced.

**Edited the original post to reflect the Limited and not Platinum. Thanks for calling that out. Completely a mistake. It was late...

 

The TSB did not solve the problem for me and several others.

I have had similar occurrences as OP. Very dangerous.

 

Just wondering, if you have anything aftermarket installed? Pedal commander, extra lights, or anything else? That’s some scary crap right there, I hope they resolve that issue!

 

Interesting, my truck exhibited the exact same issue as the OP. The TSB was the perfect fix for 2 months now

 

The TSB you quoted is correct. It solved my issue with a dead pedal from a stop. I did not have issues around 8th gear, but my issue happened from a stop while pulling onto a road, just like your experience. Took about 2 seconds for the pedal to respond. I had the TSB done two days later and the truck has been great for 2 months now.

Edit: from the 3rd gen tundra TSB post...
T-SB-0111-22 MY22+ Tundra: Hesitation From Stop and Surge Concerns

It states hesitation from a complete or rolling stop.

 

That’s great news! I really don’t want to go truck shopping again. I’ll be sure to reference this TSB on Monday. Thank you and everyone else for your responses. I’ll update this post once they complete their diagnosis and hopefully perform this fix. If anyone else has anything to add as far as this TSB and their experience with it and experiencing the same loss of throttle, please do.

 

Nothing beyond a bed cover. Fully stock. It was very scary. I’ll be making sure I have extra room to pull into traffic for quite a while. Hopefully they can resolve it Monday.

 

I’ve seen a few comments about this issue. Personally, I’ve never experienced it until I changed my driving style. Were you rolling or inching forward slightly before this happened? I felt hesitation taking off when I was already rolling forward before hitting the gas pedal but if I hit the gas pedal just after releasing the brake, there’s no hesitation.

 

Alex, what has your dealer or Toyota told you to do or have they offered to swap trucks? Here in SC the lemon law requires they try to fix it three times and the vehicle be out of use for 30 days before they have to legally offer me cash or a new vehicle.
I never thought I would go out due to my own vehicle murdering me but it’s fully an option nowadays apparently.

 

Typically, I’ll let off the break and start slowly accelerating prior to pushing it further down. I honestly don’t remember if this was the case but I had to pay attention this morning to see if I could replicate it and I think that’s how I typically drive. However, I know the truck responded when I pushed the pedal down further and it just paused throttle on its own for a moment as I was just getting going. So, normal throttling started and stopped then kicked back in. This would have been after my slow initial throttle if I did that.

 

Good thought. It was enabled but I don’t typically push the break hard enough for it to cut off. It was running the entire time on this particular outing. Was just a short drive.

 

I'm sure it was a scary moment. My 22 has the delay/dead pedal and dealer said the TSB still doesn't include mine. I have small loose asphalt millings at the edge of my yard and road. I'll coast up to the road to check if it's clear, then I'll push the pedal to go and .... nothing for a second. Dead just long enough to lose all momentum and then proceeds to spin because I'm taking off up a slight hill from a dead stop. It sucks.

 

Man, if I were you, I’d go to another dealership until someone does something. Maybe reach directly out to Toyota and get a case manager like “Donas” recommended I do. As I stated earlier, these things are a death trap when it happens. Pure pucker. I won’t drive this truck again until Toyota or the dealer flashes or replaces something.

 

Well, another member here confirmed that the flash does not include my VIN. So I don't think another dealership could do anything about it. I have a trailer to pull periodically so I don't want to leave it parked. I have a 2002 Tundra that I could drive but it's not gonna pull my trailer.

 

I'd demand a refund, or at least a full exchange for a 21.

 

I think you tagged the wrong person. I am not all that concerned about the issue. I'm still going to drive my truck and just deal with it's quirks. Do I wish it didn't happen? Of course. Will it keep me from utilizing my truck? Not a chance.

 

Here's my update on things. As I suspected, my dealer hooked up a code reader and said they can't find anything. I figured this would happen since no lights, beeps or warnings popped up when it happened. (which is nuts considering how much this truck beeps and flashes at most things) I reached out to Toyota Directly and created a case this morning. This afternoon I received a call and spoke with an associate who asked me a few more details and he then deleted my old case number and created a new one. This one is requesting a "Master Tech" to look into the issue. My dealer wants me to pickup the truck so I will be doing so tomorrow and taking it home to sit. Luckily, my trusty '95 Bronco will do just fine in the meantime.

That all being said, the new person that called this afternoon said that Toyota will submit a fix if they see that cases are being created. If anyone out there has not yet created a case describing what this post is about, please do so assuming you have experienced the same. That will only help Toyota see it needs to be fixed and hopefully do so. The number is 1-800-331-4331. Hit #7 at the first set of prompts and #3 at the second. Someone has picked up within seconds each time I have called. Explain the issue you have had and see if you can get a case manager assigned.

If you would like to share your case number with me in a PM, please do so and I'll send this along to my case manager so they can hopefully see it's an issue. I will send you mine as well.

 

I'm trying to nail this down so it can be replicated more consistently.

Sofar I've nailed it to specific vehicle speeds between 1-3mph (but possibly as high as 5mph) Full stops are fixed i think as my production is post TSB fix by +10,000 vin number sequence.
Steering angle isn't a factor, had it happen with wheels straight ahead.
Incline can be a factor but mostly being in that 1-3mph range due to the incline and or needing a little more torque to get going.
I was able to catch in reverse while data logging, command throttle went up, but actual throttle did not for a full 3-4 seconds later. When typically there is less than a .5 second delay between command and actual, but the laptop crashed so the data got lost.
If you resist the urge to continue pressing the accelerator, it does proceed to accelerate normally after a few seconds.
Engine was running at the time, and auto stop/start did not engage (Break pedal was not depressed)

I only drive 2-3 times a week for less than 15 miles a week but the same exact routes its maybe a 1 in 10 that the deadness shows itself while other trips are uneventful.

It's really hard to make it happen if you want it to, but if replicating for a dealer may want to try reverse as its more pronounced there from what I see.

Other info
Non-Hybrid Model
ECU CAL: 896630CR7301
TCU CAL 1: 8A2100C03400
TCU CAL 2: 895386002000

 

Best bet is to purchase a dash cam with forward facing and driver facing angles, maybe even a body cam, so that they could see that panic look in the owner's face swiftly followed by expletives when hitting the gas and nothing is happening... It may sound like I'm making a joke, but I'm 100% serious. I hate that response of we can't replicate what you're saying. This is the response I got when I claimed my truck overheated and they stated they couldn't replicate the issue, my water pump exploded 2 weeks later.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGmWUKa_-YA&t=70s

This reviewer kinda mentioned what I've seen happen intermittently. So it might be some glitch common to both powertrains on both platforms.

 

Funny, I took mine in for the same issue this morning. Ive had it happen a few times at intersections. The "tech" came out and told me the oil on my TRD Pro Air filters wasn't dry and that was causing the throttle lag. I literally said your shittin me right? Instead of giving this kid a session on how pre oiled Air filters keeps dirt from passing thru the cotton filaments and the fact I've run k&ns on every vehicle I've owned for the last 25 years, I just told him to please bring my truck back around so I can take it to another dealership with more experience. I have read that there's a TSB on this. I'll look back atbthe thread and see if I can find it.

 

The TSB works for a little while then the issue returns. Several threads on this already.

 

Well Crap. That sux, it seems to be getting more often on mine as well.

 

Bought a 23 limited, came with a defective transmission. Had to fight with the dealer to get them to acknowledge and replace it. Had to call corporate and send the videos to them.

fast forward 1000 miles, I pulled on to a 4 lane busy highway, went to gas it, truck lost all power and lit up like a Christmas tree. Dead stop in the middle of a highway. I hate this truck with a passion at this point.