Learn me on these brakes..

I’ll admit I did not read the owners manual. Also, since brakes were not on the front page I did not search. I did go to the dealer to get an explanation but only listened to stories. I was actually looking for someone there to tell me how they work and what is going on. Hence this post. Ok,

2019 SR5 Tundra. I have had a few brake hard, square warning light come on, and then the brakes are not hard anymore. Am I supposed to keep my foot in it? I’m old, no new car technology of recent so I’m kinda used to keeping my distance knowing I can slam on my brakes, swerve the rear end, and avoid the collision.

Today the car in front of the car in front of me on the crowded freeway just shut ‘er down. The truck in front of me did the same. When I realized the truck was stopped (we were going slow - 55 in a 65 fwiw) I had about thirty feet, slammed on my brakes, and what was solid braking turned into, for lack of a better description, nothing, air, I don’t know. At that point I saw front end to rear end, cut hard left and just grazed his left rear to my right front. He didn’t hit the lady in front of him because he said his Ford brakes were just better than mine.

I’m assuming my brakes work fine, these pucker moments I get from perhaps not knowing how brakes like this work?? not so fine..Hep hep me, dayum..

 

Best way to improve braking is to not tailgate. 30 feet at 55 mph is WAY TO CLOSE! You're driving a 3 ton truck not a corvette. "Swerving the rear end"? You sir are insane.

 

Could get fun up in here.









OP, although TundyFundy is right about following too closely, you’re not the only one that’s experienced weird (lack of) braking. Probably someone will answer up with more to learn you.

 

I honestly think Toyota needs to seriously tweak their VSC and braking design. I have aftermarket slotted rotors and always drive with VSC off. Never had a problem, stops on a dime. If VSC is on, then I get very weird braking response. Feels like the computer is not as quick to respond as a human, for lack of a better explanation.

 

I agree with this description. And then there’s “ice mode”, the off-road version of this, which is extra scary because of the additional traction challenges with loose soil.

 

Hey Sunni!! Miss you!

Crazy that Toyota has this issue on some of the trucks. My brakes work like a charm. I had to emergency brake once and jerked the wheel pretty hard to the right while Anti lock was doing it’s thing. I swear the truck kept itself on all four wheels. I felt it compensating for the load imbalance. Nothing short of amazing.

Brakes aside, I think OP’s scenario could’ve been solved By maintaining a safe following distance/ being more attentive. If he was thirty feet away at 55 mph when he realized the guy was stopping it’s too late. Reaction time will eat up more than half that distance, and you just can’t stop a truck that fast.

 

I agree. But then I allow a lot of distance and brake check to wake up tailgaters. I’m no fan of getting my irreplaceable inferno truck wrecked by someone “drafting” on the freeway.

P.S. I miss you too, Homie! I’d love to see you, your modded up truck, and your soon to be Baby Momma soon.

 

Sounds like a plan! When’s the next SoCal shenanigan?! We got married on Saturday!

Also just put in the NSV light bar and the 2018 LED headlights.
It’s been a great month!

 

Awesome! Congratulations!!!!

 

Thank you! Biggest day of my life and loved every second.

On another note I finally get to use the ball and chain emoji!!

 

Haha! Yes, that ball and chain emoji is where it’s at! Welcome to the club. And congratulations to the Mrs.

 

Agreed. When we got some snow last winter and I went and did some donuts in the Kohl's parking lot I tested out the various settings in 4WD. I felt the truck handled much better w/everything turned off than with it on.

 

I do the same. It's convenient that we can see over 75% of the cars on the highway so we can see red brake lights way ahead and can prepare (assuming paying attention to the road)

 

When I drove in Houston traffic daily, it seemed that morning and evening drivers were "professional commuters". The risk of someone being stupid was actually lower during rush hours. Everyone seemed to apply the method I learned to avoid emergency braking. Regardless of vehicle height, you have to position yourself in the lane to see several cars ahead; e.g. hug the left lane boundary on the inside lane.

Method: When the second vehicle ahead of you applies brakes, let up on the accelerator, coast, and prepare to brake. When the car directly ahead applies brakes, then you begin braking and using up the reasonable following distance you've allowed. Often by the time you've closed on the vehicle ahead, his brakes are off and he's accelerating. A by-product of this method was that stop and go, bumper-to-bumper traffic became a smoother, faster, constant flow, and we all got home sooner.

 

Can you come to Akron and teach the drivers here these methods? Rush hour is worse here and everyone tail gates and cuts everyone off because they're in the wrong lane.

 

Ok so tundyfundy & petunia married their man, we have one vsc in an answer (thanks), one all off on bells and whistles (thanks), one antilock brake in answer (thanks) and a bunch of nanny’s. Okie dokie. There is someone out there I’m sure that knows what is going on with the brakes. Check the dealer and the folks at tundras.com off the list

 

With a 2019, that should have been your first thought. I'm surprised you haven't read enough threads here asking about "brakes not working right/pedal soft/travels to the floor, etc, etc" to have totally lost confidence in us already.

It all comes down to getting ALLLL the air out of the system. Once you are ABSOLUTELY sure that has been accomplished, and there is no improvement, replace components as required starting with MC, then the ABS controller. Or...if your dealer has master tech with a passion for their job, let them diagnose and repair.

 

You forgot don’t tailgate and pay attention. I suggest you add those 2 to your take away.

 

Another suggestion is that you familiarize yourself with how the brakes operate. Take the truck out to a BIG empty parking lot or a deserted road. Bring the truck up to a low steady speed say 20 mph, then shower down HARD on the brakes. There must not be anyone behind you of course. You don't need to worry that your bed is going to pass you during this exercise. Your ABS should activate with a rapid thumping sound, and the tires should never lock up and skid. You will be amazed at just how quickly your truck came to complete stop.

During this exercise, low pedal or soft pedal is a brake system problem. Hard pedal, then soft pedal, then to the floor is also likely to be a brake system problem (or gremlins), but it will take a master tech to diagnose because you've got air in the system or fluid is bypassing seals somewhere inside the system.

 

With our trucks you’ll need to keep a full four seconds behind the car in front of you.. If you don’t, you will see what the interior of the car in front of you looks like first hand..

 

OK, my .02 cents worth:

If there is a car behind me, I try to hug the right side on the road so they can see what's going on in front of me. I believe it has kept me from getting "rear ended" a few times.Please keep the remarks clean!

 

On the street 100% of the time we don't test the capability of our vehicles as well as our own ability to perform defensive driving tactics. It would be good practice to test the potential of what your truck and you are capable of doing so when those skills are needed muscle memory kicks in and you react instantaneously, having already experienced what you and your truck are capable of. Brakes on the tundra could be improved but improving the driver would be more beneficial instead of having a false since of upgraded performance throwing expensive parts on your truck. Routine maintenance and upkeep goes along way to ensure optimum consistent performance.

 

Sounds like you may have gotten into ABS. When that happens you do get a feel that the brake is going away a bit and you should feel some pulsing associated with it but just stay in the brakes, they are working. You're basically just at the max brake limit and you may/may not be breaking traction trying to slow down.

If you've never experienced engaging the ABS while slowing down hard it's a weird feeling and I can see how one can think the brakes aren't working right. I know I have.

I think people should practice engaging this so they understand what's going on in a panic situation. Most people have no clue so if it does engage they probably let off the brake thinking something is wrong rather than staying in it.

Not sure if that's what happened but it sounds like it.

 

I've never ever had a braking problem with my 2017 four wheel drive. As said >>>> it's a 3 ton hunka-hunka of moving metal. As said >>>> be a smart driver and pre-brake.

OP, have you checked your brake master cylinder to be 1000% sure it is at the proper (read: full) level?

 

Since this thread has been hijacked and physically assaulted, not to mention the OP getting all the pithy advice needed, I feel a little less guilty about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxjcN9cqL98

 

I've had a few folks tell me ABS doesn't work. They're mostly older so I suspect they're used to non-ABS systems and trying to threshold brake the ABS. My advice to them is always: push the pedal to the floor and hold it there until you stop.

 

Yeppers...and if you've taken good care of your brake system, it'll be like hitting the arresting cable on an aircraft carrier.

 

My previous truck was a Taco with slotted rotors and Green Stuff pads. That one stopped on a dime. When I went to the Tundra I had to re-think how I drive. These trucks are heavy and they just don't stop like a car. Even though the Tundra stock brakes are better than the Taco stock ones IMHO, the weight of the truck means that you need to be more careful. I have had some close calls but the brakes did what they needed to do to stop the truck in time.

Toyota has been using brake assist technology for some time now. When the big caution light comes on, the brakes preload so that as soon as you press the pedal you have instant brakes. Once you slow down or stop the truck, the braking will return to normal. When using cruise they will also preload whenever the brakes are applied by the cruise control system.