Toyota Safety Sense (TSS): Love it? Hate it? Can it be turned off?

I wondered the same thing. I'd guess it probably only flashes the brake lights when it does that panic brake bull shit

 

Neither hate it or love it. My 07 doesn't need the nannies nor me. Been doing good so far driving for 46 years....

 

Uses the brakes whenever it slows.

 

Overall I like the features, I haven't had any problems except for getting rear ended. The lady behind was following too close and the guy in front stopped shorter then I expected. The TSS kicked in and slammed the breaks and stopped short when I was trying to get closer to the guy in front before stopping.

 

I keep the lane departure warning off. The radar cruise is great and I like the auto high beams. No issues.

 

I have only done one long trip on the interstate and I have to say that is the worst place to use adaptive cruise.

If you aren't' paying attention it will slow you down to the same speed as the little lady in front of you and you will be driving 52mph down the interstate. With regular cruise you would have ran up on her and changed lanes and passed her a long time ago.

 

I brought mine in to get looked at. Tech found water in the connectors and sensor which burnt it out. They are replacing it tomorrow but how does Toyota put the sensor there if it can’t handle a little water? They said Toyota advises against high pressure car washes for that reason.

 

I do like the adaptive cruise, and the pre-collision has worked fine for me-
alerting me when somebody right in front of me makes a sudden stop. I normally keep lane depart off. It has only done 1 or 2 wonky stop/alarms for no reason.

I travel between locations for work, racking up 500-1000 miles per week, and I have to use that time to make calls, so these upgrades do add a layer of safety while I am on the babble.

I will say, there is a possible danger in getting used to the features; when I had to drive my wife’s Pilot, I had to get used to the LACK of the adaptive cruise- it seemed odd that the vehicle wasn’t slowing itself like I have gotten used to on freeway drives in my truck. Only took minutes to adjust though.

 

I have no issues. I have turned off lane departure warnings and parking sensors. The adaptive cruise is nice for less crowded highways. On busy interstates it can be a pain, but very easy to turn off.

The brake warning has come on twice, but it was probably warranted (speeding into a big curve...damn tow/haul mode).

Other than that, nothing to complain about on my end

 

I played around with all this stuff for the first month or so. Here is my current take:

1) Lane stray was annoying, I don't need to be scolded if I cross the line safely. Turned it off with the button on the steering wheel. Don't miss it (and never have in 45 years of driving).
2) Adaptive cruise is okay until you are rounding a sweeping left turn on the freeway in the left lane passing a slower vehicle in the right lane. It will sometimes think that you are approaching a slower vehicle and it slams the brakes on. It will also slam the brakes on if someone changes lanes in front of you going slower. I don't like either of these issues, it surprises vehicles following.

Also, I was on a two lane road following a vehicle that pulled off the road to the right to stop. The adaptive cruise slammed on the brakes thinking that I was going rear end the vehicle. Not good for those following either.

3) Auto-brights are handy at times (mountain roads especially) but I don't like the fact that it blasts the oncoming vehicle before dimming. I like to anticipate the vehicle approaching and dim before I see his/her headlights. Just a courtesy thing.

Dan

 

If you use the turn signal lane departure won't yell at you when you cross the line. Fun fact of the day.

 

I didn't want to say anything and put anyone on the spot . . .

 

Lane departure is annoying and that is turned off unless a long road trip. Adaptive cruise is nice, but I wish I could close the gap just a bit more. 2 second gap is a bit too far out for me. I haven't had the coffee cup come on yet. Blind spot is nice, but kinda pointless without an auditory alarm like in other models I've driven. I like the parking sensors, but have them off since I pull into my 3rd car garage spot, which is tight, and every sensor is going nuts. Rear cross traffic is nice as well. Got tested out with some pedestrians the other day, which my wife's CX-5 doesn't do.

I'm curious too if under hard automated stops, if the brake lights come on.

 

The manual gives instructions on how to adjust this range to three settings. The default is the long one.

Dan

 

Yep and I turn it to the closest

 

Well I thought my pre collision issue would’ve been fixed today but Toyota changed their minds about what they wanted to do. Instead of replacing just the sensor, Toyota corporate wants the whole harness taken out and shipped back to them to see why everything went out when the sensor failed. They say I’m the first to have the sensor go out and everything disappear from the ECU including lane departure, cross traffic, blind spot. Now it will take 2 days to replace because they have to recalibrate the whole system which takes 6-8 hours after replacing the tss harness.

 

I can confirm that when using the adaptive cruise, the brake lights do come on. I was driving home late Saturday night and notice the tail end light up when approaching a slower moving car. Now this was when it felt like the truck was actively braking, not just slowing down.