Traction Control System Problems of Toyota 4Runner

The contact owns a 2004 Toyota 4runner. The contact stated while driving 30 mph over a bump in the road, she heard an abnormally loud sound and the windshield shattered without impact and the sunroof panel loosened. The contact also stated that the vehicle was shaking uncontrollably. The contact stated that the traction control warning light was illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the subframe was rusted and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.

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The contact owns a 2003 Toyota 4runner. While driving 65 mph, the vsc and traction control warning indicators illuminated. The anti-lock braking system engaged and locked the front brakes. The vehicle violently pulled to the left lane and the steering and brakes failed. The dealer was unable to duplicate the failure and repair the vehicle. The manufacturer stated that they were unaware of the failure previously occurring. The failure mileage was approximately 167,000.

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Near the end of August four warning lights came on at the same time in my 2003 4runner. They were the vsc trac, vsc off, abs and brake. I scheduled an appointment with the local Toyota authorized repair shop to determine and fix the problem. They looked at the vehicle and discovered significant rust and corrosion on the frame, rear axle and attached parts. I have asked for an estimate to repair, and they are unable to do so as there is so much rust, corrosion, and lack of material to work with. I am the second owner of this vehicle. The first owner, a friend of mine, had the vehicle undercoated the day after purchase, kept the car in a garage, and washed the vehicle frequently including the underside. I purchased the vehicle in February 2007 with 13,750 miles. It has also lived in a garage here. As of August 29, 2013, the date of the inspection, the vehicle had 24,005 miles. The exterior of the vehicle is in perfect condition, and the interior is the same. However, the underside is a different story. I have contacted Toyota and received this response. "there are no known issues or current recalls relating to body and frame rust issued for your vehicle. . . Your vehicle is out of warranty, and we would be unwilling to offer you any compensation for any repairs to the vehicle. While we understand your dissatisfaction with this decision, it does represent Toyota's final position in this matter. ".

22dec12 49f entered corner at 50mph, roads slightly wet. 4runner decided the car was slipping and the panic beeps went off and the car applied brakes. Unfortunately the computer straightened the car out and pointed it off the road. It took all my strength to turn the car back into the corner and finally the computer stopped the panic. After this I was unable to turn off the traction control via the enable/disable button until I had turned off the vehicle. I was following a car into the corner and that car navigated the corner fine. Also, since owning this vehicle, 10 times it has assumed I was panic braking. Literally, the 4runner slams on the brakes and brings the vehicle to a stop. Luckily there has been no one behind me during these events. In the winter of 2011, the 4runner lost control on an icy road at fairly low speed. I couldn't do anything because the computer was trying to get control back. I suspect the computer got confused because I could have totally gotten control back. The traction control is never really off. You can turn it off, but it will kick back on when it thinks you are no longer in control of the vehicle.

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While driving, the cel (check engine light) came on and the vsc trac and vsc off lights came on as well. Apparently Toyota disables vsc when the cel is triggered. In my case, the 2 times it has occurred has been due to emissions related failures (1st time the cat failed, 2nd time one of the O2 sensors failed). In the 1st case, I immediately took the vehicle to the dealership as I was approaching the end of the emissions warranty. They made the repairs and cleared all the codes so wasn't aware that the vsc system was actually disabled. The 2nd time (O2 failure) I replaced the failed O2 sensor, the cel has cleared, however the vsc lights are still on and vsc is disabled. I have serious concerns that Toyota disables key safety systems due to emissions related failures especially given the inherent stability problems with SUV's. If I'm on a trip with my family and an O2 sensor fails, or a catalytic converter fails, or the gas cap fails, key safety systems that help keep my family and I safe should not be disabled! I think this deserves an investigation.

Abs warning lite stays on, brake lite is on, vsc trac lite on. Goes on & off intermittenly. Mostly stays on. Brakes occationally feel crunchy and do not stop properly. Am caling for service today. Vehicle will be parked until problem can be resolved.

2010 Toyota 4runner, in this case a 4 wheel drive. Panic braking at 55mph+ is dangerous. If you suddenly remove your foot from the gas pedal and suddenly apply full braking pressure to the brake pedal, the car lurches downward into a nose dive so violently that in one case I would swear the rear tires lost contact with the road. The two times I have encountered this I was on dry pavement and it is scary, I can't imagine wet conditions. In the incident where I was traveling approx. 65 mph the braking application was so severe that I backed off the pedal completely and then attempted to apply brakes more gradually and I got a minimal response from the brakes. In other words, the computer was terribly confused and didn't know what to do. The car has under 10,000 miles and both incidents resulted in some tire skidding. The anti-lock brake sensor/software needs fixing along with the front suspension being stiffened.

2010 Toyota 4runner fails to accelerate intermittently when gas pedal is pressed. Has failed to respond to accelerator for a full three seconds at one point. Commonly, delayed response lasts 1-2 seconds. Took vehicle to dealership. They were unable to duplicate the problem. Service tech said this could be caused by the electronic traction control. Issue occurs regardless of traction conditions.

My 2004 Toyota 4 runner skidded in stop light when there was little ice on street. When I tried to accelerate the car after stopping a stop light, the vehicle makes humming noise and skid making it out of control. In winter 2009, similar incident happened on I-69 (20 miles east of flint, mi), when I tried to accelerate the SUV and lost control as the car skidded off the road causing injury. This is a serious problem and I believe is a design defect with the acceleration system. This may be life threatening as I am always worried to drive the car. This serious design problem with 2004 Toyota 4 runner should be investigated for safety.

This complaint concerns the new 2010 Toyota 4runner. There is an issue with the braking system and handling for this vehicle. Upon depressing the brakes, the pedal travels a considerable distance sounds squeaky and notchy and delays in stopping. The anti-lock brakes do not interact quickly and often times engaged at the very end of the brake distance and creates a very uncomfortable and unsettling feeling. The height clearance is also a concern because when cross winds hit the vehicle it creates a very unsettling feeling and causes the vehicle to sway and get under the vehicle making prone to loss control. That wind does not have to be excessive; the mildest of winds will cause a disruption. Several measures have been taken to have a local Toyota dealership review and address the issue and they have come back and stated that it operates according to specifications. No one other than Toyota knows of those specifications and they will not disclose them until enough people highlight this issue by complaining. To add further insult to injury, Toyota has placed an administrative hold on any repairs unless they sanction it. In one of the latest uses, I had a deer cross my path and I tried to stop and the vehicle kept moving along and the brakes grabbed after 12 feet. I missed the deer but I was forced to relive the issue of how faulty the brakes are for this vehicle. It reinforced the issues with the braking system. We need for Toyota to own up to this hidden defect. The electrical systems in these vehicles seem to control every operating aspect of the vehicle and that appears at issue as well. Updated ivoq 01/20/11 the consumer would like a response to his complaint updated ivoq 03/01/11.

My Toyota 4runner, dated 2000, is running by itself. I need to keep pressing the brakes hard in order to slow the car down. This is happening for the last several years. I believe the electronic system is defective.

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1) stopped at stop sign with snow on the ground. Then accelerate turning onto another road. 2) vehicle can accelerate and move a few feet before the trac (traction control) system activates. The power to the engine is then cut off. At this point you are unable to move, stuck in the middle of an intersection. There is a few second delay before you can get any power back to the engine. Ultimately, you are left in the middle of the intersection with no power to the wheels waiting to see if another vehicle is going to t-bone you. I have had multiple, very close calls. Failure occurs every single time you try to accelerate from a stop and the system senses even a tiny loss of traction. The complete loss of accelerator function and delay until the return of power is very dangerous. 3) there is no fix. I was told there is no way to disable the trac system that is supposed to be a safety feature when in reality it is an extremely dangerous system. Toyota must think a little wheel spin is more dangerous than completely taking away the driver's ability to control their own vehicle I have driven vehicles that have trac and it does not function like it does on this particular vehicle. The system is severely overly sensitive and overly controlling.

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After replacing an oxygen sensor several times, the dealership finally discovered the root of the problem that is making the oxygen sensor and traction control circuit short out. The air divertor flap inside the hvac box under the dash had grease applied to the flap hinges in the factory. Directly below the flap is a wiring harness which drops down from the hvac box and plug into the ecu. Over time the grease has traveled down through the wiring harness to the electrical connection plug into the ecu causing various circuits to short. No damage at present, however various safety circuits such as traction control are being affected. Furthermore, as oil is combustible, an interior fire could result from the oil penetrating the 12 volt electrical connection point on the ecu. This issue/ problem should be considered hazardous and should be a recall to replace the wiring harness and ecu as well as clean the grease out of the hvac box.

My 2003 Toyota 4runner has the vsc trac/trac off light on. Ever since these 2 lights have been on my vehicle performance has been affected. I have had 2 incidents where my 4runner fishtails on mild wet road, the 2 times when this happened I was entering a ramp, and while slightly turning onto the street my vehicle fishtailed violently and turning the vehicle facing the opposite direction against approaching traffic. It was a very scary scenario. I was going very slow since it was an exiting ramp with a stop light so I hit on the brakes to slow down and make the turn at the light onto the street and this is what the vehicle did. . . This has happened twice already. I've seen many reports on the internet from many people having this problem. Is there a recall in place for this type of problems (vsc trac/trac off) on the 4runners?? please advice.

The vehicle rpms would go up but the car would barley move, or while driving going to accelerate the vehicle would not go faster to engage in traffic, corrosion of pins in the transmission wiring harness that connects to the engine wiring harness. This harness is also tied to the abs, traction control. It causes the vehicle to become unsafe when driving as if it acts up you cannot accelerate and sort of chugs along. Dangerous in on ramp and traffic situations. This also caused the solenoid in the transmission to short out as it was hanging up on the shift which caused a clunking sound. The transmission wire harness was replaced which showed 3 corroded pins. The solenoid in the transmission was also replaced.

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Failure of automatic braking control and anti-skid control. Service light activated but no recall or notice to consumers. See technical service bulletin br 005-03 (Dec. 4, 2003). Toyota refuses to recognize safety risk or obligation to replace outside of warranty period.

2003 Toyota 4runner vsc trac, vsc off, brake, abs lights on.

I was driving a 2001 Toyota 4runner on a 2 lane mountain highway a couple years ago. Wintertime, wet road. Going 50 mph around a wide right turn, the anti-skid brake system suddenly screeched at me, and apparently applied the brakes on the left side of the car, causing it to swerve left towards the opposing lane of traffic. I managed to correct, and avoid an accident. I went with my friend whose car it was to the dealer later and described the occurrence. The dealer claimed that one of the tires was low. I never trust anti-skid brake systems since this occurrence. This kind of response is completely unacceptable. That same car also had a firmware glitch in the 4 wheel system that would cause the 4 wheel not to be disabled until you pulled over and shut off the engine for a bit, on an unfrequented basis.

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Warning lights began coming on around 60,000 miles or so. Started with the low tire pressure light & now has progressed to the vsc on, vsc off, abs warning lights being on all the time and the low tire pressure light is still on. I have taken this vehicle into 2 different dealers to be fixed for 40,000 miles or around 3 years which amounts to multiple trips to the dealer, waiting while they work on it or going without a vehicle for days at a time while they try to figure out what is wrong. They have replaced abs sensors, engine computers, brakes, speed sensor wires, reset computers, ordered new valve stems for the tires. I can get online & find thousands of complaints regarding the same issue in Toyotas & Lexus vehicles since at least 2001. The dealerships look at me like I am the very first & only person to ever mention these problems. The solutions online have ranged from defective master cylinder/brake booster assembly, faulty ignition coil, O2 sensors, vsc computers, catalytic converters & brake pedal switches. Also problems with the exhaust system & acceleration module under the console was listed as fixing these issues. Why has this issue not been addressed and/or fixed in 8 years ? there have been times when my brakes did not work, times when they barely worked, times when I put the brakes on & it abruptly pulls to the left or right & a couple of times when my vehicle would not accelerate as I was pulling across traffic. As I read of these "freak" accidents lately with Toyotas, I have to wonder if they really are "freak accidents". I do not want my family or myself to be one of the Toyota fatalities this year or anytime. When is something going to be done ? how many more innocent people have to die ?.

I purchased a brand new 2003 Toyota 4runner in may 2003. In one cold morning of Jan. 2005, I was driving it in highway that was still covered with some snow. All of sudden, an engine check light on the dashboard was automatically turned on, followed by vsc lights, indicating that a vehicle skid control function was automatically turned off. At that point, I could not drive the car beyond 50 mph, no matter how hard or frequently I pushed the accelerator pedal. I pulled over, restarted, and re-entered the highway but had the same results. I managed to drive the car to a dealer for inspection the same day. The dealer could not find a cause and simply reset the computer controller. This seemed to have resolved the problem at that time. However, the engine check and vsc light issues resurfaced about two years later. The difference this time was that there was no acceleration issue. No inspection was made. The dashboard lights were automatically turned off after driving for about a month. In Jan. 2010, those lights reappeared and have remained turned on. No impact on acceleration has been observed.