Just purchased New GX Prado with opt pack 2. When towing 20' van downhill (not far out of
Tamworth heading towards Armidale for those interested) I entered a long left hander only to hear the dash sound a warning beep then appear to near lock up rh front wheel or loose traction on rear wheels which ever. This in turn jacknifed the van and by luck more than anything else we sraightened up some 30 meters later. Scariest crap I have had to deal with in my 31 years of driving. The beep I believe was the "slip indicator light" but not sure as I had my handfull keeping the car and van on the road at the time. The brakes would have been pretty warm at the time also. Although I feel nearly 99% that I had finished braking and was simply cornering at the time. I can only assume it had something to do with the "active traction control system" Can you advise me if van pushing from behind would compromise the system?
Sent above enquiry off to Toyota and was told to take vehicle off to dealer for inspection. I responded with below email in mid August and still awaiting response.
Thank you for your suggestion
I had the vehicle inspected by a Toyota dealership just after occurrence (as you would having nearly wiped out me and my family) but of course nothing abnormal detected. And there has been nothing wrong when driving the vehicle normally. The problem only occurs whilst towing caravan downhill. There has been 2 occasions where there has been a warning beep and because I have been cornering it has been difficult to avert me eyes to the dash to see what’s illuminated. One of these occasions it appeared to be the "slip indicator light". And the other time I didn’t get a chance to see any warning lights (this was the incident where it appeared as if major traction was applied to the RH front wheel, this in turn jackknifed the van).
After the vehicle inspection by Toyota I asked if any of these “driver assist” functions could be disabled.
After looking for switches on the dash and console the reply was “no”. It appears to me that the only time that any functions of this nature can be disabled is when you switch over to engage the centre diff lock. Is this correct?
Have you any explanation to what may have occurred in the van jackknifing incident outlined in my initial email and what actions could be taken to avoid such a situation again? I know this is a big call but nobody has been able to explain to me exactly how active traction works under certain circumstances i.e. when vehicle is getting pushed on an angle from behind by a caravan. I must at this point mention that I am only assuming the “active traction” somehow kicked in or ceased thus causing the situation.
And what possible combinations a warning beep from dash indicates. Just as a reminder it is a 2008 GX Prado turbo diesel auto with option pack 2.
As you can understand I don’t take this incident lightly as it had the potential to be a fatality for both my family and any other oncoming vehicle occupants at the time. Any comments will be viewed with great interest.
End of Toyota correspondence.
I am also currently seeking feedback from various avenues including Insurance Companies . I remember when I sat down with the Toyota sales rep he told me of a nice retired Italian couple who had just been in the previous week after rolling and totally their relatively new Prado and van. He said to them that there were two good things to come out of the ordeal. One being the air bags and seatbelts worked fine and injuries were minimal. The other being that their insurance cover meant they stepped into new car with more features and better economy. Now at the time I thought that being old retirees they may be new to towing so I put it down to inexperience but after my episode I’m not so sure. Whilst up at Brunswick Heads our neighbour told me he had just come down from
Cairns and saw a similar accident and heard of another within the following week. (Tow vehicles not specified) Now don’t get me wrong I don’t feel it’s common to the Prado but in my case it was definitely “vehicle stability control system” which brought upon my near accident. And as near as I can make out the “traction control” must have been the culprit
Sorry explanation is so long. Has anyone heard of any similar incidents and anyway you can disable all this rubbish for towing conditions only? (never had this grief when towing same van with the 1991 fairlane)
Thanks