2011 4runner - does your cruise control suck too?

[t4rjc]

I just bought a 2011 4runner Limited and overall am VERY happy. Great rig. One beef I have (and I searched the forums but couldn't find other threads already) is cruise control. When I go up hills, it compensates and generally takes me 4-5 miles an hour above my set speed after the road flattens out. My 97 never did anything like this.

Do others have this problem? Is this unique to mine? I am assuming it does not have anything to do with my larger tires.

 

[philsey]

I use mine regularly, and have no complaints. Nor do I recall seeing other posts here with your problem.

If the problem is repeatable, take it to the dealer.

He may say "that's the way they all are" -- if so take another one for a test drive.

 

[harper7]

I just bought a 2011 4runner Limited and overall am VERY happy. Great rig. One beef I have (and I searched the forums but couldn't find other threads already) is cruise control. When I go up hills, it compensates and generally takes me 4-5 miles an hour above my set speed after the road flattens out. My 97 never did anything like this.

Do others have this problem? Is this unique to mine? I am assuming it does not have anything to do with my larger tires.

Yep, got my only speeding ticket in the 5th after it accelerated to 82 just over the crest of a hill last year in New Mexico on VC.

I had the Cruise set on 77 and the speed limit was 70. My Valentine radar detector went off the same time the cop pulled the trigger on his radar gun! Ties go to officer of the law!

In New Mexico the speeding ticket for 12mph over was only $90 so it wasn't too bad and it was mail in. Same speeding ticket here in TX cost about twice that!

I found that you can have the cruise on and still use the "sport" mode. So now I'll keep it over in 4th or 3rd and shift with the cruise still on. Seems to help if you shift yourself once it goes over the crest.

 

[Froggy]

. . . I found that you can have the cruise on and still use the "sport" mode. So now I'll keep it over in 4th or 3rd and shift with the cruise still on. . .

My cruise won't work in 3rd. It conforms to what's printed in my Owner's Manual:

•Cruise control can be set when
• The shift lever is in D or “3” (standard type), or in D, or “4” or “5” range of
S has been selected (multi-mode type).
• Vehicle speed is above 25 mph (40 km/h).

 

[harper7]

My cruise won't work in 3rd. It conforms to what's printed in my Owner's Manual:

•Cruise control can be set when
• The shift lever is in D or “3” (standard type), or in D, or “4” or “5” range of
S has been selected (multi-mode type).
• Vehicle speed is above 25 mph (40 km/h).

Ya ,your probably right. I thought I was kicking it all the way back to 3rd going thru some mountain passes in Co. but could be wrong. I probably just had it to the floor as their was some steep ones and she didn't want to go!! At least the speed I wanted.

What does it do...turn cruise off when you bring it back to 3rd. I'll try to remember to check it out on the way home tonight.

 

[JB.]

Sounds like it's unchanged from the 4th gen. Seems to be a simple, speed reactive system with limited intelligence. The 4th gen will downshift into 3rd while in cruise but if you manually do it, cruise shuts off.

 

[Froggy]

It does indeed turn it off when shifting to 3rd. I can understand 'turning off' in 1st or 2nd. However, the cruise control itself will shift to 3rd when the shift lever is in 'D' so why not allow cruise in 3rd while in "Sport" mode?

 

[t4rjc]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, not a very intelligent system, or too quick to respond to fluctuations. My wife's Odyssey does a much better job as it will lay off the gas (even going up a hill) if you begin to exceed the set speed. The 4runner will too, but too slowly. So it's too quick to respond to the slow-down in speed and too slow to respond to the speed-up.

Bummer.

 

[TrailHunter]

When going up a hill my cruise control overcompensates and "floors it". I have remarked to passengers how annoying it is. I never used cruise control until recently, so I'm not entirely sure if this is normal for all cars or not.

 

[MattH72]

K kk&&k&&k&&k&. & k5&k&5k3e&nnnnnn

 

[TrailHunter]

:iagree:

 

[1000MPH]

I've become used to judging upcoming hills and will either accelerate a little with CC on or cancel for the bigger hills. I try to avoid heavy throttle and double downshifting unless I'm trying to keep up with traffic, helps a bit on MPGs. Would be nice to have the ability to adjust CC min/max tolerances. Still waiting for the day all computer controlled systems on a car are user adjustable/configurable...legally or ?

 

[Marantzer]

Having just bought a 2011 Limited too, I can say this is my only disappointment thus far. It's not really unexpected though, as every SUV I've ever driven suffers from this issue. My family has a Suburban that can really get you in trouble if you aren't watching it.

My last car, a 740i, would maintain its speed perfectly when on cruise control regardless of the situation. In fact, I can't remember one time that it actually had to kick down to maintain its speed going uphill. I understand we're talking apples to oranges but I miss that car every time the 4Runner kicks down. This quickly goes away though when I think about maintenance costs!

 

[bobs4state]

Me too

It happens to me all the time, and it doesn't have to be a steep incline. Every time it happens, my wife goes, "What are you doing?!" And I have to say, "Its the car!" Totally embarrassing. Not bad enough to make me hate the truck, but its on this list!:redbrick:

 

[T4R_Finally]

No complaints with mine. But not very hilly around here. But drove it through 4 states this summer and don't recall this issue.

 

[kmiller8821]

FWIW, it does the same behavior on mine. I tend to disable cruise now when I'm traveling on those types of roads. On flat freeways (the trip from dallas to houston, for example) It does well and holds speed without issue.

 

[lastcall18]

This is funny... I was going to post this exact post... Mine as accelerated up to 10mph over the set point... Had me wondering why I was doing 80 with it set at 70.. doesn't take much of a hill for it to do it either... I just figure it doesn't have the power to keep the speed up..

 

[homeyclaus]

Every cruise control I have ever used behaved this way.

If the vehicle is heavy and has a tall cruising gear, the overcompensation will be more than it would with a lighter vehicle with a better power to weight ratio.

Could cruise controls be smarter than they are today? Sure.

 

[Ripsnort]

My Limited does have a tendency to overspeed with CC.
When I owned a new BMW, it's accuracy was about +/- 1 mph. VERY accurate. My FJ Cruiser and now this Limited is nowhere near the accuracy of BMW.

 

[darkandshiny]

This 'problem' is also made worse by the addition of larger tires. Larger tires essentially makes all the gears taller so the (rudimentary) computer sometimes has to hunt for the right gear.

I just test drove a 2011 Ford F-150 with the EcoBoost V6 engine - It did the exact same thing. We were on the freeway and I had the cruise set at 65. We had a 3-4% grade climb for about 3 miles. By the time we reached the top the speedo indicated 77 mph!

My cheap little Hyundai's cruise control stays +or- 2 mph. Probably because the the thing weighs slightly more than a Harley Davidson Road King.