For Those of You Who Take (or going to) the 5th Gen 4Runner Off Road

[1engineer]

Make sure you read your manual! Particularly the section on "RSCA Off" button. This will turn off the side curtain air bags. Read this thread http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/137826-4runner-off-roading-all-nannies-vsc-trac-etc.html starting on the 8th post I believe. This could save you a lot of headache down the road. Just a PSA for the community of 4Runners.

 

[MeBe4running]

Yes good point and glad you brought it to attention in the other thread. This can be the issue with having such a tech-filled truck, one forgets or in the other person's case gets overwhelemd by all the off-road options that they don't know what is what and more importantly what should be turned off and on given the situation your in.

I actually moved the switched to remind me when I first got the truck as I always forgot. I will say it is not as sensitive as you may think but don't go a try and push it.

I bet Harper7 has a fact sheet somewhere on the degree it would deploy?

See attached image: Factory Switch Location and My Moved Location

 

[4ShoreRunner]

I told my gf about this button when I first bought the truck...the second my tires leave the pavement she's like a warning chime, "TURN OFF THE AIRBAGS"

I think its legitimately the only thing she even knows about my truck.

 

[homeyclaus]

A good mod is to actually swap the momentary switch for an on-off switch, since every time you turn the ignition off it turns back on. At least if you do a lot of off-road driving, then walk some, then drive some, etc.

I'll do that to my Tundra along with the ADD override.

 

[DannyLlama]

[MENTION=51868]MeBe4running[/MENTION] - whats that phone button for in the first picture in your post?

 

[brockeverly]

[MENTION=51868]MeBe4running[/MENTION] - whats that phone button for in the first picture in your post?

BluLogic most likely

 

[MadH8R]

Thanks!

I appreciate this info!

 

[Intruder]

A good mod is to actually swap the momentary switch for an on-off switch, since every time you turn the ignition off it turns back on. At least if you do a lot of off-road driving, then walk some, then drive some, etc.

I'll do that to my Tundra along with the ADD override.

That sounds like a good idea. I'm good at hitting the button at the beginning of the day when airing down but often forget to press it again after stopping for lunch. Then again, if it were a switch I'd probably forget to turn it on again when I air up.

 

[eddiebx]

I got curious and looked in the manual and figured I might as well just put this here so all the information is readily available for those who don't like to :rtfm:

 

[eddiebx]

A good mod is to actually swap the momentary switch for an on-off switch, since every time you turn the ignition off it turns back on. At least if you do a lot of off-road driving, then walk some, then drive some, etc.

I'll do that to my Tundra along with the ADD override.

That's a really good point, knowing me I'd probably just set it once and forget it. I need to inspect the wiring more to confirm my suspicions, but it appears the stock switch is just a momentary ON switch to ground, so the airbag ecu might need to see a quick grounding pulse after the car is running to know to turn it off (instead of a constant ground). I will try to test it out and see if an ON-OFF switch would work as well when I have some time.

 

[homeyclaus]

That's a really good point, knowing me I'd probably just set it once and forget it. I need to inspect the wiring more to confirm my suspicions, but it appears the stock switch is just a momentary ON switch to ground, so the airbag ecu might need to see a quick grounding pulse after the car is running to know to turn it off (instead of a constant ground). I will try to test it out and see if an ON-OFF switch would work as well when I have some time.

I think the bright orange RSCA OFF in the gauge cluster might alert you to perhaps turn them back on if the mod is done.

 

[Zeder]

So does anyone know the angle of deployment? Or maybe the combination of angular rate of change+angle? Lately I have been driving over, through and alongside some very large snow windrows. The problem is this can happen on my morning commute, more or less without warning do to traffic issue. You know, a lot of snow and little cars without snow tires. So I can go from a flat road to a 20-30 deg lateral angle change and then back without the thought process of I'm going "Extreme Off-roading". I'm still On-roading when this happens. Does that mean I'm an Extreme On-Roader while I commute to the office?

 

[1engineer]

So does anyone know the angle of deployment? Or maybe the combination of angular rate of change+angle? Lately I have been driving over, through and alongside some very large snow windrows. The problem is this can happen on my morning commute, more or less without warning do to traffic issue. You know, a lot of snow and little cars without snow tires. So I can go from a flat road to a 20-30 deg lateral angle change and then back without the thought process of I'm going "Extreme Off-roading". I'm still On-roading when this happens. Does that mean I'm an Extreme On-Roader while I commute to the office?

No and I don't think you go across those angles on a highway either. 30 degree angle gives you about a 57% slope, which is really, really, really steep.
You turn the side airbags off in low speed off road applications so you don't get inadvertent activation. Any time you could be struck by another vehicle or going at a normal rate of speed they should be on.

 

[b_w.]

Good to know. I was told that they turn off when you go into 4lo.

 

[Go JayBee]

Good to know. I was told that they turn off when you go into 4lo.

Dude...somebody told you wrong

You have to deliberately turn off the side curtain airbags via the switch. This can be done while in 4LO, 4HI, 2HI, etc.

 

[scanny]

So I can go from a flat road to a 20-30 deg lateral angle change and then back without the thought process of I'm going "Extreme Off-roading". I'm still On-roading when this happens. Does that mean I'm an Extreme On-Roader while I commute to the office?

30 degree is close to rollover, 15 degree is quite scary even on crawling speed.

 

[Intruder]

Good to know. I was told that they turn off when you go into 4lo.

Did a salesman tell you this? Most of them barely know the basic specs of the vehicles they're selling (other than commission percentages) let alone off road features.

 

[eddiebx]

I think the bright orange RSCA OFF in the gauge cluster might alert you to perhaps turn them back on if the mod is done.

Sorry, I think didn't clearly type out what I originally meant. What I meant was your idea to install a full-time RSCA shut-off switch is great; and that I am the type of person who would remember to deactivate it once, and forget to deactivate it every single time I got back in the car.

Anyway, I did some wiring schematic reading and tested it out today...I think it's not going to be as simple as just installing an ON-OFF switch. The way the deactivation mechanism works is the SRS ECU needs to detect a ground pulse for at least 3-5 seconds after you turn the ignition key to ON.

So basically, if you applied a constant ground to the input and then turned on the ignition key the SRS ECU would never see this pulse; thus never deactivate the RSCA.

Additionally, it seems like keeping a constant ground applied to the input after it's deactivated is okay; but keep in mind that the OEM button is just a momentary switch that temporarily connects to ground when pressed. I did sit there and held it down for about 1-2 minutes while driving around and the RSCA remained off, but I cannot guarantee that it would not trip some kind of error eventually if you kept the ground applied indefinitely.

Finally, for the bit of good news, if you still want to try to install a manual cut off switch, I've come up with a way that most likely would work and is not too difficult. I've tested this out and it should work, but am not about to hack into my wiring to verify.

What you would do is install an ON-OFF switch directly connected to ground like you originally were going to do, but install inline relay which is triggered by the starter power. Specifically, you would want to hook it up so that the relay remains normally closed (and keeps the ground applied), and only opens temporarily when starter power is applied. This basically mimics the pulsing I described earlier, so that the SRS ECU can sense this and deactivate the RSCA.

Cliff Notes: You can install a manual RSCA shut-off switch, but it's a bit more involved. I can draw up schematics if anyone is interested.

Disclaimer: This is only theoretical and I am not responsible for whatever happens to you or your ride should you choose to try this

 

[homeyclaus]

Sorry, I think didn't clearly type out what I originally meant. What I meant was your idea to install a full-time RSCA shut-off switch is great; and that I am the type of person who would remember to deactivate it once, and forget to deactivate it every single time I got back in the car.

Again, would there be something about the big, bright RSCA OFF on the dash that you wouldn't notice? Really? :jaw drop:

Anyway, I did some wiring schematic reading and tested it out today.

Stuff deleted for brevity...

Cliff's notes on the "Cliff" notes: A simple switch might work. Or you can dream up something like an RC circuit and a relay or solid-state relay.

(You know, a capacitor, resistor, and relay type thing. Given the state of grammar in this country this may also have been cut from recent public education. :boxer: )

 

[1engineer]

So does anyone know the angle of deployment? Or maybe the combination of angular rate of change+angle? Lately I have been driving over, through and alongside some very large snow windrows. The problem is this can happen on my morning commute, more or less without warning do to traffic issue. You know, a lot of snow and little cars without snow tires. So I can go from a flat road to a 20-30 deg lateral angle change and then back without the thought process of I'm going "Extreme Off-roading". I'm still On-roading when this happens. Does that mean I'm an Extreme On-Roader while I commute to the office?

No and I don't think you go across those angles on a highway either. 30 degree angle gives you about a 57% slope, which is really, really, really steep.
You turn the side airbags off in low speed off road applications so you don't get inadvertent activation. Any time you could be struck by another vehicle or going at a normal rate of speed they should be on.

30 degree is close to rollover, 15 degree is quite scary even on crawling speed.

Scanny is quite right and I wanted to re-visit the slope idea and driving across a slope. Here is a video of a mower driving up 30 degree slope and also walking up and down said slope. Anyone want to take their 4Runner across this? How Steep is 30 Degrees? - YouTube yeah me either.