Truck rolling backwards on incline

While waiting at a stoplight today. I let off break to touch gas pedal. Truck rolled backwards and traction control light came on. Traffic was slow so I’d say it was less than Two seconds from breaks to. You hear a click in the break system then the traction light comes on. Hit the gas and all is good. I’ve never had that happen before. Crv, Camry, Tacoma or my 4Runner. Had the runner for 6 months now and it’s never happened before. Thought maybe truck is heavy? Is this normal for the 4Runner?

 

^Sounds like Hill Start Assist, a feature in all Toyotas for the past 16 years or so.

 

Normal

 

Yeah, first time happened scared the shit out of me.

 

Your brakes might be breaking.

 

Normal

 

Yeah automatics will still roll backwards on hills, which is why you should cover the brake with your left foot on inclines. I guess you don’t really have to because the 4runner does it for you, as you discovered. But to me, having the vehicle intervene for me tells me I should be paying more attention.

You’re probably right, it might be more prone to roll backwards on a hill because of its weight. Also could be because it’s a 5speed, and has a higher 1st gear than most other modern cars with 6 or 8 speed transmissions.

 

Because I'm in a dickish mood, it's brake, not break. Also, gravity is this new thing that tries to pull you downwards in all situations if you are close enough to a large mass.

Now, with that outta the way, it's normal. There is a steep hill I stop at (when I have to come to a complete, legal stop due to traffic) occasionally where it's tough to go from accelerator to brake before the traction control/brake assist kicks in and stops the roll back. This is why I miss the old school hand brake, although typically less useful on automatics than a stick shift.

 

100% normal and yes, it scared the hell out of me the first time. Now when I know its going to happen I warn the wife before taking my foot off the brake

 

So if one was pulling a boat up out of the water at boat ramp is the following safe:

Normally I’d have my left foot on the brake pedal, release the emergency brake, then shift into 1st gear and slowly give it some gas with my right foot, while simultaneously letting off the brake pedal?

I have not towed my boat yet with my new 4R but plan to in the summer.
Appreciate any advice

 

Right foot on the corner of the brake pedal, left foot on the E-brake pedal. Push left foot to release E-brake, slid left foot to the brake pedal, then slid right foot to the gas pedal. Take it out of Park and in to Drive and press on the gas pedal.
The result is no rolling back to trigger the nanny feature.

 

Although i'm a 4th gen. This happened to me once on a fairly steep incline. Was stopped in traffic, light turns green, we all go. I let off the brake, rolled backwards, car started beeping at me and transmission made a weird noise and clunked and then went. Only thing i find weird is it does it sometimes, and sometimes it holds itself still even without my foot on the brake.

 

I guess it’s not too surprising that it would roll back sometimes, but not other times. What’s determines if it holds on a hill is the amount of torque that the torque converter (which is a fluid coupling) can transfer from the engine side of the transmission to the output side. The torque passed through the fluid coupling is also the reason the car rolls forward on a flat ground once you release the brakes.

So, if you’re at high-idle when the vehicle is cold, the increased rpm would have enough thrust to hold yourself on an incline, or it would make your car roll forward quicker on flat ground. At lower rpm, it might not hold the same incline.

Also, if the transmission fluid is cold, it’s thicker, therefore able to transfer more torque through it.

Since it’s a finely balanced point, there may be other variables that change the amount of torque that gets to the wheels at idle.

 

thanks for the clarification on gravity. It happened today and never before. So I thought I’d ask if it’s normal that the truck clicks and flashes lights while heading for gas pedal. New experience. Same light, multiple years and multiple cars. Never happened before so I didn’t see the harm in asking. Appreciate the kind response. Appears it’s common with the truck.

 

Thanks

 

No harm in asking, and hopefully your question will help others in the future when they read the thread. I see you have few posts so I hope me being a prick doesn't discourage you contributing - I give everyone shit. Welcome to the forum!

I also fucked up in my response and said I've had an issue going from the accelerator to brake when I meant the other way around. Let the flogging commence

 

If you've ever tried to shift into "D" while still rolling backwards from being in "R", you'll get a similar reaction from the 4R. That freaked me out, too.

 

There, their, they're!