How to use MTS?

I took my Taco off road for the first time this weekend. It was mostly just a dirt road but I went down one section that was full of large rocks and clearly a 4x4 only road. My unmodified TRD managed fine with the exception of a few bonks on the frame.

I'm curious how the MTS is supposed to be used and what exactly it does. Being a road full of rocks I used the rock mode. It was downhill so I was on the brakes most of the time as gravity was winning over 4low/MTS.

Am I missing something or does MTS not do a whole lot? Or, to put it another way, what should I expect MTS to do? Does it work better uphill or on flat roads than downhill?

 

http://www.whiterivertoyota.com/blog/how-to-use-the-toyota-tacoma-multi-terrain-select-system/

this should help.

 

Thanks. I read something similar to that maybe in the owners manual. In any case, it defines MTS but doesn't really explain how it actually works or what it actually does. To be honest, I didn't see any real difference between using MTS and not using it. What I'm wondering is what I should have noticed in the situation described.

 

Well I read the page linked above and boy was it trying to sell me on that feature... "provide unrivaled traction" and "gain unprecedented traction"

OP, I'd say you're better off reading the sections related to this feature in the user manual. After that, I'm sure there are YouTube videos on the subject matter.

 

it basically limits how much your wheels can slip via applying brakes to individual wheels, the rock setting allows for some spin because it assumes you have more traction vs sand/mud setting where it allows very little slip so you keep going and don't bury a tire in theory.

in practice, only time will tell if it works as advertised.

 

I tried out MTS for the first time just yesterday in some sand/sand dunes and it does what @Simpleton says it does. For the most part, I left it off or just in sand mode, mainly because you have to be in 4L to use it and most of the time I got away with being in 4H.

As far as I understand and have experienced, MTS is just a fancy knob to set how much you want to let your front limited-slip differential slip and replaces the A-TRAC button in second gens.

 

All that shit is just all for some guys that love all the ducking electronic shit . It more stuff to go wrong with the truck in the long run. It's like Ford's new trailer back in up knob for people that can t back their boat in at the launch. If I had my way my truck would still have lock in hubs. Hey buts that's just me . Keep it Simple Stupid

 

So, if I understand the feedback so far, aside from maybe controlling slippage to some extent based on setting and terrain, it doesn't really do anything. Whether or not that slippage control is useful probably depends on the situation and terrain. Driving down a rocky road it probably isn't useful at all. Going up that road it might have helped a bit.

 

... a "Back-In Up" knob... ???!!! Really ????? ...

Nominated for things that make you say, "WTF?"

 

Pretty much...

It's the preset version of A-TRAC.

Multi-terrain Select Control
When multi-terrain select control is active, A-TRAC brake control and engine output control most
appropriate for the selected road mode are performed automatically. In this way, superior off-road
driveability is achieved.

A-TRAC (Active Traction Control)
During rugged off-road driving, this function controls the brake fluid pressure that is applied to slipping
wheels, and distributes the drive force that would have been lost through the slippage to the remaining
wheels in order to achieve an LSD (Limited Slip Differential) effect. As a result, the vehicle's off-road
drivability and ability to free itself from ruts have been increased.

 

Hey he do you say that in French. Le beacon le up le knob.

 

And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris

They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is

What'd they call it

Royale with Cheese.

Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac?

Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.

What do they call a Whopper?

I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King.

 

Can you use MTS and the rear locker at the same time?

 

no

 

Try 4low then slide the shifter to the left and put it in 1.

 

just uses the brake system to lock each wheel independently.
Prevents wheel spin depending on the setting. from what I understand the rock setting is the least amount of slip vs the mud setting being the most slip.
Different terrain requires different levels of slip.

With sand or mud you need to keep momentum so you don't get bogged. Normal traction control will see wheel slip and cut power. with MTS it will see slip but still allow some slip and still keep on the power since in 4lo traction control turns off. But with rock for instance where you want no slip, it will apply the brakes to individual wheels if they are spinning to help force power to the other wheel since its all open diff.

Jeep has a similar system and I have seen videos where it is pretty impressive how well it can work in certain situations. Places you'd think you would need lockers they can actually help and get you through said obstacle.

It has its places where it will come in handy. But don't take toyota's advertisement of it and crawl control as the ultimate traction aid, go anywhere you won't get stuck.

I've already seen videos of the 3rd gens and 4runners with MTS get through some off camber obstacles where normally you would need a locker

 

Just give me modern safety, modern power plants, modern engineering and allow me to row my own gears and pull my own levers.

 

??
I believe you can. I know I have.
MTS works like brake locking, but does it automatically. I don't know if Ive been near enough stuck for it to work, but Ive engaged it, so maybe it was. I dunno. I think I would have preferred to have a front locker, but the front ends on these might not like lockers? I dunno.

 

Thanks for the useful reply and info.

 

You can't. As soon as you select mts it will disable the locker. Read it in the manual somewhere too

I agree a locker in the front would have been better. But this is for the masses. I feel like we'll see less lockers in the future more braking system things.
Reason being, everyone loves to jump at blaming others for their fuck ups. And in all fairness if you don't know when and how to use a locker you can cause some serious damage. This protects dealer from needing to fix something that breaks from improper use.