Stuck in trailer mode

Hello everyone. My first post on this forum.
I joined the trailer problem club last month. Borrowed a friend’s utility trailer (7pin) and my 24 Tacoma TRDsport got stuck in the trailer mode. About two weeks later, I took it to the dealership and they kept it for two days and finally got it unstuck after borrowing a trailer and being on the line with Toyota technical numerous times. The solution was to disconnect the trailer with the truck turned off and then drive the truck above 30 miles an hour for a mile or so. Reportedly it is the Blindspot monitoring system that detects the trailer and has nothing to do with the connector pins.
But yesterday I towed my kayak trailer (4pin), disconnected it while the truck was turned off, and I am again stuck in trailer mode. Drove it a good 30 miles and turned it on and off half a dozen times. So I am back in the club!
Note that when it is stuck in trailer mode, you lose your back up sensors and also your lane centering assistance.
Called my dealership and told them I’ll wait till there’s a fleet wide fix before I bring the Tacoma back in again.

 

Try hooking up to a 7pin trailer
Set up as a new utility trailer and drive it around a couple right and left turns.
Park it, disconnect it with truck running.
Go in and tell tow mode that it is disengaged, then return out of tow mode and shut engine off, open and close drivers door, restart and drive away.
That is what I did the first time this happened and it's been fine since.

 

Damn, that sucks. See, this is why you don't beta test new generations. Actually this level bug would be an alpha bug in my book. I bet they don't get this fixed before the 2025's roll off the assembly line.

 

I'm looking for a 7pin plug that is a simulator or test plug so I can take it out like I have a trailer. A little work around until they fix it at Toyota.

 

Might have already been covered, but I was stuck in trailer mode as well after bringing mine back from storage over the winter. I simply hooked it back up, drove it part way down my driveway....Truck asked me if I had a trailer, I said nope, confirmed and all is good. Did all this with the 4 prong installed from trailer to truck. Been fine ever since.

 

I think my problem was I answered the yes or no question wrong, could be me but others read the question as I did. Japanese to English thing. Even engineer said it reads a little weird.

 

Maybe if it was worded as a question instead of a statement it would be easier to know which response would satisfy the situation. It looks like a “yes, we have no bananas” kind of thing.

 

Interesting even a bike rack can trigger it. Makes me think it is a monitoring thing VS a 4 or 7 pin connector thing.

 

That kind of makes sense from a programming and functionality standpoint. Using the camera or sensors (or whatever 4th gens have) instead of using the trailer connector

 

Ok so I was able to fix the original issue by doing what I suggested to the Toy engineer and tech. Plug into and set up a trailer with a 7 pin plug, it worked.
until you hook up and trailer a 4 pin again, accept this time I answered the deselect question correctly, then shut off and then restarted and drove a mile, shut off and the messege is still there and light is on in right corner again. restarted and drove two more times still there. Arrgghhh!!

 

Oh yeah after I set up trailer and drove with right and left turns when I backed up the brakes slammed on for no reason, as if tow system not on...????

 

That sucks. I haven’t towed since I got my turned off again. It’s definitely some kinda software glitch.

 

I like the concept but this is starting to suck. I know new model blues.

 

New member here and yup, I just joined this annoying club. I towed a 4 pin utility trailer and now stuck in trailer mode. Any new solutions on this issue?

 

After the instrument cluster asks you if there is no trailer and you say yes, then you must drive vehicle three different times and for at least 5 minutes before the light goes out and all is well.
Or you can just hook up to a seven-pin trailer. Set it up, drive it around the corner. Make a right and a left turn unplug it disconnect answer. Yes, it's disconnected and then all is well.

 

I never got that message ever, I made an appointment with my dealership, there there's no way that Toyota designed this that way, it's got to be a bug in the system. Technology is supposed to make things idiot proof. So far I'm disappointed with this setup I shouldn't have to go through everything you just did to get a light to clear and my functions back in operation. Thank you very much for the fast response. I'll post back what the dealership tells me.

 

What if you were to pickup 2-3 fat people in the first 500 miles? Anything in the manual for that scenario?

 

Just an fyi. I don’t know if it was a fluke or worked how it was supposed to. I bought a 7 pin adaptor for my 4 pin boat trailer. Used it yesterday. Came home last night. And put the boat in the garage. Pulled out the driveway. Drove about 50 yards and it said no trailer was detected. Hit ok. All is right!

 

Ok. Decided to be brave and try it without the 7 pin adaptor. It worked flawlessly. I don’t get it. Then I thought of something else. I didn’t select a trailer from the menu either time. Just hooked it up. Let the truck detect it. Then unhooked when I was done. And the truck detected it wasn’t there. I have no idea if not selecting a trailer with length and all that has anything to do with it. But I thought I would share it.

 

After reading this thread and doing some experimenting I found something that works for me. I have two trailers and a boat and this works for all three.

When I’m done with the trailer and ready to park I back it up 5 or 6 feet further back then where I want it to be ( I know this won’t work for everyone but I have a fix that works for that too). I use a 7 pin to 4 pin adapter, it doesn’t work on a 4 pin. With truck still running, disconnect the 7 pin adapter, go in and unselect trailer. Drive forward 5 feet or so and when it pops up saying it detects a trailer , select no trailer. For me the trailer mode goes off. Unhook and drive away.

I can’t do it the same way with the boat because it backs into a shed. I back it all the way to the tire stops, disconnect 7 pin adapter and unselect boat. Drive it straight forward, answer no trailer. At this point, make sure you drove it straight out. Slowly back it straight back. If you turn at all it will slam on the brakes because it detects an object (the boat). Once it’s all the way back again, unhook and drive off.

This has worked for me about 6 times with different trailers and boat. It’s still a pain to have to go through these steps, but better that being stuck in the trailer mode I was stuck in for several weeks. Hope this works for you.