Do you have a new Toyota RAV4, and you’re wondering how to use the cruise control? Wonder no more, for we have researched this question, and we have the answer for you.
Follow these simple steps to use the cruise control of your Toyota RAV4:
- Activate cruise control from the control stick at the steering wheel.
- Accelerate to the speed you want to maintain.
- Press the control stick down to set the speed.
- You can now let go of the accelerator, and the cruise control will take over.
The sections below have a complete description of activating the cruise control. Moreover, we have complete instructions on how to access the other cruise control features, including adaptive cruise control and full-speed range dynamic radar cruise control. Read on!
How to operate the cruise control on Toyota RAV4?
The succeeding sections have detailed instructions and tips for using the standard cruise control on Toyota RAV4.
How to turn on cruise control on Toyota RAV4?
The control stick is often located at the lower right side of the steering wheel. Press the button at the tip of the control stick to activate cruise control. A green cruise control icon will light up in the instrument display panel once cruise control has been activated and ready.
How to set your desired speed for cruise control?
Press the control stick down to set the speed once you’ve accelerated to your desired speed.
Keep in mind that cruise control has a minimum speed required to activate. Setting the speed to lower than this minimum will deactivate cruise control.
Check your owner’s manual to find out the minimum cruise control speed. This minimum can be different from model to model.
How to change speed on cruise control?
You can still increase the speed while cruise control is on and there is already a set speed.
Press the accelerator pedal, and your RAV4 will accelerate beyond your set cruise control speed. This is a temporary speed that stays active only while you’re pressing the accelerator pedal. Your speed will return to the set speed once you release the accelerator pedal.
To permanently increase the set speed on cruise control:
- Push the control stick or control level up and hold it there.
- Accelerate to your new desired speed.
- Release the control lever, and the system will maintain the new set speed.
Can you decrease the speed on cruise control?
- Push the control stick or lever down and hold it at that position.
- Press the brake pedal until you decelerate your desired speed.
- Release the control lever, and the system will save the new speed.
How do you disable cruise control?
There might be instances where you want to temporarily disable cruise control for a short period. Suspending the cruise control will allow your RAV4 to temporarily stop using cruise control until you reenable it.
Follow the steps below to suspend and reactivate cruise control:
- Pull the control stick towards you or tap the brake pedal.
- Briefly push the control stick or control lever upward and release it once you’ve decided to resume cruise control.
While cruise control is suspended, it's essential to be aware:
- The stored set speed will be erased if your speed drops to 10 MPH below the set speed.
- Pressing the cruise control on/off button turns off cruise control.
- Turning off the ignition (for some reason) will turn off cruise control.
- You can use the cruise control on/off button to reactivate cruise control when the indicator light on the instrument display turns off and then on.
How to operate the adaptive cruise control on Toyota RAV4?
Adaptive cruise control is an improved version of the standard cruise control system that was first introduced to select trims of Toyota RAV4 in 2016. It has all the functionality of a standard cruise control plus a radar system that monitors the vehicle's distance directly ahead of you.
The radar system informs your onboard computer if the vehicle in front of you has entered the minimum distance set or if the vehicle is still beyond this minimum distance. Once the vehicle directly in front of you enters the minimum distance, your RAV4 will automatically engage the brakes and slow down to match the speed of the vehicle in front.
Once the vehicle accelerates, your RAV4 will also accelerate until it reaches your set speed, even if the vehicle in front accelerates to a speed that is faster than your set speed.
Operating the adaptive cruise control is the same as operating the standard cruise control. The only difference between the two is that the adaptive cruise control allows you to change the standard distance (the standard distance is a factory preset) between your RAV4 and the vehicle directly in front of you.
How do I change the distance on my adaptive cruise control?
To change the standard distance, press the radar range button -the button with an icon of a car with radar waves coming from the front- on the lower right side of your steering wheel. Keep pressing the button to cycle through the different distances.
Instead of exact distances expressed in feet, the Multi Information Display screen will show you a blue bar under the image of a small car at the very top. A single bar is the closest distance, two bars represent medium distance, and three bars are the farthest that the system can maintain the distance between you and the vehicles directly in front of you. The number of blue bars changes as you press the radar range button.
Can I disable adaptive cruise control?
When you disable the distance holding feature of adaptive cruise control, it will function as standard cruise control.
To disable the distance holding feature, press the control stick or control lever and wait until the indicator light on the instrumentation displace panel disappears. The indicator light for the standard cruise control will then light up to replace the adaptive cruise control indicator light.
What is full-speed range dynamic radar cruise control?
This feature is similar to the first two types of cruise control with the addition of a speed control feature.
RAV4 trims equipped with this feature will have a circular button on the right side of the steering wheel where the set distance button for the adaptive cruise control is located. The circular button has a plus sign on top and a minus sign at the bottom.
This feature is called full-speed range because it easily increases or decreases the set speed for your cruise control. Just press the plus or minus button to add or remove from the set target cruise control speed.
This feature allows you to increase the set speed on highways when you need to and reduce the set speed when exiting the highway. All this speed adjustment incorporates the radar feature that monitors the distance of your RAV4 from the vehicle that is directly in front of you. This helps maintain safety despite increasing the speed.
The maximum speed that can be set through this feature can be different between models and trims. Consult your owner’s manual to determine the maximum speed you can set on your RAV4 model or trim.
Which other Toyota cars have adaptive cruise control?
The following models have adaptive cruise control. The year in brackets is when adaptive cruise control became first available on that model.
- Toyota Prius and Prius Prime [2016]
- Toyota Camry [2018]
- Toyota C-HR [2018]
- Toyota Avalon [2017]
- Toyota Land Cruiser [2018]
- Toyota Corolla Sedan [2017]
When not to use cruise control?
Toyota advises not to use any cruise control in any of the situations listed below:
- Roads with pedestrians or cyclists
- Slippery roads
- Roads with steep downhills
- Driving on roads with sharp bends
- When towing a trailer
- Entering a highway
- When you need to accelerate and slow down intermittently
- While driving in bad weather since snow or heavy rain can affect the operation of the sensors
- Driving behind motorcycles, trailers with no load, and vehicles with high clearance can affect sensor operation
- Driving on narrow and curvy roads
- When your RAV4 is not directly facing the lane ahead of it
- When driving on a road where preceding vehicles are likely to slow down quickly
Conclusion
Using the cruise control in RAV4 is easy because there is a dedicated control lever to activate and modify its settings. Even the two more advanced versions of cruise control are still easy to use.
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