[Mark alexander]

Just today I managed to get the car stuck in some really deep snow on the side of the road. It’s the Canadian or international model, ultimate trim level, 2020 model year and has had no issues. It has 17000km on it and has been incredibly capable in terms of the awd system and how it torque vectors. When it got stuck it seemed to do alright trying to free itself, but a few minutes in several warning began coming up like, “check collision warning” “check blind spot monitoring system” “check esc”. These messages all occurred simultaneously and were quickly followed by “terrain modes unavailable” when trying to switch into snow mud and sand modes. The parking brake light would stay illuminated on the dash even though it would audibly disengage. The car also stopped using the brakes to stop spinning wheels. The traction control system also either cut power without illuminating the icon on the dash. Or the car went into limp mode. All of this was accompanied by a strong odour coming from the vents. This could have been just the tires starting to smell from spinning or it could be the awd or transmission. I doubt it was the latter because The temps stayed consistent and normal and every single warning or oddity that the car displayed while stuck went away as soon as it was on pavement again almost instantly. Why is this, what happened? Why did all of the systems that make the car incredibly capable all suddenly and simultaneously stop working? The cars fine now. Literally no issues after the fact.

 

[RonG]

I too live in Canada and have the same year/model. I would suggest you take it in to the dealer and have them scan for any codes that may be stored in the computer. This may help them isolate a problem that could affect other owners.
Thanks for posting the issue.

 

[blutob2]

Well I would assume most of the safety sensors were covered in snow therefore you received those warnings. This is common and has been reported numerous times. Honestly it's expected if you drive in bad weather that these sensors will be get affected by snow, ice and slush.

Now, the others regarding the AWD is concerning.

 

[BendThyKnee]

First of all the different driving modes, snow and mud, for example keeps your vehicle's driving dynamics suitable for those certain situations. It's not going to give you a 5" lift, it's not going to change your tires to snow tires nor mud tires, and by the looks of it, it appears you might have bottomed out where your chassis is sitting on top of the snow. No AWD/4WD system is going to save you once you've bottomed out. The Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro/4x4 off road has a crawl control feature but it will not work when the truck has bottomed out. All the "check" warnings you got was probably due to the sensors on the bumpers being blocked by snow or ice in addition to your vehicle sitting on a pile of snow. Just curious did you try the DIFF LOCK feature? That would have at least split the power equally front and rear disabling the AWD feature.