One of the things that really annoyed us about Project Tundra was the exaggerated throttle swell programmed into the drive-by-wire throttle. Toyota seemingly did this to make Tundra owners think their trucks were extra fast. If you just touch the throttle, the truck leaps forward. This is all fun until you try to maneuver in tight places in a parking lot or offroad. The truck wants to leap into poles, walls, and parking blocks or get wedged into tight spots on the trail. Backing up onto a trailer ball with precision was a bitch because the throttle was overly sensitive. In offroad driving, the jumpy throttle would cause excess wheelspin that nearly got us stuck a few times. When going over big bumps that make your foot shake, when combined with an overly sensitive throttle, causes the engine to go into a herky-jerky oscillation that is super annoying, especially when smooth throttle application is needed to pick your way through tight obstacles. If you have one of these trucks, you know what we mean.
We needed some sort of throttle controller but when we investigated, all of the units on the market were designed to open the throttle more aggressively which would only make our problem worse. Then we found out about the Hypertech REACT, a multi-mode user programmable drive-by-wire throttle controller. This would surely solve our problems!
Hypertech makes 3 different REACT models suitable for whatever type of driving you want to do. They make a Performance version, a Tow version, and an Off-Road version. Each version comes with pre-installed throttle response curves for your type of driving. It’s sort of a moot point because you can download and install any of these curves from Hypertech and you can also edit any of your existing curves to do whatever you want. The main difference is the labeling of the settings on the faceplate. For our truck, we chose the Off-Road version.
The REACT brain is a small plastic box mounted under the dash. The controller has many safety failsafes and in case of any malfunction, it will default to OEM so there is no way it could contribute to a runaway engine situation. The brain has a USB port so you can download changes to its existing throttle response curves or download new ones.
The React comes with an AC vent clip mount but we didn’t want to stick our unit to the vent so we got the optional magnetic stand mount so we could put the unit anywhere.
4 comments
I can confirm that Toyota calibrated the throttle to give the impression of lots of torque. The calibration was changed significantly for the 2014MY. Tow/Haul mode in the 2014 is like the base throttle map for the 07-13MY.
Interesting to know because the throttle on our truck sure was annoying.
For this much money, one would be way better off getting a MPVI from HP tuners and changing throttle maps in there! plus all the other stuff you can do..
There are a lot of other associated costs that add up to way more money.