Cruise control failure on the 2006 Toyota Tundra
2 crashes 2 of the 18 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When cruise control failure gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Toyota Tundra report cruise control failure at a median of 25,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles, from 8 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 72,000 miles. It is the 10th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 2,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 35,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 33,535 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
63% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,465 miles | 3,500 miles | 23,550 miles | 36,000 miles | 36,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,400 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2025 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2018 carries the most reports, with 22; the 2006 has 18. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
2006 tundra - have had truck only 2 weeks and took road trip. When using cruise control and starting up a modest hill vehicle will kick down from overdrive into drive, even though w/o cruise vehicle can handle hill fine in overdrive. This will bring rpms from 2000 to 3000. This is merely annoying. Sometimes will kick down past drive and into 3rd gear, bringing rpms to 5000 and cause the vehicle to accelerate rapidly on hill. This seems unsafe, especially in crowded or wet conditions. Have found numerous complaints from other tundra owners online. All say dealer and toyota claim this is "normal." toyota corporate office told me they consider this "normal" and recommend I not use cruise control in hilly areas. Must not have hilly areas where toyota engineers live. *nm
I was driving north out of phoenix arizona on I-17 just past black canyon city, with my cruise control set at 75 MPH. There is a very long hill going north to sunset point. Prior to approaching the hill I canceled the cruise so that the transmission wouldn't hunt gears. I drove up the hill at 65 to 75 MPH (no cruise). When I made the top of the hill at sunset point and leveled out, I accelerated the vehicle to 75 MPH and hit resume. The engine raced to 5200 RPM. I redline at 5700 RPM. The transmission did not follow suite. It was as if I was in neutral revving the engine. I immediately canceled the cruise and drove a mile or so without cruise, then decided to try it again. Everything worked normal. I have been in contact with my dealers service dept. And they are baffled. They have not looked at it as yet due to their schedule. As soon as they can get me in they will. They did say that there should have been a check engine light, but there was not. They are hoping that the onboard computer recorded it. Not only is this a major safety hazard, but it could have caused my engine to blow up. I'm not sure what reaction my wife would…
I was driving north out of phoenix arizona on I-17 just past black canyon city, with my cruise control set at 75 MPH. There is a very long hill going north to sunset point. Prior to approaching the hill I canceled the cruise so that the transmission wouldn't hunt gears. I drove up the hill at 65 to 75 MPH (no cruise). When I made the top of the hill at sunset point and leveled out, I accelerated the vehicle to 75 MPH and hit resume. The engine raced to 5200 RPM. I redline at 5700 RPM. The transmission did not follow suite. It was as if I was in neutral revving the engine. I immediately canceled the cruise and drove a mile or so without cruise, then decided to try it again. Everything worked normal. I have been in contact with my dealers service dept. And they are baffled. They have not looked at it as yet due to their schedule. As soon as they can get me in they will. They did say that there should have been a check engine light, but there was not. They are hoping that the onboard computer recorded it. Not only is this a major safety hazard, but it could have caused my engine to blow up. I'm not sure what reaction my wife would…
Also reported on the 2006 Toyota Tundra
Other body or interior problem
Rust or structural corrosion
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Airbag inflator rupture
Other suspension problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does cruise control failure happen on the 2006 Toyota Tundra?
Across 8 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 35,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is cruise control failure on the 2006 Toyota Tundra?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed