Adding Cruise Control to a 2007 Tacoma

For a decade and a half I drove the 'surprise' pickup the wife bought in one state while I worked on the new house in another. When she called to tell me of the brand new pickup truck she bought I had two questions, she could only answer one. "How long is the bed," and "does it have cruise control?" Her answers "I don't know," and "No," were disappointing to say the least and served as the basis for a ribbing at every opportunity presented itself.

Then, I found out about automobile wiring harnesses. And all those 'plugs' on the dash where 'some models' have lights or dials or switches installed. Not mine! it was a BASE model with nothing that isn't absolutely required by law in a 2007 pickup truck.

Every model based on the basic two door pickup shares some identical 'parts' like frames; bumpers, mufflers, brake lines and - electrical wiring harnesses! It makes no sense economically to create these complex masses of wires to connect this and that from here to there - and even back again unless their basically 'universal' for each model and everything that is or might be built upon it. So, when the dealer quotes you three hundred or so to add cruise, you might want to tell him 'No thanks, I'll add it later.'

When I first read about this being done on a Ford Van, it required 'programming' by a dealer. Reading on, I was hearing how folks got around this literal 'holdup.' When I first watched a video about installing cruise on a Toyota, the individual purchased a 'Factory' jumper wire for fifty dollars! That expensive piece of wire made the operation truly Plug and Play.

Other's worked around that expense, as I did purchasing the after-market third-party control switch and modifying the existing cover on the steering wheel (I bought a cover designed for the switch) to accommodate the CC Switch mechanism.

I did my research and encourage anyone reading this not to 'jump on it' based upon my experience and this instructable alone. Watch any videos you can find first. Each one I saw was different - and the camera work on many was often as confusing as instructive. Taken together, I was well prepared and completed the install in record time - once I gave up surgically extracting that (fifty dollar) jumper wire and tore the connector apart to free up the essential jumper from teh old harness.

This is the VIDEO that gave me the courage to embark on this project in the first place: .https://youtu.be/w8JSabPBGZQ His suffering saved me lots of aggravation!

Cruise Control Switch - Amazon

Steering wheel cover plate - Amazon

2" Torx 30 bit (If you don't have one - look to HFT for a set of torx bits that includes a 30)

Screwdriver

Razor Knife

a "hair pin" ?

Accessory lighting source(s)

I watched several YouTube Videos to get the lay of the land before messing with my truck here are a few you may find helpful:

Lincoln Max n Co - How to add Cruise Control to Toyota Tacoma, part A, Pt 4 (BEST ONE)

Ratty Muscle Car - How To Remove Pins From a Electrical Connector with a Hair Clip

Electric Cuts - HOW TO INSTALL CRUISE CONTROL ON 3RD GEN TOYOTA TACOMA

Streeter Dockter - 2007-2013 Toyota Tundra Cruise Control Switch Replacement

MAD MODS - DEPINNING AUTOMOTIVE CONNECTOR remove terminal from a depin wiring

• Mise en place (French pronunciation: ​[mi zɑ̃ ˈplas]) is a French culinary phrase which means "putting in place" or "gather". It refers to the setup required before cooking, and is often used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients. See also Rassemblez votre merde

Since we're in the garage and working in a relatively confined cab to boot, it is a good idea to think through the process before you open up your steering wheel.

CAUTION: if your vehicle has an AIR BAG in the Steering wheel, DISCONNECT THE POSITIVE LEAD FROM YOUR BATTERY before opening up the steering wheel. Setting that thing off would cost lots more than the cruise control switch, and, it could seriously MAIM or kill you.

In fact Best Practice would be to disconnect the positive lead from your battery regardless.

You will have to remove the AIR BAG to install the CC Switch. I rested mine on top of the steering column while I installed the CC Switch and wiring. Your situation my be different - plan ahead, know where you will rest it before removing it!

Get yourself a small parts box to hold the parts coming out and waiting to go back in so they don't get lost fall on the floor, etc. just when you need them.

Survey the situation: The covers on the sides of the steering wheel are not in the most accessible positions - but, you can turn the wheel and move them about to get a better shot at them. Same with the TORX bolts that hold the airbag in place - you can get them both from the same spot by turning the wheel right and left, respectively.

Ideally, you would remove the wire from the one connector holder and slip it into the connector holder that came with the switch. Lord knows, I tried - and failed/surrendered.

My advice is to try "whatever" - but do NOT DAMAGE the metal connector within that holder! In my case, I carefully removed / shaved, actually cut slices of the nylon holder until i was able to free the metal connector. I still don't know how it could be released otherwise, but will not swear it cannot be done. The factory alternative in this case would have set me back over twice what the switch and cover cost me!

Crawl on the floor or turn the wheel to gain access to an Access Port There - are two of these. They are identical (note their orientation) and are removed the same way. The image titled Prying open the left access port has the engine compartment at Left and the Driver's seat RIGHT. The pry tool, in this case a dental pick (but a a screwdriver or nylon pry tool would do as well or better) is inserted at the right edge and that edge is pried open and leaps to the floor.

Next, loosen the TORX bolts that secure the AIR BAG - first one side and then the other. They have plastic retainers that SHOULD hold them in place once they have been completely unscrewed - but one of mine dropped to the floor. I picked it up and returned it to the retainer

Once the two TORX bolts have been 'undone,' gently lift the AIR BAG assembly up at rotate it up and over so it might rest on top of the steering column. You DO NOT NEED to remove the yellow wire connections to the Air bag - just the little black 'ground' spade connector that we will reuse in another step.

Note the retention bit on that spade connector pry it up/open a bit to release the connector.

Indeed, this little ground wire with the nylon fitting on one end and a 'silver' spade connector on the end that attaches to the airbag will consume lots of time and effort - if you let it.

It is where I wasted thirty minutes or so attempting to extricate the metal connector from the nylon fitting that plugs into the steering column and connects the new cruise control switch and the AirBag/Horn ground to the vehicle's factory wiring. Without that ground wire, you will not have a working horn - not clear if the AirBag depends upon it,

Having removed the ground/horn connector (B) from the Air Bag and the nylon connector on the steering wheel, I had two male nylon connectors that fit into the female receptacle on the steering wheel. (See Image "AirBagGroundWire 220530")

They were identical four-hole connectors with but one and two leads, respectively, in each. The blue ground/horn wire (B->C) was fitted into the upper left opening while the black and red wires from the Cruise Control Switch (A->B) occupied the lower left and right openings of the connector that came with the switch.

What needed doing was removing the blue lead from it's male connector so it could be inserted into the upper left opening of the male connector that came with the switch. See image "Toy Cruise (8) - Modified connector mated to vehicle."

For the life of me, I could not McGiver the metal connector (on the blue lead) out of its nylon fitting. Maybe there is a special tool available. I was touted onto a hair pin in some YouTube Video and borrowed one from the wife to no avail.

Now Toyota sells a little 'harness' that has the ground spade and the two nylon retention fittings all wired up - and it simply plugs into the cruise switch, the steering column and onto the spade terminal on the air bag - lickety split - It'll set you back about sixty dollars before tax.

However, since we already have a harness with the two essential nylon retention fittings attached and we have a ground wire with the appropriate connectors factory fitted in place, it makes sense to extricate the old ground wire from the retention fitting and slip it into the appropriate opening on the new retention fitting.

Ultimately, I cut the connector out of its nylon fitting without damaging it in the process. NOTE: PAY ATTENTION TO THE ORIENTATION of this connector as you extricate it from its fitting so as to insert it into its new home in the same orientation as it enjoyed in its old fitting.

See image Toy Cruise (1)

Congratulations skinflint! - you have created a $50 'factory' wiring harness for (essentially) free!

Look at image "Toy Cruise (4) - Tentative Placement" to see how the switch was inserted 'handle first,' then slipped over/onto the locator pin, then fastened to the metal bracket with the two small machine screws included with the switch.

That's it! Now take the wiring harness as modified in the previous step and plug the three-hole male connector into the switch receptacle. Route the wires (see image Toy Cruise (8)) as shown through the retention clip and into 4-hole female connector "B" and rout the blue ground/horn lead up and onto the male spade connection on the Air Bag - Note the retention clip on the female spade connector.

That completes the wiring.

You could connect the battery at this point, press the cruise control switch button to see if the word 'cruise' lights up as in the image "Cruise Lights."

However, I thought the better of powering up the system with the Air Bag laying on top of the steering wheel, so I checked all my connections and re-installed the Air Bag, before testing it.

It worked, the light lit and, when I went for a ride, the Cruise works. That was weeks ago. It still works.

Wish I'd done this in 2007!

Last Edit 1/26/2024

Oh, come on now, you know how to drive!