Toyota Coffee Cup Warning: How to Turn Off and Change Settings?

If you are the proud owner of a new Toyota vehicle that was made within the last 5 years, you probably have the Lane Tracing Assist or Lane Departure Assist (in earlier cars) among its options. With all the great things that this option does to your vehicle, you also get a pretty annoying "Coffee Cup Warning" that suggests you should take a break.

Coffee cup warning light highlights

• Common reasons:drowsiness, sleepiness
• How to fix:have a rest, turn the car off and on again
• Possible consequences:driving in this condition may be dangerous
• Priority level:High
• Can you drive?Carefully
• DIY repair:No need to repair
• Repair price range:$0

What should you know about the coffee cup warning in Toyota?

So, the majority of modern Toyota vehicles are equipped with several assists that help you control the car on the road and avoid dangerous situations. The latest version of Lane Tracing Assist in the RAV4 can even stop your car on the roadside if you don't react to its prompts to take control of the vehicle.

This is cool, but sometimes this independence of a car may really annoy you. Especially, when it starts reacting to your average driving style as to the sign of drowsiness. So, you will need to know how the system of driver's attention control which is called Drowsiness Control in Toyota works.

Here's what it uses to detect drowsiness:

• the time after you started the engine - in many cars, the coffee cup warning will pop up after about 3 hours of driving;
• lane tracing assist controls the frequency of its work, so if it works too often, it will also trigger the "time to rest" warning;
• the newest vehicles will have a set of sensors and cameras that control your eye movement and detect critical tiredness;
• also, the system monitors your movements and reactions on any road situations and may detect that you fall asleep;
• while earlier versions of the LTA may have only warned you, the new systems will actively assist you in steering the vehicle and even parking it when needed.

But what if your driving style differs from average and Toyota sees it as dangerous? The system is not AI-operated, so it will not learn after some time. You will need to dig into settings and find out how to solve the problem. Alternatively, you may also change your driving style and be more careful on the road, so that the coffee cup warning light won't appear so often on the dash of your car.

Anyway, it's important to know how you can control the features of your Toyota. What's more, it's very easy to control everything you need in a modern car. You just need to know which icon to use and which setting to change. And this is what we are going to talk about for the next several minutes.

By the way, the same is common for other cars like the "2 hours from ignition on" in Subaru vehicles, for example.

Turning on and off the coffee cup alert in your Toyota

To control the features that the Lane Tracing Assist offers, you will need to find this unit in the menu.

Here's how you turn the warning on or off:

• first, find the gear symbol on your dash monitor by pressing the "down arrow" button;
• after that, search for the icon that shows a car departing from the lane mark, press the central button to enter the menu;
• now, you should be on the LTA menu (or LDA menu in older Toyotas);
• use the down-arrow button to navigate through the menu and find the "Sway Warning" line;
• it should say ON, so when you highlight this line, press the central button and it will go OFF;
• now you can go out of the menu and the coffee cup warning will never show up again on your dash;
• also, in this menu, you can set the sensitivity of all the LTA features - it may help you get the warning only in critical situations.

Actually, I don't recommend turning this feature off as this will compromise the work of the entire LTA system. Better play with sensitivity settings and find a certain level of sensitivity that will suit your driving style. This will help you only get this warning when you are actually sleepy or lose control over the vehicle.

Also, if you just change the sensitivity of this feature, the system will still be able to control the dangerous lane sway and will be able to take automatic control of the situation when needed.

How to use the drowsiness control warning in Toyota?

It's important to use every feature that your car has for your safety and comfortable driving. The sway warning feature helps you get notified when the vehicle spots your tired condition. This is always the set of factors like driving too close to the lane mark and going closer and further to that mark instead of keeping your control over the vehicle firmly.

So, if you see the coffee cup warning in your Toyota and it says "Would You Like to Take a Break?", the car understands that you are not attentive enough and you don't fully control the way your car drives.

Here's what you should do, in this case:

• first of all, make sure that you are not sleepy and that you can take full control of the vehicle;
• even if you feel good, it's always better to stop and have a short walk around the vehicle in the fresh air;
• pay attention to the steering control - you may be playing your steering wheel from side to side unintentionally;
• if you are sleepy, stop in a safe place and have a nap - even 15 minutes will save the situation;
• the system is very smart and it won't throw this warning just mistakenly, so consider the warning to be serious;
• plan a stop in the nearest gas station if you are on the highway, and grab a cup of coffee or a can of Coke.

If you notice that the coffee-cup warning appears on the dash very often, it means that the Toyota algorithm thinks you are driving unsafely and you may need to adjust your driving style. Also, you may try changing the sensitivity of the system.

Here's how you can do that:

• enter the same menu as you entered to turn the system on or off;
• make sure that the Sway Warning is now ON;
• highlight the Sensitivity unit over the Sway Warning;
• press the central button to choose the proper sensitivity;
• then, highlight the Sway Sensitivity unit and press the central button to choose the needed level.

You may start by reducing the sensitivity to the minimal level and if this doesn't help, you can then turn the feature off. However, the complete shutdown of the system is not recommended and may lead to unpleasant road situations, especially during long trips on highways.

How can you adjust your driving style to avoid coffee-cup warnings?

I strongly recommend working with your driving style if you see the suggestion to have a rest very often in your Toyota. I understand that you may want to drive aggressively, overtake a lot of cars on the road, and use all the wonderful opportunities that the new Toyota car gives you. But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be careful on the road.

If the warning pops up very often, it may mean one of two things: some sensor is malfunctioning or you drive carelessly. The problematic sensor is easy to find in a Toyota dealership - just ask them to run a good inspection with the scanner and they will find the problem.

But if there aren't any problems with the sensors, here's what you should do:

• pay attention to how you drive the vehicle;
• decide to change your driving style to a safer and more predictable one;
• avoid speeding up aggressively - this will make your driving safer and also prolong the life of the vehicle;
• when steering out of the lane, turn the blinker first;
• make sure you never drive directly on the lane mark;
• avoid sharp steering wheel movement when it's not necessary;
• pay more attention to the road conditions.

When driving, you should keep all your attention on the road. It's extremely important to be focused on one thing only. This will bring you safety and the coffee-cup warning light will not bother you again.

Final thoughts

Although not all Toyota safety systems are equally efficient and helpful, the Lane Tracing Assist is perfect. It should be used correctly so that you can get all the needed advantages. However, the system uses several important factors to keep your vehicle safe on the road.

I don't recommend turning the sway warning off in your Toyota, but now you still know how to operate this feature in your car. I hope this article was helpful! If you still have any questions, please ask them in the comments below.