Understanding Your 4Runner’s Odometer

Many of us are familiar with the odometer on our dash. Historically, Toyotas are known for having a lifespan exceeding 200,000 miles. Some have even been able to push over 1,000,000 miles! However, today’s topic isn’t about showing off who has the largest odometer reading. Instead, we’ll cover how to utilize the other functions within the odometer settings when we’re out on the trail.

If you’re anything like me, you like to have certain precautions and contingency plans when heading off the pavement and into the wilderness. I’ve found that using the different odometer displays gives me peace of mind. They help me track how long I’ve gone on a trail even when my cell signal cuts out, GPS fails, or batteries die.

What Is An Odometer?

For some, the odometer may be a new concept, but that’s okay! We’ve all been there at some point, so I’ll be as straightforward as possible.

Your odometer typically displays the total miles your car has gone in its lifetime. It’s also the standard measurement many mechanics and shops use to determine what services a vehicle needs such as oil changes, differential fluids, etc. If you’re using the imperial system, this number is measured in miles. For metric, this is in kilometers.

If someone asks how many miles/kilometers your car has, the number on the odometer is what they’re referring to.

Navigating Your Odometer

It is important to note that your odometer will sometimes only display once the car’s ignition has been engaged. Once it is on, you still may not see a number there – sometimes dealers will turn the display off after they’ve serviced your vehicle. To re-display it, press the thin black knob protruding from the cover on the dash.

For the 4Runner, this button cycles between four modes:

• Blank
• Total Miles Driven
• Trip A
• Trip B

If you see a “Trip A” or “Trip B” label next to the number, this is not your total odometer reading. Rather, it’s how many miles you’ve driven since last resetting either of those trips by pressing the button and holding down until they reset. You cannot reset the overall mileage odometer; this is a safety so that mechanics can still see your vehicle’s total mileage.

Trip Modes

So what exactly are these other display readings? I’ve found that many other off-road enthusiasts aren’t utilizing these readings to their advantage.

At the core, Trip A and B are separate distance calculations independent from themselves and the master odometer reading. You can reset and follow these readings to judge how long you’ve been on a trail and how much is left.

These trips will continue to track your distance even when it’s not the primary display on your dash.

If we started the trail at 32,451 miles and stopped at 32,466 – we can calculate we’ve been on that trail for 15 miles. However, if we utilize Trip A and B, the math is done for us! All we need to do is reset the counter before we embark on our journey.

You can reset Trip A and B independently. For example, if you want to track your total road trip miles using A and a separate day’s miles with B, you can easily do that.

Final Thoughts

Once we understand what Trip A and B mean and how to reset/display them, we can use them to calculate the distances we’ll travel on our next off-road trip. Off-the-grid camping or wheeling usually means little to no cell or GPS signal.

For this reason, I always recommend everyone have at least two methods of wayfinding. Call me old fashioned, but carrying a paper map is a great backup in case your technology stops working. Even if you have a navigation app that allows you to download offline maps, having backups is still important. The trip settings let you determine distances traveled to and from destinations.

If I spend an extended trip off-grid, I’ll reset Trip B for each trail I hit while leaving Trip A to track the total miles driven for the entire trip. This allows me to track my progress on each trail without relying on GPS or my phone.

This stuff may not be news to everyone, and I’m sure a handful of you already utilize these odometer readings similarly to me. So I’m curious – how are you using your Trip A and B readings? Lastly, because I know we all want to show off a bit, who’s got the highest odometer reading on their rig?