2021 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road Suspension Walkaround: Why I Bought The KDSS Stabilizer Bar System

The Toyota 4Runner is one of the most popular and capable body-on-frame SUVs on the market. It comes in four trim levels: SR5, TRD Off-Road, Limited and TRD Pro. We’re going to be looking at the TRD Off-Road, the model I chose for reasons that will be explained as we take a close look at the suspension of my personal 4Runner -- which is a 2018 model with an identical suspension -- in this video. The 4Runner is not quite a direct competitor to the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, mainly because it has a more traditional enclosed body and independent front suspension instead of a solid axle. One thing they both share is a stabilizer bar disconnect system that improves off-road articulation. The two systems are quite different. The Wrangler Rubicon comes with a push button-activated system that only works at low speeds. When active, it basically decouples the front stabilizer bar near its midpoint. The Toyota 4Runner uses the KDSS system, which stands for Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System. This is a passive system that needs no driver intervention. KDSS disables both the front and rear stabilizer bars at the same time, too, and the reasons why will be explained in this video. KDSS is an option on the 4Runner, and only if you buy a TRD Off-Road. It is not available on the TRD Pro, which seems odd because it absolutely improves off-road suspension articulation. KDSS is not only available on the 4Runner. It’s standard on the Toyota Land Cruiser and the Lexus GX 460, and it was optional on the discontinued Lexus GX 470. The Toyota Land Cruiser’s system is designed differently, so this video won’t apply except in terms of the basic concept of operation. But it absolutely applies to the Lexus GX, because those SUVs are basically V8-powered Lexus versions of the 4Runner. I have not put the 4Runner on my ramp yet, because I am bringing a 4Runner TRD Pro in soon for a back-to-back comparison. You’ll want to check back later for that video. Why am I doing this? I geek out over suspension stuff. I'm a former suspension development engineer that worked for years on truck and SUV suspension development projects for two automakers at their remote desert proving grounds. Later on, I somehow stumbled into auto journalism, and for several years I created a popular photo feature called a Suspension Walkaround for Inside Line, a now-defunct offshoot of Edmunds.com (no relation). Today I have resumed writing these features under the name Suspension Deep Dive for Autoblog. Between the two outlets, over 100 of them have been published. Along the way I managed to grow a good-sized fan base, and one question I often heard was, “When are you going to make video versions?” I never seemed to have the time, the equipment, or the confidence to get in front of the camera, but I got over that by hosting at least 80 professionally-produced videos over three years on the Edmunds You Tube channel. If you like it, please tell your friends, click subscribe, share links, give it a like and check out the other videos on my channel, which is simply called Dan Edmunds. You can also type in the channel’s alias: SuspensionTuna. And I take requests. I can't promise that I can get my hands on any car or truck, but the odds are good. And the more views I get, the more horsepower I'll have when requesting cars to examine.