Have you looked in the manual at all? It explains it all.

You can download one if you like here.

 

Long story short: Any time the icon is green, the driving support system is doing something to "help". Unless the individual system settings are turned off, they will work even without the cruise control engaged. More than likely it is the lane centering feature nudging you into the center of the lane.

 

I turn that off due to too many road construction on the hwy the white line is all over the place

 

@rkilpa
The "lane centering" function works differently in/out of adaptive cruise control. When in cruise, it holds the car in the center of the lane equidistant between the two lines. When not in cruise it allows the car to meander left and right and then gives a steering nudge when it is close to one side line or the other.

 

@rkilpa
The "lane centering" function works differently in/out of adaptive cruise control. When in cruise, it holds the car in the center of the lane equidistant between the two lines. When not in cruise it allows the car to meander left and right and then gives a steering nudge when it is close to one side line or the other.

There are two separate systems: Lane Trace Assist (which is lane centering), and Lane Departure Assist (which nudges you to keep you in the lane).

This gets back to why I was asking this question in the first place. The manual says that LTA does not operate unless the car is in cruise control. The manual also says that when LDA is simply watching the lines but not actively doing anything then the steering wheel icon is not illuminated at all. LDA only illuminates the steering wheel icon green when it is actively steering (and the lane departure icon will also appear green or yellow when this happens). In my situation the steering wheel is green when not in cruise (so LTA is out) and when it isn’t trying to nudge me away from the lane edges and the lane departure icon is gray (so LDA also seems to be out). The steering wheel icon is essentially green most of the time I’m driving and it does not feel like it is actively doing anything to the steering during these times.

So yes, @ND Camry Owner I have read the manual (and did before posting my question). Not only does the manual not seem to clearly answer this question, it highlights how Toyota has overloaded this single indicator. The green steering wheel indicator is used to indicate:

1. When LTA is operating
2. When LTA detects the vehicle is departing the lane
3. When Lane Change Assist is operating
4. When Lane Departure Prevention is nudging you away from lane edges
5. When Lane Departure Alert detects the vehicle is departing the lane
6. When steering assistance is provided by the Proactive Driving Assist to avoid an obstacle

That said, none of these seem to explain why the icon is almost always on and green... [side note: the manual is super annoying for something like this because all the images are in black and white].

My guess is the manual is wrong and the steering wheel icon is illuminating any time LDA is operating and able to steer if necessary, or it is connected to the proactive driving assist feature being on, even if not actively trying to avoid any obstacles.

 

All this new tech is one reason I haven't bought anything new in a long while. I don't need anything to help me do something that I have been doing since I was 14 years old.

And yes the diagrams are in B&W but they show what colors the symbols mean in different scenarios. Still annoying.

 

I turned it all off in my settings and don’t have to change it ever again while I own the car. Super easy, barely an inconvenience.

 

Yes. And I’ll withdraw some of my scorn for the manual. The manual is very vague and unclear about this, but I think it does say it.

Technically the manual says that the steering wheel icon (it doesn’t say green) will display “When the steering assist is operating,” which I assumed to mean only when actively steering. But in the definition of steering assist it says “The system anticipates the driver’s operation and supports the operation of the steering wheel” when lane lines are detected.

I’m still not sure what SA does. It sounds like the lawyers wrote the description…

 

Hi! Did you ever figure this out? My car does it too and the dealership has no idea what it is.

 

Yes. It's a little hard to follow with all the comments. Here is the formula:

IF you have PDA turned on
AND IF you have SA turned on (setting under PDA)
THEN your steering wheel icon will always be GREEN

You have 2 options for turning it off:
1. Turn off PDA (easiest solution)
2. Leave PDA on, but turn off SA under PDA

Please understand what you'll be turning off before deciding to do this. It mainly impacts the way your cruise control behaves.

 

In manual for my 2025 Land Cruiser in the Lane Tracing Assist section it describes the hands on steering wheel icon as a Hands Off Steering Wheel warning. Meaning sensors in steering wheel want a firmer grip. Note: There are no sensors in the spokes of the steering wheel.