diff --git a/selfdrive/car/toyota/carcontroller.py b/selfdrive/car/toyota/carcontroller.py
index 74d398be9e..4c37b442bf 100644
--- a/selfdrive/car/toyota/carcontroller.py
+++ b/selfdrive/car/toyota/carcontroller.py
@@ -62,18 +62,18 @@ class CarController:
     # EPS_STATUS->LKA_STATE either goes to 21 or 25 on rising edge of a steering fault and
     # the value seems to describe how many frames the steering rate was above 100 deg/s, so
     # cut torque with some margin for the lower state
-    if abs(CS.out.steeringRateDeg) > STEER_FAULT_MAX_RATE:
+    if CC.latActive and abs(CS.out.steeringRateDeg) >= STEER_FAULT_MAX_RATE:
       self.rate_limit_counter += 1
-    # TODO: unclear if it resets its internal state at another value
-    if not CC.latActive or abs(CS.out.steeringRateDeg) <= STEER_FAULT_MAX_RATE:
+    else:
+      # TODO: unclear if it resets its internal state at another value
       self.rate_limit_counter = 0
 
-    # Cut steering if we're about to fault the EPS
-    if not CC.latActive or self.rate_limit_counter > STEER_FAULT_MAX_FRAMES:
+    apply_steer_req = 1
+    if not CC.latActive:
       apply_steer = 0
       apply_steer_req = 0
-    else:
-      apply_steer_req = 1
+    elif self.rate_limit_counter > STEER_FAULT_MAX_FRAMES:
+      apply_steer_req = 0
 
     # TODO: probably can delete this. CS.pcm_acc_status uses a different signal
     # than CS.cruiseState.enabled. confirm they're not meaningfully different