A coworker told me a story where they drove a Tesla to Tahoe Lake and it started snowing. The Tesla sensors did not pick up the snow so the windshield wipers never came on. After nearly crashing the car because they couldn’t see, they pulled over and it took them a long time to find out how to turn on the wipers through the touch UI.
I rented a model 3 from hertz a while back. First time in a model 3, and I couldn't figure out how to lock the car. I finally figured out how to lock it on the touchscreen, but then I would open the door and get out and it would unlock again.
I finally figured out two ways to lock the car, but it took a bunch of web searches to get it.
On one hand I've always been irritated by car reviewers complaining that a car has 'weird' controls, failing to take into account that most of us aren't driving a new car every week and will just adjust to what we use.
On the other hand, some cars are destined for fleets, and all may need to be operated by a stranger in an emergency. There should be a common configuration for features related to safety and velocity.
At the risk of sounding snarkier than I actually intend, this is great example of why so much Tesla criticism online should be ignored or at least taken with a huge grain of salt.
I could criticize your coworker for driving a vehicle off into nature and dangerous weather conditions without taking a few moments to learn how to operate its most basic functions. But I don’t need to, because all I really need to point out is that they could’ve just clicked the button on the turn stalk to turn on the wipers. No touchscreen needed.
In all seriousness, though, they need to be a more careful driver. Driving a vehicle without knowing how to drive it is the fault of the driver and puts other people in danger.
1. Operating a heavy, dangerous piece of machinery in the field without learning how to operate it first is most certainly the operator’s fault. That’s careless, irresponsible, and endangers others. If they had hurt or killed someone, they would’ve been prosecuted and would possibly be in jail right now.
2. Taking a few moments to learn to click a button in a car you bought is far from unreasonable, especially when everyone knows going in that a Tesla is not a completely standardized vehicle. The risk posed by this change is orders of magnitude less than the risk imposed by swapping the brake and accelerator pedals, so that is far from a fair or reasonable comparison.
3. You may not appreciate the benefits of the changes that Tesla made, as these things are ultimately subjective, but those changes contributed to the Model Y becoming the best selling vehicle on the planet.
Now, if your coworker had rented a car and unexpectedly received a Tesla, I could sympathize more. A car rental company should not rent out non-standard vehicles unexpectedly. However, it’s always the responsibility of the driver to learn to operate the vehicle first before getting on the road and endangering others.
> Operating a heavy, dangerous piece of machinery in the field without learning how to operate it first is most certainly the operator’s fault. That’s careless, irresponsible, and endangers others. If they had hurt or killed someone, they would’ve been prosecuted and would possibly be in jail right now.
I think I've got a driver's license that allows me to drive from Toyotas to VW, from Dodges to BYD without having to read the manual for basic usage.
And yes, I usually do read the manual even on rented cars, but not because I need to figure out how to operate the turn signals or windshield wipers.
If Tesla wants do things their way, we should do like an aviation and require type certification as we do for pilots to be able to operate more complex planes. Let'see how Tesla's marketing would like this.
You shouldn't have to read the documentation for basic usage of a vehicle. Basic things like turning signals, lights, windshield wipers, locking and unlocking, windows work basically the same in most vehicles.
You are with a friend, and they are not feeling well, with most cars you can just take the wheel and drive as long as needed without having to look at the manual to figure out how to operate basic safety features.
I don't hate Elon, neither I hate Tesla, but I don't fucking want an "opinionated" car. Those changes bring no benefit other than saving a few minutes of assembly time and a few parts on the Bill of Materials, and all those benefits are for Tesla, not for me as a customer or a driver.
Rather than suggest customers and drivers, and their friends think reading a manual for basic operation should be done as you suggest, I propose it's more likely that one of the following is true:
* The owners silently put up with inconveniences. I don't know why the majority of people browse the web without adblockers but if they can put up with that, they can put up with bad car UX
* Sunk cost fallacy
* Fanboys, which very much will put in more effort to make something work than your average person would
> 1. Operating a heavy, dangerous piece of machinery in the field without learning how to operate it first is most certainly the operator’s fault. That’s careless, irresponsible, and endangers others. If they had hurt or killed someone, they would’ve been prosecuted and would possibly be in jail right now.
Yet I can switch between very different cars and "it just works" and I dont' have to go through the darn manual each time... weird inni't?
> 3. You may not appreciate the benefits of the changes that Tesla made, as these things are ultimately subjective, but those changes contributed to the Model Y becoming the best selling vehicle on the planet.
Have you considered that Tesla mayb got to that point because it was 1) very efficient and 2) Musk has a cult-like following (something akin Apple users making pointless decissions) even DESPITE dumb solution like tablet stuck in the middle of the dashboard or stupid changes like this one?
On my commute to work, I often run into a very sudden traffic slow-down. It's general practice round here to slow down carefully, checking rear mirrors and to put your hazard lights on as you're doing so. My hazards on my ID3 are not a proper button (it is a 'touchbutton'). It is awful, I can't find it by feel, but I want to keep my eyes on the road in these kind of situations.
Funny, because teslas (even without stalks) have physical buttons for the wipers (either on the wheel, or the left stalk push button).
Even outside of that, one of the most basic things any driver in a new car should do is familiarize themselves with standard controls (wipers, defrost, backup camera, turn signals, etc) before shifting into drive.
Sounds like your friends were danger to themselves and others on the road.
Works well enough though ... you wouldn't have to press it that often if auto-wipers just worked. Unfortunately, that may be the worst Tesla feature right now since their autowipers love activating for no reason on a dry day, or over-activating in rain.
The indicators/turn signals are the most egregious omissions in a Tesla for me. Evidently no-one who made that decision has ever driven in the UK. I cross 8 roundabouts on my quick 20 minute commute into the office, good luck trying to find the right touch target to signal your exit when your steering wheel is at a quarter or half lock.
why would you want to select your gear on the touchscreen?
I wonder how many sales they lose on the new models because the turn signal stalks are gone? (all stalks)