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Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

electrek.co

121–130 of 135 posts

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#121
post #18

My S was wrecked in a crash (I was unhurt luckily) and instead of replacing it with a new S I bought a Y instead, solely because of the yoke with the touch controls instead of a round wheel with stalks. I can't be the only person who reacted like that, because Tesla wouldn't even let you test drive a car with the yoke last I checked.

How do you like the Y coming from the S? We had a 3 and added a Y and now we barely drive the 3. Strictly a commuter.

I love the Y. The extra storage and more upright driving position are great, and I am able to take more adventurous roads that would bottom out the S. My dog also has more room in the back.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with your analysis and it matches my thoughts. But then, wouldn't a naive conclusion be that in order to maintain the freedom of the market, the appearance of status symbol brands/products must be prevented? That's a tall order. Humans really like status symbols, not only as proof of status but as reminders of status.

> Humans really like status symbols I think this is HUGE understatement. Humans are all about status (speaking in general terms, of course there will be individual exceptions). Status means access to scarce resources, status means choice of mates, status is everything. People will optimize for status ahead of nearly everything else and in a way this is rational because with status can come anything else they may want…

With the tiny nitpick that there is a distinction between signalling status and having status itself. And the relationship between the two is not always straight forward.

Status symbols are more related to the former.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#123
post #34

Literally tried to reinvent the wheel and is now paying the consequences.

Yeah but I'm glad they are trying new things. If it isn't better, then revert.

This isn't how you do things when there's the possibility of injuring people. Even worse, those being injured aren't necessarily those who made the decision to buy the vehicle - it's everybody else on the road.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable in saying I don't want my life dependent on the whims of Tesla.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Humans really like status symbols I think this is HUGE understatement. Humans are all about status (speaking in general terms, of course there will be individual exceptions). Status means access to scarce resources, status means choice of mates, status is everything. People will optimize for status ahead of nearly everything else and in a way this is rational because with status can come anything else they may want…

With the tiny nitpick that there is a distinction between signalling status and having status itself. And the relationship between the two is not always straight forward. Status symbols are more related to the former.

A further observation here is that selling status symbols is what Apple does. They have transitioned from being a computer manufacturer for the DTP and creative industry to being a luxury brand. But that itself is not enough. In the pre-iPhone days, Vertu was the luxury cellphone brand. Similarly, there are plenty of car brands that are more exclusivist than Tesla. Yet they do not have the same outsized influence on the market.

Therefore the issue probably is a status symbol that scales to the mass market.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#125

I have 20k miles driving a Model S with a Yoke. While I'm not a huge fan, the yoke itself is only part of the problem. The bigger problems are: 1. The capacitive buttons for turn signals. They are dangerous. They require taking eyes from the road, offer no feedback, and are honestly dangerous. 2. The horn. It's not in the middle. It's off to the side as a no-feedback capacitive button. Every time I've needed to use t…

Took me very little time to learn the signal buttons. I honestly prefer it now. I just barely wiggle my thumb. Laziness level 1000 reached!

I never use the horn… but yeah the middle airbag thing should just be a horn button. Leave the touch horn control if you want, no downside I guess.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#126
Does Tesla do any real usability testing? Or is it strictly yes-man grab ass and fanboys?

/capacitive/ turn signals without even haptic feedback? How the fuck did that get through initial design? How is that even legal?

With the fiasco that is the objectively stupid cabin design of the Semi on top of bullshit like this it really makes you wonder what the hell they do over there.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#127
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The yoke is very comfortable to rest your hand on while FSD is enabled, doesn't obscure the instrument cluster display, and you get used to it immediately. Like the old saying goes, don't knock it till you've tried it.

> The yoke is very comfortable to rest your hand on while FSD is enabled Seems like the opposite is true: https://youtu.be/-QBWfw_nkr0?t=152

Letting the wheel slide through your hand like that doesn't apply a torque, so you will get nagged and you will have to jiggle the wheel once in a while. By resting your hand on the corner of the yoke, it has just enough torque to keep the system happy indefinitely.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#128

I have 20k miles driving a Model S with a Yoke. While I'm not a huge fan, the yoke itself is only part of the problem. The bigger problems are: 1. The capacitive buttons for turn signals. They are dangerous. They require taking eyes from the road, offer no feedback, and are honestly dangerous. 2. The horn. It's not in the middle. It's off to the side as a no-feedback capacitive button. Every time I've needed to use t…

Jesus the capacitive touch signaling is astoundingly stupid. The horn, though. In decades of driving, I've used my horn maybe once or twice.

Once a pickup truck decided to back out of a failed left turn when the light turned red. Stupid and illegal.

I'd remained well behind the stop line, lots of space between us, so I figured he was just using up a little of it to get his nose out of the middle of the intersection and I hesitated.

He had no idea my sedan was there and backed right over my hood.

I'd never used the horn in that car. It took a firmer press than I expected, a slightly different angle... the milliseconds involved in figuring that out contributed to the accident.

It's worth practicing your horn in any car you're driving and it's worth honking at someone backing up if you're not absolutely sure they see you.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#129
post #3

lol.... who would have thought that a circular shape would be better for a steering wheel in a consumer car...

If you set out to reinvent many of aspects that are conventional of a complex machine like a car, I’ll forgive you for not getting 100% of them right.

I won't forgive Elon Musk for trying to put a transmission in an electric car... luckily it didn't work.

Re: Tesla finally breaks and offers round steering wheel on Model S/X

#130
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A single u-turn should have been all Tesla needed to understand how terrible an idea yoke is. You try arm over arm, then crash the car.

I have over 25k miles in an S with a yoke, there was one day where I was exiting a parking lot and the yoke was upside down and the turn signals buttons were backwards that was a slight annoyance. Other than that I have never had an issue turning with the yoke and wouldn't want to go back to a wheel that blocks the instrument cluster constantly.

> that blocks the instrument cluster constantly.

they also could move the instruments (but besides the speedometer... most of them are somewhat useless anyways... and with a FSD car, even the speedometer should be useless)

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