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On a Tesla: Don't

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Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#31
post #27
post #8

The problem with a tesla is that it is like a finicky partner. You're in love. It is romantic. smooth, sleep touchscreen for everything feels so modern. It is a better car than ICE, hands down. Everything that was before was terrible. And everything is getting better! But at some point, you realize some things are never going to change, and you are going to have to live with it. - it is dangerously hard to use any co…

> - it is dangerously hard to use any control that doesn't have a dedicated button. The touchscreen in a moving car is a moving mess of tiny targets crowded too close together No it isn't. > - even if you have a dedicated control for say wipers, you will still curse interval wipers. Sensor-based wipers fail to predict rain regularly. I discussed this topic recently with a friend, her Mercedes has the same problem and…

I’ve literally never seen a car without a spare tire. It’s usually hidden underneath the trunk these days. I assumed it was law?

EDIT: never mind, I see Teslas come with a repair kit instead. (I suppose by modern car you might mean electric.) TIL

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#32
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - it is dangerously hard to use any control that doesn't have a dedicated button. The touchscreen in a moving car is a moving mess of tiny targets crowded too close together No it isn't. > - even if you have a dedicated control for say wipers, you will still curse interval wipers. Sensor-based wipers fail to predict rain regularly. I discussed this topic recently with a friend, her Mercedes has the same problem and…

I’ve literally never seen a car without a spare tire. It’s usually hidden underneath the trunk these days. I assumed it was law? EDIT: never mind, I see Teslas come with a repair kit instead. (I suppose by modern car you might mean electric.) TIL

At least in Germany most manufacturers do this - and not only for electric cars. Many modern cars do not contain a spare tire. And this has been widely reported for at least 10 years now.

I generally find it really strange that so many articles single out Tesla to complain about issues that apply to many new cars. But maybe the US market is very different and maybe in the US Teslas really are very different from other cars.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#33

On the "yelling at me" part - I find this an absolutely puzzling design pattern that a number of automakers have adopted. I was driving a Volkswagen ID4 - their mid-size electric car - the other day, and my dog was on the back seat. She triggered the seat belt alarm, but not straight away, only once we were on the German Autobahn. It showed the icon on the dashboard, then it started beeping. Then it started beeping l…

It's a wider problem than just the seatbelts. The whole cockpit of a car is now a distraction from the most critical thing - driving safely.

For reasons I don't understand, tactile push buttons, with physical feedback, for most tasks are increasingly being replaced with a touch screen you have to look at rather than looking at the road instead and just reaching over to the dashboard.

Hanlon's Razor? It feels like the national road safety bodies world wide, have dropped the ball on this one.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#34
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - if you get a newer car, you (basically) won't HAVE any dedicated controls. no turn signal stalk. No gear stalk - PRND - it will guess for you (really) What? How do you signal a turn then? How do you change the gear?

> How do you signal a turn then? Buttons on the steering wheel. It's not very usable when you're trying to indicate while turning (like around a roundabout): https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/tesla-steering-wheel-mode... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA2dSHu-hns > How do you change the gear? Via the touch screen or buttons in the overhead console: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h6CgpHMuqC8 They are both dumb desig…

It concerns me to know that these vehicles are on the road around me. What a mess. I’ve never seen such a blatantly ridiculous gear shift control in my life.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#35
> “Automatic” windshield wipers: This functionality is so insanely stupid. It regularly turns on when there is no rain, and regularly runs in the slowest speed when there’s tons of rain. I’ve read that this is because Elon vetoed a simple sensor that would have made this function as well as any other modern car. He was convinced the car’s AI could figure it out. It can’t.

Yep. First world problem for sure but so frustrating. And other first-world cars don't have this issue.

It is the same with the ultrasound reversing sensors that've been removed.. the Tesla Vision / AI simply is not as good and probably never will be in a dark carpark.

But in my own view, the reason for 'don't' is that against many expectations, the incumbents have largely caught up in the EV space and there are new entrants doing exceptionally well. Tesla's complacency might be what harms it the most.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#36

On the "yelling at me" part - I find this an absolutely puzzling design pattern that a number of automakers have adopted. I was driving a Volkswagen ID4 - their mid-size electric car - the other day, and my dog was on the back seat. She triggered the seat belt alarm, but not straight away, only once we were on the German Autobahn. It showed the icon on the dashboard, then it started beeping. Then it started beeping l…

Something like this happened in my Skoda a while ago. Driving along on the Autobahn when a really minor irregularity in the road caused the bag I had placed on the passenger seat to be pushed into the seat very gently, triggering the passenger-side seat belt alarm. I had to take the next exit and park somewhere to get it to shut up. Unrelated but also relevant to the story: My father's new car (a brand-new Nissan) st…

on the flipside, one of my first times when learning to ride a car, I was so focused on adjusting the mirror and seat that I forgot to put on my seatbelt. I was able to get out of the parking lot and get onto a pretty busy road with semi-high speed before the alarm went off!

the alarm mostly stressed me out more than realizing I was not wearing a seatbelt, which only made it harder to find a suitable exit so I could stop the car and put the belt on!

I think this is mostly an edge case though, because I probably held a much lower speed than expected in the parking lot due to being very inexperienced behind the wheel.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#37

On the "yelling at me" part - I find this an absolutely puzzling design pattern that a number of automakers have adopted. I was driving a Volkswagen ID4 - their mid-size electric car - the other day, and my dog was on the back seat. She triggered the seat belt alarm, but not straight away, only once we were on the German Autobahn. It showed the icon on the dashboard, then it started beeping. Then it started beeping l…

Something like this happened in my Skoda a while ago. Driving along on the Autobahn when a really minor irregularity in the road caused the bag I had placed on the passenger seat to be pushed into the seat very gently, triggering the passenger-side seat belt alarm. I had to take the next exit and park somewhere to get it to shut up. Unrelated but also relevant to the story: My father's new car (a brand-new Nissan) st…

"and even then only if you go faster than 10km/h or something."

No idea about other countries, but in germany you are allowed to not wear the seatbelt while driving "walking speed". So that makes some sense.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#38
post #3

A few legitimate but common complaints marred by a bunch of issues that aren’t common (my phone key works fine, Bluetooth is fine, etc) and completely unsubstantiated prediction that the runaway top seller of EVs, indeed the best selling cars several years running, will somehow “fail to compete” in the EV space

There are some apparently legitimate issues, followed by political grievances against Musk personally, written by a guy who describes himself as "law professor, activist". This kind of partisanship taints the whole article, and lessens its credibility.

Lawrence Lessig is a pretty famous guy: Creative Commons, "code is law", net neutrality, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig

I'm not sure any of this makes him terribly qualified to comment on Tesla's economic prospects though.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#39
post #29
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - don't get a flat tire if you care about your time. If you can't change a spare, nvm. Is it harder to change a spare on a tesla compare to other cars?

Probably because you don't get a spare tire so you have to wait until road side assistance comes to you.

... what does roadside assistance do in that scenario? They can't be carrying spare tires of every variety, and the equipment to fit them.. this just sounds like a terrible non-solution to a solved problem.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#40
post #27
post #8

The problem with a tesla is that it is like a finicky partner. You're in love. It is romantic. smooth, sleep touchscreen for everything feels so modern. It is a better car than ICE, hands down. Everything that was before was terrible. And everything is getting better! But at some point, you realize some things are never going to change, and you are going to have to live with it. - it is dangerously hard to use any co…

> - it is dangerously hard to use any control that doesn't have a dedicated button. The touchscreen in a moving car is a moving mess of tiny targets crowded too close together No it isn't. > - even if you have a dedicated control for say wipers, you will still curse interval wipers. Sensor-based wipers fail to predict rain regularly. I discussed this topic recently with a friend, her Mercedes has the same problem and…

>No it isn't.

Touchscreens demand I look away from my surroundings, because I will never know where anything is nor if I did whatever I wanted to do correctly. That is fundamentally terrible as regards safe driving.

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