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On a Tesla: Don't

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Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#81
post #80

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…

My dad spent most of his working life on "preaching" road safety for the local health service, reviewing all the data in the world (more or less) to tell people what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately, one thing he learned is that every measure of forceful compliance is consistently more successful in preventing accidents and deaths. Seatbelts save lives, but they had to be made compulsory by law to drill the conc…

This raises a more fundamental moral issue: if I want to be stupid and I'm only endangering myself - why should't I?

I firmly believe that it's not the government's or automakers role to keep me from harming myself - but it is the governments role to protect others from being harmed by me. Consequently, I believe the government should outlaw drunk driving as it endangers others, but it should not force me to wear a helmet on a motorcycle.

Just to be clear: I absolutely believe you SHOULD wear a helmet while motorcycling - but I believe if I choose not to and by doing so am only endangering myself, that's my choice.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#82

> That’s what the brain does: we learn not to see the ugly that we can’t change. Huh. This must be what it's like to be a glass-half-full person. Speaking for myself, I tend to focus in on it rather obsessively. > Elizabeth Holmes, at least, didn’t kill anyone. Statistically, she almost certainly did. > I’ve never actually thought that I needed a fart machine in my car, but pre-teens think it essential. IMO this enco…

The fart noise is played through the regular audio speakers inside the car, not outside it.

While I think that was once the case, today, thanks to Tesla's innovation(TM), you can treat passers-by to 100 decibel fart sounds: https://mashable.com/article/tesla-horn-fart

Anyone who _actually uses this_ should be shunned from society, of course.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#83
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad spent most of his working life on "preaching" road safety for the local health service, reviewing all the data in the world (more or less) to tell people what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately, one thing he learned is that every measure of forceful compliance is consistently more successful in preventing accidents and deaths. Seatbelts save lives, but they had to be made compulsory by law to drill the conc…

This raises a more fundamental moral issue: if I want to be stupid and I'm only endangering myself - why should't I? I firmly believe that it's not the government's or automakers role to keep me from harming myself - but it is the governments role to protect others from being harmed by me. Consequently, I believe the government should outlaw drunk driving as it endangers others, but it should not force me to wear a h…

> if I want to be stupid and I'm only endangering myself - why should't I?

I hear you, but - on the road you're not alone even after you die. Someone will have to pick up your remains, see your brain splattered all over the road, and live with the trauma forever. Someone will have to try and resuscitate you, taking time that could be spent helping someone else. Worse, partial helmets could save your life but still get you partially paralized or disfigured, which would further burden society and yourself (treatment etc).

Note I'm a rider myself (bonneville ftw), and yeah full-face helmet doesn't fit my Easy Rider fantasy, but if it spares myself and others from the worst consequences, I'm ok with it.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#84
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad spent most of his working life on "preaching" road safety for the local health service, reviewing all the data in the world (more or less) to tell people what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately, one thing he learned is that every measure of forceful compliance is consistently more successful in preventing accidents and deaths. Seatbelts save lives, but they had to be made compulsory by law to drill the conc…

This raises a more fundamental moral issue: if I want to be stupid and I'm only endangering myself - why should't I? I firmly believe that it's not the government's or automakers role to keep me from harming myself - but it is the governments role to protect others from being harmed by me. Consequently, I believe the government should outlaw drunk driving as it endangers others, but it should not force me to wear a h…

"no man is an island" and in most circumstances you're not alone when driving, unless you're on your private farmland or something.

moving fast enough to hurt or kill you in a car means you're going fast enough to damage or kill whatever you hit, too. even if that turns out to be a ditch or tree, you're still running into something.

pulling your corpse and smashed vehicle out of a ditch is going to cost someone something, even if no one else died.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#85
post #59

A Tesla used to be called the "best car ever made" — eleven years ago. In 2013 Consumer Reports called the Tesla Model S the best car it had ever tested. The Model S earned a score of 99 out of a possible 100 in the magazine's tests. "If it could recharge in any gas station in three minutes, this car would score about 110," said Jake Fisher, head of auto testing for Consumer Reports . Fisher called the car's performa…

They keep deleting stuff in the car.

I think Model S is still quite good because it retains more physical creature comforts like turn signal, circular wheel, instrument panel, and hand-adjustable AC vents (in the model y, you can only change vent angle on the touch screen).

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> . I had to take the next exit and park somewhere to get it to shut up This is the safe thing to do. A bag heavy enough to set off the sensors (usually 10kg) is gonna kill someone if not belted in in an accident. It is not uncommon for bags to go through the front windscreen and kill someone in the car that crashes into you .

In this case, it was a light shoulder bag containing only a laptop. Considering it's height, it should have bashed into the glove box area on impact. Stripping it down might indeed be more secure, but how do you properly strip that down with only the seat belt?

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#87
post #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…

I sat in a friend's Mercedes and the central display had a big flashy full screen warning that said something along the lines of "Don't let [name of their software package] distract you from driving!". It seems the irony of screaming for your attention only to tell you not to pay attention was lost on them.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#88
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…

I just got a new car (not a tesla), it has it has controls that have dedicated buttons, it does have a touchscreen, and turn signal stalk, check. gear stalk? that's been gone ages ago. I have a/c control buttons, radio dials, volume knob. Don't have a spare, but that's standard. They used to pack a real full size tire before they started with that extra small spare tire crap, then finally they just give you a kit that can repair your tire. The touchscreen is not small, and no there's not a lot of tiny targets crowded too close together. They're fairly spread out and all the controls are about 3 finger widths apart. Not everyone gets a tesla.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#89
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…

> don't get a flat tire if you care about your time. can you elaborate on this?

No spare tire in the trunk, like nearly all newish cars.

Re: On a Tesla: Don't

#90
post #4

> But here’s where the CEO becomes relevant. Tesla is, in many ways, Elon Musk. Some parts are astonishing, inspiring, and good — what I’ve called above the car on down. Other parts are little more than lies and gimmicks. From what I understand (and I may be completely wrong), those "astonishing and good" parts, about the design of the vehicle itself, were already mostly in place before Musk managed to place himself…

> From what I understand (and I may be completely wrong), those "astonishing and good" parts, about the design of the vehicle itself, were already mostly in place before Musk managed to place himself as Tesla's CEO (which is an interesting story in itself).

You are completely wrong. Musk joined as the first major outside investor in February 2004, six months after the company's founding. The Roadster, Tesla's first automobile, did not come out until 2008.

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