2023 Model S: The best camera, is no camera at all

[Syro]

I am wondering how many people agree with this and why are so many just accepting it.

Tesla Vision has been out for months now, and I think we can all agree, it does not work.
It is just not acceptable to sell cars at this price range (every model they sell) without any working parking system.
Any other brand would have been nailed to the wall for this, but we just "wait for an update".

Automatic windshieldwipers, they don't work.
We get a lot of rain here, and I am constantly pushing the wiper button myself, or adjusting the setting.
Auto almost never turns on, if it does, it's either to slow or to fast.

Automatic high beams, blinds more people than it actually helps you when needed.

Side camera's, whenever it get's to dark, "camera blinded", every night.

Recently went to Tesla for some other small problems, explained all of this.
Nothing they can do, it is what it is, just "wait for an update".

And people still believe this car will be able to do FSD?

 

[E90alex]

Auto high beams work pretty well now for me. The other stuff are still a problem.

True FSD will never happen with this hardware.

 

[Syro]

Not installing parking sensors anymore is just cutting costs, no matter how they try and sell it, that's just what it is. Not having to install 8 of those on every care they build saves them tens of millions every year.

 

[teko]

I don't know why people accept it, but I'll take a stab at guessing. I think people have been bashed on and forced to buy electric. Tesla is still probably the best electric car available, foils and all, so people buy it and Tesla keeps on selling it and not fixing problems. Hopefully not for much longer and better competition will be on the market, since these issues you listed would have been addressed if there was better competition for Tesla and they faced losing sales because of these issues.

But looking at the sales numbers, given how much ahead Tesla is, I suspect they just keep pushing cars out and fixing stuff is on backburner.

 

[Syro]

I don't know why people accept it, but I'll take a stab at guessing. I think people have been bashed on and forced to buy electric. Tesla is still probably the best electric car available, foils and all, so people buy it and Tesla keeps on selling it and not fixing problems. Hopefully not for much longer and better competition will be on the market, since these issues you listed would have been addressed if there was better competition for Tesla and they faced losing sales because of these issues.

But looking at the sales numbers, given how much ahead Tesla is, I suspect they just keep pushing cars out and fixing stuff is on backburner.

So we all have to root for the Chinese car industry now to try and get Tesla off their ass

 

[teko]

So we all have to root for the Chinese car industry now to try and get Tesla off their ass

Unfortunately, I think it has come to that. South Koreans with Kia/Hyundai might be able to provide competition too.

 

[Syro]

Unfortunately, I think it has come to that. South Koreans with Kia/Hyundai might be able to provide competition too.

Yes, and cars like the Volvo EX30

 

[gaswalla]

it makes no sense unless the ONLY goal is to save a few bucks per vehicle (and millions as a fleet)... the cars should all have a $3 water sensor for wipers, ultrasound sensors all around the car - even on the sides for parking and autopilot as well as radar and advanced radar. Use them until the vision-only approach is superior and then phase out the sensors... what part am I missing bc it's so obvious to me

 

[teko]

what part am I missing bc it's so obvious to me

Because they don't have to add those features. There is no competitive force that is pushing them to improve.

 

[E90alex]

They still keep selling more and more cars despite not having those features because there is no competition or their closest competition is tens of thousands more expensive. It just reinforces their decision to cut more features.

Also lots of people may be coming from older cars that didn’t have such features anyways, so the Tesla even with the missing features is still an improvement.

I hope the stalk removal in the Highland 3 comes back to bite them since the general public may not be so accepting of such different controls compared to the people willing to shell out for Model S/X that may want a more unique experience.

 

[rstx]

I ran into this issue recently when test driving a Model X vs BMW iX. Other than supercharger network, feature for feature it was just not that hard of a choice really.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Tesla (Elon) is always looking for ways to cut production costs, and because Elon is all in on Tesla Vision, he thinks anything that doesn’t align with that goal is a waste of money. I’m actually surprised he allowed Tesla to include radar (unused for now) in HW4 Model S/X cars.

 

[rstx]

Tesla (Elon) is always looking for ways to cut production costs, and because Elon is all in on Tesla Vision, he thinks anything that doesn’t align with that goal is a waste of money. I’m actually surprised he allowed Tesla to include radar (unused for now) in HW4 Model S/X cars.

I thought radar was still used for Model X FWD so they dont open when they shouldnt.

 

[EVRider-FL]

I thought radar was still used for Model X FWD so they dont open when they shouldnt.

Don’t know, but that would probably be an ultrasonic sensor for detecting obstacles nearby, not radar used for AP, which is what the HW4 S/X have. My understanding is that the engineers convinced Elon to include the new radar so they could do some testing.

 

[ATPMSD]

People are not buying a car, they are buying a lifestyle. I mean really, if we compare features we should still be buying ICE cars. I drove Acura’s for 10+ years and pound for pound. they are better cars. However, I am on my 2nd Tesla so I too have bought into the lifestyle.

 

[iloveplywood]

People are not buying a car, they are buying a lifestyle. I mean really, if we compare features we should still be buying ICE cars. I drove Acura’s for 10+ years and pound for pound. they are better cars. However, I am on my 2nd Tesla so I too have bought into the lifestyle.

And some people just like the way Teslas drive. I like the instant torque and the near silent acceleration -- it's a much more fun car for me to drive than my wife's ID.4 even though that car has more features. Other people find this boring and like to hear engine noises and feel a car shifting to have fun driving -- that's cool too.

Do I think it's insanely stupid to remove radar and parking sensors -- yes -- but I've lived without it for my previous 37 years of driving so I didn't consider it a deal breaker (though, it did make me think twice about getting the Model Y so it wasn't trivial).

I gladly would have paid the hundred dollars or so to have both included in my car and if it's truly a cost savings decision on Tesla's part then I question the wisdom as I do believe they lose sales over this.

 

[iloveplywood]

I thought radar was still used for Model X FWD so they dont open when they shouldnt.

I believe it's just the uss sensor for the falcon doors and they removed the USS sensors everywhere but on the door.

 

[brooklyn]

I am wondering how many people agree with this and why are so many just accepting it.

Tesla Vision has been out for months now, and I think we can all agree, it does not work.
It is just not acceptable to sell cars at this price range (every model they sell) without any working parking system.
Any other brand would have been nailed to the wall for this, but we just "wait for an update".

Automatic windshieldwipers, they don't work.
We get a lot of rain here, and I am constantly pushing the wiper button myself, or adjusting the setting.
Auto almost never turns on, if it does, it's either to slow or to fast.

Automatic high beams, blinds more people than it actually helps you when needed.

Side camera's, whenever it get's to dark, "camera blinded", every night.

Recently went to Tesla for some other small problems, explained all of this.
Nothing they can do, it is what it is, just "wait for an update".

And people still believe this car will be able to do FSD?

I have more of an issue with Tesla's inconsistency. I'm not having any of the issues you are. Auto high beams work, though I am annoyed that if I intentionally flash someone it seems to disable auto high beams for a while in my car. Automatic windshield washers work for me, though it's hit or miss in very light/misting conditions. The recent software update that automatically activates the headlights when the wipers are on is appreciated. My side cameras work fine at night, but I recently had to park outside for a week and in the mornings with dew/moisture covering the car I would get the camera blinded warning until the moisture evaporated. What's frustrating though is that this is stuff that should just work and should be consistent across the line. The fact that it's a 50/50 crap shoot is a problem. My MSP could be a phenomenal car if they could just get their overall quality control right. I'm coming from 20 years of owning nothing but Audis. I tell my folks all the time that if you took the battery tech and a few key features from my MSP and put them in a RS6 or RS7 you'd have one of the best cars on the product. Merc owners would probably say the same with an E63 or S63.