My car won't be delivered for another 2 months, but if it arrives without what I paid for... I would think this as a class action lawsuit from actual owners would be undesirable.
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Air Suspension no longer lowers at highway speeds (FW update v5.8)
- Thread starter Lump
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
smorgasbord
Active Member
Will you also hide any resulting fire from your insurance company and the media? No matter what you say, another fire would hurt Tesla, and hurt it badly.
IMO, the only way Tesla can really fix this to to reinforce the front bottom of the battery pack (or whereever the two incidents we know of have impacted the battery) with steel. Would you rather have a heavier car that rides lower?
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
Wouldn't your first option be to not take delivery of the vehicle if it's not delivered with the features you ordered? You could in fact contact Tesla right now and tell them if it doesn't have all features you don't want the car.
Merrill
Merrill
all I was saying is that I do not believe that raising the car less than 1 inch will prevent the 2 incidents from happening.
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gnelson
Member
I also have never heard any proof the the higher height will prevent the battery incidents. Even if there is no proof I would like to hear a plausible explanation regarding how the higher height will likely prevent the battery incidents. If the higher height will return in the future, what other mitigation will substitute for the higher height.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
The higher the car rides the fewer objects can pass under other vehicles and impact the S. There is no guarantee of course, only moving the odds in their favor.
Agreed there is no guarantee.
An argument can be made that the higher the car rides the more larger objects can pass under the Model S and impact the battery. With the Model S riding lower there will be a set of objects that otherwise would be caught by the front of the car before it passes under. After raising the car these object will pass under and may impact the battery. Many of these scenarios assume the object is stationary and merely lying in the road, but it could easily be spinning or tumbling after falling off a vehicle. Such an object passing under the Model S if it were sufficiently rigid and sharp could present more of a danger if the car were raised.
Larry
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
I think the odds improve because the higher ride decreases the chance that the S is the lowest vehicle to pass over a section of road, which should mean other cars have better odds of hitting the debris and removing it from the road before the S even arrives on the scene. Also the one inch higher ride means that objects which may hit and penetrate will do so one inch further away from the cells. Sure there are some scenarios where the extra inch might increase potential impacts and damage, but I think they are fewer than the other scenarios.
Vger
Active Member
FYI, the coil suspension rides at about the height of the "High" setting of the air suspension, because the coils do not have the speed of response to bumps as the air, and hence need a longer travel (told to me by a very knowledgeable Tesla service manager after I drove a loaner with coil suspension).
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I think we need to distinguish between the US incidents and the Mexico demolition derby. In the case of the Mexico incident I guess that the extreme damage done to the car by crashing right though a reinforced concrete wall would be very hard to design for. I suspected at the time that the battery case was probably raked by multiple sharp ends of steel rebar liberated from the middle of the concrete wall. That is a pretty horrendous scenario to deal with.
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I think the critical factor in using the "low" setting safely is to be able to see enough road ahead to be able to react to debris in one's path. This is a matter of adequate separation from the vehicle you are following. I realize that is difficult in an urban freeway setting, but much more manageable in a rural open road setting. That is how I have imagined I would use the option, once they provide it, as promised-- lowering on in low traffic density long-distance settings; off when forced to follow other traffic closely.
I recall other TMC posts stating that the default height of the air suspension cars was the same as the coil cars. I will try to find the posts but considering the huge number of posts on this issue it may be difficult.
How about we have some posts from owners who have measured the ground clearance number of their car at an agreed upon location on the body? Where is a good place to make that measurement? I'll measure my coil S85 tomorrow.
I see 3 outcomes: Complete restoration of the functionality of the air suspension (as sold); refund of the cost of air suspension; a class action lawsuit to address a company's abuse of owner rights.
Or, you can put on your "rose-colored glasses" and wait for Tesla to tell you how, they have decided, you can use your Model S . . .
Or, you can put on your "rose-colored glasses" and wait for Tesla to tell you how, they have decided, you can use your Model S . . .
Dream on.
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Model S ride height under various suspension settings is clearly identified and measured in the latest owner's manual that is available in your MyTesla dashboard.
True page 69 of the manual shows the standard ground clearance at 5", whereas page 117 lists the ground clearance at 6". :biggrin:
Larry
Measuring the ground clearance on my coil suspension S85 shows about 5 3/4" between the ground and the lowest part of the battery pack. That is with no one in the car and tire pressures at factory settings.
I just sent this email to ownership@ because I'm starting to get really pissed off this hasn't been returned yet and there has been no mention of it returning recently as well as the removed verbage from the ordering page that it lowers.
"It's mid-January already and no word yet on the air suspension lowering functionality returning to us. Is this still planned or is this permanently disabled forever? I do A LOT of highway driving (36k miles in 10 months ownership), and this is killing my Wh/mi. Essentially this is translating to more $$ out of my pocket for electricity costs. PLEASE RETURN THIS FUNCTIONALITY ASAP."
I highly suggest that everyone here sends an email to ownership@. If we all start hounding them, it might help speed up the return of this functionality we all paid for. It is costing us all $$ in electricity. Although that's pretty hard to prove, but given Tesla's own statements they'd be contradicting themselves if they said otherwise.
"It's mid-January already and no word yet on the air suspension lowering functionality returning to us. Is this still planned or is this permanently disabled forever? I do A LOT of highway driving (36k miles in 10 months ownership), and this is killing my Wh/mi. Essentially this is translating to more $$ out of my pocket for electricity costs. PLEASE RETURN THIS FUNCTIONALITY ASAP."
I highly suggest that everyone here sends an email to ownership@. If we all start hounding them, it might help speed up the return of this functionality we all paid for. It is costing us all $$ in electricity. Although that's pretty hard to prove, but given Tesla's own statements they'd be contradicting themselves if they said otherwise.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
I assume they are waiting for the NHTSA decision. If they allow it before that and there is another incident it would be a disaster. Tesla desperately needs the NHTSA decision to be positive. Of course the higher ride height does not guarantee anything but it does move the odds in their favor. What happens if the NHTSA decision is that the higher ride height needs to remain in place?
We should be careful. There will be more fires in the future regardless of ride height. We can all argue about the likely-hood per mile driven, but it will still happen.
If that happens, I or others will be offering a range increasing, performance enhancing aftermarket improvement for your Model S...
If that happens, I or others will be offering a range increasing, performance enhancing aftermarket improvement for your Model S...
No offense, bluetinc, but I want Tesla Smart Air Suspension restored. Or at the very least a partial refund of what I paid for it. I really do not want to pay a third party again for what I already paid for.
I do also, and I've been very clear about that in the past. I really was speaking to the fact that fires due to impacts are a fact of life and we should be trying to set that mentality, not one of trying to make sure that the car are incident free.
Peter
Peter
