Air Suspension no longer lowers at highway speeds (FW update v5.8)

[Lloyd]

I believe it is more of a safety issue that they took away this feature and did not tell you about it. Handling, cornering and effeciency has changed without this feature.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

I disagree Raffy, otherwise you have to say that every car with ride hght less than 6" (15cm) has this safety issue. Also the car is now being made susceptible to road debris taller than 5". The fire issues were caused by debris going under the car and levering upwards, raising the ride height provides greater risk of that happening again.

From a technical point of view you are right Nigel. In fact I said the same thing in my previous posts. Problem is that the Model S is a safe car in spite of the latest incident and here Tesla is managing a PR problem. So this is the first thing to do in order to calm down people. I think that in the long term Tesla will face this matter in a completely different manner allowing again the air suspensions to lower at high speeds.

 

[brianman]

I believe it is more of a safety issue that they took away this feature and did not tell you about it. Handling and cornering has changed without this feature.

Do we know that? I've never heard (non-track) maneuverability discussed in the context of Model S air suspension until now.

Yes, technically the COG is lower with "Low" than with "Standard" but by how much -- and to the degree that we're talking safety issue?

 

[NigelM]

.....(but runs out of time update release notes)...

I was with you up till this part. The hard work would have been last minute changes in the software; someone other than a SW engineer would have been writing the release notes and they could have included something in not much more time than it took me to write this post.

 

[brianman]

I was with you up till this part. The hard work would have been last minute changes in the software; someone other than a SW engineer would have been writing the release notes; they could have included something in not much more time than it took me to write this post.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to change a string in software sometimes. Especially when it has to be translated for different market languages.

I'm not saying it's a great thing to have to say, but it most definitely happens that "easy" things like release notes often can't be changed in the last moments of a release.

Also, put yourself in Elon's shoes:

• Elon: Include the suspension change in 5.8
• Employee: We were seconds away from pushing it out.
• Elon: That's ok, hold up for it and then release.
• Employee: What about the release notes? I'm not sure we have time to put that in there....and then people will see it before your blog post.
• Elon: Hm. Release it without the notes. We'll add them after my blog post in a future push.

Seems likely to me.

 

[Kaivball]

I would like to know how this changes the driving dynamics.

Is the car now more prone to lean at spirited driving?

If this alters the dynamics and if this stays a permanent alteration I will request a refund on the difference between the air and the standard suspension.

This is not the car any more that I test drove and then subsequently bought. It was the lowering feature and stiffer handling with the expected increased range that sold me on the air suspension.

The car is now materially altered. Might as well just have bought the standard suspension.

This will get interesting.

 

[kendallpb]

And, more than likely, the next time you go in for service they're going to update you to the latest version anyway.

This occurred to me earlier while reading this thread, and I thought, "If I decide to stay at 4.5 (wish I had 5.6...), I'll have to make sure to warn them not to update the freaking software."

Whether they would listen is another question, but IMHO that would be a really bad mistake on their part, to update when asked explicitly not to.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

@NigelM - There's a subtlety here. It's kind of like the difference (as noted in that other accident thread recently) between "it merits investigating" and "omg guilty burn the witch". Tesla's move here was more of the former, though some are assuming it means the latter. "Aggressive over-protectiveness over potential safety issue."

That said, I kind of think it's important for Tesla communication (probably Elon's blog) to be clear that -- to our best understanding so far -- "safety issue" is the wrong phrasing for the actual problem in the road debris cases. Human safety (so far) has been shown to be best protected in a Model S. "Vehicle safety" (i.e. not totaling the car) is the real concern that's starting to surface.

Agree 100%. I said it's a safety issue because I was hurrying while writing. I was wrong. It's a PR issue.

 

[Lloyd]

Do we know that? I've never heard (non-track) maneuverability discussed in the content of Model S air suspension until now.

Yes, technically the COG is lower with "Low" than with "Standard" but by how much -- and to the degree that we're talking safety issue?

I can feel the difference, but only in high speed turns. Point is that many owners not on this forum may not know that their car has been changed in this way. I likely would not have noticed until my next higher speed driving event had I not read it here. Dangerous? Well maybe, but more dangerous than hitting an object on the freeway in a lowered state and catching on fire IMO.

 

[NigelM]

So this is the first thing to do in order to calm down people.

Calming down media yes, but upsetting owners in the process? I suspect that, as has happened before, for many folks it's not what Tesla has done but what they haven't done in terms of communications.

 

[brianman]

This occurred to me earlier while reading this thread, and I thought, "If I decide to stay at 4.5 (wish I had 5.6...), I'll have to make sure to warn them not to update the freaking software."

Whether they would listen is another question, but IMHO that would be a really bad mistake on their part, to update when asked explicitly not to.

I've had good experience with the service center remembering and respecting my requests like this.

Case in point:
I still have the original vents. Every time there is a new set of fixes available, one of the comments in the conversation before I even speak is "... and I presume you want to keep the original vents still."

 

[dsm363]

How many years will they let someone sit with 4.5 though?

 

[Kaivball]

I suspect the full scale rollout is a prelude to announcing the fee schedule and sign-up program for 3G service plans. TM has consistently said they will implement the charges after everyone has firmware with wifi and tethering. Well, now we have it and 4Q earnings are coming up. Look for a wireless fee line item in new guidance. Tesla is about to become a telecom company too!

Well, they better save up some money when they have to reimburse air suspension owners for the removal of the lowering feature at speed.

Especially if this alters driving dynamic, body roll and cornering behavior and range. Why bother having an air suspension when it now behaves like standard or worse?

Tesla altered the car after the fact and removed a key feature that was a selling point.

I will politely ask for the dollar difference of standard vs air and so will many others.

 

[brianman]

How many years will they let someone sit with 4.5 though?

Very good question. Probably not as long as IE6.

 

[Peter_M]

My take on Tesla's rationale here: The media and the public believed that the two fires were a sign of a problem with the car (simplistic and wrong), so let's put out a software fix that reduces the risk. It's also simplistic and wrong, but the media and the public will accept it and stop worrying about this.

Actually pretty smart, I think, and they can re-enable the Low mode (optionally) after the dust settles.

 

[SCW-Greg]

I can feel the difference, but only in high speed turns. Point is that many owners not on this forum may not know that their car has been changed in this way. I likely would not have noticed until my next higher speed driving event had I not read it here.

I'd notice on my very next commute. When I come in off the highway, I always hear the car raise up as I go below 26mph. If not for reading this thread, I'd then be calling the service center saying I've got a suspension problem... not going into Low anymore.

I'm with Kendall on how this might play out, if you reject the upgrades.

 

[dsm363]

The car still raises for snow, driveways and has the softer ride than standard suspension. It's not like this update took that away. Maybe waiting on word from Tesla about removal of low setting might be worthwhile before demanding money back. It may come back after Tesla has had time to evaluate the fires.

 

[kendallpb]

3. Tesla prepares 5.7 and decides not to unleash it to the world for some reason
4. Tesla prepares 5.8 as the first "rapid deployment via wifi" update on a "short" timeline "with release notes and everything!"
5. Media drama with road debris
6. Elon (and perhaps others) have the idea to use 5.8 (almost out the door, are you crazy?!) as the vehicle for a "quick response to road debris drama"

I suspect 5.7 was the planned release, and they updated it to 5.8 with a single change--disabling auto-lowering at speed.

7. Elon announces blog post, with the idea of being able to say we deployed 5.8 in 48 hours

?! Has this happened? Your next two items have, but I haven't read about your item #7.

8. Tesla updates 5.8 to include the "quick response" (but runs out of time update release notes)

You're generous; their track record with release notes and customer communication make me suspect they just didn't think of it. ;-) It doesn't take that long to type two sentences.

[Future prediction:]
10. Tesla is already preparing 1.49.23 (which updates the release notes)
11. Elon's blog post speaks to the above and notes that "we didn't have time to update the release notes, but will in the next update"
12. Tesla pushes 1.49.23 out relatively quickly

I doubt they would bother with yet another firmware version merely to add two lines to the release notes. #11 maybe happen, but I doubt #10 or #12. Although if they have a real release in the works, they might update the notes to mention this, then. But a special version? Nah.

While this isn't necessarily the real timeline, it's certainly plausible and typical for anything involving software. I think people need to be patient -- and I don't mean "wait 20 minutes and then complain".

It's mostly plausible for Tesla, anyway. ;-) I'm prepared to be patient, as I suspect many are, however I think it's good to make some noise so they know what owners actually want. If no one says anything, Tesla may just think "whew, crisis over, we'll just leave the expensive feature disabled forever." No, I believe that complaining is a good idea, especially absent anything from Tesla. Their history of communication with owners and the public has been very erratic; they should've known and posted something before. Classic Tesla mistake, quite frankly.

Don't get me wrong--I'm a big Tesla fan and my enthusiasm for the car and the company is basically what it always has been. I don't think pitchforks are called for or anything like that! :-D But let's not kid ourselves--they have known communication issues..

 

[Doug_G]

I believe it is more of a safety issue that they took away this feature and did not tell you about it. Handling, cornering and effeciency has changed without this feature.

I would be surprised if very many owners could tell the difference. I would be able to, but only because I've spent a lot of time on a race track in the last few years. Before that I wouldn't have had a clue.

 

[brianman]

?! Has this happened? Your next two items have, but I haven't read about your item #7.

When the TN owner's blog post was mailed to owners, there was a line about Elon having a related blog post "soon".

- - - Updated - - -

Although if they have a real release in the works, they might update the notes to mention this, then. But a special version? Nah.

If there's any merit to "safety issue with temporary disabling of Low setting", then -- for the same reasons -- it's worth of a fast push to update the release notes.