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

[AlMc]

Why is this great? Seems like a huge over reaction to the two car fires. Ferraris/Lambos/Porsches...all low to the ground cars. The MS lowering at higher speeds was an advertised benefit of the air suspension...now what is the point of having Air Suspension?

Originally Posted by dtich yes. should be an option/checkbox/slider switch.

i would still like it to auto lower at highway speeds, unless i manually lock it out (say if i'm on a debris filled road.. lol).

can it be manually lowered once at highway speed and stay there, until low speed threshold crossed?

i have 5.8 but haven't tested that yet....
wow. This is great they are making this change!!

i agree with above comments


It is my opinion that FredTMcs comment is being taken out of context. While Fred can speak for himself I have posted the comment he responded to. The way I interpret it (I could be wrong) is that he is agreeing with the sentiment expressed by Dtich that having a selectable option for the air suspension would be 'great'.

Full disclosure: I have the air suspension and am unhappy with the lack of communication about the change. However, I believe the deactivation of the low height/high speed adjustment is only a 'first step' to investigating the two road debris/battery impact fires by TM engineers. I will be in line with my objects to loss of this feature if it is permanent. I will give TM a little leeway here until we hear more from them. Granted communication has not been their strong point.

 

[wormhole]

Here is a thought - I think Elon may have outwitted all of us on this one. He's two steps ahead of all of us.

Here is Elon's play:

Disable lowering and push out ASAP to all owners to satisfy NHSTA as a proactive PR response.

Intentionally do not mention in release notes.

Make a blog release stating that this is a temporarily change as a safety precaution while NHSTA investigates for any defects.

And here is Elon's checkmate move: he knows that all the owners are going to get pisssssed and light up a firestorm stating that these fires were the result of idiot drivers not paying attention driving unsafely and getting into accidents and that there is no actual defect with the battery pack and shield. Owners demand feature is reenabled and we should not be held accountable for others poor judgement.

Tesla puts pressure on NHSTA to complete. NHSTA finds no defect.

Tesla reenables feature for all and makes statement summarizing the result and re emphasizing NHSTA find no defect and these fires were result of accidents from poor judgement and unsafe driving.

Stock price explodes again.

This is really an absurd post.

1) to suggest this was done for the purpose of pushing up the stock price is well, just absurd.
2) to suggest the two drivers in question are 'idiots' is again, absurd. Neither driver (taking out Mexico), was drunk, or driving recklessly. Road debris is a fact of life. This could have happened to anyone (and does, to thousands of ICE cars every year, with similar if not worse results).
3) I sincerely doubt Elon/Tesla have any desire to have an antagonistic relationship with the NTSA. There is ZERO benefit in doing so. The car is clearly safe (note the NTSA crash results, no fires, etc etc). You never want to make a regulatory body pissed.

 

[yobigd20]

This is really an absurd post.

1) to suggest this was done for the purpose of pushing up the stock price is well, just absurd.
2) to suggest the two drivers in question are 'idiots' is again, absurd. Neither driver (taking out Mexico), was drunk, or driving recklessly. Road debris is a fact of life. This could have happened to anyone (and does, to thousands of ICE cars every year, with similar if not worse results).
3) I sincerely doubt Elon/Tesla have any desire to have an antagonistic relationship with the NTSA. There is ZERO benefit in doing so. The car is clearly safe (note the NTSA crash results, no fires, etc etc). You never want to make a regulatory body pissed.

whoops! sorry, that was **NOT** my intention for interpretation! damn I have a hard time explaining things. I was simply merely trying to state that they may have thought ahead and wanted owners to stand up for the Model S so that they can re-enable this feature for owners sooner than later!! and as a side effect - not intentional by Tesla - but I'm sure the stock would go up at the conclusion of these fire incidents and 1) the NHSTA finds no defects with the battery packs and 2) the the air suspension is renabled for all owners and 3) Tesla is noted for being proactive about the safety of their owners.

- - - Updated - - -

It just amazes me to no end how people can defend a company that removes functionality that was paid for after the fact. In some cases people have paid for the air suspension specifically for the lowering at highway speeds to reduce range. Tesla has pushed the air suspension using that exact reasoning. Removing it like they have done is not acceptable, and frankly unless Elon's blog talks about the partial refund they plan to issue to the people who have paid for the air suspension I really don't see how what he has to say is going to matter.

Just I'd thought I'd point out how Tesla highlights the Smart Air Suspension feature too:

 

[Raffy.Roma]

1) the NHSTA finds no defects with the battery packs and 2) the the air suspension is renabled for all owners and 3) Tesla is noted for being proactive about the safety of their owners.

This could happen IMO. This would be the evidence that Tesla is suffering from a PR/image issue rather than a safety issue. IMO also in this case I think that Tesla will make some changes in the long term to avoid that the Model S is totalled in case of road debris accident.

 

[JakeP]

I think the capability and willingness of Tesla to make a decisive change like this in such a short timeframe says a great deal about the company and the car platform itself. Questions of communication to current owners aside, I think this nimble response is an excellent PR/safety rebuttal to an unfair media onslaught.

I have absolutely no doubt that Tesla will reinstate the capability as a user option, perhaps after additional engineering studies are performed and possibly further preventative or protective measures are added. Tesla has definitely earned my respect and the benefit of the doubt, and I will give them the time to respond appropriately before complaining about a lost feature.

I upgraded to 5.8 from 4.5 last night after reading this news.

While we are on the topic, I wish the level controls were such that you could tell the car to drive in High or Very High without auto-lowering at certain speeds. I drive on some pretty sketchy roads when on flyfishing trips, and Very High at 15 mph would be very much appreciated.

 

[BobHodgen]

Tesla's in kind of a "dammed if I do and dammed if I don't" situation here.

If they do nothing owners and others will complain that Tesla has to address the problem in the name of safety. The negative press continues.

If they act, as they apparently have, then some owners will complain about the change. But it can be shown to the press and naysayers that Tesla is proactive when it comes to safety.

Where I live, I see junk in the road all the time, it's a fact of life. It appears that truck drivers carrying loads don't care what they leave behind on the road. I've seen everything from wooden pallets to construction wheelbarrows litter our highways in Florida. I've been hit, twice, by debris thrown up by the vehicle ahead. Our roads are so crowded, and drivers follow the vehicle ahead so closely, that there's rarely a safe opportunity for a sudden lane change or swerve. If you leave a safe distance behind the car ahead, someone will barge in to fill the gap. Those who claim to be so skilled that they "could have easily avoided the debris in these incidents" are fooling themselves.

I fully expect that at some later date we'll have the opportunity to go back to automatically lowering at highway speeds, perhaps with a warning that it might increase the chance of damage in a collision with debris.

 

[chrisdl]

Already has 1/4 inch steel plate

Unfortunately, the bottom of the battery is aluminum, not steel. Other threads have more details about this (e.g. the magnet test).
ps: I thought it was steel too, at first. But I was wrong. It isn't.

 

[Hybris]

I thought the airsuspension was something that could be controlled by the driver. Being able to decide the height yourself at any speed. Why dont theynlet us control this?

 

[Mike_Schlechter]

I'm of a mixed view on this change. I certainly don't like that it was done without notification. I do understand this is a rapid response to pressure, but assuming the NHTSA is somehow asking for / pushing for this is way premature.

What really annoys me is it will have a range impact. I have a 100+ mile commute, and coming into the holidays I'll be pushing the car to her range limit, in cold temperatures. That means every little bit counts. I did this last winter and got where I needed to go with a little range to spare. Now I wonder if I need to plan some stops at J1772s along I91 North, maybe in Northhampton, MA, so ensure I make it to my parents in VT for Thanksgiving. I've once rolled into a SuperCharger with less than ten miles of range; it sucked and was scary. Rolling into my folks house would be much worse, as all I have to charge from is a 110v.

So, I get why they did this, but don't like the communications gap or the range impact, as those are things they could easily have managed proactively.

</rambling post>

 

[Elwood]

I'm stil pretty shocked about this downgrade of the airsuspension to be honest. Wrote some replies in the German and Dutch threads to blow of steam.

But reading the thread, maybe I should cut Tesla some slack and wait for their reaction. But their surprise ruined my day.

Sure hope that after the next softwareupdate there wil be a little box in the UI where you can tinker with your suspensionsettings. What I saw today, whats left of the possibilities you have with your airsuspension, its just plain sad...

 

[Dale Adams]

One other thing to be aware of: The installation of release 5.8 appears to reset the existing air suspension setting to the 'normal' height position. In my case, it lowered the car from the 'very high' setting to 'normal', causing the bottom of my car to scrape across a concrete lip at the entrance to my garage when I pulled the car out of the garage after the firmware installation. I always put the car into the 'very high' setting before entering my garage as my driveway is an uphill slope and the car will scrape at the garage entrance unless the suspension is raised.

Has anyone else observed this? This is a one-time-only type of event, so it would be useful to know if my experience is unique or if this happens to everyone upon installation of 5.8. This is the only firmware release for which I've seen this behavior.

 

[bob_p]

It seems unlikely Tesla would permanently disable this feature - because doing so would effectively neuter a feature owners paid for when they purchased the cars, and risks backlash from owners.

Hopefully this is a short term fix - while the recent fires are completely investigated.

When the feature is re-enabled, Tesla could provide more information to owners about the presence of the feature. Enabling it could bring up a one-time warning reminding the owner that when the car is driving in low suspension, the lower clearance increases the risk of hitting objects. Another feature would be to provide some visual notification to owners on the dashboard when the car is automatically raising or lowering - possibly even adding an icon along the top to indicate when the car is driving in low suspension.

Until then, Tesla should at least provide some notification to the affected owners on why this feature has been disabled...

 

[dsm363]

I agree 100%. And they continue to raise the pricing of the vehicle by putting in bundling options for parts that aren't selling well. I've personally been very supportive of Tesla, but I am now seeing this company as a FOR PROFIT company. If material change comes about through these software upgrades, at the very least let us know in a blog or by email. Elon's been very outspoken whenever there is an event that potentially affects its stock price, but this imo is unacceptable.

Aren't all corporations in business to make a profit as well? I would hope that is one of their top goals at least. That doesn't mean no communication or bad customer service though.

 

[dsm363]

I'm of a mixed view on this change. I certainly don't like that it was done without notification. I do understand this is a rapid response to pressure, but assuming the NHTSA is somehow asking for / pushing for this is way premature.

What really annoys me is it will have a range impact. I have a 100+ mile commute, and coming into the holidays I'll be pushing the car to her range limit, in cold temperatures. That means every little bit counts. I did this last winter and got where I needed to go with a little range to spare. Now I wonder if I need to plan some stops at J1772s along I91 North, maybe in Northhampton, MA, so ensure I make it to my parents in VT for Thanksgiving. I've once rolled into a SuperCharger with less than ten miles of range; it sucked and was scary. Rolling into my folks house would be much worse, as all I have to charge from is a 110v.

So, I get why they did this, but don't like the communications gap or the range impact, as those are things they could easily have managed proactively.

</rambling post>

Agree lack of communication sucked on Tesla's part.

Are you able to arrange any sort of charging at your work or upgrade charging at your parent's house to NEMA 14-50 assuming not insanely expensive? Speed will likely have a bigger impact on range than air suspension setting so might have to stay in right lane and slow down a little more than you would in low.

 

[Chipper]

Having read all 193 posts to this topic to date, I think everything that needs to be said has been said. Yet I feel compelled to state my position nonetheless to inform management that I number myself with those who are disturbed by the lack of communication and the seemingly cavalier attitude of making a choice for me instead of allowing me to be an adult and make my own choices. My MS is due to be delivered perhaps as soon as this coming week and I am still very excited about that but I have already sent my DS an email requesting that they NOT update software to v5.8 and leave v5.6 on my vehicle. If that is not allowed, I am going to ask for a refund for the incapacitated Smart Air Suspension that is no longer "smart".

 

[Chickenlittle]

I'm stil pretty shocked about this downgrade of the airsuspension to be honest. Wrote some replies in the German and Dutch threads to blow of steam.

But reading the thread, maybe I should cut Tesla some slack and wait for their reaction. But their surprise ruined my day.

Sure hope that after the next softwareupdate there wil be a little box in the UI where you can tinker with your suspensionsettings. What I saw today, whats left of the possibilities you have with your airsuspension, its just plain sad...

Maybe it's time to see what elon has in store for it. Would not jump to conclusions yet.

 

[wormhole]

Maybe it's time to see what elon has in store for it. Would not jump to conclusions yet.

? Not sure what this means. 1) they took away a feature that we paid extra for WITHOUT NOTICE, 2) even taking away this feature does not address the perceived problem. This has to do with what's been done, not what will be done.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

One other thing to be aware of: The installation of release 5.8 appears to reset the existing air suspension setting to the 'normal' height position. In my case, it lowered the car from the 'very high' setting to 'normal', causing the bottom of my car to scrape across a concrete lip at the entrance to my garage when I pulled the car out of the garage after the firmware installation. I always put the car into the 'very high' setting before entering my garage as my driveway is an uphill slope and the car will scrape at the garage entrance unless the suspension is raised.

Has anyone else observed this? This is a one-time-only type of event, so it would be useful to know if my experience is unique or if this happens to everyone upon installation of 5.8. This is the only firmware release for which I've seen this behavior.

I'll check this as I move up to High as well everytime I back into my garage to clear a steepish driveway. Thanks for the heads-up though; you saved me a scrape.

Not sure I have the update yet; haven't been down to the car this morning.

 

[Convert2013]

Having read all 193 posts to this topic to date, I think everything that needs to be said has been said. Yet I feel compelled to state my position nonetheless to inform management that I number myself with those who are disturbed by the lack of communication and the seemingly cavalier attitude of making a choice for me instead of allowing me to be an adult and make my own choices. My MS is due to be delivered perhaps as soon as this coming week and I am still very excited about that but I have already sent my DS an email requesting that they NOT update software to v5.8 and leave v5.6 on my vehicle. If that is not allowed, I am going to ask for a refund for the incapacitated Smart Air Suspension that is no longer "smart".

The suspension raising could have very well been a coming mandate or suggestion from the NHTSA and they went ahead and did it before PR came out. So it may not have been a "choice" for any disappointed owners. Those who are disappointed saying "well I paid for this feature"... I'll have to say life is tough sometimes... I now feel more comfortable ordering my S as planned before year end, and once the news becomes public many waiting on the sidelines will too. So it now appears brand damage repair has started. I still feel protection for the bottom may still be needed in physical design, but this change will greatly reduce outsized debris impact with the bottom.

 

[gnelson]

They also downgraded the plus handling that I paid extra to improve the handling. The center of gravity will be higher at the standard setting, which will degrade the handling. Fortunately I still have 5.6 and will not ask for a refund unless firmware is forced upon my P85+ that will prevent the low setting.