Artax hits a Black Bear

[Artax]

Was heading home from Salmon Arm, BC... driving West on the Trans-Canada Hwy 1. ~ 8.5km West of Sorrento, BC, at about 6:40 a.m., a Black Bear made a dash from the ditch on the right side... unfortunately, it's dash was right in front of me. It got about 1/3 of the way when we hit it. Hit it roughly front shoulder to hind quarter with the left front of the car. The hit resulted in it's rolling several times, side over side (as opposed to summer-salt). It ended up in the ditch on the far side of the Hwy. I have no idea of it's condition... if it wasn't killed, it was badly injured. Conservation officer called, but I wasn't about to investigate for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately (not that the collision was fortunate), no dash cam video. tesla s/w fails again... but I have come to expect that from tesla s/w. tesla s/w is a very big disappointment for many reasons; this is the least of them. After saving to my Mac, I found all videos from today are corrupted (can't be read). Yesterdays videos are fine... just today's are corrupted. Upon closer inspection, it also appears there is a gap in dash cam videos right around the time of collision (can't say for sure as I can't play any of the videos, but nothing with a time stamp around that time). Corrupted videos before and after, but a gap during. Have contacted tesla about recovering the videos, but am just getting the run around. I am not holding my breath that tesla will be very helpful, even if they could.

As an aside, it is notable that there were absolutely NO evasive measure made by the car to avoid the collision. Pretty sure the T3 did NOT detect the animal (large as it was). The only collision avoidance was me slamming the brakes (all-be-it, too late). So, for all the tesla fanboys...

Now on to repairs (need to find a tesla certified shop in my area)... fully bracing myself for the expected lack of support from tesla (just happy I don't have to deal directly with them, other than for recovery of the dash cam vids... which I fully expect they won't support).

Sigh... on the positive side, no human or canine injury (Falkor was with me and he is fine).

 

[03DSG]

Was heading home from Salmon Arm, BC... driving West on the Trans-Canada Hwy 1. ~ 8.5km West of Sorrento, BC, at about 6:40 a.m., a Black Bear made a dash from the ditch on the right side... unfortunately, it's dash was right in front of me. It got about 1/3 of the way when we hit it. Hit it roughly front shoulder to hind quarter with the left front of the car. The hit resulted in it's rolling several times, side over side (as opposed to summer-salt). It ended up in the ditch on the far side of the Hwy. I have no idea of it's condition... if it wasn't killed, it was badly injured. Conservation officer called, but I wasn't about to investigate for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately (not that the collision was fortunate), no dash cam video. tesla s/w fails again... but I have come to expect that from tesla s/w. tesla s/w is a very big disappointment for many reasons; this is the least of them. After saving to my Mac, I found all videos from today are corrupted (can't be read). Yesterdays videos are fine... just today's are corrupted. Upon closer inspection, it also appears there is a gap in dash cam videos right around the time of collision (can't say for sure as I can't play any of the videos, but nothing with a time stamp around that time). Corrupted videos before and after, but a gap during. Have contacted tesla about recovering the videos, but am just getting the run around. I am not holding my breath that tesla will be very helpful, even if they could.

As an aside, it is notable that there were absolutely NO evasive measure made by the car to avoid the collision. Pretty sure the T3 did NOT detect the animal (large as it was). The only collision avoidance was me slamming the brakes (all-be-it, too late). So, for all the tesla fanboys...

Now on to repairs (need to find a tesla certified shop in my area)... fully bracing myself for the expected lack of support from tesla (just happy I don't have to deal directly with them, other than for recovery of the dash cam vids... which I fully expect they won't support).

Sigh... on the positive side, no human or canine injury (Falkor was with me and he is fine).

Are you using a thumb drive, micro USB or an SSD for TeslaCam?

 

[Artax]

Are you using a thumb drive, micro USB or an SSD for TeslaCam?

Have tried USB stick, USB adapter w/ SD (video rated), and USB adapter w/ mSD (video rated). Doesn't seem to matter what I use. And it is not predictable (sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, sometimes works but leaves time gaps, etc). Again, as usual, tesla is no help.

Personally, I think it is a bad computer... but tesla doesn't. I have had problems w/ the computer from day 1; tesla insists it is fine but at the same time can't explain the many issues I have had (am having).

tesla sucks..!!

 

[bigroo42]

Sorry you had an accident! Thankful Noone (besides the bear) was hurt.

How bads the damage?

 

[Artax]

Sorry you had an accident! Thankfully No one (besides the bear) was hurt.

How bad is the damage?

Visually, it doesn't look so bad... at least not from a distance. Up close, broken head lamp lens, license plate torn off, panel gap between bumper and left fender, sonic sensors pushed in (in the photo, I tried to fix a couple of the sensors but they just fell back out afterward), fog lamp push in, inner wheel well was pushed up against tire but I was able to use a lever to pop it back (otherwise it would not have been drive-able). s/w wise, I just have a warning that lane change collision avoidance might not be working (likely due to broken/dangling sensors). There may also be some panel misalignment at the leading edge of the driver door... but no worse than a typical tesla body alignment quality issue.

 

[fseir]

HW 2.5 or 3.0? Not sure how that matters, but hoping the FSD computer is less glitchy...

Sorry about your car, but glad you are alright.

 

[Artax]

HW 2.5 or 3.0? Not sure how that matters, but hoping the FSD computer is less glitchy...

Sorry about your car, but glad you are alright.

2.5... took delivery a week before they started delivering 3.0. Waiting for FSD upgrade. I don't have a lot of confidence in tesla's ability to deliver on s/w capability so won't hold my breath...

 

[ecarfan]

Sorry to hear about your accident, and glad you are okay.

it is notable that there were absolutely NO evasive measure made by the car to avoid the collision. Pretty sure the T3 did NOT detect the animal (large as it was). The only collision avoidance was me slamming the brakes (all-be-it, too late). So, for all the tesla fanboys...

It is not surprising to me that the car did not detect the the bear and react. Based on your description, the bear would likely have been outside of the forward radar’s transmission field (it’s a narrow cone projecting forward). Also, Elon has stated numerous times that the radar cannot accurately detect “soft” objects like people and animals; they don’t reflect radar waves. And the image detection algorithms operating the cameras also are very likely not yet capable of recognizing a bear as an object to be avoided.

I think you were expecting much more than the car is currently capable of. Unfortunately, human reaction and processing times are far too slow to avoid impacts in situations like you encountered.

 

[MXWing]

2.5... took delivery a week before they started delivering 3.0. Waiting for FSD upgrade. I don't have a lot of confidence in tesla's ability to deliver on s/w capability so won't hold my breath...

Intel acquired mobileye for over 15 billion dollars. At the time, mobileye supplied AP1 technology to Tesla.

I got AP2 HW in Dec 2016 is which is all Tesla software. That was practically useless. I didn’t even have TACC from day 1 which made the cruise as powerful as my first car, a 1987 Nissan Maxima.

The first autosteer functionality appeared months later and only limited to 20MPH.

While they are behind on guidance, they are making progress.

Dash cams were never promised. It was a new software that was given out without charge or warranty.

Model 3 owners are spoiled.

 

[Eno Deb]

Sorry this happened to you (and sorry for the poor bear).

After saving to my Mac, I found all videos from today are corrupted (can't be read). Yesterdays videos are fine... just today's are corrupted. Upon closer inspection, it also appears there is a gap in dash cam videos right around the time of collision

I assume you know that "saved" videos are moved to a different directory?

But yes, the dashcam feature isn't very reliable. From my experience it helps to (1) disable the dashcam via long-press on the icon, (2) wait for about 10-20 seconds to give the OS time to flush the file buffers, and (3) only then remove the USB device.

 

[dendenyc]

Teslacam has been pretty stabled for me for many months now, make sure you're using a fast USB3 stick and you should be ok. I've tried the USB > microSD converter things and I would get random oddities. If it makes a difference to anyone, this is the stick Im using https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MUF-...eywords=usb+drive+small&qid=1568751389&sr=8-6

 

[CharleyBC]

This story will not help me sell my wife on driving the full length of the TCH. Glad you're safe.

I've never hit a bear. But once many years ago when driving a Toyota Previa, a zebra hit me. I am not making this up.

 

[smartypnz]

This story will not help me sell my wife on driving the full length of the TCH. Glad you're safe.

I've never hit a bear. But once many years ago when driving a Toyota Previa, a zebra hit me. I am not making this up.

Hearst Castle area?

 

[dendenyc]

I've never hit a bear. But once many years ago when driving a Toyota Previa, a zebra hit me. I am not making this up.

A zebra? Where da f' you find a zebra to hit in cali?

 

[CharleyBC]

Hearst Castle area?

A zebra? Where da f' you find a zebra to hit in cali?

I wondered whether that would generate any interest.

I didn't hit the zebra; it hit me.

This was at the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, WA in the mid-1990s. They have (or at least had at the time) a thing where you can drive your car along a road right there among the animals. We were actually at a full stop when this occurred. One zebra was chasing another (love in the air?). The front zebra cut around our minivan. The second one cut the corner even closer and thus hip-checked our fender. When I could check the car later in the parking lot, it was dirty where it had been hit--dirt shaken form the zebra's coat. And when I washed it, I found the zebra had in effect sanded a large oval-shaped patch of the paint. We never repaired it, and so that dulled patch of paint served as a permanent souvenir of our visit to Sequim.

On the same adventure, we were stopped at a different spot, and my toddler son crawled into my lap to get near an open window. (None of the back windows open in that car.) A yak came up to check us out. It sneezed on my son. So there's another once-in-a-lifetime experience on the same outing!

 

[smartypnz]

A zebra? Where da f' you find a zebra to hit in cali?

There are herds of wild zebras in the Hearst Castle area (descended from the escapees when their zoo was destroyed). As you drive along Hwy 1 in that area, they can mostly be spotted along the hwy and in the fields. Sometimes they will be right next to the Hwy and strangely enough - people don't notice and drive right past.
Others are sometimes spotted in the wild even as far north as San Jose.

 

[Artax]

Sorry to hear about your accident, and glad you are okay.It is not surprising to me that the car did not detect the the bear and react. Based on your description, the bear would likely have been outside of the forward radar’s transmission field (it’s a narrow cone projecting forward). Also, Elon has stated numerous times that the radar cannot accurately detect “soft” objects like people and animals; they don’t reflect radar waves. And the image detection algorithms operating the cameras also are very likely not yet capable of recognizing a bear as an object to be avoided.

I think you were expecting much more than the car is currently capable of. Unfortunately, human reaction and processing times are far too slow to avoid impacts in situations like you encountered.

Actually, I was not 'expecting' the T3 to detect or evade... just noting that it didn't.

Front Radar...? Where is it located..? Cameras and sonic sensors are obvious but don't see where a radar would be mounted. License plate completely obscures a potential location in the center of the front bumper. If it is there, it must still be working as I don't have any alarms indicating it is not working; the only alarm I have is that lane detection may be compromised (or something to that effect)... likely due to loosely hanging sonic sensors.

 

[Artax]

Sorry this happened to you (and sorry for the poor bear).

I assume you know that "saved" videos are moved to a different directory?

But yes, the dashcam feature isn't very reliable. From my experience it helps to (1) disable the dashcam via long-press on the icon, (2) wait for about 10-20 seconds to give the OS time to flush the file buffers, and (3) only then remove the USB device.

This was the reply I made to tesla service:

I have tried several devices, including the following... specs for all are way better than 4MB/s write:

• Lexar S23 32G thumb drive (55MB/s write)
  
• Rocketek RT-CR3 USB Multi Memory Card Reader (USB 3.0/2.0/2.1 compatible) w/ SanDisk Ultra 64GB SDXC (80MB/s read / C10)
  
• Rocketek RT-CR3 USB Multi Memory Card Reader (USB 3.0/2.0/2.1 compatible) w/ Samsung PRO Endurance 64GB mSDXC (100MB/s read / Designed specifically for video monitoring cameras ... dash cams, surveillance & security cams, CCTV, body cams, etc.)

As stated, the dash cam DOES work... just not reliably. Sometimes video is good, sometimes it is corrupted. Often there are unexplained gaps in recording / missing video. As Murphy would have it, every time I needed a specific recording, it was either corrupted or just not there. And remember, if dash cam is unreliable, so is sentry mode (sentry is pretty much useless w/o the video to go w/ it)..!!

I am aware that I need to press the icon to d/l video and then 'hold to pause' before removing the USB stick; the gaps are in the middle of recording series, not the last videos before ejecting.

After I took delivery in April, I had problems with one of the USB ports not working. Mobile service looked at it and got it working; wondering if it is intermittent..? Lots of other problems with the on-board computer, but tesla doesn't seem to be interested (I keep getting the 'it's probably a s/w bug that tesla is working on and will eventually fix' run around). This car is such a disappointment... dash cam not working just adds to the list.

 

[Artax]

Intel acquired mobileye for over 15 billion dollars. At the time, mobileye supplied AP1 technology to Tesla.

I got AP2 HW in Dec 2016 is which is all Tesla software. That was practically useless. I didn’t even have TACC from day 1 which made the cruise as powerful as my first car, a 1987 Nissan Maxima.

The first autosteer functionality appeared months later and only limited to 20MPH.

While they are behind on guidance, they are making progress.

Dash cams were never promised. It was a new software that was given out without charge or warranty.

Model 3 owners are spoiled.

Well, so many things don't work... so many s/w problems. If that is the definition of spoiled, then yes, spoiled. Guess it is expecting too much for tesla to deliver something that works.

tesla's promise is to deliver new features as they evolve; are you saying that if it wasn't part of the original spec you should not expect it to work? Interesting position; if I told my customer they shouldn't expect features to work if they were not part of the original spec, wouldn't be long before my employer declared Chapter 11.

 

[KenC]

Actually, I was not 'expecting' the T3 to detect or evade... just noting that it didn't.

Front Radar...? Where is it located..? Cameras and sonic sensors are obvious but don't see where a radar would be mounted. License plate completely obscures a potential location in the center of the front bumper. If it is there, it must still be working as I don't have any alarms indicating it is not working; the only alarm I have is that lane detection may be compromised (or something to that effect)... likely due to loosely hanging sonic sensors.

It's the radar that lets you see multiple cars in line in front of you at a stop light in city driving.