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Bug or Feature?

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Today while I was cruising on the freeway, in autopilot, I disconnected my seatbelt in order to get something out of my front pocket. Yes, I know -- Bad. The Model S beeped at me furiously, and autopilot disengaged. So far, so good, or at least expected.

I reconnected the seatbelt as quickly as I could, but then found that my speed either in cruise control or autopilot mode was limited to 30 mph! It would actually let me go into autopilot and try to slow down to 30 mph! Quite dangerous on a freeway. In fully manual driving I could go at whatever speed I wished.

After 15 minutes I stopped at a rest area, let the car fully turn itself off, and when I took off again, all was well. This seems like odd behavior. I can see inhibiting autopilot or adaptive cruise completely after the driver does something stupid, but limiting to 30 mph seems more dangerous than not doing anything.

So, bug or feature?
 
I'd be willing to bet that it's a "feature" meant to incentivize you not to do that. It probably has its origins in the pics and videos we've all seen of the bozos in the back seat of their Tesla with it on Autopilot.
 
I'd be with you on that, except that it seems that doing it this way is more dangerous than completely disabling autopilot/cruise control!
A moment's inattention and the car might slow you to dangerously low speeds on a freeway.

But overall you're probably right, it's a "feature".