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Canceling order due to autopilot death news?

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This thread would have benefitted from a vote button.

I am aware of the now famous AP crash in FL.

I have a reservation for a 3 and own an S.

I've not taken any action toward cancelling my reservation, the thought didn't even cross my mind - until I saw this thread. But it doesn't change my mind toward wanting the 3 so I'm staying in line.

When it comes time to order the 3, if AP is a pay-for option, I won't pay for it. But not because of the recent accident. I just don't think it's a good feature for where I live. Our roads are pretty cruddy and snows too much.
 
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I think your concern over the viability of Tesla as a company, and the associated resale value of the car is somewhat warranted, but that really doesn't have anything to do with the accident that made headlines yesterday. And yes, I don't say it was an "autopilot accident" because it appears to me that autopilot had little to do with it. Really, this accident was distracted driving, which happens every day in every car brand.

That said, a Tesla is somewhat more risky of a vehicle than an established brand because the company is still small in comparison to other car companies, it is aggressive in both expansion goals as well as technology implementation, and faces many challenges and roadblocks to get significant market penetration.

If this risk concerns you, consider leasing the vehicle instead of buying. In the end, it is no more expensive because a purchased vehicle depreciates so fast, and at the end of 3 years you can walk away from it and never see it again if that's what you want to do. No resale hassles, always covered by warranty, no worries about diminished value in case of an accident, and in 3 years when the technology in the car is dated, you can get a new Tesla or something else entirely.
 
First, I'd agree that Tesla is and always has been more of a risk to buy (or to invest in) than most automobiles, in an economic sense. Elon Musk himself says that he did not expect the company to succeed. And it could still fail at some point for any number of reasons including many that we have not yet thought of. So any buyer needs to go into a purchase with open eyes on that score.
But that does not mean Tesla Model S is not a very safe car in comparison to the population of cars on the road today. Not perfect, but very good.
As for the Autopilot specifically, the first fatality was inevitably going to come sometime. And there will likely be more. Cars have collisions and sometimes people die, unfortunately, despite the best safety equipment deployed so far. But that alone should not be a determinant for a buying (or investing) choice. I dare say there is no brand/model of car on the road that has any substantial number of owners that has not had fatal accidents.

I am glad the OP made the decision to confirm his order.
 
I have only owned my MS for 3 months and I still get many questions about the Tesla by curious non-owners. I'm always happy to respond with my experiences and my overall joy of owning something as technologically advanced as a Tesla. What tends to bother me are those non-owners who believe they know more about the MS than me because they read something "on the internet." Many of these individuals are quick to knock down Tesla and are first to say the company will go belly up. This is not the Yugo of the 80's! Teslas were made to change the way we view a traditional mode of transportation. IMO, it's hard to understand this shift in thinking without owning a Tesla. Whether or not Tesla survives will be up to the market; what I know will survive is vehicle travel that is not an ICE.
 
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Good God how many people have died in ICE autos since this death? Don't let the idiots writing headlines change your mind. I have owned my S three weeks and only gotten to use AP for one extended trip. If you stay alert and use it the way it is supposed to be used it is wonderful and takes the stress out of stop and go traffic.
 
I think your concern over the viability of Tesla as a company, and the associated resale value of the car is somewhat warranted, but that really doesn't have anything to do with the accident that made headlines yesterday. And yes, I don't say it was an "autopilot accident" because it appears to me that autopilot had little to do with it. Really, this accident was distracted driving, which happens every day in every car brand.

That said, a Tesla is somewhat more risky of a vehicle than an established brand because the company is still small in comparison to other car companies, it is aggressive in both expansion goals as well as technology implementation, and faces many challenges and roadblocks to get significant market penetration.

If this risk concerns you, consider leasing the vehicle instead of buying. In the end, it is no more expensive because a purchased vehicle depreciates so fast, and at the end of 3 years you can walk away from it and never see it again if that's what you want to do. No resale hassles, always covered by warranty, no worries about diminished value in case of an accident, and in 3 years when the technology in the car is dated, you can get a new Tesla or something else entirely.
What difference does leasing make? Think loss of resale value is not baked in the lease price?

I did the math on my own but basically a $72k model s cost around $1k a month over the next 3 years regardless of leasing or buying. From a financial perspective it would make a lot of sense to wait for the 3 unfortunately.

I expect the 3 to have an amazing resale value.. Especially for those who will get the tax rebate. Likely cost of ownership will be something like a tiny fraction of that $1k a month. A base model 3 will likely be free on year 1 and even potentially free on year 2 (all depends on tax rebate).

By free I mean the car is sold for the purchasing price after 1 year. Assume not fully loaded, and tax credit.
 
I would recommend being careful not to contribute to the hysteria of which you fear will doom Tesla. The title and subject of this thread is borderline heading down that road. If you can afford the car and believe in the mission then don't be afraid to stand behind them with your support. It's okay to risk losing when it's for a worthy cause. That's why I bought mine. I don't care if there are risks. They are trying to do the right thing for both individuals and society as a whole, and as long as that is true, I will stand behind them.
 
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I've always found the sensationalism of events to be fascinating. The rate at which it happens in this age of social media is astounding. When I said I was thinking about a Tesla my uncle asked "don't those explode or something?" This off a couple incidents with no fanfare aside from the driver needing to pull off the road. Now someone dies (perhaps while distracted, we don't know yet) and all of a sudden this car, which is wonderful by all accounts is a death trap and we're cancelling orders/calling bankruptcy for the company?

First of all, I think it's kind of silly to worry about the resale value and/or stock price of your Tesla if you're really buying. I'll admit I was skeptical at first, but if I still felt it was tenuous, or even contingent on bad (and possibly inaccurate) press here and there, I wouldn't get involved.

Also, we're basically talking about the best selling full size luxury sedan in the US and 4 years in we're still at single digit deaths. AP is not required to use (or even to buy). If you choose to hold on using AP until you get more details on the investigation, I respect that decision fully. Hopefully we can all step back and look at the facts and come to a reasonable conclusion. But until the alarmists calm down, I'm not going to let the Tesla haters get to me. I know that I'm in probably the safest car in the world and it happens to be pretty cool/futuristic/gorgeous on top of that.
 
Today is the last day of my seven day period to cancel my order. I have to admit the news about the autopilot death spooks me a little. Not because I don't know about AP's limitations. I've driven the car extensively and understand that AP as a technology is still in its early stages.
Autopilot isn't so buggy and so early that it didn't do what it's supposed to and known to be capable of doing. Radar can't see objects above the nose of the car, and the camera's purpose is not to avoid obstacles since it can't tell how far away they are. Autopilot can help you pay proper attention by reducing the workload of all the various things you need to keep track of. It does not replace the driver.

Autopilot is a cool suite of features, and more eyes on the road (not your phone, even with Autopilot) are always a very good thing.
 
What difference does leasing make? Think loss of resale value is not baked in the lease price?

Of course the depreciation is baked into the lease payments. The difference is that the depreciation value is fixed and specified up front. That reduces the risk over the lifetime of the lease.

If you're worried about the viability of the company and believe that the car will be worth a very low amount of money in the future, leasing removes that risk.
 
As Tesla noted, there is a traffic fatality on average every 94 million miles driven, Tesla's have driven over 130 million miles on autopilot with one fatality. This alone should show that autopilot is not unusually hazardous.
Yes but is that really a fair comparison? Since cars have gotten safer and safer over the years, shouldn't the autopilot 'fatality rate' comparison be against other cars of similar age (e.g. less than two years old) rather than ALL vehicles which include older cars that may not have the benefit of today’s safety devices/features, design improvements, etc.

The fatality rate per miles on AP may actually be the same or worse than the overall fatality rate for cars 2014 and newer. I'm not saying it is but we just don't know (do we?) and therefore I don't think anything meaningful can be taken from the 94 versus 130 million miles comparison.


...that said, EYES ON THE ROAD. It's not an autonomous car (yet).
Exactly!!
 
Good God how many people have died in ICE autos since this death?
The issue is not about how many deaths but the rate. Of course, there are far more ICE traffic fatalities but that's because there are far more ICE vehicles being driven.

I think if used properly AP can be a wonderful thing BUT some will unfortunately 'abuse' it by doing things like not keeping eyes on the road.
 
Thanks. I too love the car otherwise and have decided to go through with my order. One thing that's reassuring is the number of rabid Tesla fans who believe in the company and its mission, and who also understand that to be an innovator by definition requires traveling down rocky roads that others may not have the ability or willingness to travel.
Good for you. However, I've had my Model S for over three years and 70K miles now, and I can't say that the road has been rocky. It's been as trouble free as any car I've had and far more trouble free than some.
 
When cruise control was brand new back in the day, I wonder if the same level of media hysteria accompanied the first fatal accident...

It is a reasonable conclusion that TACC has prevented more accidents than it has caused.

It is reasonable to note that perpendicular crossings on divided state routes are, have been, and will forever be inherently dangerous.

I am of the belief that vigilant drivers who understand the limitations of the Driver Assist (I refuse to refer to these features as "AutoPilot" regardless of what the marketing team has decided) features should in fact engage those features at every opportunity.

Why? Because the fleet learns from itself. Because vigilant drivers can disengage those DA (AP) features at any time. To not engage just prolongs the process of improvement.

Note the term "vigilant driver". I know plenty of Tesla owners who are either control freaks or scared but in any case they don't even use cruise control. Hey, more power to them. But for my part, I find TACC to be much better now, and AutoSteer will improve over time as well. With DA/AP2.0, all the better.

Of course Tesla will advise "on ramp to off ramp". What you choose to do is your own business. Just do the rest of us a favor and be vigilant while so doing. And do use the "Send Feedback" and "Bug Report" voice commands to report unexpected behavior. Every little bit helps as in the end, here in mid-2016, we are all beta testers.