Changes to the Australia specifications

[Higgy]

Changes from the US specifications

I was looking at the Xenon headlights - I was under the impression that the ADR specified that these had to have self washing but found no mention of this on the Australian specs so looked at the US specs which also made no mention of this feature.

I did notice other changes so did a full comparison.

Apart from the obvious unit differences they seemed to be the same with the exception that the Australian sheet makes a feature of LED daytime running lights and flash memory storage for up to 500 songs. I assume that both these features are also on the US model but don't know for certain. The US sheet also mentions Wi-Fi and the anti-theft alarm and immobilizer ready but these features are not listed on the Australian sheet. As the immobiliser is required I assume that both these features would also be on the Australian model.

The major difference is in the number of air-bags. The US have eight airbags: head, knee and pelvis airbags in the front plus two side curtain airbags V six airbags: head and pelvis airbags in the front plus two side curtain airbags in the Australian model.

Does anyone know of the reason for this?

I know that there used to be differences in the US as they had softer airbag deployment but have no idea if this is still the case or if there is some other reason?

Cheers
Higgy

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Just had a look at UK and HK - same air-bag set up as Australian - makes sense as they are both RHD. I don't speak Japanese so cant check their specs but assume it would be the same.

 

[MDK]

The specs on the U.S. site originally mentioned "500 songs" as well, but this was never made available in any delivered cars.

The website was finally updated to remove reference to the song storage in July last year

I have a feeling they forgot to update the en_AU website when they updated the others

The NCAP results page says "Knee airbags: none" and their tested VIN has a "7" for the "restraints" digit (like ours do) so that does appear to be different

No idea about the other changes, but I believe you're right about the Xenon headlights requiring washers, and my understanding is that they need to be self-leveling as well.
I agree it would be unlikely they won't include Wi-Fi or alarm in our model.

However it has been confirmed our cars don't come with a web-browser (thanks to our nanny-state) and don't come with homelink.

 

[Higgy]

After more trawling it seems that the 8 air-bag feature is US only.

 

[cynix]

I made a spreadsheet to compare the specs and optional packages of all countries/regions.

Model S Specs - Google Sheets

I've highlighted the differences that I thought are significant:

Red — missing feature or worse spec (boo!)
Yellow — feature/spec different than other markets (neither good nor bad)
Green — additional feature or better spec (yay!)

 

[MangroveMike]

However it has been confirmed our cars don't come with a web-browser (thanks to our nanny-state) and don't come with homelink.

Not surprising, but I didn't realise no browser confirmed - MDK was that from Tesla?

 

[MDK]

Not surprising, but I didn't realise no browser confirmed - MDK was that from Tesla?

I've seen it mentioned several times in the main thread (eg here and here) that the browser is disabled in the test-drive cars to suit regulations.
I guess it's possible they've found a workaround or compromise for production cars but until I hear otherwise I'm going to assume no browser.
The browser is disabled in Hong Kong cars as well, so at least they don't have to write special firmware just for us.

 

[Dborn]

Yeah, I heard no browser. No Homelink is a bummer. I researched that earlier in the year, and it is not possible even to fit it aftermarket. The U.S. suppliers will not sell it to us!! Given that it is a piece of hardware though, our tech package should have been reduced in cost, which, of course, it was not!! Some "nickel and dining" by Tesla!!

 

[Matta]

What's the homelink stuff? Can't find a good description.

 

[TesAus]

What's the homelink stuff? Can't find a good description.

Being able to open your powered garage doors or front gate using a button on the screen that pops up when it senses you are home (or wherever you use the buttons). On other cars they are often a physical button under the rear view mirror.

We will have to just keep using a remote fob thing instead.

http://www.homelink.com

 

[JOH]

Does no browser mean no access to streaming music providers? How would an app like spotify work?

 

[Matta]

gah! The place I'm buying has a gate and a garage door. This would have really helped.

 

[meloccom]

Does no browser mean no access to streaming music providers? How would an app like spotify work?

There is a separate "app" or interface for those functions. I understand in Aus it will support RDIO, not sure about Spotify.

 

[Matta]

There is a separate "app" or interface for those functions. I understand in Aus it will support RDIO, not sure about Spotify.

Glad I kept my rdio sub then!

 

[timpoo]

Glad I kept my rdio sub then!

Unfortunately your RDIO sub isn't worth too much, because Tesla only allows the "free" version of the app, which means you can't listen to albums or play by artist. You can only pick a song and it will create a "playlist" from that song. Similar to "stations" in other apps. This is actually one of my biggest gripes with the car: it's such a good feature, why is it restricted like this?

If you want to listen to Spotify, the only option is to connect via Bluetooth, which will result in loss of audio fidelity. A real shame given the upgraded audio package will be wasted for now if listening to audio over Bluetooth.

 

[Higgy]

I made a spreadsheet to compare the specs and optional packages of all countries/regions.

Model S Specs - Google Sheets

I've highlighted the differences that I thought are significant:

Red — missing feature or worse spec (boo!)
Yellow — feature/spec different than other markets (neither good nor bad)
Green — additional feature or better spec (yay!)

Thanks cynix - very quick but detailed work!

 

[Dborn]

Are you sure we don't get tyre pressure monitoring? I would have thought that was standard everywhere. Also, the same comment applies for the alarm/immobiliser. I accept it may not be specifically mentioned, but the Australian version of the website looks like it was cobbled together in an all fired hurry. I mean the entire page with electricity costs and ranges is missing among others.

 

[Higgy]

Yes - I would be amazed if the tyre pressure monitoring was not included!

 

[cynix]

Are you sure we don't get tyre pressure monitoring? I would have thought that was standard everywhere. Also, the same comment applies for the alarm/immobiliser. I accept it may not be specifically mentioned, but the Australian version of the website looks like it was cobbled together in an all fired hurry. I mean the entire page with electricity costs and ranges is missing among others.

My spreadsheet is purely based on the specs page and design studio for each market. Once deliveries start, we can confirm if the "missing" features are actually missing, and update accordingly

 

[danielp]

@cynix - thanks for the spreadsheet - very helpful. To help with the comparison, would you mind putting Australia first, given that it is the best country on Earth (and I assume is the target audience).

 

[cynix]

@cynix - thanks for the spreadsheet - very helpful. To help with the comparison, would you mind putting Australia first, given that it is the best country on Earth (and I assume is the target audience).

It's currently ordered by Tesla's ordering in the country selection box. I can move the 4 Asia-Pacific countries to the front (or to just after US/CA) but I think it's better to keep the region grouping as is, since it looks like specs are usually common within a region. Will do that tonight.