Common Safety and Related Features YLR Doesn't Have / Works Poorly?

[dafish]

I would like like to comment in general on your concerns, because I shared them and after having the MYLR for several days and just having taken a several hundred mile trip today, I have some thoughts.
I'm not going to go down the list as others have done, but in general all your concerns are warranted to some degree. What I have observed so far is that the Tesla driving experience is unlike any other I have driven. If you are someone who just wants to get in and drive and not put any effort into it, this probably isn't the car for you. So far, I have found the lack of blind spot monitoring/warning in particular disconcerting. Having to train myself to first look down at the screen's representation of the cars around me, then put on a turn signal, then look again at the camera window, then finally the mirror and/or look out the window is a lot of mental steps, especially in heavy traffic. It's so much better when my mirrors light up with a warning light and then, if I ignore that there is a warning chime. And if I ignore those two warnings, it will attempt to prevent me from colliding with the other car. But, I've never in 20,000 miles gotten to the 3rd safety feature because the USS sensors are so effective in detecting vehicles around me.
I do find the lack of a center display also less than great, especially at night where there is just a big black hole in front of you. And before the fan boys and girls chime in here, remember Tesla puts this on the X and S, so obviously Tesla looks at this as a cost saving feature, not a feature. Definitely going to add a small center aftermarket display.
On the other hand, there are a lot of really nice things about the car that make me personally want to try and relearn some habits. The one thing that will make it a little challenging is that this is actually my wife's DD, but I always drive when we are together, so I have to go from my Ioniq 5, which has all of the safety features and is so confidence inspiring.
And, BTW, if you decide to look at other cars, I'd like to put in a plug for the I5. If you look at YouTube comparisons, the I5 nearly always comes out on top versus the Mach E and ID4, and usually the MY. It's gotten just about every award for its class in the last year and is universally well reviewed. I've had mine for 1 year and I like the MY, but, all things considered, I prefer the I5. It currently doesn't qualify for the $7500 rebate, but you can still get a mid-grade SEL for low 50's, and it has all of the features you list in your concerns, except 360 degree view, which is only on the top trim Limited. If you want to spend a little more, the I5 Limited is really amazing.

Thanks. In truth I echo virtually every comment. I've skipped commentary on it till now, but I like/appreciate the thing far more than it's faults. Simply put, I intend to fix what things I find as liabilities immediately as possible. At this moment, and I've avoided this discussion because I don't care to ensite fanboy debate, I see three issues: 1) Most believe there is no rear cross traffic (Big miss!). 2) Personally, I detest not having BSA in the outside mirrors and that Tesla only shows conflict w/turn signals on. 3) I don't like taking my eyes to the center display for speed info.

At present it's really really easy to fix #3, and I certainly will. Looking at the 9" hansshow. I suspect I'm busted on #1. #2 could be augmented by a wise choice in the new center display if traffic visualization is standard and can be displayed on the To-Be center display (lotta if's)

IQ5. Don't I know it. I really wanted to buy one. I can say only four things: 1) I'm married. 2) My wife insists on pearl metallic white. 3) Horror stories aside, I trust Tesla more in the EV space. 4) The HK dealer wanted to add $5K to the thing. I'm not too bright, but I ain't spending $5k extra for a car she hates. I think very highly of it though, and still wonder if I should have just made the call. Again, married. Not the first time I've done something I thought stupid to keep peace, won't be the last either.

Mach-E. Fantastic. My wife wanted me to drive one home Saturday. Back seat is damn near unusable (I'm 6'1"). That time I did use the veto rights. Had the rear seat worked I'd have spent the extra $10k. Really really nice car.

 

[dafish]

As a relatively new owner of a Model Y (delivered end of December '22), but a several year owner of a Model S, I can comment on what is there and what is not.

1. 360 View
I have found with the FSD Beta, the Y does a remarkably good job of simulating a 360 degree view while parking, reversing. The visualization automatically rotates to an overhead view with everything around you (cars, curbs, etc...) clearly visible. This is apparently a relatively new feature. The funny thing is that if Tesla just super-imposed a zoomed in satellite image behind the visualization, it would make a pretty good 360 view. Note that my Model S (also running FSD Beta) does not have this feature so I have a feeling it's 3, Y, and refreshed S/X only.

2. Blind spot monitoring
Agreed that in-mirror would be nicer but the display in the visualization is not bad. It is somewhat counter-intuitive to have to look at the visualization (better on the S than the Y) vs. your mirror area but you get into a rhythm with it. Signal, check mirror / look over shoulder / check visualization / initiate merge. If you do miss a car in the blind spot, you get a loud high-pitched warning beep (both of my cars have USS).

3.LKA
I find the LKA on both my S and Y to be sufficient and comparable to other cars I own with similar features.

4. Speedo location
100% agree with this and the thing my wife HATES the most about the Y. I already purchased/installed an aftermarket display and it helps tremendously. Was also pretty easy to install.

5.Phantom Braking
This has always been an issue but has gotten better with more recent builds of the FSD beta. Underpasses seem to be the biggest culprit but I have had it happen out of nowhere. A good thing to remember is that even though in the moment, it feels like a sudden sharp decrease in speed, in reality - it's only 2-3 MPH and you can usually recover pretty quickly. Of course, one time I did have it happen with a motorcycle who was tailgating me and it almost ended badly for him.

6.Rear visibility
I find it fine but in a pinch, you can always bring up the rear camera on the main screen and use that. I have done that in the past in my S when my kids are sitting in the rear facing seats and I have my sunshade in place which makes it impossible to see out of the rear window.

7. "Inattentive Driver" alert
This happens with FSD beta enabled if your eyes are not on the road but I find it a little too aggressive. I do think that Tesla can probably implement some kind of check for this using a combination of the interior camera, steering of the car (e.g. if you are swerving in your lane) and maybe inconsistent speed.

8. Rear cross-traffic
This one definitely needs to happen at some point and it's crazy that the cars don't have it. There has been more than one occasion where I have almost been hit while backing out of a spot in my S because I didn't see an approaching car (even though the car was visible in the side-marker or rear camera).

Clear, detailed. Thanks a lot. I largely concur, although I hope the Nxtgen mirrors on the outside help with the limited rear view.

Would you please clarify for me one area: I think (so like am not sure) that traffic visualization, if brough to a center display, could be very strong BSA awareness. Not the same as a yellow light that's already engrained in our standard eye scan, but really close, and also in the standard eye scan pathway. I'm not interested in spending $15k for FSD. Will I have traffic visualization anyway?

Fwiw, the Enhauto Commander/Dash display of turn signal and BSA alerts is also impressive and gets it into the standard eye scan. Still requires turn signals be on though.

 

[dafish]

Sorry guys. I spend an enormous amount of time watching videos and trying to dig through historic posts on this site. I don't mean to ignore posts, I'm just distracted sometime.

Thanks,
-d

 

[gx9901]

Fwiw, the Enhauto Commander/Dash display of turn signal and BSA alerts is also impressive and gets it into the standard eye scan. Still requires turn signals be on though.

The S3XY Dashboard has the blindspot alert? I use it almost every time I get into my car (mounted right next to the speedo display as I mainly use it to see torque/power split or the "Stats for Nerds") and have not seen the blindspot alert on it. Then again, I've only ever had the blindspot alert sound in my car once, and I don't think I had the S3XY buttons back then.

 

[dafish]

Gx:

Mind you I'm still working on this, along with lots of other fronts, but yes, supposedly it has a display mode that mimics turn signal on each side and goes yellow to red to indicate traffic. It's not easy to get quality display mode information on any of these, but let me see what I can find and get back to you.

 

[dafish]

Look at 2:15 here:

. I'm still trying to find an example of it going yellow and red.

 

[gx9901]

Gx:

Mind you I'm still working on this, along with lots of other fronts, but yes, supposedly it has a display mode that mimics turn signal on each side and goes yellow to red to indicate traffic. It's not easy to get quality display mode information on any of these, but let me see what I can find and get back to you.

Look at 2:15 here:

. I'm still trying to find an example of it going yellow and red.

Cool. They call the turn signal indication on the S3XY Dashboard "Franks Mode" after some dude that came up with the idea. I like it a lot. I haven't been in a situation with it turning yellow or red, so I didn't know about it. That would be a good feature, but the one time I had a surprise vehicle in my blindspot as I was changing lanes (I believe the guy was trying to pass me either at the same time as I was changing lanes or a split second after - I reviewed the dashcam footage), the beeps were pretty loud and the car pulled itself back in the lane, so I'm not sure I would have looked if I had the Dashboard at the time.

 

[dafish]

With apologies, I've made a (another) mistake. Look here at :40 to :50

Which is not to say "franks mode" can't be enhanced.

 

[Carmelsteve]

I think the blind spot detection feature you're talking about would not be available anymore because they removed ultrasonic sensors late last year and even disabled the sensors for cars that had them on software updates.

 

[nate704]

I think the blind spot detection feature you're talking about would not be available anymore because they removed ultrasonic sensors late last year and even disabled the sensors for cars that had them on software updates.

USS has nothing to do with the blind spot monitoring system.

 

[Cookie71]

Having owned both a Kia and a MachE, these are both poor alternatives to a MY, on many levels. FWIW, when the MY at the time was about $15k more than the MY, worth every penny, especially if you are concerned about safety. LKA on the MachE is a total joke. Software just barely better than Kia/Hyundai, both extremely frustrating.

 

[sunman]

A lot of the items on your list are warranted and are common complaints (USS, Rear cross traffic alerting, 360). However, the one difference that you get when buying a Tesla vs the competition is Tesla's software prowess. This is something that's commonly overlooked by many people when doing feature for feature comparisons. This means that something that you don't see now will likely get added to your car (for free, over the air) over time. I know many manufacturers claim to be able to do OTA updates, but nobody has full integration of the car and all components the way that Tesla does. A quick search on Google of OTA updates for other manufacturers will show that nobody releases software as fast and with as many features.

For reference, in the past year alone, we've received tons of new features including green traffic light chiming, the ability to move the camera feed for side blind spot cameras on blinker activation, auto turn signals that turn off after lane changes are complete, Apple Music, Zoom, etc. The reality is, most car companies either outsource their software or do not have the level of control of the hardware that Tesla does.

Quick note about the speedo and lack of center dash -- to me, this is a matter of personal preference. I hear this complaint alot and my response is, what do you really need to see in an EV? There's no tachometer, fuel gauge, oil pressure / temp, coolant temp, etc. People are uncomfortable because it's how we've been driving cars forever but really, all we need to see is the speed. The location it's in now just requires a quick glance and the hope is that you'll get used to it sooner than you expect. Compare this to a traditional speedo (no HUD) and it's more or less the same as both require you to do a quick glance at the speed and look back up.

Finally, autopilot should be an item that's on your list if you're concerned about safety. (Not sure if you're aware but autopilot (free) is different than FSD beta (a paid feature)). Production autopilot is very solid and in 15,000 miles of driving, I've had maybe 2 or 3 "phantom" braking events where i lost about 5-6 mph of speed. This is easily correctable via a touch of the acceleration pedal. You will not have a phantom braking event without autopilot engaged. I did have FSD for a bit and noticed that phantom braking happens much more frequently (but it is Beta software) and thus, somewhat expected.

Hope this at least helps to clear up any concerns you have. I think (and hope) that once you get the car, you'll realize many of the things that you thought would bother you actually don't.

 

[Nubo]

This weekend I had my first opportunity to drive the Y through hours of variable weather -- rain showers, drizzle, sunshine with wet roads, rinse, repeat. The one glaring safety issue that stood out was the "automatic" wipers. There were numerous occasions where they just did not engage when needed. I suppose Tesla believes their algorithmicists know best but they are sorely mistaken. It's a glaring safety issue especially when overriding the automation requires fiddling with a touch-screen and trying to hit the right pixels in a bouncing vehicle and a high-workload situation exacerbated by impaired vision, and then diverting your eyes far away from the road ahead. Honestly I'm considering complaining to the NHTSA. If you're going to automate a critical safety feature it should be at least as good as a competent driver, or have an effective alternative. Tesla fails miserably on both counts, to the detriment of road safety. They propose to replace human drivers with AI, but can't even figure out how to effectively perform the task of keeping a windscreen cleared.

 

[sunman]

This weekend I had my first opportunity to drive the Y through hours of variable weather -- rain showers, drizzle, sunshine with wet roads, rinse, repeat. The one glaring safety issue that stood out was the "automatic" wipers. There were numerous occasions where they just did not engage when needed. I suppose Tesla believes their algorithmicists know best but they are sorely mistaken. It's a glaring safety issue especially when overriding the automation requires fiddling with a touch-screen and trying to hit the right pixels in a bouncing vehicle and a high-workload situation exacerbated by impaired vision, and then diverting your eyes far away from the road ahead. Honestly I'm considering complaining to the NHTSA. If you're going to automate a critical safety feature it should be at least as good as a competent driver, or have an effective alternative. Tesla fails miserably on both counts, to the detriment of road safety. They propose to replace human drivers with AI, but can't even figure out how to effectively perform the task of keeping a windscreen cleared.

Agreed, although to be fair, the wipers have gotten much better. When I first got the car, I would never use auto and manually set the wiper speeds. Now, I find they work decently well but still struggle during light rain / mist situations. One thing that I find that helps to avoid the situation you described where you're fiddling with the screen is to engage AP for a few seconds so I can safely do what I need to do to adjust the wipers.