Did something really stupid today

[chracatoa]

I spent the week with an ICE loaner. It rained several days. Today I finally got my model 3 back.

When I was waiting at the light, it started raining again. At the exact moment I turned the windshield wipers on, the light turned green, and I stepped on the accelerator. And the car went backwards.

Luckily, I didn't crash. The car behind me swerved left and passed me, probably thinking I was crazy. The act of turning the wipers on on most cars does something completely different on the model 3. It puts the car in reverse.

I have to be careful when I do that in the future. Close call.

 

[SMAlset]

Huh? The wipers are on the left and the RND-P is on the right of the steering wheel. I've on occasion accidentally activated the windshield wiper when I meant to use the turn signal. But those operations are both on the same stalk on the same side of the steering wheel.

Glad you didn't crash your car or get hurt. Sure that scared the crap out the guy behind you though.

 

[RayK]

I think what the OP meant was that he got used to the ICE loaner's setup for the windshield wiper (push up right stalk), that when he got back in the 3, he instinctively pushed up the right stalk (putting the car in reverse) and mashed the go pedal.

There have been several times that I've 'high lighted' oncoming traffic when I used my turn signals.

 

[xav-]

I spent the week with an ICE loaner. It rained several days. Today I finally got my model 3 back.

When I was waiting at the light, it started raining again. At the exact moment I turned the windshield wipers on, the light turned green, and I stepped on the accelerator. And the car went backwards.

Luckily, I didn't crash. The car behind me swerved left and passed me, probably thinking I was crazy. The act of turning the wipers on on most cars does something completely different on the model 3. It puts the car in reverse.

I have to be careful when I do that in the future. Close call.

Do you use creep? I think that could have given you a hint there.

 

[outie]

Something like this won’t happen in California. If you are in Washington that’d explain it. Glad nothing happened.

 

[boaterva]

Of course the explanation should have been the wipers did NOT come on but the simultaneous green light confuses you. But I know what you mean. We have these habits and it’s hard to break them, even after a few days or weeks in a loaner. Another reason for Tesla to work more towards Tesla loaners.

Here’s a question I don’t know the answer to. I’ll have to test. If you are in (real) hold mode, what does shifting from D to R do? I would hope it would say ‘not without putting your foot on the brake’ but I don’t think it does.

I believe the case here was ‘auto hold’, the 0
MPH following mode, which is different.

 

[Rockster]

I drive our 3 most often and when I do drive the S I find myself pushing down on the right stalk to engage adaptive cruise control. The S just beeps at me because it doesn’t want to go into reverse while at highway speed.

 

[SSedan]

I had ICE rentals for the last two weeks and yeah I am fumbling with controls.
I can definitely see the potential for this to happen.
Thank you for sharing.

 

[joelliot]

I spent the week with an ICE loaner. It rained several days. Today I finally got my model 3 back.

When I was waiting at the light, it started raining again. At the exact moment I turned the windshield wipers on, the light turned green, and I stepped on the accelerator. And the car went backwards.

Luckily, I didn't crash. The car behind me swerved left and passed me, probably thinking I was crazy. The act of turning the wipers on on most cars does something completely different on the model 3. It puts the car in reverse.

I have to be careful when I do that in the future. Close call.

The first week I had my M3, I ending up engaging the emergency brake trying to get the windshield washer to spray.

 

[Dr. J]

The first week I had my M3, I ending up engaging the emergency brake trying to get the windshield washer to spray.

You can engage the emergency brake? I thought that only happened (and always happened) when putting the car in Park.

The first several weeks, I was hitting the wipers a ton when activating the turn signal.

 

[mal_tsla]

in the model 3, if you press and hold Park, it will turn on emergency brake. If you press and hold "wipe", it will spray the washers. So, if you've got the wrong side, and you press and hold, you end up with emergency brakes. Not the best design...

I do think the car should be a lot more obvious about when you are in reverse. The RND display on the left side of the screen is itty bitty and hard to notice. I think the speedo should display a giant "R" or "D" instead "0" as the speed, until you start to move.

If I made this mistake, I'd be hoping I'd notice the rear view camera onscreen, but, yeah, room for improvement for sure!

 

[ngogas]

My Audi windshield is on the right pushing up too. I can see how that can sometime screw up a person. Dementia....

 

[chracatoa]

Yes, I had creep on. So perhaps I didn't even press the accelerator and the car just moved back.

The rear view camera did show up, and I was staring at it in disbelief for a millisecond until I put the car back into drive.

 

[Dmagyar]

Something like this won’t happen in California. If you are in Washington that’d explain it. Glad nothing happened.

I get it, raining. Be nice to see that sometime soon, cut thought the smoke from the fires and such. Fingers crossed.

 

[Eno Deb]

I spent the week with an ICE loaner. It rained several days. Today I finally got my model 3 back.

When I was waiting at the light, it started raining again. At the exact moment I turned the windshield wipers on, the light turned green, and I stepped on the accelerator. And the car went backwards.

To me it happens the other way around, with less serious consequences: when I use our gas car after exclusively driving the Model 3 for a while, I usually try to put the car into R to back out of the garage, and all that happens is that the car sits there and the wipers start going.

 

[Kichwas]

Yeah... we still have 2 ICE cars. Had to move my wife’s catering truck out of the way in the driveway last week and evertime I tried to shift from F to R and back the windshield got blasted with water and the car didn’t go anywhere... then I noticed the gear stick was down where my phone goes...

 

[FranceUSA]

I do not like the drive stalk. Too easy to put reverse instead of drive while parked. The dash screen should have a green letter for D when in D and a Red flashing when in R. This would be better than the small black bold so it decreases the likelyhood one screws up. No one is perfect. Surgeons forget instruments in patients , that’s why the use check list to decrease that risk.
I would prefer to have the screen with the D on top of screen and the R on bottom of screen to select the gear instead of the stalk. It would be more intuitive for people who use the car infrequently.

The 1st ding I tell people if they borrow my car is: be careful with the stalk D/R for that problem.

 

[Eno Deb]

I think Tesla should spend a bit more thought next time before shuffling around controls that have been a standard for decades for the sake of "innovation" even though there is really nothing wrong with them. People develop deep-seated habits and muscle memory over time, and I have to say the Model 3 is the first car where I sometimes struggle with the controls. I've had other cars with gear selector stalks before, but they had it in addition to the familiar wiper stalk, not instead. At this point the right stalk is really overloaded with functions and it's sometimes hard to remember what does what. E.g. I still can't remember how to put the car into neutral or whether I need to push the stalk halfway or fully to engage or cancel autopilot (and now in some cases the same operation is used to confirm or cancel Navigate on Autopilot suggestions).

 

[mal_tsla]

Right stalk reminds me of iPhone home button. Too many functions!

Rest finger - touch ID
Click - go home
Hold - siri
Double tap - reachability
Double click - multi tasking

 

[CullinKin]

It happens. Glad no one was hurt. I have a similar stupid story... My previous car was a manual 2013 VW GTI. 1st and Reverse are in the exact same position, except you press down on the shifter and shift into 1st to get into reverse. I was at the local drag strip for a test and tune day, and I overshot the line a little on one of my runs and had to go in reverse to get back into position... During the count I looked and the shifter was in the correct position for 1st... Yeah, I forgot to shift back into 1st from reverse. So the light turns green and all of the sudden I find myself rocketing backwards while my competitor shoots down the strip. It was... Very embarrassing. Luckily I stopped quickly and was able to get going forward. Needless to say, I immediately left the drag strip.