Do you keep Creep on or off?

[Chopr147]

While I always have creep off and love the one pedal driving , I find myself at times lightly touching the brake pedal if only to have the brake lights on. I know regen turns the brake lights on but only at a certain resistance. I worry the person behind me is not paying attention enough and w/o seeing brake lights may rear-end me. I have found myself doing this ofte

 

[Hoffa]

Off

 

[WannabeOwner]

I find myself at times lightly touching the brake pedal if only to have the brake lights on. I know regen turns the brake lights on but only at a certain resistance. I worry the person behind me is not paying attention enough and w/o seeing brake lights may rear-end me.

I too love one-pedal driving, but I have a number of bugbears with it, this being one of them. I cannot lightly touch the brake pedal to show my tail stop-lights because as soon as my foot is off the accelerator I am on full-regen (which, in this example, let's assume I don't actually need). I would much prefer that Regen was on the first part of the brake pedal travel, and that the brake pedal travel/responsiveness was the same regardless of whether Regen was 100% available, or not (e.g. Cold day/battery or 100% charge)

 

[croman]

My LEAF does not turn on brake light during regen. Its very annoying. I'm sometimes wary of tail gate drivers ramming into me because they suck. Hasn't happened but sometimes I will tap brake to ensure they slow down. Most of the time they are so consumed by trying to get as close to me as possible (I never drive at or below speed limit, they are just insane, I'm usually 10+mph over limit) that they slow down a bit as I slow down. I'm glad to hear that Tesla will show brake light -- any idea what the cutoff on brake light is during regen?

 

[Saghost]

My LEAF does not turn on brake light during regen. Its very annoying. I'm sometimes wary of tail gate drivers ramming into me because they suck. Hasn't happened but sometimes I will tap brake to ensure they slow down. Most of the time they are so consumed by trying to get as close to me as possible (I never drive at or below speed limit, they are just insane, I'm usually 10+mph over limit) that they slow down a bit as I slow down. I'm glad to hear that Tesla will show brake light -- any idea what the cutoff on brake light is during regen?

A few article on the subject:

Road Rules: Electric car brake lights may work without braking

eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations

http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/R13hr2e.pdf

The US government hasn't set any explicit requirements on when regen needs to light brake lights (just that such systems "may" light the brake lights,) but UN did.

On page 22 of the last link, in section 5.2.22.4, UN requires that a regen device that doesn't use the brake pedal not illuminate the brake lights below .7 m/s^2 of deceleration, and does illuminate above 1.3 m/s^2 - they give manufacturers the option to illuminate in between as they choose. I suspect that Tesla choose to have them come on whenever permitted, but I don't know for certain.

 

[hasselboxster]

If you bring up the screen that shows your Model S in the MCU (main 17" touchscreen) - it will show you exactly what is going on. Its a realtime interpretation of your car at that moment.

My experience is that the brake lights come on for you if you have high mode of regen set. I viewed this as appropriate as the car is slowing down much quicker than just coasting.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I think (but haven't experimented carefully) that if I just nudge accelerator during full regen that I get no brake lights. I do do this to reduce the impact of slowing down on TACC so that TACC only uses Regen and no brakes - TACC seems to want to honour my follow-distance setting, often with quite a sharp deceleration, whereas as a driver I am happy to encroach on that gap during slowing down (assuming that car in front is not making an emergency stop!!) and then back-off to reestablish the follow-distance so that I get a smoother, more frugal, drive; I "feather" Regen on TACC to achieve that.

Maybe I am pushing the accelerator "quite a bit" and not exceeding ".7 m/s^2 of deceleration"

 

[The_Mike]

A thousand times off.

We have a Leaf as well, and it forces you to always be on the brake in stop-and-go traffic. The MS's immensely superior accelerator control just makes everything better. Why emulate the limitations of an automatic transmission torque converter? That makes no sense.

 

[NewJerseyMS]

After reading this thread, I turned it off. I do short trips to train station and park in my garage during the week. I'm rare
Y stopped at a light and don't notice that I have to hold the brake.

The garage parking was a big hassle with it off. I turned it back on.

 

[NewJerseyMS]

And yes I drove a stick for several years.

 

[Piperpilot69]

I also tried turning creep mode off after reading this thread. I hated it. There are a lot of stop lights around here that are on hills and having to either throttle the accelerator or hold the brake (and having the car roll back when you release the brake) was a pain in the ass. The parking garage was also a challenge. I guess it's truly a user preference but it IS nice that we have the choice...

 

[Canuck]

There are a lot of stop lights around here that are on hills and having to either throttle the accelerator or hold the brake

You sit at lights with no foot on the brake. I find that odd, regardless of whether creep is on or off.

(and having the car roll back when you release the brake)

If you press the brake harder, hill hold will engage.

The parking garage was also a challenge.

I have a tight squeeze and a tennis ball hanging to tap my windshield to stop. I've had creep off and it's no challenge at all.

I guess it's truly a user preference but it IS nice that we have the choice...

Yes, it's too bad we can't turn creep off for some people we know too - not just for our vehicles.

 

[chadcristi]

My wife and I both like Creep OFF. It took her a little longer to get used to not creeping forward. Once she tried it for a few days, though, she loved it! It’s amazing the precise control you have by just using to “go” pedal. Brake hold gives reassurance that you won’t roll backward on a hill.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

I tried it off after following this thread way back. I turned creep back on after a few days and still don't understand why the majority on this thread like creep off. It just seems a lot safer having my foot hovering over and on the brake when I'm parking. I guess I should try it again, but logically it doesn't make sense to have it off.

 

[Electroman]

Parking is the number one reason I keep Creep On. Without creep, parking becomes very stressful and dangerous

 

[sdorn]

I have had creep off since day one and have never had any reason to turn it back on. Parking isn't an issue at all.

 

[Doug_G]

Off!!!

It was the one thing I really didn't like about the Roadster - permanent creep. More like an automatic than a manual.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Parking isn't an issue at all.

Until the day you have a brain fart panic attack and accelerate instead of braking. I think it would be just a matter of time for me. I think I'll turn creep back off tomorrow, though. Fate be damned.

 

[brkaus]

I was a creep on sort of person. But now I’m creep off and like it better. I have no problem with parking. But mostly park in flat areas.

If it wasn’t for brake hold, I’d probably use creep.

 

[davidc18]

Off. Off. Off.

was thrilled to find out our new Odyssey has a brake hold feature to prevent ICE creep.