Forward and reverse

[Paddyz1]

Hi. New owner here.
I come from driving plant machinery where there are no gears, just forward and reverse.
My question is,
Can the forward/reverse stalk be configured? I just nearly had an accident while doing a manoeuvre because I pushed the wrong way. For me it is opposite what I am used to. Up is forward and down is backward.
I know people like it the way it is but is there an option to change it should you wish.
Thanks

 

[d3lerium]

Long answer is No .

You will get use to it pretty quickly and will become second nature. Within the first month of having my car I did something similar. That was the first and last time a close call happened. Mark it down to a learning experience.

 

[rsharman]

That reminded me of something that happened to me a soon after getting the car. I was trying out the Traffic Aware Cruise Control downtown and came to red light. (This was before auto-hold mode, so I braked of course.) While waiting for the light I thought I'd turn off TACC, with the stalk, not realizing I'd done that by hitting the brake. Luckily I happen to notice the backup camera came on and realized I was in reverse before zooming off when the light went green! That was almost very embarrassing (and expensive!)

 

[d3lerium]

That reminded me of something that happened to me a soon after getting the car. I was trying out the Traffic Aware Cruise Control downtown and came to red light. (This was before auto-hold mode, so I braked of course.) While waiting for the light I thought I'd turn off TACC, with the stalk, not realizing I'd done that by hitting the brake. Luckily I happen to notice the backup camera came on and realized I was in reverse before zooming off when the light went green! That was almost very embarrassing (and expensive!)

Hard not to giggle about this while reading it. No doubt you felt dumb for doing it, but I think we all know how easy it is to be in that situation. Just that one moment when the brain is on autopilot and you hit the wrong stick. Feel for you.

 

[BigNick]

Hi. New owner here.
I come from driving plant machinery where there are no gears, just forward and reverse.
My question is,
Can the forward/reverse stalk be configured? I just nearly had an accident while doing a manoeuvre because I pushed the wrong way. For me it is opposite what I am used to. Up is forward and down is backward.
I know people like it the way it is but is there an option to change it should you wish.
Thanks

You might want to try Creep mode instead of Roll or Hold until you're used to the stalk's configuration. That way the car will move slightly when you let off the brake, just like an automatic transmission in an ICE car. Gives you early warning of an incorrect gear selection at a slow, controllable speed.

 

[MLXXXp]

Seeing the backup camera (and rear facing side cameras, if enabled) views pop up on the screen is a good way of knowing that you've selected reverse.

 

[MLXXXp]

While waiting for the light I thought I'd turn off TACC, with the stalk, not realizing I'd done that by hitting the brake. Luckily I happen to notice the backup camera came on and realized I was in reverse before zooming off when the light went green!

You can cancel TACC by pressing the stalk up to only the first position. To shift to reverse you have to press it all the way up to the second position. If you do things this way, the situation you described will never occur.

 

[PianoAl]

You will get use to it pretty quickly and will become second nature.

I think that's the problem. Every day he drives machinery that's set up in the opposite way, so it's second nature—no conscious thought.

I think just get into the habit of looking at what was selected each time.

 

[GtiMart]

I understand... but then again, the Tesla stalk is setup exactly the same as an automatic ICE "shifter", with reverse being higher up than drive. Wouldn'T the same problem have happened in previous cars too?

 

[jjrandorin]

I understand... but then again, the Tesla stalk is setup exactly the same as an automatic ICE "shifter", with reverse being higher up than drive. Wouldn'T the same problem have happened in previous cars too?

Yes, it should have (same problem in other cars).

People think (correctly or incorrectly) that *almost everything* on a Tesla vehicle should be user configurable, though, so they expect something different than what they had before.

I dont think anyone would be buying a BMW and expecting to re configure the shift lever, but in a tesla, this is the expectation for some reason.

 

[Gyrolion]

You will get used to it, I have the car 2 months now.. and somehow it feels very strange to drive an ICE car.. automatic or a manual gearbox.

 

[PeteBignell]

I agree that for a machinery operator the Tesla and many other cars the forward/ reverse is not intuitive. Another annoying control is the indicators on my Toyota are on the opposite side. Occasionally when driving slowly out of a laneway in my Tesla I put the "left indicator" on and find I am going backwards

 

[UncertainTimes]

Imagine the DOJ criminal investigation if Tesla allowed this.

 

[PianoAl]

That reminded me of something that happened to me a soon after getting the car. I was trying out the Traffic Aware Cruise Control downtown and came to red light. (This was before auto-hold mode, so I braked of course.) While waiting for the light I thought I'd turn off TACC, with the stalk, not realizing I'd done that by hitting the brake. Luckily I happen to notice the backup camera came on and realized I was in reverse before zooming off when the light went green! That was almost very embarrassing (and expensive!)

Exactly the same thing happened to me today.

 

[Need]

I understand... but then again, the Tesla stalk is setup exactly the same as an automatic ICE "shifter", with reverse being higher up than drive. Wouldn'T the same problem have happened in previous cars too?

Every time I drive another German, Japanese, Korean, etc... car, I turn on the windshield wiper instead of shifting! All the cars before Tesla I got have the shifter at the bottom. I feel bad for OP. It got to be hard to have to adjust to the polar opposite of direction control daily. Just wait a year or 2 until all the Tesla has no more gear shift stick just like the new MS/MX. Then OP could get a new one and just push buttons to go forward or back!

 

[Stew-2]

Every time I drive another German, Japanese, Korean, etc... car, I turn on the windshield wiper instead of shifting! All the cars before Tesla I got have the shifter at the bottom. I feel bad for OP. It got to be hard to have to adjust to the polar opposite of direction control daily. Just wait a year or 2 until all the Tesla has no more gear shift stick just like the new MS/MX. Then OP could get a new one and just push buttons to go forward or back!

Haha I can relate, every so often I’ll drive my wife’s Acura and will turn the wipers on trying to shift.

 

[3sr+buyer]

I understand... but then again, the Tesla stalk is setup exactly the same as an automatic ICE "shifter", with reverse being higher up than drive. Wouldn'T the same problem have happened in previous cars too?

Could be, but relatively few cars these days have column mounted gear selectors. Most have floor or console mounted gear selectors these days, and not all of them are relatively conventional levers (e.g. push buttons, pull switches, dials, etc.). Of course, if the ICEV has a manual transmission, that should be different enough.

Perhaps the most analogous situation would be someone who rides both bicycles and motorcycles. The usual setup is to have the front brake controlled by the left hand on a bicycle, but the right hand on a motorcycle. However, it is not that hard to swap the bicycle brake levers if someone wanted the handedness of the front brake to be the same on both.

 

[AJB123]

Perhaps the most analogous situation would be someone who rides both bicycles and motorcycles. The usual setup is to have the front brake controlled by the left hand on a bicycle, but the right hand on a motorcycle.

I was amazed when I discovered that about the US a few years ago. Here in the UK bicycles all have the front brake on the right, and the rear on the left. Not sure how it is in other countries around the world.