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GPS aware side mirrors

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wayner

Active Member
Oct 29, 2014
4,294
1,787
Toronto
I like to fold in my side mirrors when I go into my garage as on a previous car I did major damage to the passenger side mirror once when backing out. Has anyone ever suggested that this become a GPS aware feature, just like suspension?

It is also annoying that the mirrors pop out as soon as the car turns on as I want them to stay closed at least until I get out of my garage.
 
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I like to fold in my side mirrors when I go into my garage as on a previous car I did major damage to the passenger side mirror once when backing out. Has anyone ever suggested that this become a GPS aware feature, just like suspension?

It is also annoying that the mirrors pop out as soon as the car turns on as I want them to stay closed at least until I get out of my garage.

+1 Good idea and seems like it could be implemented via a firmware update
 
Combining this thought with another thread: why not allow the Range mode setting to be geo-fenced, too? That way at home you can have the car automatically revert to Range mode Off so that any preheating you might do while plugged in will also heat the battery. I'm really bad at remembering to turn Range mode off when I get home, and when I do remember I then forget to turn it back on when driving away the next morning.
 
Yes, that's another good idea. I rarely used range mode as my normal daily commute is about 50KM but I have been playing around with it recently and it took me a while to figure out why the car wasn't heating up properly.
 
I guess the general idea here is that certain user adjustments (suspension, mirrors, range mode) all could have good implications with geofencing. I know someone in a thread once asked about geofencing the hatch height on tech cars (low in the garage, high on the street). Maybe a checkbox when you do certain changes if you want them to only apply with a geofence around your current position?
 
Has anyone ever suggested that this become a GPS aware feature, just like suspension?

I had started a thread on this, and wound up submitting a suggestion to Tesla. The thread is here: Question about usage of automatic folding mirrors

The last post in the thread:

I'm not sure if you're making a joke or not, but I'll answer anyway.

The way I see the homelink being connected to the mirror-folding, and the way I wrote it up in my letter, was that for any homelink setting there be an option to connect a "mirror-fold" to that homelink setting, if the user wanted one. It would be optional. If for some reason you want to back into your garage using your mirrors, you would be able to do that by simply not connecting a mirror-fold to the homelink to open your garage door.

Earlier in the thread I had brought up the possibility of GPS-based mirror-folding, but then shot that down myself for the same reason that the GPS based suspension raising and lowering were causing problems at times. The reason being there are times you will drive near an area but not want the activity to take place. Connecting the mirror-fold to a home link setting seemed to make more sense.
 
True, but I will always want the mirrors folded in when I enter my driveway so that is why I suggested this.

I'm assuming this is directed at me, and relates to the comment about connecting the mirror fold to GPS vs. Homelink.

The problem with connecting it to GPS is that while you may always want your mirrors folded when you pull in your driveway, what if your driveway is also near a street that you drive passed some times? And if your driveway isn't, how about other people's driveways? The point is that by connecting it to GPS, there is ambiguity, since the GPS system has to use an area, and can't be one specific point on a map. But if Tesla ties the mirror-fold to the use of a homelink button, then the mirrors are only going to fold and unfold at precisely the time we want them to.

If you think the GPS approach would be better, feel free to write to Tesla. Frankly, anything would be an improvement. I'd certainly welcome GPS as an additional option over the current system. I'd also welcome just a manual override. Because:


I have the same issue with my garage but I just use the manual button which is pretty conveniently placed on the door with the mirror controls.

Actually if you do that, you lose the ability to have the mirrors fold automatically when you park at other times. Which is useful. So an improvement to the current system would be the following, which I did include in my letter to Tesla.

Tesla should change things such that a manual folding of the mirrors overrides everything, and is maintained after the car has been turned off and back on, until the mirrors are unfolded manually, or until some speed (20 MPH, perhaps?) is reached. That would allow for the automatic folding setting to be used, but still give us control when we need it. Currently if we choose to use the automatic feature, it overrides a manual fold when it needs to unfold, which can, of course, present problems. It would present a problem if we had folded the mirrors to get into a tight spot, and they then unfolded, for example.

I said above that if you manually fold you lose the ability to use the automatic folding function. I realize I should clarify. You can use both, but if you manually fold when you enter your garage, and you also use the automatic fold option, when you start the car and put it in gear to exit your garage, the mirrors will unfold, and you will have to manually fold them again, or risk catching them on whatever you folded them to avoid catching them on in the first place. This is actually what I do. And then, if you are like me, you will often find yourself driving around later with your mirrors still folded, as there is nothing (yet) to cause them to unfold on their own when a certain speed is reached.
 
I love the idea of GPS folding mirrors. Connecting it with HomeLink solves one potential use, however I don't need to fold my mirrors at home, and maybe there are others similarly situated. I have an awesome dedicated parking stall at work that is between a column and a wall. It's great that I am protected from door dings on either side, but often I hit the folding button because it is pretty tight on the way in/out until I pass the column. It would be very cool to have it GPS triggered, but I can't use HomeLink in that location ...