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Is this for real?

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The video was taken by a security camera. Initial thoughts would be that accidental activation of summon could have caused this, but what’s strange is the rear wheels don’t unlock. It’s really odd...

I guess just don’t live in the snow with a steep driveway? :(
 
The car didn’t “turn on” as the the video suggests, nor was it summoned. If you look closely you can see that the rear wheel is still locked while the front wheel rolls freely. It was parked on the snow on a hill and it just slid down the snow.
But once the car is down the hill (after impacting the tree) you can hear wheels spinning if you turn on sound. Yes its a steep driveway covered in snow, but where the car starts from it doesn't seem like it was parked on a steep enough slope to start moving without some acceleration force.
 
Looks like the car unlocked due to him being in close proximity to it with the key in his pocket. I can't explain why it started sliding at that exact moment.

Does the car do some sort of system self-test when it unlocks that involves applying a small amount of power/torque to the motors? If so, the car could have had just enough traction from the rear wheels to hold it in place until the front motor did a self-test, breaking that small amount of traction... and it's all downhill from there.
 
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But once the car is down the hill (after impacting the tree) you can hear wheels spinning if you turn on sound. Yes its a steep driveway covered in snow, but where the car starts from it doesn't seem like it was parked on a steep enough slope to start moving without some acceleration force.

It’s difficult to tell, but I don’t think that’s the wheels spinning. It might be the hvac system or maybe something else entirely. There is no question that the rear wheel was locked the entire time it moves down the driveway. I don’t believe that the car was moving itself.
 
It’s difficult to tell, but I don’t think that’s the wheels spinning. It might be the hvac system or maybe something else entirely. There is no question that the rear wheel was locked the entire time it moves down the driveway. I don’t believe that the car was moving itself.

Yeah, I'd expect some wheel spin and snow flying from front tires if it was a powered reverse. There is another video of similar situation with hill and delayed slide.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/hill-hold-releases-after-you-get-out-of-the-car.105750/ see post 4
 
Rear wheel locked from emergency parking brake? Something doesn't seem right about this.

Any time the car is in park or off, the rear wheels are locked by the parking brake.

We used to have a steep driveway in Denver and some winter days the truck slid down after being parked, either right away of in the middle of the night - but it wasn't long enough for the sort of disaster the video shows.

The lights flashing right before could be significant, or it could be coincidence.
 
Interesting it's posted on a Chevy Volt facebook page. We don't use Summons, but watching videos of Summons in action and comparing to this video, you can see the headlights come on, the hazzards flash a few times so I do think Summons was activated. To me it sounds like the cars front wheels could still be moving when it hits the tree. You can kind of through the tree see some more flashing headlights and hazzards and then it sounds to me like the car puts itself into park. I'm guessing a prank gone wrong by someone in the house, pulled on the mom who was taking the trash out, and knowing their surveillance video would catch it. The manual says Summons is only to be used on a flat surface...bet they didn't know that. Driveway snow covered and maybe some ice underneath. Suspect an expensive prank and the "kid" who made it happen got in trouble for it and who knows maybe he has to pay for the damage so putting it up on YouTube probably got him some money to do so. Or if mom/dad couldn't figure out what the heck happened (probably Tesla had to check logs for them to say Summons was activated), the kid got away with it and simply thought it was a fun thing to post. Wonder what the damage cost was.
 
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I just thought about what I wrote and was coming back to correct it. You got there before me! Editing now before the thread takes off on this :)

I was wondering if the car knowing the car was sliding downwards and backwards was trying to compensate for that action with the rear wheels.
 
Rear Wheel or All Wheel drive?

I'm not sure it matters - if the car is off or in Park only the rear wheels are locked in either case, and if it is in Summon and losing control, it'll use the brake pads to lock all four in either case.

Also, all Xs are AWD.

The rear wheels are locked the whole time, and the car isn't backing up straight - it slides somewhat to the side from the beginning. I think the lights flashing are coincidence.
 
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