Major Yoke concerns from Consumer Reports initial review

[Melocotton]

There are many instances on tight city streets where one must signal the opposite turn in mid turn, also exiting round-abouts. True, most people simply don’t signal, but they should, and the cops still give hefty tickets for not signaling. A bigger problem is finding the horn if you really need it when the yoke is turned. There’s no way to defend their decision to move the horn off the center hub.

Roundabout are probably the place where using stalks for turn signal is the worse. When you have both hands on the steering wheel, turning left to go around it, you are nowhere near the stalks. You must lift your left hand off it and then activé the turn signal to the right, doing a move upward. With a yoke, you will have the right turn signal button just below your thumb. That is a perfect example where it totally make sense to get rid of stalks.
So yeah, you can say whatever you want, but stalks are not ideal in many conditions.

 

[Melocotton]

L

Yup. Musk made the primary control inputs quite frustrating and distracting—who knew that was a design goal? “All input is error” indeed.

The change from physical stalks to haptic buttons is utter garbage; an obvious money saver marketed as ‘progress’; insultingly poor ergonomics; a dealbreaker.

Do you know that ALL carmakers are using tons of buttons on steering wheels for decades ? Have you see the dozens of buttons in a Mercedes EQS ? Poor ergonomics too right ? Dealbreaker ??

 

[lzolman]

Do you know that ALL carmakers are using tons of buttons on steering wheels for decades ? Have you see the dozens of buttons in a Mercedes EQS ? Poor ergonomics too right ? Dealbreaker ??

It's not just "buttons", it's buttons that require a driver to take their eyes off the road. The directionals are in that category. Some drivers might have the skills to use them blind, but not moi.

 

[lbowroom]

It's not just "buttons", it's buttons that require a driver to take their eyes off the road. The directionals are in that category. Some drivers might have the skills to use them blind, but not moi.

It takes no special skill. With your hands on the side of the wheel it’s literally the only place your thumb can reach. And if you glance down so what? You look at your speedo, you look at your mirror, you pick media. It’s not like you are searching around for where the buttons are. Can you not find your own thumb?

and the rotary question, the yoke isn’t even upside down in a rotary, nor are you steering hand over hand, super easy to signal out. These are non issues that only sound scary.

 

[lzolman]

It takes no special skill. With your hands on the side of the wheel it’s literally the only place your thumb can reach. And if you glance down so what? You look at your speedo, you look at your mirror, you pick media. It’s not like you are searching around for where the buttons are. Can you not find your own thumb?

and the rotary question, the yoke isn’t even upside down in a rotary, nor are you steering hand over hand, super easy to signal out. These are non issues that only sound scary.

Well, yes, I do know where my left thumb is relative to the rest of my body, thank you very much, but NOT relative to the positions of those buttons. I do not always have my left hand in exactly the same place. As a matter of fact, if I WERE to place it in exactly the same place with my thumb in a known location relative to the buttons, my thumb (and who knows what else) would constantly be brushing against those buttons, flashing the blinkers.

Why is it so difficult for some of you to understand that not everyone has the same dexterity/acuity and sense of finger/hand position to be able to use those buttons without looking at them? That's the category I'm in; I could mention issues such as sensory integration disorder, headaches/migraines, etc., all of which play a part. But the bottom line is that the moment when I deem it necessary to press one of those buttons is exactly when I need most to keep my eyes on the road. And I can't do that yet with these damned buttons.

Power to you if you have none of these issues.

 

[nerwork_guy]

Summary:

Deep dive:

what do you all think?

I know people are dismissing CR as biased against Tesla but having followed CR reporters for years I believe they aren’t. Also, watching the deep dive, those seem like valid concerns.

I haven’t tested the Yoke, I enjoy my Model Y for now. I’m just concerned for Tesla’s success and reputation once this hits the mainstream (Cybertruck, non plaid Model S/X).

Also, I wonder if they make this optional once supply chain hell is over.

Summary:

Deep dive:

what do you all think?

I know people are dismissing CR as biased against Tesla but having followed CR reporters for years I believe they aren’t. Also, watching the deep dive, those seem like valid concerns.

I haven’t tested the Yoke, I enjoy my Model Y for now. I’m just concerned for Tesla’s success and reputation once this hits the mainstream (Cybertruck, non plaid Model S/X).

Also, I wonder if they make this optional once supply chain hell is over.

These guys did a great job going over the yoke and capacitive controls. Being a plaid owner for two weeks, my experience is different from theirs. I’ve driven a Model S since 2012 and the Plaid is by far the best on every level of performance, range, control, comfort, thrill of driving etc.

The yoke and controls are far simpler that what was portrayed in the CR podcast. I don’t find myself looking down to find a control. Turning the yoke in parking lots and other multiple point turns is simple if you start in the lower right or left of the yoke so you’re pushing vs pulling. But this is a corner case in my driving and my be situational to personal driving style.

Took me about 10 sec to get use to the yoke and I love it. The horn capacitive control was brought up in the podcast and it’s a good point. It should be in the center of the yoke. However, I’m sure it’s situational as I seldom honk a horn at anyone. It would have been a better design choice to place the left and right directional on their respective sides of the yoke too. The shifter is great and it’s automation even better.

Bottom line; I’m happy with the yoke and the road visibility it affords as it’s like nothing I have experienced. Overall the yoke is a step function improvement and is just one innovation of so many others in the Plaid. But the real step function was in 2012 when the S was released, that was the launch point of electrification much like 2007 was the launch point of mobile computing with the iPhone and public cloud services from AWS.

Key point to keep in mind is with FSD 10 s/w and beyond manual driving will be less and less and the time I go manual is to enjoy a country road drive controlled via yoke.

Look forward to see the next CR assessment after they had more time with the Model S LR.

 

[lbowroom]

Well, yes, I do know where my left thumb is relative to the rest of my body, thank you very much, but NOT relative to the positions of those buttons. I do not always have my left hand in exactly the same place. As a matter of fact, if I WERE to place it in exactly the same place with my thumb in a known location relative to the buttons, my thumb (and who knows what else) would constantly be brushing against those buttons, flashing the blinkers.

Why is it so difficult for some of you to understand that not everyone has the same dexterity/acuity and sense of finger/hand position to be able to use those buttons without looking at them? That's the category I'm in; I could mention issues such as sensory integration disorder, headaches/migraines, etc., all of which play a part. But the bottom line is that the moment when I deem it necessary to press one of those buttons is exactly when I need most to keep my eyes on the road. And I can't do that yet with these damned buttons.

Power to you if you have none of these issues.

The last thing you should be thinking about in an emergency situation is signaling. It just doesn’t matter at that point.

 

[Melocotton]

Well, yes, I do know where my left thumb is relative to the rest of my body, thank you very much, but NOT relative to the positions of those buttons. I do not always have my left hand in exactly the same place. As a matter of fact, if I WERE to place it in exactly the same place with my thumb in a known location relative to the buttons, my thumb (and who knows what else) would constantly be brushing against those buttons, flashing the blinkers.

Why is it so difficult for some of you to understand that not everyone has the same dexterity/acuity and sense of finger/hand position to be able to use those buttons without looking at them? That's the category I'm in; I could mention issues such as sensory integration disorder, headaches/migraines, etc., all of which play a part. But the bottom line is that the moment when I deem it necessary to press one of those buttons is exactly when I need most to keep my eyes on the road. And I can't do that yet with these damned buttons.

Power to you if you have none of these issues.

You are REALLY trying very hard to turn something very simple (2 buttons, left/right) into a very complex one..
I suggest you to ask a 6 year old kid to use a stalk to activate a turn signal, versus using 2 buttons that are right below their thumb (just like a game pad, you know), I bet my Porsche 911 that this kid will be more familiar with the buttons..
If this basic design is too complicated for whatever disorder you have, I would avoid driving on the same road as you in the first place, I would be too worried that you couldn’t distinguish the brake pedal over the accelerator : it’s not like they are in plain sight, right ?

 

[lzolman]

The last thing you should be thinking about in an emergency situation is signaling. It just doesn’t matter at that point.

Not talking about emergency situations, just normal maneuvering in traffic, esp. heavy traffic.

 

[Eugene G.]

There are rumours that such Yoke will be allowed in Europe, so Tesla has to provide regular wheel for these markets Q1 next year. Then there is a chance any Plaid owner can order it in the future

 

[EvilNuff]

Turning the yoke in parking lots and other multiple point turns is simple if you start in the lower right or left of the yoke so you’re pushing vs pulling. But this is a corner case in my driving and my be situational to personal driving style.

So you have to re-learn how to turn the car is what you are saying.

Took me about 10 sec to get use to the yoke and I love it.

Why do you love the Yoke? What *exactly* does it give you that you don't get with a wheel? Hey its your opinion so just that its different is fine for your reasoning but you have to have some reason.

Bottom line; I’m happy with the yoke and the road visibility it affords as it’s like nothing I have experienced. Overall the yoke is a step function improvement and is just one innovation of so many others in the Plaid.

Again, why are you happy with it? Its visibility is actually *worse* than my model 3. The yoke blocks the left side of the screen. Both the Plaid and my Model 3 (and for that matter my ice pickup) have 100% road visibility with literally nothing on the wheel blocking my view.

How, *exactly* is the yoke an improvement in any way shape or form? Visibility is the only thing I have seen and that's actually a decrease in visibliity.

Key point to keep in mind is with FSD 10 s/w and beyond manual driving will be less and less and the time I go manual is to enjoy a country road drive controlled via yoke.

Non-issue you don't degrade a car now for future changes. Additionally people who don't *want* FSD shouldn't be excluded from a car just for it to look "cool".

 

[4SUPER9]

So you have to re-learn how to turn the car is what you are saying.


Why do you love the Yoke? What *exactly* does it give you that you don't get with a wheel? Hey its your opinion so just that its different is fine for your reasoning but you have to have some reason.



Again, why are you happy with it? Its visibility is actually *worse* than my model 3. The yoke blocks the left side of the screen. Both the Plaid and my Model 3 (and for that matter my ice pickup) have 100% road visibility with literally nothing on the wheel blocking my view.

How, *exactly* is the yoke an improvement in any way shape or form? Visibility is the only thing I have seen and that's actually a decrease in visibliity.


Non-issue you don't degrade a car now for future changes. Additionally people who don't *want* FSD shouldn't be excluded from a car just for it to look "cool".

Why do people feel a need to argue these points? If someone says they love the yoke, they are entitled to their opinion. If someone says they hate it, they are entitled to theirs. This baffles me. Express YOUR concerns, and say why YOU think it is bad and dangerous. Jeez

 

[SO16]

I can’t wait until a 3rd party standard wheel option comes out so these types of threads are no longer needed.

 

[mspohr]

Most of these are "performance" steering wheels where presumably the driver is interested in precision control in high speed situations.

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[nerwork_guy]

So you have to re-learn how to turn the car is what you are saying.


Why do you love the Yoke? What *exactly* does it give you that you don't get with a wheel? Hey its your opinion so just that its different is fine for your reasoning but you have to have some reason.



Again, why are you happy with it? Its visibility is actually *worse* than my model 3. The yoke blocks the left side of the screen. Both the Plaid and my Model 3 (and for that matter my ice pickup) have 100% road visibility with literally nothing on the wheel blocking my view.

How, *exactly* is the yoke an improvement in any way shape or form? Visibility is the only thing I have seen and that's actually a decrease in visibliity.


Non-issue you don't degrade a car now for future changes. Additionally people who don't *want* FSD shouldn't be excluded from a car just for it to look "cool".

Your mind is made up, keep your m3 and be happy.

 

[EvilNuff]

Why do people feel a need to argue these points? If someone says they love the yoke, they are entitled to their opinion. If someone says they hate it, they are entitled to theirs. This baffles me. Express YOUR concerns, and say why YOU think it is bad and dangerous. Jeez

I'm not arguing anything, I am looking for *why* anyone likes it. That is asking for information.

 

[EvilNuff]

Your mind is made up, keep your m3 and be happy.

I am literally asking for why someone likes it because I want to see if there is something I have missed. My suspicion is that the only reason anyone has for liking it is that its "cool" or for aesthetic reasons but I want to know if I am missing anything.

I have a pre-order for a cybertruck so the "keep your m3" attack is not warranted. The stalkless yoke is a deal breaker for me on the truck so this is a subject I am very interested in finding out more opinions.

 

[mspohr]

I'm not arguing anything, I am looking for *why* anyone likes it. That is asking for information.

Dude, you're arguing.
Let it go.

 

[4SUPER9]

I am literally asking for why someone likes it because I want to see if there is something I have missed. My suspicion is that the only reason anyone has for liking it is that its "cool" or for aesthetic reasons but I want to know if I am missing anything.

I have a pre-order for a cybertruck so the "keep your m3" attack is not warranted. The stalkless yoke is a deal breaker for me on the truck so this is a subject I am very interested in finding out more opinions.

Thanks for your explanation. And, I think you are correct. The cool factor is absolutely by far the biggest plus of the yoke, far and beyond anything else. Just for that, it is worth it to me. The visibility is, IMHO, a close second nice feature, which really ties into the aesthetics and coolness. The rest, meh. Aside for these points, I don't think anyone can really argue that it offers any true practicality over a regular wheel.

 

[lbowroom]

I am literally asking for why someone likes it because I want to see if there is something I have missed. My suspicion is that the only reason anyone has for liking it is that its "cool" or for aesthetic reasons but I want to know if I am missing anything.

I have a pre-order for a cybertruck so the "keep your m3" attack is not warranted. The stalkless yoke is a deal breaker for me on the truck so this is a subject I am very interested in finding out more opinions.

If it’s a dealbreaker then what’s the point of more opinions that you won’t accept?