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Model 3 firmware fine tuning wish list

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Had my M3 for about 2 weeks now. Overall it's great, but as a user experience designer, I keep finding myself wanting a few things tweaked.

DRIVING
1. When creep is disabled, don't allow car to roll backward in Drive, or forward in Reverse
The car should artificially not allow the vehicle to roll in the opposite direction than the mode it's in. I've almost run into things in the front of parking spots by not putting enough pressure out of the gate on the pedal.

2. When the turn signal is on, you should be able to immediately flip on the opposite direction without waiting
I'd go so far as to consider this one a bug. If you bump the turn signal to the first "click", it should turn off the signal, as it currently does. But if you go 2 "clicks", the opposite signal should turn on, which it doesn't. You basically have to either wait a second, or push the entire stick twice.

3. Ability to turn off Valet Mode while driving
After taking back the car from a valet, if you forget to disable Valet Mode before you start moving, you're out of luck. Found this out the hard way on a freeway...

SAFETY/SENSORS
4. Warning sensors and angle of steering direction need better tuning to eliminate false positives
On a curved residential street with cars parked, the sensors think you're going to hit the car directly in front of you, even though the steering wheel is turned to an angle. Basically the steering direction and collision sensors aren't communicating with each other - or to the degree I would imagine. (This happens in the same spot in both my M3 and a MS loaner I had.)

5. Reduce distance required for sensors to start displaying
When coming to a stop behind a vehicle at a light, the sensors show an impending object in front. You're supposed to stop so you can't see ground between you and the vehicle in front of you. Unfortunately that's right where the warning sensors start popping up. I'd say they shouldn't show for another foot or so. Every single time I stop at a light, the screen unnecessarily switches over to sensor mode and it really doesn't need to.

6. Show actual distance when close to objects (as opposed to just saying "STOP")
It's cool to see a distance like "20 inches", but why does this go away once you get a few inches away from something? I'd argue it's MORE useful in super tight spaces!

7. More than 3 Homelink options
I'm sure this is a licensing or hardware limitation, but what I wouldn't give for 1 extra Homelink spot! (Outer gate, inner gate, then multiple garages)

I doubt any of these will ever get addressed in the near future, if ever, but at least it felt good getting them down on paper!
 
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Excellent list, I’d like to add that I’d like a geofenced option to not have the car start up the damn air conditoining and radio (and consequently cycling my EVSE) every time I open a door or the trunk when the car is at home. I’d also like the charge door to remain unlocked when it’s at home.

A setting for what ambient light levels trigger the dimming mirrors would be nice too.
 
Great list. I agree with all but #5 and #1 would be AWESOME if Tesla can do it.

As for #5, I was taught to stop by/before (i.e., no later than) the point at which you can no longer see the ground over the hood. However, due to the M3’s design, closing to the point where you can no longer see the ground over the hood puts you very close to the car in front of you, significantly closer than doing the same in the average car.
 
Ooh these are great! The auto-locking inside the garage while charging is a bit of a hassle. I should add one more:

8. Don’t enable auto Homelink for the same garage for at least a couple minutes after it’s already used
My house borders a street. When leaving my community, the GPS senses I’m close to home and borders right on the edge of attempting to re-open my garage even though I’m on the other side of a wall.
 
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As for #5, I was taught to stop by/before (i.e., no later than) the point at which you can no longer see the ground over the hood.
Ah interesting @KenF! I was dinged on my driver’s test for not pulling up to where I couldn’t see ground between me and the car ahead. It happened at 3 lights in a row, so 3 times I got dinged, which means I almost failed my driving test! Probably why that little bit sticks with me so much!
 
Ah interesting @KenF! I was dinged on my driver’s test for not pulling up to where I couldn’t see ground between me and the car ahead. It happened at 3 lights in a row, so 3 times I got dinged, which means I almost failed my driving test! Probably why that little bit sticks with me so much!
Wow, you just had an asshole tester then. I mean, not only did he/she nitpick on something that may not even be a law, but they did it 3 times?! Almost failing because of something that diddly is just terrible test giving (i.e. no reason to prevent someone from getting a license due to that reason). Plus, even if there is a rule about that, that metric is terrible... It would vary with the car design as well as the height of the driver! And I agree with others that that distance is way too close to be to another vehicle at a stop.
 
Great list. I'd like to add a few:

SAFETY
1) Perhaps this is discussed elsewhere on the forum, but I am alarmed that there are no proximity warnings for cars/ objects in the blind spots on either side of the car. Probably one of the most frequent causes for accidents is changing lanes, yet we have no warnings whatsoever.

SCREEN & SAFETY
2) A possible screen layout change that would ameliorate the above issue would be to allow the rear camera and the navigation map to both be on-screen at the same time. This would improve visibility of the blind spots, but obviously does not address the audible warnings issue.

3) When navigating there are just a few pieces of information that are really vital:
  • The distance to the next navigation event (e.g. turn),
  • The total distance remaining, and
  • The current time (Am I going to be late?).
Yes, they are on-screen, but on the far-right side and in a small font. There appears to be empty space to the left of the large speed digits where just these three items could also be displayed. This is also a safety issue in that I really have to take my eyes off the road to find this information.
 
Ooh these are great! The auto-locking inside the garage while charging is a bit of a hassle. I should add one more:

8. Don’t enable auto Homelink for the same garage for at least a couple minutes after it’s already used
My house borders a street. When leaving my community, the GPS senses I’m close to home and borders right on the edge of attempting to re-open my garage even though I’m on the other side of a wall.

you can set the distance homelink will enable in settings, set it to a shorter distance
 
I personally like the fact the car will roll similar to a manual. I can see how this might not be desirable to somebody who is used to an automatic and I think leaving creep on may be the easier solution.