Model 3 mirror folding behavior after using Summon...

[jsmay311]

...is not good, is the end of that sentence.

I don't often use Summon in my Model 3, but every time I do I'm extremely perplexed by how Tesla decided to program the behavior of the folding mirrors:

When using Summon, the mirrors fold in automatically. That's fine by me and makes sense. (I have auto-folding turned off, in case that's relevant.) But then when you get in the car, put it in gear, and drive off, the mirrors remain folded until you reach a speed of 32 mph. That's crazy IMO.

Yes, I know the mirrors can be manually unfolded earlier via the touchscreen, but that's not the point. Since Summon folds the mirrors automatically, they should then unfold automatically before such a time that mirrors are needed in typical driving. And that time is way, way before you hit 32 mph. Failing to do so is unsafe IMO.

I'd personally recommend they unfold either when you open the door or when you put it in gear. Or... if Tesla is really so worried about edge cases in which someone would have summoned their car into a super tight space where there isn't room to unfold the mirrors without hitting something (which is unlikely since they'd still need room to open the door and get into the car), and therefore Tesla insists on keeping the mirrors folded until after the drive begins, then they should either set the unfolding speed much lower (like 5mph or 10mph), or alternatively have the mirrors unfold after a certain distance has been traveled (like 50 feet or so).

Anyway, this programmed behavior seems plainly dumb/wrong to me, so I went ahead and emailed Tesla to suggest they change it.

(Side note: Does anyone know if the mirrors on the S and X behave the same way after using Summon?)

 

[ebmcs03]

Never had that happen to me. They always unfolded when I power up the car or unlocked.

 

[jsmay311]

Never had that happen to me. They always unfolded when I power up the car or unlocked.

That's after using Summon, correct?

And do you have auto-folding turned on or off?

And do you use the phone key or the key card?

 

[sixela]

which is unlikely

It's apparent that you don't live in Europe...

Cal me "dumb" however much you like, I really like current behaviour (since the reason for using summon is narrow spaces, as far as I'm concerned). If you want to drive with the rear view mirrors unfolded, unfold them.

 

[ebmcs03]

That's after using Summon, correct?

And do you have auto-folding turned on or off?

And do you use the phone key or the key card?

Yes. After using summons.

I do have auto folding turned on.

And I use the phone key.

 

[jsmay311]

Never had that happen to me. They always unfolded when I power up the car or unlocked.

And do you have auto-folding turned on or off?

I do have auto folding turned on.

By golly, you're right! I just tested this to confirm...

With Mirror Auto Fold turned on, after using Summon the mirrors unfold as soon as you press the brake pedal.

I feel like this suggests that the different post-Summon mirror folding behavior when Auto Fold is turned off might be an outright bug/mistake.

 

[jsmay311]

It's apparent that you don't live in Europe...

Cal me "dumb" however much you like, I really like current behaviour (since the reason for using summon is narrow spaces, as far as I'm concerned). If you want to drive with the rear view mirrors unfolded, unfold them.

I get your point. But how often after using Summon is there actually still less than 3 inches / 7.5 cm of space next to your folded mirrors such that they couldn't unfold? (It certainly wouldn't be that tight on your driver's side since that would make it impossible to get into the car through the driver's side door.)

But even acknowledging that there may be rare cases where there would be less than 3 inches between your passenger mirror and some object after using Summon when you're entering on the driver's side, and that tight clearance couldn't otherwise be avoided by positioning the car a little further forward/backward, there would still be ways to accommodate these rare cases without forcing inconvenient and potential unsafe situations in the other 99% (my guess) of cases where this isn't the case.

As I mentioned in the first post, changing the software so that the mirrors unfold at a lower speed or after traveling a certain distance could alleviate the downsides for the vast majority of drivers while still allowing cars time to get out of super tight spaces before the mirrors unfold.

Or maybe the best solution would be to simply add one additional setting into Summon: Allow the user to set whether or not they want the mirrors to unfold right away after using Summon and pressing the brake pedal, or whether they want them to remain folded until hitting 32mph.

But the status quo is unintuitive, confusing, inconvenient, and potentially unsafe in the vast majority of cases IMO.

 

[sixela]

Ag, you mean once you Summon it and _then_ you open the door? Point granted.

 

[electrictorque]

Summon or not I have the same beef with the auto folding mirrors.

I think the mirrors should unfold when the car issues the command to close the garage door. Currently I have to back up all the way down my driveway and onto the street with the mirrors folded, they only unfold when I start driving forward.

Good thing that the rear facing camera is awesome...

 

[jsmay311]

This bug still isn’t fixed with V10. Too bad, since now that Smart Summon has been released, presumably the use of summon will increase and this will become a more frequent issue/annoyance for people like me who have auto-folding mirrors turn off.

 

[thretlvlmidnit]

How is this still not fixed? Driving me nuts.

 

[FastGTR]

This is a bug and Tesla is aware of it from my understanding.

Question to those encountering it: Do you have a HomeLink installed?

For me this issue started after HomeLink was installed and had nothing to do with Summons.
I have the setting for auto-folding mirrors when parked enabled, and it has works fine, also works fine whether using (Smart) Summon or not the mirrors fold, unfold properly. However, I encountered this after HomeLink, I was almost 500 yards from home and the mirrors had not opened, freaked me out. Pulled over, put into Park, then into Drive, nothing! Powered Off, then powered on, still nothing, continued to drive and then they opened up almost 0.4 miles from home.

Changing the auto-fold mirror setting for HomeLink seems to have fixed the problem for me and I have not had it for over 4 months now.

Mirrors still fold when I park the car and unfold when I put into R or D.

 

[lolder]

Tempest in a teapot.

 

[FalconFour]

Bump. This bothers me as well. I have automatic folding on lock disabled to avoid wear and tear on the mirrors (as I may lock and unlock the car 20 or more times a day) and I don't need them folded most of the time.

But a side effect of having auto folding disabled is that they don't unfold after using Summon (smart or dumb). Always have to manually unfold them. Never wanted to try driving without mirrors to see if they unfold automatically...

 

[Radlaw]

You can always use the voice command: "Unfold Mirrors" at any time.

 

[jsmay311]

You can always use the voice command: "Unfold Mirrors" at any time.

That's a good point. This voice command wasn't available when I started the thread.

But it's still a bug that Tesla should fix.