I've been searching the NHTSA website and came across this interesting March 12, 2012 submission from Tesla in the form of a 5-page comment letter in response to proposed NHTSA rulemaking regarding Theft and Rollaway Prevention: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NHTSA-2011-0174-0029 It describes operation of the Model S keyless system in detail for vehicle entry, starting and shutdown.
Great find, Russ! Thanks. Very interesting read; one extract related to towing: About the missing mechanical hand/park brake: Good luck finding that one on the screen quickly enough in an emergency!
It's cool that the Model S can do the following (impossible for an ICE drivetrain to do, right?) but, how can the driver get out of the car, with the key fob, while the car is in D or R? What, no chance to get the car to go off a cliff while jumping out just in time (to eliminate one 'identity' or some such nefarious motive)?!
Picture this: It's the upper midwest in January. It's a cold, blustery day and you're running late for work because you overslept thanks in large part to that new video game which was released at midnight. You stumble still half asleep out of the house, hop in the car, only to realize that you forgot your gloves. You curse as you undo your belt, open the door, and step on the garage floor, quickly becoming aware that in your half-waking state, you forgot to put the car in park. Your fight-or-flight instincts take over, and you roll away from the car, as you watch the open drivers door in slow motion contact the side wall of the garage. It bends perpendicular to the car, but provides enough resistance to stop the car from rolling further. After more cursing, you're able to run around the vehicle, get back in, move it back in the garage, and survey your handiwork. Not that that's ever happened, or anything... but I'm sure it's possible.
It's easy. You just toss the fob in the window as the car rolls toward it's certain doom. The only problem is there isn't a gas tank filled with nicely explosive gasoline to go boom when the car hits the bottom.
Aargh, of course! Might need to toss a 200lb sandbag in the driver's seat too to activate that sensor. But, yeah, Hollywood has to rethink how to make that action sequence happen in a post-ICE world. Back on topic!
You do know that the Mythbusters utterly busted that Hollywood exploding car thing, right? To get a car to explode after hurtling off a cliff they had to wire it with explosives. Now going up in flames, that happens all the time - no crash required.
The Roadster 2.5 does this already. The car engages park as soon as you turn off the motor and remove the key.
This explains why we still don't have safety certification. As recently as a month ago, they were still dragging the NTHSA into the 21st century. Argh!
Thanks, engle, for the link. Very interesting to read. And thanks guys for the imaginative scenarios....... you made me smile. :smile:
Same with the 2.0. I tried that the first week I had the car, just to see what would happen.... and as a result I rarely use the P button (unless I'm not shutting down the car).
Surely this one! Hollywood can rope in Samuel L. Jackson for "Eels in the Frunk" - sorry, couldn't resist!
Ditto. My garage has a completely level floor so I never even use the parking brake at home; just drive in and pull the key.
it's quite a different thing from turning off the motor and physically removing a key, versus exiting from your car with the fob in your pocket while it's still in drive with the motor running.