MY accelerated on it’s own!

[RedY23]

Be interesting to hear if they find something in your case. Let us know.

Thanks to all the posts here and since I activated cruise today just as per below I have a new theory:

I back out of the garage and press stick down to get it in Drive(from reverse). Probably thought it was not in drive since I always impatiently hit drive while still rolling back. Thinking I was still in reverse and witout looking, I pressed Drive shaft down for a second time..or even 3rd that day. Heres the kicker: I was in drive and by pressing down again I set cruise to 1mph or close to zero.

I then left home by modulating the accelerator and never used breaks. Took foot off accelerator at intersection and it slowed down to what seemed like a stop(the super low cruise speed set at garage). I am guessing it detected the new speed limit of the next road - 30mph (vs 25) and it went into action from the stop sign. Its why I never remember depressing the accelerator or drive stick at the stop sign.

Oh boy now I feel stupid but also learned something new Ive never had to think about before. Since I rarely use the break, cruise may be forgotten ON or set in error and cause problems.
Even before this I was not happy with car picking my cruise speed when going to a new road, now it seems could be a potential hazard.
Ill still get car checked out and report this incident perhaps something else to think about when programming features.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks to all the posts here and since I activated cruise today just as per below I have a new theory:

I back out of the garage and press stick down to get it in Drive(from reverse). Probably thought it was not in drive since I always impatiently hit drive while still rolling back. Thinking I was still in reverse and witout looking, I pressed Drive shaft down for a second time..or even 3rd that day. Heres the kicker: I was in drive and by pressing down again I set cruise to 1mph or close to zero.

I then left home by modulating the accelerator and never used breaks. Took foot off accelerator at intersection and it slowed down to what seemed like a stop(the super low cruise speed set at garage). I am guessing it detected the new speed limit of the next road - 30mph (vs 25) and it went into action from the stop sign. Its why I never remember depressing the accelerator or drive stick at the stop sign.

Oh boy now I feel stupid but also learned something new Ive never had to think about before. Since I rarely use the break, cruise may be forgotten ON or set in error and cause problems.
Even before this I was not happy with car picking my cruise speed when going to a new road, now it seems could be a potential hazard.
Ill still get car checked out and report this incident perhaps something else to think about when programming features.

Thats definitely possible.

Some variation of that has been posted before. As I mentioned, the last time this came up (which I dont think is this specific thread) the person activated AP in a drive through accidentally, for a similar reason (they stated that they put the car in park in the drive through, then shifted into drive and "pulled it again because sometimes it doesnt go into drive" (which put them in AP).

I personally think its too easy to make this type of mistake (from a user interface point of view), and tesla needs to do something to change the workflow.

 

[RedY23]

Thats definitely possible.

Some variation of that has been posted before. As I mentioned, the last time this came up (which I dont think is this specific thread) the person activated AP in a drive through accidentally, for a similar reason (they stated that they put the car in park in the drive through, then shifted into drive and "pulled it again because sometimes it doesnt go into drive" (which put them in AP).

I personally think its too easy to make this type of mistake (from a user interface point of view), and tesla needs to do something to change the workflow.

Now that I think I experienced that mistake and it could have ended badly I can see how fast an AP mistake can be fatal in the blink if an eye. So many facets to this AP experience. Its no wonder smart engeneers have not been able to make it perfect by now.

 

[jpfive]

Who knows But that does sound like the most plausible explanation for this. Car trying to accelerate to neighborhood speed. The only thing I can think of is that I unconsciously hit the right stick to “activate the wipers”(my other car) as it was raining that day…. And we all know when it rains wipers dont work and when its dry and sunny they are always on.
I could swear I didn’t but ive been wrong before. Too bad I didnt hit the horn. Does that save inside video?

Yeah, that's what I believe the horn is supposed to do, assuming you have activated that feature in your settings. However, I never seem to remember to do that until well after an incident - and I dislike using the horn anyway. I would prefer to see them give us back the option of pressing a screen icon to begin that process, while keeping the horn option for those who prefer it. Cheers.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Yeah, that's what I believe the horn is supposed to do, assuming you have activated that feature in your settings. However, I never seem to remember to do that until well after an incident - and I dislike using the horn anyway. I would prefer to see them give us back the option of pressing a screen icon to begin that process, while keeping the horn option for those who prefer it. Cheers.

Actually you can, just add a dashcam icon to the app launcher in the bottom of the screen and you can touch the icon to save footage (it will show a green checkmark):

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the features you can use to record videos when driving.

www.tesla.com

You can also do it on the icon in the controls menu.

 

[jpfive]

Actually you can, just add a dashcam icon to the app launcher in the bottom of the screen and you can touch the icon to save footage (it will show a green checkmark):

Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the features you can use to record videos when driving.

www.tesla.com

You can also do it on the icon in the controls menu.

Cool. Thank you.

 

[Audiotronics]

I have noticed while driving with autopilot engaged you can come to a complete stop due to the car in front of you as intended. but if that car in from turns and makes an opening the car will think it needs to accelerate back up to speed even if it’s a red light.

 

[zoomer0056]

even if it’s a red light

That is TACC. It's not gonna stop for a red light or a stop sign ... ever!!! It's cruise control that is Traffic Aware, not traffic signal aware. Read section in the manual about Auto Pilot. You'll also read Auto Pilot is for controlled access roads: highways.

 

[avramd]

I thought I would share my own experience here. I have experienced about a half-dozen instances of unintended acceleration. In my case, the problems is that there is a difference between intentionally enabling "autopilot" and unknowingly enabling it. I'm specifically referring to "traffic aware cruise control" here, not full autopilot.

TACC has a "special feature," where you can enable it while stopped if there is a vehicle in front of you. This is ok or even nice, but it is also a recipe for disaster because the input that enables it is the same input that puts the car in Drive. It gets even worse if you are affected by the bug where the car sometimes ignores you when you put it in Drive - so you develop a habit of pressing the lever down twice.

Even without that bug though, I find it very easy to enable TACC by accident. Sometimes, I am stopped for an extended period, or for non-standard reasons, and I forget that the car is already in Drive. So I habitually press the lever down to get going again. If in Drive, this means "Activate Cruise Control." If nobody is in front of me and I'm stopped, then it fails. But if someone is in front of me, then it succeeds. If the set speed is low, then I might drive for quite a while without realizing I have cruise control on - as long as I'm driving faster than it, or following a car in front of me closer than it will.

This has led to some very scary situations where the car suddenly took off b/c it took a while before my own driving was no longer "ahead of" what the TACC was going to do.

I've had it happen to friends that I've lent my car to as well.

 

[yblaser]

I thought I would share my own experience here. I have experienced about a half-dozen instances of unintended acceleration. In my case, the problems is that there is a difference between intentionally enabling "autopilot" and unknowingly enabling it. I'm specifically referring to "traffic aware cruise control" here, not full autopilot.

TACC has a "special feature," where you can enable it while stopped if there is a vehicle in front of you. This is ok or even nice, but it is also a recipe for disaster because the input that enables it is the same input that puts the car in Drive. It gets even worse if you are affected by the bug where the car sometimes ignores you when you put it in Drive - so you develop a habit of pressing the lever down twice.

Even without that bug though, I find it very easy to enable TACC by accident. Sometimes, I am stopped for an extended period, or for non-standard reasons, and I forget that the car is already in Drive. So I habitually press the lever down to get going again. If in Drive, this means "Activate Cruise Control." If nobody is in front of me and I'm stopped, then it fails. But if someone is in front of me, then it succeeds. If the set speed is low, then I might drive for quite a while without realizing I have cruise control on - as long as I'm driving faster than it, or following a car in front of me closer than it will.

This has led to some very scary situations where the car suddenly took off b/c it took a while before my own driving was no longer "ahead of" what the TACC was going to do.

I've had it happen to friends that I've lent my car to as well.

They added a single chime for when you engage TACC 1.5 years ago. You can enable it in the settings. The chime should be the clue that you did something other than shift into drive. Before they added the chime I accidently turned it on in a drive through when I forgot I was in drive.

 

[jjrandorin]

TACC has a "special feature," where you can enable it while stopped if there is a vehicle in front of you. This is ok or even nice, but it is also a recipe for disaster because the input that enables it is the same input that puts the car in Drive. It gets even worse if you are affected by the bug where the car sometimes ignores you when you put it in Drive - so you develop a habit of pressing the lever down twice.

Thats not a bug, its people trying to put the car in drive before its fully booted up. Its described pretty well by a couple of people in this thread here:

Shift from P to D

I find it strange that when I get in my Model 3 to drive I have to press down the right stalk twice to shift from P to D. This does not happen all the time but quite frequently. It can also happen if I need to shift to R from P. Again, not all the time, but seems more frequent when the car has...

teslamotorsclub.com

Also, I understand what you are saying, and frankly think having that input be the activation of TACC / Autopilot is troublesome, but, that is not "accelerated on its own". Its "I put the car in TACC and didnt realize it".

 

[CapsEngineer]

How many of these problems would go away if Tesla moved gear selection from the stalk to the screen like the S and X have?

While I have not had any of the problems described here, I would like to see that change made.

 

[zoomer0056]

forget that the car is already in Drive

Forgot?!
Change habits by looking at the drive indicator before getting into trouble. What if it's in reverse but thought it was in drive? Look at the drive indicator for safety before doing anything.

 

[jjrandorin]

Forgot?!
Change habits by looking at the drive indicator before getting into trouble. What if it's in reverse but thought it was in drive? Look at the drive indicator for safety before doing anything.

I mean, I get what you are saying, but they are called "accidents" for a reason. Entire industries exist to try to design process workflows to remove the "human factor" from them because in most process flows, the number one cause of error is the human executing the process flow.

Note that I am not saying that because of statements by the ceo of tesla (I personally dont care about much he says), but because I know that companies manufacturing something try to do what they can in their process SOPs to account for, or design around if they can, human input.

We can certainly say "try to remember to look" but expecting that to happen 100% of the time from every human is unrealistic, so then the process itself needs to be looked at. IMO TACC activation being on the same stalk as drive, and in the same motion as shifting the car into another drive mode, is a problematic workflow. I dont have a better idea myself though, because making someone tap at a touch screen isnt much better.

 

[Pianewman]

^^^agreed. Tapping a touch screen lacks the tactile sensation of the importance of engaging drive or reverse. Ditto with the stalk that, on many cars, is for windshield wipers.

Do we REALLY want safety? ALL of these functions (turn signals, wipers, gear selection) should be standardized across ALL makes (especially the emergency flasher!)

 

[Konicom04]

Do we REALLY want safety? ALL of these functions (turn signals, wipers, gear selection) should be standardized across ALL makes (especially the emergency flasher!)

LOL - I remember sitting in the Tesla's parking lot for at least 15 minutes trying to figure out how to turn off the emergency blinkers when I was picking up my new M3P

 

[zoomer0056]

I mean, I get what you are saying, but they are called "accidents" for a reason.

In addition to looking at the drive indicator, this may help one be attentive. This is in update 2023.12.1.1.

 

[yblaser]

In addition to looking at the drive indicator, this may help one be attentive. This is in update 2023.12.1.1. View attachment 933094

Just got this on my M3. It's a markedly different sound than other chimes. The other thing it added was larger fonts which I sorely needed with my rapidly declining near sight. Unfortunately the used MYP I just picked up doesn't have the update available yet.

 

[avramd]

Forgot?!
Change habits by looking at the drive indicator before getting into trouble. What if it's in reverse but thought it was in drive? Look at the drive indicator for safety before doing anything.

Well, of all possible types of habit, that is the least effective form of habit to both form, as well as to have. I don't have to look at the symbol to know whether I'm in drive, reverse, or park, b/c I can tell from the physical sensation within half a second and a few inches of travel whether the expected result matches the actual result. If I'm within a few inches of an obstruction, then I do look at the symbol.

Parsing a symbol on a screen requires a much bigger shift in focus than just about any other kind of habit. Parsing is 100% incompatible with muscle memory. Muscle memory operates in parallel with cognitive processing. It is a foolish UI choice to take something that could be done in muscle memory, with no tax on cognition, and turn it into one that requires cognition, as well as a break in continuity of situational awareness.

There simply is not a need for a UX that requires identifying and interpreting a symbol to get a car reliably into the mode the operator wants it in. Cars have been this way for at least 70 years.