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New Model S second row changes [Update: Tesla incorrectly showed Model X renders on Model S page)

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MarcG

Active Member
Oct 29, 2014
4,302
6,248
San Francisco
When the Model S "refresh" was first announced a couple of weeks ago, I took a bunch of screenshots from Tesla's website, including the new interior and how the rear seats & second row is changing.

One thing I (and others) noticed is how narrow the rear doors seemed to be, and I was also curious how the middle seat will be evolving, especially with the fold-down armrest.

Well, it seems Tesla changed the render of how the second row looks quite significantly since then. I just took another screenshot from the Model S feature pages, and some significant changes from 2 weeks ago seem to have occurred:

  • Rear doors are now longer and seem to go all the way back to meet the seats, instead of the awkward frame getting in the way
  • Rear triangle windows that were part of the doors are now a lot smaller, and there appears to be new rear triangle windows behind the C-pillar
  • The wood trim appears to extend further forward on the door
  • The door handle seems to be redesigned to be a bar instead of an angled handle
  • The middle seat's bottom cushion now appears to be a shorter than the bottom cushion of the two "window" seats
  • There no longer seems to be a middle armrest per the render, however it is still mentioned in the text below the image
  • The seatbelt latches appear to stick out further up from the seats, whereas they were nice a flush before
  • I no longer see LATCH points for car seats in the new "window" seats
  • In general, the seats now seem less bolstered than before
  • Not related to the third row, but the rear hatch now appears to have a bar going across the glass in the lower third region

And of course, since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's the "before" render:

Refresh second row.png


And here's the "after" render:

Revised second row.png
 
Last edited:
It looks like the front seats finally got adjustable seat belts! Oh wait. The second pic shows the second row of a Model X, not a Model S

Wow that's actually a pretty significant redesign.. The original door being so small is pretty funny.

I think it was just the shape of the existing Model S door with new interior door panels.
 
The second pic is the model x rear seat.

Ha, that would explain a lot then. Looks like a Tesla web developer made a mistake then, because if you go to the Model S page on tesla.com and scroll down to the interior section, it shows up there:

Model S

That would also explain why there doesn't appear to be a folding middle armrest, as the same photo appears in the Model X page but without the text calling out an armrest:

Model X

Screen Shot 2021-02-09 at 11.01.01 AM.png
 
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Ha, that would explain a lot then. Looks like a Tesla web developer made a mistake then, because if you go to the Model S page on tesla.com and scroll down to the interior section, it shows up there:

Model S

That would also explain why there doesn't appear to be a folding middle armrest, as the same photo appears in the Model X page but without the text calling out an armrest:

Model X

View attachment 635294
Yep, not your fault! I didn't notice it right away but saw several Model X features...but since I was on Tesla's Model S page, I figured it must be Model S changes. Oops! o_O
 
New redesigned seats are like my executive rears but with functional folding armrest and folding seat backs. Wonder if they will be able to be retrofitted into older models. Love my executive rear seats currently over the standard bench, only down side is unable to fold down the seat backs for more storage room.