Eggplant
Member
That makes no sense. Other dealers/manufacturers offer after sale installs of such systems. Why would Tesla be any different than any other manufacturer in this regard?
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Parking sensors
- Thread starter Zas
- Start date
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- Tags
- Model S User Interface
You are buying directly from the manufacturer. With other cars you are purchasing through a middle man. Different standards apply. The solution is for Tesla to sell these parts to third parties. Right now I don't think they are in a position to do so but probably by the time Gen III comes out...
NigelM
Recovering Member
Is this the first time on TMC that anyone implied there could be an advantage to having dealerships!? ;-)
Dealership installed is not factory installed. It's the same as going to a custom auto shop, which is probably what dealers do anyway. So again, better to cut the middle man out who jacks up prices and go straight to the custom auto body shop.
On the contrary, I think a manufacturer retrofit would be more expensive than third party solutions (at least based on my experience with bmw and their own retrofit parts and accessories)
Anyhow I think its understandable that tesla is insisting on using a factory laser for the holes (afterall, theyve used aerospace grade bolts, stamping almost all parts of the body out of aluminium, etc etc). Expecting the sister company of spacex to simply use a basic greenlee tool to haphazardly punch a few holes without nanometer precision? Oh the horror! What if that hole was 0.00001 mm off the desired position?
Im all for the factory laser cut retrofits
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Further, EM has said he hopes tesla would be the brand of the first people movers on the surface of mars.
If the sensors dont like up with precision, there could be disaster !!! I consider this as training for tesla :X
Anyhow I think its understandable that tesla is insisting on using a factory laser for the holes (afterall, theyve used aerospace grade bolts, stamping almost all parts of the body out of aluminium, etc etc). Expecting the sister company of spacex to simply use a basic greenlee tool to haphazardly punch a few holes without nanometer precision? Oh the horror! What if that hole was 0.00001 mm off the desired position?
Im all for the factory laser cut retrofits
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Further, EM has said he hopes tesla would be the brand of the first people movers on the surface of mars.
If the sensors dont like up with precision, there could be disaster !!! I consider this as training for tesla :X
Laurent
Member
I once pointed out that when my ICE cal was in the last week of warranty I brought it into the dealership (My timing was accidental). I was asking about some cosmetic work on the dash and the dealership said it was a know problem and there was an official replacement. They also pulled out every possible factory "fix" in the past 4 years that I had never done. The dealership gets to bill the factory for all the labour and I get a better car. Would a company owned repair shop be encouraged to do this?
SUPRKAR
Member
As I look at the sensor in the posted picture I can see why these will most likely not be retrofit. The sensor does not have a flange around it like most it looks to be flush with the bumper with the center of the sensor painted to match, the black around the painted area looks to be rubber. This type of hole will be very hard to make without marking a small area of paint when making the hole and sensors without a flange would not cover this area. The bumper would have to be painted after the holes were cut then install the sensors.
The alternative would be for Tesla to use a flanged sensor for retrofit kits and these would look more like those used on most vehicles.
The alternative would be for Tesla to use a flanged sensor for retrofit kits and these would look more like those used on most vehicles.
dennis
Model S Plaid
My aftermarket install uses exactly the same type of sensor that Tesla uses for the factory install. My installer was very careful to drill a slightly undersize hole and then file/sand it out to exactly the right diameter without damaging the paint. As you can see from the pic it looks just like the factory install.
Like Dennis, I installed the flush parking sensors. Not sure if he used the same ones but I used the Cobra 17mm sensors along with the visual displays (very similar to the Mercedes Parktronic system). Bought them from Rudiemods on eBay (out of the UK). He was out of stock for the front sensors though at which point I had found a US supplier, Samplex.
The install is very simple since the inside of the bumpers are clearly marked with the OEM sensor locations.
SUPRKAR
Member
I stand corrected. my bad... I see this can be done as described making a slightly smaller hole and filing. But to be logical I don't see Tesla Service having the time to do the sensor install. It would be nice if they sold the kit for install by body shop or pro installer then go to SC for final wiring and activation. l do think we are spinning our wheels here as Tesla has many things going on and making a retrofit kit is most likely a very low priority.
The SC could outsource this to another installer in the area, like they do for replacing the glass. Having installers who specialize in this type of upgrade would be better than having the SC handle it - so if Tesla decides to offer the upgrade kit - they shouldn't be limited to the bandwidth they have in the SC's...
Eggplant
Member
I think this is the most likely scenario. They have a history of doing this with the early paint armor kits, glass, and most body work.
hasselboxster
Member
i was thinking about this again while walking to my car through an airport lot... i was observing all of the chevy and ford vehicles that have sensors in them. i get that some of us were early adopters, and also that TM wanted to get the car out sooner than later - but what car these days doesn't come with this as an option? For the few people that couldn't elective to have them factory installed - they really should figure out a way, and at $500 from factory it shouldn't cost more than 3x that amount.
i am fearful that it wont be made available because the number of cars out there without them is low in their minds, and there is arguably more important things for their engineering resources.
i am fearful that it wont be made available because the number of cars out there without them is low in their minds, and there is arguably more important things for their engineering resources.
dennis
Model S Plaid
I had an email exchange with a Service manager suggesting that Tesla could outsource Bay Area parking sensor retrofits to the installer who did put the aftermarket sensors in my car and 20+ other Model S's. The response was that it is doubtful that Tesla will outsource this.
modulus
Member
maybe im in the minority, but i park way the #%$@$ away from other people, and just try to take my time when parking places (as well as back in versus head in as someone else posted) and use the rear camera to gauge distance. As someone else stated, mankind has been doing this for many years without sensors.
Might be a little zen (or naive) but I'm making a go of my lovely beast without the sensors and enjoying every carefully parked minute of it
Might be a little zen (or naive) but I'm making a go of my lovely beast without the sensors and enjoying every carefully parked minute of it
I can give a good reason for having parking sensors. Recently, I was stopped at a red light on a hill, going down. I do not have creep on, so I normally do not use the brakes much to stop,or keep the car from rolling forward (or backward). Because of the slope, after I came to a complete stop, the car started to roll and contacted the car in front of me, which was an Acura SUV. Thus, the bumpers did not match up. The impact was at less than 1 mph (the speedo, which I happened to be looking at at the time, showed 0), but the hood, which is probably the most fragile sheet metal on the car, got a dent. The car is in the shop to get the dent removed and painted, at a cost of $733. I am certain that if I had had parking sensors, it would have alerted me of the rolling and this incident would have been avoided.
I'm thrilled to have my sensors, though I never imagined using them in this scenario, alerting me that I'm about to roll into someone. Just curious, how did you not see the car, an SUV right in front of you, and you not notice that you were getting closer?
