PSA: Removing Seatbelt disables autopilot and slows car down

[xyeahtony]

You are of course technically correct...

But practically, 100% wrong. Why create a more dangerous situation for the driver and everyone else on the road by playing “nanny” and imposing 0-tolerance rules with no leeway?

Adding a (small) grace period would really make the vehicle (and this nanny feature) actually safer.

Good try, everyone else agrees with me. Like you said, of course I'm technically correct.

You guys have really never gotten on the highway in the winter, felt too hot and removed an outer garment while still driving??

Nope. I have never taken my hands off the wheel to take off a sweater which would require me to pull something over my eyes and take my vision off the road for an undetermined amount of time while my hands are flailing through a garment. that's too risky. If you wanna get risky that's your business, don't get hurt and angry at Tesla and start throwing around disagrees when they are following the safer course of action. Autopilot is drivers assistance, not full self driving. You actually have to be driving for it to work. And when you take your seatbelt off, you have no business driving period. This is something that is supposedly ingrained in us from the moment we step foot into a car.

"sorry I had my seatbelt off officer, I needed to change my wardrobe." Lets see if that gets anyone out of a ticket.

 

[JohnnyG]

This is actually way better than what it used to be. If memory serves me right; 2 years ago, if you unlatched your seatbelt while AP was engaged, it would simply just disengage, boom, done! No "TAKE OVER NOW!, no blinking red hands, nothing!! Now *THAT* was freaking stupid dangerous logic. So, they changed it to what we have now. At least now it will keep maintaining the lane. I do agree that maybe a 3 second grace period would be beneficial before the brakes get applied. I will admit that I have unbuckled before to make a slight adjustment.

EDIT: Found a video; memory does serve me right...

 

[Impala1ss]

Another example of Tesla refusing to give us the information we need to drive safely. I understand that some people here cannot tolerate anything negative said against anything Tesla but slowing/stopping the car in traffic because the seatbelt becomes unbuckled? This is almost now bordering on criminal negligence to refuse to tell owners about things that cause dangerous situations. All I am asking for is the right to know what to expect from my vehicle. Is that too much?

 

[mongo]

Another example of Tesla refusing to give us the information we need to drive safely. I understand that some people here cannot tolerate anything negative said against anything Tesla but slowing/stopping the car in traffic because the seatbelt becomes unbuckled? This is almost now bordering on criminal negligence to refuse to tell owners about things that cause dangerous situations. All I am asking for is the right to know what to expect from my vehicle. Is that too much?

Tesla likely did give you the information...

From the model S manual Nov 13, 2017 page 80:

Warning: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control cancels, or may not be available, in the following situations:

Spoiler: other causes

• You press the brake pedal.
• Your driving speed drops below 5 mph (8 km/h) in situations when Model S does not detect a vehicle ahead within the specified distance.
• Your driving speed exceeds the maximum cruising speed of 90 mph (150 km/h).
• You shift Model S into a different gear.

• The driver's seat belt is unbuckled.

 

[JohnnyG]

I'm curious what version firmware DAErik is running. I tried this on my 2015 MS P90D 2018.21.9, and it did come to a complete stop and engaged [HOLD] (which makes you tap the accelerator pedal to resume).

Note: One other test performed, but not on the video... Once the seatbelt is removed, and the vehicles starts to decelerate, you can override this by applying pressure to the accelerator pedal to maintain your desired speed.