I spoke with my Xpel guy today and he said that he has seen at least 5 rear end collisions on the Model S with people using maximum regen. Does anyone know if this is common?
Of the couple of dozen Minnesota Tesla club group I have heard of zero. Regen turns brake lights on when it deaccelerates beyond a certain (government mandated) level. Do different than a stick shift using engine braking, although I am not sure if manuals turn on the brake lights.
I've tested this out and the brake lights turn on when using regen, even at low levels at slow speeds. So, doubt this is a real issue. In "L" gear in my Chevy Volt the brake lights do not come on under full regen, however, nor do they in any manual transmission ICE car I've ever driven (quite a few) during downshifts... so, I think this is a Tesla specific safety feature that I appreciate.
No manual I drove ever turned on the brake lights, and the only time I got rear-ended was when I was stopped at a railroad crossing, and the brake lights would have been on. The train signal lights were on as well.
This is likely just because more and more Teslas are on the road so people are paying more attention to them.
Yep, in fact having followed a few Model S, they seem to come on way too easily if anything - or the driver simply tends to let off the accelerator too much.
I think it's this too, I get tailgated way more than I did in my previous car...I even see people following me close and trying to take pictures, pretty dangerous.
Load of bollocks. The cars are slowing down for a reason. If they weren't using regen, they'd be using brakes. Either way the inattentive driver behind would hit them. Brakes or regen makes no difference.
I've been driving in "B" regen mode in my LEAF for over a year and the brake lights do not go on, I've yet to be rear ended
He's seeing rear end collisions because they are the most common type of collision in any vehicle, people not paying attention. I highly doubt that the S has any more than any other vehicle.
Has nothing to do with regen. I speculate that Folks are ghosting the car to look at the awesome NAV screen. And then the TESLA drivers are hitting the vastly superior brakes which leaves the tail gater in a bind. REGEN auto activates the brake lights at certain KW thresholds( I have heard 15kw) Suspect this is bs. None that I have heard of in mid Atlantic have been rear ended.
Agree it's total BS. However people tailgating trying to figure out what kind of car it is IS an issue. The TESLA logo on the back is pretty subtle and hard to read. I thought maybe the N TESLA license plate would help, but they don't connect it with the car make. Eventually Tesla gave me a silver license plate frame with a black TESLA logo on it, and that seems to have done the trick. Probably helps having the plate and the frame saying the same thing. Anyway, I find I'm getting tailgated a lot less since getting the license plate frame. Yes, I'm completely serious - it definitely helped a LOT.