Reversing sensor display frozen for 10 seconds; nearly damaged the car

[thegruf]

sw 2.28.60

reversed into a parking bay (manually).
Was keeping half an eye on the mirror and half on the display.

Just realized in time to prevent the car hitting a 30 inch bollard that the sensor display was frozen and not updating.

Stopped the car and a few seconds later it sprung into life and said STOP!

This did not seem to be a sensor issue, but the software seemed to be busy doing something else before it swapped back to the reversing "app". Rebooted (which I seem to have to do far too often) to try to clear any lockups in the sw.

I've learned not to fully trust the auto-reverse parking after it scuffed the two nearside wheels to my absolute frustration as I hate that sort of thing. Seems reversing must also be treated with caution.

Bit disappointed really and bet Tesla wont pay to recondition the wheels, lucky they didnt get asked to pay for a rear fender too.

Anyone else have similar issues?

 

[AMPd]

Seems reversing must also be treated with caution.

You didn't use caution with your previous vehicles when backing up?
I honestly don't see how the model s is any different than any other vehicle, that it'll make people think they don't have to pay as much attention when operating it

 

[Max*]

You didn't use caution with your previous vehicles when backing up?
I honestly don't see how the model s is any different than any other vehicle, that it'll make people think they don't have to pay as much attention when operating it

But I paid $100k, I'm entitled to have a perfectly working car.

O wait...

 

[deonb]

You didn't use caution with your previous vehicles when backing up?
I honestly don't see how the model s is any different than any other vehicle, that it'll make people think they don't have to pay as much attention when operating it

It's not. If the sensors go out on my other cars I'll also drive into stuff.

Car manufacturers these days design cars where it is impossible to judge the extents of the body from within the cockpit. So they put sensors in to compensate. Which is fine, but those sensors better work.

 

[AMPd]

It's not. If the sensors go out on my other cars I'll also drive into stuff.

Car manufacturers these days design cars where it is impossible to judge the extents of the body from within the cockpit. So they put sensors in to compensate. Which is fine, but those sensors better work.

I had a loaner model s without sensors and I did just fine not hitting anything with it
Let's not pretend those sensors are the only things preventing people from bumping into stuff in parking lots.

 

[ecarfan]

Car manufacturers these days design cars where it is impossible to judge the extents of the body from within the cockpit.

Think back to long, long ago...like the 50' and 60's. American cars were, on average, huge. The featured vast expanses of sheet metal, cavernous trunks, and engine compartments that contained lots of empty space, and bumpers that protruded out from the body. Their exterior dimensions were designed to impress potential buyers. There were difficult to park because the driver could not directly see the corners.

So it's not just "these days" that the driver can't accurately determine the perimeter of the car.

So they put sensors in to compensate

Yes, only recently has the technology been available for the vehicle to display information to the driver as to how close the car is to surrounding objects. The sensor technology was not implemented because cars have become larger, as your post implied. It was implemented because it was available at an affordable cost and it worked reasonably well.

Which is fine, but those sensors better work.

Yes, the technology is not perfect.

 

[Max*]

I had a loaner model s without sensors and I did just fine not hitting anything with it
Let's not pretend those sensors are the only things preventing people from bumping into stuff in parking lots.

That'd be silly, parked cars prevent me from bumping my Model S into stuff.

 

[Mike K]

Geez it's a tough crowd in here. I have a no parking sensor 2013 so I'm always just using the camera and that works but the loaners I get have the parking sensors and you come to rely on those because they are generally better than your own judgement. It's not an unreasonable ask that they always work and it's a bit silly to pile on the guy.

 

[deonb]

Think back to long, long ago...like the 50' and 60's. American cars were, on average, huge. The featured vast expanses of sheet metal, cavernous trunks, and engine compartments that contained lots of empty space, and bumpers that protruded out from the body. Their exterior dimensions were designed to impress potential buyers. There were difficult to park because the driver could not directly see the corners.

They were huge, but they were not curved. You could clearly see the line where the body of the car ended, and from there you mentally add the bumper etc.

The Model S you can't see that line. It's not as bad as a BMW 5 series though - those things are designed like infinity pools. It's almost impossible to park a BMW closer than 10" to something without either the sensors, or someone getting out of the car to guide.

I can get to maybe 6" inches with a Model S without sensors - I won't dare trying to get closer to something.

80's model Nissan Sentry I had? Parked it < 2 inches away from a wall every day, and never hit it.

 

[mikeash]

Yeah, parking sensors are definitely unnecessary, but if they're there then they need to either work or fail in an obvious way. Silent failures indistinguishable from "all clear!" are no good.

 

[andrewket]

My guess is a memory leak was causing excessive swapping, or a thread/process was stuck, causing everything on the center screen to lag. It happens. A reboot fixes it for awhile. Process management is undoubtably something Tesla is constantly working to improve.

 

[Just a Reader]

I had a loaner model s without sensors and I did just fine not hitting anything with it
Let's not pretend those sensors are the only things preventing people from bumping into stuff in parking lots.

People in the US often seem to forget that not everyone lives in the US. The Tesla may not be a particularly large car in the US, but it is in Europe and to park a car of that size is demanding in parking lots that have been designed for significantly smaller cars.
A car that promises to auto park and rams the curb while doing so and which has sensors that stop working while the car is getting parked isn't "not perfect", it's simply defective and unreliable.

 

[tfung]

The sad thing is that the next generation of drivers will probably rely on the gadgets and gizmos way too much, and lose the skillset to actually parallel park themselves or even reverse into a space without these automated tools...

 

[deonb]

The sad thing is that the next generation of drivers will probably rely on the gadgets and gizmos way too much, and lose the skillset to actually parallel park themselves or even reverse into a space without these automated tools...

Why is that sad?

I've never started a car with a hand crank. Shall a tear also be cried about how we've become over-reliant on the starter motor?

 

[stopcrazypp]

If the sensors are defective Tesla has to address them according to warranty (repair or replace), but I believe that the warranty specifically excludes paying for incidental/consequential damage as a result of such a defect (I believe this is probably a standard provision in most warranties). So any damage from a crash related to that part either you hope Tesla gives a goodwill fix or you would have to go to court.

 

[whitex]

Geez it's a tough crowd in here. I have a no parking sensor 2013 so I'm always just using the camera and that works but the loaners I get have the parking sensors and you come to rely on those because they are generally better than your own judgement. It's not an unreasonable ask that they always work and it's a bit silly to pile on the guy.

As per Mikeash earlier in the thread, the issue whether they always work is a different issue than how they fail. If the sensors died and the car just said "no sensors", that's a reliability issue. If the sensors dies but display "clear path ahead", that's a safety issue. So yes, you can drive a car without the sensors, or even without a rear camera (just need to make sure you don't lift your butt off the seat while backing up or the car will put itself in park), but if the sensor shows all clear and/or the camera is on a 2s delay, you're likely to hit something due to that failure, not because you can't back up a car without sensors or camera. Bottom line is this, nothing is perfect, parts die. They design should however be such that the failure mode does not create a safety issue.

 

[mikeash]

To make a bad analogy, imagine you're trying to pull out from a busy intersection and you ask your passenger if any cars are coming from their side. You shouldn't need their help, but it can be nice to have it. If they're unwilling or unable to help, that's OK, but they need to say "sorry, I can't help," not "sure thing, Uncle Mike, the coast is clear, go for it!" when there's actually a bunch of traffic.

Failure is fine, but it needs to be called out when it happens.

 

[AMPd]

To make a bad analogy, imagine you're trying to pull out from a busy intersection and you ask your passenger if any cars are coming from their side. You shouldn't need their help, but it can be nice to have it. If they're unwilling or unable to help, that's OK, but they need to say "sorry, I can't help," not "sure thing, Uncle Mike, the coast is clear, go for it!" when there's actually a bunch of traffic.

Failure is fine, but it needs to be called out when it happens.

Good analogy except it would be as if the passenger did not reply at all
The parking sensors software froze, it did not give the all clear to back up, it just didn't warn of an object

 

[whitex]

Good analogy except it would be as if the passenger did not reply at all
The parking sensors software froze, it did not give the all clear to back up, it just didn't warn of an object

If parking sensors freeze while displaying an old "all clear" message, then effectively they are giving an all clear.

 

[mikeash]

As I understand the original post, the display froze while displaying no obstacles. That's "all clear."