Safety issue

[voucher2002]

New owner here (6/8 Model 3 standard range plus, partial premium interior, RWD) I sure miss the audible rear cross-traffic alert in my previous car. Should be a simple software update, no?

 

[Knightshade]

New owner here (6/8 Model 3 standard range plus, partial premium interior, RWD) I sure miss the audible rear cross-traffic alert in my previous car. Should be a simple software update, no?

No.

The Tesla has no rear radar, so there's nothing to "see" rear cross traffic other than very short range ultrasonics.

 

[raptor5244]

You would think they could put the rear and left and right repeater cameras to work and "look" for objects. The AP system can see moving cars, people, etc. Why not just program the rear camera to do the same?

 

[Daniel in SD]

You would think they could put the rear and left and right repeater cameras to work and "look" for objects. The AP system can see moving cars, people, etc. Why not just program the rear camera to do the same?

Those are blocked by adjacent cars which is the whole reason to have cross traffic alert.

 

[cucubits]

This baffles me too. Even my wife's VW Beetle has rear cross traffic alert (it'll even brake if alerts are ignored) and not other smarter driver aids.

Some of the shortcuts Tesla took are surely very strange...

 

[lolder]

I object to your thread title. It is not a safety issue. If you look at your giant rear camera view, it is very wide angle and actually gives you more information than a short range radar in the rear fender. I had a Ford with CTA and initially felt the M3 deficient but after a year of use, the rear camera is sufficient. Everyone on this forum needs to stop using inflammatory click-bait thread titles that those that wish Tesla ill use to damage the company.

 

[cucubits]

It can be seen as a safety related intentional design oversight. In some parking lots cars/pedestrians/bikes run around and come out of nowhere like it's their personal back yard. It's not even just a "nice to have" feature considering that for years now, cars costing less than half of the Model 3, have this.

 

[dmurphy]

I object to your thread title. It is not a safety issue.

I object more to the word “issue” than “safety”.

Issue implies something is wrong. This is clearly a design decision NOT to include the rear facing radar.

Having driven cars with these features for years, and then having Tesla claim to be the safest car on the road by a wide margin ... I have trouble reconciling what the designers were thinking.

RTCA has alerted me to oncoming cross traffic more times than I can count. Especially useful when backing out in parking lots and you can’t visually see what’s coming.

Perhaps the title “Safety oversight” makes more sense, because that’s exactly what I think this is ... a pretty big oversight by Tesla’s designers.

 

[lolder]

Take a really close look at the rear camera picture. It is almost a 180 º view. It's even more to the rear of the car than the radars in rear fender skirts.

 

[Knightshade]

Notice how auto-park backs into spots? There's a reason for that.


Pulling forward out of a spot besides better human visibility you also have multiple cameras looking forward/to the sides, and front radar.

 

[dmurphy]

Notice how auto-park backs into spots? There's a reason for that.

Only takes about a week and a half... LOL.

All seriousness, I hardly ever use Autopark, even when it actually sees the spot, because it's so darned slow. I find I end up holding up traffic in a parking lot waiting for it to make up its mind.

But your point is well taken - the wide-angle rear camera has much better visibility than the front cameras do, certainly. Still not quite as good at ranging as side-shooting radars would be.

 

[TW14 9LF]

I have been driving for over 40 years. I have never owned a car with RTCA. I have never backed over anything, crashed into anything, or had anybody crash into me, when backing out of a parking space. RTCA is a safety AID. It is not something to rely on to keep you from crashing into something. Even with all of the safety nannies our new cars now have, you still need to be aware of your surroundings, including looking over your shoulder when going backwards.

As other have said, the title of this thread is very misleading.

Drive safely, everybody.

 

[voucher2002]

Ok, I guess I could have given my post a better title. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that the car is unsafe in any way. But, considering the way some knuckleheads drive in rows of parked cars, these old eyes sure could use an audible warning first before I visually see the approaching vehicle, bicyclists or pedestrians...I’ll even forego the automatic breaking. ( but that would nice too).

 

[jmaddr]

RTCA is a safety aid for sure when you pull into spots, but it's been studied and backing into parking spots is safer, negating this discussion. It's been discussed elsewhere on the forums.

AAA Warns Against Pull-Forward Parking
4 Reasons Backing Into Parking Spaces Is Safer
Reverse Parking and Parking Safety Tips for Drivers

 

[Nocturnal]

RTCA is certainly a useful feature. It can see cars coming down the lane before you do and before they are see you at times. I definitely miss this feature from my Highlander. Not a huge deal, but a nice to have.

 

[cucubits]

RTCA is a safety aid for sure when you pull into spots, but it's been studied and backing into parking spots is safer, negating this discussion. It's been discussed elsewhere on the forums.

AAA Warns Against Pull-Forward Parking
4 Reasons Backing Into Parking Spaces Is Safer
Reverse Parking and Parking Safety Tips for Drivers

This doesn't make much sense to me. I'm perfectly comfortable backing into any spot and I've driven for years without even a rear camera.
Having said that, I'm thinking of two reasons for not backing into spots:


- even without RTA but having a rear camera, it still feels safer to back out from a parking spot. As soon as put it in reverse, you can see a pretty wide angle, as opposed to if you drive straight out of the spot, you have to move almost half of the car out until you can maybe see everything. Most idiots driving fast in parking lots, won't notice a low profile front end pulling slowly and blindly out of a spot, until the driver has an angle to see.

- shopping: it's way more convenient to have quicker access to the trunk, especially if the spots are tight and there's another row parked in front. (ok, this is not a safety related but it is a factor) Also, may be even less relevant with EVs having useful frunks.

 

[WilliamG]

I object to your thread title. It is not a safety issue. If you look at your giant rear camera view, it is very wide angle and actually gives you more information than a short range radar in the rear fender. I had a Ford with CTA and initially felt the M3 deficient but after a year of use, the rear camera is sufficient. Everyone on this forum needs to stop using inflammatory click-bait thread titles that those that wish Tesla ill use to damage the company.

It's ABSOLUTELY a safety issue. The rear camera is NOT a replacement for rear RADAR. Rear cross-traffic alert literally ALERTS you to movement you can't see to the rear sides of you. There's no such feature on the Tesla, and it's a bummer there isn't.

 

[lolder]

CTA only functions when you are in reverse. Tesla's rear camera functions in reverse or can be selected any time. It shows you much more information than the CTA tone or message. It ABSOLUTELY is a replacement for CTA. If you don't look closely at the rear camera you're wasting it. I glance at both side mirrors and the rear view mirror and then concentrate exclusively on the rear camera until my vision is clear backing from between parked cars. I've had both and the Tesla cam is better.

 

[UrsS]

I guess that the Tesla engineers assumed that the driver wants to see what is going on rather than relying on some alert system that might or might not indicate some unknown obstacle somewhere hidden in the rear.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

just honk twice like the UPS driver when you reverse.