Smart Summon Drove My Model Y Into A Tree - July 2021

[CoffeKow]

Video footage of Smart Summon crash here:

I purchased the Full Self-Driving capability via subscription for my 2021 Tesla Model Y on Saturday, July 17, 2021. On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at approximately 12:40pm while activating the Smart Summon feature in a private residential parking lot, the car drove itself into a tree damaging the front of the car resulting in a total repair cost of $1,799.32.

Tesla is refusing to refund me the $200.00 for the Self-Driving subscription.

Please do not use the Smart Summon feature.

 

[Daniel in SD]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1416511905515048966

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

Video footage of Smart Summon crash here:

I purchased the Full Self-Driving capability via subscription for my 2021 Tesla Model Y on Saturday, July 17, 2021. On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at approximately 12:40pm while activating the Smart Summon feature in a private residential parking lot, the car drove itself into a tree damaging the front of the car resulting in a total repair cost of $1,799.32.

Tesla is refusing to refund me the $200.00 for the Self-Driving subscription.

Please do not use the Smart Summon feature.

Sorry to be flippant here, but didn't you see the tree, the car, and that the car was pointed at the tree?

 

[Daniel in SD]

Sorry to be flippant here, but didn't you see the tree, the car, and that the car was pointed at the tree?

He was across the street and the tree is only a couple feet from the pavement. If you're not at the right angle it can be hard to estimate how close it is to the front bumper. Also, it really upped the speed once it got to the grass!
Really summon should only be used from inside the car or somewhere without curbs, trees, fences, gates, walls, light posts, or other vehicles. There's a reason it's still in beta!

 

[El joe]

Sorry to be flippant here, but didn't you see the tree, the car, and that the car was pointed at the tree?

And whoever was in the car filming couldn't stop it once they saw it headed towards a tree?

 

[rxlawdude]

Video footage of Smart Summon crash here:

I purchased the Full Self-Driving capability via subscription for my 2021 Tesla Model Y on Saturday, July 17, 2021. On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at approximately 12:40pm while activating the Smart Summon feature in a private residential parking lot, the car drove itself into a tree damaging the front of the car resulting in a total repair cost of $1,799.32.

Tesla is refusing to refund me the $200.00 for the Self-Driving subscription.

Please do not use the Smart Summon feature.

Please learn to release your finger when you see your Smart Summoned vehicle heading into a tree (while on a nonsensical forward motion that should have said "stop" to YOU).

Factor here: the ultrasonics cannot "see" a thin sapling tree, or some posts, or some objects, and thus no cue to the car there was an obstruction. All this laid out very clearly in the manual section on Smart Summon.

 

[JimBob 909]

First time I tried smart summon I went to a local college parking lot on a Sunday. No obstructions or cars. It was like playing with a huge RC car. But i agree, it's mostly a party trick at this point.

 

[Daniel in SD]

And whoever was in the car filming couldn't stop it once they saw it headed towards a tree?

They're just filming the replay.

nonsensical

If you stop summon every time it does something nonsensical you'll never get anywhere. The key is to always be standing where you can see the nearest obstacle and never use it when there are obstacles on opposite sides of the vehicle. You may have to pause summon so you can relocate when the car nears another obstacle. I think all the failures I've seen would have been avoided by doing this.
Tesla should really have a how-to with all these summon fails and how they can be avoided.

 

[Rice&Curry]

I do not use smart summon- all user reviews indicate that it is not reliable and prone to mistakes- I only use Summon ( not smart summon) to get the car out of the garage while I am standing 20 ft behind the car and I can release the reverse button any time i see some potential chance of the car touching anything on its path.

 

[joenathan]

Tesla should be held

 

[DrDabbles]

I love the comments asking OP why he did something wrong. Because you're supposed to know that the car will drive over curbs, drive itself off/over walls, and crash into things. It's too bad Tesla doesn't make that more apparent, maybe by changing its name so it's not called "smart" summon, or taking it out of the "full self driving" package where one might presume it will detect things like trees and not hit them.

Sorry you learned this the hard way. Maybe with more people renting the "self driving" features, we'll see more of these failures, and the mods at other Tesla related places can stop banning people for warning that these features often don't work and are frequently dangerous.

I do not use smart summon- all user reviews indicate that it is not reliable and prone to mistakes- I only use Summon ( not smart summon) to get the car out of the garage while I am standing 20 ft behind the car and I can release the reverse button any time i see some potential chance of the car touching anything on its path.

Bad news about summon. It'll also turn the wheels and hit cars, garage doors, trees, parking posts, etc. It's just as unreliable in lots of situations.

 

[joenathan]

Damn looks like i can’t edit my post… What I meant to say is:

Tesla is now selling this as a subscription, that is insane! This is not ready for public consumption. It is so dumb to treat your customers like this, you have someone who spent their hard earned money to buy the Model Y, and bought the subscription to a feature that will crash your car for you! Fuuuuu

 

[linux-works]

if there is a HIGH chance that using a vendor feature will cause property or person damage, that vendor should be ASHAMED and maybe even sued.

I would never even try any of the summon features on tesla. its irresponsible and the risk is just too high. and of course, tesla is 100% blameless and wont accept any fault.

irresponsible. its the direction that I hate, the most, about the company. they play it fast and loose with people and their property and really just shrug their shoulders and say 'well, tucker carlson defense. you should have known better than to trust us'.

breaks my heart each time I hear of a user who trusts tesla and gets serious car damage.

this kind of thing, if kept up, could cause politicians to put the kibosh on automated assists, not to mention advancements beyond level 2.

I wish tesla would find a responsible ceo. not kidding. a responsible ceo would remove that feature since its more trouble than its worth.

and no, I dont blame the user. almost never. when they use a vendor feature and trust the vendor, its all on the vendor. vendor should not release sw that they know is harmful.

 

[AvidGolfer]

Damn looks like i can’t edit my post… What I meant to say is:

Tesla is now selling this as a subscription, that is insane! This is not ready for public consumption. It is so dumb to treat your customers like this, you have someone who spent their hard earned money to buy the Model Y, and bought the subscription to a feature that will crash your car for you! Fuuuuu

Well, people are still buying FSD (when it isn’t even FSD) but I digress.
It is in beta. You shouldn’t be far away enough to not be in visual contact with the vehicle. I won’t use it astounds blind corners. Also, check the path on the app… (which would be nice to manually edit or “suggest” a better route).

 

[rijc99]

I confused as to why the car even went forward in that scenario.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I love the comments asking OP why he did something wrong. Because you're supposed to know that the car will drive over curbs, drive itself off/over walls, and crash into things. It's too bad Tesla doesn't make that more apparent, maybe by changing its name so it's not called "smart" summon, or taking it out of the "full self driving" package where one might presume it will detect things like trees and not hit them.

Sorry you learned this the hard way. Maybe with more people renting the "self driving" features, we'll see more of these failures, and the mods at other Tesla related places can stop banning people for warning that these features often don't work and are frequently dangerous.



Bad news about summon. It'll also turn the wheels and hit cars, garage doors, trees, parking posts, etc. It's just as unreliable in lots of situations.

I think it's no longer called smart summon. Of course they still show it being used incorrectly on the website! There is no way that person can see if it's going to hit the car next to it.

 

[DSolie]

Silver lining... You are lucky that tree was there. Looks like it was intent on plowing into the building attempting to U-Turn.

 

[linux-works]

again - more sensors - not LESS sensors, tesla.

sigh.

 

[NHK X]

Sorry this happened to you. I treat summon like a semi blind grandma driving my car. That said, I almost use daily to bring my car from my hospital parking lot down a straighshot to the far edge of the parking lot to avoid a bit of a walk sometimes... and mostly for my amusement. Usually works pretty well but like someone posted, mostly a party trick... for now.

 

[Dan D.]

Quotes from the Y manual on Smart Summon:

WARNING: When you release the button to stop
Model Y, a slight delay occurs before the vehicle
stops. Therefore, it is critical that you pay close
attention to the vehicle’s driving path at all times
and proactively anticipate obstacles that the
vehicle may be unable to detect.

Depending on the quality of the
connectivity between the phone and Model Y,
there may be a slight delay between when you
release the button and when the car stops.

How long can the delay to stop be? Enough time to hit something I'll bet.

How are you supposed to know this: "proactively anticipate obstacles that the
vehicle may be unable to detect." Trial and error?