Stateless Drive Selector Woes. Better Drive UI?

[James K]

After owning a Model 3 for just over a month now, I've had two instances where I had a panic moment when I realized the car was not in the gear/drive mode I thought it was and slammed on the brakes just in time to prevent a collision. Both times were in parallel parking spots, where I had to make many forward and reverse maneuvers in succession. In these cases, I've realized that sometimes I don't push the drive selector stalk far enough to toggle between Drive and Reverse. The drive mode letters are on the screen, but its not something I find myself paying enough attention to when trying to get into and out of a spot. Coming from previous cars with gear selectors that had physical movement, the movement itself was crucial feedback that I was in the right gear. I realize this is just something I have to train myself to look at and push harder on the drive selector stalk. Am I an idiot or do others also find this hard to get used to?

Perhaps there's an opportunity for better drive mode UI on the screen, or maybe relax the threshold of the stalk so pushing 80-90% of the way there should trigger the drive mode change.

 

[KenF]

You are not alone. I would like larger screen text for the gear/drive mode and an option for an audible announcement of gear/drive mode.

 

[commasign]

Gonna get flamed for this, but do you have creep on? Reason I ask is if creep is on, your foot would be “riding” or modulating the brake pedal during low speed parking maneuvers (at least for the initial moment or two as you release the brake pedal). While that doesn’t solve the main issue, at least you’d realize what was happening sooner and at lower speeds and your foot would already be positioned over or on the brake pedal.

Whereas with creep off, stepping on the accelerator in the wrong gear could be quite jarring and you’d need another split second to move your foot to the brake pedal.

 

[James K]

Gonna get flamed for this, but do you have creep on? Reason I ask is if creep is on, your foot would be “riding” or modulating the brake pedal during low speed parking maneuvers (at least for the initial moment or two as you release the brake pedal). While that doesn’t solve the main issue, at least you’d realize what was happening sooner and at lower speeds and your foot would already be positioned over or on the brake pedal.

Whereas with creep off, stepping on the accelerator in the wrong gear could be quite jarring and you’d need another split second to move your foot to the brake pedal.

I don't have creep on, but I can see how that can help in this situation.

 

[Atoms]

I made a u turn in my neighborhood and I thought it switched directions. I may have accidentally pressed the wrong arm, but I find that the drive indicator is severely lacking. The drive letters need to be 10x larger and color coded.
The GUI needs substantial update to increase visibility and move controls like glove compartment to main screen. The space on the GUI is poorly utilized with the current interface. Resources need to be focused on making the UI much safer during driving.

 

[Jdee2wheels]

I just got my car 2 days ago and the gear selector makes me nervous; but not just because the drive letters are so small. I normally drive a stick, but also plenty of automatics, and the majority require 3 actions to take place before the drive setting can be changed; hold brake, push in a button, and only then, move the gear selector to a new location. It feels very deliberate and hard to imagine screwing up. On the Tesla, the gear selector only requires the brake press and moving it up or down...much less deliberate and lacking in any position feedback. To make matters worse, it's right where my old wiper controls where, which is super confusing. The first day out, I was at a stop light in the rain, foot on brake and went to do a quick swipe up to clear the windshield and realized I shifted into reverse. Yikes!

All cars require some adjustment, but I do think the gear selector should have some secondary action (button press, pull forward, etc) and/or position feedback to make the act of shifting directions more intentional.

 

[Dana1]

I just got my car 2 days ago and the gear selector makes me nervous; but not just because the drive letters are so small. I normally drive a stick, but also plenty of automatics, and the majority require 3 actions to take place before the drive setting can be changed; hold brake, push in a button, and only then, move the gear selector to a new location. It feels very deliberate and hard to imagine screwing up. On the Tesla, the gear selector only requires the brake press and moving it up or down...much less deliberate and lacking in any position feedback. To make matters worse, it's right where my old wiper controls where, which is super confusing. The first day out, I was at a stop light in the rain, foot on brake and went to do a quick swipe up to clear the windshield and realized I shifted into reverse. Yikes!

All cars require some adjustment, but I do think the gear selector should have some secondary action (button press, pull forward, etc) and/or position feedback to make the act of shifting directions more intentional.

Nooooo! The simplicity is nice. You’ll get used to it...as previously suggested turn Creep on if you need to pretend to be in an ICE car, lol.

 

[DannyHamilton]

Perhaps I've overlooked it, but is there an indication as to whether you are in "drive" or "reverse" while "brake hold" is active?

That's probably my biggest complaint right now about "being uncertain about what the current state is". If I try to shift to "reverse", and I'm not 100% certain that I pushed the lever far enough, I glance at the indicator and see:
(H)

Not very helpful.

 

[Trevor B]

Perhaps I've overlooked it, but is there an indication as to whether you are in "drive" or "reverse" while "brake hold" is active?

That's probably my biggest complaint right now about "being uncertain about what the current state is". If I try to shift to "reverse", and I'm not 100% certain that I pushed the lever far enough, I glance at the indicator and see:
(H)

Not very helpful.

It's right there on the screen .. .don't know what your problem is, really!

Can't you just go back and check instead of posting here???

 

[DannyHamilton]

Can't you just go back and check instead of posting here???

I will as soon as I get back to my vehicle. It is currently 400 miles away.

 

[Jdee2wheels]

Nooooo! The simplicity is nice. You’ll get used to it...as previously suggested turn Creep on if you need to pretend to be in an ICE car, lol.

But I like creep off...feels like my manual transmission car . I generally agree with the nice simple approach and Tesla has made awesome choices for the most part to simplify the car. That said the gear selector seems like it could use a bit more feedback to avoid confusion. Yes, people shouldn't make stupid mistakes...but most of us do from time to time, especially if we are used to cars with a wiper control in that location .

 

[ddm3]

There have been a couple of times when I tried to cancel autopilot by tapping the gear lever up and ended up in neutral. I had no idea until I hit the accelerator and nothing happened. Luckily I figured it out pretty quickly.

The manual says to enter into neutral push the gear lever up and "hold it there for more than 1 second". To disengage AP/TACC, you "move the gear lever up and release". It turns out you need to release it within 1 second or it'll put you into neutral. That's a very small window of time between doing something you intended to something that could be potentially dangerous. It affects braking because there is no regen in neutral and, of course, acceleration.

I think it's a mistake to have the same action trigger such unrelated actions.

 

[halfricanguy]

I have had this scare twice as well, both while leaving parallel parking spaces. I don’t think I pushed the stock all the way down to drive, or maybe I activated brake hold while pausing for traffic and became disoriented. I agree, better feedback would be useful. I was thinking like a small chime or vibration of the steering wheel.

On a similar note, it can be hard to recognize when brake hold is activated. This car likes to roll and it’s not always obvious when it does so if you aren’t paying attention!

 

[Atoms]

Totally Agree. Happened to me once that the car was in reverse when I accidentally hit the drive selector instead of signaling. The car was going opposite of what I though it was supposed to. I thought the car had gone bonkers.
The Drive selector indicator needs to be MUCH larger and color coded like it is in other vehicles. This is dangerous. It is astounding there is not a review process or standards on indicators. I feel like a bunch of young kids generated this UI with little UI experience. I’m tempted to interview for the open positions at Tesla to fix this UI myself.

 

[Zaxxon]

Coming from previous cars with gear selectors that had physical movement, the movement itself was crucial feedback that I was in the right gear.

The 3 does have physical feedback for gear changes. If you push it past the 'click' point, you're changing gears. If not, you're not. With the exception of the neutral change, which is (IMO) hard to accidentally do since you have to hold the stalk for > a second.

So no, you're not an idiot, but yes you can tell without looking once you acclimate to the feel of the stalk.

 

[SVMike]

I would think that to solve the problem of repeatedly going forward and reversing many times while parking that an audible reminder when in reverse would be good. Not an annoying BEEP.....BEEP....BEEP, but some other gentler sound. Of course, if you don't like this you can choose to have it off or just make the sound once.

 

[slipnslider]

Gonna get flamed for this, but do you have creep on? Reason I ask is if creep is on, your foot would be “riding” or modulating the brake pedal during low speed parking maneuvers (at least for the initial moment or two as you release the brake pedal). While that doesn’t solve the main issue, at least you’d realize what was happening sooner and at lower speeds and your foot would already be positioned over or on the brake pedal.

Whereas with creep off, stepping on the accelerator in the wrong gear could be quite jarring and you’d need another split second to move your foot to the brake pedal.

Yeah I think most of the people who hit the wrong pedal in their garage and launch their tesla into their living room would have avoided it with creep mode. I understand not wanting to use it because it feels more like youre in a gross old ICE car, but is it really worth crashing your car?