Summon / auto park in garage questions

[Ken Fenske]

I received my new Model S two days ago and when I got home I discovered that it is as wide as my Ford F150 truck. Therefore it's very difficult to get into my garage which is really a bay in my 200 yr old barn. Because of the aerodynamic rounding of the body I cannot see the front or rear fenders of the car from the driving position so it's nearly impossible to pull through the 7'10" wide doors without a lot of stress. Unfortunately I installed the charge outlet in there so I need to get in to charge the car.

Looks like a job for auto park! Except auto park cancels every time I try it. I also set the parameters for a tight garage. After a long discussion with the local service center we think the problem is that it's uphill into the barn and auto park is meant to work on level ground. Now, the angle uphill is maybe one foot rise over 25 feet distance. It's a gravel driveway so I'm considering adding a lot of gravel to make is level.

My question is, has anyone else encountered this problem and do you think this solution will work? We can't exactly pinpoint the problem so we are guessing it's the grade. Does anyone have a problem with a garage opening as small as 7'10"? Remember, I did set the parameters for a tight garage.

Thanks

 

[DoubleE]

Is suggest trying to activate summon at least 3-4 times. Sometimes it won't start but then on the 3rd or 4th try it will Park itself perfectly. My garage has a pseudo bump getting in and the car needs to accelerate to get over the hump. It does it just fine and then applies the brakes accordingly to slow itself down.

 

[msnow]

If you have 8"-12" clear on both sides it should work. The grade doesn't sound like it's too much to me. Could it be the gravel surface?

 

[Racerx22b]

I have about the same grade into my garage on pavers and a small lip that has to be overcome to get in my garage and it works fine. It is a 2 car garage bay with a Range Rover Sport sitting next to it. I back it in and it works about 90% of the time. Sometimes it aborts at the lip cause it spazzes out or something. I have the tight space feature (whatever its called) activated as well. See pic below. The drivers side is actually quite tight as it backs in. Doesn't look that way in the pic but it is.

 

[DoubleE]

I have about the same grade into my garage on pavers and a small lip that has to be overcome to get in my garage and it works fine. It is a 2 car garage bay with a Range Rover Sport sitting next to it. I back it in and it works about 90% of the time. Sometimes it aborts at the lip cause it spazzes out or something. I have the tight space feature (whatever its called) activated as well. See pic below. The drivers side is actually quite tight as it backs in. Doesn't look that way in the pic but it is.

View attachment 181242

Your garage flooring is pretty cool; do you have info on it? Vendor or website?

I need to get my garage floor finished, considering various options.

 

[mspohr]

I received my new Model S two days ago and when I got home I discovered that it is as wide as my Ford F150 truck. Therefore it's very difficult to get into my garage which is really a bay in my 200 yr old barn. Because of the aerodynamic rounding of the body I cannot see the front or rear fenders of the car from the driving position so it's nearly impossible to pull through the 7'10" wide doors without a lot of stress. Unfortunately I installed the charge outlet in there so I need to get in to charge the car.

Looks like a job for auto park! Except auto park cancels every time I try it. I also set the parameters for a tight garage. After a long discussion with the local service center we think the problem is that it's uphill into the barn and auto park is meant to work on level ground. Now, the angle uphill is maybe one foot rise over 25 feet distance. It's a gravel driveway so I'm considering adding a lot of gravel to make is level.

My question is, has anyone else encountered this problem and do you think this solution will work? We can't exactly pinpoint the problem so we are guessing it's the grade. Does anyone have a problem with a garage opening as small as 7'10"? Remember, I did set the parameters for a tight garage.

Thanks

I have a slope going up to the garage and the current version of the software won't autopark but prior versions did. It does back out of the garage and down the slope with no problem.
When manually parking, the ultrasonic sensors on the front and rear bumpers display the distance to obstacles very accurately and I rely on them all of the time. I usually park just looking at the screen, not so much the real world.

 

[Racerx22b]

Your garage flooring is pretty cool; do you have info on it? Vendor or website?

I need to get my garage floor finished, considering various options.

Racedeck is the company. If you join the garagejournal.com forum and call them with your with your order you get a discount and free shipping. All you have to do is give them your username. It's way cheaper than getting a professional company to come out and do epoxy and if you ever move you can take it with you. Works great. I even installed myself and I've never done flooring in my life. Super easy. Search youtube and you can see how it goes down. Also made in USA.

 

[msnow]

Racedeck is the company. If you join the garagejournal.com forum and call them with your with your order you get a discount and free shipping. All you have to do is give them your username. It's way cheaper than getting a professional company to come out and do epoxy and if you ever move you can take it with you. Works great. I even installed myself and I've never done flooring in my life. Super easy. Search youtube and you can see how it goes down. Also made in USA.

Perhaps @BertL will chime in and provide photos and his experience with his floating racedeck.com garage flooring. I think that is the way to go.

 

[Racerx22b]

It is definitely the way to go. I have major neighbor envy going on. Everyone that went epoxy wishes they went with Racedeck. 1/2 the cost and looks even better. All you need is a table saw with a fine tooth blade. From start to finish it took me about 5hrs. That was emptying garage, mopping garage, waiting to dry (just cause), laying the floor, putting everything back, and cracking open a beer. My wife and daughter even helped (some). I placed down the tiles and they snapped them into place with their feet. Here are a few more pics.

 

[f-stop]

I received my new Model S two days ago and when I got home I discovered that it is as wide as my Ford F150 truck. Therefore it's very difficult to get into my garage which is really a bay in my 200 yr old barn. Because of the aerodynamic rounding of the body I cannot see the front or rear fenders of the car from the driving position so it's nearly impossible to pull through the 7'10" wide doors without a lot of stress. Unfortunately I installed the charge outlet in there so I need to get in to charge the car.

Looks like a job for auto park! Except auto park cancels every time I try it. I also set the parameters for a tight garage. After a long discussion with the local service center we think the problem is that it's uphill into the barn and auto park is meant to work on level ground. Now, the angle uphill is maybe one foot rise over 25 feet distance. It's a gravel driveway so I'm considering adding a lot of gravel to make is level.

My question is, has anyone else encountered this problem and do you think this solution will work? We can't exactly pinpoint the problem so we are guessing it's the grade. Does anyone have a problem with a garage opening as small as 7'10"? Remember, I did set the parameters for a tight garage.

Thanks

My garage door opening is 1" less than yours! only 93"
Before I bought my Model S I was very worried about getting safely through the door.

But you can safely pull into a door opening that tight, just takes some practice to creep in slowly and use the mirrors on both sides as a guide as you clear the frame (and fold them in if you're off target). I have a few inches per side clearance if the mirrors are extended, although it sure doesn't look like that much from the driver's seat.

To answer your question, I can confirm that summon/auto-park will safely direct the car through a garage door opening that small size. My driveway is quite flat although there is a cement lip where the garage floor meets the driveway - initially that bump seemed to give summon a problem and it would quit there but I think they fixed something in one of the updates so it goes over that fine now.

My bigger problem is the minimum setting for bumper clearance for summon is 20cm / 8in - but I need to have the car a few cm closer to the front wall than that for the trunk to be safely clear of the inside of the garage door when closed. My garage is short as well as narrow. So summon is therefore kind of pointless for me since I'd have to manually move the car ahead an additional bit each time. I wish they'd lower that min bumper clearance setting a bit, although I suspect it may be a limitation of the ultrasonic sensor resolution. Using summon to automatically pull the car out of the garage works fine in my case.

 

[GordonBremer]

Do you have wall, bush or other obstruction on one side of the door opening, but not on the other side? Teslas have/had difficulties in such a case. I documented this on the Model X forum and also brought is to Tesla's attention. Search the Model X forum for my user name: gordonbremer.

 

[BertL]

Your garage flooring is pretty cool; do you have info on it? Vendor or website?

I need to get my garage floor finished, considering various options.

It's a bit off-topic for this thread, but FWIW... Yes, I'm more than happy with RaceDeck. My garage floor had peeling epoxy paint installed by a previous owner, and I'm pretty much a neat freak, so it began bothering me a few years back after buying this home. You can order pretty much any combo of colors, solid or "drip through" squares, optional metal bumps to help know when to stop, as well as border pieces that are useful where you or your car come up over the tiles (i.e. I didn't waste my money with it on the edges along the sides of my garage, only front and back). The tiles click together, and a rubber mallet makes quick work of the job. Once together, the flooring floats as a large mat over your existing floor, so it could be removed if you wanted to. You can remove individual tiles for replacement if you ever totally wreck one (I never have, but if you weld and effectively melt the tiles, drop some really heavy object and crack them, or you could scratch them if you work at it).

I figured-out the layout I wanted playing with graph paper, ordered the tiles, and they were delivered to me here in SoCal via UPS in about a week from SLC. Installation took me no more than 4 hours by myself, for a 3-car garage, including needing to do a little cutout for a post between the 2nd & 3rd bays. As you'll see in the photos below, I laid-out my tiles such that for me, it looks "right" with one car in the double-bay or not, and the floor pattern is something to basically aim for as I enter the garage. I placed the "drip through tiles" in the general areas where the vehicle tends to drip under the wheel wells if it's raining outside... benefit being, most of the water goes under the tiles and if it didn't first evaporate, it would flow under the floating tiles and out the garage doors. Maintenance is simple -- a quick sweep does the job when my car is backed-out for a wash, and an occasional touch-up with my ShopVac on the "drip through" tiles picks up any crud I swept in there. If there are outlines left from water, they come up easily after I dry my wheels and move my car back into the garage, using the dirty rag I dried my wheels with before it goes into the wash.

I'll put it this way, if I ever have another home, the cost of the materials for me to install a new Racedeck will be in my budget.

 

[krazineurons]

My garage has a narrow width and I was able to manually bring the car in if I fold the side mirrors, with them open wide the car won't be able to get in. Does autopark also fold the side mirrors on its own?

 

[DoubleE]

My garage door opening is 1" less than yours! only 93"
Before I bought my Model S I was very worried about getting safely through the door.

But you can safely pull into a door opening that tight, just takes some practice to creep in slowly and use the mirrors on both sides as a guide as you clear the frame (and fold them in if you're off target). I have a few inches per side clearance if the mirrors are extended, although it sure doesn't look like that much from the driver's seat.

To answer your question, I can confirm that summon/auto-park will safely direct the car through a garage door opening that small size. My driveway is quite flat although there is a cement lip where the garage floor meets the driveway - initially that bump seemed to give summon a problem and it would quit there but I think they fixed something in one of the updates so it goes over that fine now.

My bigger problem is the minimum setting for bumper clearance for summon is 20cm / 8in - but I need to have the car a few cm closer to the front wall than that for the trunk to be safely clear of the inside of the garage door when closed. My garage is short as well as narrow. So summon is therefore kind of pointless for me since I'd have to manually move the car ahead an additional bit each time. I wish they'd lower that min bumper clearance setting a bit, although I suspect it may be a limitation of the ultrasonic sensor resolution. Using summon to automatically pull the car out of the garage works fine in my case.

I wish we could adjust the parking distance in inch increments. I want mine between 24-28.

 

[kevinf311]

I can't remember the exact measurements of my garage right now (it's an old house with a garage added as what seems like an afterthought; attached, but not pass-through) but my car is able to summon in and out of it with fair amounts of success.

The Model S is just barely shorter than the overall length of the garage and the width is pretty tight at the opening.

While my driveway is more or less level, I do have a sizeable lip at the threshold of the garage. This lip has proven to be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, even with some shimming up the angle of attack of the lip (like, literally putting down wood shims until the lip was less extreme and placing an all-weather mat over it) the car will still bail on summon about one in every 20 times. On the other, the interior lip drop gives the car enough momentum that by the time the brakes stop the car, it's only about 3" away from the back wall (where an old Redskin's #1 Foam finger has been affixed in the event of any overshoot).

If the shims end up being displaced the car will fail summoning into the garage more regularly. Depending on my level of apathy, I will sometimes just add a little manpower to the horsepower and push the car over the lip until I feel it's good to continue on it's own.

Another thing to note on when my car bails; it will only fail on the rear axle. The front 80% of the car will go into the garage even without shims in place.

 

[cab]

I can't remember the exact measurements of my garage right now (it's an old house with a garage added as what seems like an afterthought; attached, but not pass-through) but my car is able to summon in and out of it with fair amounts of success.

The Model S is just barely shorter than the overall length of the garage and the width is pretty tight at the opening.

While my driveway is more or less level, I do have a sizeable lip at the threshold of the garage. This lip has proven to be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, even with some shimming up the angle of attack of the lip (like, literally putting down wood shims until the lip was less extreme and placing an all-weather mat over it) the car will still bail on summon about one in every 20 times. On the other, the interior lip drop gives the car enough momentum that by the time the brakes stop the car, it's only about 3" away from the back wall (where an old Redskin's #1 Foam finger has been affixed in the event of any overshoot).

If the shims end up being displaced the car will fail summoning into the garage more regularly. Depending on my level of apathy, I will sometimes just add a little manpower to the horsepower and push the car over the lip until I feel it's good to continue on it's own.

Another thing to note on when my car bails; it will only fail on the rear axle. The front 80% of the car will go into the garage even without shims in place.

Boy that is an old finger.... ;>

 

[mspohr]

I can't remember the exact measurements of my garage right now (it's an old house with a garage added as what seems like an afterthought; attached, but not pass-through) but my car is able to summon in and out of it with fair amounts of success.

The Model S is just barely shorter than the overall length of the garage and the width is pretty tight at the opening.

While my driveway is more or less level, I do have a sizeable lip at the threshold of the garage. This lip has proven to be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, even with some shimming up the angle of attack of the lip (like, literally putting down wood shims until the lip was less extreme and placing an all-weather mat over it) the car will still bail on summon about one in every 20 times. On the other, the interior lip drop gives the car enough momentum that by the time the brakes stop the car, it's only about 3" away from the back wall (where an old Redskin's #1 Foam finger has been affixed in the event of any overshoot).

If the shims end up being displaced the car will fail summoning into the garage more regularly. Depending on my level of apathy, I will sometimes just add a little manpower to the horsepower and push the car over the lip until I feel it's good to continue on it's own.

Another thing to note on when my car bails; it will only fail on the rear axle. The front 80% of the car will go into the garage even without shims in place.

So... you push your Tesla into the garage?

 

[RogerHScott]

Assuming the grade right at the garage entrance is about the same as the grade leading up to it, you should be able to test the
"grade's the problem" theory simply by seeing if the car will summon forward up the grade, before it even gets to the opening.

If it's not the overall grade it might be a bump (lip) right at the entrance. If so, you might be able to "shim" that somehow with a little
triangle of some sort.

As for the tight opening itself, have you tried not using the tight tolerance setting? I found my car was actually better able to center
itself with the wider tolerances, but this is very specific to the opening. I've also found that starting farther away works better because
it gives the car more run length to position (center) itself before it gets to the tightest spot.

I've found that nine times out of ten when the car stops short it will continue just fine with no other intervention if I just initiate autopark
again. Kind of annoying, since that proves it was capable of negotiating it after all and just "gave up trying" too soon.

Are you always looking to get out of your car before putting it in the garage, or do you ever want
to ride in with it (e.g., to get out of the rain)? If the latter, have you learned the ridiculous user interface
for autoparking in your garage without using your fob (or phone)?

 

[kevinf311]

So... you push your Tesla into the garage?

Yup

Boy that is an old finger.... ;>

YUP

 

[Ken Fenske]

I can't remember the exact measurements of my garage right now (it's an old house with a garage added as what seems like an afterthought; attached, but not pass-through) but my car is able to summon in and out of it with fair amounts of success.

The Model S is just barely shorter than the overall length of the garage and the width is pretty tight at the opening.

While my driveway is more or less level, I do have a sizeable lip at the threshold of the garage. This lip has proven to be a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, even with some shimming up the angle of attack of the lip (like, literally putting down wood shims until the lip was less extreme and placing an all-weather mat over it) the car will still bail on summon about one in every 20 times. On the other, the interior lip drop gives the car enough momentum that by the time the brakes stop the car, it's only about 3" away from the back wall (where an old Redskin's #1 Foam finger has been affixed in the event of any overshoot).

If the shims end up being displaced the car will fail summoning into the garage more regularly. Depending on my level of apathy, I will sometimes just add a little manpower to the horsepower and push the car over the lip until I feel it's good to continue on it's own.

Another thing to note on when my car bails; it will only fail on the rear axle. The front 80% of the car will go into the garage even without shims in place.

I love the redskins foam finger to absorb a crash!

I've been backing the car into the narrow garage myself when it needs a charge and have been able to do that slowly and safely with less stress as I gain experience. Getting a couple truckloads of gravel this week so raising the driveway. Also cut back shrubs that might be confusing the sensors.

I have had the car 5 days now and I absolutely love it! My next step it install maybe 6 more solar panels to make up for it's charging needs and remain 100% solar here.