Tesla Blind Spot Monitor

[mooosk]

Dear Tesla Owners, I have a new tesla, I was surprised that it does not provide enough warning for blind spots. While it has a Chime setting, I have never heard the Chime.

In my other cars, the light flashing in the mirrors+Chime were very good and have saved me in very precarious settings.

Probably current Teslsa do not have the option of light flash in the rear view mirrors, but maybe it is a simple software code to create Chime sound and maybe some light flash when there is someone in a blind spot path?

Or, my tesla has a problem!!!

Would love to learn from others.

 

[Kairide]

If both cars are going 70 it will be accurate forever. If the speed delta between your car and the closing car is 70 mph then they could close the distance in one second.

How often are you going the exact same speed as everyone else? If you were, then no one would be moving.

 

[johnnycnote]

I find my self relying more on the screen display than the mirror for the blindspot reason... What's a real shame is we have no cross traffic alert. Tough backing out in parking lots.

This

 

[Yelobird]

How often are you going the exact same speed as everyone else? If you were, then no one would be moving.

And how often is a car in the next lane going 70 mph Faster then you?? I fully understand the interest for those wanting lights but that typically is for those that don’t properly signal. Yes if your going to dart in a lane a light is nice. Correctly signaling you can see the full side view on the screen as well as a digital car map around you to verify. If you somehow ignor both it will again audibly sound and yank the wheel back. More then better to me then a yellow light personally.

 

[sleepydoc]

Typical talking out of your butt response. No matter how well you adjust your mirrors, you’ll always have a blind spot. Blind spot monitors are especially helpful with motorcycles as they can easily fit in to your blind spot.

Spoken by someone who doesn’t know how to adjust their mirrors. The Car & Driver article is spot on. I’ve been adjusting my driver’s side mirror like that for years - if I turn my head slightly to look in the side mirror a car to my left will enter my peripheral vision right as it leaves the area covered by the mirror.

This doesn’t change the fact that Tesla has a pretty miserable blind spot monitor. The center camera option is almost worse than useless because it pulls your eyes away from the road, in the exact opposite direction you need them to be.

My Audi A4 and Subaru Forrester have the best system, IMO. Instead of a small LED in the mirror that have a large light on the surface of the mirror facing the car window. It’s much more visible and obvious than the small LEDs and is immediately visible when you look in the mirrors. Honda used to use a camera-based system similar to Tesla’s. It was crap there, too and one of the reasons I didn’t buy a Honda at the time. They‘ve since abandoned it and moved to a system like all other manufacturers have.

 

[sleepydoc]

A car will cover 100m in one second at 70mph, so knowing which cars are within 100m is only accurate for 1 second.

Except both cars are traveling at that speed and what you need to know is where the cars are relative to your car. It‘s the differential speed that matters, not the absolute speed.

 

[Balthezor]

This is really annoying that they don't have these sensors. Hell, cheap cars have these now. So stupid. One of the few things I hate about our Y. Especially when you've been driving cheaper cars for years with the safety feature.

 

[Goldfnch]

I may have missed it if someone else already posted, but you have to turn on the collision warning chime. Scroll down here: Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

 

[Yelobird]

This is really annoying that they don't have these sensors. Hell, cheap cars have these now. So stupid. One of the few things I hate about our Y. Especially when you've been driving cheaper cars for years with the safety feature.

Stupid or different. I find Teslas solution more valuable then a yellow dot that continuously flashes every time a car passes from either side. To each his own but far from stupid.

 

[drtimhill]

Typical talking out of your butt response. No matter how well you adjust your mirrors, you’ll always have a blind spot. Blind spot monitors are especially helpful with motorcycles as they can easily fit in to your blind spot.

not quite true .. it's possible (certainly from my seating position) to have complete coverage between a sideways glance, the wing mirrors and rearview mirror.

Also, for the OP the idea is you can use the center display that shows cars around you, including your blind spot.

 

[schen72]

I've owned an Acura that had the BSM lights in the mirrors. When a car is in your blind spot, the lights come on. If you use your turn signal in that situation, the lights and there is a warning tone. While driving, I liked having these lights because it gives me more situational awareness. I'm one of those drivers that constantly scan my mirrors as I like to have a mental picture of the cars around me. In my ideal world, I would like the existing Tesla system in addition to radars in the side mirrors for the BSM lights.

 

[Big Dog]

Spoken by someone who doesn’t know how to adjust their mirrors. The Car & Driver article is spot on. I’ve been adjusting my driver’s side mirror like that for years - if I turn my head slightly to look in the side mirror a car to my left will enter my peripheral vision right as it leaves the area covered by the mirror.

This doesn’t change the fact that Tesla has a pretty miserable blind spot monitor.

fwiw: I have posted that C&D article several times over the years (and use it myself), and every so often, a tall person has responded that they cannot get enough movement on the side mirrors to eliminate the blind spot with the driver's car seat all the way back.

Love the BSM on my daughter's little Audi. They make driving in rush hour traffic so much easier. I guess I'll never get used to looking right (to the center screen) when I want to go left; it is just unnatural.

 

[sleepydoc]

fwiw: I have posted that C&D article several times over the years (and use it myself), and every so often, a tall person has responded that they cannot get enough movement on the side mirrors to eliminate the blind spot with the driver's car seat all the way back.

Love the BSM on my daughter's little Audi. They make driving in rush hour traffic so much easier. I guess I'll never get used to looking right (to the center screen) when I want to go left; it is just unnatural.

Well, I’m 6’5”/195cm and it’s worked for me in every car I’ve driven, so I can’t imagine there are too many situations where it won’t work.

Yes, I miss my A4; it was an excellent car that was quite well designed and built and beat my MY in many areas. I don’t miss paying for premium fuel, though!

 

[arbitrage000]

After 1 week with my new Y, I'm just finally getting used to using the blindspot camera view (moved up on the screen from the lower default position). I searched out this and a couple other threads to figure out why I wasn't hearing a chime when I signalled and a car was in the blind spot. So now I know that it will only chime if I actually make a movement towards a car. I'm coming from CX-5 that has the light on the side mirror and beeps if you signal, no need to move. Now arguably that beep can be annoying at times but it has saved me a couple times over the past 7 years with the CX-5.

I don't like adjusting the mirrors way out to cover the blindspot as the rearview mirror is almost useless in the MY. Even on the CX-5 when I tried that method I didn't like that view. I prefer the side mirrors to show a sliver of the car and work more like a rearview mirror...especially in the MY.

I think with another week of muscle memory I will be really used to a quick glance at the camera view to confirm nothing is beside me and continue to use the side mirrors more like a rear view mirror.

What I don't understand is with all the visualizations available from the cameras (as seen in FSD) why can't the car warn us about cars in the blindspot and why can't it do rear cross-traffic with the rear camera?

 

[voxel]

After 1 week with my new Y, I'm just finally getting used to using the blindspot camera view (moved up on the screen from the lower default position). I searched out this and a couple other threads to figure out why I wasn't hearing a chime when I signalled and a car was in the blind spot. So now I know that it will only chime if I actually make a movement towards a car. I'm coming from CX-5 that has the light on the side mirror and beeps if you signal, no need to move. Now arguably that beep can be annoying at times but it has saved me a couple times over the past 7 years with the CX-5.

I don't like adjusting the mirrors way out to cover the blindspot as the rearview mirror is almost useless in the MY. Even on the CX-5 when I tried that method I didn't like that view. I prefer the side mirrors to show a sliver of the car and work more like a rearview mirror...especially in the MY.

I think with another week of muscle memory I will be really used to a quick glance at the camera view to confirm nothing is beside me and continue to use the side mirrors more like a rear view mirror.

What I don't understand is with all the visualizations available from the cameras (as seen in FSD) why can't the car warn us about cars in the blindspot and why can't it do rear cross-traffic with the rear camera?

Tesla's blindspot camera view is still useless to me and distracting even when moved up to the top left corner. The Hyundai/Kia systems are best. There are blindspot lights on the mirrors, the view is on the dashboard (which I pretty much ignore though), AND there are audible alarms when you try to signal while a car is in your blindspot.

Tesla implements some things well (1PD) and a few other things terribly or not at all.

 

[sleepydoc]

Tesla's blindspot camera view is still useless to me and distracting even when moved up to the top left corner. The Hyundai/Kia systems are best. There are blindspot lights on the mirrors, the view is on the dashboard (which I pretty much ignore though), AND there are audible alarms when you try to signal while a car is in your blindspot.

Tesla implements some things well (1PD) and a few other things terribly or not at all.

Agreed - My Audi A4 had a light on the inner surface of the side mirror housing. It wasn't at all distracting but was easy to see and you automatically saw it when you checked your mirrors before merging. Far superior to Tesla's implementation and superior the little LED in the corner of the mirror that most cars use.

Honda used to have a system like Tesla's but they got rid of it in favor of a sensor-based system like every other carmaker uses. The Achilles heel of the camera-based system is that when merging left, where your blind spot is the largest, you have to look to the right, opposite of where you look to check your mirrors.

In Tesla's defense, this was a system they could implement with the existing hardware but it's still a suboptimal system.

 

[sr12345]

These make a huge difference, virtually eliminating the blind spots. Suma Performance

 

[Gabby51]

NHTSA should make Blind Spot Monitoring in side view mirrors required. Looking at the center console when changing lanes (specially to the left) is dangerous & STUPID! I expect more from Tesla. Everyone else provides this safety feature.

 

[Yelobird]

NHTSA should make Blind Spot Monitoring in side view mirrors required. Looking at the center console when changing lanes (specially to the left) is dangerous & STUPID! I expect more from Tesla. Everyone else provides this safety feature.

Yes because looking slightly right is So much more dangerous then looking left. Umph

 

[Pianewman]

NHTSA should make Blind Spot Monitoring in side view mirrors required. Looking at the center console when changing lanes (specially to the left) is dangerous & STUPID! I expect more from Tesla. Everyone else provides this safety feature.

It's a difficult learning curve, for sure, but once mastered, it works just fine. When driving any other car, I really miss it.

I do agree that ALL safety features should be uniform across all makes...emergency flashers, windshield wipers, BSM, Most drivers are marginal (!) at best, and having similar locations for switches might save lives.

 

[Andrew85]

Hyundai/Kia has the best implementation of this on some models.

The camera in the gauge cluster plus noise alert and BSM light in mirror. Eyes are always forward and just a quick mirror check before changing lanes.