Things you may not have discovered about your Model S?!

[nanurse]

Learning the Hard Way

Ok, so I'm feeling somewhat like I'm learning the hard way but here are a few gotcha's with the car for folks just getting into their vehicles.

1. Be careful parking in spots that have the cement blocks at the head of the spot. Suggest either backing into these or raising the car to the high position. I ended up damaging the plastic underside cover when a piece of rebar sicking out from the cement block caught the plastic cover. It popped out all the retaining pins (I was able to get most of them back in). Damage is not bad enough to replace the piece but it's damaged nonetheless.

2. The walk away and lock feature is nice but be careful. I've already gotten used to walking away from the vehicle without ever touching the fob or anything on the door. The problem is that if you leave the key inside the car, there's no warning either. Yesterday I went inside the grocery store and left my key in my gym bag. I didn't realize I didn't have it until I came back out to the car. The door handles do retract but obviously anyone tapping on them will open the car.

3. No engine noise so make sure the car is in park. Since there is no motor noise, if you are not using creep, and you park the car on level ground, it will feel as if the car is stopped. In my case the slope was ever so slight and the car did a slow roll into my parking placard at work. Luckily the placard is only a stanchion and the roll was so slow it didn't damage anything. Get into the habit of ensuring the car is in park before going to get out. May be just me, but I'm sure it could happen to someone not familiar.

 

[dflye]

From accidentally hopping out of the car while still in "drive" on more than one occasion, the car automatically switches to park in short order.

This feature is likely based upon the weight sensor in the driver's seat, don't think it is triggered by simply opening the door.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

From accidentally hopping out of the car while still in "drive" on more than one occasion, the car automatically switches to park in short order.

This feature is likely based upon the weight sensor in the driver's seat, don't think it is triggered by simply opening the door.

I began doing this for fun on relatively level ground. Pretty cool feature

 

[igotzzoom]

That's actually one feature I like on my Sonata. If I leave the keys in it, it'll beep at me.

 

[Shakespear]

THIS WAS PROVIDED BY Doug_G. on another thread.

It was to be used on TRACK DAYS but interesting for all




The Model S doesn't really have ideal seats for pulling G's. Without proper support I would have had to hold myself in place with the steering wheel, which is bad for steering control and rather bad for my back and arms. I would have been very stiff the next day.


Luckily I figured out an easy way to greatly improve things. I created a driver profile called "Track", with a suitable position for track driving. I then created another profile called "Load", which pulled the seat all the way back. I got in, pressed Load, belted up, and tugged a few times on the shoulder belt until it locked. Then I leaned forward to maintain the pressure on the belt, and reached for the driver profiles and hit Track. The seat moved forward and the belt snugged up real tight. Any tighter and my eyes would have been bulging. Pretty darn good - I was really locked in place.


I found the next day that my legs were a bit stiff, so evidently I was still bracing my legs against the door and console

 

[brianman]

3. No engine noise so make sure the car is in park. Since there is no motor noise, if you are not using creep, and you park the car on level ground, it will feel as if the car is stopped. In my case the slope was ever so slight and the car did a slow roll into my parking placard at work. Luckily the placard is only a stanchion and the roll was so slow it didn't damage anything. Get into the habit of ensuring the car is in park before going to get out. May be just me, but I'm sure it could happen to someone not familiar.

It's worth calling this one out. I drove my other vehicle a couple days ago. It most definitely has creep. And I most definitely forgot to put it into park. Bad combination. Fortunately there was no vehicle drama, just a few skipped heartbeats.

 

[PeterK]

For those of you with small children, I discovered today that a B•O•B Revolution jogging/off road stroller...

When folded fits perfectly in the frunk:

 

[JoshG]

^^ Wow... that looks like a perfect fit indeed. Tesla should custom-brand those and offer them in the store!

 

[ken830]

The Snap N' Go also fits well with a lot of room to spare. I don't have a great photo of it though.

 

[TheAustin]

When you set the suspension to Very High, it will automatically readjust to High when you hit 10mph, and then back to Standard when hit 20mph.

 

[DaveVa]

When you have set a navigation destination you can scroll through the tur-by-turn steps (swipe up or down). If you want to see a particular turn you can select it (tap) and it will highlight and move the map center to display the specific higlighted turn.

 

[woof]

My have missed someone else saying this...

During the daytime with the DRLs on, when a turn is being signaled the DRL LEDs on the side that is blinking are OFF for the duration of the turn. When the turn signal is canceled, the DRL is returned to ON.

 

[Zapped]

A PDF document with all the tips and tricks would be a great resource, especially for a new owner.
Anyone know of a thread with all the voice commands ?

 

[jcadman22]

My car has spontaneously gone into park a few times now and I thought it was an issue until I talked to another owner yesterday. When I was backing up I was looking back over my shoulder - when you take enough pressure off the seat the car thinks you hopped out and goes into park. "Problem" solved ;-)

 

[steve841]

My car has spontaneously gone into park a few times now and I thought it was an issue until I talked to another owner yesterday. When I was backing up I was looking back over my shoulder - when you take enough pressure off the seat the car thinks you hopped out and goes into park. "Problem" solved ;-)

Solution: More cheeseburgers!

 

[pete8314]

My have missed someone else saying this...

During the daytime with the DRLs on, when a turn is being signaled the DRL LEDs on the side that is blinking are OFF for the duration of the turn. When the turn signal is canceled, the DRL is returned to ON.

Mine dim, but they don't go out when the turn signal is on.

 

[brianman]

My car has spontaneously gone into park a few times now and I thought it was an issue until I talked to another owner yesterday. When I was backing up I was looking back over my shoulder - when you take enough pressure off the seat the car thinks you hopped out and goes into park. "Problem" solved ;-)

Solution: Put on your seatbelt.

 

[mnx]

Solution: Put on your seatbelt.

Why does anyone look over their shoulder with such a small rear window? Habit?? The mirrors and camera show me a whole lot more than looking through the rear glass...

 

[ElSupreme]

Why does anyone look over their shoulder with such a small rear window? Habit?? The mirrors and camera show me a whole lot more than looking through the rear glass...

Funny I find that the mirrors (granted mine don't auto-tilt) and camera are basically worthless for backing up. I do use the mirrors to get straight. And the camera to know when to stop. But other than that the view out the back window is pretty good.


I do wish that I could see 'higher' out the back window when using my rear view mirror though.

 

[brianman]

Funny I find that the mirrors (granted mine don't auto-tilt) and camera are basically worthless for backing up. I do use the mirrors to get straight. And the camera to know when to stop. But other than that the view out the back window is pretty good.

I do wish that I could see 'higher' out the back window when using my rear view mirror though.

Agreed (whole post).