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Thoughts on Yoke from Plaid owner

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On the horn, I'm in the Bay area too. I've used the horn 3 times in my current S - to test that it works in my garage. On my prior S, over 5 years, I may have used it once or twice - really don't remember actually using it. I'm not that much of a laid-back driver, but just don't encounter people on the roads that deserve to be honked at. Maybe it's the roads I travel or my level of frustration with other drivers is less than others. I could see if I lived in New York City, it would be an entirely different matter!
 
On the horn, I'm in the Bay area too. I've used the horn 3 times in my current S - to test that it works in my garage. On my prior S, over 5 years, I may have used it once or twice - really don't remember actually using it. I'm not that much of a laid-back driver, but just don't encounter people on the roads that deserve to be honked at. Maybe it's the roads I travel or my level of frustration with other drivers is less than others. I could see if I lived in New York City, it would be an entirely different matter!
But the problem is when you really need it you really need it and it could prevent an accent even if it's once every 50 years. That's the issue
 
Must have been a challenge for you to learn where the brake pedal was. Do you look at your feet while you drive?

You do realize it doesn’t take super senses to build up the muscle memory for the controls.

I have muscle memory for the previous / next song buttons from my pre refresh X ;)

Blinker is easy, but does take some time. There is a bump between the buttons. For the exact reason of helping build muscle memory without looking down.

You Keep that bump in the middle of the pad of your thumb. Trick is to use the tip of your thumb for right to turn and joint in your thumb for left. It’s tempting to look down and use the tip of your thumb for left and right. Once you do that it’s fine. You can of course build muscle memory to use the tip of the thumb for left and right too.

You do actually need to own and drive one to build up the muscle memory. Not just look at YouTube complaints.

Now the horn is a problem. There is no texture, it’s a long ways over and you don’t use it that often. Some people added a little sticky bump so they can feel it. I might do that.

Supposed to enable airbag horn but I don’t know what the deal is with that.
Definitely mash the horn with the right side of your palm. You're probably going to want to go around and practice it if you haven't already. That's what bugs me about this whole thing is I don't want to practice this kind of stuff or try to explain to my mom how to use The yoke if she wants to drive my car. Seems like there's more important stuff to be doing with my time
I had to practice getting used to controls in every car I’ve bought.

HVAC Controls are different, cruise controls are different, high beams vary some, radio controls, wipers.

One manual shift we had took us a good 10k miles to get the clutch right. We even thought it was broken. But once we got the hang of it we drove it 240k miles. Still had original clutch when sold it.

My Volt has like 30 buttons on the steering wheel and I still fumble stuff after 12k miles. I had less issues getting used to the Refresh S.
 
How are you going to know where that stuff is when your hands are on a 360° aftermarket wheel?
Because I don’t need to mess with any of them while parking or turning the car around. That’s the only time the wheel is flipped enough to be a problem.

That had not been a problem, once.

Usually moving very slow when you have the wheel turned that far.

For normal driving it doesn’t go past about 100 degrees. I can handle where the buttons are. But even that sharp a turn I don’t need to touch anything. Only thing might be the horn in an emergency.

Being pilot you should know. If I take a turn I turn blinker me on BEFORE the turn. Not during. If I need wipers I do it before or after. If I need to make a callI do it before or after.

Most common thing I might reach for any time is the radio controls. :)
 
Really? How much to swap in a full steering wheel with stalks while not voiding Tesla warranty? Where can one get this retrofit?
There is no after market with stalks. One person swapped in a Model 3 lsteering column.

There is one wheel I was considering that would likely not void warranty but it just adds the top half and leaves everything in tact.

Yes there is risk of voiding warranty for swapping wheels.
 
There is no after market with stalks. One person swapped in a Model 3 lsteering column.

There is one wheel I was considering that would likely not void warranty but it just adds the top half and leaves everything in tact.

Yes there is risk of voiding warranty for swapping wheels.
So it's not cheaper to swap to a full steering wheel than to downgrade to a Model 3. Just adding a top doesn't solve all the yoke problems, as now your hands are not always on the blinker controls or horn. You had my hopes up for a second. My wait for a Taycan is stretching so I though if Plaid came with regular steering wheel and proper brakes, I'd pick one up for now. Ceramic brakes should be available soon, but I didn't hear any full steering wheel options, so it's a non-starter.
 
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Hello, here is a email I just sent to [email protected] in case it is of any value to other owners or potential owners of the Mod S:

Hello, I am an owner of the 2022 Mod S Plaid since Mar 22 and have some feedback after multiple road trips and 5,000 miles.

I am planning on selling my Plaid next week at a 40K loss and buying a Mod 3, which is disappointing because I really like everything about the Plaid minus the yoke. You guys did a really good job on that car.

I have noticed on road trips that the Plaid is the most fatiguing car I have ever driven by far. This is because there is no balance points on the yoke as there is on a 360 degree steering wheel. Also, the driver position can not be easily modified to release blood flow into different parts of the body, as it can with a 360 degree steering wheel.

Over the last Month or so, I have driven my Plaid from Southern CA to WA and from WA to OR several times. It is highly fatiguing to operate manually to the point where I am forced have the autopilot on nearly all the time.

I like the autopilot and I think it does a pretty good job. My problem is that I do not want to be forced into using the autopilot all the time because I can not operate the car in a reasonable or efficient way manually. I was formerly a US Air Force pilot and while automated features such as autopilot are very nice, there is simply no substitute for being able to manually operate the vehicle when needed or wanted. The most dangerous pilots I ever flew with were the ones that had to rely so much on autopilot because there were not very skilled in manually operating the aircraft. Every once in a while the autopilot puts me in a bad position on the road, a position I would not have put myself, and that is going to equate to more accidents over time. This is unacceptable in my opinion. The driver experience becomes exclusively reacting to what the computer is going to do next and this is also fatiguing over long periods of time.

For instance, on my last road trip a couple of days ago, I challenged myself to take the car off autopilot for 5 minutes a couple of time. Within 15 seconds I had the autopilot back on because of how fatiguing the yoke is for long trips. Do you put your hand on the right side? The Left side? Evern worse, do you put you hands on both sides and see which ones weighs do the yoke faster. Also there is no ability so shift driving positions to change blood flow in the body in those positions.

In addition, the car is so much fun to drive and a steering wheel would allow the operator to drive the car more, which is good, enjoyable, and fun with this car.

As stated above, next week I am selling my Plaid at a 40K loss and moving into a Mod 3. I'd really rather not have to do this and I have heard rumblings that a steering wheel replacement option may become available for the Mod S soon. If this it the case, please let me know. I'd hate to sell my Plaid to later find this out because I really like the car otherwise.

As state above, I was a US Air Force pilot for a while so I may have a better sense of human ergonomics and interactions with equipment than most.

Please forward this feedback to the highest level possible and let me know if I can be of further assistance. Thank you for your time, and thank you for helping the world shift to sustainable energy.
You do realize that from Tesla point of view the yoke just made them another sale, right? If you loved the yoke, or were able to get a round steering wheel, you would not be buying the new Model 3 - so one less Tesla sold.

Always try to look at things from all points of view. You just told Tesla they should keep on selling the yoke since it will generate them more sales from people like you. 🤷‍♂️
 
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>>Being pilot you should know. If I take a turn I turn blinker me on BEFORE the turn. Not during. If I need wipers I do it before or after. If I need to make a callI do it before or after.<<

Pilot or not if you are driving properly you often have to change indicators during turns: every time you negotiate a roundabout for example.
Just because many people are too lazy to indicate properly doesn't negate the argument!
 
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>>Being pilot you should know. If I take a turn I turn blinker me on BEFORE the turn. Not during. If I need wipers I do it before or after. If I need to make a callI do it before or after.<<

Pilot or not if you are driving properly you often have to change indicators during turns: every time you negotiate a roundabout for example.
Just because many people are too lazy to indicate properly doesn't negate the argument!
On a roundabout the wheel is probably turned about ~20 degrees (guess), not 180, not enough to have issues for geometry challenged operators to hit the blinker buttons. Maybe you can’t handle the blinker on the wheel at that angle, but most can. Hint: the buttons are still under your thumb.

Let’s stop making up issues that don’t exist.

OP has a valid argument. Even though he is complaining he can’t improperly use the a wheel like many people do.

He also complained that most 3rd party wheels you can’t balance your hand on top because they are flat. I’d argue it’s easier. But folks just keep making up issues that don’t exist. There are round wheels too. But that gets no response.

Then there are void warranty concerns. Those are certainly legit. I was worried about that when checking out wheels before picking up my S. But there was a solution for that too that adds just the top half without touching electronics, airbag or removing old wheel. It’s ugly and not heated. But if it was a serious issue and I otherwise loved the car, that was my backup plan to try first.

Oh and let’s not forget it’s to much to “mess with” to change the wheel. That add on top half wheel looks like it would take no more than 30 minutes. I’m sure it’s a whole more involved with selling and buying another car.

Also if I was losing $40K my concerns about warranty issues would definitely be down in priority.

Here is the wheel I was gonna get if I needed it.

 
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You do realize that from Tesla point of view the yoke just made them another sale, right? If you loved the yoke, or were able to get a round steering wheel, you would not be buying the new Model 3 - so one less Tesla sold.

Always try to look at things from all points of view. You just told Tesla they should keep on selling the yoke since it will generate them more sales from people like you. 🤷‍♂️
Kind of doubt that's how they're seeing it but thank you for your thought
 
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Because I don’t need to mess with any of them while parking or turning the car around. That’s the only time the wheel is flipped enough to be a problem.

That had not been a problem, once.

Usually moving very slow when you have the wheel turned that far.

For normal driving it doesn’t go past about 100 degrees. I can handle where the buttons are. But even that sharp a turn I don’t need to touch anything. Only thing might be the horn in an emergency.

Being pilot you should know. If I take a turn I turn blinker me on BEFORE the turn. Not during. If I need wipers I do it before or after. If I need to make a callI do it before or after.

Most common thing I might reach for any time is the radio controls. :)
I can see what you're saying and I'm sure that applies to 99% of the situations. However, there are those times that I've found I need to throw my blinker on doing a sharp maneuver near a stoplight or something like that and it's just not there. Same thing with the horn I think most of the time it works okay but man when it comes to driving you don't want most of the time. Just one more extra accident can truly ruin or end your life
 
Really? How much to swap in a full steering wheel with stalks while not voiding Tesla warranty? Where can one get this retrofit?
Yes that is one of my issues as well voiding the warranty, potentially open myself up to legal liabilities in case of an accident or malfunction with the steering wheel, airbags whatever it might be. It's out of my comfort zone that's for sure
 
So it's not cheaper to swap to a full steering wheel than to downgrade to a Model 3. Just adding a top doesn't solve all the yoke problems, as now your hands are not always on the blinker controls or horn. You had my hopes up for a second. My wait for a Taycan is stretching so I though if Plaid came with regular steering wheel and proper brakes, I'd pick one up for now. Ceramic brakes should be available soon, but I didn't hear any full steering wheel options, so it's a non-starter.
Yeah that's true with the steering wheel for sure. I hardly ever use the brakes the regen works super good
 
On a roundabout the wheel is probably turned about ~20 degrees (guess), not 180, not enough to have issues for geometry challenged operators to hit the blinker buttons. Maybe you can’t handle the blinker on the wheel at that angle, but most can. Hint: the buttons are still under your thumb.

Let’s stop making up issues that don’t exist.

OP has a valid argument. Even though he is complaining he can’t improperly use the a wheel like many people do.

He also complained that most 3rd party wheels you can’t balance your hand on top because they are flat. I’d argue it’s easier. But folks just keep making up issues that don’t exist. There are round wheels too. But that gets no response.

Then there are void warranty concerns. Those are certainly legit. I was worried about that when checking out wheels before picking up my S. But there was a solution for that too that adds just the top half without touching electronics, airbag or removing old wheel. It’s ugly and not heated. But if it was a serious issue and I otherwise loved the car, that was my backup plan to try first.

Oh and let’s not forget it’s to much to “mess with” to change the wheel. That add on top half wheel looks like it would take no more than 30 minutes. I’m sure it’s a whole more involved with selling and buying another car.

Also if I was losing $40K my concerns about warranty issues would definitely be down in priority.

Here is the wheel I was gonna get if I needed it.

I'm going to ask for rectangular wheels to go with my rectangular yoke next time I get a model S