Tips for not getting rear-ended

[msanborn08]

I have only 473 miles on my MYP and this is my first Tesla. I have been driving a stick shift car for most of my life so getting use to feathering the accelerator was super easy to get the hang of.

The problem I have is that I feel like I've almost been rear ended maybe a half a dozen times already. I've been trying to watch when the break lights come on in the center screen and unless I actually try to get them to turn on or legitimately need to slow down, they only come on for that last 7 - 3 mph.

I guess I'm having a hard time alerting people they need to start slowing down without making my ride as smooth as I would prefer.

Anyone else have this issue and maybe more importantly, how you find the correct balance between smooth driving and not getting rear-ended?

 

[jjrandorin]

they only come on for that last 7 - 3 mph

Nope, thats not true at all (or if it is on your car, you need a service visit). The brakes come on when there is a certain amount of deceleration. They come on all the time. Have someone ride with you and use a cameraphone to video the screen, you will see how much they "actually" come on.

Drive it just like you drive a manual car, as long as you are not pulsing the accelerator (which, from your manual car experience, you likely are not doing). you are no likelier to get rear ended in this car than any other.

 

[jcanoe]

If there is no else in the Tesla with you then I would regen hard, i.e. remove your foot from the accelerator pedal and let the Tesla apply maximum regenerative braking. The brake lights should come on.

 

[msanborn08]

Drive it just like you drive a manual car

I think that is the problem. I'm pacing the car in front of me, along with looking ahead at reasons to stop and unless someone is doing something dumb, I'm only lightly in the green for regen in most stopping situations. I had 83k miles on my original front pads on my last car I owned for a while and they still had some life left in them but it felt weird not changing them in 10 years so I did it anyway..

So unless I actively try NOT driving smoothly and lift off the accelerator more then I need to, then only to need more input into the accelerator to undo that will I always see the brake lights come on the screen. Other then that, it's only that last few mph that I for sure notice and based on how many extra car lengths people have been giving me, I suspect its true. But having someone video the screen is a good idea considering I'm trying to pay attention to when I need to stop.

Since this has been on my mind now and I'm trying to pay more attention to this, I think I have noticed their might be a sweet spot in the accelerator where the lights do come on, yet I'm not drastically loosing momentum. From the short drive I did today, that seems like maybe ~3-5% depressed. I'll have to try and pay more attention to that moving forward.

I will say, I always thought it was strange when watching videos of people driving a Tesla that kept the cameras up while driving. I'm starting to see why they are doing that.

 

[NBCGLX]

I agree. If you're at all adept at feathering the accelerator pedal, it's possible to come almost to a complete stop without the brake lights ever coming on. This isn't physically possible in a modern ICE car because they have virtually no engine braking any longer, and so even with a modern stick shift you're forced to hit the brake pedal for any meaningful amount of deceleration. Not the case in Tesla's, you can absolutely achieve very meaningful (and alarming to trailing drivers) deceleration without the brake lights coming on. This was the case with our i3, too. My husband doesn't have this issue, but he's also not nearly as smooth with the accelerator pedal (wasn't with our i3, either).

 

[crusader2007]

Is there a way to disable regenerative braking? I basically keep on forcing to tap on brakes even when using regen braking. That way I alert drivers not to hit me and I have been hit when I don't manually hit on brakes. Shame that a car with autopilot does not offer any protection from being hit from behind.

 

[theganjaguru]

Don’t drive with a$$ holes If you don’t want to get rear ended... I just got rear ended because an idiot was not paying attention. Traffic stopped in front of me on the highway. Slowed to a stop. Someone 5 cars back plowed into the cars behind me and pushed the 4th car into me. The fact is that you should not be worried about getting rear ended. Safe following distance does not change based upon whether or not you drive a stick, automatic or an EV.