True Story or Not?: "Frunk opened at 115mph and caused $20k damage on brand new P85"

[Lloyd]

AR.......At one time driving at a hair-raising 25 MPH was considered ludicrous speed when cars were first introduced. If proper precautions are taken, higher speeds can be safe. Todays cars can be. Its everyone else that you have to look out for. I did 110 on my factory introduction test drive as I wanted to test brake fade with a loaded car. It was on a straight stretch with no side roads or traffic. You might have to report me also!!

 

[AmpedRealtor]

You live in AZ and called the CHP to report an incident you read in a thread....I guarantee you that you were the laughing stock of that CHP office after your call.

Officer Lee would disagree with you on that. Again, I am quite confident that I did the right thing and I certainly have nothing to apologize for. Apparently they get quite the number of complaints about Tesla drivers.

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Every test drive car and loaner that I've driven has been limited to 80 MPH, but all the test drives were before I got my car, early last year. Maybe things have changed.

I believe you're correct about that. His story was a bit embellished.

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I can't think of a good reason to allow the frunk to be opened while in drive, but not moving. I think they should disable both the frunk and trunk fob buttons when the car is not in park.

I agree. Same goes for the screen buttons.

 

[lalainyourface]

Oh! It's Elisa, she helped me with my test drive. I wonder if I ask her she will tell me :O.

 

[efusco]

But the car may be limited in top speed if the frunk is open, in which case it's not really an oversight. Someone needs to try it by opening the frunk, then seeing if they can exceed 10 mph or so.

I tested this last night, drove about 15-18mph with the frunk unlatched. I shot video...will try to upload & share.

 

[efusco]

Tesla Frunk behavior. - YouTube

 

[Denarius]

Tesla Frunk behavior. - YouTube

Looks like you had to go into park to pop it?

 

[FreeOfPge]

Tesla Frunk behavior. - YouTube

Thanks for posting, I did the same test last night using the fob rather than the screen, and needless to say had the same outcome.

Looks like you had to go into park to pop it?

The fob will open the frunk while in drive, but only if the car is stationary.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Someone should forward a link to that site over to the Fremont Police and CHP. He is publicly admitting to breaking the law, he should be prosecuted for felony speeding. Sorry if any disagrees, but driving 115 MPH anywhere other than a track is irresponsible and should be punishable with jail time.

As written from someone with no experience on the Autobahn perhaps?

With all due respect, 115 MPH is more than reasonable, under SOME conditions, even in the US . . .

Paint not with so broad a brush. The sooner we adopt proper driver education (such as Slower Traffic Keep Right, etc.), the sooner we'll be able to enhance the time-efficiency of the MS. The essence of transportation is speed; why not embrace it?

 

[ToddRLockwood]

I tested this last night, drove about 15-18mph with the frunk unlatched. I shot video...will try to upload & share.

Did you try opening the frunk while the car was in motion?

 

[dsm363]

True Story or Not?: "Frunk opened at 115mph and caused $20k damage on brand n...

As written from someone with no experience on the Autobahn perhaps?

With all due respect, 115 MPH is more than reasonable, under SOME conditions, even in the US . . .

Paint not with so broad a brush. The sooner we adopt proper driver education (such as Slower Traffic Keep Right, etc.), the sooner we'll be able to enhance the time-efficiency of the MS. The essence of transportation is speed; why not embrace it?

While I agree with your larger point it makes almost no sense anywhere in the U.S. Mainly because no one is expecting it. On the autobahn people expect cars at a very high speed to come from the left. People simply wouldn't know to look for a car going 120mph where the speed limit is 55.

Yes there are areas where you could like the open plains but that isn't the main point.

 

[FreeOfPge]

Did you try opening the frunk while the car was in motion?

Yes I did. Here's a summary of my test:

Car in drive and motion:

• Fob would not open frunk
• Manual latch (under glove box) did open frunk, but secondary safety latch kept frunk closed
• At the exact moment the car stopped moving, the fob opened the frunk*
• Touch screen was not tested

Car in drive, but not in motion

• Fob opened frunk
• Car moved with frunk open - audible and visual warnings were present
• Manual latch (under glove box) opened frunk, but secondary safety latch kept frunk closed
• Touch screen was not tested

*I continuously clicked the fob while in motion, at the exact moment the car stopped, the frunk opened.

 

[dhanson865]

While I agree with your larger point it makes almost no sense anywhere in the U.S. Mainly because no one is expecting it. On the autobahn people expect cars at a very high speed to come from the left. People simply wouldn't know to look for a car going 120mph where the speed limit is 55.

Yes there are areas where you could like the open planes but that isn't the main point.

I think you are being unrealistic here.

0. "it makes almost no sense anywhere in the U.S." and "Yes there are areas where you could" in the same post is inconsistent. I'm just going to ignore second and respond to the first.

1. There are wide stretches of 4 lane (2 lanes each way with a divider well above the width of 2 lanes) that are perfectly flat and have visibility of 2 miles assuming no atmospheric interference (rain, snow, fog, dust storm).

2. Much of these roads have a higher speed limit than the 55 you quoted.

Texas 75; 80 or 85 on specified segments
Utah 75; 80 on specified segments
Arizona 75
Montana 75
Kansas 75
Idaho 75
Nevada 75
New Mexico 75
Wyoming 75
Indiana 70

and on and on

3. You don't have to expect it on a road that straight with that little traffic. You and the car you are passing might be the only car on that strip of road. Both drivers will have several minutes to watch the passing occur (assume the slower driver at 80 and faster driver at 120 the overtake speed is 40 mph, if you see the car at 2 miles ahead he'll see you as you pull away until you are 2 miles ahead, 4 miles worth of overtaking at the 40 mph difference is 6 minutes, if the difference in speed is less you'll be seeing each other longer, if the visibility is worse you'll see each other starting at a shorter distance but likely the overtaking will happen with a lesser speed differential.) Go ahead and drive some of these roads west of the Appalachian mountains / Piedmont. There are plenty out there even some that are east of the Mississippi river that would be very safe for driving above 100 mph.

If that driver can't figure out the faster car is going to pass him with several minutes to analyze the relationship something is wrong with that driver that makes it a non issue what country you are in.

 

[dsm363]

True Story or Not?: "Frunk opened at 115mph and caused $20k damage on brand n...

I think you are being unrealistic here.

0. "it makes almost no sense anywhere in the U.S." and "Yes there are areas where you could" in the same post is inconsistent. I'm just going to ignore second and respond to the first.

1. There are wide stretches of 4 lane (2 lanes each way with a divider well above the width of 2 lanes) that are perfectly flat and have visibility of 2 miles assuming no atmospheric interference (rain, snow, fog, dust storm).

2. Much of these roads have a higher speed limit than the 55 you quoted.

Texas 75; 80 or 85 on specified segments
Utah 75; 80 on specified segments
Arizona 75
Montana 75
Kansas 75
Idaho 75
Nevada 75
New Mexico 75
Wyoming 75
Indiana 70

and on and on

3. You don't have to expect it on a road that straight with that little traffic. You and the car you are passing might be the only car on that strip of road. Both drivers will have several minutes to watch the passing occur (assume the slower driver at 80 and faster driver at 120 the overtake speed is 40 mph, if you see the car at 2 miles ahead he'll see you as you pull away until you are 2 miles ahead, 4 miles worth of overtaking at the 40 mph difference is 6 minutes, if the difference in speed is less you'll be seeing each other longer, if the visibility is worse you'll see each other starting at a shorter distance but likely the overtaking will happen with a lesser speed differential.) Go ahead and drive some of these roads west of the Appalachian mountains / Piedmont. There are plenty out there even some that are east of the Mississippi river that would be very safe for driving above 100 mph.

If that driver can't figure out the faster car is going to pass him with several minutes to analyze the relationship something is wrong with that driver that makes it a non issue what country you are in.

They are not inconsistent. I didn't say there weren't areas of the country you could set this up just that right now, just that if everyone else is basically obeying the law and you shoot by at mph then you could either cause an accident or get into one. I certainly wouldn't mind if the legal speed limited were raised to 80-100mph in areas it made sense. That's just not the way it is now though.

I used 55mph in my example because those speeds exist. Not that I didn't know there were highways with higher speeds.

 

[efusco]

Did you try opening the frunk while the car was in motion?

The Frunk button is grayed out & unusable in Drive. Someone else tested the fob which works in D but NOT if the car is moving.

 

[Todd Burch]

OK, so the point is he either would have had to jump through hoops to make this happen (open frunk while stopped, ignore visible and audio warnings) or there was some kind of mechanical issue. I don't see this as a safety issue--there are plenty of reasonable safegaurds in place.

 

[dsm363]

Or it never happened. That seems more likely at this point.

 

[Seesaw]

Isnt whether you are in drive or park missing the point, as its possible it can be unlocked while in park then you drive off.

the real issue is that it sounds like its impossible for the hood to flick up at speed anyway as there is the secondary mechanical latch you physically have to disengage to open the hood, like any other car?

 

[NonChaotic]

LOL, so much wrong here. Somebody needs to grab a copy of the traffic code.

 

[murphyS85]

Isnt whether you are in drive or park missing the point, as its possible it can be unlocked while in park then you drive off.

the real issue is that it sounds like its impossible for the hood to flick up at speed anyway as there is the secondary mechanical latch you physically have to disengage to open the hood, like any other car?

Unfortunately no. If the frunk is opened from the control panel or with the fob the secondary latch is also released. The secondary latch is only engaged if the frunk is opened by the handle underneath the glove box.