Unsafe Following 3 second or 1 second or what?

[JulienW]

Trying to lower my Unsafe Following and a little confused. Was at 2% this morning and did 10 miles and I was behind a car in the HOV lane and keep a 3+ to 4 second distance. My score stayed the same. I then tried the same drive and tried to keep a more consistent 3 second distance. This time I lowered to 1.5%. It is very hard to precisely stay at 3 seconds so what happens as you get closer?

How far is the max distance allowed to count as a Following positive rating (3 second???) and what is the min to get negative rating (1 second???)? In other words what really is the starting spot, the sweet spot, the negative or is it variable.

For instance is it:

• 1 second of less counts against you but you must be within 3 seconds to count? So 3 seconds to 1 second you get an even percentage of milage positive. 1 second or less and you get an even percentage of mileage against you?
• Or is it more like exactly 3 second and you get the most percentage positive and it starts to decline as you get closer and at about 1.1 second it is nothing. Then as you get closer it starts subtracting more of a percentage the closer you get.
• Or something else?

 

[drb116]

I believe it is the number of seconds you are driving within 1 second of the car in front of you divided by the number of seconds you are driving within 3 seconds of the car in front of you, expressed as a percentage.

 

[Michael_Vinson]

I believe it is the number of seconds you are driving within 1 second of the car in front of you divided by the number of seconds you are driving within 3 seconds of the car in front of you, expressed as a percentage.

This is correct. I try to keep two seconds behind, which gives me leeway in both directions. Also, it only counts if you are going 50mph or faster.

But this parameter is the least impactful to your overall score. Hard breaking and forward collision warnings (FCWs) are much more damaging. As noted on another thread, hard braking can be mitigated by spending time decelerating using regen (one-foot) only, to increase the denominator of the ratio without bringing up the numerator. But FCWs are much harder to ameliorate -- you just have to drive many many miles without getting any additional dings.

Michael

 

[JulienW]

This is correct. I try to keep two seconds behind, which gives me leeway in both directions. Also, it only counts if you are going 50mph or faster.

But this parameter is the least impactful to your overall score. Hard breaking and forward collision warnings (FCWs) are much more damaging. As noted on another thread, hard braking can be mitigated by spending time decelerating using regen (one-foot) only, to increase the denominator of the ratio without bringing up the numerator. But FCWs are much harder to ameliorate -- you just have to drive many many miles without getting any additional dings.

Michael

Thx, this helps so 3 seconds to 1 second are all the same and averaging a 2 second is the BEST strategy?

Also on Hard Braking. Is Regen always safe from Hard Braking? Can't see a way to know if you are dropping 7MPH a second. Can't look at speedometer and no way to "count" like distance.

I have been trying to feather the Regen so it into so abrupt but seems obtuse for Regen to produce a Hard Braking event.

I did a some "dumb ass looking" speed up and slow down to lower my Hard Braking score and went from 0.5% to 0.4%.

 

[n.one.one]

..................Also on Hard Braking. Is Regen always safe from Hard Braking? Can't see a way to know if you are dropping 7MPH a second. Can't look at speedometer and no way to "count" like distance.

I have been trying to feather the Regen so it into so abrupt but seems obtuse for Regen to produce a Hard Braking event.
..............

The general consensus seems to be that regen on standard is good...but...be careful of using regen on downhill stops. The combination of regen and using the brake can easily cause a problem. My experience has validated those opinions to my satisfaction. As they always say YMMV .

 

[JulienW]

Just had a break and what do I do but get in my Tesla and drive up and down the Interstate. Was more aggressive with braking (full regen) and even a tiny bit on turning to lower it. I had been turning so gently I think it was too little G forces to count as a turn and lower my score. Oddly I got dinged a little on Aggressive Turning (over all went from 0.3% to 0.4%). So I guess give up on that and stay as gentle on turns as possible. No way to judge the "sweet spot" that I can feel. Anyone have any ideas?

Braking was 0.0% for drive but overall stayed the same 0.4%. So no help there. Guess I need to do lot more speeding up and slowing down to effect the score.

Unsafe Following was 0.9% (did lower overall score from 1.5% to 1.2%) and I never got within 1 second. I did have to get out of the HOV lane to get behind cars. I think it may have perceived cars in left or right lane from me, maybe going around a curve as being too close.

This is no easy game (especially for city folks) Elon has us playing.

 

[Z_Lynx]

There must be some other parameters thrown into this. After four driving days of 99 and 100%s and 0% following too close, I recorded a 60% following too close (daily score of 98).

Most of this was under 50mph and more than half with no cars in front at all.

I wonder if that 60% failure rate is of a small subset of miles when speed was over 50 and there were cars in front. This, despite feeling like I had quite adequate spacing, more than anyone else.

Would definitely be helpful to have some kind of audible feedback when you don't know what they are addressing.

 

[ace2231]

There must be some other parameters thrown into this. After four driving days of 99 and 100%s and 0% following too close, I recorded a 60% following too close (daily score of 98).

Most of this was under 50mph and more than half with no cars in front at all.

I wonder if that 60% failure rate is of a small subset of miles when speed was over 50 and there were cars in front. This, despite feeling like I had quite adequate spacing, more than anyone else.

Would definitely be helpful to have some kind of audible feedback when you don't know what they are addressing.

I also got hit with this. I Drive with about 90% Autopilot and 99% when on the interstate. I got home the other day and had 60% following to close, I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and I had Autopilot engaged and I have it set to 4 car lengths follow distance. Not sure how I got this. After that I got 30% then a 40% day. Then yesterday I got 0. My Driving style has not changed. I guess the one good thing is this does not affect your score as bad but I feel like that's a hit either way. Currently combined I have 44.4 % Unsafe Following

 

[nvx1977]

there have been reports of getting unsafe following under 50mph. so i would try to maintain that 1-3 sec distance no matter what speed you're going.

At highway speeds, having the car in front of you barely showing on the visualization is close to the 3 second mark. If someone moves between you and the lead car, regen immediately to increase distance.

Best thing to do is drive at night when there are fewer cars, then find one that is going the speed you want to go at, and follow them for 5-10 min. That should clear almost all of any unsafe following dings.

 

[hsinclair]

I also got hit with this. I Drive with about 90% Autopilot and 99% when on the interstate. I got home the other day and had 60% following to close, I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and I had Autopilot engaged and I have it set to 4 car lengths follow distance. Not sure how I got this. After that I got 30% then a 40% day. Then yesterday I got 0. My Driving style has not changed. I guess the one good thing is this does not affect your score as bad but I feel like that's a hit either way. Currently combined I have 44.4 % Unsafe Following

I got hit with this today on a drive that I did with autopilot w/ navigation. I got a 60% on the drive so the whole "driving on Autopilot your score is not negatively affected" thing is BS... Everytime I've gotten a ding on my safety score was either while Autopilot was on or when I had to recover for when Autopilot screwed up.

 

[Schlesinger183]

Does anyone know how this works: Driving on freeway keeping long headway from car in front, other car enters my lane between us and speeds up, I slow down - but momentarily “unsafe following” say for about 2 seconds. I get dinged for this - is that right? I really feel this situation is impossible to avoid. Right?

 

[JulienW]

Does anyone know how this works: Driving on freeway keeping long headway from car in front, other car enters my lane between us and speeds up, I slow down - but momentarily “unsafe following” say for about 2 seconds. I get dinged for this - is that right? I really feel this situation is impossible to avoid. Right?

You can 100% avoid being dinged on the freeway. Freeway driving you should be in AP 100% of the time. If you are NOT using AP you will likely be dinged severely and often for Following Distance.

 

[speedy]

Does anyone know how this works: Driving on freeway keeping long headway from car in front, other car enters my lane between us and speeds up, I slow down - but momentarily “unsafe following” say for about 2 seconds. I get dinged for this - is that right? I really feel this situation is impossible to avoid. Right?

Pretty much, which is why many folks are just resetting the whole drive with the two button reset when something like this happens. If you also had some past FCWs, you will also have to drive MANY miles at 100 to mitigate that, which is why many folks also restart their Safety Score by opting out and then back in.

 

[speedy]

You can 100% avoid being dinged on the freeway. Freeway driving you should be in AP 100% of the time. If you are NOT using AP you will likely be dinged severely and often for Following Distance.

In my experience, when AP had to suddenly slow down on the highway due to stopped traffic, the hard braking it did dinged my score. I know they say stuff that happens during AP doesn't count, but that has not been my experience....

 

[JulienW]

In my experience, when AP had to suddenly slow down on the highway due to stopped traffic, the hard braking it did dinged my score. I know they say stuff that happens during AP doesn't count, but that has not been my experience....

AP never dings. It may have appeared that way but something else happened either before or after your were on AP. Here is an example event I had. AP missed traffic backup, car pull in front of minivan and had a full on Emergency Brake form about 65 MPH. I also hit the brakes milliseconds after AP engaged Emergency Breaking knocking off AP but since AP had intuited the Breaking event it didn't ding for Hard Braking. However I did get dinged for following too Close since I disengaged AP. Had I not hit the brakes it would have been a perfect score but I could not stop myself.