You can use slip start which I don’t believe turns the nannies completely off but it will let the wheels spin without chopping power.
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We need "Off-Road Assist" for snow driving
- Thread starter cstork
- Start date
IronCoffee_Max
Member
Don’t be. I’ve had quite a few 4WD and AWD vehicles (Jeep, Audi, BMW, Toyota) - and my Model 3 AWS LR with stock tires has performed as well as any of them so far in the snow. I live in rural colorado so I’m driving on ice and snow and lately…had some deep snow. Drove through the snow-storm a week or so ago. It performed very well. And I know that Tesla does testing in Alaska for both 3 and Y. And Model 3s are extremely popular in Norway I believe.
Don’t get me wrong, though - I very much am advocating for a “snow mode” that takes into account regenerative braking, better power distribution, and more. I do think this is one of the biggest needs in an upcoming software update. Should’ve been done by now. Absolutely. However, I wouldn’t be disappointed.
That’s good news, Alex. To me, one of the benefits of having two independent motors (or better still, one at each corner) ought to be having the ability to have software work with the ABS sensors to control wheel slip appropriately for off-road or slippery roads. It would be disappointing if Tesla didn’t take advantage of it.
This conversation is interesting to me. I had to drive home in the midst of this last storm we had in my SR+ still equipped with the stock tires and had absolutely no issue other than visibility. I never once lost confidence in the car, I never lost control, and it handled itself like a champ.
My only complaint (which isn't really Tesla specific) was the wipers iced up and made the windshield worse so I had to stop on 95 a few times and try to get it all off.
My only complaint (which isn't really Tesla specific) was the wipers iced up and made the windshield worse so I had to stop on 95 a few times and try to get it all off.
I have had the complete opposite, driving with crossclimate+ in blizzards in Tahoe with no difficulties or slips whatsoever (except of course a few times in parking lots where I am purposefully drifting or pushing the car)
Honestly sounds like you all are trying to push it too hard and expecting the car to save you from poor driving. Never had any issues getting the car to do exactly what I want to do, even during a 5 foot blizzard
Sure having an off road option would be nice, all for more options, but dont expect it or another AWD car (like a Subaru) to save you from poor steering inputs in bad weather
Honestly sounds like you all are trying to push it too hard and expecting the car to save you from poor driving. Never had any issues getting the car to do exactly what I want to do, even during a 5 foot blizzard
Sure having an off road option would be nice, all for more options, but dont expect it or another AWD car (like a Subaru) to save you from poor steering inputs in bad weather
Conditions differ. Snow can be really sticky, which likely improves traction. Or it can be powdery, which can be hard for finding traction. What's under the fresh snow matters.
I find it plausible that in a really slippery conditions going uphill a RWD-biased AWD system could struggle to get going. I've experienced it in one AWD Bimmer I've driven in the snow. FWD-biased AWDs like Audi, Subaru etc aren't a good comparison.
I find it plausible that in a really slippery conditions going uphill a RWD-biased AWD system could struggle to get going. I've experienced it in one AWD Bimmer I've driven in the snow. FWD-biased AWDs like Audi, Subaru etc aren't a good comparison.
There's a similar discussion going on in the Model Y Forum right now - not clear that the off road assist is the magic answer as one person said it helped them, one didn't in that thread (still haven't had enough snow days to test it out myself yet). My first big snow drive experience in the Y dual motor was similar to Bjorn's description of the 3 below:
I suggest we all Tweet snow mode requests at Elon.
I suggest we all Tweet snow mode requests at Elon.
He sums up the issue perfectly in the video. I also learned something about how the 3/Y is different from S/X.
The guy who mentioned using Chill Mode nailed it. Not sure if any of you have tried that, but I had to venture out to rescue my wife on Thursday night, whose Audi autolocked her out with her keys in the car. Several road were closed, so I kept having to divert. And Knoxville is int he Smokey Mountains, I was on a lot of huge hills on sidestreets, and the snow was thick enough that I was pushing it with the car. Had my all season "range" tires on the car, fortunately. But I was absolutely blown away with how well the car handled the snow. The only care I've had that handled it better was an AWD car (Mazdaspeed6) I had that had snow tires all the way around. That was just becuase of the tires and where I lived (Ann Arbor, MI), which was flat with perfectly straight roads. I found the traction control to be exceedingly good - again, in Chill mode. Passed several stranded cars, and more than a few 4WD SUV's.
Yes have tried that it doesn’t solve the basic problem that the car is RWD until either it detects slip or you press hard enough on the accelerator that the system thinks that it needs to use the front motor to achieve the required performance.
The traction control is fine when you are moving. It also depends on the snow. Cold snow is grippy. Snow that is slushy, on top of ice, or otherwise wetter is much more slick. Next time it snows in Knoxville find a road with some incline come to a complete stop and try to go you’ll see that the rear wheels slip and then the front motor engages. You can demonstrate this in either standard/sport or chill modes.
Nothing works on ice. Nothing. And we don't get dry snow in Knoxville.
Ih, by the way......here is my driveway. What was that about stopping on a steep hill again?
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I’m very glad the car met all of your expectations in snow that doesn’t change the fact that it is a RWD until it detects slip which doesn’t work a lot of the time. The snow the silver car is on is a good example of what we get when there is enough traffics volume to chew up the packed snow but not enough to get down to pavement like the left tire the red pickup is running on. This road is a 7%+ grade
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TimothyHW3
Active Member
Chill mode doesn't do anything when you hit slush on a downhill. The car will just steer off as it is essentially RWD.
Driving on these roads from your picture is no problem. You can even manage going straight in summer tyres with a little effort. The problem comes at windy roads with incline, then you are screwed, the car is very undrivable. Yes, even with winter tyres in chill mode. It just slides like hell. Trust me, go try norwegian roads in the winter, Bjorn knows what he is talking about - it is NOT fun. They have so many crashes there each winter it is not fun.
Look at that video - it is firm ice on the bottom with compacted snow ontop. Trust me - the minute the car kicks into 50/50 mode (which it does, once you have already slid) then the car is perfect and drives like on rails. As soon as it timeouts (no idea why these California boys wrote the code like that, to timeout in 5 minutes, as if the snow will magically melt in 5 minutes) - then you are back to RWD and it is awful.
Thankfully the guys from S3XY buttons are bringing off-road in a button which is basically snow mode (50/50 FMotor RMotor)
Vendor - S3XY Buttons - Regenerative braking
Presenting Doors (Beta) Presenting doors, meaning opening the doors? Please make it via a button on the App/Dashboard too great in the winter! That will be great, because I and a lot of people refuse to update the car to vision only and have older SW version and don't have the option in the app...
teslamotorsclub.com
That's interesting. So the workaround is to deliberately make the wheels slip at least once every 4 minutes, 59 seconds?
Well AFAIK Tesla still hasn't added a "snow mode" to the Model 3.
TimothyHW3
Active Member
I don't know what the timeout is, but it feels like about 5 minutes or so. The problem is that once it kicks back in after the timeout it is even harder to bring it back to 50/50 even when sliding. But yes, as soon as I drive out I try to make the car slide so that it kicks into 50/50 mode . I assume the reason they don't add this mode is because of EPA. Otherwise they might have to test the range in that mode too. And I don't think they can call it off-road mode on a 3, from marketing perspective. I am sure the guy overlooking the terrible UI change after v11 is the same guy making the calls for this. Could be Musk himself
They have to the Performance. Works great. I can adjust the power split, traction control, and even the amount of regen braking.
Are you referring to Track Mode? Which Tesla specifically says to only use on closed-circuit race courses and never to use on public roads?They have to the Performance. Works great. I can adjust the power split, traction control, and even the amount of regen braking.
You mean the mode that works exactly as you describe in this thread. Albeit with a little more user control. Yes, that mode.
You can't adjust the power split in a straight line. The split only occurs when you turn the wheel.I can adjust the power split, traction control, and even the amount of regen braking.
Try it sometime, even in the dry. Make the car full FWD. Mash the throttle. Car still does 0-60 in about 3 seconds, which is not possible for FWD.
Now, drive it that way but feed in some steering angle and it will overwhelm the front tires.
This is why they call it "handling balance" not "power split".
Given track mode disables some safety features, it is a pretty questionable way to get what people want in the snow.
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