10,000 miles into my Model S over a 2 month period, I disagree. The torque sensing is very sensitive and only requires any touch that opposes the steering torque to reset the timer back to 1, 3, or 5 minutes depending on the driving scenarios. You don't need to death grip the wheel, just a mild nudge of the wheel to one direction or the other for 1-2 seconds on a straight road, or just hold the wheel as the car turns it around curves.
The disengagement torque is substantially stronger than the necessary torque to convince the car you are holding the wheel.