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What is this headlight calibration setting mean? [not headlight, follow distance]
- Thread starter wmo168
- Start date
Thats not headlight calibration. Thats follow distance.
As you adjust the following distance, the touchscreen displays the current setting.
Note
Your setting is retained until you manually change it.
Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla
Learn about Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and its specifications.
www.tesla.com
Adjust the Following Distance
To adjust the following distance you want to maintain between Model 3 and a vehicle traveling ahead of you, press the steering wheel's right scroll button to the left or right. Choose a setting from 1 (the closest following distance) to 7 (the longest following distance). Each setting corresponds to a time-based distance that represents how long it takes for Model 3, from its current location, to reach the location of the rear bumper of the vehicle ahead of you.As you adjust the following distance, the touchscreen displays the current setting.
Note
Your setting is retained until you manually change it.
It probably doesn't matter anymore, as Tesla has been moving people to pure vision with the recent updates. Minimum following distance with radar is 1, vision is 2.
As far as what the numbers actually mean, I have no idea. Does anyone know? Car length? Seconds? or something else?
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
It says right there in the passage quoted in the manual:
"Each setting corresponds to a time-based distance that represents how long it takes for Model 3, from its current location, to reach the location of the rear bumper of the vehicle ahead of you."
MJB-CO
Member
Officially it is car length - but the following distance changes with speed so it is actually seconds. For any state I'm familiar with legal following distance is 3 seconds, only setting 7 is close to legal.
I always assumed the units were 0.5secs. So, setting 7 would be 3.5secs. And, then when I drive, I count the seconds after the car ahead passes a shadow, and it seems to be over 3secs before I pass the shadow, so I figured it must be 0.5sec increments. Then again, it doesn't seem all that precise when I change the units.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
The gap is required by law in most places. I drive manually most of the time and I leave a healthy gap and don't have issues with people trying to get in front of me. I typically stay in the second lane however and almost never in the leftmost lane (unless I'm well ahead of traffic), so someone that feels I'm slow can always pass me and stay on the leftmost lane.
I never realized 1 or 2 is that short (0.5 or 1 seconds is very short in my book). I guess a lot of people here are tailgaters.
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
That sounds like a lot in feet, but on a highway, it's not actually that much. Put another way, it's 1/18 of a mile.
Here's a screen shot of a car at 65mph and almost exactly 3 seconds of following distance:
I have definitely seen cars with that much following distance here in the Bay Area in California, although 2 seconds distance is more common. I generally drive with 2.5-3 seconds (people can easy merge in front of me when they want, but it's not so far that people can't see I'm following the car in front and think I'm falling behind traffic).
My point was more about the car being set at the lowest setting however. People were complaining even the 2 setting (1 second) was too long a distance and that they use the 1 setting (0.5 second).
When I had a Chevy Volt, it would tell me the follow gap in seconds. Around Boston, I realized the typical traffic gap that drivers were using was between 0.6 and 0.8secs. Way too stressful for me. And, I felt that 1.2secs was a comfortable distance for me.
Now, I use a setting of 7 when behind a semi, or other vehicle I feel might throw up rocks/pebbles. Otherwise, I adjust my spacing depending upon the situation, but generally, I'm far more relaxed about driving with my Tesla. If people want to dive-bomb the gap in front of my car, I let them.
rpiotro
Active Member
You'd never get where you are going around here with that gap. Cars would be constantly pulling in front of you with that big of a gap. Pretty soon you would be going backward.
At highway speed, I agree.
But when in heavy stop-and-go-traffic, I wish for a 0.25 setting. Basically, "ride 3 feet from the bumper in front of me, like everyone else sitting in this damn traffic."
If they would enable such a setting at below, say, 10mph (I'll even take 5mph) --- it would be glorious indeed.
The first time you have to sit in George Washington Bridge traffic trying to enter NYC, that setting would make all the sense in the world.
