Why didn't the car go into Park Automatically here?

[ShayZ]

I have been racking my brain trying to figure this out.

My car ran me over. Was this supposed to happen?
2022 Tesla model Y
Friday night I went out to eat. Left the restaurant and the waitress came out to hand me my Togo box I had left inside. I push down on the brake pedal to lock the car in place. Brake lights in place, car is at a full park, door opens. (isnt the Tesla supposed to go into auto park here?)

As one or two feet are out of the vehicle the car starts reversing. I freak out as the car door is pushing the waitress and I throw my leg inside to hit the brake. I accidently overreact and have hit the gas. I guess I am in limbo here, partially in and partially out of the car with no seat belt on.

The car reverses, knocks the waitress over, and since I am not in the car, it knocks me over and the driver side wheel/tire run over my entire lower body. The car ends up stopping about 20 feet away or so. It proceeded to drive for 1-2 more seconds with no driver in the seat.

Obviously I was on the ground and could not move. Pants were ripped wide open along with my underwear and I had bruises, was bleeding and scratches all over my lower body.
Was taken to the hospital, no broken bones incredibly. Now I’m home in a lot of pain and just wondering what the hell happened here.
Isn’t a Tesla supposed to stop if no driver is in the seat? I for sure hit the brake and pushed it down to lock the car in place. Why did my car not go into park when I opened the door at 0 mph with no seat belt on? Why did the car continue to drive with no one in the driver seat?

 

[ShayZ]

I have tried to recreate this, and it appears at 0 mph, once the door opens, my Tesla is NOT going into park as intended. This is not normal right?

video-1645309416.mp4

drive.google.com

 

[wweaver1991]

what? Put your car in park. What is with tesla drivers relying on these cars like they dont have to control them.

Im so appalled by how horrendous so many tesla drivers are at … DRIVING.

Really need to step it up people.

 

[gumbyOne]

Why would you expect the car to go into park??? Put the car literally in park like the other commenter said. Or at least, put a hold on the brake. Jesus.

 

[Montucky]

Dude - Glad you're okay, but would we be having this same conversation if you had stepped out of your fuel-powered car with the shifter still in drive?? Wondering why the car moved forward after you stepped out?

Tesla will cover your butt in many circumstances, but it will never overcome basic common sense.

 

[Corndart]

TBF to the OP, the manual on page 52 does say it will shift into park automatically if you unbuckle the drivers seat belt, drivers occupancy sensor detects no occupant, and the drivers door is opened. It also warns that you should not rely on this and place into park. It also says it may not work on a slope, or if creep is enabled.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Pictures or dash-cam video of the incident, of course plenty must have been taken/saved, or this very likely did not happen....just my hunch.

 

[jjrandorin]

I have tried to recreate this, and it appears at 0 mph, once the door opens, my Tesla is NOT going into park as intended. This is not normal right?

video-1645309416.mp4

drive.google.com

What likely happened is, your car is either in hold mode or creep mode, and you expected the car to go into park which it does not in all cases, instead of putting the car in park yourself.

Thats a "you" issue (not putting the car in park).

Similar to what happened in this very recent thread in the model 3 subforum:

Shot forward when parked [unintended acceleration - resolved by OP]

Hi Carole! Welcome to TMC. I’m fashionably late to the party but just wanted to say welcome, and thank you. Even with the unfortunate damage done, this has been a great thread to read. Your enthusiasm and willingness to better understand the car is super, super refreshing. Makes me jealous...

teslamotorsclub.com

Specifically, post #4 in that thread has an excerpt DIRECTLY from the tesla manual:

Shot forward when parked [unintended acceleration - resolved by OP]

I parked my Model 3 on my level driveway this evening, opened my drivers door and as I put my foot out of the car to exit, it shot forward into the wall, and rammed the open drivers door into my daughter’s car which was alongside, slamming the door onto my foot which was now very painfully...

teslamotorsclub.com

The above is a link to that post, and to save time in case you dont want to click the link, here it is, screenshotted:

Specifically it lays out what has to happen for the car to go into autopark AND SPECIFICALLY says " It is the drivers responsibility to always ensure the vehicle is in park before existing. Never rely on Model 3 to automatically shift into park for you. It might not work, in all circumstances )for example, if creep or a slope causes the vehicle to travel greater than approximately 1.5mph.


So This is 100% a result of the OP not putting the car into park or "expecting" the "car to do it for me".

The specific "full and complete" answer to the question of "what happened here?" is " You didnt put the car in park, and it rolled away".

 

[wweaver1991]

Pictures or dash-cam video of the incident, of course plenty must have been taken/saved, or this very likely did not happen....just my hunch.

Right? I feel like people post stuff on here blaming tesla when a) it happened completely differently b) they expect tesla to allow them to be a moron NPC driver

 

[Corndart]

Right? I feel like people post stuff on here blaming tesla when a) it happened completely differently b) they expect tesla to allow them to be a moron NPC driver

Not sure the ad hominem attacks are very productive here. I didn't view it as "blaming Tesla"; they were trying to understand why auto park behave as expected.

 

[Montucky]

TBF to the OP, the manual on page 52 does say it will shift into park automatically if you unbuckle the drivers seat belt, drivers occupancy sensor detects no occupant, and the drivers door is opened. It also warns that you should not rely on this and place into park. It also says it may not work on a slope, or if creep is enabled.

Good point. It's a puzzling outcome for sure, but also a solid reminder that we should never blindly trust technology with our safety or the safety of others... there's always some fringe case just waiting to be revealed.

 

[whatthe2]

Not sure the ad hominem attacks are very productive here. I didn't view it as "blaming Tesla"; they were trying to understand why auto park behave as expected.

This is how I read it as well.

 

[mswlogo]

TBF to the OP, the manual on page 52 does say it will shift into park automatically if you unbuckle the drivers seat belt, drivers occupancy sensor detects no occupant, and the drivers door is opened. It also warns that you should not rely on this and place into park. It also says it may not work on a slope, or if creep is enabled.

I was gonna ask if Auto Hold was on.

Most cars these days will go into park when a door is open with electronic shifters (ICE or EV). But I would not rely on it. Especially when people are getting in and out of cars. On my ICE if someone was getting in or out, I never relied on my foot on the brake because you might get distracted. Say someone fell, you might reach to help them and take foot off brake not thinking. Always put it in park.

OP was stupid, but correct, it shouldn’t have moved.

 

[jmaddr]

My experience is auto hold needs to be engaged for the auto-park to function.
In his attached video, he is going up a hill and slows just slowly enough to hit zero but not engage auto hold. Seems like a very hard to replicate in a real world scenario but one that could happen none the less. This situation should be coded against. @ShayZ, what happens when you apply the brakes and come to a stop like you normally would with either one pedal driving or brake? Does auto-hold and then auto-park then work?

 

[nate704]

Again, most Tesla owners are not CAR people, and treat their cars as a computer/smartphone instead of actual car that can kill you or others.

 

[CyberGus]

The "runaway car" phenomenon seems to occur for EVs far more than ICE, in great part due to the auditory cue of the idling engine. There's also no key to remove from a Tesla, nor gears to disengage. EVs are different, but not particularly perplexing to learn.

For additional safety during this introductory learning period, I advocate for harsher notifications when features like "auto park" are necessitated. Something like a loud noise, and a picture on the screen of the stalk with a notice to "push here next time please kthx".

I guess some input isn't error.

 

[gx9901]

Whoa that sounds insane. Glad the OP did not get seriously injured.

I also thought the car gets put into park automatically when you open the door, because I've had a few instances where I forgot to put the car into park before opening the door and got the warning chime and car put itself into park. I have never taken my stop mode out of "Hold". Good to know that the car putting itself into park with door opened is not necessarily always the case and I will pay attention accordingly.

 

[1speed]

I'm guessing when you twisted to hop out of the car, maybe your foot gently hit one of the pedals.

 

[specialgreen]

Is there a valid, safe use-case for driving with a door open? (My farmer grandpa used to open and spit at intersections, but not when moving). I saw a minivan going down the street with side door open and it looked horribly unsafe. I also talked to a Tesla-approved auto body shop mechanic, and he said they get a steady stream of Model X's where the driver tries to exit the garage with a gull wing still open. Big business opportunity for him.

Seems like: door Open @ low speed should cause emergency brake assist, then park. I see no reason to make exceptions for seatbelt, or creep, or anything.

 

[Coloradogramps]

Is there a valid, safe use-case for driving with a door open? (My farmer grandpa used to open and spit at intersections, but not when moving). I saw a minivan going down the street with side door open and it looked horribly unsafe. I also talked to a Tesla-approved auto body shop mechanic, and he said they get a steady stream of Model X's where the driver tries to exit the garage with a gull wing still open. Big business opportunity for him.

Seems like: door Open @ low speed should cause emergency brake assist, then park. I see no reason to make exceptions for seatbelt, or creep, or anything.

I am guessing the waitress tip went from 20% to 2000%