And this is what happens when you get so many automated things. People just expect the machine to make it impossible for them to be hurt. Take responsibility for your own actions, do NOT rely on something or someone else to automatically do things for you.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...
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:
View attachment 772025
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".
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Why didn't the car go into Park Automatically here?
- Thread starter ShayZ
- Start date
This is a very helpful insight. I also have noticed a second after the car hits 0mph before the click indicating hold mode is on.
My first guess was that the OP had the car set to Creep mode rather than Hold mode. But if Hold does not engage for a second and he was on a slight slope, there could be a bit of a roll until Hold engages.
For fun, I just tested this in our Bolt.
This is slightly different from Tesla, because the Bolt rear brakes e-brake is a pretty weak mechanism. If it engaged on the highway by accident, you'd get a rear-wheel skid and need new brakes, but you wouldn't have a 300 foot stopping distance for sure.
Tesla has a system that _usually_ (or even "almost always") dings and goes to Park... but not always. And so the manual has a warning telling you that it's your job to put it in Park. So anybody who doesn't put it into park is at fault.
The thing that makes me wonder is: what are these conditions that circumvent the safety measure? Maybe Tesla doesn't fully trust the combination of signals (drivers seat occupancy, driver's seatbelt, door-open, low-speed), and thinks perhaps one of those sensors is bad (bad sensors are a common thing). For example, if the car is actually going at 50mph, and the driver wanted to spit out the door, a panic stop could be worse than not braking.
But I think in that case, it would still be possible to at least cut propulsion power. The OP flooring the accelerator would not have sent the car backwards. It seems like a safe bet that if you have:
I get all the comments that ignoring the manual made it the driver's fault. That doesn't mean the car should just blow-up whenever somebody does something stupid. Preventing humans from screwing everything up is a big Tesla goal. If there's an easy way to prevent this driver mistake from causing an accident, it should be implemented. (or, I guess you could try to describe the scenario where an empty drivers seat, no seatbelt and door open really needs a working accelerator pedal. Maybe there's a perfectly valid reason.)
- When in R, pulling the door handle engages e-brake (but not P... car stays in R)
- When in D, pulling the door handle does nothing (!). You have to pull it twice to get it to open, then door opens and e-brake engages (but stays in D).
This is slightly different from Tesla, because the Bolt rear brakes e-brake is a pretty weak mechanism. If it engaged on the highway by accident, you'd get a rear-wheel skid and need new brakes, but you wouldn't have a 300 foot stopping distance for sure.
Tesla has a system that _usually_ (or even "almost always") dings and goes to Park... but not always. And so the manual has a warning telling you that it's your job to put it in Park. So anybody who doesn't put it into park is at fault.
The thing that makes me wonder is: what are these conditions that circumvent the safety measure? Maybe Tesla doesn't fully trust the combination of signals (drivers seat occupancy, driver's seatbelt, door-open, low-speed), and thinks perhaps one of those sensors is bad (bad sensors are a common thing). For example, if the car is actually going at 50mph, and the driver wanted to spit out the door, a panic stop could be worse than not braking.
But I think in that case, it would still be possible to at least cut propulsion power. The OP flooring the accelerator would not have sent the car backwards. It seems like a safe bet that if you have:
- no drivers seat occupancy
- drivers seatbelt is unlatched
- drivers door is open
I get all the comments that ignoring the manual made it the driver's fault. That doesn't mean the car should just blow-up whenever somebody does something stupid. Preventing humans from screwing everything up is a big Tesla goal. If there's an easy way to prevent this driver mistake from causing an accident, it should be implemented. (or, I guess you could try to describe the scenario where an empty drivers seat, no seatbelt and door open really needs a working accelerator pedal. Maybe there's a perfectly valid reason.)
Last edited:
did you watch the other videos? Or the accident itself. It was not at motion for an entire 7 seconds.
Both feet were out of the car when i moved backwards. I remember because I then had to quickly throw one foot back in the car to try to hit the brake.
Yes sir. bertstare.mp3
You should always leave a manual transmission car in gear with the parking brake on (33 years driving).
OxBrew
Active Member
Just messing around today, I had to pull forward a couple feet from a wall to open the back. I got in, left the door open, put one foot on the brake, left one outside, put it in gear (D), started it rolling down the slight hill with the throttle, and after about 18 inches it slammed itself back into park. Hold mode on, not creep or roll.
OxBrew
Active Member
Tested this on my wifes 2016 Lincoln MKC, if her car can do it instantaneously, why cant Tesla?
No disagreement from me. I was just illustrating that even after driving for many years, I can still make mistakes.
Not saying its the safest thing, but mine goes it park 100% of the time when I open the door. I live in south florida though so not much risk if it didn't as we don't really have much in the way of hills here. I'm now trying to figure out why my car has decided to go into park whenever it feels like now. My gut is this new intrusive interior camera that supposedly isn't intrusive. At any rate, you do not appear wrong and regardless of whether people think its safe or not, if its not working, it certainly should be looked at.
Similar threads
