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Why do so many Tesla owners back in to park?

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It seems to me that I see way more Teslas parked rear end first than other cars and not just at SCs. Is this because people are used to doing it at SCs and just do it all the time now? Because they are using auto-park? Or am I just imagining it?
Speaking for myself, I prefer backing into spaces to backing out of them. Always have, and it's nothing to do with what car I am driving.
 
Come to Japan, folks! 99% of ALL parking situations are back-in. Especially in town with the parking machines, front-in is not an option. For me, I learned to always back-in while working on the docks loading cars into a ship, and shifting new cars from one lot to another. Yokohama is a HUGE seaport, and in the 70s part-time work at the docks was great money $$. Was back in the States this spring, and backed into the slots at the mall, and folks looked at me as if I had some screws loose, haha.
 
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Any car without rear cross traffic alert is safer if you park by backing into a parking spot. I do it at work, but most of my normal driving around I park nose in because I am most likely shopping and will need access to the rear hatch to load groceries or other purchases.

Keith
That's the other thing I miss from my other cars. Comes in real handy at Costco parking lots, lol.
 
It seems to me that I see way more Teslas parked rear end first than other cars and not just at SCs. Is this because people are used to doing it at SCs and just do it all the time now? Because they are using auto-park? Or am I just imagining it?
For me, I back into a space mostly to maximize my ability to see cross traffic in a parking lot (and I value the car I'm driving a lot, given how hard they are to replace, etc). The other thing to consider is that it's ridiculous that a car at this price with so many sensors can't/won't integrate rear cross-traffic alerts, the way the vast majority of cars at this price point do (and, yes, I know it requires different sensors than what the Tesla has, so they can't just do it in software). I'd probably pull in (rather than back in) more if that feature were available.
 
For me, I back into a space mostly to maximize my ability to see cross traffic in a parking lot (and I value the car I'm driving a lot, given how hard they are to replace, etc). The other thing to consider is that it's ridiculous that a car at this price with so many sensors can't/won't integrate rear cross-traffic alerts, the way the vast majority of cars at this price point do (and, yes, I know it requires different sensors than what the Tesla has, so they can't just do it in software). I'd probably pull in (rather than back in) more if that feature were available.
2 years ago, Elon said that vector-space 360 view was coming, "next month"....
 
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I have been backing into car spots long before I bought my Tesla. When I drove in Japan, I learned that it was the cultural expectation to back into parking spots. It is safer. It makes city parking easier, especially in an alleyway.
Also the charge port is in the back so it also makes sense that way.
I think it became the cultural norm in Japan because it just easier backing in, in very tight and narrow parking lots, as often can be found there. Just as it's easier parallel parking when backing in. Indeed when things are super-tight in either parallel or perpendicular spaces, it could well be impossible to go front in.

Speaking of tight, I had to supercharge today at a relatively narrow parking lot on a trip into San Francisco, the perpendicular back-in spots were arranged on both sides of a hairpin that ends in a chain-link fence. Only the very last end spot next to the fence was open, the only way I could have maneuvered my Model S into that slot would have been to back up while making a 180 hairpin turn with Tesla's on all sides, and then backing turning 90 deg into the tight last spot while not scraping the fence. Actually any of the last 6 spots opening up would've required a smilar maneuver, unless the opposite spot was also open to go front in first and then back into the opposite side. I decided to just wait it out for one closer to the entrance ;-)
 
I think it became the cultural norm in Japan because it just easier backing in, in very tight and narrow parking lots, as often can be found there. Just as it's easier parallel parking when backing in. Indeed when things are super-tight in either parallel or perpendicular spaces, it could well be impossible to go front in.
Indeed. When a teenager in the early 70s, few folks had a personal car, so those that could afford their own car AND have a police-approved parking space took great pride in parking in tiny spots. Then a company named Times started a franchise system of leasing the equivalent of a parking space vending machine. I've seen places in Tokyo with just one spot and a payment box, but this space has two, and more generous than some! Between the tight spacing between cars and often facing a very tight road, head-in is not gonna happen. This is one reason I am getting narrow wheels and higher-profile tires on my coming MYP. This kind of parking is the norm in my neck of the woods, lol.

Times Parking Japan.jpg
 
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