Worrisome auto-acceleration

[Sophias_dad]

Happened twice within a minute or two... both in the same completely flat parking lot.

The first time I was parked and put it in drive, and it gently accelerated as if it was in creep mode, or maybe a little more than that. Not a big deal, but I was surprised.

The second time I was pulling to a stop at a nearby intersection in the same lot, using only the lifted throttle(car is in 'hold' mode), and just as I was getting to a stop it did the same little acceleration(or I guess maybe it just didn't stop!). I'm sure it wasn't my foot doing it(ya... I'm sure everyone says that!)... I stomped on the brake and all was well... but I'm just a little concerned.

Has anyone else seen this behavior? I'm wondering if it had miscalibrated the foot-off-gas point somehow, so it thought my foot was slightly on the gas when it clearly wasn't... certainly in the first incident I didn't even have my foot on the pedal since it needed to be on the brake to shift to D'rive.

 

[flyhighboi20]

I have not experienced this.

 

[JulienW]

Sounds like the car is actually in Creep mode. Try setting to Creep, then do a reset, then do a Power Off (from Menu) and leave car for ½ an hour. Then try switching back to Hold mode and see if all is working correctly.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Sounds like the car is actually in Creep mode. Try setting to Creep, then do a reset, then do a Power Off (from Menu) and leave car for ½ an hour. Then try switching back to Hold mode and see if all is working correctly.

Car is clearly not in creep mode... I can tell because it still rolls to H'old mode when I lift from the gas pedal.

 

[postersw]

I have this happen to me all the time when it is raining!
Why? Because I also own a Subaru, and in the Subaru a downward flick of the right-hand stalk turns on the wipers. So when it starts raining, or raining harder, a part of my brain causes my right hand to downward flick the right-hand stalk to turn on the wipers - I don't even consciously realize it until suddenly my car starts accelerating, and I think "what the ....", and then slowly I realize that I just accidentally turned on cruse control, and now the car is accelerating up to the speed limit+5.

This can also happen when you think you are in Park, and go to shift into Drive. The car should not accelerate, right? But if you actually are in Hold, and go to shift into Drive, you are turning on TACC, and suddenly you start accelerating! There is a basic ergonomics design failure here somewhere.

 

[SouthSeas]

Sounds like the car is actually in Creep mode. Try setting to Creep, then do a reset, then do a Power Off (from Menu) and leave car for ½ an hour. Then try switching back to Hold mode and see if all is working correctly.

More than any errant feature of the car, this "reset" process tells me this is not a smart car, it's a cell phone with wheels. There is no reason on God's green earth it should be so complicated to reset an option in a car.

 

[SouthSeas]

I have this happen to me all the time when it is raining!
Why? Because I also own a Subaru, and in the Subaru a downward flick of the right-hand stalk turns on the wipers. So when it starts raining, or raining harder, a part of my brain causes my right hand to downward flick the right-hand stalk to turn on the wipers - I don't even consciously realize it until suddenly my car starts accelerating, and I think "what the ....", and then slowly I realize that I just accidentally turned on cruse control, and now the car is accelerating up to the speed limit+5.

This can also happen when you think you are in Park, and go to shift into Drive. The car should not accelerate, right? But if you actually are in Hold, and go to shift into Drive, you are turning on TACC, and suddenly you start accelerating! There is a basic ergonomics design failure here somewhere.

I don't have a model 3, so I don't see this particular issue, but I find similar issues with the cruise control stalk in the X. It is a combination of the thing being right next to the wiper/headlight/turn signal stalk with very similar movements. Very easy to confuse the two. Also, the light touch for the momentary movement and the harder touch for the "click" movement are not very distinct. I frequently find myself getting a 5 mph increase when I only want 1. I've been driving my truck lately and it has a much more conventional "feel" to this momentary/click movement, easily distinct.

What is worse than these issues themselves is that they distract the driver from driving the dang thing.

 

[Lunares]

More than any errant feature of the car, this "reset" process tells me this is not a smart car, it's a cell phone with wheels. There is no reason on God's green earth it should be so complicated to reset an option in a car.

Because the advice is crap. The car does not "get stuck in creep mode" if you have hold mode selected

OPs behavior is either caused by:

Mat causing the pedal to stick slightly

Accidentally engaging cruise control at low speed

Putting the car into creep mode

Pressing the pedal and thinking it's the brake

Being in a hill in roll mode

 

[Sophias_dad]

Because the advice is crap. The car does not "get stuck in creep mode" if you have hold mode selected

OPs behavior is either caused by:

Mat causing the pedal to stick slightly

Accidentally engaging cruise control at low speed

Putting the car into creep mode

Pressing the pedal and thinking it's the brake

Being in a hill in roll mode

I'm skeptical of me too, but....

Mat was and is not interfering with the pedal.

I certainly wasn't engaging the cruise control when coming to a stop.

The car hasn't been in creep mode since basically day one.

The first incident was when my foot had to be on the brake(and therefore not the gas) to put it in drive.

It was a completely flat parking lot.


I'll try some experiments tomorrow. I wonder if having my foot resting on the gas pedal, while parked and in Park(watching Netflix or somesuch!) changed the cars understanding of the zero-point of the pedal. Problem with that theory is that if the car had recalibrated the zero point to be at perhaps 5% engaged, then removing the foot wouldn't give it 5% gas, but rather >negative< 5%, which I would hope the car would recognize as gibberish.

 

[Lunares]

I'm skeptical of me too, but....

Mat was and is not interfering with the pedal.

I certainly wasn't engaging the cruise control when coming to a stop.

The car hasn't been in creep mode since basically day one.

The first incident was when my foot had to be on the brake(and therefore not the gas) to put it in drive.

It was a completely flat parking lot.


I'll try some experiments tomorrow. I wonder if having my foot resting on the gas pedal, while parked and in Park(watching Netflix or somesuch!) changed the cars understanding of the zero-point of the pedal. Problem with that theory is that if the car had recalibrated the zero point to be at perhaps 5% engaged, then removing the foot wouldn't give it 5% gas, but rather >negative< 5%, which I would hope the car would recognize as gibberish.

Possible instead of putting it into drive you put it into neutral by accident and the parking lot wasn't as flat as you thought

 

[TIppy]

If the tacc was set to let's say 5 mph and you were using the accelerator to override it to 10 or 15 mph in the parking lot, the car would slow down when you let off the accelerator. But when it got back down to 5 mph, the car would stop slowing down, and this could be sensed as accelerating. Hitting the brake would disengage tacc. The newer firmware allows the tacc speed to be set all the way down to zero.

 

[SouthSeas]

I'm skeptical of me too, but....

Mat was and is not interfering with the pedal.

I certainly wasn't engaging the cruise control when coming to a stop.

The car hasn't been in creep mode since basically day one.

The first incident was when my foot had to be on the brake(and therefore not the gas) to put it in drive.

It was a completely flat parking lot.


I'll try some experiments tomorrow. I wonder if having my foot resting on the gas pedal, while parked and in Park(watching Netflix or somesuch!) changed the cars understanding of the zero-point of the pedal. Problem with that theory is that if the car had recalibrated the zero point to be at perhaps 5% engaged, then removing the foot wouldn't give it 5% gas, but rather >negative< 5%, which I would hope the car would recognize as gibberish.

Was your left foot on the clutch or was the tranny in neutral?

 

[SouthSeas]

Possible instead of putting it into drive you put it into neutral by accident and the parking lot wasn't as flat as you thought

I've done that. I find all the control stalks in the Tesla to be a bit tetchy.

 

[SouthSeas]

If the tacc was set to let's say 5 mph and you were using the accelerator to override it to 10 or 15 mph in the parking lot, the car would slow down when you let off the accelerator. But when it got back down to 5 mph, the car would stop slowing down, and this could be sensed as accelerating. Hitting the brake would disengage tacc. The newer firmware allows the tacc speed to be set all the way down to zero.

I didn't know you could set the cruise to a speed that low. Mine won't work below 25 or so.

 

[Az_Rael]

If the tacc was set to let's say 5 mph and you were using the accelerator to override it to 10 or 15 mph in the parking lot, the car would slow down when you let off the accelerator. But when it got back down to 5 mph, the car would stop slowing down, and this could be sensed as accelerating. Hitting the brake would disengage tacc. The newer firmware allows the tacc speed to be set all the way down to zero.

This is an interesting theory. I often pull the stalk twice when putting it into drive because it doesn’t seem to respond the first time, then I get an error about TACC. In the newest software I presumably wouldn’t get the error anymore and would have actually engaged TACC.

I didn't know you could set the cruise to a speed that low. Mine won't work below 25 or so.

It is a new feature added in a very recent update.

 

[raptor5244]

I have experienced this before but it was user error. As others mentioned, it is easy to engage the AP cruise control. A single downward tap on the stalk once the car is in drive engages it, even at low speeds through a parking lot and the car will just start accelerating if you are not aware. I would bet you got in the car, put your foot on brake, put it in reverse, then went to put it in drive (hard press down) then here comes the error, you thought it was in drive but gave another downward press by mistake or just to confirm it was in drive and actually enabled cruise control at this point. The the car attempts to accelerate to the cruise control setting. Unsettling for sure, but if alert easy enough to override with the brake, which will disengage the cruise control.

 

[SouthSeas]

This is an interesting theory. I often pull the stalk twice when putting it into drive because it doesn’t seem to respond the first time, then I get an error about TACC. In the newest software I presumably wouldn’t get the error anymore and would have actually engaged TACC.




It is a new feature added in a very recent update.

Actually, I shouldn't say that. I can't engage it, but if it is engaged and the car in front of me stops, my car stops, then restarts when the car in front continues. But I could never have a problem with the cruise control engaging from a stop. It just won't do that.

 

[TIppy]

Actually, I shouldn't say that. I can't engage it, but if it is engaged and the car in front of me stops, my car stops, then restarts when the car in front continues. But I could never have a problem with the cruise control engaging from a stop. It just won't do that.

The car will let you engage tacc from a stop if the radar senses a car stopped in front of you as would be likely in a parking lot.

 

[SouthSeas]

The car will let you engage tacc from a stop if the radar senses a car stopped in front of you as would be likely in a parking lot.

I'll have to check that out.

 

[Sophias_dad]

I'll have to check that out.

I would think it would need lines on the edges of the 'lane'. but maybe there was just enough...