Robert, I said the promise has been broken at least as of today. You are correct that it could be added in the future. But as of today, its not. Re:, the mirrors, I stand corrected. I meant power folding mirrors. Several Tesla reps from the company (and later 2 in the DC store and 1 in the NYC store), not engineers, assured me the car would have power folding mirrors, blind side detection and some other features before I committed $40K in deposits ($35K for a signature and $5K for a production). In fact, they told me the blind side detection system was being sourced byMB.
Before putting down deposits, I explained that the blind-side detection system was very important to me because I have had 4 retinia detachments and my peripheral vision in my right eye is reduced (relative to the peripheral vision in my left eye), and thus, I would like any feature (blind-side detection, collision avoidance systems, etc), that could reduce the chance of an accident. The reps stated that the blind-side detecion system would be included in the car, and that they were working on a collision avoidance system. Fast forward several years to the test drives in DC, and I learned that these systems were not being included in the initial release. However, the people at the test drive event (who told me they were from the head office) told me that the power folding mirrors and blind-side detection system would be available in early 2013. As a result, I canceled the Signature reservation (as I could not defer it) and deferred the Production reservation to March, 2013 to see whether these systems get added to the car.
I love the Tesla, and it pains me that I had to cancel the Sig and delay delivery of the Production car. However, based on my medical condition, I want to get every safety feature possible on whatever car i purchase from now on. Don't get me wrong; in almost 40 years of driving, I have had no accidents and just 2 tickets, but my eyesight and reflexes are not what they were when I was 20 (even without the retinia issue). Thus, I repeatedly harped on these features with the reps and was repeatedly assured the car included them.