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Drive-in problems (and solution)

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neroden

Model S Owner and Frustrated Tesla Fan
Apr 25, 2011
14,676
63,892
Ithaca, NY, USA
The current iteration of the software for the Model S has some really serious problems when going to the drive-in.

I've reported them. I would appreciate it if anyone else who wants to take the car to the drive-in would report them too.... since I told Tesla about the importance of having the car work right at a drive-in back in roughly January of 2012, *and they didn't listen*, the more complaints they get, the more likely they are to actually fix this stuff. And it's EASY to fix.

While sitting in PARK with the radio on, if you open the driver's side door, to go to the concessions stand, two things happen:

(1) the headlights come on (and everyone else at the drive-in swears at you) -- even if the headlights are set to "OFF"; (2) the volume on the radio goes down (and everyone in your car swears at you because they can't hear the movie).

Both of these have to stop. This is the software being too clever for its own good. If I tell the car to set the volume at a certain level, opening the door should not change that. (Unless, you know, I turn on a special option to tell it to do that.) If I tell it to turn the headlights off, they should stay off. Do what I tell you to, dammit! The software needs to just do NOTHING when I open the door, and that would solve the problem.

This is part of a general trend (not limited to Tesla) which is bad. Another example is the "auto wipers", which simply don't work, and simply waste space on the controls, so I have to switch three notches to get from "wipers on" to "wipers off". Computers are no good at figuring out what I want to do. They are very good at doing what I tell them to. So don't try to "automagically" predict what I want: let me tell you want I want, then do it!
 
neroden, does it still turn the lights on if you turn off walk-away lights (or whatever the option is called)? I believe there was a similar thread a while back, but it was about the S on ferries.

As for auto-wipers... Come on, the extra click is making your life THAT much more complicated? The auto settings suck on the Model S (though they've gotten better), but not on every car, so I would argue against them being a waste of space. Once Tesla gets the software right on these, they should be very useful.
 
Drive in situations probably count for a very tiny percentage of their owners. They need to work on things like this but give them time. There are much bigger issues in the software (sleep mode for example) that effect a lot more people.
 
neroden, does it still turn the lights on if you turn off walk-away lights (or whatever the option is called)?
Yes. This is just bad programming. This is the sort of stuff I could fix in my sleep if they gave me access to the source code.

I'm giving them time. I've given them a year already. The drive-ins aren't actually open yet. Once they're open (sometime in May), I'm going to start calling up every time I go, because this is TRIVIAL to fix. I could, quite literally, fix this in less than an hour if I were working for them, so I'm not going to cut them slack of more than a year and a half.

The auto settings suck on the Model S (though they've gotten better), but not on every car, so I would argue against them being a waste of space. Once Tesla gets the software right on these, they should be very useful.
Sure, *if* they ever get the software right.
 
While sitting in PARK with the radio on, if you open the driver's side door, to go to the concessions stand, two things happen:

(1) the headlights come on (and everyone else at the drive-in swears at you) -- even if the headlights are set to "OFF"; (2) the volume on the radio goes down (and everyone in your car swears at you because they can't hear the movie).

I have not noticed the headlights come on when I open the door. Perhaps you have the option to have the headlights stay on after exiting the car enabled? The idea behind that is for the headlights to light your way as you walk in the dark, so it makes perfect sense that they would come on. I don't use that option and have not seen the behavior you describe.

I do notice the audio level drop when the door is opened. I cannot think of a good reason for the car to do this and am curious as to why Tesla implemented it this way. I have not seen a drive-in in my neck of the woods for decades, so it is not really an issue for me.
 
I do notice the audio level drop when the door is opened. I cannot think of a good reason for the car to do this and am curious as to why Tesla implemented it this way. I have not seen a drive-in in my neck of the woods for decades, so it is not really an issue for me.

So if you're playing music loud you don't blast the neighborhood when you open the door I guess. It was documented in one of the changelogs.
 
So if you're playing music loud you don't blast the neighborhood when you open the door I guess. It was documented in one of the changelogs.

I found out that this doesn't work as intended during spring. Because my windows and roof were all wide open and I apparently got some sweet entrance music to my soccer game yesterday.

Eleven truly is one louder!
 
i personally very much like the audio dim when the door opens. it will go back up again when it closes. they won't have to wait too long.

as for the lights, yes, i have to say, i think you have lights on when walk away enabled... perhaps try disabling that while you're at the drive-in.

you know, if you speak as vehemently about - honestly - totally trivial things like this as you do about everything else, you will be less likely to have people hear you about the important stuff. that cry wolf thing.

just sayin.
 
i personally very much like the audio dim when the door opens. it will go back up again when it closes. they won't have to wait too long.

I really don't care one way or the other, but am curious to know why you like it that way? I really am having a hard time understanding what the practical value is (I'm not sure to prevent blasting the neighborhood with sound is really of any value). What I DO wish the audio would do is turn up a bit on the freeway when the road/wind noise gets louder, then go down when the car slows down. Almost all of my recent cars have done that.
 
I like it that the audio dims.

I have the radio loud and I don't need other people to hear what I am listening to. I see it as a "courtesy" thing.

Open your car windows in an underground garage and have your music set to five or six. It is LOUD.
 
I really don't care one way or the other, but am curious to know why you like it that way? I really am having a hard time understanding what the practical value is (I'm not sure to prevent blasting the neighborhood with sound is really of any value). What I DO wish the audio would do is turn up a bit on the freeway when the road/wind noise gets louder, then go down when the car slows down. Almost all of my recent cars have done that.

yes, the speed curve for the volume would work well on this car too, i'm sure we'll get that at some point..

i like the door open dimming because when i get home, or to a valet or jump out to grab something, the music gets lower and i can talk to people and greet people without my car blaring away behind me. i find it works well. and correct me if i'm wrong, but if you wanted to leave doors open can't you simply turn the volume back up while they're open? i caught it out of the corner of my eye and it looks to me like the dim function simply drops the volume to 3 or so when the door opens..? perhaps it's a relative drop, or simply an absolute value, but either way, it's altering the main thread sound level, not imposing some other dimming on top, so you can override it with the volume control, no? i haven't had occasion to try that.
 
I really don't care one way or the other, but am curious to know why you like it that way? I really am having a hard time understanding what the practical value is (I'm not sure to prevent blasting the neighborhood with sound is really of any value). What I DO wish the audio would do is turn up a bit on the freeway when the road/wind noise gets louder, then go down when the car slows down. Almost all of my recent cars have done that.

I actually like it quite a bit. I don't want to inflict my taste in music/talk radio on others when I get out of the car in a parking lot or such.
I used to turn the volume down before getting out of the car, now I don't have to.
I do agree with you it would be nice to have it automatically adjust upwards as road noise increases.
 
I actually like it quite a bit. I don't want to inflict my taste in music/talk radio on others when I get out of the car in a parking lot or such. I used to turn the volume down before getting out of the car, now I don't have to.

I do agree with you it would be nice to have it automatically adjust upwards as road noise increases.

+1 to both points here.