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Mercedes swapped the cruise and directional stalks. Hope Tesla does that with the X.

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K, I'll bite...

What do you mean, exactly, by "shifted the stalks"? The cruise control is still a lever but on the right side? (That seems odd to me) The turn signal is now on the right side? (Also odd)

The current S arrangement forces my hands into the now proper 9-3 or even 8-4 placement rather than old style 10-2 placement. The cruise control is still a bit awkward as a lever to me, but it doesn't take many cycles to relearn.
 
K, I'll bite...

What do you mean, exactly, by "shifted the stalks"? The cruise control is still a lever but on the right side? (That seems odd to me) The turn signal is now on the right side? (Also odd)

The current S arrangement forces my hands into the now proper 9-3 or even 8-4 placement rather than old style 10-2 placement. The cruise control is still a bit awkward as a lever to me, but it doesn't take many cycles to relearn.

The only logical way I can interpret shifting the stalks is moving the turn signal stalk so it is above the cruise control stalk rather than below it, but leaving both on the left side. This way, if you are holding the wheel at 10 and 2 (even though it may not be proper anymore) the turn signal is the first stalk you hit when you move your hands downward. The whole concept of having a stalk for the cruise control is foreign to me though, since every car I've owned (Jeep, Ford/Lincoln, Nissan) has had buttons on the front of the steering wheel for the cruise control.
 
The Model S stalk arrangement is one of the few things I really don't like about the car.

The fact that the turn signal stalk is mounted low and the cruise stalk is mounted high is part of that. Every other car I've driven puts the turn signal stalk roughly where the cruise stalk is in the S. It takes some getting used to when I switch cars, but I've gotten used to it.

What really irks me about the S is that it doesn't have a separate right hand stalk for the wipers. This is a huge pet peeve of mine, because it makes it so much harder to just tap and get a single windshield wiper swipe.

The push - to - swipe function on the Tesla is better than some other cars I've seen with similar systems (like some US designed Fords), but it's nowhere near as good as the double stalk system used by Porsche, VW, Audi, BMW, European Fords...the list goes on.

I hope if they do find a new supplier for the X they correct this, though I am not holding my breath.
 
I thought I would have problems with the stalk arrangement but to my surprise, have not. I was REALLY concerned about the gear selector on the right side because that is where my last few cars have had the wiper controls. One minor gripe is that the steering wheel obscures the wiper control settings on the turn signal stalk.

Having said that, I did and do prefer the arrangement that my previous Cadillac had with the Cruise Control as buttons on the wheel, and the wiper controls on their own stalk.
 
See, I too am more familiar with cruise being on the wheel itself. It has been a long time since I even had cruise on a stalk (like... 90s model cars?) But then... I haven't driven a lot of european cars. The last thing I was most used to was wiper related things on it's own stalk on the right (I had a manual car) and the turn signal related things on the left and cruise control and entertainment center buttons on the wheel.

I would really like to see them do away with all the stalks if possible... The car should just "know" that you need these things when you need them, that would be the only way that you could "break the barrier" anything else has pretty much been done before in some fashion and liking a layout over another doesn't make you any more progressive or old fashioned than any other layout. There is nothing "intuitive" about the stalks. I don't just wake up one day and say, "Man, today, I am going to run around using a stick and when I hold it up in the air it means I am turning right, and when I hold it down I am going left... surely everyone will know what I mean". The whole concept is a learned behavior.

The closest we get with all of this is the rain sensor that turns on the wipers for you, and adjusts the speed on its own (which although not perfect, works pretty well...)
 
There is no "right" or "ideal" way. There are many ways to implement those controls.

It's whatever you're used to. There is no way putting a control on right vs. left, or vice versa, is more "intuitive".

I have to disagree. As a man/machine interface, the Mercedes/Tesla cruise control is not intuitive and is in fact counter to what I'll call the "natural" way.

What is "natural"? To speed up, one "naturally" thinks of moving forward, so pushing the stalk away from the driver should mean speed up. It's the exact same movement one does with the accelerator pedal, pushes it away from the driver towards the front of the car.

Slowing down is "naturally" pulling back on the stalk, just like moving the accelerator pedal back induces regen braking That is why using regen is so "intuitive", because there is a mental model that pushing forward speeds up and pulling backwards slows down. Horses have worked that way for quite some time. One "naturally" pulls back on something to slow it down.

If there is one thing on the Model S I curse every time I use it, it's this stalk arrangement.
 
I actually will agree that it took some getting used to, to remember to pull forward (toward me) to "resume" and push back (away from me) to "cancel", but mostly I think what got me at first was where the cruise stalk sits is almost EXACTLY where the turn signal sat on my Civic. So I had a couple times where I went to "flash" my lights at someone (to say hello!) and instead pulled forward on the stalk which engaged cruise and I had to quickly tap the break. But outside of that oddity and getting used to the new positioning, it hasn't been too crazy. And go faster is still up, and go slower is still down, so those make sense and I had no issues there.

I will also agree that I detest the position of the turn signal/wiper stalk because it is almost impossible to see the correct read on the wiper positioning. Something else that I will admit isn't registering intuitively (at least to me) I keep twisting the opposite direction of the correct way to turn off and on the wipers... which I think is because it is opposite of what my civic had... so whichever one is incorrect, I don't know... but I still havent gotten used to that, which is probably because I use that so little... mostly because I put it to the "auto sense" position and just leave it there. Rarely does it not do what I would want it to do on its own.

But, this is why I say, they should do away with the stalks altogether, and find a better way... something that makes sense no matter what.
 
Cruise is now below and smaller. After driving with it a bit I think it's a major improvement.

I haven't tested it but I'm guessing the switch is probably better. No problem for me now with the S, took 2 weeks to get used to. So my point is I don't think you know the meaning of that phrase ([major improvement])

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To me, as a driver with 10+ years of experience of only driving Mercedes and used to the stalks in various MB's getting into a Tesla Model S was like, ok, I know these stalks and do not have to focus on the main thing: driving. I can focus on learning all the other aspects of the Tesla.

Another big plus, was the fact that the stalks is like in the Mercedes, when convincing my wife we should get a Tesla, that made the job a lot easier when she could see that most things in the driver seat was something she was used to from her own Mercedes.

And i sincerely hopes that Tesla dos not change any of these settings regarding the stalks near the steering wheel.
 
The Tesla placement is certainly safer if your airbags go off (assuming that your hands are in the 5/7 position). It took a while, but now it feels natural.

I don't drive with my hands at 5 and 7. I accept the risk of injury from airbags in exchange for greater control over the car. There's no way that 5 and 7 provides the same leverage over the wheel in an emergency as 3 and 9.

I can still reach the stalk without moving my hand from 9 o'clock, but it's a bit more difficult.
 
My biggest problem with the stalk arrangement is going from one car to another. When I first start to drive the Tesla after driving another car it sometimes messes me up. I usually have to make a left turn from my street to another street. I sometimes forget the stalk arrangement and when I pull down on the cruise control stalk instead of the turn signal lever, it sets the cruise control the speed I am driving which takes a second to compute as the regen doesn't kick in as expected when you let up on the accelerator to begin the turn. I usually have it figured out by the next turn, but it does catch me once in awhile.