Model S Owner's Manual

[strider]

I noticed an interesting feature. The car auto-locks itself when you walk away with the FOB (this can be turned off).

Interesting. It sounds like they've come up with a model where you never lock or unlock anything. You just walk up to the car, open the door, sit down and drive, then get out and walk away.

This is how my Corvette worked and I loved the feature. Never had to pull the fob out of my pocket. Looking forward to this w/ the Tech Package.

[jkirkebo]

The auto-lock will only work for us if it senses passengers too. If I stop outside a shop and go inside with my wife still in the car, I do not want her locked in...

[GSP]

Compared to our Corvettes, the Model S adds automatically "starting" and automatically turning off the car to the widely available auto lock and unlock. The first 'Vette we had with auto lock/unlock was a 1987, and it still needed development. If you stood next to your car to talk to someone, the car would keep locking any unlocking continuously. Fortunately you could disable the feature.

I usually lock my wife in, for her safety. She can still exit by just unlocking the door first.

GSP

[AnOutsider]

Saw a couple of mistakes:
1. 19" rims are are listed as 8.0J in front and 9.0J in rear. Guess you would have to dismount the tyres to rotate them…
2. 21" tyres are listed as Continental DWS instead of DW.
3. Service interval is given as 12 months or 12000 miles instead of 12500 miles as per blogs and discussion here.

There's also a few spelling mistakes, but overall it's well out together IMO.

The auto-lock will only work for us if it senses passengers too. If I stop outside a shop and go inside with my wife still in the car, I do not want her locked in...

You sure?

[dsm363]

If you find mistakes, go ahead and e-mail your rep at Tesla. They can pass along the corrections to the correct team.

[Robert.Boston]

Looks like with active air suspension you could use Jack mode and the very high setting to get over ramps, up and down your driveway, in and out of your garage, etc. as long as your speed is under 4.5 mph. As soon as you go faster, it cancels the Jack mode automatically.

No; you do NOT want to use the "Jack" mode for anything other than jacking and transporting. To get over ramps, steep driveways, etc., just set the active air suspension to Very High. You still want the car to be able to dynamically level itself, though, so don't use Jack.

[Todd Burch]

Single-click to lock doors and the trunks

In what other car would you see this statement?

By the way: Did anyone notice how Tesla's always using the term "Frunk", but they seem to shy away from using it in the Owner's Guide.

[Jason S]

I enjoyed the Two Door Cinema Club icon in the dash example on page 4 -- "Something Good Can Work" is the relatively famous song from that album.

If your Model S has Active Air Suspension, you may notice that as you accelerate, Model S lowers to optimize aerodynamics and increase range. It also lowers to load and unload passengers. You can use the touchscreen to manually control the Model S suspension settings (see page 8).

I still don't understand why lowering the car helps with loading/unloading passengers.

A feature request: separate "favorites" lists (songs, browser history/favorites) based on which key fob is active.

White and tan leather is coated with an antisoiling treatment.

Good to know.

Do not expose Model S to ambient temperatures above 140° F (60° C) or below -22° F (-30° C) for more than 24 hours at a time.

Good to know.

[brianman]

No; you do NOT want to use the "Jack" mode for anything other than jacking and transporting. To get over ramps, steep driveways, etc., just set the active air suspension to Very High. You still want the car to be able to dynamically level itself, though, so don't use Jack.

Quoting for context, not to disagree.

The language is repeated that 4.5mph will cancel "JACK" mode, further reinforcing that it's not intended to driven in that mode.

I didn't catch any language in the ms_owners_guide.pdf relating to what speed deactivates "VERY HIGH".

- - - Updated - - -

I still don't understand why lowering the car helps with loading/unloading passengers.

I think of it in the following light.

If you have a roadster, you might want to raise the vehicle to load/unload passengers.
If you have a pickup truck, you might want to lower the vehicle to load/unload passengers.

At highway speeds, the Model S is lowered. At low speeds, the Model S is raised to improve clearing on poorly maintained and/or uneven roads.

If you "paused time" on the freeway to load passengers, it would be more like a roadster -- raising desired.
Under normal conditions, you'll pick up passengers after having rolled to a stop from low speeds, it's more like a pickup truck -- lowering desired.

[Jason S]

But it literally said that it lowers to load and unload passengers. Right after saying it lowers for highway speeds.

Maybe it is only to some 'optimal' height.