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Updated - Interior Lighting

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There have been a number of rumors about it so I emailed my wonderful rep with questions about a couple changes in the Specs page since March. There is now no longer any mention of rear seat LED reading lights or LED illuminated mirrors on the sun visors. Here is his response in its entirety:

"I received some notification just a bit ago regarding both your questions. Apparently it is true that the rear LED reading lights have been eliminated, along with the LED illuminated mirrors. The rear map LED reading lights were removed in an effort to improve rear seat headroom, and the front illuminated mirrors were eliminated to make the sun visors more slim, and thus improve frontward visibility for taller drivers. This also makes sense why some of the test drive cars may or may not have the LED lights, as they were built prior to their removal."

Hopefully this clarifies the situation.
(Also posted on Tesla Motors forum)

---------------- UPDATE 8/1/2012 ------------------------------------

Mod Note: George B has cleared this situation up, and it should not be an issue. Please see this thread: Official word from Tesla (GeorgeB) on the vanity mirror light and rear reading lights


Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks to everyone throughout this thread who had faith in us that we were doing the right thing. Your support is always greatly appreciated.

So, what’s going on… This thread started as the result of a change to our website specs page and a response from one of the Tesla Team about rear seat reading lights and the desire to increase visibility for tall customers. The following highlights exactly what we’ve been working on.

The beta Lighted Vanity Visor that first showed up in Model S was not acceptable to us from an appearance, function or size standpoint. So we rejected it and immediately started working on another version. In the meantime, we started delivering cars. We did not want to be delivering cars without Lighted Vanity Visors when our webpage specs said otherwise…so we changed the specs page to be more accurate at that moment in time.

The removal of 2nd Row Reading lights from the specs page is also an “accuracy of the moment” issue. We removed these from the specs page because we were working on another initiative that might impact what type of light we could use in the back seat for a reading light. Basically, we found a way to potentially add a few millimeters of additional headroom in the back seat. As part of that initiative, we didn’t know for sure if we would be able to use the same light fixture, or even the same type of reading light going forward…so we deleted it from the specs page to be more accurate at the time.

Both of these issues are temporary issues, and for those of you who have been following us for a while, you know how we operate. When something doesn’t meet our expectations, we dive right in to fix it. We work hard to find the best solution possible, then we implement it. We try to keep all information as up to date as possible, but in today’s world, that sometimes causes problems from a communication standpoint. Nevertheless, we always feel as though it is better to be as accurate and up to date as possible, even if it makes things a little tougher for us from time to time.

You will soon see another change to our specs page. You will see the addition of 2nd Row Reading Lights. We have been able to accomplish what we set out to do with the rear seat headroom, and will be able provide reading lights in the same place as originally planned. We focused first on the headroom adjustment because that is more complicated within the car itself, then we focused on the lights and placement. To avoid any further questions about what will happen next, let me be perfectly clear... there will be a few early cars delivered that do not have 2nd Row Reading Lights. However, we will be happy to install them in the future (at no charge of course). The wires are already in place so this is not a major event.

You will not see the Lighted Vanity Visor back on the specs page for a little while longer because we are still working on getting the form factor and functionality exactly the way we want it. It will be lighted, it will have a mirror, and it can easily be retrofit into all cars. In fact, we will be encouraging everyone to get the retrofit.

So just to be clear, all cars that get delivered are set up to have reading lights in 2nd row seats and Lighted Vanity Visors. Those that don’t have the latest and greatest when they receive their car can have these items retrofit at no additional cost.

I hope this helps clear up all questions regarding this issue. Please understand, we are very, very serious about everything that goes into Model S. We are doing all we can to make every millimeter count while still listening to what our customers and future customers want. We are going to have lights in the right places, a shelf that was asked for by customers in the console area, and a lighted visor mirror that you can look into and smile. And when all is said and done, that is what we are really striving for…you smiling.

GeorgeB

---------------- UPDATE 8/31/2012 ------------------------------------

Mod Note: Lights are back.
 
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IMO, those are both bad calls. for a five passenger car, not having at least temporary illumination in the back is bad, but not having a place where my wife can check her "game face" before stepping out to dinner or over at a friends house borders on the criminal.
 
+1 (or -1?)
This is going to be a BIG negative with my wife! Using that mirror is the first thing she does when getting in the car, and the last thing before getting out.
Is there no mirror at all, or is there a mirror but no light? Maybe we can use that reading light to illuminate her face?
 
Agreed. Big mistakes both. Esp the vanity mirror lights. I doubt the extra visibility it provides is worth adding potential fuel to the "the car's interior isn't really well thought out" fire. It's just more that people will need to "explain away" to interested people who ride in the car with you. It adds more "buts" owners will need to address. *Sigh*
 
My wife and are both tall and both a bit concerned about the lack of headroom (especially in the rear), so on one hand we are happy to hear there are efforts to improve headroom and view out the windshield. that said, it's hard to believe LED lighting is the thing to go, it's so compact and I agree, lighting is important, front and back.
 
Tesla is taking this minimalist interior concept to the extreme. Unfortunately, it is getting out of hand. Another fail for the interior which continues to disappoint.

See the white dot in the photo - how does that diminish headroom? By the diameter of a low voltage wire? On the top rail over the door? I'm a minimalist interior fan but this is an unfortunate turn (together with eliminating vanity lights at mirror). At least stuff them into the tech package...

IMG_0281.JPG
 
I had not looked into this before .. but ... the rear seat headrests ... are not adjustable?

Can they be removed completely?

I find on my current car (LEAF) that they cut down on a TREMENDOUS amount of rear view.

Model S seems to cut down on at least 25%.

Tell me I can remove them?

As for LED's ... I am reading that they were in the rear view mirror. Then I read about mirrors embedded into sun visors. Which is it?

Not that I ever use it, but I can see how removing lit mirrors for the ladies is a NO NO!

I agree, that for a $100k car (my config) the more "refinements" they make, the worse it seems to be getting.
 
I fell pretty awful starting this thread. There are so many rumors and so much unsubstantiated speculation in these forums. I was just trying to put some rumors to rest by contacting a definitive source at Tesla an posting his response. I did not realize that his response would set off so many negative comments. My sincere apology for stimulating negativity. Remember, we do not know yet whether there are still [non-illuminated] mirrors on the sun visors so don't assume they have disappeared just because the LED's did. I'll post my rep's response about that too when he gets back to me.
 
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First I'm very disappointed to see this both for my car (now I have to figure out how to cut holes in the headliner and add lights back in) and for how I think this will show to the general public. So if I walk to the car at night, and open the door, is the interior of the car now almost all dark?

With that said, I don't know if I really accept the reason given, I think it's much more likely that these items are on the list of supplier issues parts, and removing them is a faster path the getting the cars manufactured in number and delivered.
 
You can't be serious?
The lack of map lights in the back and vanity mirrors on the visors make the car "almost" totally dark? Or did I miss something and they removed other interior lights?
My current car has no map lights and the vanity mirrors are close when I open the door.