A Few Comments on Safety for New Tesla Owners

[CraigS]

Regen is great and takes very little time to get used to in daily driving.

Totally agree...I've owned a few powerful cars over the years, I love the regen "down-shift" feeling and very fine control that you get with just the accelerator pedal. It's almost too easy to get used to, when I'm traveling and have a rental ICE or in my wife's SUV, I often find myself inadvertently tailgating on the highway b/c I'm expecting the car to slow down more when I lift my foot off the accelerator. I guess that we should only drive a Tesla from here on out ;-)

 

[mnx]

Be careful in turns. The planted feeling of the S will make some want to push hard through a turn. If you overdo it and th let up rapidly on the accelerator while in the turn, weight can shift to the front wheels rapidly, causing an oversteer condition and your tail can wrap around you like a kitty.

Any folks want to share some others?

I didn't read the whole thread yet, but doesn't TC and stability control prevent this?

I've yet to experience anything remotely close to this even when purposely trying to upset the car (ie. flooring it half way through a 90deg turn). Or are we talking about a a high speed turn? I guess I never drive anywhere close to the limits of adhesion while on the highway etc.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I didn't read the whole thread yet, but doesn't TC and stability control prevent this?

I've yet to experience anything remotely close to this even when purposely trying to upset the car (ie. flooring it half way through a 90deg turn). Or are we talking about a a high speed turn? I guess I never drive anywhere close to the limits of adhesion while on the highway etc.

I think close to limits. you can get the car into a sideways slide but I have yet to get the rear end to actually come around on you, at least w/ just TC off.
but you never want to let up rapidly on accel in a turn or hit the brakes hard in a turn either, the front wheels will loose traction completely it is a heavy car and slides pretty far

 

[mnx]

I'll add my 2 cents. Beware of the enormous A Pillars. They are very good at hiding pedestrians etc. at intersections. I think I've lost cars behind them before. lol

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I think close to limits. you can get the car into a sideways slide but I have yet to get the rear end to actually come around on you, at least w/ just TC off.
but you never want to let up rapidly on accel in a turn or hit the brakes hard in a turn either, the front wheels will loose traction completely it is a heavy car and slides pretty far

I had the rear end come around what felt like 45 deg once on the track. The TC off and the brakes were hot so I think the Stability Control wasn't at it's finest.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I'll add my 2 cents. Beware of the enormous A Pillars. They are very good at hiding pedestrians etc. at intersections. I think I've lost cars behind them before. lol

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I had the rear end come around what felt like 45 deg once on the track. The TC off and the brakes were hot so I think the Stability Control wasn't at it's finest.

I managed to get into a perfectly sideways slide from about 75mph trying to brake hard and turn- together. I ended up parked about 6" from the cones on the outside of the turn I was trying to take. I think that was my first autocross day ever, during practice.


oh one more! In my first S loaner I had I thought I was going to total it once, really scared.
I was leaving my house which is on a ~400 foot street that is has about a 15-20 feet hill as it approaches the 'main' road. I like to gun it up my street a bit when I can see that there is no one out, so I did this and it was wet/ lots of redwood duff near the top of my street. I hit the hill going up and the brakes and the car just slid like It wanted to stay at 35mph. I couldn't actually stop at the top of our street (which has a driveway ramp leading to the main street) and I basically slid out and turned hard right practically parking on the main street but at l;east 30 feet further than where I had planned on stopping.

just be careful w/ weight and speed w/ questionable traction

 

[EarlyAdopter]

I'll add my 2 cents. Beware of the enormous A Pillars. They are very good at hiding pedestrians etc. at intersections. I think I've lost cars behind them before. lol

That's a good point. I've also felt the A pillars were ginormous and have had a couple of close calls at intersections.

 

[Pate]

+1 to Todd for this thread, and also to mnx about the A-pillar point. I also once almost drove over a bicyclist that just fit inside the A-pillar blind spot, and once was just about the cross an intersection until at the last possible moment noticed a car that was hidden behind the A-pillar. After those incidents I move my head (like an owl ) and double check both sides when there is any chance of something hidden behind the A-pillars.

 

[jerry33]

+1 to Todd for this thread, and also to mnx about the A-pillar point. I also once almost drove over a bicyclist that just fit inside the A-pillar blind spot, and once was just about the cross an intersection until at the last possible moment noticed a car that was hidden behind the A-pillar. After those incidents I move my head (like an owl ) and double check both sides when there is any chance of something hidden behind the A-pillars.

The Prius had the same A-pillar blind spots, so I was used to it.

 

[Todd Burch]

The A pillar comment is a great one. I too do the owl-head thing to see around it .

 

[GLDYLX]

First, YAY! Todd Burch for this thread!

Excellent advice herein. I plan to head to the promised land (the factory) next week to pick up an S85. Despite having been fortunate enough over the past decades to have owned and driven some very fast cars, my top five next steps list does include a visit to the Bondurant School in Arizona for at least one driving course.During or prior to that visit, I will do what I can to encourage a relationship between Bondurant, for starters, and Tesla Motors to both raise awareness (much as this thread does) and to perhaps enable an incentive for Tesla owners new and old to participate in such courses.http://bondurant.com/programs/car-enthusiastI have no affiliation, blah, blah, blah.TJ

Second, Bondurant Gran Prix RR School was the BEST week of my life (back in the '90s). Unfortunately, I don't think they have a program to allow personal vehicles on the track (Firebird, anyway), so I'm going to have to find some other perf. driving clinic when I get my Model 3. I already know I'm going to need some time in a controlled environment to extract some of the lead from my foot; I spend way too much time with the "GO" pedal jammed into the floor (I have a mere Celica, after all), and M3 is probably going to be a bit bigger than I'm used to, as well.

Anyhoo, congrats on your S85, and thanks to you and all the Roadster/S/X purchasers for helping to make my dream car a reality!

Happy Friday!

 

[stevezzzz]

Somebody already mentioned this, but I'll reiterate: when merging onto a highway, always check carefully AFTER you're parallel to the through lanes and before moving over into them: the left rear blind spot is perfectly placed to hide the car you're about to collide with if you check the mirrors while approaching at the slight angle of an on-ramp and just under the speed of through traffic. It's a gotcha that's nearly ruined my day more than once. Recommend head-on-a-swivel, and use the rear camera, too.

 

[Todd Burch]

That's happened to me a few times too...the adjacent car is almost invisible unless you explicitly look.

Also, ensure you set your side mirrors correctly. You should *not* see the side of your car in the side mirrors. (Google it if you don't know the proper technique). If set correctly, your side mirrors and camera will eliminate all blind spots...but the merging situation still seems to somewhat hide the adjacent cars.

 

[cynix]

Also, ensure you set your side mirrors correctly. You should *not* see the side of your car in the side mirrors.

When I did a test drive a few months ago, I found that the driver-side mirror does not turn outwards far enough to avoid seeing the side of the car. Has this been fixed?

 

[David99]

I think this is a great reminder! There are a lot of things that are indeed unique to the Tesla and it's instant and very powerful thrust. I have accelerated myself in situations that became close calls. There are dangers that are not so obvious and it's worth learning about them rather than getting into them unexpectedly.

I have seen countless drivers in performance cars who are utterly incapable of handling it and overusing the power. All with years of driving experience and self confidence. The problem is not the inability to handle the car, it is the overconfidence that they could and then getting in trouble when they push the car to it's limit and beyond.

 

[bonnie]

Somebody already mentioned this, but I'll reiterate: when merging onto a highway, always check carefully AFTER you're parallel to the through lanes and before moving over into them: the left rear blind spot is perfectly placed to hide the car you're about to collide with if you check the mirrors while approaching at the slight angle of an on-ramp and just under the speed of through traffic. It's a gotcha that's nearly ruined my day more than once. Recommend head-on-a-swivel, and use the rear camera, too.

That's happened to me a few times too...the adjacent car is almost invisible unless you explicitly look.

Most Roadster owners have dealt with a very large blind spot by accelerating just before the lane change - if someone has been lurking in the blind spot, a quick acceleration will quickly reveal them prior to switching lanes. And of course, actually looking before changing lanes. That quick acceleration has revealed a car in my blind spot more than once.

 

[Todd Burch]

When I did a test drive a few months ago, I found that the driver-side mirror does not turn outwards far enough to avoid seeing the side of the car. Has this been fixed?

I've never had that problem on my first or second S. Demo car might have just needed adjustment.

 

[jerry33]

When I did a test drive a few months ago, I found that the driver-side mirror does not turn outwards far enough to avoid seeing the side of the car. Has this been fixed?

I can't see the side of my car, but the driver's mirror doesn't turn quite enough to eliminate the blind spot. The camera does, so that's what I mainly use. At night most of the time my arm is in a position to cover the driver's wing mirror because over the time I've had the car the auto-dimming has faded to where it's basically zero. The camera still works fine.

 

[David99]

One issue with the driver side mirror is that in the US it has to be a flat glass, it cannot be curved to show a wider angle. In other countries this is allowed and greatly helps seeing the entire left side. I assume the reasoning is that a curved mirror gives the impression that cars are farther away than they really are. hence the mandatory waring printed on the passenger side mirror that is curved to give you a wider view.

 

[doctorwho]

One issue with the driver side mirror is that in the US it has to be a flat glass, it cannot be curved to show a wider angle. In other countries this is allowed and greatly helps seeing the entire left side. I assume the reasoning is that a curved mirror gives the impression that cars are farther away than they really are. hence the mandatory waring printed on the passenger side mirror that is curved to give you a wider view.

My god I hate those curved mirrors, I'd pay extra to get 2 flat glass mirrors that give me an accurate indication of distance

 

[CraigS]

...have dealt with a very large blind spot by accelerating just before the lane change ...

+1 That's part of the fun of having a fast car!! Sometimes all that power makes you safer.