I think you are reading a bit into the picture here. How can you tell he is pushing he break and why would he if they have put something behind the front passenger side tire (plus the wood behind the left front tire)?
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Found the roadster in Malibu!...oh and it was BROKEN
- Thread starter incrediwoah
- Start date
-
- Tags
- Roadster 2020
I think you are reading a bit into the picture here. How can you tell he is pushing he break and why would he if they have put something behind the front passenger side tire (plus the wood behind the left front tire)?
purplewalt
Active Member
Three things from the photos:
** previously mentioned no windshield wipers
** probably no parking brake (wood block behind left front wheel)
** No side mirrors (yet)
Cannot tell from these photos,
** door handles
** No frunk (lid) yet
** previously mentioned no windshield wipers
** probably no parking brake (wood block behind left front wheel)
** No side mirrors (yet)
Cannot tell from these photos,
** door handles
** No frunk (lid) yet
The Electrek article has been updated with a response from Tesla: First next-gen Tesla Roadster sighting in the wild – prototype apparently breaks down [Updated]
For some reason something critical failed in the car. So it stopped. We don’t know what failed. We don’t know if the “wheels locked up”. We don’t know what kind of parking brake system that prototype has. It does seems reasonable to assume that the piece of wood is being used as a wheel chock as either a precaution or to prevent the car from rolling backwards down the street because the parking brake is not working.
Note the photo shows a Model X behind and a white pickup to the side, which is likely a Tesla support/service vehicle.
Well if it didn't break down, they REALLY need some fine tuning on the AutoParking feature.
TexasTeslaRacing
Member
Can someone please buy Tesla quality wheels chocks? I’ll even donate some for a 15 minute spin in the new roadster
I hope Tesla doesn't remotely shut off my MS mid drive for saying their car was "broken". @Elon, if you are reading this...I didn't mean it! haha
Lololol
whitex
Well-Known Member
Glad to see some real world testing on the car. It's better when the car breaks down during such tests, rather than after productions starts . I would not want to hear "who knew the car wouldn't go up the hill, we don't have a hill like that at the test track". Now, if only Tesla had some important test drivers in rainy and cold weathers... My S slid down the driveway about 2 feet on Christmas day after everyone exited and when the auto-car locked itself and (apparently) unlocked the front wheels (parking brakes are back only). At first I thought some bug in software activated summon (which is disabled in my settings), but looking back at security cameras I can see only front wheels are rolling, back wheels are slipping. I'm just glad there was nobody in front of the car. Shouldn't the car unblock the front wheels as soon as I take my foot off the brake pedal so that I know the rear wheels have no traction?
Oooh thats good info to forward to Tesla engineers. Call them and let them know or email them. Can you imagine if that happened on a hill? I guess thats what turning your front tires is for... but still
Now that I think about it, normal cars only lock the rear with a parking break so I guess there is no difference...
pharma5
Roadster F#25, Model 3 #36xx
*Now* the new Roadster program is official. (Mighta been one or two of these situations from 2005-2008...I say this affectionately).
I assume that the brake hold was engaged, which keeps the brakes applied to all four wheels until it turns off. The "Vehicle Hold" feature should release the brakes when you:
- Press the accelerator.
- Press and release the brakes again.
- Shift the car to neutral.
- After ~10 minutes it should release and put the car in park.
- the driver, exits the vehicle. (Putting it in park.)
whitex
Well-Known Member
There is a difference. A normal car would lock the back wheels, but as soon as I would take my foot of the pedal I would realize the car is sliding so I would stop it by pressing the brake again. As it works in the S, I put it in park, everyone got out of the car, after whatever timeout when the mirrors started folding the front wheels unlocked and the car started sliding down the driveway.
PS> I think we're going off on a tangent here, maybe I should start a separate thread on this, at least warn other owners.
EDIT: New thread: Hill-hold releases *after* you get out of the car?
Last edited:
I find the "didn't break down" explanation disingenious, but oh so typical of both Tesla and Electrek reporting.
One just can't say a Tesla prototype broke down and leave it at that. There has to be spin. The spin is IMO worse than the event which was a nothing-burger.
Now, I do believe they were able to diagnose and repair the problem and that the car drove on its own afterwards.
One just can't say a Tesla prototype broke down and leave it at that. There has to be spin. The spin is IMO worse than the event which was a nothing-burger.
Now, I do believe they were able to diagnose and repair the problem and that the car drove on its own afterwards.
We can assume something went wrong (or he parks like a tank), but they may be correct in not referring to it as a breakdown.
To me, and some dictionaries, breakdown implies a physical failure (other's opinions are free to vary). Also Tesla has had issues in the past with misleading presentation of events (Top Gear), so they have reason to care about terms used.
This is Tesla's first 3 motor vehicle, and is only now getting a lot of road testing, so it very likely could have been a SW issue.
A bad SW failure can be referred to as a crash, but that is ambiguous when describing a car.
If it were a SW issue, perhaps glitch is applicable? It was originally a mechanical term, but has morphed to the software realm.
Part of the situation could be that this is also one of a limited number of test cars. If it did something unexpected, that moment was the best, possibly only, time to have an engineer connect and try to track down the issue. If they merely rebooted the car, the cause might never be found and corrected (spoken as one who has tracked down 1 in 100 attempt and 1 in 20 day bugs).
Does Franz have a smart watch (picture 3)? Maybe it was the key and the pairing broke. We just don't know.
@mongo Here's the thing: A car stops literally in the middle of the road, chocks on, rollers at the ready. Saying that isn't a breakdown, and offering no other explanation is IMO the definition of positive spin. And so very unnecessary. One shouldn't need a dictionary or a lawyer's degree to get a fair impression from Tesla's public-facing comms either... The car broke down temporarily, there was no need to deny that word. Whatever was wrong was fixed and the car got back on its way.
Taken together with Electrek's generally positive reporting, that whole story just reeks of completely unnecessay need to spin a very neutral event (a prototype of a car coming out years later breaking down temporarily) positively. For me, this spin causes a much more negative reaction than the event itself. The TMC reporting and commentary OTOH are perfectly fair and nice overall, and IMO were just a positive event for Tesla, seeing the Roadster out and about. Nobody cares about a prototype break-down years before release.
Until people just had to spin it (both the PR and reporting in this Electrek case)... They just can't help themselves. Everything has the be spinned until your need a dictionary and a lawyer to make sense of the statements.
Which they never, ever should have IMO made an issue of. But that's a separate thing - at least in that case they had a point of publicizing the fact that Top Gear is a show and does showy stuff. Fighting for that point in court, though, and alienating a top motoring show was unnecessary and unwise IMO. And, as it turns out, legally unwarranted too. Tesla could have taken the joke in stride instead. And IMO should have.
Taken together with Electrek's generally positive reporting, that whole story just reeks of completely unnecessay need to spin a very neutral event (a prototype of a car coming out years later breaking down temporarily) positively. For me, this spin causes a much more negative reaction than the event itself. The TMC reporting and commentary OTOH are perfectly fair and nice overall, and IMO were just a positive event for Tesla, seeing the Roadster out and about. Nobody cares about a prototype break-down years before release.
Until people just had to spin it (both the PR and reporting in this Electrek case)... They just can't help themselves. Everything has the be spinned until your need a dictionary and a lawyer to make sense of the statements.
Which they never, ever should have IMO made an issue of. But that's a separate thing - at least in that case they had a point of publicizing the fact that Top Gear is a show and does showy stuff. Fighting for that point in court, though, and alienating a top motoring show was unnecessary and unwise IMO. And, as it turns out, legally unwarranted too. Tesla could have taken the joke in stride instead. And IMO should have.
You're serious?
When you see the wheels chocked on a car in the middle of the road, either the car had a breakdown or the driver did.
So unless Franz is now resting comfortably in an asylum, I'm going with the car.
Yeah, the pic is embarrassing. But not close to the embarrassing pics other prototypes have had.
Honda Release Candidate:
Honda did not claim arson. They just kept their mouth shut. Pick any brand of supercar and you will find embarrassing pics.
The pic is not embarrasing.
The PR spin that the car did not break down is embarrasing.
The pic would have been fine. Just fine. A nice to have, butt of a benign joke at worst.
But "did not break down"? Seriously... sheesh.
