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Consumer Reports Recommends Tesla's Model 3 After Braking Fix (reuters.com)
Consumer Reports said on Wednesday that it now recommends Tesla's Model 3 sedan after its latest tests showed that a firmware update improved the car's braking distance by nearly 20 feet. From a report: The magazine last week flagged "big flaws" in the car, including braking slower than a full-sized pickup truck, while also highlighting many positives. In a tweet, Mr. Musk said he really appreciates "the high quality critical feedback from @ConsumerReports. Road noise & ride comfort already addressed too. UI improvements coming via remote software update later this month."
I'm more concerned that a) they released the car with crap brakes and didn't notice until Consumer Reports told them about it and b) an over-the-air software update developed in about a week can apparently affect the operation of a critical safety system.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
There was a whole thread last time about how the idea of a firmware update improving the braking was just an absurd idea. I wonder what they'll say about it now.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
... and over-the-air update can also break it. Or take away the "feature" once the car leaves the showroom. If it were so easy of a fix, one has to wonder why Tesla didn't recognize and fix the problem in the first place? Why did it take a third party tester to find it?
why? they changed the value ratio of break pedal to caliper pressure.... in a older car they may have had to plug in a thingy to reprogram the same thing, but thsi is what you get with any drive by wire vehical.
you just have to hope that how they deliver firmware updates is "secure" enough... so you dont get the every pedel/switch/nob/screen is now an accelerator patch
CR said: Breaking distance is > 150'
Tesla said: Our testing says 133'
CR said: Same, on our first try, subsequent tries were longer.
Tesla said: Oh crap, that's probably a bug in our regen breaking stuff--thanks for pointing that out.
Tesla rolls out a fix and CR verifies the fix. It seems like everyone was well-behaved all the way around.
The problem only emerged when doing multiple emergency stops in a row. How often do you do that?
A number of reviewers had reviewed the Model 3's brakes previously. Some noticed no issues at all. A couple noticed "inconsistency" in their repeated hard braking tests, but nonetheless rated them well. It was only Consumer Reports that managed to show that it was an actual problem.
I'm glad Tesla took it seriously. Going from a bad braking review to a fix for all vehicles in a week is really amazing. Compare and contrast to the GM ignition switch scandal, where they played the denial game for over a decade.
Of course, Slashdot is going to be full of people pretending that recalls only affect Tesla, just because media coverage focuses so heavily on Tesla. Literally, within days of the CR brake finding - affecting only repeat emergency braking events, and only to the point of braking like a pickup - Fiat issued a recall for around 5 million vehicles due to a problem where the cruise control could get stuck on and the engine unable to be shut off, leading to the terrifying situation of the driver having to fight the vehicle to a stop with the brakes. But it got almost no coverage versus the Tesla issue.
Jesus: "Son of a
I drive an EV (hate fossil cars), am not that old (I keep telling myself) and write embedded software for a living.
I test my software for longer than a week before releasing it, and it's not even safety critical.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC