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Tesla Fixes pushes out update for Model 3 brakes, gets Consumer Reports to change review

Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 8:33 pm
by FlyingPenguin
When Consumer Reports reviewed Tesla’s first mass-market electric car, the Model 3, it concluded that it couldn’t recommend the car to its readers because of “big flaws,” including long stopping distances when braking at high speed.

Within days, Tesla beamed a wireless software update to the Model 3s on the road that improved their braking, and the impact was swift. After testing the car again, Consumer Reports reversed the verdict on Wednesday, only nine days after its original report was published, and gave the car a “recommended” rating...

...Tesla’s ability to update its cars in much the same way that Apple issues software updates for iPhones is a competitive advantage, Mr. Fisher said. “We’ve never seen a manufacturer do this in the course of a week,” he added.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/b ... ports.html

Re: Tesla Fixes pushes out update for Model 3 brakes, gets Consumer Reports to change review

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 10:34 am
by wvjohn
So they sold a car with defective braking software and fixed it after two publications failed the car after testing the retail product. WTF is that - too busy to do in-house testing on a passenger vehicle to see if it will stop ??? Anything that can be fixed with a wireless online software update is vulnerable to being unfixed the same way. IMHO that is flat-ass crazy.

Re: Tesla Fixes pushes out update for Model 3 brakes, gets Consumer Reports to change review

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 12:29 pm
by FlyingPenguin
I'm guessing they did their stopping distance tests in house using different criteria than Consumer Reports used (after all it had to pass federal braking requirements).

Don't forget that braking on a Tesla involves running the wheel motors as a generator to recapture energy, and they probably just changed the regent power curve. I assume the Tesla also has a backup regular brake for safety and to allow the emergency brake to work, and maybe there's a mix of real braking and regen involved and they tweaked it in software.

Re: Tesla Fixes pushes out update for Model 3 brakes, gets Consumer Reports to change review

Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 2:19 pm
by Pugsley
That would be my guess entirely. Make the regen harder even tho at that hardness you waste energy as it can't go back in to the batteries.