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genxlib

(5,508 posts)
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 10:01 AM Sep 2021

Tesla has jumped the shark

This is just a terrible idea

https://slate.com/technology/2021/09/tesla-yoke-steering-wheel-safety.html

OK, I think they may have actually jumped the shark several years when they introduced the Cybertruck https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck but at least that could be written off as a niche market.

Now they are screwing with the functionality of one of their mainline cars for the vanity of how it looks. Obviously it just stems from the fact that they think the cars will drive themselves which is crazy in itself.

48 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Tesla has jumped the shark (Original Post) genxlib Sep 2021 OP
Glad I never wanted one, this is just stupid. nt kirkuchiyo Sep 2021 #1
I agree. Us manly men want the rumble and smell of diesel! Chainfire Sep 2021 #7
Actually I own a diesel! kirkuchiyo Sep 2021 #16
So do I! PJMcK Sep 2021 #18
Tomorrow is the anniversary of his disappearance kirkuchiyo Sep 2021 #19
Congrats to you and your wife! (n/t) PJMcK Sep 2021 #20
My last car was a diesel Bug jmowreader Sep 2021 #37
My farm truck MuseRider Sep 2021 #32
All right, I can see how it is going to be... Chainfire Sep 2021 #48
It's a steering wheel. BFD. marble falls Sep 2021 #2
Except that it's not a wheel. TreasonousBastard Sep 2021 #8
Neither were these ... marble falls Sep 2021 #35
Which of these in still in use? TreasonousBastard Sep 2021 #38
The BMW, the Mercedes, the Audi at least; and the wheels are only going to get weirder ... marble falls Sep 2021 #39
OK this is weird OriginalGeek Sep 2021 #44
I think it would be awkward for me- viva la Sep 2021 #9
I wanted a Model 3 MurrayDelph Sep 2021 #31
Probably an idea from Musk, and not... Buckeye_Democrat Sep 2021 #3
Yup..typical rich republican..he knows best..screw the engineering part PortTack Sep 2021 #6
Musk certainly has envisioned impractical... Buckeye_Democrat Sep 2021 #21
That's Batman stuff. underpants Sep 2021 #4
They are a nice car. StarryNite Sep 2021 #10
Skip right to a multigraincracker Sep 2021 #5
So you think they'll never be self driving cars? USALiberal Sep 2021 #11
there are now.. i read about their accidents all the time samnsara Sep 2021 #12
Lol.... USALiberal Sep 2021 #15
it depends on who is writing the difference between drivers driving and self-driving cars. marie999 Sep 2021 #26
People said the same thing about air travel!!! USALiberal Sep 2021 #28
In the lifetime of these cars, no. sir pball Sep 2021 #25
Teslas simply don't have the hardware to be true (Level 5) self driving. tinrobot Sep 2021 #40
Its an allusion to airplane steering SYFROYH Sep 2021 #13
Probably more race car inspired, IMO sir pball Sep 2021 #22
That's an F1 racer wheel, here's Porshe's version ... marble falls Sep 2021 #36
Please tell me you're joking sir pball Sep 2021 #45
It's one of those days. One horsey starts to look like another. I did have a Porsche wheel up. marble falls Sep 2021 #47
I recently dumped my 2016 Model S MenloParque Sep 2021 #14
Steering wheels were invented because there was no power steering. hunter Sep 2021 #17
No offense, but every time people say Tesla jumped the shark, it's stock soars. Scrivener7 Sep 2021 #23
There's an important safety point that was touched on in the article: Muscle memory. bluesbassman Sep 2021 #24
If I had a dollar for every time Miguelito Loveless Sep 2021 #27
+1000 USALiberal Sep 2021 #42
Not sure I see the problem.... Happy Hoosier Sep 2021 #29
Does it make a full turn with the steering wheel having to move more than 90 degrees. marie999 Sep 2021 #30
I hope they are not going to roll this out across all of their cars/SUVs/trucks. I love my Tesla so beaglelover Sep 2021 #33
It's a slippery slope. Before you know it, we'll have robotic drivers... NurseJackie Sep 2021 #34
meh. If it sucks they will change it out quickly. fescuerescue Sep 2021 #41
Better visibility is bad? Xoan Sep 2021 #43
The Cybertruck was actually 2 years ago. Initech Sep 2021 #46

PJMcK

(21,922 posts)
18. So do I!
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 11:27 AM
Sep 2021

My sailboat has a Yanmar 18-hp inboard Diesel. It’s the best engine of any type I’ve ever had.

Want to read a great mystery? Google Rudolph Diesel, the German engineer who developed the engine. Intriguing stuff!

kirkuchiyo

(402 posts)
19. Tomorrow is the anniversary of his disappearance
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 11:32 AM
Sep 2021

It's also my 31st wedding anniversary. My wife is a saint!

jmowreader

(50,453 posts)
37. My last car was a diesel Bug
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 02:02 PM
Sep 2021

Great car. No problems at all. Only traded it for more cargo capacity. My first thought was to get a trailer, but VW says you can’t tow with a Bug, so that was out.

If Tiguans were available in diesel, I’d still have a diesel.

MuseRider

(34,060 posts)
32. My farm truck
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 01:03 PM
Sep 2021

has an old, loud Cummins engine. I hate it now and wish I could afford a new, quiet truck. If I get a new one it will still be an old beater so I can haul hay etc. I no longer drive it anywhere but out here and back and forth to the feed store.

Chainfire

(17,310 posts)
48. All right, I can see how it is going to be...
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 04:38 PM
Sep 2021

Try to educate a bunch of liberals about the manly art of truckery! They may be putting Diesels is some yuppy type vehicles, but, until they put a diesel in damn Bentley, it should be for manly men and the manly trucks that they drive. amen. Show me a man in a King Ranch pickup, (the John Wayne of pickups) and I will show you Republican leadership potential.

Back to the subject at hand, it looks as if someone may be trying to upstage Edsel Fords marketing disaster. Remember Edsel? Born into the lap of wealth and luxury? He is the Ford with the brother named Diesel and sister Ethyl; it was really volatile family. In any case, Ed's name will always be associated with failure. I guess any claim to fame beats being invisible.

marble falls

(56,371 posts)
35. Neither were these ...
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 01:51 PM
Sep 2021

60's Dodge


Maserati Boomerang


Oldsmobile Inca


Lancia Stratos Siblio


Aston Martin Lagonda


Pagani Huayra


Citroen Karin


X-Ray Roadster


Mercedes F-200


Lamborghini Athon


Honda EV-Ster


BMW Z22


OriginalGeek

(12,132 posts)
44. OK this is weird
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 02:41 PM
Sep 2021

Until today, I had never heard of a Pagani but it appeared in a book I am listening to on my way to work (in a truck. with a steering wheel) this morning and then there's a picture of a Pagani interior in your list.

TWO Pagani references in one day after 57 (almost 58) years of no Pagani references at all.

Wacky universe!


BTW that thing looks neat. Next time I got 6 million bucks burning a hole in my pocket I may have to hunt one down.

Lol, is the Citroen Karin what you drive to go speak to the manager?

viva la

(3,229 posts)
9. I think it would be awkward for me-
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 10:19 AM
Sep 2021

short arms.
Also, for some reason, the turn signals are a button on the steering wheel, not an arm that blinks and sounds.
I still haven't been able to reliably (without looking) turn on my radio and tune it from the steering wheel of my plain old Honda. We signal several times a minute in city traffic-- the buttons seem like taking streamlining too far.

But I'm not a Tesla sort of person. It all sounds too fussy and cerebral for me. Others might love pretending they're piloting a 747 on the highway.

MurrayDelph

(5,281 posts)
31. I wanted a Model 3
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 12:47 PM
Sep 2021

But when I needed a new car, the price of a Model 3 equipped the way I needed it (long range for the empty parts of the 395, all-wheel drive for the occasional snow) priced it out of my market.

Now, in my case, when I drive amy extended distance, I have my left elbow resting on the windowsill and my left hand lightly pressing on the wheel at about 10 o'clock, index and thumb in front, middle finger knuckle in back. This yoke confirmation means there is no place for me to hold on.

Besides, where could I put this?:

Buckeye_Democrat

(14,848 posts)
21. Musk certainly has envisioned impractical...
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 11:38 AM
Sep 2021

... and impossible ideas in the past, like the Hyperloop:



There's plenty of engineers who still try to make them work, so some of them also put more value in hero-worshipping than reality sometimes.

underpants

(182,284 posts)
4. That's Batman stuff.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 10:09 AM
Sep 2021

I don’t ever what a car payment again but I like the Teslas. Nice look and from what I’ve seen and read good performance.

StarryNite

(9,366 posts)
10. They are a nice car.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 10:19 AM
Sep 2021

My daughter has the small one. She's had it for two years and absolutely loves it. She hangs on to her vehicles for years and is planning on having this one for a long time.

 

marie999

(3,334 posts)
26. it depends on who is writing the difference between drivers driving and self-driving cars.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 12:19 PM
Sep 2021

In a study commissioned by Google, Virginia Tech says that the drivers have 4.2 crashes every million miles and self-driving have 3.2 crashes every million miles, but only in Mountain View California, and Austin Texas. Where the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute says drivers have 4.1 crashes per million miles and self-driving have 9.1 million crashes per million miles but does not state if only in California or more states. As for me, I bought new washing machines in 2015 to replace a 2001 model, then in 2017, 2019, and 2021 because in all 4 the computers crashed. So no, I will never get into a self-driving car.

sir pball

(4,726 posts)
25. In the lifetime of these cars, no.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 12:02 PM
Sep 2021

Despite Elon's ass-smoke, "Full Self Driving" is anything but - it's a dangerous misnomer for a system that is in reality no more capable of hands-off driving than any other Level 2 assistance system. True autonomy, Levels 4/5, are always "3-5 years away" in marketing fluff; the reality is more likely to be decades. Tesla has done an amazing job in terms of legitimizing EVs, but this "self driving" malarkey is misleading at best and actively dangerous at worst.




tinrobot

(10,848 posts)
40. Teslas simply don't have the hardware to be true (Level 5) self driving.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 02:15 PM
Sep 2021

All they have now are cameras. They ditched radar last year, and don't do lidar or any other advanced sensing technologies that companies like Waymo are using.

Get some water/mud on those Tesla cameras and the car is blind.

sir pball

(4,726 posts)
22. Probably more race car inspired, IMO
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 11:40 AM
Sep 2021

Though Elon would probably have a stroke if an engineer suggested all these *gasp* physical controls

MenloParque

(505 posts)
14. I recently dumped my 2016 Model S
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 10:32 AM
Sep 2021

For a Porsche Taycan Turbo S. Fit and finish is superior, as is the performance. A lot less Teslas at my campus parking lots these days compared to the last few years. Many more all electric alternatives from other makers such as Audis, Bmw, Mercedes. Tesla ain’t the only game in town if you want electric.

hunter

(38,264 posts)
17. Steering wheels were invented because there was no power steering.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 11:21 AM
Sep 2021

A gearbox reduced the force required to turn a car's wheels, especially at slow speeds.

There's nothing sacred about traditional steering wheels. They're just one of those things we're stuck on, like QWERTY keyboards.

That doesn't change my opinion about Tesla. If someone gave me a Tesla I'd give it like a hot potato.

Scrivener7

(50,774 posts)
23. No offense, but every time people say Tesla jumped the shark, it's stock soars.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 11:44 AM
Sep 2021

People were predicting its downfall after the truck and it has gone nuts since then.

bluesbassman

(19,310 posts)
24. There's an important safety point that was touched on in the article: Muscle memory.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 12:01 PM
Sep 2021

For a new driver, becoming accustomed to a yoke may be satisfactory. However drivers with decades of experience operating a vehicle with a full steering wheel have extensive muscle memory for how to use the wheel in an accident scenario or in accident avoidance maneuvers. I’m sure over time most drivers can become proficient in operating Tesla’s yoke, but it will take time and during that time the risk of being involved in an accident may be increased.

Happy Hoosier

(7,083 posts)
29. Not sure I see the problem....
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 12:28 PM
Sep 2021

Yokes have been used in aircraft and racing cars for a long time. It is a change in paradigm, though, and that can lead to "training" issues. Not sure I'd want it as the control ratio for consumer cars is MUCH lower than aircraft or racing cars, but it DOES improve visibility of the instrument panel.

 

marie999

(3,334 posts)
30. Does it make a full turn with the steering wheel having to move more than 90 degrees.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 12:29 PM
Sep 2021

If so do you palm your top hand for a 1 hand turn? It would probably work better with a suicide knob.

beaglelover

(3,441 posts)
33. I hope they are not going to roll this out across all of their cars/SUVs/trucks. I love my Tesla so
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 01:10 PM
Sep 2021

much, but would not buy another one if it had the yoke wheel. Time will tell.

fescuerescue

(4,448 posts)
41. meh. If it sucks they will change it out quickly.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 02:18 PM
Sep 2021

They aren't going to let a vehicle line fail over that.

I've used a yoke before. In aircraft. Of all the things to get used to, that barely rose to conscious notice.

Initech

(99,915 posts)
46. The Cybertruck was actually 2 years ago.
Tue Sep 28, 2021, 04:10 PM
Sep 2021

But it does feel like a hundred, LOL. And yeah that thing definitely jumped the shark, it's a totally ridiculous looking vehicle.

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