Tesla Motors has won back some of Consumer Reports’ respect after being criticised for failing to include automatic emergency braking in recently built vehicles. The absence of the safety system really irked CR, resulting in a points deduction on all of the brand’s existing models. Tesla said it was abnormal to see vehicles of the same generation missing preexisting safety features and docked the Model S and X two points apiece.
“When we purchased our latest test car, we were assured automatic emergency braking would be enabled by the end of 2016,” explained Jake Fisher, director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “We’ve been waiting for this important safety feature, which is standard equipment on much cheaper cars.”
The matter was address through a series of software updates, beginning last month, that returned some of the system’s functionality on Tesla vehicles. However, CR is only restoring half the points it took away since the update doesn’t provide auto-braking for cars operating above 28 miles an hour.
Tesla has stated that stop assist will be included in a later update, at which point it can earn back the remaining points. It claims the reason it disabled the safety features last October was down to the implementation of new autonomous hardware that would make the vehicles more capable over time.
[Image: Tesla Motors]
“Tesla said it was abnormal to see vehicles of the same generation missing preexisting safety features and docked the Model S and X two points apiece.”
You mean “Consumer Reports said…”.
While OTA updates are cool, I find it unnerving that a car’s function can be so fluid.
I keep hoping that BMW or Audi or someone will offer a back to basics car with a 6MT, RWD, LSD, a sports suspension with no adjustable damping, cloth seats, no automated maintenance, no “connected” services, zero automatic driving systems, and so forth. Tesla and it’s fan base continue to pull consumers and thus BMW and Audi in the complete opposite direction — turning cars into self-driving electronic devices.
They do. It’s a base 3-series 320i with the manual. Well-documented. No one buys it, but you’re welcome to it.
So this is the sword CR has chosen to fall on. Honestly I think that says a lot about how good cars have gotten overall, that points are won and lost in some of this relatively trivial nonsense.
CR generally falls on a few swords, as you put it: Reliability (ahem, Chrysler), infotainment (Honda/Acura), and safety measures it feels should be standard (everybody).
Even as a CR subscriber for decades, I sometimes wish that they’d be a bit more forthcoming in how “points” are assigned. There’s got to be a secret sauce that dictates how their subjective criteria (“I think Honda’s infotainment SUCKS!!!”) translates into numbers.
Which goes back to the arguments on here previously: how does “reliability” get a black circle (or two down-arrows, or whutevar their nomenclature is for “lucky you if it starts”) because of the Bluetooth fritzing-out instead of..the car STARTING every morning despite total neglect on the part of the owner?
Yeah, I can’t get excited about the bluetooth fritzing out. Reliability is far more important in car functions than in infotainment/connectivity functions. CR grading should reflect that.