Air Suspension as Tire Jack
Description
Use the Air Suspension to jack up the car and make it easy to replace a tire. Some type of jack stand would be included.
Competitive/Pricing/Notes
The car could help with changing a tire in step by step way, removing the need for an expensive and heavy car jack.
The Model S or X can already be equipped with air suspension. If you would end up needing to replace a tire, a jacking wizard should appear that combines the manual and performs certain steps while monitoring for changes in tilt angle of the car. Steps:
- User activates the “tire change” feature which requires the user to be parked. The feature could be included in the warning message that appears when you have a flat tire.
- The suspension raises to maximum height.
- User is told to place small, lightweight but strong supports underneath the car. Preferably provided with the car so they can 100% certain they can carry the weight. E.g. aerogel with protective exterior would be awesome.
- Press “Completed” on the touch screen, the car would lower the suspension again, while monitoring of the tilt angle of the vehicle stays within margin (e.g. supports sinking into grass, etc.). If the DPMS system is capable of working without being powered, that can be monitored, too.
- Ideally, the tire is lifted off the ground by now.
Most if not all of this functionality could be delivered over the air (excluding approved blocks)
Tesla already differentiates itself in efficiency and weight savings are a big part of that. Also, a wizard on the touchscreen would fit with Tesla’s “computer on wheels” image.
One caveat I understand could be that if the tire already was completely flat before the procedure, there might not be enough ground clearance to put it on high enough supports. Still, I’d like to post this, since there may be ways to solve this and this would be a great feature to have.
Also, the range of travel of the suspension might not be enough for this feature to entirely lift the tire. I haven’t tested this.
Status
Not implemented.
Tags:
4 Comments
B.t.w. I tested a bit and my Model S actually detects if it's sitting on a support and goes into Jack mode (displaying a Model S, getting its tire changed). It did however abort jacking up the tires any further and I think there was still some weight on it. So it "almost worked" with the current car's configuration.
@HammoJ: Good point, although there is plenty of space in the lower portion of a rear trunk. But you're right, it would still be additional weight, which you might not want to carry around for that one instance you have a flat tire. Although you have theses lightweight tires that can take you to a garage nearby... (but they're not intended to keep on driving)
