Improved Regenerative Brake Lights

I would note that the actual status of the brake lights is hard to discern when the headlights and taillights are on. The added brightness of the brake lights is difficult to appreciate when the taillights are also on. Improving the brake light visibility under those circumstances would be the improvement I would desire.

This topic may be removed since the brake light activation can now be seen on the driver dashboard at all times due to the release of version 7.0.

I don't think you should have to open the charge page to see what is going on.  I think the bird's eye view of the car with all the door/trunk/light indicators and proximity detectors should be an optionally default display on the main screen/driver's screen.

If you open the charge page while driving, you can check when brake lights are on. This may help you get a better feel of what is visible by other drivers...

 

I believe the brake lights come on at about the right g-force level, but I would very much like to see a small light illuminated on the dash when the brake lights are on.  I would use it to  manage my pedal use so as to avoid giving strange, atypical indications to a following driver.

You could use the rear camera and image recognition to see if a car is following closely.  I would rather not have the brake lights come on every time i let off the gas, unless someone was close behind.

When you drive a manual transmission car, and let up on the gas, without pushing in the clutch, the car slows down with no brake lights.  Cars have worked like this for over 100 years.  Regen braking is similar to "in gear" breaking.    By making the brake light adaptive and smart, you can help warn an inattentive driver if needed while avoiding lots of "false brake lights" when driving in freeway traffic.

 

Improved brake lights will take the approval of the state DMVs who are notoriously slow and tech-NOT-savvy.

Improved headlights were prohibited for years because states like Texas required "sealed beams" when halogens were much better.

I don't understand the request. The current system is well thought out and well implemented. I don't see any benefit to adjusting the algorithm, and no details are given to help me understand why the poster thinks an improvement is needed.

I've had my car for more than a year, 30,000+ km. IMO, it's a non-issue in practice. The automatic brake lights work just fine (and are even more sensitive to light regenerative braking since the last firmware update).

I think Tesla designers/engineers must have thoroughly discussed this safety concern with respect to regenerative braking and lighting the brake lights but that discussion may very well have taken place before the new Tech Package sensor suite was available to contribute to everyone's safety.

This matter of brake lights on regenerative braking needs to be better described by Tesla - officially and unequivocally.  I state this because I have found only a vague and seemingly anecdotal description in the Tesla Model S Owners Manual.   This important safety function carries over to the various Tesla forums where this question is asked and not officially answered.  Here is the only pertinent  brake light quote from the Tesla Model S Manual: "Note: If regenerative braking is aggressively slowing Model S, such as on a steep descent, brake lights turn on to alert other road users that you are slowing down." This is not a thorough enough functional explanation in order for the Tesla owner to make an informed decision when to manually apply the brakes, even though the Tesla driver may not need to apply the brakes based on what is in front of the Tesla but rather what is behind the Tesla which is just as important when deciding when to light the brake lights.

Of course the final decision is up to Tesla whether to change the functional interaction between the regenerative braking feature vis-a-vis the brake lights but I believe Tesla designers need to take a fresh look at the difference between the average ICE vehicle's ability to reduce speed via engine braking vs the Tesla's ability to do the same via regenerative braking.

 

I dont think I understand the request

but I would recommend that the brake light always activate, where a car is behind it or not

also how do you plan to detect the car behind, or is this just a feature only to new cars

I like things the way they are.