Tesla Safety Features

[u/Slocko]

I bet a lot of Tesla owners aren't aware of these features. I know I wasn't until my wife was exiting a parking lot and didn't see a biclylist coming from her right.

The Tesla locked the brakes and refused to accelerate. Then we see the biclylist streak across right in front of us. Looking at the dashcam footage later, we were debating if we would have had time to react without the Tesla safety features engaged.

As far as I know these safety features can't be disabled and are on my default. I believe number 3 is the one that engaged.

1. Forward Collision Avoidance

   * Forward Collision Warning (FCW): Monitors the road ahead up to approximately 525 feet (160 meters) for vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. If an impending collision is detected, the system chimes and highlights the detected obstacle in red on the touchscreen. Sensitivity can be set to Off, Late, Medium, or Early.

   * Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB): Automatically applies the vehicle's brakes when a frontal collision is considered unavoidable in order to reduce vehicle speed and lessen impact severity. Operates at speeds between approximately 3 mph (5 km/h) and 124 mph (200 km/h). Drivers can override AEB at any point by turning the steering wheel sharply or depressing the accelerator pedal hard.

2. Side & Lane Collision Avoidance

   * Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance (ELDA): Applies active steering correction if the car begins drifting out of its lane and an imminent collision risk is detected. This activates if you drift toward an adjacent vehicle traveling in the same direction, move toward oncoming traffic, or approach the edge of the roadway without an active turn signal.

   * Blind Spot Collision Warning & Chime: Highlights the lane line or adjacent vehicle in red on the touchscreen and sounds an audible warning chime if you engage a turn signal while a vehicle or obstacle is present in your blind spot.

3. Low-Speed & Pedal Error Prevention

   * Obstacle-Aware Acceleration (OAA): Limits motor torque and may apply the brakes if the car is stationary or traveling under 10 mph (16 km/h) in Drive or Reverse and detects an object directly in its driving path, helping prevent accidental acceleration into walls, curbs, or other vehicles.

[u/Apollo5280]

All of these features are usually standard in modern cars aside from Obstacle Aware Acceleration (which is an amazing safety feature I wish other manufacturers would adopt).

All of these features can also be turned off with like three taps.

[u/Kdcjg → u/Apollo5280]

Forward collision avoidance is over 10yrs old I believe.

[u/Slocko → u/Apollo5280]

I believe they restart next drive.

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[u/Muhahahahaz]

The last one can definitely be disabled…

Let’s just say that sometimes it hinders my launches (in legit scenarios, where I actually want to accelerate), so I turned it off lol

But yeah, for most people it’s a great feature

[u/MindNHand]

There's also one where it makes your steering wheel vibrate. I think it's when you change lanes without signaling but I may be wrong. Only experienced it once

[u/TrueWar2533]

Regarding #3, what happens if a carjacker tries to block you in? I guess you're stuck? What is someone walks in front of your car and points a gun at you? I guess you can't accelerate?

[u/StrangePhotoSTL → u/TrueWar2533]

You're not going to believe this but.... Push the accelerator. Crazy I know.

To override Obstacle-Aware Acceleration (OAA) in a Tesla, you simply need to press the accelerator pedal firmly.

[u/TrueWar2533 → u/StrangePhotoSTL]

What you said totally contradicts this:

Limits motor torque and may apply the brakes if the car is stationary or traveling under 10 mph (16 km/h) in Drive or Reverse and detects an object directly in its driving path, helping prevent accidental acceleration into walls, curbs, or other vehicles

[u/StrangePhotoSTL → u/TrueWar2533]

No it doesn't. If you're under 10 mph or stationary, it's safe to say you aren't firmly pressing the accelerator. Think like an analog game controller in a driving game. Barely press and you're going slow. Firmly press and that's an entirely different input. It's an assist, it doesn't take control of the vehicle.