Rear-end trend?

[K.I.T.T.]

I spotted two rear-ended Teslas in front of my house, few meters apart. Just a coincidence or an emerging safety trend?

Months ago, I was reading about people complaining that regen braking often delays the onset of brake lights.
I started looking at my screen more often, to see when brake lights go on, didn't notice particular anomalies.

Then I started looking at other Teslas and noticed that older M3 and MY during the day don't fully lit the brake lights, only a tiny inner segment, barely noticeable in very bright sunny days. While at night they should lit up the whole perimeter, making the braking action more evident.

What's your view on this? Ever experienced sudden braking of other Teslas without braking lights?

 

[ffMathy]

Could also be autopilot. In the EU, autopilot will often slam the brakes way too hard and too soon, especially on the highway. But yes, the delaying of the brake lights is also a good guess, and probably doesn't help either.

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

ANY rear-end accident, ANY, you can assume the person hitting the back to the car is at fault and I'd blame cell phones over anything Tesla is doing. Start looking at all cars.
That said, there are *super rare* occurrences where the rear ender isn't totally at fault or not at fault at all. SUPER rare. If the car in front of you stops you should always have enough room to react and stop your car.
Also- they're probably waiting for parts!!

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Could also be autopilot. In the EU, autopilot will often slam the brakes way too hard and too soon, especially on the highway. But yes, the delaying of the brake lights is also a good guess, and probably doesn't help either.

Phantom braking doesn't occur as often as before, although it still does. More often than not, because the car AI senses a parking car moving, when clearly it's not.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

ANY rear-end accident, ANY, you can assume the person hitting the back to the car is at fault and I'd blame cell phones over anything Tesla is doing. Start looking at all cars.
That said, there are *super rare* occurrences where the rear ender isn't totally at fault or not at fault at all. SUPER rare. If the car in front of you stops you should always have enough room to react and stop your car.
Also- they're probably waiting for parts!!

There aren't other cars in similar conditions. I would agree if 2 in 2 weren't Teslas with similar damages, and it's not that there are as many Teslas in Milan as there are in San Francisco. There might be 20 teslas in total in my neighborhood, out of... thousands. If I see 2 after a month being away, I think I might be the next, statistically.

And - yes - I have no problem blaming neither lawmakers, carmakers or drivers, if there is evidence supporting.

For instance, in Europe the madness of DRLs (day-running lights), with the legitimate aim of making cars more visible during the day from the front, makes them invisible from the rear at night or in galleries, because of an incomplete regulation and implementation.
Neither the regulator, nor the carmakers, could foresee that:
- drivers would be unaware that having a light in front doesn't mean you have it on the back ("important is what I see, who cares about the ot"... SLAM, rear-ended, guilty)
- the carmakers (often the French) wouldn't separate the indicator for the low beams and the running lights, so having either on, just shows a reassuring the very same green light on the dashboard (again, who can even look if the back glows red or not - if not when braking).
So probably 5% to 10% of cars in Europe are circulating at night, or in galleries, without any light from the back other than reflective surfaces. I can easily post a video from my dashcam.

If a car with a dashcam (hey, our Teslas!) rear-ended one of those, it could be a matter of shared guiltat worst, but no way the car in the back would be getting all the blame, by proving in a video that the car in front didn't have any light on.

 

[phxazcraig]

That white one looks like it backed into a post.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

That white one looks like it backed into a post.

The bumper protrudes more than the trunk, it would have been hit before and be showing a much deeper dent.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

After seeing this I’ve been watching to see when the brake lights come on with regen and they seem to some on almost instantly with probably a half second delay or a little less. I don’t think there is a trend I just think people are just bad drivers

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Yes, most likely people distracted by phones. However, something that I paid attention to is that braking light on MY and M3 until 23 in daylight seem to be less visible than M3.24, i.e. when the rear LEDs aren't full on and only two middle horizonal lines are lit. Also, the horizontal center led stripe on the rear window ain't the brightest on older M3s.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

Oh I see what you are saying. So the 3s with the old design are less obvious kind of that someone is braking vs. the new design like the picture.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Oh I see what you are saying. So the 3s with the old design are less obvious kind of that someone is braking vs. the new design like the picture. View attachment 281

That's the point, the M3 that was in front of me didn't have the border LED on at all, unlike your picture. Everything off while driving, just the horizontal segments on when braking. Barely visible. I recalled the outer border to turn on upon braking, much like the left pattern on your picture.

Not sure if that is correct for a daylight pattern, while the one you showed was instead dark/night pattern. I wonder if some software update just went wrong.

Plus in Europe color schemes are different than the US, e.g. we don't have blinking reds for turning lights, but additional orange blinkers.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

The only thing is in the one picture you showed a MY that got rear ended and the Ys have the new brake lights.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Yes I meant another M3 which was driving. I don't recall if I saved a dashcam recording. If I see that again I will remember.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

Ok got it, Thank for sharing!

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Spotted another M3 just today. "Incidentally", pun intended, all pre-Highland. Also starting to wonder if it might be just that our cars break really hard due to regen plus standard brakes. The second day I had my first M3 my wife drove it for the first time, and we almost smashed into a sudden queue. Her braking was so hard that I was more worried about the car behind than in front.

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Okay got it. I asked a colleague of mine how was his new M3 going and he replied "Which one? Just got rear ended!"

It happened to be the emergency breaking. I don't know about you, but when I get it, especially on phantom braking, I instantly decide if I need to brake hard for real or if I need to accelerate to break the car's mistake.
Guess someone else ain't so alert...

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

So, I’ve got an update. On Sunday evening, I was rear-ended (How ironic right?)in a low-speed accident in a construction area. It was quite annoying, but I understand the situation now. The driver who hit me said his daughter had taken off her seatbelt and stood up in her seat while he was trying to get her to sit down. After he explained this, I completely understood the situation and no longer felt upset. The only thing was there was no emergency braking Or quick braking, since it was a 1 lane construction zone it was stop and go traffic. I attached a Google Drive link for anyone who wants to see it.

Google Drive Accident Video

 

[K.I.T.T.]

Wow! Well in this case your car was even stopped.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

And even it looks like he stopped for a moment and just his foot came off of the brake. But I am so glad no one was hurt! I just dropped off my car yesterday and my body shop said they could have it out for me in 2-3 days, but could be subject to change if they find more damage.