Tesla Says It Will Issue Fix for Model 3 Brakes
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Tesla will issue an over-the-air update to improve the Model 3’s braking performance, CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter Monday night.
His tweets came after Consumer Reports said it would not recommend the latest Tesla electric car because of several major flaws, including long stopping distances.
CR measured the Model 3’s stopping distance at 152 feet from 60 mph, which was far worse than any contemporary car we’ve tested. Musk responded by vowing that Tesla would fix the Model 3 braking performance and also make it best in class. “Tesla won’t stop until Model 3 has better braking than any remotely comparable car,” he tweeted.
Musk said that a firmware update could fix the problem and that Tesla would be “rolling that out in a few days.”
We’ve reached out to Tesla for official confirmation and will update this article as we receive more details.
This isn’t the first time the automaker has used over-the-air updates to address CR findings. In 2016, when CR pointed out that drivers might not be able to stop their vehicles while in “Summon” mode—a system that allows drivers to move or park their cars without anyone sitting in the vehicles—the automaker responded quickly. Within a week of CR notifying Tesla of its findings, the automaker released an update that fixed the problem.
On the other hand, Tesla owners have sometimes had to wait much longer for critical updates. The company took several months to roll out the software for automatic emergency braking (AEB) to Model S sedans and Model X SUVs with second-generation hardware even though customers were promised AEB would come standard on their vehicles.
Once an update for the Model 3 is sent to our vehicle CR will conduct more tests, said Jake Fisher, director of auto testing. “If Tesla can update the brakes over the air, we will retest our Model 3,” Fisher said. “It would be an industry first if they could improve brake performance remotely.”
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