According to Reuters the magazine Consumer Reports will not recommend the 2018 Tesla Model 3 because of its long braking distance and difficult-to-use touchscreen.
Just as Tesla’s shares were starting to climb again, Consumer Reports reported that, per its tests, the Model 3 had a stopping distance of 46 metres when going 100km per hour. That’s worse than a full-sized Ford F-150 pick-up truck.
It’s also far from what Tesla advertised, which was a stopping distance of 40.5 metres when outfitted with four Michelin all-season tires.
“Unlike other vehicles, Tesla is uniquely positioned to address more corner cases over time through over-the-air software updates, and it continually does so to improve factors such as stopping distance,” said a spokesperson for Tesla to Reuters.
Elon Musk has since tweeted out that the braking issue will be solved with a firmware update and that the company won’t stop until the Model 3 has better braking than all other comparable cars.
Looks like this can be fixed with a firmware update. Will be rolling that out in a few days. With further refinement, we can improve braking distance beyond initial specs. Tesla won’t stop until Model 3 has better braking than any remotely comparable car.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 22, 2018
Since these tweets, Consumer Reports has agreed to retest the car to see if it can actually improve the braking in an update.
“If Tesla can update the brakes over the air — an industry first — we’d be happy to retest our Model 3,” said Jake Fisher, the director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports according to Reuters.
The company’s stocks were on the rise during the weekend after Musk tweeted out that the fully-loaded and all-wheel-drive versions of the car were going to be on sale for 78,000 USD. He also shared a new app that will soon let users call for car service right from their phone.
Will soon enable Tesla owners to request service from their phone with a few taps. Tesla Ranger will come to you to take care of your car. No need to bring the car in yourself & zero paperwork.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2018
Source: Reuters
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