Featured Consumer Reports "New Cars" Dec 2023

You should be checking the rear view mirror, the side mirror, and then looking over your shoulder before changing lanes. Having BSM does not mean you can skip any of those.

 

Agree 100%.

Safety systems are supplements to help, they are not replacements for good driving practices.

 

That is the whole point! BSM is on the side mirror—you cannot check it without checking the mirror. That's exactly why Tesla's system doesn't work because you cannot check the center display and your side mirror at the same time.

 

Their center display is huge. You can check it with the action of checking the rearview mirror. Once you check the side mirror, you should be looking over your shoulder, and not the side mirror.

 

No, you can't look at two directions at the same time unless you are a bug with composite eyes. Again, that is the whole point of putting the BSM indicator on the side mirror.

Of course I look over my shoulder as well—as anyone with a driving license would do.

 

Does the Tesla beep if you start to change lanes, without signaling or if there is a car there? I pay more attention to a beep than the little yellow lights on the mirror. They are always flashing in traffic. Not that I don’t like them or pay no attention to them.
Personally, I don’t care for the car to pull my steering. What if I am dodging something and I know what I am doing?
An example would be a motorcycle lane splitter, what if I move over a little because I feel he is too close and the car pulls me back? Or a car on the other side moves suddenly towards me and I want to avoid it and get over some?
The Prime I have now beeps if I don’t signal a lane change. Ok I realize now I don’t signal quite a bit. I signal driving with no cars around just not to hear the beeping. So I feel I am wearing out my blinker faster.
Reading the cr statement they do say there is an audible warning setting on the Tesla.

 

If you are looking over your shoulder...

• aren't looking at the mirror with the BSM signal light
• looking into the space the BSM will warn you about objects anyway

When checking the rear mirror for approaching vehicles from the back, the central Tesla screen can be checked for what the system is detecting in the blind spot before checking the side mirror and over the shoulder. The system can also give and audible alarm if something does enter the blind spot.

Just because you and CR don't like how Tesla's system works doesn't mean it doesn't work for the task of giving the driver additional info on whether something is in the blind spot.

Subaru doesn't have an alarm. The BSM mirror light goes from steady to flashing when there is something there when the blinker is activated. that is enough for me to notice if I missed something in the rear mirror check. I don't think it would take much time for me to get use to also checking the center screen of Tesla as part of the rear mirror check. Then there is the auto steering away and alarm with it.

Doesn't take much to override the auto steering for lane keeping. Likely the same with Tesla's auto steering here. The Tesla autosteering being discussed here is the system doing so to avoid objects, not stay in lane or auto lane change. In the case of lane splitting bikes or cars getting too close, it should turn away from them.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-ADA05DFF-963D-477D-9A51-FA8C8F6429F1.html

Better to be using the blinker with no one around than not when there is. I've never had a signal switch wear out or break. If the signal still uses an old style bulb, those are cheap. Only the HHR was a PITA change; requiring the removal of the wheel well liner.

 

It was a joke about don’t wear out the blinker. I guess they still use a mechanical flasher in the Prius?
Cars have blind spot assist, mine doesn’t, just warning, I think. Are you sure if someone starts to swerve into the side of a tesla, the car will move over, but not so much as to swerve into the car on the other side?

 

There is no need for the usual Consumer Reports bashing. They are the only trustable authority on information for consumers on cars. If they say something, it is very, very likely true.

That said, a center display of course helps, but not having the usual indicator on the side mirror is simply not nearly as effective, which is what Consumer Reports is saying.

Looking over the shoulder is the final check and you don't need to recheck anything after that.

 

I recall some serious concern about daylight safety lights burning out bulbs quicker.

If the conditions are met to allow to system work, the manual states the car will turn away from a close object while staying in lane. These are driver assistant features designed to give some aid, not auto drive. Best assumption is that a car pulling into the side of a Tesla will hit it if the car if the driver takes no action.

Disagreeing with CR's opinion is not bashing it.

 

I think it’s correct to give all cars with tablet screens to watch a safety minus. For me it’s instant distraction and confusion to look at the screen on the Prime. Ramping up to frustration and annoyance when I can’t even put the am radio on to hear traffic on the eights. Was not an issue with two knobs and a tuner, one for volume the other to tune. We are supposed to keep eyes on the road.

 

The Tesla screen is about twice the size of the Prius one, and more customizable. If you don't want to look at the screen for BSM, you can have the audible warning on.

Will the Prius turn away from an object you missed in the blind spot?

 

The Tesla audible is fine that’s why I asked if it has it. My car doesn’t turn away from vehicles in the blind spot, that might be on later versions. I don’t want that feature.
I definitely don’t want a tablet screen bigger than on my car. I don’t think I want one at all. I guess it is something good for the navi and backup camera. I don’t need navi either.

 

I appreciate the icon in the side view mirrors - the audible alarm and the car gently coming back into the lane on its own- the driver (myself) can override or choose to ignore/turn off the system if they want.

Always have my hands on the wheel and am the one driving and making decisions, do appreciate any input and help I get if I have overlooked a particular situation.

The safety systems like Blind Side Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Accident Avoidance were the reasons we got new vehicles a few years back and chose the trims we did. Having now driven with these systems for three years I would not consider owning a vehicle that didn't have them when selecting a new vehicle. They are wonderful added supplements to a vehicles safety that are meant to assist the driver, does not take over for them. Old enough to remember when Seat Belts were considered an unsafe requirement - if you needed to get out of the vehicle quickly or make it harder to get someone out of a damaged vehicle - that has been proven to be balderdash over time and seat belts have saved countless lives.

 

Not arguing for screens. Just pointing out an experience with one car model's screen does not equate to the same experience with others.

Tesla's system sees more than just the rear blind spot; it's a 360 degree one. It gathers more data than what a single light by the side mirror can impart. In addition to showing where an object is detected in relation to the car, the screen display also uses color coding to show approximate distance to the car of those objects. When the turn signal is activated, video of the actual blind spot also comes on the screen.

Having multiple lights by the side mirror to denote if something is the car's front or rear corner, with a means of denoting how close that something is can be as confusing as looking at a central screen. And you still won't actually see if anything is there until you look over your shoulder.

Tesla having the side warning light in addition could make the system better. Them not having one doesn't mean they don't have BSM as some some have claimed.

 

And if the car in the other lane is going 30 or more miles faster than you are....my experience is that is the danger issue. Your three point check and then making sure the car in front of yours isn't stopping so you can safely accelerate and change lanes leaves gaps where one or more views isn't covered. Situational awareness keeps me generally informed of cars behind me in the normal course of things but radical differences in speed can fool me. Think the car that gets in the other lane because it pulled out from behind the truck that is behind me. That is the one that has almost gotten me.

 

I get much more out of Motor Trend because they don't just give a paragraph but also discuss their methodology, have various drivers" opinions, have a full column of facts, and do comparisons of cars of a particular size/class/etc. They are experienced with ICE cars but also do long term reviews of cars involving a full year sometimes with multiple drivers contributing to the final judgement.

Once, CR was good when all the rest focused on power and style. But not any more.

 

Not arguing for or against screens either. It’s a personal decision. I don’t mind if someone loves a big screen and nothing else is on the dash.
People are warring over every product there is on the internet right now probably. Something is wrong with this.
I pay little attention to the yellow warning lights in my Prime mirrors. Doesn’t help me much. My car also checks 360, and is very good at it. No real time camera., but car symbol in multi info center with warning areas displayed. I don’t need more than that, more distraction. The beeping is the best warning. For me, it doesn’t mean I am trying to change anyone else’s ideas.
I still think better side mirrors are the best blind spot system. Direct imaging by eyesight.

 

I can't remember where I read it, but Apple was or is using scores made for their products from a group of Apple fanboys in order to bolster their reputation as "the best."

If you can't leave it to a reviewer to review a product and want to go by what the masses have to say, then use some worthless system like Amazon reviews. I got a 5-star product off of Amazon only to find out it was pirated software riddled with viruses, for which reason I had to erase my whole computer and resinstall Windows. But sure, let's go by individual scores...

What I hate about blind spots is I wish they weren't there. The other night I came up to a person crossing a crosswalk on my left and didn't see her until I was pretty close to hitting her because the A-pillars on cars these days are about as thick as my thigh.

 

see through a pillars can't come fast enough