Just last week after testing out the Tesla Model 3, Consumer Reports could not give a “recommend” to potential buyers of the Model 3 citing issues with the brakes. The Model 3 that Consumer Reports tested kept requiring 152 feet (46.32 meters) to completely come to a halt, a large 20 feet difference over the acclaimed 133 feet (40.5 meters).
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has made good on promises that a firmware would fix the issue and has taken to Twitter to confirm the rollout of the firmware.
Also, firmware fix for upgraded brake performance on standard Model 3 started rolling out yesterday. Should improve braking distance by ~20 ft for repeated heavy braking events. Thanks @ConsumerReports for excellent critical feedback!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 27 May 2018
After the firmware has been applied, Consumer Reports agreed to retest the Model 3’s brakes again. In their latest report, Consumer Reports have managed to get the Model 3 to stop within 133 feet which is well within the range for a car that size using the same tyres.
“I’ve been at CR for 19 years and tested more than 1,000 cars,” says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, “and I’ve never seen a car that could improve its track performance with an over-the-air update.”
These are one of the better features of Tesla having over the air updates which improve performance by quite a fair bit as this type of enhancements are almost unheard of. Still, Consumer Reports hold firm about their other remarks about the ride being too stiff and that the central console for control requires too much of the driver’s attention.
Tesla has also responded to it by rolling out changes to how the controls work.
