Lesson Learned On Group Ride

[SaratogaLefty]

Learned an important lesson today. When we got into the heavy fog on Skyline this morning it was sort of raining and my wife said put on the wipers. Instinctively I pushed the right stalk upward which then apparently put the car in neutral while we were heading downhill at around 50 mph. I didn’t immediately realize we were in neutral with no power or regen and I thought oh no dead car. Then I noticed we were in neutral but it wouldn’t let me shift back into Drive. Then I thought maybe if I touch the brake it will let me shift into Drive and thankfully that worked. Was scary for a few minutes.

 

[pam4_AGT]

Your post got me thinking. I switch between "R" and "D" numerous times everyday while parking or pulling out of a parking spot. The car has never gone into neutral. How on earth do you even engage "N"?

 

[Coltonw011]

Your post got me thinking. I switch between "R" and "D" numerous times everyday while parking or pulling out of a parking spot. The car has never gone into neutral. How on earth do you even engage "N"?

Half a stalk lift haha, don’t “click upwards.” Gentle push will engage it

 

[pam4_AGT]

Half a stalk lift haha, don’t “click upwards.” Gentle push will engage it

Oh crap!... never noticed it. I've always pushed it up (or down) all the way. Never had an occasion where I needed to put it in neutral.

Separate rant .... I really wish they had implemented the "R" and "D" as backward/forward (push/pull) of that stalk instead of up/dn.

 

[TakeDuo]

Looking forward to the thread and pics!

 

[Ksa23]

For a moment I thought this was going to be a thread on losing power braking while rolling downhill… phew….

 

[SaratogaLefty]

For a moment I thought this was going to be a thread on losing power braking while rolling downhill… phew….

Brakes did work once I realized that was what I needed to do to get back to drive mode. But initially I was trying to accelerate and nothing was happening. Also no regen in neutral.

 

[DaveyBoyGT]

Learned an important lesson today. When we got into the heavy fog on Skyline this morning it was sort of raining and my wife said put on the wipers. Instinctively I pushed the right stalk upward which then apparently put the car in neutral while we were heading downhill at around 50 mph. I didn’t immediately realize we were in neutral with no power or regen and I thought oh no dead car. Then I noticed we were in neutral but it wouldn’t let me shift back into Drive. Then I thought maybe if I touch the brake it will let me shift into Drive and thankfully that worked. Was scary for a few minutes.

I have wondered about this for some time, now you have given the answer. I am wondering if this is by design, to allow you to coast in neutral (for whatever reason) while driving. When you hit the brake did it automatically go in drive, or did you have to manually shift into drive?

 

[abbas2099]

I think you have to manually put in drive.

 

[borski]

I think you have to manually put in drive.

Correct. But it won’t let you shift until you hit the brake.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Basically I can go downhill in neutral for 5 minutes and purely generate electricity?

 

[abbas2099]

Basically I can go downhill in neutral for 5 minutes and purely generate electricity?

yes, you could... I did that with my Tesla... I had 4 miles left on the car to drive 4 miles to get home and I had a huge downhill in front of me... I pulled into my garage with 1 mile left.

 

[abbas2099]

Basically I can go downhill in neutral for 5 minutes and purely generate electricity?

actually no, I cant correct my post.. not in neutral.. you have to be in drive.

 

[daydreamer223]

Sorry really dumb question… do the brakes still work in neutral, or do you need to switch to drive before they function?

 

[Tesla2.0]

Brake always work in all drive modes. It brake even more violently in high regen drive mode.