Reminder: Opening the door puts the car in park!

[Buffalo Bob]

My wife and I were driving on a busy street last night. Several cars back at a red light, with my left arm on the armrest, I was fidgeting to the point where I inadvertently opened the door just a tad, so of course, I pulled it closed. The light changed, the people ahead of me finished their texts and got rolling, so I hit the 'gas'. NADA! After freaking out for what seemed like forever, I remembered that opening the door puts the car in park. Dumb Bob! And nobody even honked at me. I guess they were still looking at their phones.

 

[borski]

My wife and I were driving on a busy street last night. Several cars back at a red light, with my left arm on the armrest, I was fidgeting to the point where I inadvertently opened the door just a tad, so of course, I pulled it closed. The light changed, the people ahead of me finished their texts and got rolling, so I hit the 'gas'. NADA! After freaking out for what seemed like forever, I remembered that opening the door puts the car in park. Dumb Bob! And nobody even honked at me. I guess they were still looking at their phones.

Just wait until you accidentally hit park and hold it instead of getting windshield wiper fluid. I’ve totally never done that before and it totally doesn’t terrify you.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Just wait until you accidentally hit park and hold it instead of getting windshield wiper fluid. I’ve totally never done that before and it totally doesn’t terrify you.

OK. I'll take the bait... What does that do? Please don't tell me launch mode.

 

[DeaneG]

OK. I'll take the bait... What does that do? Please don't tell me launch mode.

Full emergency brake.

 

[MorganB]

Just wait until you accidentally hit park and hold it instead of getting windshield wiper fluid. I’ve totally never done that before and it totally doesn’t terrify you.

I've absolutely never done this either After the one time of doing it my brain committed to memory which button is which haha

 

[xponents]

Full emergency brake.

Oh... wtf.... I could see that being very dangerous if you inadvertently deployed it at high speed. I always wondered how you could manually turn on the parking/emergency brake in the Air! Hope @borski and others who have done it (sure you didnt ) didn't get put into any danger with it?

 

[Halodde]

Full emergency brake.

How do you release it?

 

[Steveinarizona]

My wife and I were driving on a busy street last night. Several cars back at a red light, with my left arm on the armrest, I was fidgeting to the point where I inadvertently opened the door just a tad, so of course, I pulled it closed. The light changed, the people ahead of me finished their texts and got rolling, so I hit the 'gas'. NADA! After freaking out for what seemed like forever, I remembered that opening the door puts the car in park. Dumb Bob! And nobody even honked at me. I guess they were still looking at their phones.

To my best recollection, my prior BMW ICE cars did this also.

 

[segbrk]

Mercedes really was a great Lucid gateway drug. The "gear shift" stalk is identical, even including the wobble to get into Neutral. Windshield washer is activated the same way. Opening the door also puts it in Park automatically. I used brake hold all the time, though it did work slightly differently. I came prepared!

 

[borski]

How do you release it?

Stop holding the button.

 

[Halodde]

Stop holding the button.

The emergency brake is only active while you hold the button in?

 

[gavram]

Just wait until you accidentally hit park and hold it instead of getting windshield wiper fluid. I’ve totally never done that before and it totally doesn’t terrify you.

I didn't do this either and also wasn't completely traumatized after

 

[borski]

The emergency brake is only active while you hold the button in?

To be honest, I don’t fully remember, but that is my recollection. I may have had to go back into gear. I don’t recall. It was fast, and it didn’t take me any time to fix, but I just don’t remember.

 

[hmp10]

Mercedes really was a great Lucid gateway drug. The "gear shift" stalk is identical, even including the wobble to get into Neutral. Windshield washer is activated the same way. Opening the door also puts it in Park automatically. I used brake hold all the time, though it did work slightly differently. I came prepared!

This might be one of Rawlinson's holdovers from his Tesla days. The early Model S's sourced their switchgear and steering wheels from Mercedes. When we got our first Tesla in 2015, sitting behind the wheel felt pretty much the same as in our Mercedes SL55 AMG from some years earlier. Some of the parts were actually identical.

 

[par11768]

Best one is hitting the stalk by accident and putting the car in neutral. Stepping on the accelerator and the car does not move. You can't hear the motor like in an ICE car.

 

[alanalanbobalan]

I didn't do this either and also wasn't completely traumatized after

Me neither. I definitely wasn’t on the highway at the time and panicking afterward, and spending the rest of the drive wondering if I did some kind of irreparable damage to the car.

 

[borski]

Me neither. I definitely wasn’t on the highway at the time and panicking afterward, and spending the rest of the drive wondering if I did some kind of irreparable damage to the car.

That grinding sound through

 

[Halodde]

That grinding sound through

Wait... You put the car in park and applied the emergency brake while you were driving? I guess I assumed you were at a stop sign or a stoplight

 

[borski]

To be honest, I don’t fully remember, but that is my recollection. I may have had to go back into gear. I don’t recall. It was fast, and it didn’t take me any time to fix, but I just don’t remember.

I just tested this “for science” and in a controlled setting. Holding the park button applies the emergency brakes but does not shift you out of gear. You’ll hear grinding which will alarm you, and as soon as you let go of the button you are still in D.

 

[borski]

Wait... You put the car in park and applied the emergency brake while you were driving? I guess I assumed you were at a stop sign or a stoplight

No. If you hold the parking button, it will apply the emergency brakes while you are holding the button.