Dog Mode - leave climate control on when you leave the car
Is that feature really safe to use, considering that everyone in the USA wants to be a hero and break someone else's car glass when they see an unaccompanied animal inside a vehicle? I hear stories ALL THE TIME about people spotting a dog in what they perceive to be a "hot car" and then they forcibly enter to "rescue" the animal. Sometimes, their actions do help the animal (in an actual hot car), but it would seem to be a big risk to take if you have a Tesla.
The display shows clearly dog mode is on and the current temp inside the car.
They keyword being "inside" the car. While nice there is a large text display to alert others, there are two potential problems: (1) people are idiots, and (2) American society worships perceived heros.
The idiot part comes into play when some do-gooder with way too much free time walks along side your car and spots the dog but not the display. End result -- a broken window and the cops are called. The question then becomes, "can you sue the guy to recover your window repair expenses?" In American society, I would guess the answer to be No. They'd probably get off by claiming they didn't see the display and were desperately trying to rescue what they thought was a helpless dog in a hot or cold car. The police use similar excuses by saying they "feared for their life" and that's why they felt they had to shoot someone. These excuses don't hold water when any reasonable person ponders it, but the crazy excuses often work in court.
All said, it would be nice to see some Tesla statistics about how often people actually read the display versus the idiot "heros" who ignore the display and proceed to break the glass.
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The idiot part comes into play when some do-gooder with way too much free time walks along side your car and spots the dog but not the display. End result -- a broken window and the cops are called. The question then becomes, "can you sue the guy to recover your window repair expenses?" In American society, I would guess the answer to be No. They'd probably get off by claiming they didn't see the display and were desperately trying to rescue what they thought was a helpless dog in a hot or cold car. The police use similar excuses by saying they "feared for their life" and that's why they felt they had to shoot someone. These excuses don't hold water when any reasonable person ponders it, but the crazy excuses often work in court.
All said, it would be nice to see some Tesla statistics about how often people actually read the display versus the idiot "heros" who ignore the display and proceed to break the glass.