Two years ago, the facelift brought an ergonomically controversial element in the form of a steering wheel into Tesla’s flagship EVs, replacing the classic round steering wheel. Because it still coexists with steering without a progressive gear ratio, the steering wheel proved uncomfortable in practice, and Tesla was forced to bring the round steering wheel back to the list of options available to Model S and Model X buyers.
Image source: Tesla
As you remember Electrek, formally, the round steering wheel returned to the configurator on the Tesla website in February last year, but it was impossible to order a car with it, and some car owners used the services of craftsmen or experimented with replacing the steering wheel with a flying alone. Now, Model S and Model X buyers can choose a round steering wheel instead of a steering wheel when ordering a car on the company’s website, and such a replacement won’t require an additional payment, although it may ultimately impact the delivery time of a electric machine.
Along with the round steering wheel, the steering column switches also disappeared, but Tesla gradually implemented their functions via buttons on the steering wheel hub with a feedback function. Elon Musk explained all these innovations by the fact that over time the automation would have to learn to switch the operating modes of the power plant and turn on the turn signals, and the steering wheel truncated in height would provide better visibility. Since the “autopiloted bright future” has not yet arrived, the reality is that the driver is more comfortable with a round steering wheel, and its return to the Model S and Model X options list can only be welcomed with favor. Especially since Tesla has not yet implemented a progressive gear ratio that would make the steering more “edgy” at high speeds.
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