A Tesla Model Y owner might be out thousands of dollars after an incident that could have easily been avoiding. As documented on Twitter, the owner used Tesla’s Summon feature to remotely back their Model Y into a parking space, but the car didn’t detect low section of garage, resulting in the Tesla breaking its own back window.
In the tweet posted by user Tito Rodriguez (@titostacos98), we can see a short video and a photo of the damage done to his Model Y. He says he used the EV’s summon feature to back the Model Y into the parking space of a garage. Apparently the car didn’t detect a large row of cabinets that is hanging low over the parking space, so the car never stopped, instead backed right into it. The Model Y’s entire rear window broke in the process, with potential damage to the hatch, too.
On its face, Tesla’s Summon feature is pretty brilliant. According to Tesla, the feature allows you “to automatically park and retrieve Model Y while you are standing outside the vehicle,” and it’ll work in forward or reverse up to 39 feet. There are things that should be done before using it though, mainly enabling its Bumper Clearance, a thing Rodriguez didn’t seem to do.
Set the distance that you want Summon to stop from a detected object (for example, you may want Summon to stop within just a few inches of a garage wall). Note that this distance applies only to objects that Summon detects directly in front of Model Y when moving forward, or directly behind Model Y when reversing.
Given this, the Model Y should have stopped before backing into the object right? This is Tesla we’re talking about, so that’s maybe. According to Rodriguez, the whole thing may be his fault. In the replies, a user pointed out that when using the Summon feature, you’re supposed to stop it once the vehicle gets in the position you want, to which Rodriguez replied:
Just a day before the incident, I flipped the setting where you don’t have to hold the button down on my phone. So after I summoned it the first time and I walked away. I accidentally pressed it again and then all I heard was a big POP.
Aside from him accidentally summoning the car, Tesla even warns about situations like this, where there is something low hanging from a ceiling. We’ve seen Tesla’s Summon feature be used in brilliant ways. Often, though, it’s misused, because with tech like this there’s a learning curve. So if any of you Tesla owners out there use this feature, remember to actually check the spot you want the car to stop in and monitor the vehicle while it’s parking.