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Comment by haberman | Hacker News Reader

Somewhat ironically, the physical controls for the turns signals are by far the worst part of the whole Tesla UI. I've had my Model 3 for over two years now, and I still cannot reliably cancel a turn signal, or "soft push" the signal so it only blinks 3 times. It's infuriating to inadvertently signal left, then right, then left again, as you frantically try to just cancel the turn signal. I'm broadcasting confusion and incompetence to the outside world, when inside the car I know exactly what I'm trying to do.

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BMW did this, too, starting with the E90 3 series, if I remember correctly. It's awful, because in almost every car I drive, and especially in BMWs (E92 and the E70 X5 I own now), the steering wheel blocks the top of the speedometer and the turn signals entirely. The "modern" turn signal sounds are too soft to be heard over music, and the switch itself is stateless. I think BMW finally gave up on it for their newer models, but I'm not positive on this.

Both the Tesla and the X5 annoy me when I can't tell the state of the switch by feel. Which is funny, because, IMO, BMW has some of the best-feeling and best-weighted stalks in the business. It sounds silly, but I positively LOVE the way engagement on the steering wheels stalks feel on my X5, and every other BMW I've owned or driven.

You can try adjusting the height of the steering wheel? I run into the same issue in my E90 335d, but it's by choice as it's where I like the steering wheel to sit in relation to my seat position.

Very much agreed on the feeling and weight of the stalks. By far the best in the business. Especially for knowing the difference between a lane change vs. turn signal

Yeah that's exactly it. I run the wheel as low as it goes, it would have to be really high for the whole cluster to be visible. Thankfully I have the HUD which I use for speed, but it does not show turn signal indicators.

I have a Z3M where I can see all the instruments perfectly, but that's just because the steering wheel is fixed and much higher than I'd like.

I give the "worst" award to the wiper controls, but I do dislike the mushy feel of the control stalks and the way turn signal cancellation works. Last time I drove a BMW I recall it working similarly though, so maybe it's just the style now?

Perhaps it is just a defect in my hardware, but on mine it is nearly impossible to reliably "soft" press in either direction. Every motion either registers as nothing or hard press.

Yeah could be worth bringing that up during next service. I haven't really had an issue with the two-stage indicators, once I got used to the concept.

I had this issue with mine ( 2018 M3 ). It is a known issue and the service center fixed it.

BMW switched back to normal turn stalks in more recent cars.

We went from a Model S to a Model 3 and this is my only complaint. The steering wheel stalks are terrible on the 3. But are perfectly normal on the S.

I prefer everything else about the 3.

What kills me are the wipers. During the dry season I forget about them, and then winter hits and I dread driving my car. Why oh why could Tesla not just use an off-the-shelf IR sensor like every other premium car? FFS, trying to use cameras to detect rain is a disaster.

I agree, the turn signals suck. Though interestingly I don't have the same problem you have. What gets me is that the detent between the momentary switch and the full signal is stiff enough that I somewhat regularly inadvertently flash oncoming traffic when activating the turn signal. Because the pull resistance on that stalk is much lower than the pressure required to overcome the signal detent.

As a counterpoint, I absolutely love the turn signals in my Model 3. I always thought BMW had the best turn signals (which are functionally identical to Tesla's), and was thrilled to see that Tesla took the same approach.

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