I Found A Safety Concern In My Tesla Model 3, & How To Correct It

I have been taking a lot of long drives in my Tesla Model 3 lately while getting my son set up in his first job across the state of Florida. I was returning from Melbourne to Tampa one evening after moving him into his apartment and I discovered something about the Model 3 that I didn’t like.

I had been driving on Autopilot for an hour and I was getting tired. Not because driving on Autopilot is tiring, but it had been a long day moving my son’s belongings. I usually stop at a Supercharger for a charge, to get a snack, and to go to the rest room, but I didn’t need any of those things, so I just stopped on the shoulder of the exit. I got out of the car and my wife and I switched places. I didn’t turn off the car — because you never turn off a Tesla, you just put it in park and walk away.

As I got out of the car, the headlights stayed on (I have them set to stay on for a bit after leaving the vehicle), but the taillights went off immediately. As I walked behind the car, I thought, “This isn’t very safe. I should have some lights on so that cars behind me can see I’m on the shoulder.”

The solution is easy — you can either turn on your hazard lights above the rear-view mirror or you can turn your lights to ON instead of AUTO. But how often would people not think to do so?

I submitted a bug report (that is where you press the microphone and say “Bug Report” and then report what you want), requesting that the “Headlights after exit” setting apply to taillights also. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments.

If you want to take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging on a Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3, here’s the link: https://ts.la/paul92237 (but if someone else helped you more, please use their code instead of mine).