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| I've noticed on many vehicles, cold and wet disc brakes are almost useless upon initial engagement until there is at least a little bit of heat in the brakes.
It is quite possible to drive the Tesla without any use of friction brakes as one pedal driving uses regenerative braking exclusively unless explicitly set in the settings to allow friction brake use in one-pedal driving mode.
It's quite possible your brakes were cold and wet (given the indicated muddy conditions) and that the friction brakes on the Tesla were incapably of performing in the conditions as they were too cold and wet. I've noticed this and they work fine once a little heat is built up. I've had this same problem on ICE vehicles after a long drive on cold rainy days without friction brake used for extended periods.
Hypothesis:
Lifting off the accelerator (which is basically full regen braking in a Tesla) caused the wheels to slip, which caused the traction control systems in the Tesla stop all regenerative braking to avoid wheel slip. I do not recall if ABS engages on full regen. I suspect not.
Then instinctively the driver hits the brake pedal, engaging the friction brakes, that are cold and wet from lack of near term use. Thus limiting their ability to perform quickly. The extra weight of the vehicle, and the possibility of ABS engaging due to lack of traction certainly would not have helped the situation, providing for the situation of limited braking power.
This certainly isn't great and a problem with a lot of EV's and hybrids that rely heavily on regenerative breaking to increase overall efficiency.
I've seen recommendations to use the "off road" mode when traveling in less than idea traction environments. Also disabling regenerative braking during these periods could also be helpful. (Tesla do not allow disabling regenerative braking by default, however, aftermarket vendors have provided solutions)
I have personally noticed that the lack of braking power upon initial engagement of the friction brakes to be unsettling. I have not witnessed problems in emergency situations, however, I have not experienced many such events in my Tesla.
There is definitely, in my opinion, engineering issues to be solved as we transition to vehicles where the friction brakes are used by exception only.
Given your experiences, I would try to gather data from your vehicle. It's quite possible Tesla have logs of the vehicle data, especially since the airbags deployed. Maybe here(https://www.tesla.com/en_ca/support/privacy) is a place to start as it appears perhaps they will provide you all the data they have available. | |
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Tesla update
