[RahulNagaraj]

Tesla has removed the adjustable lumbar support feature from the front passenger's seats of its Model 3 and Model Y offerings.



The company CEO confirmed the development via social media. Elon Musk explained that the feature log showed 'almost no usage', which prompted the carmaker to discontinue it altogether. Musk further went on to state that the feature did not justify the cost/mass for everyone.



The company CEO also explained the reason for the recent price increases being applied to its products. Musk stated that the rising prices are due to the increasing cost of raw materials and the supply-chain pressure affecting the entire industry.



Tesla previously had also announced that its models will no longer be using radar-based driver assistance systems. Instead, all Tesla models will shift to a camera-based setup. The company is also said to soon be increasing the prices of its Full Self Driving (FSD) tech to $14,000 from the current $10,000.

Source: Automobile.mag

[StarrySky]

I can totally believe this.

A few days back, my wife and I had this conversation in our car (Karoq).
Me: "Car X lacks lumbar support adjustment"
Wife: "What's that?"
Me: "It's that small lever on the side of your seat"
Wife: "That is for backrest angle adjustment, no?"
Me: "Not that one, the one above that"
Wife: "Ahh, I never knew something like this existed. What does this do??"

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

I can totally believe this.

At-least that. My family members are least interested in features. They only like "more number of seats!" as a feature

None of them adjust the front passenger seat to move forward/backward, none for the backrest. They just sit. May be complain and then I have to inform them how to adjust it and they are done remembering that info for the day.

They don't even bother to remember unlocking the door (since very few to none of the cars have those pop-up door locks) and pull hard at the door opening lever almost squeezing the life out of my heart.

AC control? Nope! (AC in a car is still a wow thing!) Seatbelt? Nope! I've to get down and belt them up.

Who uses all these features? Do all cars come with it? Did all the cars from the past have it?... are their questions. Power steering, rear parking sensors and camera, defogger, fog lamps, auto fold and adjustable ORVMS and such things that we know and take for granted are unknown territory for them.

And Why? Because this is our first family car and a reasonably modern one at that.

So I can believe that news and until everyone in the near future considers these things as "basic", they won't be standard fit.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

Tesla has removed the adjustable lumbar support feature from the front passenger's seats of its Model 3 and Model Y offerings.


The company CEO confirmed the development via social media. Elon Musk explained that the feature log showed 'almost no usage', which prompted the carmaker to discontinue it altogether. Musk further went on to state that the feature did not justify the cost/mass for everyone.

While feature addition/deletion happens all the time and may/may not be deal breaker for many, what concerns me is the highlighted part
What all is being monitored or sniffed rather and do users get to opt out of this?

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by ToThePoint

What all is being monitored or sniffed rather and do users get to opt out of this?

I think the Tesla has those adjustments via the central touchscreen? It would be easier to log in data (here: number of taps per use) even to calculate as to after how many adjustments the feature gets to end of its life, like we have charge cycles for mobile phone batteries.

With all the 'internet inside' type of thing and touchscreen smart infotainment everything, the data is easy to get hold of.

There was a Youtube video of few guys controlling a car entirely via such a feature.

[GTO]

Not cool that they removed it for the passenger = your spouse will be displeased! Although, I can think of a few reasons why.

1. In the USA, anyone who works has a car. Even your plumber, waitress & carpenter have a car. You cannot live in most USA cities without a car. With the husband & wife both having their own cars, the passenger seat isn't used as much as in India.

2. Ignorance. Passenger didn't know the feature was there.

As someone who is very, very particular about lumbar support, I don't appreciate this move. Whenever adjustment is available, I use it.

[Malyaj]

LOL, there is another thread about agile manufacturing in the Hot Threads section!

Folks, please advise your family members to start using all the features in your cars and post pictures of it on social media, lest the OEMs remove them for lack of enthusiasm from customers. Future car owners will thank you for it. At least Tesla did this based on data snooped from their cars. It will be a pity if other OEMs did this based on anecdotal evidence.

[Samarth 619]

Honestly, my question is, is it such an expensive feature? At least the reason given makes it feel like so, but we should have some sort of temporary or permanent adjustment.

If there's not even some permanent adjustment possible (in sense that a mechanic can readjust it), then this could mean many customers rejecting the Tesla because it doesn't match their body size.

[Gannu_1]

So here’s one instance of how car manufacturers get data from the owners using AI/ML based devices installed in the cars and use it to their advantage. I guess we can expect these to trickle down to the lower segments in due time with something like an OBD based device either plugged in or permanently stored within the car’s system and downloaded to the service center’s laptop which gets all the data based on the car’s running. In turn, they’ll feed this data to the parent company.

Been watching too much of Person of Interest since the last week. Please excuse!

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Folks, please advise your family members to start using all the features in your cars and post pictures of it on social media, lest the OEMs remove them for lack of enthusiasm from customers.

[McLaren Roxx]

A family car's front passenger seat is occupied by the same family member most of the times. So, if they have the lumbar support adjusted to their liking, why would they change it each time? Heck, my Hexa has lumbar support for all 4 seats - occupied by (most of the times) the same people and once set, none of them have ever adjusted it, ever.
This, according to Tesla would technically show the feature not being used 99% of the times, but it is in use, no? What's surprising (not) is how easily manufacturers camouflage a feature deletion as 'inadequate usage'. But what it actually is a cost saving for them (apple:charger:environment, ahem)

[kits]

But isn't this one of those settings that you try once and then do not touch it for months? You also have memory seats that remember your settings.

At least that's how I use it. I do not play with it unless I am on a long drive and feel some uneasiness in my back.

[viXit]

Because they didn't use it?

Lumbar support is something we adjust once and then don't touch again. But that doesn't mean they take it away? Not Unless they give us bolstering in such a way that we don't need it.

The only drives I ever do, are at least three hours long. Only one of my car has lumbar support, and it's a boon on the highways for long periods of time. I really hope other car manufacturers don't remove it. And those who removed it, pls reintroduce it. It's very much valued.

Imo The usage of lot of features is in large part, dictated by the advertisements. If a car is advertised with a particular feature a lot, a user will try and use it because she/he found it cool, and to be a USP of that car. Many features don't get advertised, and the mass market buyer won't even know it exists! I know how many Indians suffer from back pain due to inadequate support, lumbar support can help them, if only they tried to use it once. I'm glad my safari has it.

[kiku007]

This is another one of those irrational tweets from EM that's far from the truth if you dig deeper.

Link: https://electrek.co/2021/05/31/tesla...r-support-why/

Model Y customers report that their new cars don't have passenger lumbar support.


Yes they get this blank insert on their luxury car.

Later EM tweets that Tesla removed it because customers didn't use it. There's so many things in a car that customers use once to setup and then leave it as it is. Lumbar support is one of them. What a load of BS to say that Tesla removed it based on logs?!

BMW offers a discount in the X3 for not providing the passenger lumbar support.



GM offers a discount for not providing the Auto Start/Stop feature. There's a joke that people would actually pay GM to remove that feature.

I would have appreciated Tesla if they had done what BMW or GM did. Not cool Tesla/EM.