# Is autopilot killing my brake pads?



## harrison987 (Jun 30, 2018)

75% of the time I am on autopilot.

When I'm not on autopilot I'm really taking advantage of the regenerative braking. I rarely if ever hit my brakes. I slow down using regen until the car reaches about 8 miles an hour.

However...I noticed whenever I am on autopilot... In a normal everyday situation when regen should be used... the car is using the brake. I can look down at the brake pedal and I can see it depress every single time.

I am assuming that this means exactly what I'm seeing... The car is using the brakes as opposed to regen?

Mike


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## Enzo90910 (Feb 2, 2019)

Should not be the case, except when your battery is full/almost full and regenerative braking does not work. In that case both autopilot and you should use the regular brakes.


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## Frully (Aug 30, 2018)

I find that autopilot only uses the brakes for the last few km/h when stopping behind someone, or if I have set an offset from the road speed above 65km/h. At that speed the car can't react to a stopped vehicle in time using only regen and it reverts to using both.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

With v9 SW mine really used regeneration and little brake usage unless needing a hard stop. When you see the pedal depress do you also get brake lights on the screen? Is there a chance the car moves the pedal some, but not enough to truly engage the brakes? or only lightly?

I will say the v10 Beta was much more aggressive on the start after being slowed or stopped in traffic. This has been a request and Tesla responded, the jury is out this morning on how it acts in the production version, but if it is more aggressive, then I can see more brake usage being needed to slow.


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## FF35 (Jul 13, 2018)

I agree it’s aggressive with the brakes. It definitely uses the brake pads more than I would in the same situations. In fact, I think my rotors are a little warped because of it.


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## Dogwhistle (Jul 2, 2017)

There’s no doubt AP uses the mechanical brakes way more than I do, so yeah I think your concern is legitimate.


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## harrison987 (Jun 30, 2018)

Dogwhistle said:


> There's no doubt AP uses the mechanical brakes way more than I do, so yeah I think your concern is legitimate.


That is what I thought...arg. Wonder why the car does this...too bad really...


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

Whatever it does is still significantly less than a vehicle without regen would use.


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## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

I also use Autopilot, all the time, everywhere I drive. What I end up doing most of the time is rolling the speed back manually way before the car would think to start slowing down. That way it's not engaging the brakes. I'm usually down to the 18MPH limit way before the stopped car in front of me, leave the system engaged and then hit the speed limit sign to reset speed to max limit once the car stops itself. I've found this works very well and uses regen as much as I would driving manually.


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## Achooo (Oct 20, 2018)

3V Pilot said:


> I also use Autopilot, all the time, everywhere I drive. What I end up doing most of the time is rolling the speed back manually way before the car would think to start slowing down. That way it's not engaging the brakes. I'm usually down to the 18MPH limit way before the stopped car in front of me, leave the system engaged and then hit the speed limit sign to reset speed to max limit once the car stops itself. I've found this works very well and uses regen as much as I would driving manually.


I often use this approach as well. Although, I am concerned that the right side steering wheel turn knob thing is will wear prematurely as a result.


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## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

Achooo said:


> I often use this approach as well. Although, I am concerned that the right side steering wheel turn knob thing is will wear prematurely as a result.


I think the scroll wheels are made pretty well and I'd be surprised if one failed. Worse case scenario is having to replace the steering wheel and that takes about 5 minutes. If they fail before the warranty runs out then I'd worry, if not then they will probably last for many years. Remember, Tesla is not like other Auto Companies, they don't design things to fail on purpose and make every attempt to have things last longer.


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## Achooo (Oct 20, 2018)

3V Pilot said:


> I think the scroll wheels are made pretty well and I'd be surprised if one failed. Worse case scenario is having to replace the steering wheel and that takes about 5 minutes. If they fail before the warranty runs out then I'd worry, if not then they will probably last for many years. Remember, Tesla is not like other Auto Companies, they don't design things to fail on purpose and make every attempt to have things last longer.


Point taken! That makes me feel a little better. In the end, I see this car as a long term relationship. If something breaks, I fix it, work my way through it, and live on. Brakes vs scroll wheel? You're probably right that it's more economical to help the brakes last longer.


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## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

Achooo said:


> Point taken! That makes me feel a little better. In the end, I see this car as a long term relationship. If something breaks, I fix it, work my way through it, and live on. Brakes vs scroll wheel? You're probably right that it's more economical to help the brakes last longer.


I agree, this is the last car I will ever need and I plan on keeping it until the end! I really do have faith in the way Tesla goes about building these things. It may not be perfect in every little detail but I'm so glad they don't follow the standard Detroit thinking of planned obsolescence. My neighbor worked for a company that designed a transmission for GM, briefed them on the design that was lighter, stronger, cheaper than the current transmission and would go 300k easy before any problems. GM said "You don't understand. We will pay more money if you design it to fail at 80k" That was the warranty period at the time. It's how ALL American cars are built, except for Tesla! Scroll the wheels and enjoy your baby in all her glory the way she was meant to be used!!!!...LOL


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