# Suggestion for Improved P,D,R function if you have a yoke steering wheel



## tpirelli (3 mo ago)

I just purchased a new Model S with the yoke steering wheel. I find having to reach over to the screen to activate Reverse, Drive and Park is inconvenient and in my case, painful. The designers seem to have ignored the fact that many of us older drivers have had shoulder surgery or have arthritis in our shoulders. The reaching over and sliding up and down on the screen is an awkward motion for people with shoulder pain. An easy alternative, since this is all in software, would be for the Tesla software guys to provide us with a program option to use the right scroll ball on the yoke. Rolling it down with the thumb would put the car in Reverse. Rolling it up would put the car in Drive. Pressing it in would put the car in Park. On my previous Model S, I pressed in at the end of the stalk for Park, so this would be similar. With this new option the driver would not need to take their hand off the yoke for drive functions. Nor would they have to make an awkward slide up or slide down motion on the screen. There does not seem to be a conflict with a different use of the right ball at the times when Drive, Reverse and Park would be activated. The motion may be no big deal to younger drivers but for older drivers it would be much easier and less painful to use the ball on the yoke with their thumb and avoid a shoulder motion.


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

A couple years back I had a reservation on a Mdl S Plaid+. That yoke with loss of "traditional" controls made the whole re-model S a total non-starter for me. Just said "NO!".


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Some enterprising people have put the Model 3's stalks on a refreshed Model S and figured out how to get them to work. It's very much DIY right now, but perhaps someone will run with this and make it easier to retrofit at some point.









GitHub - rawdigits/plaidplusplus


Contribute to rawdigits/plaidplusplus development by creating an account on GitHub.




github.com


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

So I'm gonna buy a $150K car and then mod it just so I can drive it? How about instead I just NOT buy that car?


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## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

tpirelli said:


> I just purchased a new Model S with the yoke steering wheel. I find having to reach over to the screen to activate Reverse, Drive and Park is inconvenient and in my case, painful. The designers seem to have ignored the fact that many of us older drivers have had shoulder surgery or have arthritis in our shoulders. The reaching over and sliding up and down on the screen is an awkward motion for people with shoulder pain. An easy alternative, since this is all in software, would be for the Tesla software guys to provide us with a program option to use the right scroll ball on the yoke. Rolling it down with the thumb would put the car in Reverse. Rolling it up would put the car in Drive. Pressing it in would put the car in Park. On my previous Model S, I pressed in at the end of the stalk for Park, so this would be similar. With this new option the driver would not need to take their hand off the yoke for drive functions. Nor would they have to make an awkward slide up or slide down motion on the screen. There does not seem to be a conflict with a different use of the right ball at the times when Drive, Reverse and Park would be activated. The motion may be no big deal to younger drivers but for older drivers it would be much easier and less painful to use the ball on the yoke with their thumb and avoid a shoulder motion.


I'm assuming the S uses the right scroll wheel similarly to the 3/Y. If it's changed to control drive selector, how would you control TACC/AP/FSD?


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## Kizzy (Jul 25, 2016)

tpirelli said:


> […]An easy alternative, since this is all in software, would be for the Tesla software guys to provide us with a program option to use the right scroll ball on the yoke. Rolling it down with the thumb would put the car in Reverse. Rolling it up would put the car in Drive. Pressing it in would put the car in Park. On my previous Model S, I pressed in at the end of the stalk for Park, so this would be similar.[…]


I can see someone accidentally changing a gear if they rub against the scroll wheel accidentally. Here’s a good solution: Tesla puts the stalks back. They’re out of the way and have a dedicated function that won’t change upon context (except for engaging Autopilot).

Edit: I don’t think this idea isn’t creative, but we shouldn’t need to be solving already solved issues.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Klaus-rf said:


> So I'm gonna buy a $150K car and then mod it just so I can drive it? How about instead I just NOT buy that car?


Well, the OP has already bought the car, so that's no longer an option.

Anyhow, you're preaching to the choir. I've always been against this removal of driver controls.

My post from August 2017:


garsh said:


> This is one area where I am NOT drinking the Tesla cool-aid.
> 
> Buttons & knobs are much better interfaces for the things I'm going to do every day. The touchscreen is awesome for displaying information. And I think it's just fine for changing settings that one rarely needs to change. But for day-to-day use, I hate it. With buttons & knobs, I learn the location of the ones I use often. I can find them without taking my eyes off the road, by touch.





garsh said:


> NEVER FORGET....


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## rhoc (4 mo ago)

I just bought my first Tesla a couple of weeks ago. A ‘22 Model S with a yoke. I like the display shifter. I’d rather have that than stalks. I quickly got used to the yoke and the like it equally with a wheel generally and prefer it on highway stretches. I like it less than a wheel in tight curves but I keep thinking they could relatively easily make the steering variable based on speed and other sensors like yaw and possibly camera data. Lexus has apparently decided to offer variable yoke steering but we’ll see how well it works soon enough. I like change. If not, I would have stopped upgrading/switching car makes and models decades ago.


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