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Tesla needs to respect its customers’ wishes by providing them with options to purchase the driving controls that they prefer. In particular, Tesla should provide customers with options to include turn signal and gear shift stalks, and also provide Model S and X purchasers with the ability to equip their vehicles with ultrasonic sensors and tactile switches. A recent survey suggests that a failure to offer turn signal and gear shift stalks may be expected to cost Tesla 300,000–600,000 sales per year (or more), with the corresponding negative impacts on Tesla’s financial performance.
From its inception, Tesla’s rapid growth was powered by Elon’s “maximum fun” principle. Drivers were captivated by the quality of the driving experience provided by Tesla vehicles and sales rose exponentially, year after year after year. However, beginning in 2021 Tesla degraded the controls of its refreshed Model S and Model X by removing the stalks and replacing the steering wheel with a yoke. This represented a departure from the goal of designing Teslas to provide maximum fun. A TMC Owners Survey in July/August 2022 found that a mere 13% of the owners of new Model Ss and Xs were highly enthusiastic about Tesla’s use of “capacitive buttons for turn signals, windshield wiper and the horn.” While Tesla has since restored the steering wheel and centre horn button, it has unfortunately extended the removal of stalks to the refreshed Model 3 and has also deleted the ultrasonic sensors from all of its cars.
As reflected in the innumerable posts on these changes in the Tesla Motors Club forum, they are viewed as negative by many Tesla enthusiasts. In this regard, the vigorous defense by some owners, for example, of the stalkless design, is beside the point, as it is clearly apparent that the changes are resulting in the loss of potential sales. A recent survey of more than 150 individuals who plan to purchase the upcoming, refreshed Model Y found that approximately 15% of them would decline to make the purchase if the stalks were deleted, and that a further 15% were undecided (and might decline to make the purchase if they didn’t like the stalkless controls). If, as this survey indicates, the deletion of stalks from all of its vehicles would cause between 15% to 30% of prospective Teslas purchasers to switch to EVs from other manufacturers, this would cost Tesla the sale of between 300,000 to 600,000 of the two million vehicles that it hopes to sell each year and increase the pressure on Tesla to further discount its selling prices. Accordingly, it seems likely that the changes to stalkless controls in the Models S, X, and 3 may be a factor in Tesla’s declining year-over-year sales (from 2023 to 2024), its declining share of EV sales, and its declining profitability.
[Editor’s note: All of the above is based on feedback from Tesla enthusiasts. Arguably, the reactions to these changes would be even more negative among non-enthusiasts, people not already emotionally tied into and excited about Tesla vehicles. —Zach Shahan]
The reasons that the changes being made by Tesla to its switchgear (specifically the removal of stalks and the replacement of tactile switches with capacitive switches) could be expected to reduce demand for its vehicles include the following:
Non-standard controls (e.g., turn signal buttons, rather than stalks) may be an automatic disqualifier of Teslas for many potential customers. For example: driving schools, car rental agencies, and other applications in which drivers regularly switch between different vehicles and therefore demand industry-standard controls. (As an example, see: Tesla is banned from driving schools because of new turn signals.)
Turn signal buttons are a safety hazard. In traffic circles, and all other circumstances in which the turn signal is to be activated while the steering wheel is turned, they cannot be used by muscle memory and cause driver distraction (as they require the driver to look away from the road to find the location of the buttons), and this is more likely to result in no turn signal or the wrong turn signal being activated.
The replacement of high-quality tactile switches with capacitive switches (for example, for front door latches, steering wheel buttons, emergency flashers, and shift buttons) has further degraded safety and/or the driving experience. (These buttons often require the driver to look to confirm the location of the switch, may require more than a single press to activate them, and may result in the accidental activation of an adjacent button.)
These changes to the controls make the driver feel less competent (as they are unable to use the controls by muscle memory), make the driving experience less satisfying, and detract from the otherwise excellent quality experience provided by Tesla’s vehicles. The low level (often subliminal) frustration and irritation caused to a driver by sub-optimal controls is the antithesis of maximum fun.
The dissatisfaction of Tesla customers with the removal of the stalks from the Models S, X, and 3 has given rise to the development of aftermarket stalk kits. (See: Tesla is purging turn-signal stalks, but owners are adding them back. There are now at least three companies offering aftermarket turn signal and gear shift stalks in response to this demand. See: Model X/S OEM Style Gear Shift Stalk Switch Turn Signal Lever Kit for Tesla, Model S/X (2021+) Gear & Turn Signal Stalk, and Tesla Model S/X 2021+ Original Style Turn signal & Gear Stalk Upgrade Kit.)
At a minimum, the demand for stalks represents a business opportunity which Tesla is well positioned to exploit (but, more importantly, confirms that many potential customers are likely buying vehicles from other manufacturers, instead of Teslas, in order to get standard turn signal and gear shift stalks). At a minimum, Tesla needs to offer its customers the option of purchasing its vehicles with standard turn signal and gear shift stalks, and, if that option proves overwhelmingly popular, Tesla may wish to make that the default configuration (as it has done with the steering wheel, in place of the yoke, on Model Ss and Xs).
By Richard Corley
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