What Tesla Needs to Fix Before It Gives Us a New Model S

Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk got automotive journalists all kinds of excited last week when he tweeted, “About time to unveil the D and something else.” We’re betting Elon’s going to give us an all-wheel drive version of the Model S (which sends its considerable power to the rear wheels). He might even try to upstage Google and the rest of the auto industry with a self-driving version of the sedan—he’s been jawing about autonomous driving lately, so it wouldn’t come as a big surprise. We’ll find out what he’s got in store Thursday night.

But before Tesla puts the time and money into offering us something new, we’d like to see it make some corrections and additions to today’s Model S. The sedan may be the best car you can buy today, but it’s hardly perfect. It’s missing some features that are commonly found on cars that cost way less money, and some of its interior design choices just don’t make any sense. It needs sun visors that actually extend down far enough to block the sun, for example. And if it really wants to build a car that can drive itself, it should start by including the now common features like adaptive cruise control and lane departure warnings that an autonomous system will rely on.

Here’s what needs to be fixed.

1. Add adaptive cruise control. In every category, the Model S is a way better car than the 1998 Ford Escort (Sport Edition!) I drove through high school and college. But the cruise control system on my old whip was just as capable as the one Tesla offers. It’s time for an update. Lots of new cars offer adaptive cruise control, which maintains a safe distance from other cars as well as a set speed. It’s standard issue in the luxury segment—Model S competitors like the Audi A7, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes CLS all offer it—so Tesla should catch up.

2. Add active safety features. New cars—and not just those in the luxury segment—are now stuffed with blind spot monitoring, lane keeping systems, and cross traffic alerts to help their owners avoid accidents. The Model S is so impressive in terms of design and performance, it has so far gotten by without offering these things, even at a $70K base price. That doesn’t mean drivers don’t want them. Plus, these features are the basic ingredients of an autonomous system. If Tesla is really planning on offering a self-driving car, it should start here.

3. Prohibit at least some touchscreen options while driving. The centerpiece of the Model S’s interior is the 17-inch touchscreen that controls just about everything inside the car. Oh, and it has a full-blown web browser that you can use while driving. It’s super distracting. Tesla would be smart to block drivers (most of whom are easily distracted by enormous screens, like me) from using this and other functions while the car is moving.

How about putting some buttons and knobs in the new Tesla? Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

4. Offer some buttons. The touchscreen wouldn’t be such an issue if you didn’t need it to do things like turn up the air conditioning. More functions controlled by buttons and knobs, which you can use without taking your eyes off the road, would make a real difference.

5. Create better storage spaces. The only place you can put your phone, keys, and other belongings is in a shallow bin on the floor, between the front seats. Put the car’s 4.2 second 0-to-60 mph time to the test, and there’s a good chance your stuff will end up in the backseat. Tesla should sacrifice some of the sleekness of the car’s interior in the name of practicality, and give us more places to store our things.

6. More cup holders! Astonishingly, there are none in the backseat (there are two up front, barely enough for one person on a long drive). Musk has proposed driving across the country with his five young sons in the car. I’d love to see him keep that car clean when at least 80 percent of his offspring can’t put down their sodas somewhere they won’t spill.

It’s worth noting that Musk has acknowledged some of these shortcomings and pledged to deal with them. And there’s a good chance that whatever the “D” is, it will include some of those fixes.

Or, maybe the D just stands for “Duh,” and there will be no all-wheel drive or autonomous systems: Just a slew of corrections to obvious problems. Then we’ll have to find something new to complain about.