Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla will not offer a regular steering wheel option on new Model S and Model X vehicles.
When Tesla unveiled the new Model S with the “yoke” butterfly steering wheel, it was controversial.
Some were worried about the actual shape of the wheel being problematic and others about the lack of drive stalk to choose the drive mode.
As for the former, we thought that the automaker wouldn’t risk bringing the controversial yoke steering wheel to market without a non-linear steering curve enabled by a steer-by-wire system.
Especially knowing that Tesla has been developing a steer-by-wire system.
However, as Tesla started deliveries of the new Model S Plaid last month, we were surprised to see that the wheel had a normal 14.0:1 steering ratio, and it is proving to be impractical at lower speeds.
CEO Elon Musk later confirmed that Tesla is indeed working on progressive steering, but it’s still years away.
Until then, some believed that Tesla might offer a standard round steering wheel as an option, but the CEO confirmed today that it will not:
Musk insists that the yoke steering wheel is worth it for offering better visibility of the instrument cluster and its driving visualizations.
Electrek’s Take
If you do a quick pros and cons list for the yoke wheel, it’s pretty simple.
For me, the pros include the improved visibility, and it just looks cool.
As for the cons, it is obviously not ideal for low speeds and for quick maneuvers in case of slipping:
Now you have to decide if the cons outweigh the pros.
Honestly, I don’t get why Tesla doesn’t make it an option, especially since we know that they developed a new regular round wheel with the new force touch buttons and no stalk.
I’ve already heard that some aftermarket companies are working on third-party options, so at least Tesla created a market for that.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
