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Tesla Model 3 among winners of Consumer Reports’ Green Choice award

(Photo: Andres GE)

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The Tesla Model 3, along with several Toyota hybrids, captured Consumer Reports’ new Green Choice award for the most environmentally-friendly vehicles available to car buyers.

The Model 3 joined the Toyota Prius, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota Camry on the list for the new award, which according to CR Director of Testing Jake Fisher, is a representation of the shift in awareness for environmentally-conscious vehicles. Some consumers buy cars based on their ability to leverage fewer tailpipe emissions into the atmosphere. If that is your intention, these cars are your best option, CR says.

Credit: Reddit | u/Coolioj

“We’ve done fuel economy tests for many, many years, but we’ve never really put that information out about what comes out of your car,” Fisher told Green Car ReportsSome argue that diesel vehicles are better for the environment due to better gas mileage and do not realize that the emissions are significantly higher than regular petrol or electric cars, which have no tailpipe.

It’s not just about gas mileage, Fisher says. It’s about what comes out of your vehicle when its fuel source is transformed into energy. This ultimately reveals how environmentally conscious your vehicle is.

As far as the Model 3, this is not its first award. In fact, it is far from it. The vehicle has compiled an impressive list of accolades since first rolling off of Tesla’s production lines in 2017. Edmunds’ “Best EV” award has been collected by the Model 3 for the past two years. Additionally, the car has also won the “New Car of the Year” award from AutoTrader in the UK, “Car of the Year” from Parker’s Car Guides, and several crash safety accolades, including a Top Safety Award from the IIHS.

However, the Green Choice award from Consumer Reports is a different feather in the cap of the Model 3. While Tesla’s mission as a company is to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, the Model 3 may be the biggest contributor to the company’s automotive sector to date. Since its introduction, it has been Tesla’s most popular car thanks to its affordable price points. Additionally, the car has introduced the idea that an EV can be affordable, fun, and have high-performance features, three things that were widely unbelievable for car buyers before Tesla came around.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla firmware shows new Model Y seat configuration is coming

Tesla could be adding another seating configuration beside the seven-seater to the Model Y lineup later this year.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla firmware has been a great place for some to reveal what the company has in the pipeline, and a new seating configuration for the best-selling Model Y looks to be on the way.

Last week, we reported that Tesla was already hinting toward a 7-seater configuration of the Model Y in a promotional email it sent to those on its contact list.

However, firmware revealed by Tesla hacker greentheonly is showing that a new seating configuration is on the way — a six-seater:

Green says the configuration would not be available in China-only, and will be potentially for sale in other markets as well.

The six-seat and seven-seat configurations of the Model Y were available in the Legacy version of the vehicle, but were met with mixed reviews, as many complained about the lack of legroom in the third row.

This was something that was a real concern for many of those owners who needed something larger than the traditional five-seat variant, but did not want to buy the much more pricey Model X.

We’ve covered the size of that third row on several occasions.

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Some owners even took the idea of having a seven-seater into their own hands:

Tesla Model Y third row seat test explores options for a comfortable 7-seat setup

Tesla did not explicitly announce a six-seater configuration of the Model Y, but Lars Moravy, the company’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said the seven-seater would come to production later in 2025.

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Tesla confirms massive hardware change for autonomy improvement

Tesla has confirmed that a recent change made to some of its recently refreshed vehicles is, in fact, a strategy it will use to improve its suite as it continues to work toward autonomy.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has confirmed that a recent change made to some of its recently refreshed vehicles is, in fact, a strategy it will use to improve its suite as it continues to work toward autonomy.

Tesla first introduced a front-facing camera on the front bumper with the Cybertruck.

Then, the Model Y “Juniper” received the hardware update. The Model S and Model X both received the front-facing camera with its latest update, which was officially revealed last week.

Tesla used new language with the release of the front-facing cameras on the Model S and Model X, confirming they will assist with several things, including “using Autopilot and Actually Smart Summon capabilities”:

“Enhanced visibility when parking or using Autopilot and Actually Smart Summon capabilities.”

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This tiny feature on the new Tesla Model Y is perhaps its biggest addition

This is the first time Tesla has used this sort of language, as it was a completely different description with the launch of the new Model Y in January.

When Tesla launched this vehicle, it said the front bumper camera “provides a wider field of view for automatic assisted driving and advanced Smart Summon.”

Tesla switched from using cameras and sensors to only cameras with the launch of Tesla Vision several years ago. The company’s utilization of cameras comes from Tesla’s belief that Ultrasonic Sensors (USS) are not needed for self-driving efforts:

“Along with the removal of USS, we simultaneously launched our vision-based occupancy network – currently used in Full Self-Driving (FSD) (Supervised) – to replace the inputs generated by USS. With today’s software, this approach gives Autopilot high-definition spatial positioning, longer range visibility and the ability to identify and differentiate between objects. As with many Tesla features, our occupancy network will continue to improve rapidly over time.”

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CEO Elon Musk has said that sensors were only a crutch and that self-driving would be solved through the use of cameras:

“When your vision works, it works better than the best human because it’s like having eight cameras, it’s like having eyes in the back of your head, beside your head, and has three eyes of different focal distances looking forward. This is — and processing it at a speed that is superhuman. There’s no question in my mind that with a pure vision solution, we can make a car that is dramatically safer than the average person.”

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Tesla features used to flunk 16-year-old’s driver license test

A license examiner in New Jersey confused one standard feature of Teslas as a way a 16-year-old excelled through his driver’s test. He failed him because of it.

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Credit: @JasemAsh via Tesla Owners Wisconsin/Twitter

In what is becoming a more common occurrence, a few Tesla features were used to flunk a 16-year-old who took his driver’s license test in New Jersey.

It is not the first time this has happened, as we have reported on several instances of this in the past, both in the U.S. and other countries in the world.

It is evidence that some officials are not caught up in the technology and innovation occurring in the automotive market, some of which is not necessarily exclusive to Tesla, but is included in each of its models, unlike other companies.

Lochlan Keefer, a New Jersey resident, showed up to his driver’s test with his dad, James, in their 2022 Tesla Model Y. However, the test did not go according to plan, according to the examiner who rode along for the test with Lochlan. They accused him of using parking and “stopping assistance” to go through the test.

The examiner cited the following as the reason for failure:

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“Had the parking and stopping assistance on never stepped on the brake to stop his self let the vehicle stop it self.”

James said to NJ.com that they do not subscribe to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite, which includes things like Autopark, Navigate on Autopilot, and Autosteer on City Streets. These are a few of the things that have been used as reasoning to fail drivers in tests. Lochlan’s was a case of regenerative braking, which is standard on all vehicles, and Autopark:

“The examiner accused my son of using driver assistance features simply because he parallel parked smoothly on the first try. He was specifically accused of using paid parking-assist and driving features, which we do not subscribe to.”

It sounds as if the examiner may have confused the braking mishap for Tesla’s regenerative braking, which slows the vehicle when the accelerator is not pressed. The energy is then stored back in the battery to help with range.

The examiner failed Lochlan, and James asked if he could take the test again if they disabled the regenerative braking for the exam. The examiner said Lochlan would have to wait two weeks. A supervisor came out and backed the examiner, but James said the policy the DMV claimed the Keefer’s violated was nowhere to be found:

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“I asked them to show me the policy they claimed we were violating. They couldn’t find it and they couldn’t cite it. When I showed them the policy, they refused to read it.”

The report states that drivers in California and Arizona have also been subjected to failures on their driving tests due to confusion over Teslas and their driver assistance features.

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