Braking indication

[Maquis]

You can see your brake lights in the side mirrors.

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[TaxmanHog]

Why doesn't my '25 Ford do something my wife's four year old Subaru does?

In my humble opinion and probably the Ford dash design teams 'vision' it's an unnecessary visual distraction, RED indicators on the main cluster should be reserved for critical issues.

 

[Ted23Lightning]

I thought I was the only one who noticed this on vehicles lol tried explaining it to my GF & she just looked at me like I was crazy lol
I knew Subaru did it, and I’ve seen it on the newer Honda/ Acura’s as well. Didn’t know Tesla did it.
Is it a necessity? No, but it is nice to see at what point in braking or regen the brake lights illuminate. Attached some pics of where the little car silhouette normally is from different manufacturers. Kind of how the Lightning shows when BlueCruise is active.

 

[Sealevel]

Neat that Teslas do that. I suppose if you were a handy person there would be a way to tap into the brake light wire and put a little tiny red light on the dashboard somewhere that would do the same thing.

I would not like having the red light as it would be a distraction at first and then something I'd ignore once I became used to it illuminating every time I release the accelerator. I found it easy to transition to one-pedal driving and actually find I hesitate to start braking when I drive our ICE SUV.

 

[Firn]

In my humble opinion and probably the Ford dash design teams 'vision' it's an unnecessary visual distraction, RED indicators on the main cluster should be reserved for critical issues.

Agree completely.

2pd mode, apply brake pedal, brake lights

1pd mode, let off throttle, brake lights.

There is no situation where this is helpful information.

.

And, fwiw, the truck is in "regen" the moment you push the brake pedal.

 

[JvdMaat]

In my Honda Insight, I have regen paddles, and they do not trigger the break lights, which is nice. (Unless the 1kWh hybrid battery is full, and then they DO trigger... For some obscure reason)
But in my wife's Lightning, it seems that even the tiniest bit of (regen) braking triggers brake lights. The only exception is just taking your foot off the pedals, and the truck doing low-level regen braking. That doesn't trigger brake lights.

 

[GDN]

...... In the Tesla, like the Lightning, there's an animation of the vehicle on the dash screen as you're driving. .....

Can you go into more detail about what kind of animation you are getting in the Lightning? Show us a picture? Maybe new for the latest '25's or APIM?

 

[RickLightning]

In my Honda Insight, I have regen paddles, and they do not trigger the break lights, which is nice. (Unless the 1kWh hybrid battery is full, and then they DO trigger... For some obscure reason)
But in my wife's Lightning, it seems that even the tiniest bit of (regen) braking triggers brake lights. The only exception is just taking your foot off the pedals, and the truck doing low-level regen braking. That doesn't trigger brake lights.

The reason the Insight triggers the brake(sp) lights when the battery is full and you use the paddles is because there is no regen possible when the battery is full, so you are using the brakes themselves. Same is true for the Lightning, it doesn't use regen when battery is full.

When you push the brake PEDAL on any vehicle, the lights must come on. That's just common sense, no? On the other hand, the regen created by releasing some pressure on the accelerator only turns on the brake lights when the rate of acceleration is high enough. This has been discussed over and over here.

So, if you gently ease some pressure on the accelerator, no brake lights. You could gently coast to a near stop with no brake lights.

 

[RickLightning]

You can see your brake lights in the side mirrors.

Yes, but I want a HUD with a strobing "BRAKE LIGHTS, BRAKE LIGHTS" in red please.

 

[Zprime29]

I don't have the time to dig them out, but I've read multiple reports on this forum about accidents or trouble with the police because drivers were not aware that their brake lights were not activating. I don't think it's a bad idea to include a little red light coming on where it shows the picture of the lightning in the driver assist screen. It would be easy to ignore if you don't care and there to educate those who need to be educated.

 

[Maquis]

I don't have the time to dig them out, but I've read multiple reports on this forum about accidents or trouble with the police because drivers were not aware that their brake lights were not activating. I don't think it's a bad idea to include a little red light coming on where it shows the picture of the lightning in the driver assist screen. It would be easy to ignore if you don't care and there to educate those who need to be educated.

Following that logic, every car should have a brake light indicator on the dash. We already have indicators for headlights, high beam, turn signals, etc.…..might as well have it all!

 

[Zprime29]

Following that logic, every car should have a brake light indicator on the dash. We already have indicators for headlights, high beam, turn signals, etc.…..might as well have it all!

Every car that has a drive mode which doesn't require touching the brake pedal. Sure. We are all well aware of the number of people who actually read the drivers manual. I wouldn't be surprised if most drivers just assume the brake light comes on with any bit of deceleration. Why wouldn't it? I can feather the brake pedal and get a light but if I feather 1 PD mode I don't?

Sport mode full off the accelerator does not trigger brake lights but it's pretty decent slowing power. I don't think it's unreasonable to have some redundancy indicators. I guess it's just me, but I really don't understand the general hate on this. It's not like it would be on every screen.

Comparatively, there isn't this kind of angst against the driver assist screen showing you there's a car in front of you. What's the difference?

 

[Firn]

I don't have the time to dig them out, but I've read multiple reports on this forum about accidents or trouble with the police because drivers were not aware that their brake lights were not activating. I don't think it's a bad idea to include a little red light coming on where it shows the picture of the lightning in the driver assist screen. It would be easy to ignore if you don't care and there to educate those who need to be educated.

Its literally one guy who has it wrong.

I have tested it. In 2pd mode the brake lights will not activate until the brake pedal is pressed.
In 1pd mode the brake lights activate at a certain rate of deceleration. I'm guessing they meet the euro standard but I dont know for sure. It is a relatively light deceleration before the activate.

At the end of the day the brake lights will be illuminated for any sort of reasonable slowing down.

 

[Zprime29]

Its literally one guy who has it wrong.

I have tested it. In 2pd mode the brake lights will not activate until the brake pedal is pressed.
In 1pd mode the brake lights activate at a certain rate of deceleration. I'm guessing they meet the euro standard but I dont know for sure. It is a relatively light deceleration before the activate.

At the end of the day the brake lights will be illuminated for any sort of reasonable slowing down.

That's not what's being debated here. I think we all agree and understand that's how it works. What is being discussed is the possibility of adding an onscreen indicator so people who don't nerd out on internet forums are better educated on when the brake lights activate while in 1pd. Or at least that was my take on this thread.

 

[The Weatherman]

In nearly any situation MORE is better.

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