Photo: Tesla's U.S. Configurator
Tesla decided to allow its Model S and Model X customers to choose the round steering wheel after over a year of getting the customers' feedback on the stalkless yoke. The carmaker went even further by setting the normal-shaped steering wheel as the default option. If you want the yoke, you’ll have to make sure it is checked before finishing your build.
If you are planning on buying a new Tesla Model S or Model X, then you might be happy to learn that the yoke is not mandatory anymore. The EV maker kept the curiously shaped steering wheel for around a year as the sole option. After more customer feedback, Tesla may have decided to give those who don’t run a YouTube channel a solution – the round steering wheel. Which, curiously enough, was only available on the Model 3 and Model Y during 2022.
Now, buyers of the new Model S and Model X can decide what their car will come equipped with. And they can do so at no extra cost! But Tesla still presents yoke steering as the gateway to the “ultimate focus on driving.” And that’s not good news for those who wanted a normal helm for their all-electric vehicles.
The automaker added the round steering wheel but from what its website pictures show, the stalks are not present. This tells us that a couple of important controls like putting the vehicle in Drive will still be done through the main screen or the touch control “PRND” panel found just below the wireless charging area. Similarly, indicating might not be possible through a stalk installed on the left side of the steering column, but by pressing a button or a touch-sensitive area with haptic feedback located on the steering wheel.
However, since the images are not showing all the extra details, we must wait. Maybe Tesla has a brand-new workaround for the classic car-controlling interface. After all, the brand decided to force the yoke on its customers and reverted to this decision only after discovering that not that many are happy about having half a rectangle to drive with.
At the same time, if Tesla is going forward with the stalkless experience, it might apply the same strategy to the upcoming Model 3 and Model Y. The brand’s cheaper models may also lose the physical controls for choosing direction and indicating.
Finally, get ready to have your long beams and flashing shortcut on the steering wheel or, who knows, activatable by voice command. Also, can you imagine telling your car to honk briefly at the person in front of you? This might just become a thing for the automaker that tries to simplify everything through its minimalist in-cabin design approach. But let’s wait and see what the world’s most well-known EV maker has in store for its customers.
Now, buyers of the new Model S and Model X can decide what their car will come equipped with. And they can do so at no extra cost! But Tesla still presents yoke steering as the gateway to the “ultimate focus on driving.” And that’s not good news for those who wanted a normal helm for their all-electric vehicles.
The automaker added the round steering wheel but from what its website pictures show, the stalks are not present. This tells us that a couple of important controls like putting the vehicle in Drive will still be done through the main screen or the touch control “PRND” panel found just below the wireless charging area. Similarly, indicating might not be possible through a stalk installed on the left side of the steering column, but by pressing a button or a touch-sensitive area with haptic feedback located on the steering wheel.
However, since the images are not showing all the extra details, we must wait. Maybe Tesla has a brand-new workaround for the classic car-controlling interface. After all, the brand decided to force the yoke on its customers and reverted to this decision only after discovering that not that many are happy about having half a rectangle to drive with.
At the same time, if Tesla is going forward with the stalkless experience, it might apply the same strategy to the upcoming Model 3 and Model Y. The brand’s cheaper models may also lose the physical controls for choosing direction and indicating.
Finally, get ready to have your long beams and flashing shortcut on the steering wheel or, who knows, activatable by voice command. Also, can you imagine telling your car to honk briefly at the person in front of you? This might just become a thing for the automaker that tries to simplify everything through its minimalist in-cabin design approach. But let’s wait and see what the world’s most well-known EV maker has in store for its customers.
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