Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed on Twitter that Model S and Model X vehicles will receive an auto-raising and lowering steering wheel feature to make entering and exiting the driver’s seat easier. The tweet came in response to a discussion about the awkward entry and exit of a Model S due to the steering wheel and B-pillar position.”I’m 6’4″. Awkward angle exiting between B-pillar & steering wheel in S with seat all the way back. X has perfect exit/entry height!” said David Kilzer. Musk jumped into the conversation with an update on yet another value-add for current and future owners.
All Model S and X cars will have an auto raise and lower function for the steering wheel in a few months.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2017
“All Model S and X cars will have an auto raise and lower function for the steering wheel in a few months.” said Musk.
Automatic steering wheel raising and lowering is a feature that’s been around on other high-end vehicles. While not all drivers need the functionality, it can make the difference between being able to fit into a car comfortably or not fitting into it at all for some drivers. Older, taller and less flexible drivers may find comfort in the feature that opens up more space for ingress and egress.
Updated August 17, 2017: Elon Musk reconfirmed that “all vehicles” will receive the auto-raising steering wheel function. He also noted that automatically adjusting seats based on a user’s configuration is being considered.
Tesla’s over-the-air software updates provides the ability to instantaneously add functionality to a vehicle, thus making it a car that continues to get better with age.
Musk didn’t reveal specific timing on when the automatic raise-lower steering wheel functionality will arrive, only saying that it will be here “in a few months”.
