There’s a special place in hell reserved for people who leave their dogs locked inside their cars on hot days, but sometimes our four-legged friends aren’t welcome in certain establishments.
That’s why Tesla created Dog Mode, which keeps the air conditioning running to keep Fido comfortable while you nip into the bank, for instance. The mode also shows a clear message on the centre console tablet informing worried dog-lovers that the pooch is perfectly OK chilling in a pleasant cool breeze.
However, if the mode malfunctions it places the dog in a potentially life-threatening situation. To one Tesla owner’s horror, it happened recently, subjecting his pal Enzo to 85F heat (around 29.5C). The driver was only able to notice the feature wasn’t working when he kept the app open and noticed the temperature was rising ten minutes after leaving the car.
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Tesla boss Elon Musk has now acknowledged there is a problem with the feature and the company is working to fix the dangerous flaw, which sees Dog Mode fail to activate if the fan is set to manual, not automatic
In a tweet (via The Verge), Tesla driver and Unikrn esports CEO Rahul Sood told Musk he had a “warning about dog mode.”
“It’s hot as all hell in Seattle,” he tweeted. “Today I used dog mode and luckily I kept the app open, to my horror the car was 85 degrees and climbing! Dog mode only works if in auto, if you manually set the fan and leave the AC turns off.”
Musk simply replied “Fixing…” to the tweet, without commenting further. Far from being mad with Tesla for the error that placed Enzo’s life at risk, Sood, thanked Tesla and Musk for being “the best”.
Fixing …
— E (@elonmusk) July 31, 2019
In a reply to another user, he added: “Why would I be livid? What other car do you know that allows you to monitor the interior temperature from an app? What other car company CEO responds directly on Twitter? And dog mode is dope.”
If Tesla had placed our doggo at risk, “dope” would be the least of the insults flying around.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
