Consumer Reports just slammed Tesla’s new Smart Summon mode as unreliable

Telsa’s new Smart Summon mode is off to an embarrassing rough start. Smart Summon is a new feature that allows Tesla vehicles to valet themselves from wherever you parked, to wherever you’re standing. It’s without a doubt a cool and helpful feature….when it works. But when it doesn’t? It poses a dangerous safety risk.

As it turns out, Consumer Reports feels the same way. They recently tested Smart Summon mode on its Model 3 and found the new feature to be completely unreliable and error-prone. Here’s a quick rundown from CR‘s review:

…we found that the system works only intermittently, depending on the car’s reading of the surroundings. The system is designed to work only in private parking lots, but sometimes it seemed confused about where it was. In one case, the system worked in one section of a private lot, but in another part of the lot it mistakenly detected that it was on a public road and shut itself down. At various times, our Model 3 would suddenly stop for no obvious reason.

There’s a lot more to this review. There are instances where the vehicle would wander left and right, driving itself the wrong way on a one-way lane, and another instance where the tester had to run out to the car to move it to allow traffic to begin flowing again. Again, they didn’t have the best experience with it.

To boot, Consumer Reports even reached out to Tesla numerous times for comments and questions about the Smart Summon technology. The company has yet to return their calls or respond to their questions.

Consumer Reports and Tesla have a long history. They’re not shy to call out Tesla on its bullshit, as you can see here, here, and here. That’s probably why Tesla isn’t returning their requests for comment. But, Consumer Reports brings up a lot of valid points when it comes to Smart Summon.

With that said, if you have a Tesla and plan on using the new Smart Summon mode, just be cautious – as we can see, it’s not the most reliable feature Tesla has pushed out to date.

Do you agree with Consumer Reports here? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.