Tesla fixing 'Dog Mode' climate feature to avoid tragedy
Tesla is working to fix a feature that will make it easier for owners to feel worry-free about leaving their dog in the vehicle on hot days.
The dogs of Tesla owners can soon chill out.
(Tesla)
The automaker has addressed a potentially dangerous design flaw in a feature designed to keep parked car cabins cool when pooches and other pets are left alone in them.
A prominent Tesla owner tweeted to Elon Musk on Wednesday about the issue with “Dog Mode,” which he found would turn the air conditioner off if you manually adjust the fan after engaging it. He said he was alerted to the problem when he checked his Tesla app and saw that the temperature in the vehicle had reached 85 degrees.
Musk responded that Tesla was fixing it, and on Friday an over the air update started rolling out that reconfigures the system so that users are only able to adjust the temperature setting once the mode is activated.
Tesla said it is distributing the update as quickly as it can, and advises owners to connect to Wi-Fi for the most reliable delivery.