The dumbest "minimalism" was removing the turn signal stalk. That's how Teslas can keep their margins higher than the Detroit Big3. And no union helps Tesla I guess.
Lots of news articles about this - they dropped it from the latest iteration of the 3 a little while ago, after dropping it from the S and X a couple years ago.
I drove a Lamborghini Huracan a while back and whilst I loved the car, I absolutely hated that the turn signals were buttons on the steering wheel. It took me a while to even find them at first.
I don't know which models or years they did it in, but they deleted the stalk on some cars, and moved the signals onto the touch area on the steering wheel.
Horn is still on the airbag 'button' in all Tesla cars. They added the functionality back to the Model S ones that did not have it (apparently it needed some software update?).
LOL yes, exactly...
The initial software had only a small button.. they had to get customer complaints to revert to you know.. having the center of the wheel honk the horn.
If you're referring to column mounted prndl stalks, they don't turn with the wheel. Examples: Mercedes, older Model S, and lots of pickup trucks.
If you're referring to paddle shifters, ironically Ferrari (of wheel-mounted indicator buttons fame) mounts them on the column instead (again, not turning with the wheel). IMHO both are fine for street and track usage because manual shifting is most likely triggered when the car is (almost) straight. However this assumption does not apply to turning indicator controls, which by definition are used when you are, uh, turning or about to turn!
Precisely, Tesla went their own way for no reason other than cost.. it is objectively worse than their previous implementation, the mainstream implementation, and any of the competing less-standard implementations that Tesla defenders are grasping at.
There's a reason you don't put control buttons on moving parts.
It's like putting the elevator buttons on the door.
Want to press your floor, please wait until the door shuts.. or lunge at it as the door moves. Want to hit the door close button.. sorry that's no longer possible.
Imagine motorized blinds where the button is on the blinds. Better get the ladder out when they are up & you want to bring them down.
Imagine a fan where the buttons were on the spinning blades, or the center rotor with buttons moved while on.
I don't understand the design decisions. You know he was heavily involved in some Tesla change when its something this dumb because no one can stop him.
Those column-mounted paddle shifters also span a large radius on both sides, which combined with their quick steering ratio makes them effectively available at all times aside from when you're putting in a lot of steering lock – which is the one scenario you shouldn't be shifting aggressively anyways.
It's a thing to attach those paddles shifters to the wheel now instead of the column.
Manufacturers now think you will be changing gears mid corners when the wheel is turned and think you will have a hard time locating the paddles if they were on the column.
Someone needs to tell them in racing that's not how it's done.
e: So apparently that's been removed in newer models. What a stupid fucking decision.