The 'dog mode' feature, launched in Tesla cars this February, is quite ingenious: it keeps your car from overheating and lets passers-by know your pet is OK while you're away.
But, as Tesla owner Rahul Sood recently found out, it has a serious omission: Dog mode doesn't work if the car's AC is not in automatic mode.
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The car owner left his dog, Enzo, in the car in (scorching hot) Seattle and turned on dog mode. Luckily he kept an eye on the car's temperature levels, which kept rising. As you can see, the dog was alright in the end:
UPDATE: Aug. 5, 2019, 10:44 a.m. CEST Update: Tesla tells us it has started to roll out a fix for the issue. Mr. Sood tweeted on Friday that his Tesla has already received a fix.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded quickly with a simple message: "Fixing."
Some commenters on Twitter criticized Tesla for putting out potentially harmful features without sufficient testing. Sood, however, wrote he still thinks the dog mode feature is "dope," and pointed out that other car companies' CEOs don't often respond to complaints on Twitter.
Musk didn't offer a time frame for when the issue will be fixed, so pet owners with Teslas, make sure your car's AC is in auto mode before you use dog mode -- and check the car's temperature from the mobile app from time to time to be sure it works.
