Known Elon Musk critic Mark Cuban is ready to sell his Tesla because of a simple feature that is one of the more polarizing amongst community members.
Cuban and Musk have gone head-to-head in several back-and-forths on X, Musk’s social media platform, formerly Twitter. However, it is not the public spats that the two have shared that makes Cuban want to sell his car. In fact, it is something relatively trivial and a feature that many could easily adjust to in the matter of a few minutes of driving.
For the entrepreneur and former owner of the Dallas Mavericks, it is a feature that every driver must use, but Tesla temporarily changed it in the Model 3, Model S, and Model X: the turn signal.
With the refreshed versions of the S, 3, and X, Tesla chose to eliminate the turn signal stalk, instead opting for a turn signal button, which is located on the steering wheel. This was a change that was extremely polarizing among the Tesla community, with many requesting that the company reverse the change with the new Model Y.
Credit: Tesla
They listened, and the newest version of the all-electric crossover has a stalk. No turn signal haptics are available on the new Model Y.
This is one feature Cuban said he cannot get into, and instead chooses to drive his Kia EV6, which he said he is “comfortable with.”
On the Your Mom’s House podcast, Cuban commented on the stalk and turn signal button dilemma within the vehicle:
“On the Tesla, you’ve got to find [the turn signal] and push the button…while you’re driving. You can’t pay attention to the road as much. [The Kia] doesn’t try to be too fancy. Your turn signal is like, a turn signal.”
It’s hard to imagine that someone’s attention is taken away from the road when pushing a button. In my test drive of the new Model 3 last year, I noted that the button was definitely an adjustment, but it only took a few minutes to adjust to:
“It only took me about three or four turns, or roughly ten minutes, to realize I needed to stop reaching for stalks. I feel like the buttons are super convenient, but there were times I would push the edges or corners, and the signal would not come on.”
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At least to me, it’s not super believable that pushing a turn signal button takes your attention away from the road for more than a split second. Do I like the traditional stalk more? Yes. However, it would not make me sell a car I really enjoyed driving.
Cuban also said that his son called the EV6 “a nerd car,” to which he replied, “Exactly.”