My top 4 must-try Tesla features

I’ve often heard of my Tesla described by others as “an iPad on wheels,” and much like any other smart tablet, you’ll find dozens of features, options, and menus to dive into and play around in. The comparison isn’t too far off, as with every passing year and software update there are more neat functionalities built into these smart EV’s.

Tesla adoption has gone through the roof in the last couple of years (the Model Y was the best-selling car in 2023), and so it seems fitting to revisit some of the coolest features built-in to your new favorite car.

1 TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control)

Don’t get caught speeding ever again

Okay, this one might seem obvious, but let me explain. Years after Tesla first launched all of its autopilot and driver assistance features, there’s a persistent misunderstanding between TACC, Autopilot, and ‘Full-Self Driving,’ or as Tesla now calls it, “Full-Self Driving (Supervised).” Nice save there, guys.

As has been true for many years, every single Tesla vehicle ships with Tesla TACC as a standard feature. Part and parcel of this feature is what Tesla calls ‘Autosteer,’ which really means that the ability for your car to steer on its own, to stay in its lane, and keep pace with traffic by braking and speeding up, are already standard features on every Tesla. I’ve talked to new Tesla owners as recently as this year who had no idea their car had the ability to do this if they didn’t pay thousands of dollars more for Tesla’s ‘FSD’ package.

I’ve had my Model Y for the last three years and taken it on road trips all across the country, and staying in one lane, keeping pace with traffic, is what I use my Autopilot features for 99% of the time. As for all the other features and abilities enabled on my car thanks to my quite expensive splurge on FSD? I use those features maybe 1% of the time. Yes, they are really cool, but the real value, which involves turning on my TACC and staying in one lane for 200 miles until I have to get over to the exit, is standard on all Tesla vehicles.

2 Joe Mode activation

Wait, who’s Joe and why does he have a mode?

Tesla

In 2019 a new feature went live called “Joe Mode,” named for an engineer at Tesla that had a fantastic idea. He suggested that many of the chimes, beeps, and general Tesla OS noises were a bit loud for his other passengers, in particular his sleeping children. If you’ve ever driven around with a sleeping baby or toddler, you know that you do not want to wake them up, but the Tesla car beeps and chimes for so many reasons, that this can become annoying.

This is where Joe Mode comes in. Joe Mode lowers the volume of all those system sounds without affecting the volume of anything else in the car. Thanks, Joe — that was a fantastic idea. You can find Joe Mode in your Tesla settings menu under the “Safety and Security” section. Scroll down, and you’ll find the setting simply titled “Joe Mode” with a slider to enable and disable it.

3 Sentry Mode loudspeaker

An easy way to have some fun

Tesla

Tesla owners have the option to turn on Sentry Mode, which is the security system built into every Tesla. If Sentry Mode is turned on once users have left and locked their cars, then the Tesla will activate its monitoring system, and record interactions that set off its motion detectors from multiple angles around the car using the various cameras found around the exterior of the vehicle. These clips will be saved on the car’s included flash drive, or external flash drive, if you are driving an older model that requires one.

Countless articles have been written covering instances when videos captured in Sentry Mode have helped catch would-be vandals or thieves around the world. What users might not know is that in late 2019, Tesla began installing loudspeakers on all their vehicles to comply with US regulations, which require electric vehicles to make noise at low speeds to alert pedestrians, particularly those with blindness, of oncoming vehicles.

Naturally, the folks at Tesla had to have some fun with this. So they added the ability to actually speak through that loudspeaker from within the Tesla app. If you navigate to your Sentry Mode camera view in your Tesla app on a late 2019 or later Tesla vehicle, you’ll be able to press a microphone icon, allowing you to speak directly through that speaker to any passersby or strangers approaching your vehicle. Of course, that alone wasn’t fun enough apparently, and Tesla added a voice filter that lowers your voice several octaves to create a Wizard of Oz type of effect.

4 Automatic cabin overheat protection

Keep your drink cool

Tesla

While this feature is a simple set-and-forget setting, after three years with my Model Y, it’s one of my absolute favorite features. Automatic cabin overheat protection allows you to set your A/C to kick on automatically if your cabin reaches an internal temperature of either 90, 95, or 100 degrees Fahrenheit. First, it needs to be said that, of course, the highest value of this feature is to avoid tragic accidents involving children or pets forgotten in hot cars. But aside from preventing a tragedy, this feature also serves to guarantee you’ll never get into a sweltering hot car ever again.

While I can absolutely turn on my climate remotely from my phone, I can’t tell you how many times I forget to do so, and I can confirm from experience, summer in the south punishes that forgetfulness fiercely. So, next time you’ve parked your Tesla outside in a parking lot while stepping into the grocery store, then realize once you’re checking out that you forgot to cool down your car, rest easy knowing the cabin won’t have gone above your cabin overheat protection setting.

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Tesla’s are absolutely loaded with features and little Easter eggs, far too many to list, but whether you are a Tesla veteran, or a new adopter, I encourage you to dig through your car’s menus and apps and discover all the wonderful and sometimes silly things your car can do.