In my test drive, with S pedal enabled, I observed that the paddles were inoperative (but I didn't long-press either of the paddles).
Manuals
My Solterra came with a "Get Started" manual on the bottom shelve of the divider (I am calling it the glove shelf) in a black folder. The salesman and I used that manual to review features. However, when I got home and opened the middle armrest chamber, I happened to lift out the black plastic insert and to my surprise I found three more (different) manuals there including a multimedia manual. I could have gone a very long time (perhaps never) before looking there. Just a heads-up.
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I am quite sure brake lights come on at a certain G force. My Kona worked that way, and at night you could see in the rear view mirror the red reflection light up on the back window. Haven't looked on the Solterra for that yet, but will look for that if I remember.Are you 100% positive that without S-Pedal, even with regen set to max, that the brake lights don't come on? The manual says "When the regenerative braking force exceeds a certain level, the stop lights turns on.", but it's not clear whether it's distinguishing between the 1-4 levels of regen or S-Pedal.
I believe some cars control the brake lights depending on the deceleration rate. For example, turning them on at -0.3Gs. Maybe it's not possible to achieve that level of deceleration without S-Pedal.
With SPedal turned on, the use of the paddles is ignored and has no affect on the regenerative braking. Another annoying behavior is that your S pedal or paddle settings, is that they are cleared every time the car is turned off. I always forget to set it, which means the first time I come to a stop sign, I let my foot off the pedal and the car doesn't slow down. I need to quickly react to brake or increase regenerative braking. Hopefully I will eventually develop the habit of setting S pedal as soon as I start the car.Thank you for this post!! I had been wanting to ask if brake lights come on with regen. I thought it was so logical that they did I hesitated to ask. Wo now I will ask the other question I have. Do the paddle settings increase S-pedal braking amount? Or is S-pedal completely separate?
I only tried checking for brake lights at slow speed (wife standing outside the car). With S pedal set, the brake lights came on and with the paddle set to 4, they didn't. I guess some high speed drive by tests will be needed.I am quite sure brake lights come on at a certain G force. My Kona worked that way, and at night you could see in the rear view mirror the red reflection light up on the back window. Haven't looked on the Solterra for that yet, but will look for that if I remember.
To be fair, our 2021 Outback does this too, especially when backing into or out of spaces in parking garages when there are concrete columns nearby. The first time this happened to me it scared the s**t out of me. I had at least 6 inches to the side and given the car's turning radius even at full lock, there's no way I could have hit it.When backing out of the garage, the safety features of the car slams on the breaks because I only have about 3 inches of clearance for the side view mirrors. I can then continue backing out. If I start backing up real slow, it still breaks, but it isn't as much of a shock. The only option I saw to avoid this breaking is to completely turn off the safety feature. I'd like to make it a little less sensitive. Note these are minor gripes. I really like the car. Next week I will get my 40A charging station installed and it won't take so long to charge it up.
Which type of charger/EVSE are you having installed?
Got my wife to drive behind me while doing regenerative breaking tests.
With S Pedal on, break lights came on whenever I released the accelerator pedal (aka gas pedal).
With S Pedal off and regenerative breaking set to 4 using the paddle, the break lights came on when I released the pedal; at 20 and 40 MPH.
With S Pedal off and regenerative breaking set at 3 or lower, the break lights never came on when I released the pedal at 20 or 40 MPH.
So if you don't want regenerative breaking to cause someone to rear-end you, I suggest using S Pedal or set the paddle to level 4. Now as I was playing around with the regenerative breaking, I noticed when I turned S pedal on, it seemed like the car was draining more power than when I had it off. This will take more tests when cruising at a steady speed.
With S Pedal on, break lights came on whenever I released the accelerator pedal (aka gas pedal).
With S Pedal off and regenerative breaking set to 4 using the paddle, the break lights came on when I released the pedal; at 20 and 40 MPH.
With S Pedal off and regenerative breaking set at 3 or lower, the break lights never came on when I released the pedal at 20 or 40 MPH.
So if you don't want regenerative breaking to cause someone to rear-end you, I suggest using S Pedal or set the paddle to level 4. Now as I was playing around with the regenerative breaking, I noticed when I turned S pedal on, it seemed like the car was draining more power than when I had it off. This will take more tests when cruising at a steady speed.
Regen level 4 isn't that strong, IMO, so 3 or lower would be somewhat like an ICE when you let off the go pedal - something between freewheeling and moderate deceleration. In those circumstances in an ICE, the brake lights wouldn't come on, so not too concerning. At least the brake lights will come on when you press the brake pedal to come to a stop, or in an emergency.
Thank you so much for this comment! With difficulty and annoyance, I was using the online manuals. Now I have the paper manuals thanks to you!My Solterra came with a "Get Started" manual on the bottom shelve of the divider (I am calling it the glove shelf) in a black folder. The salesman and I used that manual to review features. However, when I got home and opened the middle armrest chamber, I happened to lift out the black plastic insert and to my surprise I found three more (different) manuals there including a multimedia manual. I could have gone a very long time (perhaps never) before looking there. Just a heads-up.
For those interested. The owners manual was finally published on the Subaru Canada website, link below:
Under the Owners section of the Canada site.
Under the Owners section of the Canada site.
Interesting. Thanks for the detailed post. In my 2017 Forester, you could have an image of the rear of my car displayed on the screen, and the brake lights on the image would light up at the same time as the actual brake lights outside. Sometimes it was useful to see what the driver behind me was seeing. I wish my new Solterra had this feature!Got my wife to drive behind me while doing regenerative breaking tests.
With S Pedal on, break lights came on whenever I released the accelerator pedal (aka gas pedal).
With S Pedal off and regenerative breaking set to 4 using the paddle, the break lights came on when I released the pedal; at 20 and 40 MPH.
With S Pedal off and regenerative breaking set at 3 or lower, the break lights never came on when I released the pedal at 20 or 40 MPH.
So if you don't want regenerative breaking to cause someone to rear-end you, I suggest using S Pedal or set the paddle to level 4. Now as I was playing around with the regenerative breaking, I noticed when I turned S pedal on, it seemed like the car was draining more power than when I had it off. This will take more tests when cruising at a steady speed.
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