Because, unless you’re driving a forklift, the point of a vehicle’s rotation is in line with the rear wheels, meaning you can take turns at a much more acute angle when reversing than going forwards. Which makes backing into spaces much easier.

Notice that most of the half-assed parking jobs you see are generally people who have driven forward and left the car parked at a diagonal half out of the space, because getting the vehicle lined up in that situation is more difficult.

2017: covfefe

2025: cvefefe

Oh fuck me, HOW in like 25 years did I not get that pun?!

Something to note: Tesla has two vehicle APIs, the Fleet API for commercial accounts and the Owner API for individuals. This change currently only impacts the Fleet API.

If you are an individual owner who accesses your vehicle data from the Owner API (usually via a self hosted tool like TeslaMate), this does not affect you. Yet.