2019.7.105 (w/hw3?) center display went black while on freeway for my wife an hour ago

[dloop]

She was able to pull over without incident. Called me in a bit of a panic, understandably. I walked her through a two button reboot and everything came back eventually.

When she gathered her composure at the side of the freeway I *carefully* reminded to her that the car was still drivable even though it appeared dead to her. She took issue with that by mentioning the turn signals didn't work at the time. That was a big deal as she had to cross a couple lanes to get to a safe place on the right.

I stayed on the phone with her for quite a while as she continued on her trip (she is in a different state from me right now). Everything seemed back to normal.

I've read enough about these cars to know that this happens from time to time. I wish it didn't but I would be lying if I said I was unaware. Part of me was thinking that hw3 and perhaps some new testing rigor might be less prone to this.

I called roadside assistance and chatted about it just now. They connected to the car while she was enroute and said it looked fine to them diagnostically. They believe the turn signals were working the entire time, it's just that she didn't have a visual or audible cue from within the car. We didn't think to have her check outside the car before we rebooted it.

Can anyone confirm this to be true about the turn signals?

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Can anyone confirm this to be true about the turn signals?

Yes, that is correct. I've rebooted my center console computer many times while driving, turn signals continue working normally, you just have no click sounds. Same with backup lights, brake lights, etc.

The biggest thing is that you don't have controls if the center console is offline ... no wiper controls, headlight controls, A/C and heat, etc.

 

[Glamisduner]

You car turned off on you (died?)? Would not move?

Turn signals should still work if the display goes black. Also HW3 has nothing to do with the display.

When my screen goes black (it's happened a couple times) I just keep driving as usual and reboot as I drive. If your on 2019.8.5 it's pretty buggy, hopefully they fix it soon. I don't think I ever had your firmware version, I wonder why you haven't received the update yet.

 

[TANGO SUKKA]

happened to me yesterday.. was just driving on freeway and the music i was listening to hung for a few seconds then the screen rebooted after a couple min.. turn signals didnt work, which makes me wonder if the brakes and headlights also weren't on.. luckily this happened in the day time, but if it was dark and at night.. FUUUU.

 

[Glamisduner]

Yes, that is correct. I've rebooted my center console computer many times while driving, turn signals continue working normally, you just have no click sounds. Same with backup lights, brake lights, etc.

The biggest thing is that you don't have controls if the center console is offline ... no wiper controls, headlight controls, A/C and heat, etc.

You can turn on highbeams in a pinch by pulling the stalk towards you and you can activate the wiper manually by pressing the end of the stock, both should work while your rebooting in a pinch. However the auto headlights work great so I have never had to mess with headlights while rebooting. Certainly not ideal, the worst thing you lose while rebooting is the ability to see the speed your going.

 

[JulienW]

Wonder if the current code can be a "bug" problem for the APH3 since it is written for a different architecture. May be "buggy" until we get a APH3 specific code write.

 

[Glamisduner]

happened to me yesterday.. was just driving on freeway and the music i was listening to hung for a few seconds then the screen rebooted after a couple min.. turn signals didnt work, which makes me wonder if the brakes and headlights also weren't on.. luckily this happened in the day time, but if it was dark and at night.. FUUUU.

It has happened to me in the dark.

Wonder if the current code can be a "bug" problem for the APH3 since it is written for a different architecture. May be "buggy" until we get a APH3 specific code write.

This has nothing to do with HW3, it's a different computer. Perhpas the firmware version you have is tied to HW3, but I don't think this is an issue with HW3 itself.

 

[JulienW]

....This has nothing to do with HW3, it's a different computer. Perhpas the firmware version you have is tied to HW3, but I don't think this is an issue with HW3 itself.

Hard to tell if mine has APH2.5 or 3 since all I can see is a RNxxxx number.

 

[ngogas]

Hw 3 has nothing to do with it. I’m on hw 2.5 and happened to me once.

 

[dloop]

This has nothing to do with HW3, it's a different computer.

Thank you. I was not aware they were separate computers.

 

[Shateam]

Would love for the OP to clarify if the car actually "died" (i.e. would not drive) or the MCU simply went black. If the latter, there is no need to pull over to do a soft reset (though I could understand it being a jarring experience the first time).

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I had a reboot while driving the other day - I don't think it even turned AP off.. but now I don't recall.

Yes - Turn signals and all lights still work fine during reboot.

 

[outdoors]

Conduct and personal attacks of this forum member could warrant at least a moderator warning.

Need of name calling are less than stellar examples of forum decorum. I could only imagine if my wife was a Tesla new comer and experienced this. Would be frustrating. Then to have someone come in with the short seller talk a personal attack is similar to calling someone a troll or fanboi. Not exactly nice. Anyway people with ulterior motives tend to get caught in lies round these parts.

Side note. I enjoy the black screen especially at night. Have a little cutout on black cloth for AP steering wheel and speed. Just flops over the screen.

 

[mediaboy]

That would be an jeering experience the first time even for a person familiar with the tech. For a brief moment you dont know what the hell is going on.... any panic on the part of the driver could lead to some bad outcomes.

I don't own a model 3 yet and am not short the stock in any way. Tesla needs to step up their game on both the hardware and software quality control .. ASAP.

 

[TANGO SUKKA]

That would be an jeering experience the first time even for a person familiar with the tech. For a brief moment you dont know what the hell is going on.... any panic on the part of the driver could lead to some bad outcomes.

I don't own a model 3 yet and am not short the stock in any way. Tesla needs to step up their game on both the hardware and software quality control .. ASAP.

but you dont even have a car to base your statement off of. just internet posts. lol.

 

[sreams]

The lesson your wife can learn from this is not to panic. In the state you describe, the car is 100% drive-able. Even if the turn signals weren't working (they probably were... just no sound in the cabin), there is no need to rush across lanes to get to the side of the road. Just keep driving and wait for the system to reboot. If that isn't acceptable to her, she should pull over without being in such a hurry that the perceived loss of turn signals makes it dangerous.

 

[dloop]

Would love for the OP to clarify if the car actually "died" (i.e. would not drive) or the MCU simply went black. If the latter, there is no need to pull over to do a soft reset (though I could understand it being a jarring experience the first time).

@Shateam. Now that I understand better from the posts here, it didn't die. That was the wrong word. I didn't know they were separate computers. And my wife is not computer literate and so she surely didn't know.

To her, the screen represents the life of the car. It went black so she felt the whole car had turned off and she panicked. That's on me. She trusted me to know this and to have told her it might happen and so I failed her on that. But yes, she was able to still drive it. Brakes worked, acceleration etc. She thought blinkers were dead too but it looks like from what I've learned here they were working on the exterior of the car too.

I haven't been able to talk to her again yet and it will be good for her to hear there is a separate computer that is running the car and it was unaffected by all of this. The car was still drivable. That the blinkers still worked. I don't think I will get her to the point where if this happens again that she will be able to reboot-on-the-fly like @Glamisduner mentioned, but maybe as a long term goal.

 

[chronopc]

I've had the car since June 2018 and on Saturday this happened to my girlfriend when she was parking at the mall. I remember 2 occasions where the screen rebooted when parked, but Saturday was the first time it happened when in drive. Hopefully it's a one off thing.

 

[cbdream99]

I can see the panic of the new owner when the MCU goes blank. The first time I have to force reboot while driving (audio turns into an annoying jackhammer that can't be stopped) - I actually pulled over since I have no idea what's going on. I don't recall the delivery specialist ever explained to me it is safe to reboot while driving. Welcome to the computer car! Once you learn the lesson, that's really not a big deal. Perhaps there's a way for the instrument cluster to display a message when it loses the heartbeat of the MCU.

 

[PhaseWhite]

Wonder if the current code can be a "bug" problem for the APH3 since it is written for a different architecture. May be "buggy" until we get a APH3 specific code write.

The Autopilot computer is completely separate from the Main Panel computer.