2019 Model X "bricked" by update - possibly connectivity issue.

[GloverCom]

Parked my car in the carport last night and went ahead and scheduled the update.

Went to my car today and it was completely unresponsive. Neither fob worked and the app couldn't find the Tesla.

Contacted support through the app and they said "It appears it's still doing an update... That started 10 hours ago... We'll have to send a tow truck to take it to service center."

Tow truck driver arrives and scratches his head and says, "Well, how am I supposed to tow this if we can't get it into the car to put it in neutral?"

He gets on the horn with a colleague who walks him through:

1. Getting the frunk open (some sorta lever magic down under the grill)
2. Revealing the electric panel.
3. Hooking up the jump to it to give it some juice.
4. Car wakes up and I'm able to use the fob to get into it.

Not sure what he did, but perhaps someone else can shed light on what happened here.

This is my second Model X. I've owned for 6 years. This has never happened before...

The ONLY thing I can think that's different is I've moved to a new home and during the day I park it closer to the house on the street where it has WiFi to download the updates. But at night it's parked at the carport which is too far to reach my Wifi.

According to this thread, despite that fact that the update is "downloaded" it might still need Wifi Access during the update.

My car is bricked by a failed update

I was offered an update yesterday, so I accepted the default 2am install time, with the car on my drive. This morning the car is completely unresponsive - won't respond via the app and won't even unlock with either keyfob. I am on with Tesla assistance and they claim it is becuase, being out on...

teslamotorsclub.com

Anyway... Hope someone finds this helpful in the future if they run into the same issue. It may NOT have to be towed!

[Yes. I'm awake that "bricked" generally means "rendered completely useless," but it conveyed the sentiment.]

 

[dannycamps]

If jumping the 12v allowed the car to 'wake up', is it possible that the 12v battery just went bad perhaps during the update? Was the car plugged in when it was in the carport?

 

[mbp11]

>>>
He gets on the horn with a colleague who walks him through:

1. Getting the frunk open (some sorta lever magic down under the grill)
2. Revealing the electric panel.
3. Hooking up the jump to it to give it some juice.
4. Car wakes up and I'm able to use the fob to get into it.

>>>>>
This is an excellent technique to learn if you have a dead 12 volt battery and is listed in the sticky thread on car reset techniques. The Frunk release is behind the right plastic cover and there are two cables, #1 and #2. Pull them in sequence and the frunk will open. It is important to know where the hot plugs to the battery are located in the fuse box, and if you have a dead battery, the car will wake up and you can perform all of the activities that you need to. IF the high voltage battery is dead, then the 12 volt will be low and you can wake the car up to plug it into a charger and start recharging.

Read the troubleshooting and car reset section!

Mike P

 

[mbp11]

I am wondering if I should start a classroom for new Tesla owners on how to troubleshoot their car and solve common problems, rather than just letting them figure out on their own- a short two hour morning class over at a mall parking lot, a public service to Tesla owners- Model 3 and Y, Model S and X?

 

[GloverCom]

Update: A couple days later the car finally showed a warning about the 12v battery being low. Mobile Service is coming out to replace it tomorrow.

RTFMing it wouldn't have helped much. I'm not a car guy (nor, do I want to be) and didn't have access to a whatever dohicky he used to "jump" it anyway. I gave a good tip to the tow guy handled it quite nicely and we're both happy campers now.

 

[jboy210]

Update: A couple days later the car finally showed a warning about the 12v battery being low. Mobile Service is coming out to replace it tomorrow.

RTFMing it wouldn't have helped much. I'm not a car guy (nor, do I want to be) and didn't have access to a whatever dohicky he used to "jump" it anyway. I gave a good tip to the tow guy handled it quite nicely and we're both happy campers now.

Great to hear they got it working. I know several members proactively replace their batteries every 2-3 years. Always seemed like a good precaution since modern car batteries seem to go from good to dead quickly.