2021 model 3 LR heat blowing cold. Error

[Lightbulb]

-25 C outside this morning. i tried to prewarm the car this morning to go to families house for Christmas and it wasn’t letting me do it. Thought it was something with the new update so I went outside and went in and turned it on, turned “keep on” and let it Rock

About 20 minutes pass and we get it all loaded with gifts and hit the highway. About 20kms into the ride, the vents just start blowing super cold and an error comes on shortly after saying

“cabin climate control system requires services”
VCFRONT_a447.

Not wanting to get stuck anywhere I turned it around and drove home with ice cold air blowing. Get it home and try the scroll wheel and brake reset but the screen just kept going black and the Tesla logo wouldn’t appear Went into setting and powered it off

At some point it must of reset and then the air was working but only with me/the phone in the car. Went from -11C to +15. Once it hit 15 it started getting colder and then the error came back up.

No noises or anything out of ordinary before it stopped

I did schedule a Service for New Years but it’s over 2 hours away and I cannot drive it that far


Any insight into what happened or anyone experience the same thing. Would love some info on what happened or if I can do anything

Was not the way I wanted to start Christmas

 

[Lightbulb]

-25 C outside this morning. i tried to prewarm the car this morning to go to families house for Christmas and it wasn’t letting me do it. Thought it was something with the new update so I went outside and went in and turned it on, turned “keep on” and let it Rock

About 20 minutes pass and we get it all loaded with gifts and hit the highway. About 20kms into the ride, the vents just start blowing super cold and an error comes on shortly after saying

“cabin climate control system requires services”
VCFRONT_a447.

Not wanting to get stuck anywhere I turned it around and drove home with ice cold air blowing. Get it home and try the scroll wheel and brake reset but the screen just kept going black and the Tesla logo wouldn’t appear Went into setting and powered it off

At some point it must of reset and then the air was working but only with me/the phone in the car. Went from -11C to +15. Once it hit 15 it started getting colder and then the error came back up.

No noises or anything out of ordinary before it stopped

I did schedule a Service for New Years but it’s over 2 hours away and I cannot drive it that far


Any insight into what happened or anyone experience the same thing. Would love some info on what happened or if I can do anything

Was not the way I wanted to start Christmas

 

[WarpFactor3]

This was a widespread issue with heat pumps last year too. If you can’t drive it (which isn’t safe without heat) I would call roadside and have them tow it. Call the service center directly and tell them what’s going on and push for a loaner or rental car.

 

[cenzi42]

It is interesting, I was driving from Frankfurt to Berlin on 22nd, same issue, always after supercharging. Car has been picked up by Tesla 2 days ago.

Interesting note, the car was delivered on the 21st.
Our temp range was between -6 and +2C

I suspect the heat pump was used for conditioning the battery. Perhaps one of the valves or servos are stuck.

I hope I will be able to say more once Tesla comes back to me.
I only found one more Swedish forum about this problem. Very recent too

 

[flickcorn]

Exact same thing here.

But I parked inside for a few hours last night, and Model Y did warm via climate button on app after that. However, during the 30 minute drive home lost all but heated seats.

I'm booked for a service in January, but with several reports of this happening all after the Christmas software update, it makes me think this will have a software fix.

Will have to wait and see.

 

[Arbacus]

Exact same thing for me as well can't get it into service until the 8th too also 2 hours drive model y long range here. For me it happened halfway between red deer and Edmonton so I was super frozen at my destination haha

 

[Arbacus]

Exact same thing here.

But I parked inside for a few hours last night, and Model Y did warm via climate button on app after that. However, during the 30 minute drive home lost all but heated seats.

I'm booked for a service in January, but with several reports of this happening all after the Christmas software update, it makes me think this will have a software fix.

Will have to wait and see.

Unfortunately it happened to me the day before I got the Christmas update. But here's hoping it can still be a simple fix. I thought they fixed this issue with the recall work on the climate systems this last summer though I guess not or a different problem

 

[sammcrown]

I experienced this today for the first time. While I was supercharging, at a ski resort, 16 degrees out. Not the best timing. I scheduled a service but will call tech support in the morning as well. This was in my early 2020 MYP

 

[VerticalTurtle]

Same problem here and same error code, except I live in a swelteringly hot climate so I have the opposite problem - it's too damn hot!

Also have the Xmas update and started after it. Also won't get in to Tesla til Jan 7 which is too long away.

But seeing people in this thread with a similar but different problem does give me hope it's software fixable.

 

[VerticalTurtle]

Update: seems to have magically fixed itself. Was still not working this morning and tried another hard reset. Had charged up to 100%. Went for a drive to the local shops where I think it was still broken (down to 99%). But on the car ride back I noticed that it was seemingly working. I can now start AC from the mobile app as well which I couldn't do before.

If anyone else experiences this try what I did above.

There's a chance some random Tesla tech in SF got to my ticket and remotely fixed it I guess

Or this thread makes me think it could be a problem caused by the latest update (morale of the story - turn the bleeding edge updates as fast as possible option off in the car!)

 

[PJMY]

Same started happening on 24th of December in MYLR. Interestingly, it seems it happened the first time after installing the holiday software update. Came up again on 26th of December when I was driving for a ski trip. Decided to turn back and use the other car. If anyone can post updates from the service visit, that would be very helpful!

 

[Lightbulb]

Update

So after I got the car home and trying doing some hard resets I just left jt

Periodically throughout Christmas Day I kept trying the climate control from the app to no avail

Then one time I tried it didn’t work, immediately tried after and it started working. It heat the car from -25C to +23 and it held it for hours
At that point I decided to go and drive it to the families house and leave the climate on so I could monitor it. 4-5 hours past and it was still warm and it’s been working ever since

I too thought maybe the SC got ahold of the ticket and did something remotely. Or perhaps the reset did something but it took hours and hours after before it actually was fixed

I haven’t cancelled my appointment yet which is scheduled for the 31st as I’m worried it might happen again

 

[Arbacus]

Update

So after I got the car home and trying doing some hard resets I just left jt

Periodically throughout Christmas Day I kept trying the climate control from the app to no avail

Then one time I tried it didn’t work, immediately tried after and it started working. It heat the car from -25C to +23 and it held it for hours
At that point I decided to go and drive it to the families house and leave the climate on so I could monitor it. 4-5 hours past and it was still warm and it’s been working ever since

I too thought maybe the SC got ahold of the ticket and did something remotely. Or perhaps the reset did something but it took hours and hours after before it actually was fixed

I haven’t cancelled my appointment yet which is scheduled for the 31st as I’m worried it might happen again

I've gotten mine to heat up with the app also although it is noticeably slower on lower charging plugs compared to fast charging where it's acting normally.

On trips it's hit or miss if it keeps the heat and the error pops up.
Also every time on longer 25 minutes plus trips it will at least underperform eventually if it doesn't just about quit entirely.
I find just keeping it on HI defrost as soon as you start to feel it blowing cold air helps keep it from getting super cold.

 

[mstew201]

Just dropped my M3SR+ to the service center for the same issue. After supercharging the heat wouldn't kick on and got the same error code. When I dropped it off the tech at the service center said this has been an issue lately where the high voltage computer firmware doesn't jive well with some software updates. He said they were going to look at it and see if there is anything else going on. The heat did come back on after I left my car sit for about 20 minutes and it stayed on for the 10 minutes drive to the local service center.

 

[Lightbulb]

And this morning I tried to prewarm it. Inside of the car went from -20 to -10 and then it started getting cold and when I tried the app again it gave me the notification that climate control wasn’t working

Damn was really hoping this issue was sorted out. Really makes it so I can’t trust taking it to the mountain and I instead gotta take my ICE. Really unfortunate and embarrassing

 

[adamshiff]

Same issue here. Tesla called me after I booked an appointment and they think it’s hardware and they’re working on an update to push out. Said to use auto (didn’t say why) if possible.

 

[PJMY]

Same issue here. Tesla called me after I booked an appointment and they think it’s hardware and they’re working on an update to push out. Said to use auto (didn’t say why) if possible.

Sorry, do they think it is hardware, or they don't think it is hardware? Your latter part of the post seems to imply software fix is to be expected. Is that what they say?

 

[VerticalTurtle]

Update - issue has reoccured today. At this stage I get the feeling it's a faulty sensor or similar, issue has happened after I've left the car out in hot weather. Very annoying, will wait for the service call I nearly 2 weeks I guess...

 

[Lightbulb]

I went out and powered off the car and waited a few minutes then turned it back on and I was able to keep the temp going for my hour commute, kept climate on for hour while dealing with work, then drove it back, and about 30 min into the drive back I got the error again but the air was still blowing warm for another 5-10 min. (The first time it happened on Christmas Day, it immediately got cold)
The seat heater and wheel heater were keeping me adequate.

I had to stop at the store once I got back close to my house and while I was in store, the car must have reset or something as the Heater started to work


I’m really thinking this is a software issue

The Calgary service center hasn’t called me or asked for any follow up details so I feel like they don’t know anything or not many others have had this issue but I would be surprised if Tesla wasn’t aware of it

 

[BR666T]

After driving from Vancouver to Kelowna in our new Y (two weeks old), our heating failed halfway home, resulting in us having to drive 4 hours with no heat at all. Temperatures were between -5 and -7 Celcius in the car. Same error message VCFRONT _a447 as others. Just received the following message from Service:

"This is a firmware issue currently under investigation by Tesla as it was recently discovered due to the recent extreme cold climates. There will be improvements with future firmware update as it is currently being developed. Current mitigations are to precondition the vehicle 30-60 min prior to departure, use recirculating air model and use auto mode. Symptoms may still occur when driving in climates -15C and below. If heat does not return please park vehicle in a warmer location and allow vehicle to warm up. '

And "A fix is currently being developed by the software engineering team, and there is no ETA on the firmware version fix."