2nd Row Issues

[lloyds]

If some of you may recall, I've had quite a bit of issues with my falcon wings and my front door latches. Since they have replaced those, I am experiencing other issues. Especially w/ the 2nd row seats. Have you had these issues and brought up to service?

Child Seats - with child seats tightened and latched in, the 2nd row seats will not move forward to allow 3rd row access. I brought this up to the service advisor several weeks ago and he says it is a software issue. He told me to loosen the child seat so that the sensors do not think there is someone sitting there. Sure enough if I loosened it enough, literally to the point where I can shift the child seat left and right easily, the seat will then move forward for 3rd row access. I get why they did this, but I can't accept the fact that I must sacrifice safety for my child because of a software glitch. It really didn't seem service cared much about this issue. For now, I must loosen my child seat everytime someone needs to get into the 3rd row....this is very irritating and inconvenient.

"Unlatched" - I am commonly getting the notification on the screen that my 2nd row is unlatched. I have to get out the car and reset the seats by holding down the button for 3rd row access.

 

[Xtatic]

Hello lloyds, I'm sorry to hear this is happening to you but after dealing with this for more than a month I feel as though it is not just a fluke with my car. Just as you have mentioned, the SC doesn't seem to be too bothered by it and keep telling us to 'fix our car seats' instead of them fixing the car. I started a thread to discuss it but nobody had the same issue. I learned though that other Xs seem to not be having this problem which makes it even more frustrating. Here's the link to my thread:

No third row access when car seats installed in second row!

Forgive me if I repeat myself or if I make it too long but I'd like to describe my situation since the beginning. We got the car April 21st and for a few weeks the second row worked like a charm. It was a cool feature to show parents with big fancy SUVs how easily it is to access the third row without having to fuss with the car seat at all. A week after my last 'showing' I try to move the seat behind the driver's side and the seat does not budge. The buttons on the seat were dead. I immediately went over to test the other seat and voila, that was worked just fine. I tried different things (like changing the settings in the driver's profile thinking it had something to do with it) but nothing changed. I felt lucky that just about that time I had a SC appointment scheduled so I was chill thinking they were going to fix it, right? Once there I made sure to show the SC lady that one of the seats work but the other doesn't.

When I go to pick the car up, I go and test the seat and it still doesn't work. So I tell the gal and tell her to see how the other one actually works BUT it turns out that they had done some sort of calibration to the seats and after that neither of them worked!!! I was furious so the lady called the shop foreman to talk to me. I explained what the problem was and he started blaming it all on a software update that may have changed the weight requirements for the seats to not be allowed to move. I told him that up to that morning one of the seats was working but after their calibration they didn't. His response (even up to this day) is that that's a safety feature of the car and I'd have to deal with the car seats myself. He said he was going to raise the issue to the engineers and will keep me posted. I'm with you in that I'm not going to sacrifice my children's safety to be able to use the feature.

So I decided to write to Tesla to let them know the problem. I think I was expecting more of a response from them but they just told me they had passed the issue down to my assigned SC. A few more weeks passed and I'm getting more and more upset since I'll have family visiting next week and there will be 4 car seats in the car so I definitely need to access the 3rd row and NO I don't want to have to be fussing with the car seats every time I need to access the 3rd. row.


Now comes the interesting part. At the beginning of the month (06/07) I took the car to get the back of the seats Xpelled. I picked it up and drove home with no issues. When I tried to install the car seats back the passenger's side second row seat started complaining it was unlatched. I reset the car several times, installed/uninstalled the seat to no avail. The next morning when I get in the car I notice the seat shows as latched AND now the seat moves beautifully EVEN with the car seat on.


So right now I have the passenger's side second row seat moving but the driver's side is still defunct. The only way I can make that one work is by unbuckling the car seat on it. The SC is now trying to figure out what's going on so I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.

 

[lloyds]

I was told they did a software update when my X went in for the service. Either way, this is unacceptable and issues like this for a 140k car is beyond frustrating.

 

[vandacca]

There is no way that the 2nd row sensors can tell the difference between a car seat and a child. Tesla would need to allow each seat to be put into a "car seat" mode that overrides the sensors. Basically, use at your own risk and you accept all liability. If you put a seat into "car seat" mode and there is a child sitting there, the child could get their legs crushed when the seats are moved forward.

 

[Xtatic]

I took it back to the SC and had them take a look at it again. They are still clueless as to what's going on but they said they will raise the issue to the engineers in CA to see if they can tell them how to test the problem in order to get a diagnosis. The engineer at the SC kept insisting it may have to do with the car seat I kept showing him how the other seat works so in the end his hypothesis is that there may be a problem with the sensor. That's by far the most sensible comment ever made about this issue. They won't know how to proceed until they hear from CA so I'll update as soon as there's any progress.

 

[systemcrashed]

Hey all, I will provide my experience and what I did as a solution since I had this same sequence of events and finally figured it out.

I have two car seats in the second row, on the driver's side I have a Recaro and on the Passenger side I have a Britax harness booster. Bother seats fit nicely into a bucket style sport seat (this is part of the problem).

Underneath the Recaro I placed a seat protector since my daughter is two and I wanted to mitigate and milk spills. The Britax was placed directly onto a small towel and fit snugly on the seat.

My seat latch warnings were coming and going as you all have experienced, I initially thought something was wrong with the seat, tech support logged into my car and did not find anything significantly wrong. The seat that always exhibited the alert was the passenger side with the Britax booster. I even took the car to the SC to have them check it out.

As you all described, when the car seat is tightened down it engages the sensor which disables the seat movement and in certain positions causes the latch alert to show.

Instead of riding around with a loose car seat, I purchased another seat protector for the passenger side, what I noticed is that I can put a good amount of force to tighten the seat down and the protector distributes the force across the side bolsters and not into the center where the sensors are. Now when my son gets out of the booster the sensors disengage and no latch warning and no locking of motion.

My thoughts are that this is more difficult to fix with just sensor calibration since car seats come in different sizes and weights. Possibly a "child seat" mode can be added to the settings menu which would restrict the full path of the seat forward, and maybe even more aggressive forward movement of the front seat to prevent a leg getting pinched.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[RKap]

Instead of riding around with a loose car seat, I purchased another seat protector for the passenger side, what I noticed is that I can put a good amount of force to tighten the seat down and the protector distributes the force across the side bolsters and not into the center where the sensors are. Now when my son gets out of the booster the sensors disengage and no latch warning and no locking of motion.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. What car seat protector did you get?

 

[systemcrashed]

Interesting, thanks for sharing. What car seat protector did you get?

Just the generic foam lined baby's r us / toys r us seat protector. It has a slight rigidity that helps distribute the weight of the empty seat. Sensors engage when the seat is occupied.

 

[Xtatic]

Just the generic foam lined baby's r us seat protector. It has a slight rigidity that helps distribute the weight of the empty seat. Sensors engage when the seat is occupied,

Would you mind telling me what seat protector you use? I have a Britax on both sides.

Another thing I noticed yesterday is that apparently I get the latch warning in the passenger side if I had previously moved the middle seat all the way forward from the screen. The latch warning disappears after a while though (at least the few times this has happened to me) I will try to reproduce it again but it will have to be after my family leaves town since I need all 7 seats right now.

 

[systemcrashed]

Here are links to the grey and tan seat protectors, they had a black one in the store. If the car seat makes contact with the middle seat while it is in motion, you could trigger the sensor which will trigger the latch alert. I noticed that when the Britax was tightly fitted to the seat without the seat protector the sensor would switch on/off with the slightest touch. After installing the seat protector, it takes more pressure to trigger the occupancy sensor.

Grey - Brica Car Seat Guardian Plus - Grey

Tan - Brica Car Seat Guardian Plus - Tan

 

[fryfrye]

We've used these in both our S and X -- with two kiddos in booster seats in the X, we've never had an issue while using these.. I wish these covers were about 2 inches narrower.. thankfully with the FWD its not a big deal to buckle the kids in...

 

[lloyds]

Thank you for the helpful info. Will give this.a try. Interestingly, my issue is also on th passenger side, and the driver side is ok. This leads me to believe there is an issue with sensor calibration.

 

[systemcrashed]

Thank you for the helpful info. Will give this.a try. Interestingly, my issue is also on th passenger side, and the driver side is ok. This leads me to believe there is an issue with sensor calibration.

Do you have a car seat installed on that seat? You can test how it affects the sensors by opening up the seat menu in Controls and watch for the seat movement buttons to appear/disappear as you press down or lift up on the car seat. This gives you a visual indicator of what the sensor is sensing. I found the seat protector buffers the sensor a bit so it is not as jumpy.

 

[Xtatic]

Do you have a car seat installed on that seat? You can test how it affects the sensors by opening up the seat menu in Controls and watch for the seat movement buttons to appear/disappear as you press down or lift up on the car seat. This gives you a visual indicator of what the sensor is sensing. I found the seat protector buffers the sensor a bit so it is not as jumpy.

I have the same issue as lloyds and the buttons in the seat screen are permanently greyed out when the seat is installed. The buttons on the are 'dead'.

 

[systemcrashed]

I have the same issue as lloyds and the buttons in the seat screen are permanently greyed out when the seat is installed. The buttons on the are 'dead'.

Your seat installation has activated the occupancy sensor. Loosen up your seat, lock the car and let it be for about 15minutes. Then open up your seat control screen and install the seat protector underneath your car seat and while watching the screen look to see that you still have the screen buttons as you tighten the seat down. If you lose the on screen buttons then adjust the seat so they reappear, having the seat protector will help so it is not so sensitive to slight movements.

 

[Xtatic]

Your seat installation has activated the occupancy sensor. Loosen up your seat, lock the car and let it be for about 15minutes. Then open up your seat control screen and install the seat protector underneath your car seat and while watching the screen look to see that you still have the screen buttons as you tighten the seat down. If you lose the on screen buttons then adjust the seat so they reappear, having the seat protector will help so it is not so sensitive to slight movements.

The seats I have cannot be adjusted when installed with the seat belt (which is what I need because my kids have outgrown the weight limit for latches). Once I install it the seat automatically tightens the seat belt and there's no way if adjusting the tension/pressure

If I unbuckle the seat belt while it is tightened by the seat (now the seat is in no way secure to ride) or if I disengage the tightening mechanism from the seat ( the seating base of the car seat is raised ), the seat moves as expected but the car seat is rendered unusable from a safety point of view.

Right now I have family in town and 4 car seats installed. Since I must have access to the 3rd row and one of the kids still needs a latched car seat, I installed a lighter seat with the latches and the seat works. So I'm starting to believe it is definitely a sensor issue. What annoys me the most at this point is that on the passenger's side seat, the one that works all the time with exactly the same car seat installed under the same conditions tthe seat moves even if a kid is seating on the car seat!!!!!!!

So I think there's no doubt this is a sensor issue and it has to be addressed. The difference in behavior between the two seats is outrageous and if the SC tells me one more time to loosen up the seat or find another seat I may flip

 

[systemcrashed]

The seats I have cannot be adjusted when installed with the seat belt (which is what I need because my kids have outgrown the weight limit for latches). Once I install it the seat automatically tightens the seat belt and there's no way if adjusting the tension/pressure

If I unbuckle the seat belt while it is tightened by the seat (now the seat is in no way secure to ride) or if I disengage the tightening mechanism from the seat ( the seating base of the car seat is raised ), the seat moves as expected but the car seat is rendered unusable from a safety point of view.

Right now I have family in town and 4 car seats installed. Since I must have access to the 3rd row and one of the kids still needs a latched car seat, I installed a lighter seat with the latches and the seat works. So I'm starting to believe it is definitely a sensor issue. What annoys me the most at this point is that on the passenger's side seat, the one that works all the time with exactly the same car seat installed under the same conditions tthe seat moves even if a kid is seating on the car seat!!!!!!!

So I think there's no doubt this is a sensor issue and it has to be addressed. The difference in behavior between the two seats is outrageous and if the SC tells me one more time to loosen up the seat or find another seat I may flip

Please try placing a seat protector as described above under your car seat. This has helped me.

 

[Xtatic]

Please try placing a seat protector as described above under your car seat. This has helped me.

I got the protector and will try it when I get it. One more thing though, what Britax booster do you have?

Thx!

 

[systemcrashed]

I got the protector and will try it when I get it. One more thing though, what Britax booster do you have?

Thx!

I think it's called the Britax Frontier. Can be used with either the seatbelt or LATCH.

 

[Xtatic]

As I mentioned before, I have my original car seat installed with the seat belt in the passenger's side back seat and it worked perfectly. In order to have the seat in driver's side work I installed one of the car seats with the latch. Until yesterday it all worked great. Last night the back seat in the passenger's side gave a latch error. This morning the seat does not work with the car seat on. I tried with both the seat belt and latch installation and nothing changed. Today I had to unbuckle and buckle the seat back whenever we needed to access the third row (at least 5 times). One more thing, when I remove the seat and leave the seat free, the seat moves but it doesn't tilt at the end.

This is beyond frustrating!!! At this point I'm confused as to why we get a latch error before the seat breaks or fixes itself. That's only happened with the passenger's side seat. The other seat has been dead ever since.

Now, I received the seat protector that @systemcrashed recommended and to my surprise the seat moves when I install the car seat on it (even though it doesn't complete the movement and tilt at the end). This is just too weird!! Once my visitors leave I'll test the driver's side back seat with the new car seat protector and report back. One thing that concerns me about this type of protector with seat back protection is that the manual states the sides of the seats should not be obstructed since that's the location of the airbags.

At this point I'll keep things like they are now because I need to access the third row multiple times a day. I'm just hoping there's not a safety issue with the new seat protector.

They need to fix this problem for it defeats the purpose of a family car and is not working as expected/advertised.