A few issues driving me crazy - anyone can help? [User interface questions / issues]

[ml678]

I've been having these issues either since the start of the ownership almost 2 years ago or this year. It's getting worse so I'd like to get advice on possible solutions:

1. The song USB drive played in the last driving session does not get played at new session. In fact, none of the USB songs show up. I have to touch "USB" then choose album/folder then songs again. This really drives me insane and made the song playing almost not usable - also unsafe as I always had to re-set the songs. I noticed that if I park the car only for an hour or two, frequently the song stays in car memory and plays automatically when I tried to drive again. It seems that the car goes into deeper sleep to save battery after longer time, and it wipes out the song memory. I have two USB drives. One for dashcam, another for mp3 songs. I tried to have only the mp3 drive, same issue. This happened occasionally in the first couple months of ownership, then more often or less often based on software updates. But since the recent updates a few months ago, it happens almost every time (unless I drive again within 1-2 hours).
2. Dashcam USB drive only gets used a few GBs. I tried USB3.0 with 32GB size or USB2.0 with 16GB size, the drive doesn't get used in full at all. Sometimes it just switches to on-board storage for driving clips, making the USB useless and impossible to save long trip videos. This is much worse than any dashcam I've had, which seamlessly recorded videos and looped perfectly fine (some had occasional hiccups but not like my teslacam). I made sure I followed formatting instructions too, and it's not like it always uses 4GB and stops. Fairly strange and frustrating.
3. Another thing worries me is this year, when I first started max AC, a very pungent bad smell came out. I thought it was just some staleness and indeed it went away after some driving, but not completely. Every time I parked the car for a day or two, then drived, it'd have such smell. I had to open window to let it out. It happens for heat too, and happens whether using indoor air circulation or air from outside. Is this air filter problem? The issue happened when I only got the car for 1.5 years. I might give it a try anyhow - would the Model 3 filters on Amazon work?
4. In recent months, my Model 3 began to ask for the black key card often. Used to be I can always use phone. I didn't even bring the key card usually. But now I could be stranded if I didn't bring the key card with me, as it often asks for it. It even happened a few days ago when I was in the car waiting for 40 minutes and air & music were on! Why would Tesla needs validation again when I never exited the vehicle and it detected that (since it kept air/music on)? Is this an update of the Tesla software? Didn't seem to be issue with deep sleep of my Tesla app on phone because even if I make sure the app is active and then enter the car, it asks me the key card scanned!
   UPDATE on #4: I just realized it might be that recently I've disconnected bluetooth more often than before due to some issues with bluetooth devices. I need to double check if issue #4 only happened when I disabled bluetooth (which I believe is the proper behavior). I'll delete this point if this checks out, which means #4 is false alarm.

I was quite happy the first year of ownership of Model 3 (except for FSD), but now I'm quite unhappy with all these issues coming up. But maybe most of them can be resolved relatively easily? I'd love it if anyone has solutions. Thanks!

 

[Tam]

...getting worse...

It sounds like a software-related issue, just like the $15,000 Self-driving that doesn't drive itself. Hopefully, the software team will solve these problems someday.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Indeed USB music has that bug, among others. One workaround is to turn on the climate control thru the app to wake the car before entering. The other workaround is to give up.

Dashcam only records a 10 minute continuous loop and cannot be changed. You should be able to fill any size drive with saved dashcam/sentry clips though.

Mold in the AC evaporator is common on many modern cars. Some evaporator cleaner spray when changing the filter will temporarily solve it.

 

[UncertainTimes]

#2 The dash cam only records for 1 hour. Footage older than 1 hour gets overwritten by new footage.

 

[jjrandorin]

1. As @Gauss Guzzler said, that (and other) bugs exist for USB music. Nothing we can do about that.

2. There is no "internal storage" for dashcam. Anything that stored (that we can access at all), is on the USB. More information on how dashcam and sentry work (and what they do and dont do) can be found in the stickied thread here:

Dashcam / Sentry: How they work and what they do (and dont) do

(moderator note) Special thanks to @Knightshade , for taking the time to write up a description of how Sentry and Dashcam interact together. There is a lot of confusion about these two features, and how they interact together. I asked @Knightshade who has a good understanding of how these...

teslamotorsclub.com

3. Get your cabin air filter replaced. Either have tesla do it, or do it yourself if you are so inclined. Tesla does not consider this a warranty item as the cabin filter is a replaceable item.

4. Dont disconnect your bluetooth as that is how phone as key works to authenticate. You should also never go anywhere with just the phone key as a rule, because phones can be dead, or stolen, or broken etc.

 

[UncertainTimes]

Indeed USB music has that bug, among others. One workaround is to turn on the climate control thru the app to wake the car before entering. The other workaround is to give up.

Dashcam only records a 10 minute continuous loop and cannot be changed. You should be able to fill any size drive with saved dashcam/sentry clips though.

Mold in the AC evaporator is common on many modern cars. Some evaporator cleaner spray when changing the filter will temporarily solve it.

Dash cam is 1 hour. Sentry is 10 mins

Model S Owner's Manual | Tesla

Learn about the features you can use to record videos when driving and monitor the security of your vehicle when parked.

www.tesla.com

 

[ml678]

Thanks a lot everyone! So sounds like USB music is not solvable. I also suspect as I piled more songs into it, this bug manifested more. Or their software updates made it worse. Either way they really should fix it since there's no way to copy the mp3s into internal storage, unlike what most other cars do (and I also know for other cars that don't have internal storage, their USB works correctly, unlike Tesla, sadly).

I didn't know there's an one-hour limit of dashcam videos. No wonder it never fills up my drive - unlike other real dashcams. I must say other dashcams offer better feature and video qualities (although not the 4 angles Teslacam offers) but I don't want another dashcam sticking in my face when we already have Teslacam. Really hope Tesla can improve it, at least allowing longer recording doesn't sound difficult.

I'll replace air filter. I didn't like our local Tesla. One of my tires got a slow leak, I took it there and they took a while to test and said it's fixable. Then charged 80 to fix, which immediately leaked again. I took it back and they then said I needed to spend another $400+ to replace the tire. It's insane. I could've spent $40 in any shop to repair the tire properly, but ended up spending $400+ to repair and replace (I ended up going to Costco to replace that tire because I don't trust my Tesla center any more. Costco tire replacement for the same OEM tire was about $50 cheaper I remember).

I'll make sure to keep bluetooth on.

Thanks again for everyone's advice! You guys are the best! I do wish Tesla improves its apps. The issues really sound fixable, even though they're so annoying.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Don't count on Tesla fixing USB music. In theory it'd only take an intern a few minutes to do it, but no one under 30 even knows what an MP3 file is, nevermind what kind of device handles "files".

Note that you can always tap the camera button to permanently save the last 10 minutes of dashcam - that's often more useful than umteen hours of uneventful footage anyway.

And dealerships are never the best place for dirtywork like tires, brakes, bodywork, etc. They only have one mode of operation: replace everything with new parts. The air filter is a bit fiddly to DIY but once you have it out you can spray some of this stuff in there to address the smell.

Amazon.com

 

[stopcrazypp]

I didn't know there's an one-hour limit of dashcam videos. No wonder it never fills up my drive - unlike other real dashcams. I must say other dashcams offer better feature and video qualities (although not the 4 angles Teslacam offers) but I don't want another dashcam sticking in my face when we already have Teslacam. Really hope Tesla can improve it, at least allowing longer recording doesn't sound difficult.

As per the manual, it loops 1 hour:
Model 3 Owner's Manual | Tesla

Note that there is another quirk. It may keep clips for longer than 1 hour if the car goes to sleep, but after it awakes it may delete all previous clips since the hour has passed.

Note however if you ever find yourself needing to recover more than 1 hour, you can use Recuva to recover it:
Dashcam in Auto

 

[Candleflame]

Don't count on Tesla fixing USB music. In theory it'd only take an intern a few minutes to do it, but no one under 30 even knows what an MP3 file is, nevermind what kind of device handles "files".

Note that you can always tap the camera button to permanently save the last 10 minutes of dashcam - that's often more useful than umteen hours of uneventful footage anyway.

And dealerships are never the best place for dirtywork like tires, brakes, bodywork, etc. They only have one mode of operation: replace everything with new parts. The air filter is a bit fiddly to DIY but once you have it out you can spray some of this stuff in there to address the smell.

Amazon.com

remember when usb tracks were included in the search and the car would even play those if it couldnt find the voice commanded file on spotify (!!!)

 

[BigNick]

Try using voice command "Switch to USB" when entering the car. I've had that work on previous software versions, haven't tried on 2022.8.2 yet.

Once another manufacturer builds EVs with performance close to Tesla, it's the thousand little "papercut" things like broken USB that will cause them to lose repeat business. Every other manufacturer can play a damn MP3 or FLAC file.

 

[roblab]

3. Get your cabin air filter replaced. Either have tesla do it or do it yourself if you are so inclined. Tesla does not consider this a warranty item as the cabin filter is a replaceable item.

Having lived in Riverside County for many years, I don't understand why you need a cabin air filter replacement. The air is dry, high-desert air.

I have owned four Teslas, and have never given any concern to the cabin air filters in over 250,000 miles. California, and especially Riverside are bone dry most of the time, so unless you transport hogs in the back of your car, I wouldn't think you'd EVER need to replace the filter. Maybe you have a special needs case, or just want to feel like you're taking care of any possible maintenance. Believe me, you don't need a cabin air filter.

 

[Randy-12]

for USB music, use voice command "Plays songs on USB" and it will pick up where it left off.
Be very specific in the wording or it will not work

 

[ml678]

for USB music, use voice command "Plays songs on USB" and it will pick up where it left off.
Be very specific in the wording or it will not work

Wow, that worked just now when I tried! I'll test it a few more cases but working once probably means it always works. Thanks a lot! That solves the #1 nagging issue I have with my Model 3. Still, Tesla solving it would be better but this is a very nice workaround. Improves safety too.

 

[ml678]

Having lived in Riverside County for many years, I don't understand why you need a cabin air filter replacement. The air is dry, high-desert air.

I have owned four Teslas, and have never given any concern to the cabin air filters in over 250,000 miles. California, and especially Riverside are bone dry most of the time, so unless you transport hogs in the back of your car, I wouldn't think you'd EVER need to replace the filter. Maybe you have a special needs case, or just want to feel like you're taking care of any possible maintenance. Believe me, you don't need a cabin air filter.

Tree leaves, mildew, rain/dirt/mold, could make replacing air filter necessary. Your not having to replace it is a blessing, but most of us probably do need to.

 

[ml678]

Try using voice command "Switch to USB" when entering the car. I've had that work on previous software versions, haven't tried on 2022.8.2 yet.

Once another manufacturer builds EVs with performance close to Tesla, it's the thousand little "papercut" things like broken USB that will cause them to lose repeat business. Every other manufacturer can play a damn MP3 or FLAC file.

Thanks! @Randy-12 suggested command "Play songs on USB" works perfectly when I tried just now. Saves a bit more time.

 

[ml678]

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions! I'm updating the original thread for suggested solutions. -- wait, I couldn't update the original post now, maybe because it was moved to this forum? Well anyhow people reading the comments could see the proposed solutions.

 

[Stew-2]

To save even more time simply say “USB”

 

[Candleflame]

Having lived in Riverside County for many years, I don't understand why you need a cabin air filter replacement. The air is dry, high-desert air.

I have owned four Teslas, and have never given any concern to the cabin air filters in over 250,000 miles. California, and especially Riverside are bone dry most of the time, so unless you transport hogs in the back of your car, I wouldn't think you'd EVER need to replace the filter. Maybe you have a special needs case, or just want to feel like you're taking care of any possible maintenance. Believe me, you don't need a cabin air filter.

some people dont get allergies and arent bothered by off-smells or stuffy air. They are the same people who have i.e. 4 dogs at home and never hoover or clean their carpets (if they have any). this likely includes you.

 

[Randy-12]

Thanks! @Randy-12 suggested command "Play songs on USB" works perfectly when I tried just now. Saves a bit more time.

I heard this tip on the Ride The Lightning Podcast.
Works great!