Air suspension begins lowering car immediately after car turns on

[theatwar99]

Hi all,

I've run into a weird issue with our Model S automatic air suspension. A few times I've set the car to "very high" when parking, which allows the car's front bumper to pass over the concrete parking lot blocks.

After returning to the car, I've noticed that the air suspension sometimes (not always -- appears to be random) begins to "lower" the car -- this is obviously without us activating it.

I've been quick enough to stab at the screen to reverse the suspension from lowering... except for last night, when it lowered as I was in reverse, and then scraped the bottom of the front bumper on top the concrete block in the parking space that we were leaving.

Just some small scratches on the underside of the bumper... but wanted to see if anyone else had run into this issue before bringing the car into our SC to get checked out. Wonder if there's any chance the SC will fix the bumper damage...?

 

[Lloyd]

Do you have the suspension set to "Always low" rather than being speed determined?

 

[theatwar99]

I'll definitely double check -- but I believe it's set to speed determined.

 

[theatwar99]

Here's what the settings are -- "Select a speed at which the ride height will automatically transition to LOW. Vehicle will remain LOW above this speed." -- I have it set to ""100+ mph".

 

[CHG-ON]

I had this happen once about a year ago. Really pissed me off. I haven't seen it since, but I will never trust it. What I do is when I set to very high to clear the curb, I leave the screen on so that it is the first thing I see when I get in the car. I make sure it is still set to that before I move. I did mention it to NAservice. I have no idea if it made a difference.

 

[theatwar99]

That's what we've started doing -- leaving the screen on. Had it happen 2 more times. Each time it starts lowering, I rush to put it back to "very high" and have avoided having the car come down on the concrete block.

Called our Burbank service center to set up an appointment -- they must be slammed, because we can't get in until middle of next week.

Wondering though if the SC will be able to replicate the issue, and if they do, will the SC repair the scrapes on the bottom of the bumper? Guess I'll wait and see...

 

[jmsurpri]

I've noticed the suspension seems to auto-level right on startup, especially if there's a big weight difference between the last drive and the current drive, but are you saying the setting itself drops from Very-High to High (or lower)?

 

[theatwar99]

Yes -- the setting drops itself from Very High to Normal. No weight difference -- haven't been adding any passengers or cargo.

 

[bhzmark]

I've experienced this also under same circumstances. Just once. And moved back to v high again. Shld be fixed.

 

[sorka]

The setting is meant to increase clearance while moving. NOT while parked. It can save you from scraping the front if you park over a curb, but if you do park over a curb, then get back in your MS and back out until the front is no longer over the curb. Congratulations, you just saved yourself some damage on the bottom because you drove INTO a curb but were lucky enough to have the car high enough to prevent damage.

You should always assume that the curb is actually a wall and that if you hit...well, you know

 

[bhzmark]

SAS has manual and automatic raising and lowering.

Manual is when you change it through the touchscreen.

Automatic raising will happen based on location; automatic lowering will happen when certain speeds are met.

It should not automatically lower when the car is powered off and then powered on. That is a bug that should be fixed.

 

[AB4EJ]

The setting is meant to increase clearance while moving. NOT while parked. It can save you from scraping the front if you park over a curb, but if you do park over a curb, then get back in your MS and back out until the front is no longer over the curb. Congratulations, you just saved yourself some damage on the bottom because you drove INTO a curb but were lucky enough to have the car high enough to prevent damage.

You should always assume that the curb is actually a wall and that if you hit...well, you know

I gather that the best thing is to make it a habit to stop the car well back from the curb... I destroyed the lower fascia on my Mercedes SLK before I understood this... MS seems to need the same policy...

 

[bhzmark]

Because the S is so long sometimes you need to be in the space as deep as possible. And thus over othe curbs which are usually intended to stop tires. Even tesla superchargers use curbs that are intended to go under the car and stop the tires.

They need to make a simple software fix so that the car doesn't lower automatically when parked. It should only lower from a manual input or when speed thresholds are met.

 

[theatwar99]

The instances where we've been over concrete blocks in parking lots were always situations where the car needed to be parked deeper into the space. Raising the car up to avoid hitting the block while parking in tight spaces is something our Telsa rep highlighted when we were making our purchase and we even experimented with it on our test drive. So I don't think we're doing anything too out of the ordinary.

We have location-based automatic raising enabled -- we raise the car up when we enter into our driveway because the lip of the driveway is steep -- and there have been situations where the car has started to automatically lower itself when we get back in and power it up to begin backing out of the driveway.

This is obviously a bug.

 

[Boatguy]

It should not automatically lower when the car is powered off and then powered on. That is a bug that should be fixed.

+1

 

[sorka]

Because the S is so long sometimes you need to be in the space as deep as possible. And thus over othe curbs which are usually intended to stop tires. Even tesla superchargers use curbs that are intended to go under the car and stop the tires.

They need to make a simple software fix so that the car doesn't lower automatically when parked. It should only lower from a manual input or when speed thresholds are met.

How so? There was space for you to drive the to get into the spot. How is it that you can't stop before parking over the curb? I've never seen perpendicular parking that had a parking line at the entrance of the sport.

 

[bhzmark]

How so? There was space for you to drive the to get into the spot. How is it that you can't stop before parking over the curb? I've never seen perpendicular parking that had a parking line at the entrance of the sport.

I had exactly case to park into a spot near a corner where if I stopped prior to the parking block curb thing, the other end of the car was sticking out of the space and it was partially blocking the car parked in the other row on the side of the corner. What is big deal? The suspension should stay up to allow safely parking over curbs.

 

[EarlyModSOwner]

I've had this happen several times causing several bumps and scrapes on the front undercarriage.
Two nights ago, I parked at a local grocery store and as I backed out the undercarriage caught on the concrete parking block
and ripped off my front fender housing and unbeknown to me caused the black nose shield to fall off.

Anyone observe when this behavior of lowering when the car is turned off started? I've had my Model S for over 3 years and it did not do this earlier.

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

I like the benefits of air, but sometimes the randomness of it makes me wish I had springs. That, and it is the thing that makes the most noise in the car.

I wish It had a setting that turned off self leveling. I don't need constant readjustment at every stoplight, which sometimes it seems like that is what it is doing constantly. I often go through the In-n-out drive through and it makes changes as the camber changes around the restaraunt.

Bonkers

 

[Stiction]

My car is an April 2015 S85D. I have NEVER had the air relax after parking. I have parked for days with the air at Very High. I would consider it a defect to be fixed if the air dropped down after power off.

I usually leave the air controls screen up when I park...I do see shows the 'normal' setting when I first power up the car getting back in....and then it realizes the system is at Very High and changes to Very High on the display instantly.

Perhaps this is confusing people?