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Can't Reverse in Sub 0 Temps (solution)

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I had an interesting problem a week ago and I thought I'd share my workaround.

I got in the car after leaving it parked in Sun Valley ID overnight. It was completely frozen of course as the overnight temps were well below 0F.

When I tried to reverse out of the parking spot everything seemed fine (no warning chime). Just pressing the accelerator had no effect.

After rebooting the screen and turning the car on and off I found the workaround was to drive forward a few inches, then stop and engage reverse. It now worked perfectly.

I'm not sure if this is a bug related to limited regen with low battery temps, but i had it happen 2 times in one day at different spots, so I bet it'll happen to someone else.

I haven't experienced it since then. Including another very cold morning so who knows, maybe this has already been patched.
 
I suspect your parking brake got stuck in place.
Possible.

There must be a software interlock against reversing while the brake is engaged then as I was giving it full command.
Also why would it move forward then? Software bugs are weird like that.

Anyway I'm not trying to diagnose it, just flagging it so if it happens to someone else you can spare yourself the 5 minutes of cold panic.
 
I seem to have the same problem, and solution, and also suspect it is software related.

I seem to get the loud pop and release in reverse when it's more like 20f, the rotors get rusty from the saltwater and less friction breaking to get them clean. The cars sits and/or the water freezes, rust builds up, and the breaks lock until you give them some pressure.

When reverse won't engage in the cold, maybe 0f or lower, might be -5f, there is absolutely no response from the car when pressing the "gas" pedal while in reverse. You need to go into drive, go one inch, and then reverse will function.
 
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might be unrelated but my tesla is literally parked at the beach every night (outside) and in the morning it seems like the brake pads "stick" and i have to hit it hard to get them moving and there is a big cranking sound when it releases, like the sound magnets can make when they release. By beach i mean Newport Beach, CA where it never freezes. Is it wet where you are?
 
This topic is wildly discussed in a german tesla forum.
It might be an issue with 2.44.130 FW and hopefully already be fixed in 2.52.20.

I had it a few times in the Christmas time, but no longer on the new FW.
Keeping fingers crossed.

All I can tell that I never had heard any pop from the brakes while rolling forward a few inches.
 
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It has been cold here (-4F) but I haven't had this issue yet. I hope I don't since I don't have a lot of forward space in the (unheated) garage.

Last year I did have the parking brake calipers attach pretty hard to the rotors (rust?); they made quite a noise when they released. Then one of the small pads broke off and rattled around in the brake shield for a while until I figured out how to retrieve it. Fixed under warranty.