Car wont start! Stuck in grocery store parking lot

[desidon]

It started at home.... Took a trip to the grocery store. Now it won't start back up to go home.

Says "software update required. Unable to start car"

Last night the app said software update available so I said go ahead. This morning it said software update failed... Tesla will push a new one out. I was like.. Ok...

Did not drive car all day. Came out tonight for this grocery trip.... And now stuck. It was showing the software message at home but the car was driving... So I thought... No worries... Probably related to the failed update... They will send another one later.

Now I am stuck in this parking lot.... Wtf!

 

[ww73]

Sorry to hear about this. Have you contacted Tesla service? Hopefully they can get you a loaner and get ur car fixed.

 

[pete8314]

Have you tried rebooting the center screen?

 

[thecloud]

The phone number for Roadside Assistance is printed in your owner's guide, as well as in the Roadside Assistance section of the online manual (under Controls > Settings). Call them and they should be able to help.

 

[desidon]

Got on the phone with them. Did power off and on. Nothing
Screen won't reboot with pressing both scroll wheels.
They want to tow it in.
If the car was gonna die... It should have not started at home! It was fine at home... And now wants to die in this grocery store parking lot!

 

[Tech_Guy]

Yikes, can you tell us any more details,
when did you get your car?
what model is it?
Hope they can resolve it for you!!!!

 

[desidon]

P90DL... One month old.... Refreshed body style

 

[desidon]

Here is a pic in better days...

 

[mkspeedr]

It looks awesome!

 

[WannabeOwner]

Last night the app said software update available so I said go ahead. This morning it said software update failed...

No help to you, sorry, but I wonder if the time you set / approved it to install last night is the same as the time you were at the grocery store? If so seems unfortunate that a failed download will automatically resume same-time-tomorrow.

But, that said, if the software update is busy running them presumably esla would have recommended you just sit-tight until the install is done, rather than towing you.

 

[desidon]

There was no update scheduled. ...here is the timeline...

-Got notification of upgrade available at Sat night
-Scheduled for Sun Early morning 2 AM
-Sun morning look at the car and get a message that upgrade failed and a new one will be pushed out
-Did not drive the car all day Sunday
-Took it out Sun night to go to the grocery store. Car was flashing message saying "upgrade failed , unable to start car" but car started and was driving normally. I thought it was probably some lingering message from the failed upgrade and got going
- Car would not start back up from grocery store parking lot

Since then
-Towed to Tesla service center. My wife came picked me up and they did an unattended towing.

 

[GJ79]

There was no update scheduled. ...here is the timeline...

-Got notification of upgrade available at Sat night
-Scheduled for Sun Early morning 2 AM
-Sun morning look at the car and get a message that upgrade failed and a new one will be pushed out
-Did not drive the car all day Sunday
-Took it out Sun night to go to the grocery store. Car was flashing message saying "upgrade failed , unable to start car" but car started and was driving normally. I thought it was probably some lingering message from the failed upgrade and got going
- Car would not start back up from grocery store parking lot

Since then
-Towed to Tesla service center. My wife came picked me up and they did an unattended towing.

Get used to it early on, I have been stuck 5 times in 3 months......Oh sometimes it just takes 2-3 hrs for it to start back up

 

[Austin Powers]

Get used to it early on, I have been stuck 5 times in 3 months......Oh sometimes it just takes 2-3 hrs for it to start back up

So much for being early adopters. Tesla should invest in better QA processes.

 

[tomas]

Get used to it early on, I have been stuck 5 times in 3 months......Oh sometimes it just takes 2-3 hrs for it to start back up

So much for being early adopters. Tesla should invest in better QA processes.

It is a shame that this happened to @desidon. However, despite what @GJ79 posted, I believe this is quite rare, and not an "early adopter" problem we have to live with. There have been millions of software updates that have gone through without such incident. As a regular participant in this forum - I cannot recall another report of a"non-starting" issue like this related to a failed update. As usual, when an anomaly occurred, Tesla stepped up to the plate and towed promptly.

The challenge with OTA updates is that there are quite a few software-driven devices in the car, many of which may be updated in any new release. Sequence of flashing/updating these things can be a complex problem. Every other auto maker provides software updates only at their service centers. Personally, I'm thrilled to have OTA updates, and willing to ride with the one in a million risk of an update temporarily disabling car. Unfortunate that the lottery winner was a brand new owner. @desidon, please keep us in formed... hope you have hundreds of uneventful updates in your future.

 

[desidon]

Folks as an update, the firmware update was fixed at the service center. I took a taxi over there to pick up the car and drove back.

Did get a free wash out of the whole thing and the car looked fab when I picked it up !

PS : Minor irritant was that the tech forgot to properly reattach the storage cubby below the LCD screen...had to turn back after 5 miles as it detached under moderate braking. Took it back and they reattached the tabs firmly and I was on my way again...

 

[Cnasty]

Folks as an update, the firmware update was fixed at the service center. I took a taxi over there to pick up the car and drove back.

Did get a free wash out of the whole thing and the car looked fab when I picked it up !

PS : Minor irritant was that the tech forgot to properly reattach the storage cubby below the LCD screen...had to turn back after 5 miles as it detached under moderate braking. Took it back and they reattached the tabs firmly and I was on my way again...

Glad to hear it all worked out fellow Texan!

 

[Boatguy]

Folks as an update, the firmware update was fixed at the service center. I took a taxi over there to pick up the car and drove back.

Did get a free wash out of the whole thing and the car looked fab when I picked it up !

PS : Minor irritant was that the tech forgot to properly reattach the storage cubby below the LCD screen...had to turn back after 5 miles as it detached under moderate braking. Took it back and they reattached the tabs firmly and I was on my way again...

Thanks for the update!

 

[Ingineer]

FYI, this was caused by a partial update. The car updated some systems, then the update failed leaving the car with newer software on some systems and older on others. This is what the errors meant and why it would not let the car start.

 

[thecloud]

FYI, this was caused by a partial update. The car updated some systems, then the update failed leaving the car with newer software on some systems and older on others. This is what the errors meant and why it would not let the car start.

Except it did let the car start once, when he went from home to the grocery store...

 

[Ingineer]

This is likely because something reset from the first drive after he parked it. Once reset, the firmware.rc mismatch caused the lockout. It could even be the car didn't fully go to sleep after the update failure.