Dear God, what is this thing?

[highfalutintodd]

I've had my Model S for almost 10 years now and I've gone from Tesla fanatic to happy but uninvolved car owner. Translation: I still love my S, but I don't pay super close attention to all things Tesla anymore.

A week or two ago it got a software update. No big deal, I thought, happens all the time. Usually can't even tell what's changed. But this time...

What in the ever loving hell did Tesla do to the user interface? Everything is so SMALL now on the main display! I can't access anything in the hidden drawer without taking my eyes off the road for a significant amount of time to find something.

And they moved the volume control? The volume control that's been sitting in exactly the same place on the screen for 9 years now? Why? Why would they do that? Oh, I figured out that you can push the volume control back where it's always been by turning on the "split" of the HVAC, but then I'm stuck having to change both HVAC settings when I want to change the temp in the car (I'm usually the only one in it).

I'm usually a fan of change and I usually love cool new features, but holy crap this just sucks IMO.

 

[DerbyDave]

Since your update is not the same as most newer Tesla owners, I can't help, but the issues you are seeing are not in the newer software releases. I don't think the volume control has ever been moved on my 2020 S.

 

[JAlbury825]

Hey Todd! Yeah, I've been trying to figure out where everything is too (2014 Model S 60). The heated seat control for the passenger stays hidden now in the AC menu, and when charging, the main MCU screen doesn't show detailed information anymore (ie. amount of range added, amount of charge added, minutes remaining). If I find out anything on how to get stuff where it needs to be, I'll post it here for you.

 

[highfalutintodd]

he heated seat control for the passenger stays hidden now in the AC menu

Holy crap, I hadn't even noticed this yet. Well, that's going to be annoying in the winter....

Pics that I should have included in first post:

Moved volume control! (And boy, do I need to do a deep clean - ugh, sorry).

Tiny fonts!

Weirdo new HVAC controls with hidden seat warmer controls (wait, and didn't defog / defrost used to be on the main icon dock as well?!?!?!?)

 

[DerbyDave]

In your photo, press the 68 degree temp to view all normal HVAC and Seat controls (or swipe the temperature up). Press SPLIT in the pop up to have dual temperature controls visible on the lower ribbon, also SPLIT is an option on main HVAC window.

 

[David29]

In your photo, press the 68 degree temp to view all normal HVAC and Seat controls (or swipe the temperature up). Press SPLIT in the pop up to have dual temperature controls visible on the lower ribbon, also SPLIT is on main HVAC window.

Once you do that, how do you get the split to disappear and go back to one control? Someone I have the split temps on my screen, and I cannot seem to re-combine them. The word "Split" slightly changes color (from blue to gray-blue) if I press it, suggesting that the function is defeated, but the two controls remain on the screen, which is confusing at best. I'd like to turn off the split because it is less efficient when using AC (according to another thread on here).

 

[David29]

For the benefit of those of you with newer cars who might not know, what has happened is that Version 11 has now finally been distributed to the older cars. Mine (2015) was updated about 2 weeks ago. I knew something of what to expect from posts on social media, and it does seem as if some of the worst problems people complained about in the initial releases of version 11 have been addressed. But yes indeed, it is true-- Tesla has continued its campaign to make things less readable and to unnecessarily move things around. Or to put it plainly, they have "fixed what ain't broken."
But complaining is useless. It just makes us look like fuddy-duddies, people afraid of change, etc. There are some new features, but I have not found anything yet that applies to my car and was worth the rearrangement.
One example is there is supposed to be a feature to add a waypoint to a trip when you are using navigation. That would be great. But I do not see it in my car. Maybe it is there but I haven't found it.
One of the problems is that the owners manual describes some of the new features in words but provides few diagrams.
I have a PDF copy of the owners manual for the current Model S (Plaid, etc.) but the one or two features I have checked seem to be different in my car.
I will keep looking at stuff as I use the car and probably will figure out more of it. But I continue to be disappointed at how poor tesla's UI is -- there are so many other cars with bright, clean, readable screens. tesla should be a leader in this and instead has steadily reducing the clarity of the screens ever since i got my car 7 years ago.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

voice commands do work for most of that stuff fortunately. definitely not a UI meant for a classic...I'm just happy I fixed my S and can drive it again after it sat for about 6 months...I like it more after not switching between the 3 and it. it's a tank but quiet and smooth

@David29 split works, need to tap as you were, change one side temp so you can see when it is 'un split'. it seemed odd when I did it and took a few tries before I understood

I still hate when they changed that you can't have the camera near the top. biggest F up

 

[DerbyDave]

When SPLIT is blue, it is active (two controls). When you press it again it turns grey (one control). Add waypoints to NAV by pressing the three dots to the right of the NAV window.

 

[David29]

When SPLIT is blue, it is active (two controls). When you press it again it turns grey (one control). Add waypoints to NAV by pressing the three dots to the right of the NAV window.

Thanks! I'll look for the three dots.
I have had trouble with the box of turn by turn directions moving around a bit. Is it supposed to?
Also -- It seems as though the button to choose the map orientation (North, direction you are in, or full route) only appears when the car is in PARK. As soon as I put it in gear, the icon disappears. Which makes no sense. I often change it as I am driving, such as to glance at the overall route.

Most likely it has moved elsewhere and I just haven't seen it -- but if so, why the H--- does it move?

 

[David29]

When SPLIT is blue, it is active (two controls). When you press it again it turns grey (one control). Add waypoints to NAV by pressing the three dots to the right of the NAV window.

Trouble is, the difference in color between the blue and gray is so subtle that I have difficulty telling which mode it is in without clicking it to see the color change. Tesla prefers subtlety over clarity!

 

[DerbyDave]

Trouble is, the difference in color between the blue and gray is so subtle that I have difficulty telling which mode it is in without clicking it to see the color change. Tesla prefers subtlety over clarity!

Look and see if you have two temperature reading on each side of the lower ribbon. This means SPLIT is Enabled. If you only have one temperature reading, it is Disabled.

 

[DerbyDave]

Thanks! I'll look for the three dots.
I have had trouble with the box of turn by turn directions moving around a bit. Is it supposed to?
Also -- It seems as though the button to choose the map orientation (North, direction you are in, or full route) only appears when the car is in PARK. As soon as I put it in gear, the icon disappears. Which makes no sense. I often change it as I am driving, such as to glance at the overall route.

Most likely it has moved elsewhere and I just haven't seen it -- but if so, why the H--- does it move?

This was a problem with some updates, but they seem to have fixed that to keep the NAV menu on the left side. Also, the Map orientation has been fixed to show on upper right side. If your version is not showing this, you can show it by pressing the upper part of the NAV menu on the left side. It is behind the NAV menu. I also seem to remember that you can click anywhere on the map to show the orientation and the features to be shown, such as Supercharger Icons, etc.

 

[DerbyDave]

Also, you can zoom in on the map in increments by double clicking anywhere on the map, repeat, etc.

 

[David29]

Look and see if you have two temperature reading on each side of the lower ribbon. This means SPLIT is Enabled. If you only have one temperature reading, it is Disabled.

That is what i thought. But each time i click on the "Split" box, the color changes but the icons remain the same. Maybe i will try a reboot and play with it some more. Thanks!

 

[redmunds]

Pressing the ellipses (3 dots) pops up optional icons that you can select for your favorites.

Note that you need to press and hold to see all of the icons (e.g. seat warmers, defrosters, etc.). That was an afterthought of a hack that I was hoping would be fixed by now, but it still seems to be required (but maybe because I'm using FSDb).

 

[David29]

That is what i thought. But each time i click on the "Split" box, the color changes but the icons remain the same. Maybe i will try a reboot and play with it some more. Thanks!

Tried it again today and it worked (no reboot needed). Thanks!

 

[Droschke]

This is how I've configured my bottom shelf:

The red box between the left temperature (the driver side temp) and the 3-dot icon I have drawn is the area you can customize to have up to 4 apps of your choice. The yellow box I've drawn is the list of the most recent apps you have accessed which are not part of your apps in the red box area.

Long press on the 3-dots icon to get the listing of all available apps first (including the climate control ones). This window pops up:

Then you can drag and drop any app from this list to the bottom shelf in the area I have denoted by the red box. The apps I've chosen to add, based on my needs, to that area as you can see in the first picture are:
- Driver sear heater
- Heated steering wheel
- Phone
- Camera

You can also long press on any one of the 4 apps in the red box area and click on an "X" that appears on the top of that app to remove that app from the red box (or create more room in there for adding a new app of your choice). This moves that app back to the available apps box (the second picture).

You can also reorder your chosen 4 apps on the bottom shelf by long pressing on one and moving it left or right within the red box I've drawn.

One more: to get to the entire climate menu, just swipe up from the very bottom of the bottom shelf.

I should also add I really like this version much more than the previous one (I started with version 6 in 2015 BTW).

Hope this helped.

 

[Droschke]

I have a PDF copy of the owners manual for the current Model S (Plaid, etc.) but the one or two features I have checked seem to be different in my car.

There are two versions of the owners manual:

Model S Owner's Manual 2012–2020

Model S Owner's Manual | Tesla

View the Owner's Manual to learn about your vehicle.

www.tesla.com

Model S Owner's Manual 2021 +

Model S Owner's Manual | Tesla

View the Owner's Manual to learn about your vehicle.

www.tesla.com

At the bottom of each link, you can download the PDF version if you prefer.

 

[DerbyDave]

User Manuals are a snapshot in time. New features, likenavigation waypoints and the new v11 interface we are talking about were not around when the pre 2021 cars were built. You need to save, read and understand the release notes as each software version is released to stay current.