Don't press "Adjust Headlights" button

[jsmay311]

(I already posted about this in real time over at the M3OC forum, but seeing as it's a potential safety issue (see the bit below about the front turn signals not working) and more generally just a PITA, I thought I'd share it here too...)

Last week while parked in my Model 3, I hit the "Adjust Headlights" button in the Service menu, and that caused the car to get stuck in some kind of service mode. (I'm on firmware version 2018.28.5.) The effects of this were the following:

1. The daytime running lights stayed on permanently, even when the car was off.
2. The headlights could not be manually turned off, and after the car was off they would stay on for about an hour, then cycle off for an hour, then back on for an hour, and so on.)
3. The front turn signals did not work. (This was of particular concern since there was no indication to the driver that they weren't working, so I drove around for days without working turn signals without realizing it. It's not hard to imagine this leading to an accident.)
4. The high beams did not work.
5. The interior ambient lights could not be turned off.
6. The dome lights would not turn off when in "Auto" mode (but they could be turned off by switching the setting to "Off").
7. Significantly higher than normal vampire drain -- probably partially from the lights themselves, but also likely from the car not going to sleep.

I went through all sorts of troubleshooting steps while on the phone with customer service including resets and shut downs, but nothing worked. 6 days later Tesla finally sent out a mobile repair tech. He mentioned he had seen or heard of a couple other instances of this happening to Model 3's. He did a "hard" reset by disconnecting the 12V battery and a connector to the HV battery BMS for a few minutes, and that did the trick to fix it.

So, long story short, I don't recommend pressing the "Adjust Headlights" button. If you want more details, check out the link at the top.

 

[jamnmon66]

I adjusted mine in the first couple of days & had no problems. FW 16.x if I remember. I'm sorry that you had problems but I haven't seen anyone else post this issue. My guess is that it's kind of rare.

 

[privater]

So much temptation...

 

[Pkmmte]

So, basically, you discovered the hidden "BMW Driver Mode" button.

 

[jsmay311]

I adjusted mine in the first couple of days & had no problems. FW 16.x if I remember. I'm sorry that you had problems but I haven't seen anyone else post this issue. My guess is that it's kind of rare.

Yeah, when I rented one back in March I tried adjusting the headlights without issues too. I'm thinking it must be a bug in the more recent firmware version(s). I'm no software engineer, but I can't think of any reason why another Model 3 on the same firmware wouldn't run into the same problem.

 

[SJC3]

Is this option there for when new headlights are installed and need to be aligned? I recently had a service visit where my auto headlights kept coming on in daylight, and the invoice said they were "adjusted." I guess this is what was done.

 

[jsmay311]

Is this option there for when new headlights are installed and need to be aligned? I recently had a service visit where my auto headlights kept coming on in daylight, and the invoice said they were "adjusted." I guess this is what was done.

It's for aiming the lights higher or lower. I don't think it would have any impact on when the lights turn on in "auto" mode.

 

[Glamisduner]

Can I try it on a showroom car?

 

[Stu Redman]

Frequent pilot saying: "Don't touch nothing you don't know nothing about."

 

[jsmay311]

Can I try it on a showroom car?

Lol.

I don't not endorse this idea.

 

[jnaminer]

I agree, do NOT hit the Adjust headlights button on an updated Model 3.

I have exactly the same problem on a brand new Model 3. I touched the Adjust headlights button and the car entered "adjusting headlights mode" perpetually (spinning circle). The front lights turn on and off every hour or so, all the other lights behave as the OP described. The front parking lights never go off while the rear ones do eventually. There are other posters with the identical issue on Model 3 owners club forum. This is a bug that will hopefully be fixed by a firmware update. My version is: 2018.32.7 80f9cd5.

 

[jsmay311]

I agree, do NOT hit the Adjust headlights button on an updated Model 3.

I have exactly the same problem on a brand new Model 3. I touched the Adjust headlights button and the car entered "adjusting headlights mode" perpetually (spinning circle). The front lights turn on and off every hour or so, all the other lights behave as the OP described. The front parking lights never go off while the rear ones do eventually. There are other posters with the identical issue on Model 3 owners club forum. This is a bug that will hopefully be fixed by a firmware update. My version is: 2018.32.7 80f9cd5.

Sorry to hear that. You'll need to get a service tech to to a hard reset of the car (as described here: Don't press "Adjust Headlights" button )

I wonder if it's fixed in 39.X. I'm curious, but not curious enough to try it myself and risk messing it up again.

 

[ngogas]

Someone hit this on v.9, i dare you?! And let us know. lol

 

[Bala R]

I do have v9 but now I'm scared to touch that option after reading this post. I did happily play around with that option when I had 36.2 while I was impatiently waiting in car for v9 to download, everything seems normal.

 

[ngogas]

It's a death trap that now i'm scared to even go to that menu in fear i mistaken hit it.

 

[S3XY]

I agree, do NOT hit the Adjust headlights button on an updated Model 3.

I have exactly the same problem on a brand new Model 3. I touched the Adjust headlights button and the car entered "adjusting headlights mode" perpetually (spinning circle). The front lights turn on and off every hour or so, all the other lights behave as the OP described. The front parking lights never go off while the rear ones do eventually. There are other posters with the identical issue on Model 3 owners club forum. This is a bug that will hopefully be fixed by a firmware update. My version is: 2018.32.7 80f9cd5.

Congratulations, you found the Christmas Light Show Easter Egg! Sorry, I couldn't resist. Did they have to remove power to fix yours too?

 

[jnaminer]

Success!!

So, the tech came out and did a hard reset of the left hand computer (drivers side). He pulled the very top panel above the frunk to access this. It did not involve removing the 12V battery connection. It did involve pulling the High voltage connection in the right back seat. He also upgraded me to V9. Soooo, while he was in the car and after the upgrade, He agreed to allow me to hit the dreaded "adjust headlights" button. I did, and for a few moments I got the spinning circle, but then it went to a new screen where you could actually adjust the headlight position.

So V9 is likely clean.

Jeff

 

[jnaminer]

Someone hit this on v.9, i dare you?! And let us know. lol

Did it! (of course I had the tech in the car with me so no real risk

 

[jnaminer]

Did it! (of course I had the tech in the car with me so no real risk

and it worked fine.

 

[ngogas]

Ah.... good new then. No longer a death trap.