Error | Incline too steep: parking brake may not hold

[thatisug]

Hello!

Wondering if anyone has experienced this error and if anything was done to correct it?. Been about a week since I received 2019.8.3, and I have started getting this error whenever parking in my driveway (which is at an incline, however have been parking the same for 2 years with no errors).

I do have the Tilt/Intrusion sensor installed as well (been installed for about 3 months), so I am wondering if this something related to 2019.8.3 and having the tilt sensor installed?

I have included a pic of the error, wondering if anyone is familiar with this one.

 

[Snowstorm]

How steep of an incline are you on?

 

[thatisug]

How steep of an incline are you on?

Using iPhone measure app (hopefully semi-accurate) the steepest it gets is 18° but where I park it is 15°

 

[Silicon Desert]

Interesting. I have never seen that on my heavier MX in the last 3 years of use. I do occasionally park at my son's home driveway which is roughly a 25% incline. I haven't tried climbing the garage wall with it yet

 

[murphyS90D]

Turn the security off to see if you still get the warning.

 

[dgpcolorado]

15º is a pretty steep slope for a car — that's a 26.8% grade (a typical highway grade might be 6% and 8% is considered steep for highways). 18º would be a 32.5% grade (and 45º would be 100%, of course*).

I drive and bicycle a 14% grade and that seems pretty steep to me! I'm not surprised that Tesla considers a 26% grade a bit much for parking. I guess I'd chock the wheels if parking on that sort of slope.

FWIW.


* "Percent grade" is rise/run x 100 = Tangent (angle in degrees) x 100.

 

[Snowstorm]

15 degrees is a very steep slope to park on, out a rock behind the wheel, or turn the wheel in a way such that if the car rolls downhill it will be stopped by the curb.

 

[GWord]

Have you tried holding the park button to get the “extra” parking brake? That’s a pretty stout incline. I’d be chocking the wheels for sure.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Have you tried holding the park button to get the “extra” parking brake? That’s a pretty stout incline. I’d be chocking the wheels for sure.

"extra" brake. ? folks I talk to at the factory don't know about any such thing. where did that come from?

 

[Decibelle]

"extra" brake. ? folks I talk to at the factory don't know about any such thing. where did that come from?

I also have a steep driveway and I press the park button until the red parking brake light comes on. Takes about 3 seconds after pushing the button.

 

[Silicon Desert]

I also have a steep driveway and I press the park button until the red parking brake light comes on. Takes about 3 seconds after pushing the button.

Yes, good point, but that doesn't mean the brake is doing anything extra. I'd like to hear where this is confirmed

 

[GWord]

Yes, good point, but that doesn't mean the brake is doing anything extra. I'd like to hear where this is confirmed

I make no claims to the efficacy of whatever it is doing. I’m simply asking if using it eliminates the incline warning message.

 

[SMAlset]

Are you guys talking about Vehicle Hold: from manual

When Model S is stopped, Vehicle Hold can continue to apply the brakes even after you remove your foot from the brake pedal. When driving on a hill or on a flat surface, brake as you normally would. After coming to a complete stop, simply press the brake pedal again (until the instrument panel displays the Vehicle Hold indicator light) to enable Vehicle Hold. You can then release the brake pedal and remain stopped, even on a hill.

This indicator displays on the instrument panel whenever Vehicle Hold is actively braking Model S. (Symbol is a Circle with an "H" inside surrounded by two partial surrounding lines, one on each side of the circle).

To disengage Vehicle Hold, press the accelerator pedal or press and release the brake pedal.

Note: Shifting into Neutral also disengages Vehicle Hold.

Note: After actively braking Model S for approximately ten minutes, Model S shifts into Park and Vehicle Hold cancels. Model S also shifts into Park if it detects that the driver has left the vehicle.

 

[whitex]

Maybe Tesla got more data about the parking brake capabilities. Tesla is not known for super thorough testing before shipping cars, Elon model is "ship it and fix it later". This could just be that someone finally got around to checking what the max grade the parking brake can hold and added a warning to the software to wash their hands of any liability. Or, maybe as part of cost cutting the new parking brakes are weaker, but software has no way of knowing which ones you have installed, so warning is for shown to all. Or maybe it's a Model 3 feature which accidentally got turned on for Model S. It's really hard to tell with Tesla.

That said, a friendly warning to @thatisug , when you first park, the car's regular brakes may be engaged in addition to the parking brake (they for me are when I park on a much less steep driveway). After you get out of the car, the regular brakes disengage leaving just the parking brake ON. What that means that you may get out of the car, everything will seem fine, then the regular brakes will disengage and if the parking brake fails to hold the car, the car will roll down the driveway all by itself. Here is a video of my Model S parked on an icy driveway, where the rear wheels (the ones which have the parking brakes) were on ice, so after I got out of the car, when the regular brakes disengaged, the car rolled down the driveway - in my case only until the rear wheels got enough traction to stop the car, but if it was the parking brake failing, nothing to stop it.

It freaked me out when that happened btw, at first I thought maybe Summon got enabled (I always keep it disabled), so I pulled my driveway security cam and realized the rear wheels were locked and sliding.

 

[SMAlset]

OP after looking further in the manual that red circled P on your screen and the Alert is discussed here:

 

[Raechris]

It is also on your car settings screen under service. It is a separate braking mechanism from the regular brake just like other cars.

 

[GaryREM]

It is also on your car settings screen under service. It is a separate braking mechanism from the regular brake just like other cars.

And it may not exist as a separate brake caliper. All older S's had a separate brake caliper for parking. I know it no longer existed in my June 2017 75D when there was a new brake design.

 

[henderrj]

Is there not also a parking pawl in the gearbox?

 

[Feathermerchan]

AFAIK no Teslas have parking pawls in the transmission.
The ebrake on the Model 3 is on the rear because you can hear it apply when you hold the button down for about 3 seconds.
Watching the video, the ebrake won't help. You need some wheel chocks with studs.

 

[henderrj]

AFAIK no Teslas have parking pawls in the transmission.
The ebrake on the Model 3 is on the rear because you can hear it apply when you hold the button down for about 3 seconds.
Watching the video, the ebrake won't help. You need some wheel chocks with studs.

Well, this is a Model S thread and not a model 3 thread, but the same thing happens in a Model S. That does not mean there is no parking pawl. In fact I can specifically remember some discussions about it, but I'll have to look it up to get references. I have this vague idea that there is or was some law that required it. Could be wrong though.