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Front license plate tripping parking sensors issue.

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SparkyTX

SparkyTX

Member
Feb 26, 2020
298
150
Houston, Tx
#1
Hi, I'm wondering if any other Model Y owners have run into this issue. Lately my front parking sensors have been tripping constantly. I assumed it was an issue with one of the front sensors and called Tesla service. The service Tech said my front license plate was causing the issue because it was too far forward. I'm using a Snap Plate mount as I didn't want to mount it to my bumper. Has anyone else had this happen with one of the "touchless" license plate mounts that are out there? I know that most of them hold the plate and inch or two away from the bumper. The Tech suggested I use the bracket that came with the car. I really don't want to do this as I have already put PPF on the front end and hate to try to stick the Tesla mount to the film.

I've taken my front plate off for now and will risk driving without it to see if the problem persists or goes away. It just seems that this would have manifested itself immediately after I installed the front plate. If it doesn't happen with the plate off, I'll put it back to see if it comes back. It just seems to me that if this type of plate mount was the cause of this, there would have been a lot of people reporting it because I know that a lot of us don't like to stick the plate mount directly to the front of the car. I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has run into this issue.
 
#4
Nothing on the bumper other than the paint protection film that was done short after delivery. This issue started happening long after the film was put on. I didn’t put the Snap Plate on until about two months after delivery as it took a couple months to get my plates.
 
#6
Update on this... I drove about a week without the plate and the problem didn't come back. I put the plate back on this weekend and have been driving it for about 3 days with no issues, so I'm a bit perplexed. I did leave off a Tesla license frame off the front plate as I didn't think that would make a difference. We have not had any heavy rain for me to see if this was a wet sensor issue or not but in the past it seems like it was worse in the rain.
 
#7
SparkyTX said:
Hi, I'm wondering if any other Model Y owners have run into this issue. Lately my front parking sensors have been tripping constantly. I assumed it was an issue with one of the front sensors and called Tesla service. The service Tech said my front license plate was causing the issue because it was too far forward. I'm using a Snap Plate mount as I didn't want to mount it to my bumper. Has anyone else had this happen with one of the "touchless" license plate mounts that are out there? I know that most of them hold the plate and inch or two away from the bumper. The Tech suggested I use the bracket that came with the car. I really don't want to do this as I have already put PPF on the front end and hate to try to stick the Tesla mount to the film.

I've taken my front plate off for now and will risk driving without it to see if the problem persists or goes away. It just seems that this would have manifested itself immediately after I installed the front plate. If it doesn't happen with the plate off, I'll put it back to see if it comes back. It just seems to me that if this type of plate mount was the cause of this, there would have been a lot of people reporting it because I know that a lot of us don't like to stick the plate mount directly to the front of the car. I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has run into this issue.
Click to expand...
I have no issue with my Quick Bandit from Teslarati shop.
 
#8
Looks like I may get an opportunity to try a different plate holder. My SnapPlate holder and plate disappeared in the last couple of days. Since I was doing a trail of having the plate back on I didn't put in the security screw on the SnapPlate holder as I thought it was secure without it but alas, when I came out of a store yesterday and walked up to the front of my car, my plate and holder were gone! I don't know if it fell off (it was there on Sunday) or if someone stole it. I still need to review my camera logs to see but it would have had to be stolen at my work location or at the store last night. I really doubting it was stolen. Houston roads are so rough that they might have vibrated the SnapPlate loose and it fell off some time in the past couple of days. I was under the impression that the SnapPlate didn't need the security screw in place to hold fast but that may not be true in this case. So I have to go get a new front plate and then decide if I go with the Tesla mount or something else.
 
#11
I contacted the EveryAmp/SnapPlate guys and they were very helpful. They are sending me a replacement and relayed some information about similar issues on the Model X. Most of the people reporting the issue are from Texas and it may be our completely flat license plates that may behind the issue. EveryAmp has some new trim pieces for the plate that address the issue on the Model X and they are sending me some to see if it helps my issue with my MY. So I'm now waiting for my local tax office to get me my replacement plate and the new SnapPlate mount to test this out. Kudos to the SnapPlate team for standing behind their product and working with me on this issue. I can see that a flat plate may reflect signals from the sensors but I would think that this would have still cause more people to have this issue as most Texas plates are not the embossed letters/numbers design now.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: jcanoe
#15
My final update on this issue, which may be a non-issue now. I got my replacement plate from the state last week and put it on my MY with the SnapPlate mount with the extra trim pieces they sent to help with the parking sensor. So far the issue has gone away. At this point I don't think it is worth trying to reproduce the issue as long as it doesn't come back. Again, thanks to the folks at SnapPlate/EveryAmp for standing by their product.
 
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Reactions: jcanoe
#16
I had this same issue and confirm it has to do with snapplate and the sensor. A Tesla tech and I troubleshot the whole thing. We started with a dry car and snapplate and there was no issue. Then we sprayed the car with water and the issue happened. We took the snapplate off and wet the car and no issues. We put the snapplate back on and the issue happened again.

My thought at this point is that the snapplate works most of the time but if the sensors or plate gets wet (not sure which it is) it triggers the sensor.
 
#18
Has anyone here experinced issues with their snapplate breaking off in a carwash? touchless and nontouchless? what about when its getting dried? Just concerned about the strength of a 3d printed holder. thinkinbg about getting one as I use a torklift brand holder and found out just recently that it was the cause of my parking assist unvailable errors.
 
#19
xavl123 said:
Has anyone here experinced issues with their snapplate breaking off in a carwash? touchless and nontouchless? what about when its getting dried? Just concerned about the strength of a 3d printed holder. thinkinbg about getting one as I use a torklift brand holder and found out just recently that it was the cause of my parking assist unvailable errors.
Click to expand...
If you want a plate mount you can take through a touch car wash, save your money and just use the factory adhesive mount. That's the only option that's going to be safe for the vehicle. Touch car washes have been known to take mirrors off of cars, so anything that's sticking off the car attached to a plastic grille/bumper is in danger.

For touchless washes, SnapPlates typically hold up fine, though we have heard of a few washes that have metal sprayer bars that come close enough to catch the plate and pull it off, so YMMV there. SnapPlates are designed with breakaway features to sacrifice themselves before they damage the vehicle and cause a more expensive repair.

If you want maximum strength without breakaway features, we now have SnapPlate+ available for the top sellers like Model Y. It's still plastic reinforced with stainless steel, so it's not as dangerous for the grille as an all-metal mount, but they're very beefy. We test them by pulling on the license plate with over 40 lbs of force, so if it gets broken, there was a good reason for it and we have low-cost replacement parts available to repair them.
 
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