Thanks for the detailed report. I'm hoping that those who had to pay for this repair, get compensated, eventually, because this sounds like an original existing problem with the design, that Tesla should be responsible for, and not a gotcha because the owner didn't get an error until after the warranty expired.
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Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault
- Thread starter Smoofv
- Start date
Got the RCM_a056 last night. I thought my warranty was over today so I made a service request last night.
Nope, warranty was over on 22 Jan is what they are telling me.
Is there a Server Manager I can ping to see if they will offer to fix this under warranty?
If not, I can swap parts and will try to find the original parts and see what happens...
Nope, warranty was over on 22 Jan is what they are telling me.
Is there a Server Manager I can ping to see if they will offer to fix this under warranty?
If not, I can swap parts and will try to find the original parts and see what happens...
That seat-cushion line is strange... pretty sure other people have had this done without needing to replace the seat cushion... maybe it was damaged during removal?
good stuff folks - thanks for posting.
I started getting the a021 fault (FL safety restraint system fault) back in Dec. 2023. 2018 Model 3 LR AWD. Warranty ended in October.
just booked service appt (Seattle) - estimate is $640 plus tax for " prelim, subject to change, allows tech to properly inspect and diagnose concerns...estimate includes replcing driver's seat wiring harness and seat pretensioner.." I asked if, recognizing the numerous reports of bad connector/connection, there was an option to just fix the connection point, not whole harness...response was simply "that connector is included in harness replacement'.
Will crawl under the seat tonite to see if I can trip/clear the fault by wiggling the connector. If so, likely won't get the service done, although I have an outstanding recall to take care of ("Trunk Lid Harness" -- anyone know what this is about?) -so may take it in anyway.....
I started getting the a021 fault (FL safety restraint system fault) back in Dec. 2023. 2018 Model 3 LR AWD. Warranty ended in October.
just booked service appt (Seattle) - estimate is $640 plus tax for " prelim, subject to change, allows tech to properly inspect and diagnose concerns...estimate includes replcing driver's seat wiring harness and seat pretensioner.." I asked if, recognizing the numerous reports of bad connector/connection, there was an option to just fix the connection point, not whole harness...response was simply "that connector is included in harness replacement'.
Will crawl under the seat tonite to see if I can trip/clear the fault by wiggling the connector. If so, likely won't get the service done, although I have an outstanding recall to take care of ("Trunk Lid Harness" -- anyone know what this is about?) -so may take it in anyway.....
So, had my appt today to replace the OCS and retrofit the compatible airbag, under warranty. Yes, I know I was lucky. The Service Center in Peabody was mobbed, so I dropped off my car and got a loaner. Interestingly, they had a Cybertruck and original Roadster in the lobby. Apparently, it's the one they had in downtown Boston, so I got to look at it closely.
Since I didn't want to make an extra trip to eventually fix that cabin camera error, triggered by the Holiday update, I asked them to replace it, if they had time; otherwise, I'd just buy the chip and replace it myself. They said they could do it, and that the labor was minimal, so I agreed to let them do it. Bargain, it's only $25 to install, though the $10 camera module costs $330!
Since I didn't want to make an extra trip to eventually fix that cabin camera error, triggered by the Holiday update, I asked them to replace it, if they had time; otherwise, I'd just buy the chip and replace it myself. They said they could do it, and that the labor was minimal, so I agreed to let them do it. Bargain, it's only $25 to install, though the $10 camera module costs $330!
Follow up -- found the pretensioner connector and lo and behold -- if i move the wires right at the connector i can get fault to appear and disappear!. and as others have noted, if i raise the seat up all the way, fault goes away -- fault triggers when seat moves to saved driver settings, as well as the 'easy entry' setting.
may play around with settings and also see if i can secure the wires (zipties, electric tape?) in a position that mitigates the fault...
if anyone's got a good suggestion from your own experience on how to resolve this WITHOUT going through the service center total harness replacement - let me know. on one hand, i'm not inclined to get the work done, but on the other, since it's related to safety (and it's my wife's daily driver) - leaning toward getting it done to ensure safety features work if in an accident --- anyone know if the pretensioner circuit is tied to airbag deployment? or in general , if the fault is there, what the implications would be in an accident? (this is the anchor so would think the upper side of belt system would still catch and restrain upper body, just not pull down the lap anchor?
noticed the ~$700 estimate includes only roughly an hour labor for R&R, but then an additonal hour for 'Circuit Integrity testing/diagnosis' -- when i suggest that's ridiculous, the response i get is 'that's just an estimate; the check can take up to an hour; more or less depending on the technician.' and they didn't respond to whether that was a 'diagnosis/troubleshooting' effort before replacement, or if it's check out AFTER the work.....
follow up post service visit for the fix --- unfortunately couldn't find a way to secure the pretensioner connector wiring to mitigate the fault...
Got the driver seat harness replaced and trunk harness recall done. total landed at $592 (after i had to point out i wasn't paying for the misc. time and supplies on the recall which showed up on the bill ~$16.). Still pissed that the technician's actual charged time amazingly equalled - to the .01 hour - the RMT estimate for the work (.72 hrs for R&R, 1.00 hr for 'diagnosis: low voltage circuit integrity check'--- i have a hard time imagining that they spent an hour on the 'integrity check' after install --
Seattle service Center sucks --- or is it all these days? $210/hr labor rate?????? Not to mention --- they damaged the paint finish of the trunk lid during harness work - appears they used a metal object to pop the rubber seal at trunk lid penetration, and didn't even have the courtesy to re-secure the rubber boot, re-secure the plastic trim to the trunk lid, nor even snip the tails off the zipties when securing the reworked harness.
Tesla did great on technology of an EV, and the cars are a joy to drive; But Tesla's service is the worst i've had over my 35+ years of owning cars -- including Chevy, Saab, VW, Jeep (although Jeep is not far behind..)
Got the driver seat harness replaced and trunk harness recall done. total landed at $592 (after i had to point out i wasn't paying for the misc. time and supplies on the recall which showed up on the bill ~$16.). Still pissed that the technician's actual charged time amazingly equalled - to the .01 hour - the RMT estimate for the work (.72 hrs for R&R, 1.00 hr for 'diagnosis: low voltage circuit integrity check'--- i have a hard time imagining that they spent an hour on the 'integrity check' after install --
Seattle service Center sucks --- or is it all these days? $210/hr labor rate?????? Not to mention --- they damaged the paint finish of the trunk lid during harness work - appears they used a metal object to pop the rubber seal at trunk lid penetration, and didn't even have the courtesy to re-secure the rubber boot, re-secure the plastic trim to the trunk lid, nor even snip the tails off the zipties when securing the reworked harness.
Tesla did great on technology of an EV, and the cars are a joy to drive; But Tesla's service is the worst i've had over my 35+ years of owning cars -- including Chevy, Saab, VW, Jeep (although Jeep is not far behind..)
And I got my car back today, after it sat in the Service Center for a week! They were busy, so I could see that it sat around until Monday when they started working on it. Probably took them a couple hours to replace the OCS and the airbag. They replaced the wire harness to the seat a 2nd time, noting excessive loctite and a cross-threaded bolt. And, they replaced the cabin camera module. Labor was 1/8th of an hour, so $25.
Anyway, I drove home, 2 ½hrs and no passenger seat errors and no cabin camera errors. FSDb ran perfectly. Yay!
Since I got to drive the 2019 loaner for a week, I could compare it to my 2018. I did notice the OEM Continental tires did very well in 2-3" of slush, especially since the rear tires were down to the wear bars. I'd definitely consider them if I ran all-season tires.
The B-pillar was very noisy, and I'm glad I did all the sound-proofing I did 4 to 5yrs ago. No individual thing made a difference, it was the cumulative effect.
The rear camera was blurry, so I'm glad I got mine changed under warranty a couple years go. I forgot the side cams also have an image tearing effect. I don't know how the car's computer can make heads and tails of it, but it was constantly giving me the FSD degraded due to multiple side cams occluded, error. I think it must have every time I drove it. Annoying. Not to mention the frame rate was about 5fps.
My 2018 currently has none of those issues, but that may be because I've had the HW3 upgrade. I vaguely recall some tearing issues with the sidecams, but I thought those were software issues. FSDb worked fine on the loaner, but the constant camera errors would be massively annoying.
I feel grateful that the OCS is finally fixed, but the reality is, it should have been fixed right from the start, and it should be a warranty item for all those people affected. Same with the cabin camera. I would never have known it was bad, until they activated it for the FSDb during the holiday update. Should be warranty, but for $330, I'm not going to fight about it, since I saved myself an extra multi-hour trip. Good luck to all, and I hope someday we get retroactive warranties on this stuff, and reimbursed.
Anyway, I drove home, 2 ½hrs and no passenger seat errors and no cabin camera errors. FSDb ran perfectly. Yay!
Since I got to drive the 2019 loaner for a week, I could compare it to my 2018. I did notice the OEM Continental tires did very well in 2-3" of slush, especially since the rear tires were down to the wear bars. I'd definitely consider them if I ran all-season tires.
The B-pillar was very noisy, and I'm glad I did all the sound-proofing I did 4 to 5yrs ago. No individual thing made a difference, it was the cumulative effect.
The rear camera was blurry, so I'm glad I got mine changed under warranty a couple years go. I forgot the side cams also have an image tearing effect. I don't know how the car's computer can make heads and tails of it, but it was constantly giving me the FSD degraded due to multiple side cams occluded, error. I think it must have every time I drove it. Annoying. Not to mention the frame rate was about 5fps.
My 2018 currently has none of those issues, but that may be because I've had the HW3 upgrade. I vaguely recall some tearing issues with the sidecams, but I thought those were software issues. FSDb worked fine on the loaner, but the constant camera errors would be massively annoying.
I feel grateful that the OCS is finally fixed, but the reality is, it should have been fixed right from the start, and it should be a warranty item for all those people affected. Same with the cabin camera. I would never have known it was bad, until they activated it for the FSDb during the holiday update. Should be warranty, but for $330, I'm not going to fight about it, since I saved myself an extra multi-hour trip. Good luck to all, and I hope someday we get retroactive warranties on this stuff, and reimbursed.
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