Got the dreaded "battery charge level is restricted" message yesterday

[Brass Guy]

Toolbox will connect directly to a car with v8 just fine. They can still fully diagnose any issue even with v8 if they have the car physically there. They will be missing uploaded logs which in some cases could make it more difficult to diagnose an intermittent condition, which is not what you have.

They didn't say V8 was why they couldn't connect. They said it's because the certificates are expired, due to not connecting to Tesla, which is of course due to V8.
That's why I was wondering if you visit Tesla; I think it connects of you get on their wifi.

 

[sorka]

They didn't say V8 was why they couldn't connect. They said it's because the certificates are expired, due to not connecting to Tesla, which is of course due to V8.
That's why I was wondering if you visit Tesla; I think it connects of you get on their wifi.

Right. That's connecting to Tesla's servers so you have app access and they can look at logs remotely.

This has nothing to do with hooking up Toolbox on a laptop to the DLC which is what they will do as soon as the car is rolled into the service bay.

 

[Brass Guy]

Wow. Look what's happened to service. They did drive it in, and said they couldn't connect. They probably never plugged into it.
The error was gone this morning and will take a charge, but range is definitely reduced. I plan on taking it in and leaving it when the message comes back.

 

[Electric700]

The new (or remanufactured) main li-ion batteries have hardware updates that are supposed to prevent this error. You should be very careful, because the same thing may happen again and limit your total range since they didn't replace your battery with an updated version. The maximum range can quickly go down within a day once the error message comes up.

As part of the new battery + software, you may have to just adapt to the latest software version. There have been multiple improvements in functionality, and battery management improvements after V8 may have been completed as well.

 

[sorka]

As part of the new battery + software, you may have to just adapt to the latest software version. There have been multiple improvements in functionality, and battery management improvements after V8 may have been completed as well.

Do these improvements restore the range, charge speed, and power that Tesla stole with their 16.2 update in May of last year?

I'm staying on v8 until I have no other choice.

 

[Electric700]

Do these improvements restore the range, charge speed, and power that Tesla stole with their 16.2 update in May of last year?

I'm staying on v8 until I have no other choice.

Tesla did some updates for safety reasons. I haven't really noticed much of a difference, and I do have a 2014 Model S 85 with the latest software version.

If you're really looking for speed, why not get a 2020 Model S Long Range Plus that can charge at 250 kW? Plus, you get more than 400 miles of range.

 

[sorka]

Tesla did some updates for safety reasons. I haven't really noticed much of a difference, and I do have a 2014 Model S 85 with the latest software version.

These 14,000 messages DID notice the difference:

Sudden Loss Of Range With 2019.16.x Software

If you're really looking for speed, why not get a 2020 Model S Long Range Plus that can charge at 250 kW? Plus, you get more than 400 miles of range.

I've got all the speed I need now. Why would I go spend $80K on a car when the car I have now does what I want it to? Also, if I got a Model S Long range my 0-60 would increase from 2.8 to something much longer.

 

[Electric700]

These 14,000 messages DID notice the difference:

Sudden Loss Of Range With 2019.16.x Software



I've got all the speed I need now. Why would I go spend $80K on a car when the car I have now does what I want it to? Also, if I got a Model S Long range my 0-60 would increase from 2.8 to something much longer.

I leave it up to you.

As for me, I appreciate that Tesla made my car safer, even if there is a slight difference in some aspects. Safety first.

 

[sorka]

I leave it up to you.

As for me, I appreciate that Tesla made my car safer, even if there is a slight difference in some aspects. Safety first.

Who says they made it safer?

 

[islandbayy]

Absolutely not. Tesla provides a battery warranty for the vehicle for 8 years. Has nothing to do with whether or not the battery has been replaced.

With one exception, which we’ll start to see in the coming year - that being the replacement of the battery in the 7th year of warranty. In most cases warranty replacement parts carry their own 12 month warranty. So in theory, a battery replaced at year 7 day 355 will carry a 12 month warranty.

No way it resets for a full 8 years. That’s a completely unreasonable expectation.

Actually..... It's the remainder of the original 8 year unlimited mileage warranty, or 1 year, 10,000 miles, whichever is longer.

 

[Electric700]

Who says they made it safer?

From the article linked to below (May 2019):

“Although fire incidents involving Tesla vehicles are already extremely rare and our cars are 10 times less likely to experience a fire than a gas car, we believe the right number of incidents to aspire to is zero,” reads a statement obtained by Engadget. “As we continue our investigation of the root cause, out of an abundance of caution, we are revising charge and thermal management settings on Model S and Model X vehicles via an over-the-air software update that will begin rolling out today, to help further protect the battery and improve battery longevity.”

Link: Tesla releases software update to stop cars from catching fire

 

[sorka]

From the article linked to below (May 2019):

“Although fire incidents involving Tesla vehicles are already extremely rare and our cars are 10 times less likely to experience a fire than a gas car, we believe the right number of incidents to aspire to is zero,” reads a statement obtained by Engadget. “As we continue our investigation of the root cause, out of an abundance of caution, we are revising charge and thermal management settings on Model S and Model X vehicles via an over-the-air software update that will begin rolling out today, to help further protect the battery and improve battery longevity.”

Link: Tesla releases software update to stop cars from catching fire

RIght, so instead of replacing the batteries where they've detected condition y or z dangerous condition(can't keep it straight anymore after 14K messages in the other thread), they handicap the battery locking out range (prevent charging to full), charging speed, and power instead of replacing the battery under warranty.

The more severe the detected condition, the more severe their restrictions.

 

[sorka]

...and where does it stop?

"We've detected a condition in your battery that is unsafe. We're going to download a software update to restrict the use of your battery. We're so sorry but to make sure your battery is safe, we'll have to restrict your charging to 50% of it's available capacity. But this is a GOOD thing because now your battery won't catch fire"

 

[Brass Guy]

Well I don't know about the whole "fire" thing, I'm leaning more towards the "avoiding warranty replacement" thing.

It's at the service center now, no news but I think when they figure out how to communicate with my car (?!) I'll get the battery replaced. 7 years and 1 month - we'll never know if the update would've saved my battery until 8 years + 1.

 

[sorka]

Well I don't knew about the whole "fire" thing, I'm leaning more towards the "avoiding warranty replacement" thing.

It's at the service center now, no news but I think when they figure out how to communicate with my car (?!) I'll get the battery replaced. 7 years and 1 month - we'll never know if the update would've saved my battery until 8 years + 1.

After the 8 years is up, they'll be happy to sell you a new battery.

 

[Knightowl]

I posted in the technical mechanics issues thread but thought this might be a more specific to the issue thread to post my experience on this, got the same and other errors as OP on my 2013 S 85 on 9/14/2020 @ 90,020mi and had it towed to the Littleton CO SC.

It was diagnosed as HV battery failure and sat with tesla without loaner untill it was replaced with a refurb and picked up on 10/2.

The refurb pack seemed equivalent to the one I had before failure so I was ok with it. Then on 10/22 the refurb pack failed in the same way and could not drive so I pushed it out of the garage and had it towed back to the SC again. I asked for a new not refurbished battery this time and continue to wait for them to even look at the car. Very unhappy, 5 kids and this is the family car that we all fit into as it has the rear facing seats so all activities as a family are out, again.

 

[Crutonius]

I posted in the technical mechanics issues thread but thought this might be a more specific to the issue thread to post my experience on this, got the same and other errors as OP on my 2013 S 85 on 9/14/2020 @ 90,020mi and had it towed to the Littleton CO SC.

It was diagnosed as HV battery failure and sat with tesla without loaner untill it was replaced with a refurb and picked up on 10/2.

The refurb pack seemed equivalent to the one I had before failure so I was ok with it. Then on 10/22 the refurb pack failed in the same way and could not drive so I pushed it out of the garage and had it towed back to the SC again. I asked for a new not refurbished battery this time and continue to wait for them to even look at the car. Very unhappy, 5 kids and this is the family car that we all fit into as it has the rear facing seats so all activities as a family are out, again.

Out of curiosity, has anyone at Tesla explained exactly what failed in the battery?

 

[Knightowl]

Out of curiosity, has anyone at Tesla explained exactly what failed in the battery?

No though I am pretty sure 1 or more modules within the pack reached a sudden failure point where they self isolated from the rest of the pack and SC just agreed with me and did not elaborate any further details. At least they agreed the 1st time it failed and I waited weeks on a refurb pack, will see what if anything they say now. As of yet it is still in the SC parking lot not looked at but the app now updated to show waiting on parts so someone is clicking buttons somewhere.

 

[Electric700]

No though I am pretty sure 1 or more modules within the pack reached a sudden failure point where they self isolated from the rest of the pack and SC just agreed with me and did not elaborate any further details. At least they agreed the 1st time it failed and I waited weeks on a refurb pack, will see what if anything they say now. As of yet it is still in the SC parking lot not looked at but the app now updated to show waiting on parts so someone is clicking buttons somewhere.

I hope they fix it for you soon. You should at least receive a Tesla rental or other type, with enough space for your whole family.

 

[Knightowl]

I hope they fix it for you soon. You should at least receive a Tesla rental or other type, with enough space for your whole family.

Thankfully they offered a rental car till the 6th that I will get today so it at least gets me through Halloween with the kids but was also fed a BS excuse when I asked if any 90 packs were available since 85s are not and was told they don't bump them up like that, has to stay the same as the vin. I know for fact that was a bold face lie and said as much as all 3 options refurb 85, new 85, and 90s have all been used to replace failed 85s. No ETA on when or where another pack will come from. Not happy with Tesla right now, I may not be able to keep this car as the battery warranty is up in a year and I have zero confidence in them on putting a good battery in at this point.