GPS, Internet, SiriusXM and Bluetooth Connectivity Issues: Request to Collect Data

[jeffnorman]

I recently upgraded my 2012 P85 (which FWIW was almost totally problem free) to the 2015 90D. I have reported to Tesla problems associated with GPS and SiruisXM on my car some of which I believe are potential safety hazards. My local service center has confirmed that the connectivity issues I am experiencing are common, and in other cars seem to include (or are instead associated with) Bluetooth and Internet (so far, I have only noticed GPS and SiriusXM issue, but they seem to think all are related). Tesla seems to believe this is a firmware issue, but I am skeptical of that explanation and in any case they don't have a fix yet. Therefore, I would like to understand how common this issue is, and whether we can as a group find a pattern that might help Tesla locate and fix the defect ASAP before anyone is hurt.

The GPS problem is especially troubling - it results in the Tesla thinking my car is 1/2 mile away from its actual location, and when driving at highway speed using the adaptive cruise control, the car will suddenly decelerate to 30mph thinking it is on a "restricted" residential road. Just waiting for the rear end collision and I have lessened my use of cruise control as a result temporarily.

If you are experiencing intermittent (but recurring) SiruisXM drop outs, internet or bluetooth dropouts, or major GPS inaccuracies, please post below with the following info (answers are for my car). Please note that I am only talking about a recurring problem that is unrelated to weather, building interference and signal strength indicators (e.g., GPS will often drop out in the middle of tall skyscrapers in a lightning storm; SiruisXM will drop out in parking garages and during bad weather, etc.; but these should be fine on the open road on a clear day .. a drop out due to location or weather will self-correct also, but the bug I am talking about will continue).

Model and Year: 2015 Model S 90D
GPS inaccuracies: Yes, recurring every 1-3 days and always on longer trips. Once GPS is screwed up, it will continue to show incorrect location until the car is "rested" for several hours
SiruisXM dropouts: Yes, recurring every day with 5-30 second dropouts every 15-60 seconds
Bluetooth dropouts: None yet
Internet dropouts unrelated to signal strength (e.g., even with 2-4 bars): None yet
Fixed by "rebooting" UI: No
Date first noticed: Around March 2016 (not sure, as I initially thought it was just weather related)
Reported to Tesla: early June 2016
Fixed and if so what did they do: No, claimed to be a firmware problem of unknown origin still pending investigation

 

[BertL]

Model and Year: 2015 S90D (9/2015 Build)
GPS inaccuracies: None
SiruisXM dropouts: Yes, but as described in another old thread somewhere, my problem was lack of reception in areas where my former Lexus and MBZ worked fine ... Not random dropouts of some sort.
Bluetooth dropouts: None
Internet dropouts unrelated to signal strength (e.g., even with 2-4 bars): None
Fixed by "rebooting" UI: No
Date first noticed: within a day or two of delivery 10/5/2015
Reported to Tesla: October 2015, but was told to contact SiriusXM
Fixed and if so what did they do: No. Given customer service challenges with SiriusXM, I just cancelled SiriusXM service rather than try to pursue the problem via their offshore call centers (and try to use Media Player USB music with its challenges instead. Ah ha ha.)

 

[BertL]

OP, FYI. I provided input above since you had not received any, knowing my situation was not a recurring one as I believe yours is.

Two thoughts on the SirusXM part of your problem:

1. Do you have tint applied to your windows and/or pano, and if so, what type? Some tints use metal in them, and that is known to cause problems with antenna of various sort ...and well, the SiriusXM one is inside the car unlike nearly every other mfgr implementation. (I'm unsure where the GPS antenna is, but suspect its also inside somewhere.)
2. Do you happen to have SiriusXM internet service in addition to having it for your MS? If so, do you have the same intermittent problem when playing SiriusXM via your smartphone or tablet while its inside your MS, but not outside? It wouldn't be absolutely conclusive, but if streaming worked and your MS SiriusXM service doesn't, it may help with isolating where at least part of the issue is.

Good luck.

 

[brooklynrab]

Since I updated to 8.0 this week, I noticed that my garage door opener is not sensing when I am near my garage door, and not working . Then I realized that my gps thinks I'm 100-500 feet off the road that I am on, as confirmed by the map display. So my gps appears to be screwy, and the only things that have changed in my life have been getting v 8.0 and getting a new iPhone 7 (I don't know how the latter could impact anything, but what an upgrade from an iPhone 5!).
Any ideas?

 

[BertL]

Since I updated to 8.0 this week, I noticed that my garage door opener is not sensing when I am near my garage door, and not working . Then I realized that my gps thinks I'm 100-500 feet off the road that I am on, as confirmed by the map display. So my gps appears to be screwy, and the only things that have changed in my life have been getting v 8.0 and getting a new iPhone 7 (I don't know how the latter could impact anything, but what an upgrade from an iPhone 5!).
Any ideas?

Call Tesla Support. They're available 7x24 at (877) 798-3752.

FYI IMHO, this is likely a sort of strange thread to put your 8.0+GPS post... If you've not found them via search, there are a number of reports in 7.1 with GPS being off similar to what you report... Resolution has varied from people with strange devices in the cabin or hardwired interfering with the onboard GPS, to repairs being needed, to even more posts IIRC where problem reporters never posted back with a solution to help the community... hence my suggestion to call Tech Support. I really wasn't trying to be flippant! . Good luck with your resolution.

 

[brooklynrab]

Thanks Bert. Will do. No offense taken -- I just saw an identical problem here so I hit "reply".

 

[brooklynrab]

So I called tesla. After going through the usual reboots of the driver display and the big screen, which I tried before and achieved nothing. The Tesla Rep asked me to go to my browser (which I never use, because it makes dial-up modems seem speedy) and make it go to tesla.com. After maybe 30 seconds, my NAV showed me driving on the road again, not in the forest 100 feet off the road! And when I got home, the auto garage open worked too! I had the browser on Bloomberg.com, which is apparently a resource hog, and he claimed that bad websites like this use up the system resources of the display which screw up everything. Interesting theory -- but it worked.