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GPS problem - my car is alledgedly off the coast of West Africa :)

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NicB72

NicB72

Member
Supporting Member
Jun 25, 2016
103
62
Concord, MA
#1
So yesterday, about 12hrs about the latest firmware update (17.11.3) my GPS started to play up.

The Tesla App says my car is in the Atlantic off the coast of West Africa,
The car thinks its about 8-10 miles away from where it is.
And when I query the app using the API it gives me lat and long of -91/-181 which is invalid.

So something isn't right. By the way I am not blaming the firmware update, I think this is more likely hardware issue.

Contacted Tech support, waited online for 10mins, got someone, they took details, put me on hold for 20mins, then I got someone new and started again. New person took me through all the reboots and restarts that I had already done and still didn't work :(

So today I contact my service center, Dedham, who by the way are really awesome set of people.
First response I got was 'There are problems with our GPS network' - really, that's a rubbish response, first its not Tesla's GPS network and secondly all my other devices are fine, including my colleagues Model S that also has the new firmware update.

Second response I got was that it might be firmware related ! Ok, I mentioned that my colleague who has an S with same firmware doesn;t have the issue but that's just one data point. So I am opening it up here, does anyone have any GPS issues post firmware update.

I personally think the GPS unit is playing up, or the connector to it is lose, or something like that. to get a completely invalid long/lat points to hardware to me.

Thoughts.

Here is where the car thinks my car is :)
full


Here is where the app thinks my car is...
full
 
#5
BluestarE3 said:
You say the firmware was installed yesterday? Hmm.. maybe it inadvertently installed Falcon 9 navigational coordinates as part of the SES-10 launch? Evidence of more synergy between Tesla and Space X?
Click to expand...
Timing was interesting. Especially when Tesla said GPS network was down. Amazing how a reused rocket can find its way home but my car thinks it's in Africa.
 
  • Funny
Reactions: rpez021
#8
I had the exact same issue a couple of months ago. I observed three different odd behaviors:
  1. Sometimes, the GPS would just get stuck. Show me at home, even though I am on my way to work - for at least 40 mins or so - my entire commute to work about 20 miles away. It would reset to normal when I return from work.
  2. Sometimes, the GPS would show me half a mile west to where I really was. Like I am going on the highway, and it would show me going parallel to the highway, moving along. Sometimes, the offset would be a couple of miles, sometimes only a few hundred feet. With the auto zoom in, it would zoom in thinking I am on local roads. The offset kept varying as I drive, sometimes becoming accurate. So which I am on the highway continuously, the map would keep zooming in and out.
  3. Sometimes, the GPS would show me in the middle of Atlantic ocean, or even Antarctica. The car would think it is night time, even though it is day time where I am, and switch screens to night mode. At first I thought the map is loading - because it would appear blank - being in the middle of ocean of Antarctica. Then I realized when zooming out what actually was happening. The night mode gave me a clue.
I called service center. They collected logs etc., and eventually asked me to drop off the car. Of course, the GPS looked fine when I dropped it off. They said they had to keep it until they could replicate it, even though I kept asking them about the logs they collected. Two days later, they asked for my permission for a service tech to take my car home, so he could test on a comparatively longer drive. Still didn't work. At some point during one of those days (day time), I checked my car's location remotely, and it was showing it to be somewhere far away. I immediately called the service center and asked them to check quickly. I don't know if they did or did not.

After four days or so, they asked me to pick the car up because they were still unable to replicate the issue. I was starting to get a little frustrated, given that I had called them so many times when it was happening and they had collected logs. Anyway, when I went to pick my car, they said something like it was probably a network glitch or something. They have checked the antenna etc. and they were all fine. I picked my car, and as soon as I started driving off the SC into the highway, I saw the offset again. I immediately turned back, and returned to the service center. This time, the rep brought out a tech service person, to take a look directly in my presence.

He sat in the passenger seat, and we drove around a little bit. By then the GPS was already reset to correct location, much to my frustration. However, as we were driving, I described exactly what was happening to the technician, and he immediately said it is because of a faulty "Connectivity Board". I was surprised to see how confident he was, and asked him why he did not do that diagnosis earlier. He said something to the effect of misunderstanding the issue. I was very frustrated given that I had explained the issue so clearly verbally (to the service rep) as well as in writing (to serviceNA email). Clearly there was a huge communication gap somewhere.

We returned to the SC, they said they did not have the part in stock immediately, asked me to drop by a few days later. I did, they replaced the part (I got a free 3G to LTE upgrade because of this), and that seemed to fix the issue!

Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to include all details.
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: stevem, rpez021, CameronB and 6 others
#9
When I read it was mapped off Africa, my immediate thoughts were pirates! (guess Tom Hanks movie was on my mind). Any way that's weird. How is 8-10 miles (in MA) even remotely close to the west coast of Africa though? Confused by what you wrote.

Did you have a dash cam installed recently? I've heard of the GPS being off if the wiring for the dash cam ran down the driver side causing some interference. Thought that was just on the dash cam though and not the car's GPS. Will be following the thread to see what the cause turns out to be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NicB72
#11
SMAlset said:
When I read it was mapped off Africa, my immediate thoughts were pirates! (guess Tom Hanks movie was on my mind). Any way that's weird. How is 8-10 miles (in MA) even remotely close to the west coast of Africa though? Confused by what you wrote.

Did you have a dash cam installed recently? I've heard of the GPS being off if the wiring for the dash cam ran down the driver side causing some interference. Thought that was just on the dash cam though and not the car's GPS. Will be following the thread to see what the cause turns out to be.
Click to expand...
No dashcam - but it is on my list to get.

So whats interesting is the Rest API shows me a long/lat of -91/-181 which is invalid. The app shows me off west africa at a long/lat of 0,0 and the car is all over the place but roughly 8miles from where I am.

I think I understand the app, it basically gets an invalid long/lat from the car and so defaults to 0,0 so that the app doesn't crash - that explains the africa locale.

The car I don't get, I could guess that it uses the last location it knew and tries to work out location using distance driven and direction, a bit like it does when you are in a tunnel. Its not a very good way to calculate location which is why I think its getting worse and worse each day.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: SMAlset
#12
Dedham service took a look, did some testing today and its going back in next friday.
From what I understand the GPS is somewhere behind the touchscreen.

They checked voltage to the antenna - all good.
They discovered that the GPS found a good set of satellites but didn't lock onto any.

Next friday they will be going into it deeper with someone from the factory online to investigate whether its a code issue or what.
Will keep all updated
 
#15
flying_things said:
My car has the exactly same issue after I updated to 7.11.3.

Now it just got another update to 17.11.10. Hopes it solve this GPS issue
Click to expand...

Hi, I have the exact GPS problem after I updated to 17.11.3 and the App located the car also in Gulf of Guinea, Africa... I have a Model X 90D with AP2.

Also talk with service, reboot and so on... and nothing solve the problem. :-(

I think it's a firmware bug and something related with the charge port (??) I only have the issue when I connect the car to the wallbox. Location fix when I press the brake pedal. Hope new firmware 17.11.10 solve fix this weird problem, please inform!.
 
#20
flying_things said:
My car has the exactly same issue after I updated to 7.11.3.

Now it just got another update to 17.11.10. Hopes it solve this GPS issue
Click to expand...
I'm still on 17.11.3 but it just resolved itself this morning. Its still going in this friday for them to investigate further.
I didn't know 17.11.10 was out already - whats in the release notes for that? Suspect its bug fixes for 17.11.3
 
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