High pitched whine

[FrancoNY]

I have a non-P AWD car - I am hearing a relatively quiet but definitely noticeable high-pitched whine when I hit the accelerator. Have noticed it over the last 4-5 days and I don't think it was there before that but am not sure. Does anyone else have that or do I need to contact service?

Also has anyone noticed that you have to put more pressure on the wheel when on autopilot since the most recent software update? I'll be asked to put "light pressure" on the wheel when my hands are literally already on the wheel, and I have to apply maybe 5 lbs of pressure to get the blue light to go away. Didn't have to do that before.

 

[diamond.g]

I'd like to think the whine is normal (I hear it on my 3 and my Volt).

As far as the wheel pressure, make sure you are slightly fighting the cars steering adjustments, or "pulling down" on one side or the other. The car senses opposing/additional torque on the wheel. Sounds tiring, but it isn't that big of a deal once you figure out how much torque is required to disengage AP.

 

[Bobg5124]

I have a non-P AWD car - I am hearing a relatively quiet but definitely noticeable high-pitched whine when I hit the accelerator. Have noticed it over the last 4-5 days and I don't think it was there before that but am not sure. Does anyone else have that or do I need to contact service?

Also has anyone noticed that you have to put more pressure on the wheel when on autopilot since the most recent software update? I'll be asked to put "light pressure" on the wheel when my hands are literally already on the wheel, and I have to apply maybe 5 lbs of pressure to get the blue light to go away. Didn't have to do that before.

Re: the motor whine -- funny you should mention that, I noticed a louder than normal high-pitched whine in the motor at low speeds last night with the hvac fan and music off. I just attributed it to driving on a recently paved street (which is where I heard it) and there being less tire noise, but now I'm wondering. I'm at 3k miles after 4 months and haven't noticed it prior to last night. I recently upgraded to v9 firmware (39.7).

 

[diamond.g]

As long as it isn't a grinding sound I suspect there should always be some whine present. Maybe I am wrong.

 

[tivoboy]

I've heard people with P models can hear the whine under strong acceleration. I only hear a WHINE, subtle and light but noticeable when the car is regenerative braking. I imagine that is normal and to be expected? I've heard it EXTERNALLY from Teslas for years.

 

[derotam]

I haven't noticed any whine from my car...only from my kids in the back seat.

 

[Fusion]

Wonder if it's the dreaded motor whine we get from the S which requires a new drive unit replacement.

 

[FrancoNY]

thanks for all the replies. I guess i"ll monitor it and see if it gets worse... it does seem like possibly an issue that others have noticed and some have gotten fixed. Seemed a bit better today for whatever reason.

 

[SMAlset]

I just drove my car today with the music off and commented to my husband that I could hear a high pitched soft whine and wondered if our MS produces the same sound and maybe never noticed it because of music being on and/or road noise. Funny to find this thread tonight.

 

[drawfour]

I've been listening to podcasts recently instead of music, and i am hearing the whine more. I assume it's because the podcasts are generally lower volume with gaps between speech that makes it more noticeable.

 

[doodlleus]

Hi, I'm definitely hearing a piercing whine when accelerating and regen braking. Has anyone here that had the issue got any sort of answer from Tesla as to whether it's expected?

 

[Big Earl]

Hi, I'm definitely hearing a piercing whine when accelerating and regen braking. Has anyone here that had the issue got any sort of answer from Tesla as to whether it's expected?

Normal. Electric motors and drive inverters make some noise.

 

[VifferFun]

I usually have the radio off and my 2015 Model S P85DL was completely silent on normal acceleration and regen until about 4 weeks ago. The car is now quite noisy. At first I thought it was due to the lower temperatures (-5C) and/or cold battery; however, it warmed up to 15C here and the problem persisted. I would not call it “normal” since I didn’t have the problem before. I’ll bring it in to Tesla sometime, but I won’t accept that it’s “normal” so that they can simply avoid a warranty repair.

Has anyone else had this problem diagnosed by Tesla?

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

The front motor is louder on my car after the V10 update. Both motors are at least somewhat audible if you listen carefully enough at part throttle. At full throttle it’s way louder, you can hear it over the radio then. This is exceptionally likely normal operation. If it’s barely detectable at speed with no or very low throttle, and gets louder as you lean into the throttle, that’s expected behavior.

If the car is heating the battery, the front motor makes a very distinct buzzing sound and you can hear a lot of pump noise outside the car. It could just be the battery was super cold. This should only happen when you’re mapped to a supercharger, or have something like a dozen regen dots. It’s not ‘loud’, but loud enough to make you wonder what the car is doing.

 

[Bobg5124]

Ever since the 2019.36 update (the one that increased power 5% and enhanced regen) the high pitched whine is much more pronounced, especially under hard acceleration, and now there is also a low pitched "rumble" at all speeds, but especially noticeable at low speeds) that I never heard before. It's really taken some of the fun out of driving the car. I rather have less power and a quieter ride. M3 LR RWD 10k miles, VIN 249XX.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[VifferFun]

The front motor is louder on my car after the V10 update. Both motors are at least somewhat audible if you listen carefully enough at part throttle. At full throttle it’s way louder, you can hear it over the radio then. This is exceptionally likely normal operation. If it’s barely detectable at speed with no or very low throttle, and gets louder as you lean into the throttle, that’s expected behavior.

If the car is heating the battery, the front motor makes a very distinct buzzing sound and you can hear a lot of pump noise outside the car. It could just be the battery was super cold. This should only happen when you’re mapped to a supercharger, or have something like a dozen regen dots. It’s not ‘loud’, but loud enough to make you wonder what the car is doing.

In my case, it’s not the battery warmer sound (on the way to a supercharger) that I’m concerned about — the car has always made sound in that situation and it’s barely noticeable. I’m talking about a wind-up sound that almost sounds like a dentist drill. As far as I can tell, I don’t think the sound can be heard outside the car.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

In my case, it’s not the battery warmer sound (on the way to a supercharger) that I’m concerned about — the car has always made sound in that situation and it’s barely noticeable. I’m talking about a wind-up sound that almost sounds like a dentist drill. As far as I can tell, I don’t think the sound can be heard outside the car.

Hmm. Does it change with the throttle position/load, or just speed? Mine makes a high frequency noise when preheating and at high throttle, but not so much when driving slow.

 

[webbah]

If the battery is cold (even if not routing to a supercharger and preconditioning) the motor stators will be used to heat up the battery and this causes more of a whine. So likely more noticeable in winter with the colder temps.

 

[Fredneck]

I have a non-P AWD car - I am hearing a relatively quiet but definitely noticeable high-pitched whine when I hit the accelerator. Have noticed it over the last 4-5 days and I don't think it was there before that but am not sure. Does anyone else have that or do I need to contact service?

Also has anyone noticed that you have to put more pressure on the wheel when on autopilot since the most recent software update? I'll be asked to put "light pressure" on the wheel when my hands are literally already on the wheel, and I have to apply maybe 5 lbs of pressure to get the blue light to go away. Didn't have to do that before.

When I got my car in the summer of 2018 you had to exert a significant amount of pressure to the wheel to keep the alerts at bay. Once the audible alert sounds they count how many times it happens and on the third one you are locked out of self steering until you stop the car and put it into park. This happened a number of times because my arm blocks the view of the instrument cluster. Not sure when, but sometime since then the amount of force needed became a lot less, so just having one hand on the wheel pretty much does the trick. If the one hand is centered enough the force is too light. If both hands are on the wheel at 2 and 10 o'clock they balance and I get the alert. I have not noticed the force required getting stronger recently, at least nothing like it was when I bought the car.

I think Tesla should not be allowed to report anything to the news about an accident. They have reported that people in fatal accidents didn't have their hands on the wheel at some point for some duration when they have no idea if their hands were on the wheel or not. They cover this by saying "the car did not detect" the driver's hands on the wheel. The point is the car is not very good at knowing. Clearly there are a lot of false alerts and if I use my knee to "steer", the car sees that as a hand. I've done that when trying to open a water bottle and needed both hands for a moment. So false positives and false negatives. They have no justification for reporting any information to anyone other than law enforcement. Did I sign away my privacy rights at some point?

 

[Fredneck]

Hmm. Does it change with the throttle position/load, or just speed? Mine makes a high frequency noise when preheating and at high throttle, but not so much when driving slow.

Check the mass air flow sensor... opps, wrong car.