how normal is it for center screen to crash and lose functionality?

[MyTessi88]

I have had 5 crashed in under a month... and on several occasions after hit the steering wheel toggles for 10 seconds, it did not restart and then magically restarted when I plugged in... how odd.

 

[VT_EE]

The latest firmware is buggy. I had to do a “shutdown” via the screen and wait 5 min to solve the last freeze. Hasn’t done it since now.

 

[bohenriksson]

Sept 2019 M3 and only had 1 outright screen crash. Car still driveable and reset on its own. Of course a few minor glitches after updates. Wish Elon would set aside a few of those Gigantic Brains working on FSD to the drudgery of swatting bugs and adding simple user requested features. Like waypoints)

 

[LauraE]

nothing serious? we paid fairly big bucks for these cars and the UI feels like Windows 98. Random crashes just aren't acceptable.

 

[user212_nr]

we paid fairly big bucks for these cars and the UI feels like Windows 98.

Windows 98 was great for UI. It was much easier to use and navigate.

98 never had a touch screen though so the comparison isn't valid.

 

[Sans-gas]

My two-week-old 2021 Model 3 has already had its screen crash twice when it was parked. One time I lost access to the Dashcam viewer before it crashed. Another time it didn't crash but I lost the ability to turn on the heater remotely.

Does this sound normal for new Teslas or is there something the service department can do about this?

I had several (maybe 4) screen crashes (froze) when my car was new. I’ve not had it happen since it was about 3 months old. I must say it kind of freaked me out a bit, though nothing scary happened. One time was was going over 70 and the screen froze. As I slowed it kept saying 73 mph. I rebooted and drove on.

 

[LauraE]

Happened 5-6 times my first month of ownership. Not impressed. The reset fixed it, but OS crashes are unacceptable.

The nagain, the OS sucks.

 

[GtiMart]

As I said, play a lot with Youtube, the web browser etc and you'll crash it. Just drive with the car and it's very stable.

 

[pjensen]

Had one event.

I was driving at dusk and the screen turned off. I pulled over and pressed (and held) the two scroll buttons on the steering wheel. Nothing happened. So I started driving again (headlights were off). It was a rural road. I started sweating it, wondering how I could get home (15 miles away, on a 6 lane busy highway). Do I park it on the side of the road and get a ride home?

Anyway, the headlights came on and the screen booted 2 minutes later. A software update happened the night before. Maybe I should have done a reset (or reboot) after the update?

I don't use youtube, the browser or any games. No radio or USB music. Just drive the car.

 

[GtiMart]

Ah, yes, there have been reports of single crashes soon after a software update. I've had that only once, about a year ago. Some people do a preventative reset after an update.

 

[ehacke]

Mine now crashes basically every time it comes out of deep sleep. Takes like 1 minute or so for it to fully reboot and get going.

Haven't had it happen while driving on this one though. A rental Model 3 I got years ago did software crash while I was driving it.

 

[GtiMart]

Crashes from deep sleep, as in the screen goes black, the T shows up etc, or just takes long? Mine also takes "long" when i hop in the car after it sleeps and I want to leave fast. The screen tells me yovwait a bit, The reverse sound takes a while, the reverse camera doesn't display immediately, touch screen doesn't respond for maybe 10-15 seconds. I'd say this is acceptable wake up time.

If you have a regular crash you can reproduce, do file a service appointment.

 

[freeAgent]

Mine has been very stable in the month+ that I've owned it with one exception. I attempted to use the entertainment apps to watch Hulu or Youtube while supercharging and it caused multiple crashes. Even when it worked, it was incredibly slow. That doesn't really bother me since I was just playing around with it and don't intend to ever use those features on a regular basis. For regular driving without trying to use the more esoteric, entertainment-focused features it has been very stable and I haven't noticed a single crash.

 

[Tres_Azul]

Recently had this happen on 2020.48.12.1. Been a long while since a crash/unplanned reboot. Occurred after changing the wheel config in service-related settings, to reflect removed aero covers. Agree with others that UI is whack, especially version 2020.48.35.5 that my brother caused to be installed, as its now much, much worse than I ever imagined a vehicular UI could be. Seriously, the giant 80s-esque LCD numbers in an 2009 Civic would be a huge UI upgrade.

BTW- Damn those stupid pop-up update nags! I avoided the craptastic 2020.48.35.X "update" for a while... but...yesterday my brother rode with me on one errand, and hit the schedule update option before I could tell him not to...knew I shoulda installed a custom mount to take the screen away from passengers... damnit.

 

[1100MCM]

Mine crashed yesterday for the first time since new. It is a 2020 with the PUP and has 11k miles. I was driving on a remote desert highway going about 70 and the screen and the music just went off. I panicked for a split second and then felt like the car kept driving as normal. Obviously I’d have no idea how fast I was going or anything else going on with the screen dead. It turns out that everything including autopilot and chimes continue working after the screen crashes and the car drives fine but you are in the dark as far as far what the car is doing other than seat of the pants feel. The media obviously stops.

I did keep driving since I wanted to arrive at a supercharger to figure out what was going on. Fortunately it did restart after two minutes or so. For the next few minutes or so I had to cower in shame as my wife scolded me at what a mistake it was to switch to EV/Tesla only or a car that basically controlled everything from a touch screen.

Even with glitches I don’t regret giving up ICE completely and switching to Tesla but I hate how these rather small glitches give ammo to skeptics (like my wife, haha) of Tesla’s design and quality control.

Hopefully this is a very uncommon occurrence.

 

[MyTessi88]

So I had mine delivered on Dec 20th and had 6 screen crashes (while in the park mode) and resets. Including one time where the touch screen wouldn't close the trunk. Made an appointment with SC and they replaced the touch screen. I'm doing some other minor adjustments to the car since we couldn't service it immediately after the delivery. I will keep you all posted on how the new touch screen goes.

 

[MyTessi88]

I must have gotten my car no long after yours. December 29th delivery (2021 M3P) and in that first week my screen was black twice too. Both times it was while getting in the car, after unplugging it at home, to start driving. I pressed the brake and the screen was black, the car was drivable though. I drove to the end of the driveway and just waited a minute and the screen came back on. I work in IT on the desktop support side so seeing a OS crash, even on something new, is like a cook seeing a burnt piece of toast. Not at all alarmed UNLESS it’s chronic, which the crash hasn’t happened since that first week.

Same issue here your experiencing and had it happen 6 times. The service center replaciing the touch screen.

 

[antsh]

I had screen crashing issues several times a week on my 2021. I figured out it was the calendar sync from my iPhone that was causing it. As soon as I turned that off, I haven't had a single crash since. Is there a good way to report the bug?

 

[JCtx]

I've also had 2 crashes on my 2021. One right after a supercharger finished charging. The screen just froze. Didn't want to reboot, but maybe I wasn't holding the 2 buttons long enough. It finally went black, but took a loooong time to reboot. No issues after that. And a few days after the latest update, it was black when we wanted to drive off. I was about to press the 2 buttons when I saw the 'T', so it rebooted itself. After reading this thread, I'll do a reset after all future updates. The supercharger one happened after we saw Youtube, so that might be it. After seeing Netflix it hasn't crashed, at least not the same day. Weird.

 

[MyTessi88]

Ok, just got my car back yesterday and they replaced the screen since I had 6 crashes in under a month. So far so good (knocking on wood no more issues), the screen sometimes takes 2-3 seconds to wake-up it turns on, but I find that acceptable. Keep us posted on how your issues go, sounds like SC didn't exactly know what the issue was either.