How to disable cellular antenna in M3

[GoldCountryCA]

Hello,

I definitely do not want the new software to get forced onto my car. My buddy has a 21 M3P with FSD subscription and says it’s terrible. He has 4 violations already. He said he simply glanced out the roof glass at the clouds and got a violation. Another was looking out the driver’s window for a split second.

He’s been a tesla fanboy since early 2010s, made over $10M on tesla stock allowing him an early retirement, has owned several teslas and was just about to complete his order for the founder’s edition CT(got the email last week to place his order). Even he is considering jumping ship over the new software.

I’ve been considering selling mine since about 10,000 miles in, when all the creaks, rattles and bobbles began. I want to go back to an ICE sports car for my DD/Commuter. Main things keeping me in the M3LR are AP and bad resale value/interest rates. I don’t want it chirping at me every time I look at another car to my left on the freeway. If the AP is made more strict, I’ll definitely sell when interest rates improve, and thus resale value will be better for folks who need financing.

Anyone disable their cellular antenna or know if Tesla will push an update if you wait too long? I’m concerned they will because this is a “recall” update.

 

[Big Earl]

You’re willing to give up app access over this?

 

[GoldCountryCA]

Which apps? I don’t use any apps except GPS and my phone can fill in that gap.

I just want autopilot to continue working on the freeway in the same manner it does now. Don’t want the new stricter protocols.

 

[Big Earl]

The Tesla app. You’ll also lose the navigation map and turn-by-turn directions.

I haven’t done the update yet, but if it makes AP driver monitoring similar to FSD driver monitoring, it isn’t that bad. It makes it very difficult to play with your cell phone while driving, but that’s the point. You can look away from the road for longer than brief moments as long as you have a hand on the wheel (applying light torque).

I’m going to continue waiting to install. My primary reason is because I want them to shake out all of the bugs - this update has had several. I don’t look forward to the more stringent driver monitoring but it won’t be a deal breaker for me.

 

[GoldCountryCA]

The Tesla app. You’ll also lose the navigation map and turn-by-turn directions.

I haven’t done the update yet, but if it makes AP driver monitoring similar to FSD driver monitoring, it isn’t that bad. It makes it very difficult to play with your cell phone while driving, but that’s the point. You can look away from the road for longer than brief moments as long as you have a hand on the wheel (applying light torque).

I’m going to continue waiting to install. My primary reason is because I want them to shake out all of the bugs - this update has had several. I don’t look forward to the more stringent driver monitoring but it won’t be a deal breaker for me.

My buddy has FSD and did the update. Says it is extremely strict, he’s getting violations even for brief glances. He sugar coats the issues with FSD because he loved Tesla so much. For him to tell me he can’t stand the new software is pretty significant.

I can live without Tesla app. I only drive the vehicle twice a week to my office 56 miles away (112mi round trip). It gets parked in a secure facility there, so not worried about receiving alerts, sentry, etc. I always park in view of security cameras.

Can I simply remove the SIM card on the eCall board or is it non-removable? Want everything to be reversible for when I sell the car.

 

[PianoAl]

I have seen no difference in strictness. Still works great for me.

 

[GoldCountryCA]

I have seen no difference in strictness. Still works great for me.

Interesting.

Anyone have input on disabling the cellular antenna?

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Interesting.

Anyone have input on disabling the cellular antenna?

there are 28 antennas in the Model 3, trace it back and install a switch...

Antenna Expose – TeslaTap

teslatap.com

Cellular​
Summary The film antenna supports multiple cellular bands. Location Side Mirror Housings Standard LTE/WCDMA/GSM Connects to MCU Frequency 885-2690 MHz Power 0.2 - 2W Antenna Type Film Antennas Per Item 1 Vendor Harada?

 

[fholbert]

Hello,

I definitely do not want the new software to get forced onto my car. My buddy has a 21 M3P with FSD subscription and says it’s terrible. He has 4 violations already. He said he simply glanced out the roof glass at the clouds and got a violation. Another was looking out the driver’s window for a split second.

I believe your friend told you that, but it simply can’t be true.

I hope everyone here looks at the side mirrors “for a split second” every minute or two, no one else is getting strikes.

 

[jjrandorin]

The Tesla app. You’ll also lose the navigation map and turn-by-turn directions.

Its also extremely likely that if the car has no GPS, autopilot wont work at all. Thats the impression I get from all the people who have imported cars from one country to another and talk about navigation not working.

Even if this OP manages to figure out how to do this, they wont have working autopilot at all, so it doesnt meet their goal of "I want autopilot to work as it does now".

I’ve been considering selling mine since about 10,000 miles in, when all the creaks, rattles and bobbles began. I want to go back to an ICE sports car for my DD/Commuter.

If this is where you are over this, you should likely just proceed forward with this plan. You didnt say you wanted to drive the car without autopilot at all, which is what disabling the cellular connection would do, if its even possible.

 

[gsmith123]

Just chiming in that I've driven a few hundred miles on that last FSD Beta release now.

He said he simply glanced out the roof glass at the clouds and got a violation. Another was looking out the driver’s window for a split second.

When everything is working correctly this is absolutely not true. I've looked up, to the sides, etc. It's not that strict!

(It's also possible something is not working with your friends car and their report is accurate, but not the typical experience!)

 

[jjrandorin]

Can I simply remove the SIM card on the eCall board or is it non-removable? Want everything to be reversible for when I sell the car.

Im not into this type of modification at all, but there have been a few threads I remember (that I mentioned above), about people internationally wanting to swap sims. Perhaps take a look at one of those if you want to take out your sim car. I am reasonably sure that your autopilot wont work at all after that, but that would be for you to confirm if you go through with it.

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[GoldCountryCA]

Its also extremely likely that if the car has no GPS, autopilot wont work at all. Thats the impression I get from all the people who have imported cars from one country to another and talk about navigation not working.

Even if this OP manages to figure out how to do this, they wont have working autopilot at all, so it doesnt meet their goal of "I want autopilot to work as it does now".



If this is where you are over this, you should likely just proceed forward with this plan. You didnt say you wanted to drive the car without autopilot at all, which is what disabling the cellular connection would do, if its even possible.

True, it wasn’t worded very well. Put in different terms, the current iteration of autopilot is the one quality tipping the scales in favor of the Tesla for commuting purposes, and thus convincing me to keep it.

If autopilot got as strict as I was led to believe it would, I’d jump. Still may this spring or summer. I miss the tightness, build quality and the feeling of my German sports cars.

Since the general consensus is that AP won’t likely work by disabling the cellular antenna, has anyone ever had an update pushed OTA that they couldn’t stop or were avoiding? I’ve had tape over my interior camera forever and it seems like with every update, the car gets more restrictive and features disappear. I was waiting for the matrix headlights to become active (turning) and that was the update I’d do, but it seems that’s off the table now if AP becomes more nanny like.

 

[ucmndd]

He has 4 violations already. He said he simply glanced out the roof glass at the clouds and got a violation. Another was looking out the driver’s window for a split second.

These are not “violations” or forced disengagements. Your buddy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

 

[GoldCountryCA]

These are not “violations” or forced disengagements. Your buddy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

If it makes a lot of noise and tells you autopilot is not allowed on the rest of the drive, that’s not a violation?

 

[E90alex]

He is probably exaggerating and/or lying.

A split second looking away will not result in immediate forced disengagement.

I have not had any nags or warnings driving like I normally do with autopilot after the update. My hand is always holding the wheel and I’m paying attention by looking ahead and at my mirrors as needed.

I had to deliberately look at the screen for 2-3 seconds before the blue flashing, beeping and pay attention warning popped up. Looked back straight ahead and it went away without forced disengagement.

People complaining about excessive nags or disengagements have been using the system beyond its intended capabilities by treating it more like a hands free or Level 3 system when that’s not even close to its capabilities. It has always been a constant hands on and full attention required system. Even with FSD.

 

[bo3bdar]

Since the general consensus is that AP won’t likely work by disabling the cellular antenna, has anyone ever had an update pushed OTA that they couldn’t stop or were avoiding? I’ve had tape over my interior camera forever and it seems like with every update, the car gets more restrictive and features disappear. I was waiting for the matrix headlights to become active (turning) and that was the update I’d do, but it seems that’s off the table now if AP becomes more nanny like.

I mostly try to avoid updates because Tesla's software dev teams have been gutted, and the current staff are not very good. Several years of truly horrible updates with very slow fixes for introduced bugs leaves me preferring to not change things. Honestly, I'd pay real money to get the software back that came with my car originally.

Because of that, I've spent some time avoiding updates and can offer that they will never install any software update without you clicking 'go'. They will download an update over the LTE when it's a software recall, but it will not auto-install. They cannot have any insight into when it would make sense to take your car out of commission for 30 minutes. It would not be safe.

When it's downloaded but not installed, you'll get a nag screen at every wake, but you can either ignore it, or close it. Do not hit schedule or OK. When you put the car in drive it auto-hides. After a long while, and further updates, that pending one will age out and it will go back to saying 'download ready, connect to wifi'. So after you turn off you WiFi, you get this mostly OK pending state.

The one caveat is that if you ever need service, they will force update your car against your wishes during service. It's also written into the warranty that if you do not update the software, the warranty is void, but I don't think that has been tested in court yet.

 

[jjrandorin]

I mostly try to avoid updates because Tesla's software dev teams have been gutted, and the current staff are not very good. Several years of truly horrible updates with very slow fixes for introduced bugs leaves me preferring to not change things. Honestly, I'd pay real money to get the software back that came with my car originally.

Because of that, I've spent some time avoiding updates and can offer that they will never install any software update without you clicking 'go'. They will download an update over the LTE when it's a software recall, but it will not auto-install. They cannot have any insight into when it would make sense to take your car out of commission for 30 minutes. It would not be safe.

When it's downloaded but not installed, you'll get a nag screen at every wake, but you can either ignore it, or close it. Do not hit schedule or OK. When you put the car in drive it auto-hides. After a long while, and further updates, that pending one will age out and it will go back to saying 'download ready, connect to wifi'. So after you turn off you WiFi, you get this mostly OK pending state.

The one caveat is that if you ever need service, they will force update your car against your wishes during service. It's also written into the warranty that if you do not update the software, the warranty is void, but I don't think that has been tested in court yet.

Have any of the updates you refused been recalls? I am not challenging, I am asking, because I am curious if your experience is also relevant through software recalls. I dont remember any software recalls on my model 3, but have had one on my wifes model Y (the window pinch / vent one).

I wonder if they will treat a recall (an actual recall, mandated by the NHTSA) differently. I would imagine so, but I dont know.

 

[GoldCountryCA]

I mostly try to avoid updates because Tesla's software dev teams have been gutted, and the current staff are not very good. Several years of truly horrible updates with very slow fixes for introduced bugs leaves me preferring to not change things. Honestly, I'd pay real money to get the software back that came with my car originally.

Because of that, I've spent some time avoiding updates and can offer that they will never install any software update without you clicking 'go'. They will download an update over the LTE when it's a software recall, but it will not auto-install. They cannot have any insight into when it would make sense to take your car out of commission for 30 minutes. It would not be safe.

When it's downloaded but not installed, you'll get a nag screen at every wake, but you can either ignore it, or close it. Do not hit schedule or OK. When you put the car in drive it auto-hides. After a long while, and further updates, that pending one will age out and it will go back to saying 'download ready, connect to wifi'. So after you turn off you WiFi, you get this mostly OK pending state.

The one caveat is that if you ever need service, they will force update your car against your wishes during service. It's also written into the warranty that if you do not update the software, the warranty is void, but I don't think that has been tested in court yet.

I’m in the same boat, I’ve been less than impressed by removing features with software updates. Mine just passed 50k, so it won’t be going back to Tesla. I’ll do what needs to be done myself. Before the bumper to bumper warranty expired, I got both headlights, both tail lights, the driver’s seat, steering wheel, glove box panel and both lower b pillar plastics replaced.

The drivers seat now squeaks like crazy, but at least it’s not shedding crumbles of foam at an alarming rate. Hopefully the lights don’t all fill with condensation again this winter. Did I mention I wasn’t happy with the build quality?

 

[GoldCountryCA]

Have any of the updates you refused been recalls? I am not challenging, I am asking, because I am curious if your experience is also relevant through software recalls. I dont remember any software recalls on my model 3, but have had one on my wifes model Y (the window pinch / vent one).

I wonder if they will treat a recall (an actual recall, mandated by the NHTSA) differently. I would imagine so, but I dont know.

It’s possible. I’ve never been forced into a safety recall before. My diesel ram had “killer” airbags for a couple years before I got around to taking it in.