If you tow with your X: do your rear ultrasonic alarms go off when backing up your trailer?

[ecarfan]

I been towing my 17ft Safari Condo “Alto” F1743 trailer for 5 months now. When hitched and the electrical cable connected so that the blue tow icon shows in the drivers display, when backing up the X ultrasonics audible alarm sounds. Of course they are detecting the trailer; I can see that shown in the driver’s display. But the firmware should mute the alarms since it detects that the car is hitched because the trailer electrical cable is connected to plug next to the Bosal hitch.

I am interested in hearing from other X owners who tow to see if their rear ultrasonic alarms go off when they back up. So far I have heard from two X owners I know who tell me their alarms do not go off in that situation, which is the way things should work. But not with my car.

I spoke with my local Tesla Service Center about this issue several months ago. They asked me for the approximate date/times when the rear ultrasonic alarms went off while hitched and backing up. I provided that information, and a few days later got a call saying that it appeared there was a firmware problem with my car and when they had a fix they would push it to my car.

I have had at least two firmware updates since then but the problem remains. Note: installed a Tekonsha P3 brake controller before I picked up my trailer following the excellent instructions in another thread here, it appears to work fine and I don’t see how it could be related to the problem I describe in this post.

 

[kev1n]

i notice my local service center will always blame issues on the firmware and say its going to get resolved in the next one. its likely not a firmware issue and they are just brushing you off honestly.

 

[boaterva]

Yeah, this is getting to be a pattern where it's in 'the next firmware'. Not sure that's ever been the case except when it was.

In *this* case, if you were in trailer mode, those (rear ultrasonics) would be disabled, like all the other things you can't do. Did it show Trailer mode? Blue Trailer mode?

Because, the manual says right here:

In Trailer Mode, the following are disabled:
• Autosteer.
• Autopark.
• Rear parking sensors.

In addition, these features may operate
differently:
• Traffic-Aware Cruise Control increases the
following distance from the car in front of
you.
• Smart Air Suspension will not make
speed-based adjustments from
STANDARD to LOW.
• Smart Air Suspension does not make
automatic height adjustments based on
saved location-based settings.
• Side collision warnings are active but
automatic steering interventions are
disabled.
• The braking force provided by Automatic
Emergency Braking (see Collision
Avoidance Assist on page 106) is
significantly limited.
Warning: Do not rely on Model X to
detect the trailer and automatically
engage Trailer Mode. Always check that
Trailer Mode is engaged before towing a
trailer.
Warning: Under no circumstances should
you exit Trailer Mode when towing a
trailer. Doing so can cause serious injury
and/or death.
Warning: Do not use the air suspension
setting to appropriately match the height
of the hitch with the height of the trailer.
You must choose a trailer hitch and trailer
that have the appropriate height for
suitable axle loading and trailer balance.

 

[ecarfan]

Because, the manual says right here:

In Trailer Mode, the following are disabled:
• Autosteer.
• Autopark.
• Rear parking sensors.

Yes, I understand that, and as I stated in my OP, two other X owners who tow confirmed to me that their cars do not behave the way mine does, and my Service Center told me that my car is not behaving the way it is supposed to in this regard. My car seems to be an oddball. I’m going to have to keep pressing Tesla to get it to work correctly. The point of my starting this thread was to see if any other X owner who tows is having the same issue.

 

[Yinn]

Mine used to turn off with tow mode. They no longer do when going into tow mode. It used to also set the suspension into Standard, but now it locks into which ever suspension mode it is currently in.

 

[ecarfan]

Mine used to turn off with tow mode. They no longer do when going into tow mode

When you say “turn off”, do you mean that when you were towing and in Drive (moving forward) the rear ultrasonics were completely deactivated so that on the drivers display they did not show that they were sensing your trailer? Or do you mean that when you were towing and in Reverse (backing up) the rear ultrasonics showed in the drivers display and the audible alarm went off continuously? Or both? Just trying to understand what you are describing.

So now what do they do when you are towing?

 

[ecarfan]

Happy to report that my issue was resolved with the release of firmware 2018.26 which I got installed on my X on 20 July. I had not thought to try out towing since that date. Today I went to my local Service Center, they did some research and said that my issue should have been fixed with that firmware release. So we put the car into Tow Mode (in Controls/Driving) without anything hitched up, and when I went into Reverse and backed up close to something big and solid the rear ultrasonics were clearly off since there was no audible alarm nor was there an indication in the drivers display that I was close to anything. Tried it several times to be sure.

Why my X had the issue since I started towing in Feb 2018 when other X owners who tow did not have the issue I cannot explain.

 

[Vjclinics]

very useful thread, Thanks to post it