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Is your Cabin Overheat Protection coming on?

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S

SMAlset

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2017
9,441
10,391
SF Bay Area
#1
We had a period of hot weather shortly after we got our car back in mid March and I saw thru the Tesla app that the cabin overheat protection was working. The temp would get to 105F and then automatically cool down while I was monitoring. Been in the 90s here last few days and thought to check on the temp just now. Temp was at 105F and has subsequently climbed to 109F so far so clearly not working. We did have a software upgrade between the first time I checked weeks ago and today. Currently on 17.11.3. No settings were changed. Wondering if this is a larger issue than just our car?

If I'm not mistaken, isn't this protection suppose to be an automatic feature of the 8.0 software? The Tesla website doesn't discuss it at any length from what I can tell. While we don't have pets or kids who'd be in the car, I do feel that the cooling will help protect our 17in screen and the adhesive backing on our Blackvue cameras.
 
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#2
Mine appears to be working...my car is parked outside, in the sun, and I have seen the temperature going up and down this afternoon (max observed 105F, min observed 102F). So far I'm not seeing any difference from when this feature was first rolled out. S85D, 8.1(17.11.10). As far as I know, cabin overheat protection is automatic.

Bruce.
 
#6
Btrflyl8e said:
Mine is working on 17.11.10, but a friend of mine reported last week that his isn't working, and he was recently updated to 17.14.23, I believe. @LoL Rick is that correct?
Click to expand...
Correct. I have a picture, so it happened! I checked the setting just to make sure, and it was on. I turned it off and back on, and haven't caught it misbehaving since then. Also, there is a little "i" button next to the setting that gives more information about it. Overheat protection works for up to 12 hours after parking, and down to 20% battery state of charge.

Screenshot_20170427-133338.png
 
#8
OP here; here's what I noticed yesterday. Temps ranged from 90F to 96F during the afternoon. When I first checked the Tesla app at 12:52p the Interior temp was 105F. Our car (75D) had been parked overnight in the driveway and hadn't been driven that day. Battery range showing 162 miles, so well above the 20% LoLRick mentioned in his post. I watched the temp rise to 112F knowing the Overheat Protection should have kicked in around 104-105. Decided at that point to call Tesla to see if they knew any issues with software updates etc that would cause it not to come on. Negative on that.

I was asked to check the car to see if the Overheat Protection was enabled so went into car and found it was ON. Interestingly after opening the car to check on this, the system began to work. I continued to monitor it until 7pm when the temp outside was 89F and saw the cooling range every few minutes from 104F to 96F (the lowest reached). Over a few minutes it would rise back to 104 and then continue the downward sequence and repeat throughout the day. Later in the afternoon around 5:30p the temp cooling range extended from 101 to 105. And then by 6:30p the range narrowed from 103 to 104.

Here's a few screen captures

Overheat050317. - 1.jpg
Overheat050317. - 2.jpg

Overheat050317. - 1 (1).jpg
Overheat050317. - 3.jpg


So the car began at 162 mile range and by 7pm had lost 11 miles range. Tesla sent a report to our local SvC about the Overheat Protection not coming on when it should have and hope to hear from them soon.
 
#9
LoL Rick said:
Correct. I have a picture, so it happened! I checked the setting just to make sure, and it was on. I turned it off and back on, and haven't caught it misbehaving since then. Also, there is a little "i" button next to the setting that gives more information about it. Overheat protection works for up to 12 hours after parking, and down to 20% battery state of charge.
Click to expand...

Does that mean the system will run for 12 hours at a time or that once you park you only have a 12 hour window for it to activate? Our car had been parked in the driveway since the previous night and had not been used that morning or afternoon. Wonder if you have to at the very least open the car doors to trigger it to "wake up" like I would have done when Tesla asked me to check on the status on the car's screen (or would remotely unlocking and locking the car would suffice?). That would be useful to know since we sometimes don't drive our Tesla for a few days at a time and we do like the idea that the car won't overheat in our hot interior temps.

The other alternative would be to leave the pano roof open to vent when parked for an extended period (at least we have that option). Not sure how much that would cool a car sitting in the sun though and less preferable since airborne dirt would probably get in the car with it open. Any thoughts?

BTW today is expected to be much cooler than yesterday. Just checked the app and interior temp is only 67F right now; battery range 144 miles. Assume the overheat protection ran for a bit after I stopped monitoring it last night. Outdoors didn't cool down much until closer to sunset.
 
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#10
Check the information bubble in your car for the exact wording. But my interpretation is that it will monitor the cabin for 12 hours after being driven. It will keep the temperature below 105 during that time, unless SOC drops below 20%.

My personal opinion is that this feature was driven at least in part by warranty claims on the 17" screen. See the "bubbles on touchscreen" threads on this forum. The theory is that the silver bezel around the screen gets too hot and exceeds the tolerance of the goo inside. My solution for that is to put a towel over the screen whenever I have to park the car in the sun for a long period of time.
 
#11
Interestingly, I had the opposite problem earlier this week. The car was parked on the driveway as the garage was occupied. I walked outside and heard fans running. I have cabin overheat protection turned off. I checked the settings. Yes, off. So, i turned it on, rebooted the center screen. Interestingly, it showed off again after rebooting. I rebooted the screen again. Still showed off. And, I think it really was.

Clearly, there's a problem with the settings not working right.
 
#12
EVCarGUy said:
Interestingly, I had the opposite problem earlier this week. The car was parked on the driveway as the garage was occupied. I walked outside and heard fans running. I have cabin overheat protection turned off. I checked the settings. Yes, off. So, i turned it on, rebooted the center screen. Interestingly, it showed off again after rebooting. I rebooted the screen again. Still showed off. And, I think it really was.

Clearly, there's a problem with the settings not working right.
Click to expand...


Chances are it was part of the normal fan/car noises and not involved in the cabin overheat protection at all. The vehicle never really sleeps. Here's a link to TeslaTap's sounds from your car page: https://teslatap.com/articles/sounds-of-tesla-vehicles/

BTW a short while ago after having our car parked outside for a while, hubby was walking past and heard a high pitched motor noise coming from it. I had checked the car using the Tesla app around this time. Here's the response we got back from Tesla when we asked about it.

According to the technician, here is an explanation of what took place.

“The vehicle was woken up, which turned on both the accessory rail and the HVAC rail. The vehicle then read its internal air suspension pressure, and activated the air suspension pump to ensure the vehicle was level, and ran all 3 coolant pumps.”

I am also told this is normal operation for the vehicle for future reference.​
 
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  • Informative
Reactions: BlueRocket
#13
Today I got a call from a Tesla service team member and a subsequent followup email. He verified that for the Cabin Overheat Protection to come on you needed to have driven the car that day, and the option will stay active for 12 hours from exiting and car turning off. So guess it's not really intended to protect the Display.

Our car is frequently parked outside overnight, not driven ever day, and with our summer temps reaching the 90-100F range had hoped to be able to use that protection feature automatically once set regardless of whether we drove the car (for Display, interior, dash cam protection). I asked if you could remotely trigger the car through the App. Their diagnostic technician told him that the car has to physically detect a person having been in the driver's seat in order for the Overheat protection to be activated. He agreed that the preconditioning setting wasn't the same thing.

They suggested opening the roof vent via App and also using a sunshade on the dash (guess he meant the windshield but honestly the rear windows generates a lot of heat as well and both are kind of difficult to do when you have a dash cam installed). Looks like we'll need to sit in the car each morning during super hot weather even if we don't intend to drive it that morning. We don't want to tint the windows which some people do.

Anyone else like to have the Cabin Overheat Protection remotely triggered?
 
#15
SMAlset said:
Today I got a call from a Tesla service team member and a subsequent followup email. He verified that for the Cabin Overheat Protection to come on you needed to have driven the car that day, and the option will stay active for 12 hours from exiting and car turning off. So guess it's not really intended to protect the Display.

Our car is frequently parked outside overnight, not driven ever day, and with our summer temps reaching the 90-100F range had hoped to be able to use that protection feature automatically once set regardless of whether we drove the car (for Display, interior, dash cam protection). I asked if you could remotely trigger the car through the App. Their diagnostic technician told him that the car has to physically detect a person having been in the driver's seat in order for the Overheat protection to be activated. He agreed that the preconditioning setting wasn't the same thing.

They suggested opening the roof vent via App and also using a sunshade on the dash (guess he meant the windshield but honestly the rear windows generates a lot of heat as well and both are kind of difficult to do when you have a dash cam installed). Looks like we'll need to sit in the car each morning during super hot weather even if we don't intend to drive it that morning. We don't want to tint the windows which some people do.

Anyone else like to have the Cabin Overheat Protection remotely triggered?
Click to expand...

That's interesting. My experience doesn't match with his statement - on multiple occasions I've seen the interior temperature well above the threshold when I first click in to the remote app on days that I've driven the car.

Today it was 132F at around noon, but fell back to 105 over the space of the next two minutes without me taking any action.

However, after that first time I went in, when I looked in on the car a couple hours later the cabin overheat was clearly active.

My assumption is that the cabin overheat interaction with power saving mode hasn't been completely sorted out yet - it seems to me like if the car has a chance to go to sleep before the cabin exceeds the threshold the protection won't activate until the car is woken up, but thereafter it stays on.
 
#16
Out of curiosity, I checked this function on my Model S today. Frankly, I had forgotten about it until I saw this post. It is sunny here today, very warm with air temps in the 90-92 range. The car is parked in the direct sun. I had driven it earlier today so it was within the 12-hour window mentioned earlier. I looked at my app, and noticed the temps seemed to be fluctuating. So I went out to the car, without the key so the car would not unlock and the ACC would not start when I approached it. The app showed the inside temp creep up to 104F, then drop down rapidly. Listening, I could hear the fan running, and it would shut off when the app showed an interior temp of 98. I watched and listened as it went through this cycle 2 or 3 times. It took roughly 40 seconds for the system to lower the temperature. What surprised me was how short the cycles were. It took only about one minute for the temp to rise to 104 again when the fan shut off. So the system must have been running about 40% of the time.
Opening the sunroof to the vent position made a small difference. Contrary to my expectations, it seemed to slightly shorten the time for the temperature to build up, but I did not run the tests enough times to be sure of consistent results.
 
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#18
I forgot to sit in the car in the a.m. when it was in the driveway and didn't think to check on it after 2p. It wasn't really that hot outside, only 77F, but at 2:30p the interior temp was 117F. Sat in it briefly and remotely watched the COP kick in. I like this feature. BTW the range went from 157 to 150 over a 6-hour peak heat period.
 
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Reactions: David29
#19
David being totally anal here I did phone screen captures throughout the 2 days when I was first researching the COP so can verify that the temperature cycles are pretty short. Generally took a screen shot when the info had changed. Had been curious what the cooling temp range would be and how long it took and how the car's range changed. Occasionally did screen captures of my watch showing the outside temp. Here's the numbers I captured on the first day when it was the hottest. The car was in the driveway (concrete) and that area sits in the full sun in the afternoon.

May 3, 90F outside:
1:38 - 112F (161mi); discussion with Tesla, COP activated by sitting in car after some time on the phone;
1:53 - 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102;
1:54 - 103, 104, 103, 102, 101, 100
1:55 - 98, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101
1:56 - 102, 103, 104, 103, 102, 101, 100
1:57 - 99, 98, 97, 96, 97, 98, 100
1:58 - 101, 102, 103, 104, 103

2:52 - 102F (158mi)
3:28 - 101F (156mi); at 3:33p outside temp was 96F
4:09 - 103F (155mi); outside temp holding at 96F; 102, 101
4:10 - 100, 99, 98, 99, 100, 101
4:11 - 101, 102, 103, 104
4:12 - 103, 102, 101, 100, 98, 99
5:33 - 103F (152mi), outside temp was 90F; 104
5:34 - 103, 102, 101
5:35 - 102, 103
5:36 - 104, 103, 101
5:37 - 102, 103
5:38 - 103, 104
5:39 - 103, 102, 101, 102
5:40 - 103, 104
6:27 - 104 (151mi), outside temp was 87F
6:28 - 105
6:29 - 104, 103, 104
6:31 - 104
6:33 - 104
6:34 - 103, 104
6:35 - 104
6:36 - 104
6:37 - 104
6:38 - 104, 103
6:39 - 103, 104
6:40 - 104
6:41 - 104
6:42 - 104
6:43 - 103, 104
6:45 - 104, (still 151mi), outside temp was 89F; 103
6:46 - 104
6:47 - 104
6:49 - 104
6:50 - 103
6:52 - 104
6:53 - 103
6:54 - 104
6:55 - 103
6:57 - 104, 103
6:58 - 104
6:59 - 104
7:00 - 104, (still 151mi), outside temp still 89F, Final reading taken.
 
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