Likely MCU Failure (MCU1 eMMC)

[David99]

Well I would assume then that @David99 has done his by now, David?

I haven't replaced mine yet. I ran out of warranty 13 month after I got my car when I hit 50k miles. I am worried about it going bad so I'm considering have a third party replace the chip. My MCU is acting up more and more. It might be early signs of the chip failing. I'm honestly getting more and more disappointed in Tesla. The early adopters getting shafted on all levels. Supercharging is painfully slow, makes road trips not fun. This issue. All kinds of early mistakes Tesla made are, the early buyers just have to deal with and not even a hint of good will from Tesla. I don't think anyone expects they give us all new cars. But if a mistake is this obvious, at least they could offer to replace the MCUs for at a reasonable cost and don't charge for labor.

 

[maximizese]

I don't think anyone expects they give us all new cars. But if a mistake is this obvious, at least they could offer to replace the MCUs for at a reasonable cost and don't charge for labor.

Or:

1) Fix the software to prevent excessive logging.

2) Bypass the issue with a secondary storage device.

3) Revise the MCU without the issues and offer a retrofit solution.

This seems like the door handle mechanism where they were flawed and expensive to replace, but the DIY community discovered how to fix it themselves inexpensive parts. Meanwhile, Tesla has revised their flaw along the way.

 

[rsg123]

Why would you think that? Elon publicly stated the issue has been "fixed", and for now it seems to be less severe and will extend the lift of the MCU for much longer than previously thought.

I sort of equate this kind of comment to the Ford truck diesel issue. Everyone generally knows the 7.3L from the late 90's is gods gift to the ford F250/350/450. They made a change to a 6.7L sometime in the mid 2000s and the engine was plagued with horrible issues, so much so that complete failure is a real possibility in those motors. Ford did some TSBs but in the end nothing truly fixed it (as with most things, your mileage may vary, some people had no issues, but many had some). Everyone thought it was death to the diesel line... low reliability, low second hand value (as word spread). What did Ford do? Made more trucks, and eventually changed the engine, and no one batted an eye. Now folks just steer clear or do LOTS of research on the 6.7 before buying used, but Ford owes those folks nothing if the "known" issues pop up.

As with most production year vehicles, kinks get worked out, and life goes on. If you choose to buy a 2013 Tesla without doing serious research, I personally feel you earned whatever problems come your way. Check these forums for COUNTLESS "hey im gonna buy this 2013 tesla, what are the known issues?" threads. They are ~4 years and several hundred thousand vehicles away from the severe eMMC issues, so time will tell if it will actually haunt them, but for now its just an inevitability in what are likely MOSTLY second and third hand Teslas

In stating that the issue is “fixed” he admitted excessive logging was to blame. The owners of cars that were around during this excessive logging were victims of that bad decision.
Your Ford argument just validated my point—people think twice about buying the affected vehicles because of their issues. This issue seems much easier to fix though—Tesla can just let us know they will cover the repairs when issues resulting from the excessive logging crop up.

 

[David29]

In stating that the issue is “fixed” he admitted excessive logging was to blame. The owners of cars that were around during this excessive logging were victims of that bad decision.
Your Ford argument just validated my point—people think twice about buying the affected vehicles because of their issues. This issue seems much easier to fix though—Tesla can just let us know they will cover the repairs when issues resulting from the excessive logging crop up.

Do you know if the excessive logging was fixing via a software update? or is it only fixed in the sense that cars built after some recent date have a different logging protocol so those of us with older cars won't benefit even if our computers or memory are replaced?

 

[rsg123]

Do you know if the excessive logging was fixing via a software update? or is it only fixed in the sense that cars built after some recent date have a different logging protocol so those of us with older cars won't benefit even if our computers or memory are replaced?

Tesla apparently has reduced the excessive logging across the board.

 

[demundus]

Do you know if the excessive logging was fixing via a software update? or is it only fixed in the sense that cars built after some recent date have a different logging protocol so those of us with older cars won't benefit even if our computers or memory are replaced?

Excessive logging has been reduced and the flash memory capacity expanded. A longer term bandaid, one that you likely wont have to deal with ripping off for a long time, although it will pose an issue SOMEWHERE down the road.

 

[cucubits]

Excessive logging has been reduced and the flash memory capacity expanded. A longer term bandaid, one that you likely wont have to deal with ripping off for a long time, although it will pose an issue SOMEWHERE down the road.

This is an even worse "solution" if true. It would just mean that Tesla is making these failures take longer to happen to make sure they'll be out of warranty.

 

[demundus]

This is an even worse "solution" if true. It would just mean that Tesla is making these failures take longer to happen to make sure they'll be out of warranty.

Possibly, even if I was on Tesla's network still, I wouldn't see an update, my car is non-ap and hasn't had any real "refresh" from Tesla in forever. Outside of the reduced logging, the update file sizes and constant updates that new cars get is also a problem. With a bit of reading here, you'll find that most owners see less and less by way of updates the longer they own the car. The bigger flash, less logging, and less "support" all equate to longer life, but it'll still die ONE day.

At what point is the MCU a wear item like brakes, or even an engine that's been running forever and needs a new water pump or belt? Not everything lasts forever...

 

[djvelocity]

At what point is the MCU a wear item like brakes, or even an engine that's been running forever and needs a new water pump or belt? Not everything lasts forever...

the answer to this particular problem should be “never” because this is related to defective hardware plus bad coding, and the issue is well known. It’s seems to be more of a design or product defect, which in this case has the very unfortunate side effect of being potentially life threatening if a failure causes loss of driver feedback information on control panels and control of basic vehicle functions. A loss of AC, wiper, and headlamp control on the highway in a heavy, cool rain at night is a disaster waiting to happen. If this is even within the realm of possibility with an MCU failure, then these units should be recalled as a proper solution to this issue.

 

[David29]

the answer to this particular problem should be “never” because this is related to defective hardware plus bad coding, and the issue is well known. It’s seems to be more of a design or product defect, which in this case has the very unfortunate side effect of being potentially life threatening if a failure causes loss of driver feedback information on control panels and control of basic vehicle functions. A loss of AC, wiper, and headlamp control on the highway in a heavy, cool rain at night is a disaster waiting to happen. If this is even within the realm of possibility with an MCU failure, then these units should be recalled as a proper solution to this issue.

You make interesting points. Makes me wonder if anyone has filed a safety complaint with NHTSA....or if anyone will.

 

[Jan Fiala]

Rumor has it, that the logging was not reduced at all... We will know, when MCU1 from 2016 starts to fail.

 

[brkaus]

At what point is the MCU a wear item like brakes, or even an engine that's been running forever and needs a new water pump or belt? Not everything lasts forever...

This is more like they selected fast wearing brake pads. A high quality eMMC with more (64GB) memory should easily last the life of the rest of the car. Or as a half baked guess, 16x longer that the current one.

 

[demundus]

the answer to this particular problem should be “never” because this is related to defective hardware plus bad coding, and the issue is well known. It’s seems to be more of a design or product defect, which in this case has the very unfortunate side effect of being potentially life threatening if a failure causes loss of driver feedback information on control panels and control of basic vehicle functions. A loss of AC, wiper, and headlamp control on the highway in a heavy, cool rain at night is a disaster waiting to happen. If this is even within the realm of possibility with an MCU failure, then these units should be recalled as a proper solution to this issue.

defective hardware how so? you expect flash memory to last forever? what about tires made with different/less material not rated for X miles vs Y miles of another type of tire?

Was flash memory the right choice? No. Is it the end of the world? No. Headlights and wipers are still controllable (headlights all turn on automatically, you can never truely disable headlights between drive cycles)

I agree that it is stupid as heck and they should have used their brains (and had they been automotive engineers with experience in automotive grade vs industrial grade this would have come up early in design), but it doesn't extend the financial arm of Tesla into everyone's car to replace an aging failing part. It simply hurts resale values and pushes them to fix/figure out a solution for the next round, and hope they have a customer base who wants to "try again" with them.

 

[djvelocity]

defective hardware how so? you expect flash memory to last forever? what about tires made with different/less material not rated for X miles vs Y miles of another type of tire?

Was flash memory the right choice? No. Is it the end of the world? No. Headlights and wipers are still controllable (headlights all turn on automatically, you can never truely disable headlights between drive cycles)

I agree that it is stupid as heck and they should have used their brains (and had they been automotive engineers with experience in automotive grade vs industrial grade this would have come up early in design), but it doesn't extend the financial arm of Tesla into everyone's car to replace an aging failing part. It simply hurts resale values and pushes them to fix/figure out a solution for the next round, and hope they have a customer base who wants to "try again" with them.

with all due respect, a worn tire or brake pad is easily identified and services. Flash memory failure that causes an inability to operate essential systems on the car is not i any way the same (like starting it if you have PIN enabled).

It’s clearly a design flaw that should be addressed. It’s not a brake pad or tire issue.

 

[whitex]

defective hardware how so? you expect flash memory to last forever? what about tires made with different/less material not rated for X miles vs Y miles of another type of tire?

Unless Tesla is declaring the $3000 MCU as a wearable part (like tires in your example, or brake pads) then there is a difference. When I bought my 2015 car Tesla gave me an estimate of cost of ownership for 8 years, to show me the "savings" they applied to their marketing price of the car. Nowhere in there was there MCU replacement as a wearable. Can they fail? Sure, some units will inevitably fail, but in this case it sounds like they will all fail prematurely (for a non-consumable car part), so should have been disclosed.

Part for cars should be rated the life of the car, but do they have to be? The answer probably depends on jurisdiction and its consumer protection laws. Larger purchases like cars or homes also sometimes have special laws in different jurisdictions.

 

[Barry]

whitex - door handles were on the list of wearables, either.

 

[am_dmd]

Moderator note: This post and approximately ten posts after it were moved from another thread.

this and yellow screen should be in news. Really no one here has any links to reporters or news channels?

Forgot to add ~$2500 every 3 years for MCU failure

 

[ucmndd]

Forgot to add ~$2500 every 3 years for MCU failure

Dramatic overstatement much?

 

[am_dmd]

Dramatic overstatement much?

I wish it was

 

[ucmndd]

I wish it was

Your wish is granted.

Why would Tesla warrant a paid MCU replacement for four years and unlimited miles if they regularly fail within 3 years?

How many 2016s have we seen with dead MCUs? Surely some but to suggest an epidemic is gross, hyperbolic exaggeration.