Losing power steering

[Dirk]

Twice now, I've lost power steering for a couple of seconds. I'm driving without TACC or AP and going from one highway to another (Southbay: hwy 17 N, going to 280 N). The car made three short beeps but nothing showed up on the dashboard. No red car on the dashboard like with an automatic warning. The steering wheel was very unresponsive and I had to use a lot of force to make it turn. It felt like the car lost power steering.

The really strange thing is that the second time was at the exact same location as the first one!

In both cases, it was normal traffic like on any highway interchange. Speed around 40 mph, cars were close, but not that close.

Anybody has seen this behavior? Car is a MX 100D, AP2.

 

[DrivingRockies]

second time was at the exact same location as the first one!

That seems odd. Either way, give tech support a call and have them look at the logs. Date/time/location is helpful.

 

[Dirk]

Follow on to this story...
A couple of days after I posted this, I got a call from Tesla, urging me to make an appointment at the Sunnyvale SC. Wow! Not only is somebody at Tesla reading these posts, they are also responding to them. I was impressed...
I gave them the exact time when it happened the last time so they could pull the logs.
Because of business travel, I had to postpone the service a couple of weeks and also had them handle the usual issues after driving a couple of months (my car was delivered end of May 2017). Some alignments, a creaky FWD, some seal adjustments. Nothing major: the car as been pretty flawless so far. The SC replaced the power steering electronics as the solution to the problem described above.

But in the last week, it happened again 2 times. And each time it's in the exact same location. So that's now 4 times! I get three short beeps, the steering wheel becomes hard to turn for a fraction of a second and then everything is normal again. No error messages, nothing on the display, no "Service..." message. TACC and AP are not on when this happens. It's a pretty sharp turn going from 17N to 280N so I have to slow down from 65 mph to 30 mph but that's nothing special. The suspension will go from low to standard when that happens so the air compressor will have to work but the power steering does not rely on that air compressor, AFAIK.

I'm really at a loss what could cause this to be location dependent! I will call Tesla about this.

Anybody has experienced this?

 

[jjh1234]

How is Tesla calling people who post here when there is very limited info associated with their profile?

 

[rush6410]

I'm really at a loss what could cause this to be location dependent! I will call Tesla about this.

Keep talking with your SC. I had a strange issue with my security alarm sounding randomly at night. The SC looked at my logs and scheduled a ranger to come out. When he arrived he got on the phone with Tesla engineers and trouble shot the problem to the front door lock losing status signal making the car think my door was opened when locked. My point is they were very helpful and got to the bottom of a strange problem. No other manufacturer would have sent the tech to me. I was very impressed.

 

[Dirk]

How is Tesla calling people who post here when there is very limited info associated with their profile?

I was also very surprised by that. The only info they would have had is my location (Sunnyvale, CA), that it was a 100D and AP2 and that my screen name was "Dirk". That last one probably made it easier. It's a very common first name in Belgium (and The Netherlands) but rather rare in the US. Not too many Dirk's who bought a recent 100D in Sunnyvale!

 

[K-MTG]

I was also very surprised by that. The only info they would have had is my location (Sunnyvale, CA), that it was a 100D and AP2 and that my screen name was "Dirk". That last one probably made it easier. It's a very common first name in Belgium (and The Netherlands) but rather rare in the US. Not too many Dirk's who bought a recent 100D in Sunnyvale!

They are experts at that...Elon knows who we are. Got contacted a few times....which is great!!!

 

[gnguyen]

This happened to me. It happened when going over speed bumps, that was enough to knock loose a ground wire for the power steering. Took it to the SC, they fixed it and secured it. Hasn’t happened since.

 

[Dirk]

I can see that. But I've gone over a lot of bumps without any issue. This happened 4 times within 10 meters of the same location while driving 40-60 mph and there are no bumps there. And it happened 2 times after all the power steering electronics were replaced.

 

[schonelucht]

Sounds suspiciously like something Marques brownlee experienced as well : https://jalopnik.com/new-tesla-model-s-p100d-owner-keeps-experiencing-loss-o-1790573853

And location + first name + model is more than enough for Tesla to know who you are. They are known to creep like this on the forum.

 

[Dazureus]

I think i might have experienced this twice in my vin 807 AP1, but I haven't found a pattern to it. I get three very quiet beep. Quieter than the normal sounds, then the steering feels heavy. Different locations and driving conditions. The road wasn't particularly bumpy. You'd think if the power steering was going out, you would see a warning or telltale, but there was no indication of error.

 

[Lbkmxp100d]

I had the 3 short verbs happen to me earlier this week probably 4-5X over a 1500 mike road trip. I thought it was weird that it was randomly beebing for no apparent reason. I was in AP every time this occurred so don’t know if power steering went out briefly or not but i did have random verbs as you. Sounds like it could possibly be a software bug. Can’t imagine it being a ground wire as it don’t recall it ever happening over a rough segment of road but I will be more vigilant in the future.

 

[BLKMDL3]

 

[mongo]

I can see that. But I've gone over a lot of bumps without any issue. This happened 4 times within 10 meters of the same location while driving 40-60 mph and there are no bumps there. And it happened 2 times after all the power steering electronics were replaced.

Would you mind posting the location?
Any chance it is near a TV station or other large antenna? Long shot is that there is a power line under that section of the road (if the system uses Hall effect sensors).

 

[GarrickS]

Is the asphalt bad at that location? Is traction control kicking in?

Are you braking at that location? Is anti-lock braking kicking in?

 

[Dirk]

Yes, I'm braking, going from about 65-70 to around 40 when it happens and then down to 25 for the rest of the turn. I'm not braking hard and the road is dry and in perfect condition so no ABS.

The exact location where it happens:
37°19'04.1"N 121°56'23.5"W

 

[brkaus]

And location + first name + model is more than enough for Tesla to know who you are. They are known to creep like this on the forum.

Throw in a “picked up my car ...” post and it probably isn’t that hard with the number of deliveries. 2017 VIN Model X Order and Delivery

 

[Big Earl]

I was also very surprised by that. The only info they would have had is my location (Sunnyvale, CA), that it was a 100D and AP2 and that my screen name was "Dirk". That last one probably made it easier. It's a very common first name in Belgium (and The Netherlands) but rather rare in the US. Not too many Dirk's who bought a recent 100D in Sunnyvale!

Also part of your birthday in your profile. I assume Tesla has that on file in their system.

 

[Big Earl]

Would you mind posting the location?
Any chance it is near a TV station or other large antenna? Long shot is that there is a power line under that section of the road (if the system uses Hall effect sensors).

That's an interesting thought. About a mile from my home is the Springfield Interchange where I-95, I-395 and I-495 meet in Northern Virginia. There are a lot of utilities that run under the various ramps and I've noticed extreme RF interference when passing over what I assume is high voltage underground power lines. One of my vehicles is equipped with a CB radio and I get the same interference at one particular location in the interchange that I get when driving under high tension power lines. It's possible, although unlikely, that something in the OP's interchange is causing EMI or RF interference that is causing the car to wig out in that exact location.