MASTER THREAD: Rear view camera image goes black [2019-2020]

[TestPilot]

Mine came with mirrors and a rear window. If yours didn't that could be worth reaching out to Tesla about.

Funny guy, but if you can see the headlights of a car behind you in traffic then I'm sorry to say that you are driving a different car.

Maybe it's normal for *American* cars for you to only be able to see from the nose up of the person in the car behind, but it's not normal for cars.

 

[Celledral]

Recently my experience has been quite annoying with the blacked out camera. If I had previously used the web browser, the camera would be stuck for more than 10 seconds as I wait to back out. Got honked once already as I was unable to see while slowly pulling out, while using the traditional mirrors

 

[GuyDude]

I will say that on my 08 LR RWD my back up camera SUCKS. Always black for first 5-8 seconds.

My GF SR+ sept 19' build.... Back up cam works PERFECT.... not sure if its just the different AP3.0 or if the camera is also different.

This is by far my biggest complaint. Reversing blind sucks!!!

 

[jedi2b]

I read somewhere here that it happens when there are many files on the USB drive. As I was having many blackouts, I tested pulling out the usb drive and it solved the issue.

I checked the USB drive on my computer at that time and I had around 3Gb of video. DEleted everything, inserted clean USB back into the car, and no more issue so far.

Not a definitive solution, but good enough for government work.

 

[Beckler]

It occurred to me that Model 3 might benefit from a backup backup camera.

 

[Common_Loon]

I get this problem quite frequently, and with the current software I've found that a full reboot (hold the two steering wheel buttons + the brake until the Tesla logo appears) fixes it for about 4-7 days. If you aren't able to reboot but are experiencing the problem you can also turn on the backup camera while driving (wait for an image to appear) then turn it off to kind of get it "cached" for when you arrive at your destination. When you do, it should pop right up.

 

[Dan123]

I get this problem frequently. However, I found that if instead of the "auto-reverse" screen, I just tap the manual rear-view camera screen, it show the rear view without delay. Although I think without the backup lines.

 

[marinkvi]

I too have this problem.. so frustrating!

My backup camera, ap, tacc, some safety features, auto wipers, auto high beam lights , lane visualization etc are not working for 7 straight days now :/
Had the same problem some time ago, reported it to tesla and in few days everything normalised. Then after it was working for couple of days, it stopped again 7 days ago and wont work after waking the car, after soft reboot, hard reboot, shutdown, nothing helped. I reported to tesla sc that maybe it has something with rain, because both times it happened it was raining for couple of days.. maybe something shorted in the system from the water..

 

[DrDabbles]

Funny guy, but if you can see the headlights of a car behind you in traffic then I'm sorry to say that you are driving a different car.

Maybe it's normal for *American* cars for you to only be able to see from the nose up of the person in the car behind, but it's not normal for cars.

I've driven a Japanese car for the past 15 years, so I can't really tell you what's standard for *American* cars. But I can tell you that if you can see the headlights of a person stopped behind you, they're stopped too far away or you have glass all the way down to the rear fender.

If you can't see out the rear window of your Tesla, try adjusting your seating position to be more appropriate. My camera goes black frequently until I start moving, and I just use my mirrors and turn my head. Works perfectly fine, even in the tightest parking lots. My only problem is that people can't hear my car, so they have no idea I'm trying to back up, and they stand around behind me while I'm in reverse. The horn feels like the most rude way to tell them to move, but fortunately I've only needed to use it once.

 

[TestPilot]

I've driven a Japanese car for the past 15 years, so I can't really tell you what's standard for *American* cars. But I can tell you that if you can see the headlights of a person stopped behind you, they're stopped too far away or you have glass all the way down to the rear fender.

If you can't see out the rear window of your Tesla, try adjusting your seating position to be more appropriate. My camera goes black frequently until I start moving, and I just use my mirrors and turn my head. Works perfectly fine, even in the tightest parking lots. My only problem is that people can't hear my car, so they have no idea I'm trying to back up, and they stand around behind me while I'm in reverse. The horn feels like the most rude way to tell them to move, but fortunately I've only needed to use it once.

Every day, I have to reverse towards a metal post that is pretty much central. Even if I turn around and put my head up against the roof I can't see it if it's closer than a couple of metres. The rear visibility in this car is worse than in the 5 cars I have owned previously and any other car I have driven. It just is.

I've been lucky enough that I've only had to be patient a couple of times and been noticed fairly quickly. I'm sure I'll need to scare the sh*t out of someone with a horn out of nowhere at some point though.

 

[mmiketa]

I think this is HW dependant as well. I'm gonna guess that all of you with the black screen are on HW2.5? It seems like HW3 does not have the black screen issue, but the camera does lag quite a bit.

 

[marinkvi]

I think this is HW dependant as well. I'm gonna guess that all of you with the black screen are on HW2.5? It seems like HW3 does not have the black screen issue, but the camera does lag quite a bit.

Not sure about that, I got mine in september and should have HW3..

 

[stevevets]

Yep. This is my single biggest complaint. How do you make a car drive itself but you can't make a camera turn on instantly? It's so bad that I've gotten into the habit of turning the camera on manually before I get to my destination so that it can slowly turn on and be on in time for parking.

 

[rhaekar]

I haven't had the long black screen for a while now, many patches ago it was pretty much resolved. The longest I ever have to wait is like 2 seconds but it's usually instant now.

I heard before if you periodically do a soft reset it helps, like maybe once a week.

 

[gecko10x]

I haven't had the long black screen for a while now, many patches ago it was pretty much resolved. The longest I ever have to wait is like 2 seconds but it's usually instant now.

I heard before if you periodically do a soft reset it helps, like maybe once a week.

Do you use sentry / dashcam?

 

[CharleyBC]

It’s weird that the experience with this bug is so variable from car to car, and over time in the same car. Ours worked flawlessly the first 9 or 10 months, and I wondered what all the threads like this were about. More recently (longer ago than V10, but I don’t remember exactly) we now sometimes get the black cam feature, but it always resolves itself in a few seconds. And many of you in this thread are clearly having far more trouble with this than we are. Again, why so variable?

 

[TestPilot]

I think this is HW dependant as well. I'm gonna guess that all of you with the black screen are on HW2.5? It seems like HW3 does not have the black screen issue, but the camera does lag quite a bit.

I'm HW3 and I've had it as a problem once. I also had it rainbow freakout once too!

 

[rhaekar]

Do you use sentry / dashcam?

Yes, I just use a 128 gb flash drive.

 

[gecko10x]

Yes, I just use a 128 gb flash drive.

I do as well, but I rarely do a reboot, and I have been having terrible delays with the camera lately. Maybe I'll try rebooting more often.

 

[CRASHER]

I've driven a Japanese car for the past 15 years, so I can't really tell you what's standard for *American* cars. But I can tell you that if you can see the headlights of a person stopped behind you, they're stopped too far away or you have glass all the way down to the rear fender.

If you can't see out the rear window of your Tesla, try adjusting your seating position to be more appropriate. My camera goes black frequently until I start moving, and I just use my mirrors and turn my head. Works perfectly fine, even in the tightest parking lots. My only problem is that people can't hear my car, so they have no idea I'm trying to back up, and they stand around behind me while I'm in reverse. The horn feels like the most rude way to tell them to move, but fortunately I've only needed to use it once.

Which Japanese car were you able to summon? "Critics are your best friends" Certain people just go defensive for nothing. They are the one who can not see their deficiencies and stay stuck in time without improvement. If you want to be that person you are welcome. At least don't try to act smart, we all know about the mirrors.
If there is a problem in the car, it needs to be resolved.