MCU Crashes - Service Center Update

[rohitchopra]

So less than 48 hours after taking the delivery on my Model 3, I took the car back in the Service Center because of constant MCU reboots while driving, idling, sitting, driving on the highway, at a stop light, charging - basically anything you can think of. In the 40 or hours that I had the car, I must've had 35+ reboots. Obviously, a reboot means the screen's shut off for 20-30 seconds - no indication of my speed, turn signal, etc.

Here the summary of the 8 or so hours I've spent between being at the dealership and on the phone with virtual assist.

The second to last call I got from the SA this evening, he told me that the reason it was rebooting so much is because I had a version of the previous firmware running somewhere in the code alone with the most recent version - which was causing these random reboots. The engineer was going to "manually" remove the old defunct firmware and update with a specialized patch version that was going to solve the issue for good.

10 minutes later, I get another call where the SA wants to "level" with me and says let us keep the car for a few more days until an official Tesla firmware is rolled out. So here it goes:

Apparently there is a "massive" known bug in the software version 50. that is affecting Model 3's nationwide that is causing random reboots of the MCU. I know 3 other M3 owners running that version WHO HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE RESTART.

They refuse to believe that this is a hardware issue (which this guy had Display reboots all the time. | Tesla). What a ****in joke.

So I pose a question, would everyone who reads post be kind enough to tell me if you've seen any random restarts of the MCU? Trying to get a feel for how many "nationwide" M3 are affected.

 

[PLUGZIN]

I have version 50; so far no re-boots. Screen awake time seems to have improved with this version. Took delivery in April 2018; so perhaps there is also a hardware change affecting your car. Bummer you (and I guess others) have this issue. At least car doesn't stop cold dead.

 

[R1Fast]

I voted never, because up until this morning it was exactly that many times.

However it happened this morning for the first time, somewhat ironically a few days after 2018.50 was installed.

 

[TT97]

I have had it happens a couple times since I have bought the car - so a little more than "never" but considerably less than once per month (I still checked off "occasionally").

Is this happening to you while you are driving? The two times it happened to me was when I first got into the car (the second time was this week, the first time a long time ago). I have been on 2018.50 for the past 19 days.

 

[corduroy]

7,000 miles, never rebooted.

 

[Keem]

I had the same problem starting 5 minutes after delivery. It would reboot every 5 minutes or less, at random. They told me it was a software issue that would be resolved in a month or so. After many emails back and forth where I threatened to return the car Tesla exchanged the mcu and I have been fine since....

 

[Dre78]

Restarts once a day (about every 100 miles or so) at random times. I can be driving. I can be sitting parked. I can be charging. Took delivery in late December, 2018; VIN: 122XXX; Model 3 LR AWD w/ EAP.

2018.48.12.1 through yesterday.
2018.50.5 since yesterday, and it restarted today while driving.

 

[rohitchopra]

Guys, really hope to get the word out on this so here's a more detailed explanation on the situation with my M3.

I took delivery on 1/12/2019 - paid cash for the car (no loan through Tesla). Drove out with the car around 4:30pm eastern. About 5 minutes into my drive back the MCU rebooted while I was on the highway. The sudden loss of the only instrumentation that shows how fast I'm going baffled me at first but I shrugged it off thinking it might be the "calibration" thats supposed to happen for the first 50 miles. I drove straight to a supercharge to give that a shot - a total of 30ish miles of driving and within this time, it rebooted about 2-3 times.

Charged the car up for a while (my first visit to the supercharger so I was excited to try it out) and then drove around for a while and had it happen 2-3 more times. At this point I was thinking there's a bug in the software version (the car came with 48.xxxx and I was advised to update ASAP) and didn't think much of it. Got home finally after driving a bit more and started the upgrade around 2am. It finished successfully and I just thought that that will take care of it.

Next day (Sunday 1/13/2019) I drove the car around for a total of around 100 or so miles and had the MCU crash/reboot anywhere between 20-25 times. Completely random - no pattern that I could see. It would happen on the highway doing 75mph, in the city doing 25mph, sitting idle at a light, getting out of the car, getting in the car, pretty much all situations. I'll point out that when the display finishes rebooting, all options before the crash are restored (LTE takes a while to come back on so a blank map is displayed). This includes EAD or Steer Assist if it was activated and even the cruise control. Even during the restart, the Steer assist keeps the steering the car and in lane.

What you don't know however, for those 20-30 seconds is the speed at which you're traveling (REALLY?), if the turn signal is on (no blinker sound), whether you're in Drive or Reverse and any other instrumentation.

Took the car back to the dealership on 1/14/2019. The screen restarted again 2-3 times when I was commuting 40 miles to work on the highway. Dropped the car off and picked up a loaner after a lot of debating with the sales advisor. Said they'll bump me up on the service queue and get me a diagnosis asap.

1/16/2019 5:00pm I get a call from the SA that my VIN has 2 firmware (or remnants of old + the new) running and that's causing the crash. They are uploading a new custom firmware and I can pick up the car at 10am the next day.

1/16/2019 5:15pm SA calls me back saying they need to keep the car because that's not going to fix the issue INFACT it is now a known bug and is affecting M3's nationwide. Tesla is working on a fix - no ETA. They would like to keep my car until the firmware is released, then fix and return it to me washed. I said ok.

1/16/2019 7:00pm - My sales guy calls me and says I have 2 options - 1) to ask for a refund under the 3 day policy (which he claims expires tonight) or 2) pickup the car as is tomorrow morning as-is (with SC's knowledge of a buggy firmware) or incur storage fees ($100 a day)

For those still reading, here's a catch for the refund: it takes 7-10 weeks to process the refund back to you. You are responsible for any interest charges with your bank.

I asked him to setup a meeting with the managers tomorrow to discuss my options. I am absolutely not taking a car that resets the MCU completely randomly causing a loss of speedometer until it is fixed.

Interested in advise/suggestions.

TLDR; The MCU in the car reboots very frequently while driving. Service Center says firmware has a known issue that causes MCU reboots - it's affecting M3's nationwide. Says I need to pick the car up as-is or incur service fees i.e. they will not keep the car in the lot and wait for a firmware update to come out - you're on your own.

 

[BillO]

I’m on 46.2 and have seen this maybe 3 or 4 times since mid-October when I picked up the car. So it is not something that just appeared in 50. I would sure like to see this solved as well...

 

[R1Fast]

Just happened 2nd time ever in the same day so there's definitely something wrong with 2018.50

 

[super20g]

On the flip side, there are plenty of us (myself included) that have not had this happen once on any software version. I have only had the car since Aug and only have <3K miles on it though... One of the few reported issues I haven't experiences so hope I don't jinx myself.

 

[Dre78]

Leaving car at Service Center for another issue, but Advisor says Technicians will likely reformat the SD card.

If you plan to bring your car in for service on this issue, it helps to provide timestamps of occurrences. I plan to take a snapshot on my phone so I have exact date and time.

 

[Sherlo]

Took delivery in Nov-18. Screen crashes as often as once per 5 minutes (took a video of it). Service took car for a week back in December and response was it was a “known issue”.
Has not gotten any better. To be fair, some trips it never crashes. Do not see any correlation between uses and rebooting.

 

[Vamken]

One day, I had multiple random reboots during a 20-minute drive. Other times, I go for weeks without a reboot. I read a tip on another thread to clear out the navigation search history. It may be a coincidence, but I don’t seem to have any random reboots as long as my search history is clear.

 

[super20g]

Took delivery in Nov-18. Screen crashes as often as once per 5 minutes (took a video of it). Service took car for a week back in December and response was it was a “known issue”.
Has not gotten any better. To be fair, some trips it never crashes. Do not see any correlation between uses and rebooting.

Keep taking it back to service until it is fixed... Document the occurrences, keep recording them as well, keep the communications with tesla emails/phone calls/etc recorded/documented. If it keeps doing it once you meet lemon law criteria, reach out to the service manager if you want and tell them you are going to start the lemon process and ask if they want to buy it back before it gets to that.. Then order another one for cheaper now and get a car without the mcu issue...

 

[Galve2000]

For those still reading, here's a catch for the refund: it takes 7-10 weeks to process the refund back to you. You are responsible for any interest charges with your bank.

sorry? what interest? Aren't they going to just send you a check in the mail?

 

[Sherlo]

Thanks very much for the feedback. Cleared out the Navigation history and have an appointment with SC next week.

 

[Sherlo]

sorry? what interest? Aren't they going to just send you a check in the mail?

He is probably referring to interest on the loan which begins at date of purchase. If Tesla takes 7-10 weeks to process the refund then he is on the hook for that interest charge.

 

[Galve2000]

He is probably referring to interest on the loan which begins at date of purchase. If Tesla takes 7-10 weeks to process the refund then he is on the hook for that interest charge.

I thought he "paid cash for the car" ... what am I missing here?

 

[Dre78]

@rohitchopra What's the skinny on your Model 3? Hope it worked out.

After replacing my SD card last month, I continued to experience crashes. I kept a log by snapping a shot with camera phone.

Last Friday dropped our Model 3 off with a list of occurrences, sometimes occurring multiple times in the same trip. Service Advisor calls later in day to ask if crashes occur when entering vehicle or while driving; I responded, typically while driving. They wind up replacing "computer", billed as covered under warranty. A different Service Advisor mentions they have replaced several computers, which I guess explains why they had the part in stock.

Hopefully, my Model 3 is done visiting the Service Center for a while...