MCU1 owners: what should we expect from our cars?

[seenhear]

This could apply to Model X owners too, but I couldn't find an appropriate forum to discuss MCU common to both S & X...

I recently brought my model S to the service center for various reasons, one of which is that my MCU1 keeps acting up: occasional reboots, sluggishness, poor voice recognition performance, long times solving/mapping a navigation request, etc.

My service tech said that this is due to too much data being stored over time, and they will simply clear out some of the memory for me. "You already did that 3 months ago. It helped for about a month." I told him. He said in that case he recommends people do a factory reset on their cars every year or so.
I pushed back, saying that having to reset my $80k luxury sedan every year isn't acceptable. His response was basically "it's a computer" i.e. just like phones/computers they need to be cleared out every so often.

My response was "no, it's a car, and an expensive one at that." I'm a techy guy. I know about maintaining computers and phones as they age, and having to do a fresh install of an OS occasionally to keep said device snappy. I don't think this should be expected of a car, let alone a high end luxury one, and only just 5 years old this month. If the old MCU1's don't have the capacity to store all the data they collect while maintaining a good user experience, then they should write code into them to automatically purge logs and data older than X months or whatever.

So, I'm looking for thoughts from this community (those of you with MCU1 cars).
Is this acceptable, having to do a full factory reset of your car every year or so?
Have you done this, did it help?
Do you think it's acceptable that we should be expected to pay for an MCU2 upgrade to solve this problem (and who's to say the MCU2's won't suffer the same kind of issues in 5+ years)? I don't really want/need Netflix and Youtube, etc., on my MCU, but I sure would love the higher performance of the MCU2.

Just wondering if I'm being unreasonable here, and if there are others who are suffering with a poorly performing MCU1. FYI, my MCU1 received the daughterboard replacement a couple years ago for the EMMC chip failures recall.

 

[Ostrichsak]

Not the answer you want but: it's a band-aid fix, at best. It gets you to head down the road and be someone else's problem when it doesn't work.

What Tesla needs to do is admit that this platform is EOL and invest resources to make one, final, stability revision. Remove the bloat, give end-users the option to install apps they want (I don't need farts or any of this other BS but would LOVE for base functionality to work properly as advertised) and lock it in a state of forever stable for eternity issuing only security patches... should they be necessary.

 

[pkodali]

Not the answer you want but: it's a band-aid fix, at best. It gets you to head down the road and be someone else's problem when it doesn't work.

What Tesla needs to do is admit that this platform is EOL and invest resources to make one, final, stability revision. Remove the bloat, give end-users the option to install apps they want (I don't need farts or any of this other BS but would LOVE for base functionality to work properly as advertised) and lock it in a state of forever stable for eternity issuing only security patches... should they be necessary.

However for people who paid for FSD they need to keep pushing updates anyways

 

[cbdream99]

Unfortunately it is what it is, newer software, more capabilities required faster cpu to handle the loads. I don't think it is necessarily the games or media apps alone that slow it down or bloated. Tesla is not going to spend efforts in keeping the old hardware and software efficient, the early adopters have paid the high price to get the company to grow but it never considered itself as a premium luxury brand, it just the price is high. Unless there is a safety issue or a different code fix for newer version that can be back ported, I highly doubted this sunset hardware problems will be addressed. I upgraded to mcu2 but I don't consider it fast by today's standards, eventually it will have the same fate...

 

[Ostrichsak]

However for people who paid for FSD they need to keep pushing updates anyways

For MCU1?

 

[beatle]

I pushed back, saying that having to reset my $80k luxury sedan every year isn't acceptable. His response was basically "it's a computer" i.e. just like phones/computers they need to be cleared out every so often.

My response was "no, it's a car, and an expensive one at that." I'm a techy guy. I know about maintaining computers and phones as they age, and having to do a fresh install of an OS occasionally to keep said device snappy. I don't think this should be expected of a car, let alone a high end luxury one, and only just 5 years old this month. If the old MCU1's don't have the capacity to store all the data they collect while maintaining a good user experience, then they should write code into them to automatically purge logs and data older than X months or whatever.

It's really more of a computer than a car. The MCU1 hardware is actually from 2011 which is ancient. When I had my MCU1 replaced due to failure, Tesla installed a new one and reset everything. It was maybe a little faster, but barely. Yeah, we can say Tesla should optimize their code better, not bloat it up with features we don't want, etc. but in the end there's not much we can do about it short of hacking it to strip out everything we deem unnecessary. I chose MCU2 instead, even if it cost me $1500. As it directly affects how I interact with the car in a meaningful way (I don't need the games or Netflix either), it's not an upgrade I've regretted at all, and it will make the car easier to sell when it's time to move on.

I don't know how MCU1 performed in 2012, but it's a mystery how well MCU2 will age. I expect it to provide decent performance for the rest of the car's life, however.

 

[dbldwn02]

For MCU1?

Probably...can't get FSD on the current 2022.8.10.5. Can't even get a safety score to try out for FSD.

And since MCU1 is tapped on processing and nav crashes constantly, I can't see this thing ever supporting any FSD in the future.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Not the answer you want but: it's a band-aid fix, at best. It gets you to head down the road and be someone else's problem when it doesn't work.

What Tesla needs to do is admit that this platform is EOL and invest resources to make one, final, stability revision. Remove the bloat, give end-users the option to install apps they want (I don't need farts or any of this other BS but would LOVE for base functionality to work properly as advertised) and lock it in a state of forever stable for eternity issuing only security patches... should they be necessary.

This is what I'd like to see. No more "future functionality" promises...mark the platform as mature, Gimme the last major release, and now just do minor security patches. Security patches will always be necessary because the cars are basically eternally connected IoT devices, but IMO, I never wanted a bunch of games or apps or a fart machine....just a car that runs on a stable platform and boots up in 2 seconds every time I get in. I really don't mind if it's a bit slow, after all it's a 12 year old hardware spec, but reliability is king.

I worry that they've set the expectation that all of their older cars will function like the brand new ones, and when you basically have an old Windows XP machine expected to run Windows 11 without any hardware changes, which ain't gunna happen.

 

[chronoreverse]

While my MCU1 doesn't seem to suffer as badly as yours does, I can empathize. I also feel that Tesla should just move our software to LTS-mode, security patches and navigation updates only.

Or even better, give us the option to remove all the useless cruft like the games so there's more storage space (if that's even the problem). I just want my vehicle to be stable at this point.

 

[dark cloud]

This could apply to Model X owners too, but I couldn't find an appropriate forum to discuss MCU common to both S & X...

I recently brought my model S to the service center for various reasons, one of which is that my MCU1 keeps acting up: occasional reboots, sluggishness, poor voice recognition performance, long times solving/mapping a navigation request, etc.


Just wondering if I'm being unreasonable here, and if there are others who are suffering with a poorly performing MCU1. FYI, my MCU1 received the daughterboard replacement a couple years ago for the EMMC chip failures recall.

Are you on V11 yet? 2022.10.8.1 (or more recently 2022.10.8.5)

Actually the update before this one, not looking it up but the 2021.xx.xxxx about 5 months ago? really improved MCU1 performance in this car. Even the browser worked. It's hard to remember several years ago, but I'm pretty sure my MCU1 has never worked better, speed of screen changes, map loading speed, with less reboots necessary, including spontaneously reboots. And this is going back to V8 when I became the owner of this car.

The other issue you might want to investigate is the maps SD card. I haven't had issues with mine yet but I am expecting to at some point. Read this and see if it relates to your issues.

edit: as far as the voice control performance this is the only part I have issues with; sometimes it is very snappy, MCU2 like, and other times it just does not work at all. For me not worth 1k+ for a MCU2. I'll hit the buttons with my fingers.

 

[Ostrichsak]

Are you on V11 yet? 2022.10.8.1 (or more recently 2022.10.8.5)

Actually the update before this one, not looking it up but the 2021.xx.xxxx about 5 months ago? really improved MCU1 performance in this car. Even the browser worked. It's hard to remember several years ago, but I'm pretty sure my MCU1 has never worked better, speed of screen changes, map loading speed, with less reboots necessary, including spontaneously reboots. And this is going back to V8 when I became the owner of this car.

The other issue you might want to investigate is the maps SD card. I haven't had issues with mine yet but I am expecting to at some point. Read this and see if it relates to your issues.

edit: as far as the voice control performance this is the only part I have issues with; sometimes it is very snappy, MCU2 like, and other times it just does not work at all. For me not worth 1k+ for a MCU2. I'll hit the buttons with my fingers.

I couldn't agree more with this sentiment. This has easily been one of the best quality of life improvement updates I've seen in many years. Still lots of room for improvement overall but this is a great step in the right direction.

 

[Silicon Desert]

It's really more of a computer than a car.

I wouldn't dispute that. Though I think to the OP point, the "computer" and MCU is only a fraction of a percent of the car cost. I upgraded my MCU because I was frustrated with performance over time, yet glad to have the new features. I just have a different definition of "luxury car". I don't consider my MX to be a luxury car like a Rolls that I used to have, but if sure, to some folks, I guess it is a luxury. Op, maybe consider upgrading the MCU if you can. For me it was worth it, but maybe not worth it for everyone.

 

[richrootes]

I’d be all for a third option on the software update switch - ‘Off’

Most updates over the last three years have broken my ability to use maximum power from the battery, giving me permanent yellow dashes at the top end on the power meter

Occasionally, one update will fix it (which is where I am now)

Tesla says the battery is fine though…..

 

[gaswalla]

agree with the post above that the recent MCU1 update (V11) really brings back life to the MCU1 experience. The UI is lame in my opinion, but the performance and stability is significantly improved. I had an early EMMC failure (2.5 years ago) and had it fixed by a third party. Decided to just get the LTE upgrade and stick with MCU1 bc I don't need the entertainment of MCU2 (for reference, also have another Tesla that I did upgrade to MCU2 that also has AP3/FSD, and it was well worth the cost and would recommend it to anyone frustrated with MCU1)

 

[seenhear]

Probably...can't get FSD on the current 2022.8.10.5. Can't even get a safety score to try out for FSD.

And since MCU1 is tapped on processing and nav crashes constantly, I can't see this thing ever supporting any FSD in the future.

I'd like to kindly suggest you use the term "beta" when referring to the FSD beta program, just for clarity. So many people out there mix up FSD with AP/EAP, and think they have FSD since they paid for it, etc. Obviously you know better. But cars are sold with FSD and HW3, and actually do have some features that EAP does not offer (stop sign/light response). BETA on the other hand is an entirely different software pack than the EAP-like FSD that is running on most "FSD" cars.

 

[ucmndd]

Really... just pay for the MCU upgrade. Since you're a "tech guy" you know the fixes they're proposing are really just BS and the platform is simply too old and sluggish to run the modern software they've put on it. Nothing is going to make that better.

If you're gonna keep the car for a while it's well worth the upgrade just to get the baseline features and responsiveness to an acceptable level again.

I think it's debatable whether or not you should "have to" to get acceptable performance, but that's not a fight you're going to win with Tesla. In the era of post-delivery software updates and enhancements, this is going to become a bigger thing over time.

 

[seenhear]

Are you on V11 yet? 2022.10.8.1 (or more recently 2022.10.8.5)

Actually the update before this one, not looking it up but the 2021.xx.xxxx about 5 months ago? really improved MCU1 performance in this car. Even the browser worked. It's hard to remember several years ago, but I'm pretty sure my MCU1 has never worked better, speed of screen changes, map loading speed, with less reboots necessary, including spontaneously reboots. And this is going back to V8 when I became the owner of this car.

The other issue you might want to investigate is the maps SD card. I haven't had issues with mine yet but I am expecting to at some point. Read this and see if it relates to your issues.

edit: as far as the voice control performance this is the only part I have issues with; sometimes it is very snappy, MCU2 like, and other times it just does not work at all. For me not worth 1k+ for a MCU2. I'll hit the buttons with my fingers.

Yes, I have v11, specifically 2022.10.8.5; it just installed earlier this week. But I had 2022.20.8.1 (I think) before that for a month or so.
The symptoms of my issues sound similar to that SD card problem in older cars, but mine is a 2017. I have 5500 mi left in my extended warranty, which is why I'm trying to complain to Tesla about this frequently NOW, so that if this eventually does need replacement, I can say that it's been an issue since before the warranty expired. Heck it's been an issue since before the Original warranty expired.
I hardly use the voice button any more because it's so unreliable. Last time I brought it in complaining about the voice button, they asked if I submitted a bug report when it happened. I didn't know you could submit a bug report, I said. He responds, yeah, you just push the voice button and say "bug report." I sat there and stared at him blankly. Then he goes, "...OH.... right." me: eyeroll.

 

[ucmndd]

However for people who paid for FSD they need to keep pushing updates anyways

MCU1 will never get real FSD. Not gonna happen.

 

[seenhear]

I wouldn't dispute that. Though I think to the OP point, the "computer" and MCU is only a fraction of a percent of the car cost. I upgraded my MCU because I was frustrated with performance over time, yet glad to have the new features. I just have a different definition of "luxury car". I don't consider my MX to be a luxury car like a Rolls that I used to have, but if sure, to some folks, I guess it is a luxury. Op, maybe consider upgrading the MCU if you can. For me it was worth it, but maybe not worth it for everyone.

I consider BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jag, Porsche, Volvo, Land Rover, all to be luxury brands. Rolls, Maybach, Bently, Maserati, Lambo, are all uber luxury, IMO.
In 2017, a BMW 5-series was a direct ICE competitor to the Tesla Model S, IMO, and they cost about the same (ballpark, depending on options). The 540i started at about $58k and went up to about $85k. The Model S75 started at about $68k and went up to maybe $90-ish if you got FSD, IIRC.
In contrast, there were many (and still are many) similarly sized 5-seat sedans out there that cost a fraction of the 540i or Model S, e.g. the Camry, Accord, etc.
There are also brands like Cadillac and Lexus, which make luxury cars, but also some cars that I do not consider "luxury."
At $80k, and the way it was "marketed" (in as much as Tesla markets anything) I definitely consider my 2017 Model S75 to easily qualify as a luxury sedan. Now, I don't think it competes well in many of the luxury metrics though! (interior fit/finish/trim/feel/look mostly).

 

[maximizese]

I was happiest with our 11/13 built S85 pre-2019 and on Ver8. I knew where to locate all the submenus and functions (could do half of them with my eyes closed), I had faster Supercharging sessions, more power, more range, and my system only froze once on me. My car started having issues with Ver9. It started with slower Supercharging sessions, a reducing in power, and loss of range. Later the cellular connection would fail to connect 20% of the time on startup or would drop while driving. Soon after that the system would freeze while driving having the audio stutter, loss of HVAC control, and navigation. The final straw was that the car would take up to 8 minutes to reboot in order to start the car. I had the eMMC chip replaced when Tesla's campaign rolled out and that made things about 50% better, but I was still having cellular drop and the car not starting as one would reasonably expect.

I decided to upgrade to MCU2 and Ver11. I would go back to Ver8 and an LTE modem in a heartbeat but MCU2 was the next best thing.