Model 3 AutoPilot lane change "shimmy" - anyone else get this?

[MrBoylan]

Have the Model 3 Long Range. Driven 6,000 out of 7,000 miles on Auto-Pilot. Problems started about 3 weeks ago. Only happens when moving right - moving left remains normal. Multiple issues. When signaling to go right and no cars anywhere nearby, the car just weaves back and forth towards the right lane before giving up. After trying twice, the right hand signal no longer works. So I have to take the car out of Auto Pilot and then re-initiate the right hand turn signal for it work and for AP to try again.

A related problem is that when passing a large truck on the right, and the truck is leaning left towards me, auto-pilot just slows the car down and refuses to let me pass. So can only pass if I take out of Auto-Pilot. Everything with AP remains normal on the left.

I took the car in for service. They replaced the SCCM and gave me back the vehicle. However, after I received the car back, the same problems were there and I returned the car. They claim that there are no issues with any sensors or cameras on the right hand side. They were able to recreate all my stated problems, capture videos, and now acknowledge there is a problem and that others have the same problem. However, they said they cannot resolve it and have handed this over to central Engineering for a future fix. They told me to pickup the car tomorrow since there is nothing they can do to fix the problem.

Bummer. But also strange that we don't have thousands of other Model 3 owners complaining about this situation. Although the service center said that they saw "no evidence of malfunction" (in my case), a later review of the logs by one of the Tesla engineers did find some evidence of failed communication with one of the sensors.

They are supposed to be sending an engineer to my house to test and potentially replace the sensor, but we're still working out the scheduling for that. I will post here if they are actually able to fix the problem.

 

[Bala Raman]

I have a M3P and I faced this issue several times on both sides. You can generally know that it is going to attempt and fail by looking at the 360 degree view. It would display that there is some obstacle even when there is none.

 

[MrBoylan]

I have a M3P and I faced this issue several times on both sides. You can generally know that it is going to attempt and fail by looking at the 360 degree view. It would display that there is some obstacle even when there is none.

Well the mobile techs came this past weekend, removed the rear bumper and replaced all the rear sensors and wiring harness. Haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but here's hoping!

 

[aw45]

I have a M3P and I faced this issue several times on both sides. You can generally know that it is going to attempt and fail by looking at the 360 degree view. It would display that there is some obstacle even when there is none.

This is the exact problem I am seeing. In the 360 view, the pic is showing my left mid sensor is detecting something but nothing was there. I took the car in but the service advisor said nothing is wrong by looking at the log file. I showed them the video on the display showing something was detected on the left side. I asked him to look up the bug report I created but he said he doesn't have access to it. Got the manager to talk about this and they gave me the same run around. I specifically said only the left side is showing this but not the right side so clearly some components are wrong but not the normal expected SW they claimed. I didn’t want to waste more time so I left and resorted to googling the issue I am seeing.

 

[aw45]

Well the mobile techs came this past weekend, removed the rear bumper and replaced all the rear sensors and wiring harness. Haven't had a chance to test it out yet, but here's hoping!

Any luck with after the fix? I am seeing the same issue.

 

[ecarfan]

The behavior in question is that when I'm in AP, and hit the right turn signal to change lanes, about a quarter to a third of the time, the car begins the lane change then aborts it part way into the desired lane. Sometimes it does a "shimmy" where it begins the lane change, aborts the lane change coming back into the original lane then completes the lane change normally.

Thanks for posting your videos, that is odd behavior. After 8 months driving my Model 3 I may have seen that a few times but haven’t seen it for awhile. Auto Lane Change has noticeably improved for me since it was introduced. It is now quite remarkable how the car is now able to detect cars coming up fast from the rear in adjacent lanes and decide not to change into the lane.

I've been using AutoPilot since April and am pretty sure I'm holding the stalk long enough.

So you hold the turn signal stalk to keep the indicator on, as opposed to simply a firm push and release to keep the turn signal on? That’s what I do, and as soon as the lane change is complete the turn signal automatically turns off.

 

[mastaace]

I have encountered this shimmy problem with at least 10% of my lane changes. P3D owner and purchased the car in February. I presumed it had to do with the current software algorithm in autopilot and everyone must be experiencing this. But now I am wondering if this is more of an individual issue. I guess I’ll be paying my local SC a visit...

 

[MrBoylan]

Any luck with after the fix? I am seeing the same issue.

Yes. After the mobiles techs replaced the rear sensors and wiring harness, EAP now works flawlessly with lane changes both to the left and to the right. So it was a hardware problem after all.

 

[MrBoylan]

I have encountered this shimmy problem with at least 10% of my lane changes. P3D owner and purchased the car in February. I presumed it had to do with the current software algorithm in autopilot and everyone must be experiencing this. But now I am wondering if this is more of an individual issue. I guess I’ll be paying my local SC a visit...

10% is pretty high. I got the runaround from local service, but was eventually able to escalate it and get the problem fixed. It was *not* a software problem.

 

[MrBoylan]

Thanks for posting your videos, that is odd behavior. After 8 months driving my Model 3 I may have seen that a few times but haven’t seen it for awhile. Auto Lane Change has noticeably improved for me since it was introduced. It is now quite remarkable how the car is now able to detect cars coming up fast from the rear in adjacent lanes and decide not to change into the lane.
So you hold the turn signal stalk to keep the indicator on, as opposed to simply a firm push and release to keep the turn signal on? That’s what I do, and as soon as the lane change is complete the turn signal automatically turns off.

I was operating the car correctly. The sensors and/or wiring harness were at fault. After replacing the rear sensors and wiring harness, my EAP lane change issue went away. Haven't seen the problem since.

 

[MrBoylan]

This is the exact problem I am seeing. In the 360 view, the pic is showing my left mid sensor is detecting something but nothing was there. I took the car in but the service advisor said nothing is wrong by looking at the log file. I showed them the video on the display showing something was detected on the left side. I asked him to look up the bug report I created but he said he doesn't have access to it. Got the manager to talk about this and they gave me the same run around. I specifically said only the left side is showing this but not the right side so clearly some components are wrong but not the normal expected SW they claimed. I didn’t want to waste more time so I left and resorted to googling the issue I am seeing.

In my case, replacement of the rear sensors and wiring harness solved the problem. Local service center in Brooklyn was not up to the task for this. Even when I reproduced it with their tech in the car, the tech said it was "normal behavior." If you drive on the highway with EAP often, then try it again as often as you can, and do the "bug report" every single time it fails -- Just hit the right steering wheel button to enable voice command and say "bug report."

Also, when it happens, click "save" on the dash cam to save videos that show the problem. This will give some corroborating evidence to whatever is in the log files. When you have a few instances of it, contact Tesla support via e-mail and request an audit of the log files based on the multiple bug reports.

 

[bwilson4web]

Was this a 'one side', lane change abort?

I've had three left side, 'aborted' lane changes but none to the right.

Is there evidence of an ultrasonic sensor or side "B" pillar camera problem?

Bob Wilson

 

[MrBoylan]

Was this a 'one side', lane change abort?

I've had three left side, 'aborted' lane changes but none to the right.

Is there evidence of an ultrasonic sensor or side "B" pillar camera problem?

Bob Wilson

It was a single side lane change "stutter" but not necessarily abort. Sometimes it would abort the lane change entirely, but more often it would begin the lane change, then head back to the original lane, then complete the lane change. The local service center said they found no evidence of hardware problems, but when I escalated things, someone found some "communication anomalies" in the logs that suggested problems with the rear sensors. Bottom line is after they replaced the rear sensors and wiring harness the problem went away for me.

 

[thoko]

I'm having the same issue. Repeatedly actually and it certainly is worse for me on the left side than right side lane changes. Can you tell me how you engaged the mobile service techs to come by? What is the process for initiating a repair service?
Thank you!

It was a single side lane change "stutter" but not necessarily abort. Sometimes it would abort the lane change entirely, but more often it would begin the lane change, then head back to the original lane, then complete the lane change. The local service center said they found no evidence of hardware problems, but when I escalated things, someone found some "communication anomalies" in the logs that suggested problems with the rear sensors. Bottom line is after they replaced the rear sensors and wiring harness the problem went away for me.

 

[FielderJones]

What is the process for initiating a repair service?

Click the Schedule Service button on your phone app, and it will walk you through.

 

[sweetneet]

wow, a timely thread as i was just about to post asking about a similar issue. i just started seeing this in past few days.i would say it was happening about 20% of the time. i thought it was due to software update. But then today, my car *refused* to change lanes in Autopilot, at all! even with no cars around. the visualization shows that the left rear and right rear sensors detecting something but nothing is there. I rebooted and cleaned sensors but to no avail. Now when i came here to ask about it, i saw this post and it reminded me that it was doing this right before it would started refusing to change lanes at all. Seems like i need to put in a service request to get the sensors replaced.

 

[thoko]

My issues seem to have magically disappeared. Maybe it was dirt stuck on a sensor or something else, but for the past week I have not had ANY issues with automatic lane change. Even though about a week ago, I had thoroughly washed the car, the next day, I was still seeing issues. But then all of a sudden about 5 days ago, the issues seem to have disappeared all on its own. I'll keep trying over the next couple of weeks to see how it behaves.