My issue started on 8/9/19 at 4:11am and 10:12pm. They only seem to happen late night/early morning. Most days were at/around 4:11am. I'm not sure what software version I was on at that time. I submitted my issue to Tesla support. I'll let you know what they say. I asked them if the day before (8/8) was when my car was updated to 28.2. It is still happening for me on 28.3.
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Model S blinking Morse code with headlights when parked?
- Thread starter whitex
- Start date
Car waking up periodically is normal and not new. Flashing lights is not. If it's not Morse code, maybe it's flashing an error code of some type? Headlight controller signaling it doesn't like commands sent to it?
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
You think Tesla is updating all these cars every few hours every day and night?
Read the thread, this is not update activity.
Lex
Member
Based on the reports here, it seems it is only happening with the new fascia and LED headlights.
Consider yourselves lucky in one respect, HID headlights are something like $1000 each to replace, and cycling them can blow them faster (Wikipedia entry for HID says re-igniting a hot lamp is the worst, but not sure how hot they'd get with this... in any case I either force mine ON or OFF as much as possible).
PS I wish more members would put car details in their sig.. not sure if Tesla is (still) using the forum here for research but it's really helpful to see what's going on in the community, and the more info we have, the better
bhakan
MSLR MSM/Blk/19/FSD, Ord 6/10/21, Del 2/20/22
I have been noticing this blinking for more than a week. My Nest camera has been capturing this . I noticed two passenger side flashes first followed by two driver side flashes. See attached videos. There is a click sound just before the first passenger side blinking as if something is turning on and the sound probably stops at the end. I have videos from 2 separate dates. My neighbors thought my car is possessed so last night I decided to park my other car in front of my S.
I have tried to attach the mp4 files here. Hope it uploaded.
I have tried to attach the mp4 files here. Hope it uploaded.
WdstockWizard
Member
2018 Mdl S 75D. I first noticed this same activity a week ago as I removed the charging cable. As you all know, to do this you have to push the button on the "nozzle" which usually wakes up the car.
First a short flash on the passenger side, followed by a longer flash. (I suppose you could call this a "dot- dash" which is morse code for an "a"). About 5 seconds later the driver side lights do the same.
Just now, driven by the curiosity from this thread, I tried waking the car with the app. Same result.
One more observation. I believe the short & long flash are coming from different lamps. It appeared to me one was from the DRL and the other from the headlight, on each side.
BTW, if you have a mind to, you might want to side quietly in your car during an OTA update. Quite a number of clicks, buzzes and lights flash. Thats how I learned the glove box button can be illuminated. ...and yes I am a nerd.
First a short flash on the passenger side, followed by a longer flash. (I suppose you could call this a "dot- dash" which is morse code for an "a"). About 5 seconds later the driver side lights do the same.
Just now, driven by the curiosity from this thread, I tried waking the car with the app. Same result.
One more observation. I believe the short & long flash are coming from different lamps. It appeared to me one was from the DRL and the other from the headlight, on each side.
BTW, if you have a mind to, you might want to side quietly in your car during an OTA update. Quite a number of clicks, buzzes and lights flash. Thats how I learned the glove box button can be illuminated. ...and yes I am a nerd.
Only nerds like us would actually translate the morse codeNeh, the one is just slower - each had a short blink followed by long blink, so still an "A"
I guess I am unlucky. Since 2019.28.2 update a few days ago, my car does exactly the same thing as often as 20 times a night draining 12-15mi range. Varying intervals 6 minutes to 45 minutes. Wyze cam in the garage keeps going off, so had to disable the notification.
Tesla. Fix this. And please train your service people.
Bay Area Santa Clara Service Center people are clueless. I happened to have a service appointment there and asked them to see if they can diagnose this. Without even looking at the car, the bulletins, etc. the service guy immediately tells me it's NORMAL, and that ALL of their cars in their lot do it, and it's just TALKING TO THE MOTHERSHIP. I told them it happens 20 times a night and drains the battery, and it only started after the 2019.28.2 firmware update. He insists it's normal. You are not really bright are you. I would use this vehicle to gather diagnostic info and send to the corporate so they can fix for everyone. Their primary objective seems to be denying any issues customers bring. Not really helping customers.
Late 2016 Model S 75D facelift
Tesla. Fix this. And please train your service people.
Bay Area Santa Clara Service Center people are clueless. I happened to have a service appointment there and asked them to see if they can diagnose this. Without even looking at the car, the bulletins, etc. the service guy immediately tells me it's NORMAL, and that ALL of their cars in their lot do it, and it's just TALKING TO THE MOTHERSHIP. I told them it happens 20 times a night and drains the battery, and it only started after the 2019.28.2 firmware update. He insists it's normal. You are not really bright are you. I would use this vehicle to gather diagnostic info and send to the corporate so they can fix for everyone. Their primary objective seems to be denying any issues customers bring. Not really helping customers.
Late 2016 Model S 75D facelift
By "normal" they mean there is no reason to diagnose your car because it's a bug in the software, so your car is not broken. They don't need your car data to diagnose this, all cars do it. I agree that it's bad communication (a better way to say this would have been "it's a know bug in the software, engineers are working on a fix, you will receive it via OTA when it's released"), but bad communication is par for the course when it comes to Tesla. They don't train their employees in how to communicate well. The only communication training they seem to get is spoon-fed lines about thing like the yellow screens to try to avoid legal liability. Tesla corporate itself has one of the worst records of bad communication with customers - Elon believes CEO tweeting is all a company needs for customer communications. I guess he's right if the only goal is to get as many new customers as possible, rather than retention of existing ones.
