Model S Technical / Mechanical Issues

[pete8314]

I've got a question about the steering wheel buttons:

View attachment 27340

The other day when I was driving at night, they were bright white. I asked my wife if they were always that way, and she looked at me like I was being a bit slow (not unusual). I assumed it had just been a while since I drove at night, which on reflection wasn't really true. Anyway, last night, they were barely lit at all...if you cup your hand around them you can see a very dim backlighting, but it's almost non-existent, and not bright enough to actually see the button when it's really dark.

So, what's normal? Bright white, or barely noticeable?

Following up on this, my buttons decided to be bright white last night. Not the best photo, but they are very bright (which I like):

 

[ckessel]

Following up on this, my buttons decided to be bright white last night. Not the best photo, but they are very bright (which I like):

Do you adjust the screen brightness? I think all the ambient lighting adjusts with it.

 

[pete8314]

No, never touch it. Sometimes they're super-bright, but mostly you can barely see the backlighting.

 

[NOLA_Mike]

What I have found is that when they are dim (or sometimes not lit at all) if I adjust the screen brightness up or down they immediately come back to life.

Seems like a bug to me.

 

[brianman]

No, never touch it. Sometimes they're super-bright, but mostly you can barely see the backlighting.

Any correlation to Day/Night mode of the Display?

 

[jomo25]

This is clearly a chronic-bug in the car (worthy of recall), not a mfr QA (Quality Assurance) issue.

I thought recalls were exclusively for safety issues. I didn't think the groan was presenting any danger. Service bulletin, perhaps, if even that.

 

[J in MN]

Any correlation to Day/Night mode of the Display?

Haven't tried to replicate it yet, but my experience is that if the car starts in day mode, and later auto switches to night mode, the buttons are bright. In other cases they are dim.

 

[pete8314]

Haven't tried to replicate it yet, but my experience is that if the car starts in day mode, and later auto switches to night mode, the buttons are bright. In other cases they are dim.

Hmmm, opposite experience for me, last night the car started (and stayed) in night mode, and the buttons were bright. This morning, started in night mode until I rolled out of the garage, and buttons were dim the whole time.

 

[mlbailey]

Just took some friends out in my P85+ today, and when I stomped on the accelerator, felt a "thud" at the rear of the car and a loss of acceleration, then had an error message pop up telling me to safely pull over to the side of the road and reboot the car. As I was coasting to the side of the road, I tried pressing the accelerator but nothing happened, except for a glitchy dotted yellow line moving through the power meter section of the speedometer. After restarting the car, it seemed to operate normally and could accelerate quickly once again.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

@mlbailey, similar to this?

Car delivered yesterday, died 10 times today, stranding my family.

Resolved thus: Car delivered yesterday, died 10 times today, stranding my family. - Page 7

 

[NigelM]

Mod Note: some posts went here - chimpanzee-s-big-project

 

[brianman]

Just took some friends out in my P85+ today, and when I stomped on the accelerator, felt a "thud" at the rear of the car and a loss of acceleration, then had an error message pop up telling me to safely pull over to the side of the road and reboot the car. As I was coasting to the side of the road, I tried pressing the accelerator but nothing happened, except for a glitchy dotted yellow line moving through the power meter section of the speedometer. After restarting the car, it seemed to operate normally and could accelerate quickly once again.

I'll try to remember to stomp the accelerator a bunch of times tomorrow and this weekend to make sure mine doesn't have this problem.

 

[JRP3]

The "thud" is probably the drive train unloading from loss of power under load.

 

[ckessel]

Had my car in for creaking pano roof noises. Apparently _that_ day they'd gotten an updated TSB saying that if you bring it in for any pano roof issue they proactively fix all the possible known pano issues rather than just the one you brought it in for.

My car is nice and quiet again thankfully.

Edit: oh, and be nice to the service folks, the ones in Portland are still doing 60-70 hour weeks. And then quite a bit more on the end of Q2 push to get cars delivered. They're hiring, but staffing up is always slow. The Portland service center has 6 (maybe 7?) people now and had just 1 in January (and only part-time as he was in the process of relocating from the Seattle service center).

 

[Jeeps17]

ckessel,

I just had my car in for the creaking pano roof as well... what day did you refer to for that new TSB?

I also had the ventilation retrofit performed, but unfortunately now have an annoying creak from the passenger A pillar region :crying:

 

[ckessel]

ckessel,

I just had my car in for the creaking pano roof as well... what day did you refer to for that new TSB?

I'm not entirely positive. They were working on the car on Wednesday and when I went to pick it up it was still going to be over an hour since the TSB had them doing more work than was expected. So I'd guess the TSB came in Tuesday or Wednesday.

On the bright side, I got a Roadster loaner. Fun car in sort of a souped up go cart way, but noisy, rattle filled, and not very comfortable. It was a blast to have for a day, but I like my S much better.

 

[Rlsarch]

Just took some friends out in my P85+ today, and when I stomped on the accelerator, felt a "thud" at the rear of the car and a loss of acceleration, then had an error message pop up telling me to safely pull over to the side of the road and reboot the car. As I was coasting to the side of the road, I tried pressing the accelerator but nothing happened, except for a glitchy dotted yellow line moving through the power meter section of the speedometer. After restarting the car, it seemed to operate normally and could accelerate quickly once again.

Anyone else experience this?

Had the same thing happen to me and a couple of weeks later SC called and said they saw the error and ordered the part, picked up the car and replaced it in a day. They said it was the inverter that needed to be replaced. converts DC to AC. Call your SC.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I also had the ventilation retrofit performed, but unfortunately now have an annoying creak from the passenger A pillar region :crying:

I had a similar problem. See the resolution here:

Cricking from passenger side A pillar

 

[mknox]

...then had an error message pop up telling me to safely pull over to the side of the road and reboot the car.

How do you re-boot the car? I know how to re-boot the 17" screen and dash screen, but I thought that the car's drive system was completely isolated from these screens. (I've re-booted my 17" screen while underway with no ill effects as far as drivetrain performance goes).

 

[Rlsarch]

How do you re-boot the car? I know how to re-boot the 17" screen and dash screen, but I thought that the car's drive system was completely isolated from these screens. (I've re-booted my 17" screen while underway with no ill effects as far as drivetrain performance goes).

Manually power down the car from the controls menu, then step on the brake to turn it back on. Reboot the car.