Model Y Tow Hitch Sensor Message

[borka105]

I added the tow hitch to my Model Y at the time of order. This past weekend, I finally attached a bike rack and enabled trailer mode. With trailer mode turned on I am getting an error message saying the my parking sensors may be dirty or are not working. My understanding is that trailer mode is supposed to remove these error messages. Am I missing something or should I contact Tesla because something is not working correctly with the Trailer mode software? I thought I’d ask the forum to make sure I am not doing something incorrectly.

I’ve done software reboot as well and that didn’t remove the warning messages from displaying…

Thanks

 

[Snakedoc]

I believe trailer mode is only active when the car detects something plugged in. I have a kayak trailer, and when plugged in, no error messages are displayed. When I use my bike rack, I get that same parking sensor message.

 

[Watts_Up]

I believe trailer mode is only active when the car detects something plugged in. I have a kayak trailer, and when plugged in, no error messages are displayed. When I use my bike rack, I get that same parking sensor message.

I wonder if using an adapter designed for trailer using LED light could fix the issue?

May like this model: Hopkins 47345 4 Wire Flat Adapter

Note: Such adapters are often nedeed because the trailer is not detected by the car because of the low consumption.

 

[Arthur31]

Nothing wrong with your car. Also AP will work fine you just get pretty rainbow lines behind you.
Tesla should have a bike rack mode for this.

 

[borka105]

Ok. So to confirm, using the tow hitch only with trailer mode on does not remove the error messages? It will only remove the error messages if I actually plug in a trailer?

Thanks!

 

[boredwitless]

I believe trailer mode is only active when the car detects something plugged in. I have a kayak trailer, and when plugged in, no error messages are displayed. When I use my bike rack, I get that same parking sensor message.

Does your bike rack have a light board that you plug in? Here in Europe, all the hitch racks have a light board with connector. For instance, my Thule rack has a 13-pin power connector. When this is connected the trailer mode is activated automatically,* and I never see a parking sensor message.

*Most of the time I disable this so I can still use autopilot, albeit with the rainbow moustache. As I have written before, Tesla please give us a dedicated bike rack mode!

 

[Snakedoc]

Yeah, bike racks here do not have a light board to plug in. Using that flat wire adapter with LED's that Watts_Up noted may work. I actually have that adapter but never tried it. I'll give it a shot later today.

 

[Vin_L]

Completely normal. Trailer mode just removes those wings on the back of the car showing on the screen. Trailer mode should only be used with a trailer. Tesla really needs a way to completely disable to rear sensors so we dont get the fault messages

 

[AlvarHanso]

Ok. So to confirm, using the tow hitch only with trailer mode on does not remove the error messages? It will only remove the error messages if I actually plug in a trailer?

Thanks!

A work around I found is to plug in a trailer plug tester, which puts a small load on the circuit. That (for me) eliminates the messages.

 

[Vin_L]

A work around I found is to plug in a trailer plug tester, which puts a small load on the circuit. That (for me) eliminates the messages.

Do you have a link or photo of what you are using?

 

[AlvarHanso]

Do you have a link or photo of what you are using?

Certainly. There are tons of these out there, some cheaper, some more expensive.

Amazon.com

 

[Snakedoc]

It's like the one Watt's_Up posted above. That should work.

 

[Vin_L]

Also did it stop the rapaid flashing of the turn signals In trailer mode

 

[boredwitless]

Completely normal. Trailer mode just removes those wings on the back of the car showing on the screen. Trailer mode should only be used with a trailer. Tesla really needs a way to completely disable to rear sensors so we dont get the fault messages

Trailer mode also drastically modifies trip planning, by applying a much lower efficiency than driving with no trailer. This is another reason why we need a bike rack mode. Compared to no rack, the bike rack decreases efficiency, especially at highway speed. As I have discovered, this can easily throw off the Supercharger planning on long trips – like the time it wanted me to drive through a high altitude tunnel with negative battery percentage in order to make it to the Supercharger the other side of the mountain!

 

[VQTRVA]

Certainly. There are tons of these out there, some cheaper, some more expensive.

Amazon.com

Can you leave these in & drive @ hwy speeds with it ?

 

[Mark-YSR]

If I turn on Trailer Mode with the bike rack on, it stops the message and car from reacting angrily when I back up, but it also takes away Autopilot.

I find no real harm in leaving Trailer Mode off and just paying extra attention when backing up.

 

[VQTRVA]

What does this mean in the manual?
That the sensora don't work or that the sensors recognizes bicycles & turn itself off?
Latter being false as by all of our complaints here.
But still have to do my due diligence as I hate the El Camacho Mustache on the screen panel for the entire trip with my bike rack on.

 

[Mark-YSR]

Good find! Unfortunately that wasn't my experience just last week with bikes behind me. I had the sensors detecting an object and not bikes (warning me I was hitting something going backwards or sensors obstructed going forwards).

 

[DerbyCityY]

Kind of disappointing. I should have researched more before ordering the tow hitch. I was hoping to take a bike with me when I travel but am not willing to loose AP when going cross country for a bike I could possibly rent when I get there. I'm going to think it through before getting roof racks for a paddle board.

 

[Mark-YSR]

Kind of disappointing. I should have researched more before ordering the tow hitch. I was hoping to take a bike with me when I travel but am not willing to loose AP when going cross country for a bike I could possibly rent when I get there. I'm going to think it through before getting roof racks for a paddle board.

Honestly it's not a big deal to just deal with the sensor error. I just let the sensors freak out (it's colour on the screen as if you are backing into something) and use AP.

I would bring the bikes and skip renting them.