My car lost its mind today [excessive push notifications]

[ButchAZ]

I live in Tucson where the sun is very hot, even on a relatively nice day like today. I had to park in an open area, so I knew the car would get hot. This afternoon, I glanced at the app and saw the internal temp was 104F, so I turned on the ac for a bit. About an hour later I got a push notification that said the ac was on and should be turned off (why? I wanted it on for a reason). I didn't have time to mess with it right that instant, so then a few minutes later, I started getting push notifications that the ac was on and needed to be turned off, then 2 seconds later a notification saying I had six new messages from Tesla, then 2 seconds later one saying the ac was on and needed to be turned off. It repeated this without stoping, one message every 2 seconds. I had a patient under anesthesia on the OR table at the time, so I had to get a colleague to relieve me so I could go out to the car to try to figure out WTF was happening. The infotainment screen was black, and the car wouldn't do anything. I did a reset, which took FOREVER to reboot, and it finally came back on and stopped sending the push notifications.

Now, this might be funny, except that the endless stream of push notifications made my phone essentially useless while it was happening. I rely heavily on my phone for my job as an anesthesiologist, and I can't be having distracting crap like my Tesla going haywire in the middle of a case and tying up my phone in the process. Not. Acceptable. At. All. And of course it's not like you can call Tesla about something like this - "use the Tesla app" - well sometimes the Tesla app IS the problem, you dorks.

I have to say that a month and a half in, I'm far less impressed with this car than I anticipated being (I still have a WICKED rattle in the RH passenger door that they claimed was fixed, which wasn't). I had my Chevy Bolt for 20 months and had exactly ZERO problems with it, including rattles. So far it's been some annoyance every few days with the Tesla - which cost almost twice what the Bolt cost. When I took it to the Tucson service center to get the windshield replaced, not only was the new windshield filthy on the inside when I picked the car up, but when I indicated that in the survey I got, almost a month later I've heard exactly squat from Tesla about it. Not. Acceptable. At. All.

It's a nice car, don't get me wrong, but it's a VERY long way from even coming close to living up to all the hype about it. I wish I could have my Bolt back.

 

[cwerdna]

FWIW, on both iOS and Android, you can disable notifications on a per app basis.

I had a '19 Bolt for 3 years (only put about 21K miles on it) and had it bought back related to the battery recall. Other than the battery recall itself, I also can't remember having any trouble with it.

I never had any warranty work done on it other than getting the "advanced diagnostics" update that was the same update as the "final remedy" for the Nov 2020 recall for non-recalled (back then) cars then the (came out in Nov 2021) 80% temp limiter patch that added additional diagnostics.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

The biggest problem that I see is a lack of customer engagement.

This app issue is likely a bug of some kind, but its doubtful that the bug will get reported. The reason is won't get reported is there is no easy way to report bugs. The app has no bug reporting mechanism, and the car only has that silly verbal bug report that they hardly ever follow up on.

Over my Tesla ownership period the amount of bugs has grown substantially.

It's so bad now that the car doesn't even turn on the autolights when the windshield wipers are activated during the day. It used to, but then on some update they broke (intentionally or unintentionally) the connection between the wipers and the autolights.

As an aside there was no reason for the OP to turn on the AC. There is no need to baby the car and there is no issue with the temp being 104F inside the car. The AC should be for humans and pets and not for cars.

You can vent, but then the car will tell you that your windows are open.

 

[Tam]

...I glanced at the app and saw the internal temp was 104F, so I turned on the ac for a bit...

Prior to Tesla, there's no app for me to glance for 104 temperature. My cars would just roast and melt plastics without bothering with notifications.

Now you have a choice. You can set Tesla app to abstain from notifying you. You can turn on "Cabin overheat protection" so your cabin can cool down automatically. If you manually turn on your HVAC, it will keep on reminding you that it's still on.

Technology can be helpful if you read the owner's manual.

 

[jjrandorin]

I live in Tucson where the sun is very hot, even on a relatively nice day like today. I had to park in an open area, so I knew the car would get hot. This afternoon, I glanced at the app and saw the internal temp was 104F, so I turned on the ac for a bit. About an hour later I got a push notification that said the ac was on and should be turned off (why? I wanted it on for a reason). I didn't have time to mess with it right that instant, so then a few minutes later, I started getting push notifications that the ac was on and needed to be turned off, then 2 seconds later a notification saying I had six new messages from Tesla, then 2 seconds later one saying the ac was on and needed to be turned off. It repeated this without stoping, one message every 2 seconds. I had a patient under anesthesia on the OR table at the time, so I had to get a colleague to relieve me so I could go out to the car to try to figure out WTF was happening. The infotainment screen was black, and the car wouldn't do anything. I did a reset, which took FOREVER to reboot, and it finally came back on and stopped sending the push notifications.

Now, this might be funny, except that the endless stream of push notifications made my phone essentially useless while it was happening. I rely heavily on my phone for my job as an anesthesiologist, and I can't be having distracting crap like my Tesla going haywire in the middle of a case and tying up my phone in the process. Not. Acceptable. At. All. And of course it's not like you can call Tesla about something like this - "use the Tesla app" - well sometimes the Tesla app IS the problem, you dorks.

I have to say that a month and a half in, I'm far less impressed with this car than I anticipated being (I still have a WICKED rattle in the RH passenger door that they claimed was fixed, which wasn't). I had my Chevy Bolt for 20 months and had exactly ZERO problems with it, including rattles. So far it's been some annoyance every few days with the Tesla - which cost almost twice what the Bolt cost. When I took it to the Tucson service center to get the windshield replaced, not only was the new windshield filthy on the inside when I picked the car up, but when I indicated that in the survey I got, almost a month later I've heard exactly squat from Tesla about it. Not. Acceptable. At. All.

It's a nice car, don't get me wrong, but it's a VERY long way from even coming close to living up to all the hype about it. I wish I could have my Bolt back.

I cant even imagine why a doctor in the middle of performing a surgical procedure would not have notifications disabled. I actually find that more scary that push notifications happening when they are not supposed to.

 

[ButchAZ]

FWIW, on both iOS and Android, you can disable notifications on a per app basis.

Guess again. I tried that. It overrode my setting.

 

[ButchAZ]

I cant even imagine why a doctor in the middle of performing a surgical procedure would not have notifications disabled. I actually find that more scary that push notifications happening when they are not supposed to.

I wasn't performing a surgical procedure, I was giving anesthesia. We use our phones to communicate between providers and between providers and preop and PACU nurses, etc. It's critical.

 

[ButchAZ]

Technology can be helpful if you read the owner's manual.

And this is why I don't frequent this forum. Snarky comments like that from people who have NO idea who I am, what I've done, or anything else. Very helpful. Thanks.

 

[cat7]

I wasn't performing a surgical procedure, I was giving anesthesia. We use our phones to communicate between providers and between providers and preop and PACU nurses, etc. It's critical.

My work phone is locked down to only allow certain apps to be installed, and I don't do anything anywhere near as important/safety critical as you do. It absolutely amazes me that if your phone it critical to your job of giving anaesthesia that you are allowed/able to install any app you want.

 

[pipp]

Going with your assertion that the app went rogue and cannot be controlled, how about deleting the app next time this happens, and then re-downloading it later? Or does this kind of thing occur too frequently for deleting/re-downloading to be feasible?

 

[jjrandorin]

And this is why I don't frequent this forum. Snarky comments like that from people who have NO idea who I am, what I've done, or anything else. Very helpful. Thanks.

This is literally "Do you know who I am?", and there are very (very) few times in which someone says that, where its actually something positive, or doesnt come across as pretentious.

 

[danarcha]

This is literally "Do you know who I am?", and there are very (very) few times in which someone says that, where its actually something positive, or doesnt come across as pretentious.

Exactly, he could have said he was "at work" and getting numerous push notifications. But that doesn't sound as impressive as pointing out he was "giving anesthesia". What kind of work he was doing is irrelevant to the Tesla issue he was having, but he wanted us to know he is a doctor.

 

[Tam]

And this is why I don't frequent this forum. Snarky comments like that from people who have NO idea who I am, what I've done, or anything else. Very helpful. Thanks.

No, we don't. But bragging distraction while on the job is not a good sign.

That's how the famous singer Michael Jackson died when his Doctor claimed that he was distracted while giving anesthetics.

What's the big deal about uninstalling the Tesla App so you can devote your attention to your patient?

It's not an emergency when your car is 104F because if there was milk inside your car, it would still be spoiled at a lower temperature like 80F anyhow.

 

[KenC]

My brother is a Johns Hopkins trained heart surgeon, at a famous SoCal hospital that treats all the famous hollywood stars, and I give him crap all the time! He's gonna get my used 3 when I get my Cybertruck. He currently drives a Honda CRV hybrid. He doesn't go around asking people, do you know who I am, cause he drives a CRV! Hahaha.

Anyhow, get yourself an Watch, everyone in medicine has one. Then your notifications go to your Watch, and you set it on vibrate, and if it vibrates, you glance at it. Takes a split second, and even if it's going crazy, it's not an annoyance and time suck like having to take out your phone out each and every time. Just flip your wrist and glance, and if it's nothing, go back to what you were doing. No need to have someone take over your anaesthesia case while you run out to your car.

When you first got notified, maybe try venting the car, rather than turning on the AC. Also, you can set your car to cool the car automatically. It'll take care of it. You manually doing it, makes the car think you've forgotten to turn it off after an hour.

BTW, did you think to ask the stupid car, you "have NO idea who I am, what I've done, or anything else", why do you keep bothering me?!?