New Taillights coming?

[FurryOne]

On the Ride The Lightning (RTL) podcast Ryan mentioned that model Y's were getting new taillights that used the outer "C" for braking (hi/lo brightness), and the inner "-" was now amber for turn signaling. Are the model Y taillights interchangeable with the model 3's?

 

[jmaddr]

Man, I would love to see amber turn signals, may even retro fit if the cost is reasonable. It's just easier to see and safer. Seen too many rear end collisions on this site and feel at least some of those could be avoided.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Maybe these would be watertight.

 

[XLR82XS]

Are the model Y taillights interchangeable with the model 3's?

Outer lights yes. Same part #: 1077397-00-G & 1077398-00-F

 

[EfficientWatts]

Model Y updated tail light comparison. : teslamotors

Here it is in action. The key thing is if it will just work as-is or there would be issues on NA cars before the production changeover as I know people who accidentally got Model 3 Euro lights on NA cars did not work properly.

Also I wonder if I would have to replace the inner part as well. Ideally I would just get away with changing the outer parts unless something looks funny about that.

 

[sonicP3D]

Outer lights yes. Same part #: 1077397-00-G & 1077398-00-F

That's still the old part number that 3 and Y shared with the big red bar.
I think epc will be updated sooner or later to include the new part number for the big yellow bar. When that shows up, you can go buy it and put it into any Model 3, but the lights won't work properly.

I've played around with the tail lights converting my NA Model 3 to EU tail lights, and found that the Turn pin is by software dual-purposed as brakes and turn. When you press the brakes on a pre-change Model 3/Y, the Brake pin and Turn pin are both high. Software will need to be updated to decouple the function to work with the new lights; Brake pin only for brakes, Turn pin only for turning.

So Tesla will either need to keep both versions active as replacement parts for appropriate car generations, or they will need to force-uprev older cars to new tail lights(left and right together as a set to match) whenever customers go in for tail light problems and remember to update the SW config.

I suspect they'd go the first option, in which case it would be hard to ask the service center to change your software config for a voluntary retrofit.
But if they go with the up-rev everyone as needed option, it would be very retrofit friendly.

 

[Adam3]

Model Y updated tail light comparison. : teslamotors

Here it is in action. The key thing is if it will just work as-is or there would be issues on NA cars before the production changeover as I know people who accidentally got Model 3 Euro lights on NA cars did not work properly.

Also I wonder if I would have to replace the inner part as well. Ideally I would just get away with changing the outer parts unless something looks funny about that.

You would have to replace both. The red part is brighter and the new lens seems a bit clearer, but may be an illusion.

I hope they are plug and play with older cars but won't hold my breath. I've been wanting amber turn signals since buying the car.

 

[AdamMacDon]

That's still the old part number that 3 and Y shared with the big red bar.
I think epc will be updated sooner or later to include the new part number for the big yellow bar. When that shows up, you can go buy it and put it into any Model 3, but the lights won't work properly.

I've played around with the tail lights converting my NA Model 3 to EU tail lights, and found that the Turn pin is by software dual-purposed as brakes and turn. When you press the brakes on a pre-change Model 3/Y, the Brake pin and Turn pin are both high. Software will need to be updated to decouple the function to work with the new lights; Brake pin only for brakes, Turn pin only for turning.

So Tesla will either need to keep both versions active as replacement parts for appropriate car generations, or they will need to force-uprev older cars to new tail lights(left and right together as a set to match) whenever customers go in for tail light problems and remember to update the SW config.

I suspect they'd go the first option, in which case it would be hard to ask the service center to change your software config for a voluntary retrofit.
But if they go with the up-rev everyone as needed option, it would be very retrofit friendly.

Yeah I can't see the service center going for this. I'm just gonna do what you did and wire up to the marker lights or turn signals. I'm probably not even gonna make a custom harness like you, just use posi twist and taps. At first I was gonna go with the original EU spec tail lights, but I am tempted to wait for these after seeing the video.

 

[EfficientWatts]

So Tesla will either need to keep both versions active as replacement parts for appropriate car generations, or they will need to force-uprev older cars to new tail lights(left and right together as a set to match) whenever customers go in for tail light problems and remember to update the SW config.

I suspect they'd go the first option, in which case it would be hard to ask the service center to change your software config for a voluntary retrofit.
But if they go with the up-rev everyone as needed option, it would be very retrofit friendly.

There is a third option. I know people have wired it to work somehow despite the signaling issue; I wonder if Tesla could have done something similar inside the part if they want to avoid using the software flag on older cars. That does seem like an unnecessary cost unless it can be done so cheaply it doesn't matter.

I do think at some point they'll support the up-rev as eventually there will be so many more cars with amber blinkers that it would make more sense to support the retrofit.

 

[Adam3]

Another video Model Y updated taillights Part 2- Illuminated. : teslamotors

 

[sonicP3D]

Yeah I can't see the service center going for this. I'm just gonna do what you did and wire up to the marker lights or turn signals. I'm probably not even gonna make a custom harness like you, just use posi twist and taps. At first I was gonna go with the original EU spec tail lights, but I am tempted to wait for these after seeing the video.

Wiring should be the same regardless if it were EU spec or NewStyle. Just don't forget the resistor, otherwise it will think the "combo" turn+brake lights are disconnected and the front/side blinkers will blink super fast.

There is a third option. I know people have wired it to work somehow despite the signaling issue; I wonder if Tesla could have done something similar inside the part if they want to avoid using the software flag on older cars. That does seem like an unnecessary cost unless it can be done so cheaply it doesn't matter.

I do think at some point they'll support the up-rev as eventually there will be so many more cars with amber blinkers that it would make more sense to support the retrofit.

Nope. The tail lights are "dumb" lights. Each element is driven by dedicated wires, full 12V or 0V. The headlights on the other hand, are fully controlled over the LIN bus, so anything is possible over there.
I think software flags are easy. They have it for homelink (if you self-install the hardware, you still need to visit service center to enable it), premium connectivity, FSD... Not too hard to imagine another flag for taillightstyle=OldNA/OldEU/NewCombo

 

[EfficientWatts]

Wiring should be the same regardless if it were EU spec or NewStyle. Just don't forget the resistor, otherwise it will think the "combo" turn+brake lights are disconnected and the front/side blinkers will blink super fast.



Nope. The tail lights are "dumb" lights. Each element is driven by dedicated wires, full 12V or 0V. The headlights on the other hand, are fully controlled over the LIN bus, so anything is possible over there.
I think software flags are easy. They have it for homelink (if you self-install the hardware, you still need to visit service center to enable it), premium connectivity, FSD... Not too hard to imagine another flag for taillightstyle=OldNA/OldEU/NewCombo

You misunderstood what I said. I was just trying to point out that know that people have gotten the EU lights working on NA flagged cars. There's probably something custom done with added expense so it is likely Tesla won't go that route.

Sources:
No Power, Model 3 : teslamotors

 

[Adam3]

I didn't know people figured out a way to get the EU tail lights working properly. Is it pretty simple wiring?

 

[AdamMacDon]

I didn't know people figured out a way to get the EU tail lights working properly. Is it pretty simple wiring?

Yeah literally run one wire back from the side repeaters to each signal. Cut a wire splice in a resistor, boom. You can actually plug and play the EU assembly but the one small caveat is your turn signals light up with your brakes. The above wiring change will fix that.

 

[Perscitus]

Another video Model Y updated taillights Part 2- Illuminated. : teslamotors

Thanks for sharing. A bit of a letdown, because as expected, the inner sub assembly in the trunk hatch doest not carry through the stop light brightness change in the LED/plasma diffuser bar.

Will still probably look decent at night, but seems half baked and doesn't give off an OE vibe. Perhaps the inner bar can be coaxed into a higher brightness mode with some spaghetti wiring (although if the difference is the count and not the brightness or the type of LEDs used, then it wont work).

Still wondering what sparked this 3/Y change, as the US regulations havent budged in recent years and a refresh would typically mix up the color scheme inside the assemblies.

 

[EfficientWatts]

Still wondering what sparked this 3/Y change, as the US regulations havent budged in recent years and a refresh would typically mix up the color scheme inside the assemblies.

Probably just part simplification and efficiency. If they could use just one tail light assembly and configuration, then there's one less variation Tesla has to worry about in production. Little changes adds up, and would eliminate issues like the occasional wrong taillight installed (which we have seen happen).

It does make me wonder why they didn't do this in the first place...

 

[scarpiamod3]

Man, I would love to see amber turn signals, may even retro fit if the cost is reasonable. It's just easier to see and safer. Seen too many rear end collisions on this site and feel at least some of those could be avoided.

I saw that the european versions had amber. I think you would have to order from Uk for example.

I just stumbled across it on google, so verify.

 

[AdamMacDon]

I saw that the european versions had amber. I think you would have to order from Uk for example.

I just stumbled across it on google, so verify.

Good luck ordering from an SC in Europe and getting them to ship here, however, you can find sets of EU spec taillights for sale by third parties on eBay and the like.

 

[sonicP3D]

You misunderstood what I said. I was just trying to point out that know that people have gotten the EU lights working on NA flagged cars. There's probably something custom done with added expense so it is likely Tesla won't go that route.

Sources:
No Power, Model 3 : teslamotors

I didn't know people figured out a way to get the EU tail lights working properly. Is it pretty simple wiring?

I'm not sure if they were able to convince Tesla to update their config. That would be the ideal method. (I tried asking my service center to modify the config for me, but they were clueless.) I converted my NA Model 3 to EU tail lights using a hardware mod.
Check out my instructions: WTB Model 3 Euro tail lights

 

[Perscitus]

Will be interesting to see if the inner/trunk hatch section of the tail assemblies can be persuaded to carry over the stop light brightness increase with a hardware mod.

If not, the new assemblies are regressing to the look/feel of Model X units.