New tesla model 3 RWD battery drain while parked problem and park assist unavailable

[K55J]

All, some positive news. After updating my car this morning (2023.20.9), the cameras cooled down. Tesla sent out a mobile tech and we performed a hard reboot about an hour later.

So far the car has stopped humming (coolant pump is off now) and my car’s interior is slowly decreasing in temp. I will monitor the power consumption in standby to see if all is well. I didn’t get to hear the high voltage disconnects disengage though.

 

[greg1]

All, some positive news. After updating my car this morning (2023.20.9), the cameras cooled down. Tesla sent out a mobile tech and we performed a hard reboot about an hour later.

So far the car has stopped humming (coolant pump is off now) and my car’s interior is slowly decreasing in temp. I will monitor the power consumption in standby to see if all is well. I didn’t get to hear the high voltage disconnects disengage though.

Have you driven it yet?

A high voltage reset or software update fixes it briefly but the battery drain issue returns immediately after driving it once.

See this post:

Update: I installed 2023.20.9 on Saturday night. Like all software updates, the car initially slept. I even charged it and when it hit the target it went to sleep. In the morning I loaded up the car, again left it and the car fell asleep again. Very important to stress to the SC if you get an appointment to drive it before declaring the issue fixed. I think that's why @TheWeb1000 is now waisting his time having to go back for a second service appointment.

I then drove the car that morning and it's not slept again. You can see the timeline here:

View attachment 959132


So 2023.20.9 did not fix the issue.

I'm waiting to hear back about the parts availability for some part related to the Restraint Control Module (RCM) but not the RCM itself. The part is called RH BCM, maybe Right Hand Body Control Module?

Hoping to get into the SC this week and have a good fix.

Before anyone says it's the third party app Tessie keeping my car awake. I've disconnected it by changing my Tesla password for a week and also while Tesla had the car and the issue persisted. It's not Tessie.

 

[kevin_camera]

All, some positive news. After updating my car this morning (2023.20.9), the cameras cooled down. Tesla sent out a mobile tech and we performed a hard reboot about an hour later.

So far the car has stopped humming (coolant pump is off now) and my car’s interior is slowly decreasing in temp. I will monitor the power consumption in standby to see if all is well. I didn’t get to hear the high voltage disconnects disengage though.

Yeah.. drive it out and see. After software update car will sleep. Once you drive the car out it will start draining again.

If it works, let us know how you did the hard reboot. Love to see this get fixed.

 

[K55J]

Hi,

You made a really good guess. So today my "live traffic visualization" is crippled again. Park assist is no longer working, but no error message anymore. I just have a "frozen" halo around the car all the time, doesn't change with distance.

It's also not able to read the speed limit signs while driving (stuck at 50km/h), so I'm guessing autopilot is also out. I take that back.. looks like it can read just doesn't show up on live traffic visualization.

Lines on the road also don't show up.

So definitely something to do with camera sensors -- they're not broken but I can see video feeds. They're somehow related -- this is already on 2023.20.9. The 2023.20.7 will have error message at least. Looks like the "bug fix" was preventing that error message from showing up.

Still getting power drain.....

Hey, mine was fixed for a day. All symptoms returned after driving the car to work and back. The cameras are hot again and the car won’t sleep. I have been passed on to a higher level technician. This is frustrating! It has to be software

 

[K55J]

Tesla transferred me to a master Tech (apparently) yesterday and they now say that my Restraint Control Module needs to be replaced. They are sending out a mobile tech tomorrow (Thursday August 3) to replace it.

What is interesting is that the previous tech couldn’t see that my car wasn’t sleeping, but the last tech I talked too could… They apparently could see that the restraint module was keeping the car awake. I don’t see how this affects the cameras, they are still hot to the touch when the car is in standby (unless the default in the software is to keep them running when the drive computer is awake). Also, I have lost power strewing once while reversing out of my driveway and I could not move the steering wheel at all (got a message saying power steering unavailable). I had to park the car and reset it. I noticed there are complaints in the US of this happening too as published yesterday in some media sources:

Tesla faces new NHTSA probe over loss of steering control in Model 3 and Y vehicles

The NHTSA has opened an investigation into Tesla over steering control problems and loss of power steering in the 2023 Model 3 and Model Y.

www.cnbc.com

 

[danny pan]

Tesla transferred me to a master Tech (apparently) yesterday and they now say that my Restraint Control Module needs to be replaced. They are sending out a mobile tech tomorrow (Thursday August 3) to replace it.

What is interesting is that the previous tech couldn’t see that my car wasn’t sleeping, but the last tech I talked too could… They apparently could see that the restraint module was keeping the car awake. I don’t see how this affects the cameras, they are still hot to the touch when the car is in standby (unless the default in the software is to keep them running when the drive computer is awake). Also, I have lost power strewing once while reversing out of my driveway and I could not move the steering wheel at all (got a message saying power steering unavailable). I had to park the car and reset it. I noticed there are complaints in the US of this happening too as published yesterday in some media sources:

Tesla faces new NHTSA probe over loss of steering control in Model 3 and Y vehicles

The NHTSA has opened an investigation into Tesla over steering control problems and loss of power steering in the 2023 Model 3 and Model Y.

www.cnbc.com

Any chance you can get a case id or service request id or something similar that we might be able to provide to Tesla when we have our service appointments for them to review while doing our service? It might help them hone in on the issue if they can compare notes.

 

[kevin_camera]

Tesla transferred me to a master Tech (apparently) yesterday and they now say that my Restraint Control Module needs to be replaced. They are sending out a mobile tech tomorrow (Thursday August 3) to replace it.

What is interesting is that the previous tech couldn’t see that my car wasn’t sleeping, but the last tech I talked too could… They apparently could see that the restraint module was keeping the car awake. I don’t see how this affects the cameras, they are still hot to the touch when the car is in standby (unless the default in the software is to keep them running when the drive computer is awake). Also, I have lost power strewing once while reversing out of my driveway and I could not move the steering wheel at all (got a message saying power steering unavailable). I had to park the car and reset it. I noticed there are complaints in the US of this happening too as published yesterday in some media sources:

Tesla faces new NHTSA probe over loss of steering control in Model 3 and Y vehicles

The NHTSA has opened an investigation into Tesla over steering control problems and loss of power steering in the 2023 Model 3 and Model Y.

www.cnbc.com

I have appointment Aug 10th, please let us know if the Restraint Control Module was the issue!

I assumed it was software issue because a bunch of us had the issue as soon as we moved to 2023.20.7. Or maybe software update destroyed the part? Who knows.

 

[waddler]

I have appointment Aug 10th, please let us know if the Restraint Control Module was the issue!

I assumed it was software issue because a bunch of us had the issue as soon as we moved to 2023.20.7. Or maybe software update destroyed the part? Who knows.

M

 

[waddler]

My RCM replaced yesterday. Issue fixed. Car sleeps no more drain. At last…..

 

[danny pan]

My RCM replaced yesterday. Issue fixed. Car sleeps no more drain. At last…..

Awesome, congrats! I hope to get fixed soon too. Any chance you can get a case id or service number for us to cross reference when we have our appointment?
Thanks in advance!

 

[stopcrazypp]

My RCM replaced yesterday. Issue fixed. Car sleeps no more drain. At last…..

I presume you drove it and before testing the sleeping? There were previous false alarms where the problem returned after being driven.

 

[waddler]

I presume you drove it and before testing the sleeping? There were previous false alarms where the problem returned after being driven.

Yep

 

[waddler]

Awesome, congrats! I hope to get fixed soon too. Any chance you can get a case id or service number for us to cross reference when we have our appointment?
Thanks in advance!

 

[3sr+buyer]

Would a Restraint Control Module that triggers the excessive drain due to the car not turning off also cause issues with the operation of seat belts and air bags?

Would merely buckling and unbuckling the seat belts (without necessarily driving anywhere) be enough to trigger the problem?

 

[kevin_camera]

My RCM replaced yesterday. Issue fixed. Car sleeps no more drain. At last…..

That's good news! I'm shocked to see this RCM part break for so many Model 3s (given the number of reports here). I wonder if they imported some lemon part, or just completely decided to stop supporting that model of RCM completely.

Looking forward to my appointment now...

 

[danny pan]

Thank you @waddler , saving this for my visit with them next week!

 

[acm17]

Day 20. Tesla service advisor told me that even though they disconnected my cell phone access, the car continues to lose miles and they still don't know why. I should have asked THEM if they had a 3rd party app keeping the car awake, just as they kept asking me. I told her there are owners on msg boards saying this has happened to them too. She told me not to rely on the msg boards. lol. But shockingly, after 18 days, they agreed to give me a loaner. I almost fell over. lol

I presume you drove it and before testing the sleeping? There were previous false alarms where the problem returned after being driven.

Please let us know if a few days if the problem has TRULY been fixed...you NEVER know when it might come back and rear its ugly head.
It would seem odd to me if replacing that part on these problematic cars fixes it. Defective part in conjunction with the s/w change in Late June? very odd sounding

 

[3sr+buyer]

Defective part in conjunction with the s/w change in Late June? very odd sounding

It is not that out of believability that a new version of software could behave differently in the presence of defective hardware. Perhaps the old software did not watch for the signs of a defective RCM, while the new software could detect those signs and try to do something about it... but what it ends up doing is keeping the car turned on and draining the battery without giving the user an indication of what the problem is.

 

[lunaj23]

Hopefully this resolves the issue. I scheduled a service appointment for 08/09 and included waddler’s invoice number. I hope they have access to it seeing as I am in the U.S. Fingers crossed they take me seriously and don’t auto-cancel my appointment again lol. Thanks for the info @waddler

 

[acm17]

Day 21: Tesla messaged me that my service is complete and I have to pick it up tomorrow or they will charge me parking. I can see the car from the app. SO I KNOW THE CAR ISN'T FIXED, it has lost 26 miles in the last 24 hours. How the heck is that considered fixed?