NHTSA Investigates Failing MCUs

[dannycamps]

Hope it will become a recall.

I think it will. Clearly a safety issue when you cannot use things like headlights or turn signals reliably.

 

[whitex]

Come on, we all know the number is far greater than 11 and extends all the way until 2018 when MCU1 was discontinued.

Except that most 2018 cars are still under warranty, so people don't file complaints with NHTSA. Give it a couple more years.

Also, early, pre-AP, cars are seemingly not failing as much either. This is probably because with AP1 Tesla decided to use the MCU1 as data storage for all that "fleet learning" they were boasting about, how each car is collecting tons of data for their AP development. Well, guess what happens when you start thrashing the emmc with lots of data collected by the car?

 

[TravelFree]

On the flip side, 140F will breakdown the coronavirus in just a few minutes.

Funny! Not going to raise my body temperature that high to kill CV-19.
At 140°F I'm not going to be concerned over corona virus. I'll be dead. Or if you mean the car?- I'm not in the habit of licking the steering wheel to get the infection off my Tesla plus it would need to be tracked in by me anyway.

 

[SO16]

Funny! Not going to raise my body temperature that high to kill CV-19.
At 140°F I'm not going to be concerned over corona virus. I'll be dead. Or if you mean the car?- I'm not in the habit of licking the steering wheel to get the infection off my Tesla plus it would need to be tracked in by me anyway.

He’s referring to inside car cabin temp.

 

[TravelFree]

He’s referring to inside car cabin temp.

We were both being sarcastic,

 

[SO16]

We were both being sarcastic,

Hey...these days you never know.

 

[Babaron]

So last year, my 2014 AP1 MCU began acting up and Tesla was able to remotely log into the car and fix the issue. It has been working fine since but I’m wondering if I can expect problems shortly down the road or is that a permanent fix?
Has anyone else had this type of repair?

 

[ucmndd]

So last year, my 2014 AP1 MCU began acting up and Tesla was able to remotely log into the car and fix the issue. It has been working fine since but I’m wondering if I can expect problems shortly down the road or is that a permanent fix?
Has anyone else had this type of repair?

All eMMC chips in MCU1 cars will eventually fail. The only permanent fix is to replace the chip with one that can outlast the car.

 

[David.85D]

Or if you mean the car?- I'm not in the habit of licking the steering wheel to get the infection off my Tesla plus it would need to be tracked in by me anyway.

I get the joke. But those temperatures work. Ford even released an update for their police cars that runs the heat on full then cycles the AC to decontaminate the vehicles between shifts.

There was a sad story in the NYT of a lady that died of it. No known exposure, lived far from NYC, except her job was shuttling rental cars from airport to airport as needed. She picked it up in one of the rentals.

 

[tls]

2012-2014 are on borrowed time 15-16 starting to fail a lot now from what we see. Typically a finding should reimburse 3rd party repairs. After finding you may have to go to Tesla and wait in line. I've heard reports from some of my customers they have been waiting 2 months for a replacement.

I have a 2015. My MCU1 has already died and been replaced once under warranty in 2018. Now it's acting like it's about to fail again...not a good feeling.

On the other hand I have never had drive unit issues...

 

[croman]

Since that new MCU has a 4 year warranty, you should be able to get that for free.

Not for warranty replacement. Only paid.

 

[maximizese]

I think it will. Clearly a safety issue when you cannot use things like headlights or turn signals reliably.

Yes among other safety concerns with a frozen or failed MCU would include the inability to:

1. Control HVAC
2. Use the back-up camera view
3. Use the front and rear window/windshield defrosters

 

[AmokTime]

My company makes a product with an embedded Linux kernel that uses flash for storage (spindle drives are not an option). There are things we need to store in a non-volatile way. We ran the calcs when designing the product (storage write frequency vs. write endurance of the flash) and determined we would start fatiguing out memory in about 5 months. Our solution was to include some high write endurance storage (100 trillion cycles) for those features. It was expensive and inconvenient and this storage is quite small, but the alternative was a product that self-destructs too quickly.

 

[SO16]

My company makes a product with an embedded Linux kernel that uses flash for storage (spindle drives are not an option). There are things we need to store in a non-volatile way. We ran the calcs when designing the product (storage write frequency vs. write endurance of the flash) and determined we would start fatiguing out memory in about 5 months. Our solution was to include some high write endurance storage (100 trillion cycles) for those features. It was expensive and inconvenient and this storage is quite small, but the alternative was a product that self-destructs too quickly.

Fortunately Tesla fixed their EMMC issue with MCU2. They messed up on their first MCU. Now Tesla just needs to find a way to easily fix the MCU1 owners that’s reasonable for both parties.

 

[Buster1]

For those who have had an MCU fail, what were some of the symptoms prior to the failure?

 

[Battpower]

For those who have had an MCU fail, what were some of the symptoms prior to the failure?

Pretty well detailed in several threads. Search emmc failure.

Loads of symptoms. Can be quite random. Updates not installing, Bluetooth misbehaving, MCU needing regular reboots, devices controlled through MCU not working, blank MCU display, browser issues, streaming problems.....

 

[aerodyne]

Regardless of how this plays out, this will cost Tesla. The more they delay, the more it will cost.

Soon, there will be an accident alleged to have been caused by a failing MCU1. The media will pick up on it, and tie it to the NTSB investigation. The bad press and FUD will last for YEARS.

Let's say they do fix it after one year, and the problem goes away. Meanwhile, during that year, 1% of buyers decide to buy something else.

At 400k cars per year, that is 4000 lost sales, assuming 50k per car, 20% profit of 10k, that is 40 million, about what Elon is selling his house for...

Assuming 2k per Replacement MCU, that means about 20k units per year, and all 159k cars could be fixed over an 8 year period.

Tesla has the means to remotely diagnose the MCU, and schedule prophylactic replacements as needed.

Turn Bad press into good "Tesla fleet software diagnoses failing hardware"

Come on Tesla, you can do it!

 

[viper2ko]

Regardless of how this plays out, this will cost Tesla. The more they delay, the more it will cost.

Soon, there will be an accident alleged to have been caused by a failing MCU1. The media will pick up on it, and tie it to the NTSB investigation. The bad press and FUD will last for YEARS.

Let's say they do fix it after one year, and the problem goes away. Meanwhile, during that year, 1% of buyers decide to buy something else.

At 400k cars per year, that is 4000 lost sales, assuming 50k per car, 20% profit of 10k, that is 40 million, about what Elon is selling his house for...

Assuming 2k per Replacement MCU, that means about 20k units per year, and all 159k cars could be fixed over an 8 year period.

Tesla has the means to remotely diagnose the MCU, and schedule prophylactic replacements as needed.

Turn Bad press into good "Tesla fleet software diagnoses failing hardware"

Come on Tesla, you can do it!

No chance they will do this. They have know about this issue for over a year now and continue to act like this is normal wear and tear. They will fight it until the end. I hope NHTSA throws the book at them

 

[aerodyne]

No chance they will do this. They have know about this issue for over a year now and continue to act like this is normal wear and tear. They will fight it until the end. I hope NHTSA throws the book at them

Well, as I said, it will cost them more in the end.

A company run by a seasoned team of professionals would surely consider some sort of action. A company run by a figurehead, driven by stock price, perhaps not.

But there is hope. Some cars are under warranty. When mine runs out, I will probably sell.

 

[puresurfr2]

I have a 2017 MS with 23K miles, the back up camera has not come on a few times but other than that it seems to be fine. I didn't give it much thought because it only happened 3X but then again I have only driven 400 miles since purchase. Im planning on doing the MCU2 HW3 upgrades anyways as well as purchasing a extended warranty on the vehicle.