OTA updates nothing to get excited about, sb a purchase deterrent…

[watsongrg]

Industry leading, innovative, and touted as one of the best reasons to purchase a Tesla, OTA updates are the worst feature of the car.

OTA updates were supposed to be a method of improvement to Tesla vehicles. For me they have become something I dread, all too often they are a means for Tesla to change the look, feel and function of the feature of the car I like and have become accustomed to.
V11 is the greatest example of this kind of change, and the mountain-swell of negative feedback, disappointment and aggravation that followed. These updates have reached a point now where they create more bugs and unwanted changes than ever before. Those lead to regular aggravation and dissatisfaction with the great car I purchased. I don’t want to have to figure my car out every time in get back into it.
Background improvement to streamline or make more efficient operation is great. But changing the look feel and function of my radio or a/c or app dock, etc is not OK. Nor is screwing up things that worked fine previously.
Im sick of being told the things I liked were just “user error” , when in fact the crap they’re pushing out is the real MFR. ERROR.
There is no doubt this car needs improvement to the autopilot (phantom braking), or power usage in certain modes (sentry mode, sleep mode) but I should NOT have to accept alterations to my UI to get those changes. Visual functionality changes should be optional. Or a classic UI offered that doesn’t get wrecked with every background improvement

I can’t be alone here ….

 

[glide]

Visual functionality changes should be optional. Or a classic UI offered that doesn’t get wrecked with every background improvement

Do you understand the level of complexity that would add to the programming? It’s not realistic.

I can’t be alone here ….

You seem to be…

 

[WindPower]

While I agree that over the air updates are sometimes “one step forward, two steps back”, over all I think they are better than the alternatives: no updates at all (as my wife has on her relatively new BMW) or having to bring the car to the dealer for updates.
That said, I do sometimes feel that Tesla treats their customers as beta testers. A friend of mine who also has a model Y no longer installs updates until they’ve been around for a few weeks.

 

[brandon8387]

You prolly just hate the v11… you can’t be complaining about new features like green light chime or sentry mode additions. You bought a car knowing going in that is treated like a iPhone with its feature and UI changes/updates. You could always refuse them. But then you’d miss out on new features.

 

[rjpjnk]

I love the ota update feature, and do believe it is one of the great things about Tesla!
Last week I got the "green light chime" feature, which was one of my favorites lately. It is so cool to come out in the morning and your car has new abilities it didn't have the night before. At the same time, I could understand that for someone who does not like change this could be frustrating, especially is stuff moves around in the menu's. This has never been a problem for me.

 

[kavyboy]

Industry leading, innovative, and touted as one of the best reasons to purchase a Tesla, OTA updates are the worst feature of the car.

OTA updates were supposed to be a method of improvement to Tesla vehicles. For me they have become something I dread, all too often they are a means for Tesla to change the look, feel and function of the feature of the car I like and have become accustomed to.
V11 is the greatest example of this kind of change, and the mountain-swell of negative feedback, disappointment and aggravation that followed. These updates have reached a point now where they create more bugs and unwanted changes than ever before. Those lead to regular aggravation and dissatisfaction with the great car I purchased. I don’t want to have to figure my car out every time in get back into it.
Background improvement to streamline or make more efficient operation is great. But changing the look feel and function of my radio or a/c or app dock, etc is not OK. Nor is screwing up things that worked fine previously.
Im sick of being told the things I liked were just “user error” , when in fact the crap they’re pushing out is the real MFR. ERROR.
There is no doubt this car needs improvement to the autopilot (phantom braking), or power usage in certain modes (sentry mode, sleep mode) but I should NOT have to accept alterations to my UI to get those changes. Visual functionality changes should be optional. Or a classic UI offered that doesn’t get wrecked with every background improvement

I can’t be alone here ….

If I could "Love" this post more than once, I would.

Back in 2015, it was not *at all* clear that my car would be significantly changed against my will. The V7 incremental updates were so-so. V8 taught me my lesson, and I've been avoiding updates as much as possible ever since. Pretty much every change has been a step backward ever since. I like "dog mode", but I could live without it. I'm struggling to come up with another positive change that has come to my car that I actually use. I could come up with a huge list of regressions, though. We AP1/MCU1 people get “NO steps forward, just steps back”.
My next car will NOT have a changeable, updatable UI via OTA updates. It's simply a deal-breaker.

 

[SidetrackedSue]

Agreed.

Since I got my car among a long list of things:

1. Voice command button removed from the screen so, as a passenger, I have to ask permission to use this feature to open the glove box. Or risk a divorce by hitting the button on the steering wheel myself. (Note: in a divorce, he can have the Tesla, I sure as hell don't want it.)

2. The use of the radar was removed from the car, so now in heavy rain and fog I can't use either TACC or AP.

(I don't use our FSD Beta because I've already taught a number of teenagers to drive and don't want to have to teach Elon's baby how to do so unless he's going to pay me. My husband does on occasion (but not in our city) and I get tired of the constant beep of the voice command, and him saying "report." I also don't appreciate the car slowing quickly and pulling hard to the shoulder when being passed on a two lane road.)

3. Lately my USB stick won't record any of the events triggered by horn honks or Sentry. Given how much I've put into buying the damn things (each time it doesn't work, I'm told it is my fault for buying USB stuff that won't work reliably despite buying the exact item referred to in the manual and since then what Tesla Fanboys say to buy.)

I learn here that I was right to refuse to buy anything else new, the damn thing doesn't work because of a software update. I've also learned:

Because many of us are on the FSD beta and didn't get firmware 2022.16.1.2, we're still on 2022.12.3.20 and don't get frequent updates anymore or updates that match everyone else.

So I still don't have anything protecting my car. Worse, the car next to me in the parking garage was broken into and it was effing embarrassing to have to admit that while he puts up with my car flashing at him and a warning appearing on the screen each time he goes to get into his car, the car didn't bother to record the guy breaking into his car.


These are just a few of the reasons I hate the car and why I agree with the OP that forcing changes that are downgrades upon us serfs (after all, we don't really own the car since we get to use it only as long as Elon says we get to use it, it is his to brick at any time) is something that is not a 'feature' of the car.

You prolly just hate the v11… you can’t be complaining about new features like green light chime or sentry mode additions. You bought a car knowing going in that is treated like a iPhone with its feature and UI changes/updates. You could always refuse them. But then you’d miss out on new features.

1. For me it is sentry mode deletion, and a feature that I bought with the car.

2. I'm an Android user and had no idea the car and features I was buying was not what I was going to always have. But it does not surprise me that someone who is happy with what the God Steve and his successors have given them, would be happy with whatever the God Elon giveth and taketh away. When I complained about losing my voice command screen button to a Tesla Fanboy he asked, "haven't you ever upgraded your phone and had to change the way you do things?" I said that when I found out I hated Android 10's UI I just reinstalled my old third party launcher, and his dismissive response was, "Oh, you like Android, that explains it."

 

[Resist]

So I still don't have anything protecting my car. Worse, the car next to me in the parking garage was broken into and it was effing embarrassing to have to admit that while he puts up with my car flashing at him and a warning appearing on the screen each time he goes to get into his car, the car didn't bother to record the guy breaking into his car.

I know right?! Elon is more concerned with adding more games to our cars than fixing the Sentry Mode issues or even the Dashcam Viewer problems. And we should have the option not to upgrade to features we don't want or need.

 

[Calliope]

While I agree that over the air updates are sometimes “one step forward, two steps back”, over all I think they are better than the alternatives: no updates at all (as my wife has on her relatively new BMW) or having to bring the car to the dealer for updates.

Absolutely -- updates sometimes offer short-term frustration, but they're better than the alternatives.

as a passenger, I have to ask permission to use this feature to open the glove box. Or risk a divorce by hitting the button on the steering wheel myself.

You can open the glove box from the screen as well.

 

[brandon8387]

Agreed.

Since I got my car among a long list of things:

1. Voice command button removed from the screen so, as a passenger, I have to ask permission to use this feature to open the glove box. Or risk a divorce by hitting the button on the steering wheel myself. (Note: in a divorce, he can have the Tesla, I sure as hell don't want it.)

2. The use of the radar was removed from the car, so now in heavy rain and fog I can't use either TACC or AP.

(I don't use our FSD Beta because I've already taught a number of teenagers to drive and don't want to have to teach Elon's baby how to do so unless he's going to pay me. My husband does on occasion (but not in our city) and I get tired of the constant beep of the voice command, and him saying "report." I also don't appreciate the car slowing quickly and pulling hard to the shoulder when being passed on a two lane road.)

3. Lately my USB stick won't record any of the events triggered by horn honks or Sentry. Given how much I've put into buying the damn things (each time it doesn't work, I'm told it is my fault for buying USB stuff that won't work reliably despite buying the exact item referred to in the manual and since then what Tesla Fanboys say to buy.)

I learn here that I was right to refuse to buy anything else new, the damn thing doesn't work because of a software update. I've also learned:

So I still don't have anything protecting my car. Worse, the car next to me in the parking garage was broken into and it was effing embarrassing to have to admit that while he puts up with my car flashing at him and a warning appearing on the screen each time he goes to get into his car, the car didn't bother to record the guy breaking into his car.


These are just a few of the reasons I hate the car and why I agree with the OP that forcing changes that are downgrades upon us serfs (after all, we don't really own the car since we get to use it only as long as Elon says we get to use it, it is his to brick at any time) is something that is not a 'feature' of the car.




1. For me it is sentry mode deletion, and a feature that I bought with the car.

2. I'm an Android user and had no idea the car and features I was buying was not what I was going to always have. But it does not surprise me that someone who is happy with what the God Steve and his successors have given them, would be happy with whatever the God Elon giveth and taketh away. When I complained about losing my voice command screen button to a Tesla Fanboy he asked, "haven't you ever upgraded your phone and had to change the way you do things?" I said that when I found out I hated Android 10's UI I just reinstalled my old third party launcher, and his dismissive response was, "Oh, you like Android, that explains it."

Then refuse the updates. Some people are still riding around on last years v10 UI but are missing all the cool updates since then. I get no one likes change. But yea Tesla isn’t android. Like basically any OS UI when it changes people hate it then love it.

 

[andaconda]

Some people would complain even if they were hung with a new rope!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

2. The use of the radar was removed from the car, so now in heavy rain and fog I can't use either TACC or AP.

And there's no dumb cruise control fallback as there is in pretty much every other vehicle with adaptive cruise control.

They also removed configurable regenerative braking.

Two of the key reasons why I haven't bought a Tesla.

 

[kavyboy]

Then refuse the updates. Some people are still riding around on last years v10 UI but are missing all the cool updates since then. I get no one likes change. But yea Tesla isn’t android. Like basically any OS UI when it changes people hate it then love it.

You can only refuse updates for so long. Eventually they will be forced on you in an OTA update. The service center will also force them on you. Plus, if you have anything but an older warranty, applying updates is required as part of the warranty itself.

There are no "cool updates" that I want. Mostly, these days, the new stuff doesn't even apply to our cars. It's all "no steps forward, 1 step back".

I love change when it bring improvement. I was an early adopter. I used to read this forum for announcements of new updates and then drive to the service center to trigger the update.

I've been on every version since V7. I've liked each one less than the previous, sometimes a lot less. After 7 years, I'm still waiting for the "love it" phase.

I'm not trying to start a fight here. (Not everything has to go to war, even on an Internet forum.) I'm simply stating my opinion from my perspective as a long-time user. When you're a long-time user, I truly hope you're still happy with how your car has ended up.

 

[ElectricAnt54]

I have had no big issues with the over the air updates.

Regarding dashcam / sentry mode not working there was an update in 2022 which introduced a bug that required you to reboot the computer every few days in order to make the feature work again.
About 3 weeks later one of the updates addressed the bug and it has been working fine ever since.

 

[brandon8387]

You can only refuse updates for so long. Eventually they will be forced on you in an OTA update. The service center will also force them on you. Plus, if you have anything but an older warranty, applying updates is required as part of the warranty itself.

There are no "cool updates" that I want. Mostly, these days, the new stuff doesn't even apply to our cars. It's all "no steps forward, 1 step back".

I love change when it bring improvement. I was an early adopter. I used to read this forum for announcements of new updates and then drive to the service center to trigger the update.

I've been on every version since V7. I've liked each one less than the previous, sometimes a lot less. After 7 years, I'm still waiting for the "love it" phase.

I'm not trying to start a fight here. (Not everything has to go to war, even on an Internet forum.) I'm simply stating my opinion from my perspective as a long-time user. When you're a long-time user, I truly hope you're still happy with how your car has ended up.wasn’t arguing

And there's no dumb cruise control fallback as there is in pretty much every other vehicle with adaptive cruise control.

They also removed configurable regenerative braking.

Two of the key reasons why I haven't bought a Tesla.

Isn’t the dumb cruise one stalk pull instead of 2? I know if I’m in AP and I hit the stalk up once it’ll ding one time and keep my speed and. Not auto steer. Isn’t that basically dumb cruise?

 

[brandon8387]

You can only refuse updates for so long. Eventually they will be forced on you in an OTA update. The service center will also force them on you. Plus, if you have anything but an older warranty, applying updates is required as part of the warranty itself.

There are no "cool updates" that I want. Mostly, these days, the new stuff doesn't even apply to our cars. It's all "no steps forward, 1 step back".

I love change when it bring improvement. I was an early adopter. I used to read this forum for announcements of new updates and then drive to the service center to trigger the update.

I've been on every version since V7. I've liked each one less than the previous, sometimes a lot less. After 7 years, I'm still waiting for the "love it" phase.

I'm not trying to start a fight here. (Not everything has to go to war, even on an Internet forum.) I'm simply stating my opinion from my perspective as a long-time user. When you're a long-time user, I truly hope you're still happy with how your car has ended up.

7 years?! Oh you a OG then. Dont listen to me. I’ve only had my 22 Y for 5 months. Still in the honeymoon phase. Lol. But I get. I just embraced the update culture coming to tesla with previous experience with good/bad updates with windows/macOS/iOS. Eventually for me it all evens out and I come to love the updates/changes. But yes it can be frustrating since you been in this Tesla walled garden for this long watching it happen year after year.

 

[jjrandorin]

Isn’t the dumb cruise one stalk pull instead of 2? I know if I’m in AP and I hit the stalk up once it’ll ding one time and keep my speed and. Not auto steer. Isn’t that basically dumb cruise?

It still tries to speed up / slow down, so no, most people would not consider that dumb cruise control. Dumb cruise control doesnt include any braking.

 

[brandon8387]

And there's no dumb cruise control fallback as there is in pretty much every other vehicle with adaptive cruise control.

They also removed configurable regenerative braking.

Two of the key reasons why I haven't bought a Tesla.

There’s cruise control with no auto steer. That’s dumb cruise is it not?
I believe Regen braking was never able to be disabled. Just removed the high/low toggle.

 

[jjrandorin]

When you're a long-time user, I truly hope you're still happy with how your car has ended up.

I dont know what counts as "long time user". I have only had a tesla since dec of 2018, and Its a model 3 (so no MCU1 etc etc). I have been perfectly happy with the updates, and version changes I have received. With that being said, thats not nearly "long time" in relation to tesla ownership, more like "mid time".

Parts of V11 sort of annoyed me, but not to the level / vitriol that is displayed here. I am still excited that my 2018 model 3 does virtually everything from a software perspective that brand new ones do, unlike all the BMWs I had previously which were outdated within a year or two at most, from a software feature perspective. It was always "oh the new one does that".

Im certainly not trying to tell anyone else they should or should not be happy with it, thats up to them. The only thing I dont understand, frankly, is why wouldnt people "vote with their wallet" on these things they rant about. If I was nearly as unhappy as some people online sound, I would have sold the product and moved on a looonnnnggg time ago.

Life is too short to be super angry about a car, which is fairly easy to remedy by getting rid of it and getting something else that suits one better. I am a firm believer in "every product is not for every person", so I completely understand when something doesnt work for someone.

Some things (like a home) are harder to move on from, but a vehicle is super easy to move on from, so I dont get why people dont simply move on and buy another product that doesnt make them so angry.

 

[STS-134]

Do you understand the level of complexity that would add to the programming? It’s not realistic.

Not realistic to have so many different versions of the UI floating around out there, I agree. However, a policy that existing things in the UI should not be changed unless there's a really good reason to change them is totally reasonable, and is what's sorely lacking in Tesla's engineering department. Those guys act like grad students who are working on a UI research project and just change stuff around willy nilly because they feel like it, even if nothing about the old way of doing it was broken. You can do that if you're working on a research project, something that is pre-release and only seen by beta testers, or something that is for internal consumption by other software engineers. But this should not be done on a commercial product that is shipping to customers unless there's a damn good reason for it.