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Pyro Fuse Fuss
- Thread starter NV Ray
- Start date
After thought: wonder if covered under warranty if battery operated pyro fuse batteries fails. As opposed to replacing battery operated fuse now before those two batteries fail (attached pic). If so, how would the car or owner know that those two batteries are dead?
I'm sure Tesla doesn't make the same fuse anymore, and probably doesn't have any stock of them.
But why would you want to put a fuse in that has a limited life, when the new version should last forever? (I'm not aware of any advantage to the old battery powered fuse.)
Tesla will find something else that the new fuse has to be changed after a certain time. The old battery operated fuse is not failsafe. Who says that this fuse doesn't fail just 6-7 years ago? It is not checked by the vehicle. Tesla would like a change, then Tesla should pay for it itself.
Apologies if this was posted somewhere earlier as I have not read all 4 pages of this thread but having to recently pay for this in my 2013 P85 - This happens because the old design had a battery that could fail. Tesla released a software change a few months ago that now checks the age of that battery and at 10 years, the warning is popped. The replacement fuse is now charged by the car so is not supposed to fail at any point, at least for a dead battery issue, and therefore does not need the 10-year shelf life check. Tesla has this listed as a retrofit on the invoice.
This is pretty big safety issue and one I think Tesla should have treated as a recall item. That fuse failing to do its job in an accident could be life ending. I've seen arguments about design upgrades over time, and not the manufacturers responsibility, etc. but that is what recalls are for when it’s a serious safety issue that warrants something be redesigned. This was known years ago when the new designs were put in place, and they let it ride as long as possible hence the software update to start checking the battery age. In the grand scheme of things, it is not that expensive of a repair and one I would not mess around with given its purpose, but I would still argue that this was something Tesla should have corrected on their own.
In comparison, when I had this fixed Tesla also listed some drain plug repair in the rear of the car that I didn’t ask for. When I inquired about it, I was told that it was being done proactively to prevent water issues in the future. I can’t reconcile why a drain plug would be proactively fixed but something like the pyro fuse wouldn’t.
This is pretty big safety issue and one I think Tesla should have treated as a recall item. That fuse failing to do its job in an accident could be life ending. I've seen arguments about design upgrades over time, and not the manufacturers responsibility, etc. but that is what recalls are for when it’s a serious safety issue that warrants something be redesigned. This was known years ago when the new designs were put in place, and they let it ride as long as possible hence the software update to start checking the battery age. In the grand scheme of things, it is not that expensive of a repair and one I would not mess around with given its purpose, but I would still argue that this was something Tesla should have corrected on their own.
In comparison, when I had this fixed Tesla also listed some drain plug repair in the rear of the car that I didn’t ask for. When I inquired about it, I was told that it was being done proactively to prevent water issues in the future. I can’t reconcile why a drain plug would be proactively fixed but something like the pyro fuse wouldn’t.
But is it a serious safety issue? Not from my understanding. If the battery fails in the fuse, it means it can't trigger on an over-current event. (Like if an inverter shorts out. In this example it is a backup safety, as other devices like the contactors should have cut off power before the pyro fuse would trigger.) In an accident the fuse is commanded to blow, and will blow even if its internal battery is dead.
My 2013 needed the fuse replacement. Its VIN 7K something so a pretty early build as well. I got the fuse warning as soon as that software update was rolled out.
The main intent of that fuse is to cut power to the high voltage battery in the event of an accident - Same concept as a fuel cutoff switch triggered by a hard impact. The old style fuse might be more advanced on newer models with better onboard electronics but this is what the tech told me relative to my 2013. Specifically that if that battery dies, it may not trigger the disconnect which is why they started the date check in the software and that leaving it could eventually disable the car from driving. I'm assuming that Tesla, from whatever testing they did to validate the importance of that fuse, didn't want to take the chance that it would not do its job if that battery died. Hence my disagreeing with them that I should be paying for it if is so important for safety reasons that ignoring it for too long could keep the car from being driven.
It was like 450 all in which is why it wasn't that big of a deal to give the SC a hard time about as their jobs are hard enough as it but it was more of a principle thing for me.
The main intent of that fuse is to cut power to the high voltage battery in the event of an accident - Same concept as a fuel cutoff switch triggered by a hard impact. The old style fuse might be more advanced on newer models with better onboard electronics but this is what the tech told me relative to my 2013. Specifically that if that battery dies, it may not trigger the disconnect which is why they started the date check in the software and that leaving it could eventually disable the car from driving. I'm assuming that Tesla, from whatever testing they did to validate the importance of that fuse, didn't want to take the chance that it would not do its job if that battery died. Hence my disagreeing with them that I should be paying for it if is so important for safety reasons that ignoring it for too long could keep the car from being driven.
It was like 450 all in which is why it wasn't that big of a deal to give the SC a hard time about as their jobs are hard enough as it but it was more of a principle thing for me.
This whole thing with that fuse being replaced with a new model just stinks. 10 years would be wonderful. it's 6.5 years for me.
The tech said that the car powers the fuse now and some power is stored within so I took that as some type of onboard battery design built into the fuse now. I could have interpreted that wrong but that is how he explained it to me when I asked what the retrofit meant and how they are avoiding this in the future.
Sure. I understood that's what the tech is saying and that contradicts what others have posted as to the new fuse not having any battery. Nevertheless, thanks for responding with your info.
@brainhouston - Is what this tech is saying?
The fuse can still blow without the pyro detonating, I do agree with you though, it should be a free swap - I've seen a US quote with it done for free.
The ludicrous upgrade actually requires the removal of the fuse for the front motor line and replacement with a bus bar. So they dont care too much abaout safety
Also to add, the code dissappeared for me after a few days (2015 p85d) I was confused as I know I didn't have the battery powered fuse. So for some it was a bug in the fw, I hope nobody paid for it when they didn't need it.
Do you have ludicrous?The fuse can still blow without the pyro detonating, I do agree with you though, it should be a free swap - I've seen a US quote with it done for free.
The ludicrous upgrade actually requires the removal of the fuse for the front motor line and replacement with a bus bar. So they dont care too much abaout safety
Also to add, the code dissappeared for me after a few days (2015 p85d) I was confused as I know I didn't have the battery powered fuse. So for some it was a bug in the fw, I hope nobody paid for it when they didn't need it.
