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Show of hands… Adaptive Suspension

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How many new Model S owners out there can actually FEEL the difference between “Sport” and “Comfort “? I know I can’t.… even though Tesla Service says it is functioning normally. No matter what I do with the suspension controls, my ride is the same… punishingly harsh. Yet, from these forums and YouTube, I see that many of you think the suspension is great. As this is probably one of the most sophisticated suspensions ever put in a car, I have trouble believing that mine is “functioning normally “. I think the key objective question here is “can you actually FEEL a difference in ride quality when you change suspension modes?” (By ”feel” I mean you KNOW it changed, if you just THINK it changed then it didn’t). It would really help me and, I know, a number of others out there to find out if our suspensions are screwed up or if that’s just the way they are. Thanks for any input you can provide.
 
OK… because there were still questions about the results of the active damper test, I decided to do it again... This time while actually driving the car. I fashioned a pair of looooooong volt meter leads, attached them to one of the damper solenoids, and ran them into the cab. This way I could read the voltage applied to the solenoid as I drove and changed the suspension settings. The results were the same: the voltage read 0.045 the whole time… regardless of the suspension settings. (I went through them all). To me, this proves that my active suspension is not functioning. It also explains the empirical data… ie. No apparent change in ride quality, and ultra harsh ride (as un-powered solenoids will remain in their fully closed position). I would really help to know what voltage is applied to the solenoids in a working system… but I’m not having any luck at getting the driver of a car with working suspension to do the same test. My next step is to figure out how to approach Tesla with this data.
Any chance you can make a video of this so I can show it to the tech at my appointment next week?
 
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This is EXACTLY what they told me. They even used the line “changes between adaptive air suspension modes may not be perceptible in normal driving conditions “. You know, if it’s not perceptible, why did you put all this expensive gear in the car in the first place? … and why does your sales web page describe the “silky smooth ride” you’re going to enjoy with this suspension If you can’t perceive it? One could be convinced that they are hearing a “company line “ on this issue... implying that they know all about it and just don’t want to fix it.
 
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TL;DR Dampers work as expected.

Adaptive suspension is disabled in Jack mode and if it detects a fault in the system. A fault includes unplugging one of the solenoids. So to properly test the adaptive suspension control circuit you have to test it with it plugged in. I made a small inline test lead from some pins I had and was able to see voltages and changes when changing suspension setting. The leads were short and I wasn't able to really see the actual voltages from the drivers seat so once I extended the leads, I was unable to fit the pins back in the perfect spot even after trying about 10 times. I gave up but I can mail the test leads I made up to someone if they're interested.

1647035889948.png

Adaptive suspension disabled if solenoid not plugged in.

1647035867861.png

In-line tapping of control circuit
1647035951283.png

"Comfort" voltage
1647035970761.png

"Sport" voltage

The control systems are able to detect solenoid faults so I doubt without a fault stored in the system you have a faulty strut.
 
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The interesting thing here is that I never got the error message that you did. This reinforces my belief that my car has a serious fault in the adaptive suspension system. Somehow, this fault eludes the diagnostic system. This is the hard evidence that is needed to resolve this issue. I, and at least 12 other Model S owners, can’t thank you enough! I also note that the error message warns you to “drive with caution “…. Hah!! I’ve been telling them that my suspension is unsafe to drive… looks like the car agrees with me.
 
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Something to note is that I only got the error after hitting the brake pedal and disabling jack mode. If jack mode is enabled, it ignores the adaptive suspension fault. So testing pin placement ended up being a loop of: Try plugging in, sit in vehicle, hit brake pedal, disable jack mode, wait a few seconds for fault check, repeat
 
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I plugged in my meter with the wheel still in place so no jack mode. Also I drove around with the solenoid unplugged and no error message. I think we’re ready. I’m going to contact service on Monday with the complaint “adjustable shocks have become invisible to the car “. Ie. Serious failures within this system are not reported to the driver. I believe that they will HAVE to repair this… it is a safety issue affecting the drivability of the car. Interesting that the reason that they wouldn’t look at the problem before, (no error code) is the very reason that they will have to now. I’ll keep you posted.
 
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How many new Model S owners out there can actually FEEL the difference between “Sport” and “Comfort “? I know I can’t.… even though Tesla Service says it is functioning normally. No matter what I do with the suspension controls, my ride is the same… punishingly harsh. Yet, from these forums and YouTube, I see that many of you think the suspension is great. As this is probably one of the most sophisticated suspensions ever put in a car, I have trouble believing that mine is “functioning normally “. I think the key objective question here is “can you actually FEEL a difference in ride quality when you change suspension modes?” (By ”feel” I mean you KNOW it changed, if you just THINK it changed then it didn’t). It would really help me and, I know, a number of others out there to find out if our suspensions are screwed up or if that’s just the way they are. Thanks for any input you can provide.
2021 plaid with 21”. No real difference between modes for me. At most the comfort setting just allows the car to bounce after hitting a bump more than other modes but the initial impact is just as harsh.
 
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I plugged in my meter with the wheel still in place so no jack mode. Also I drove around with the solenoid unplugged and no error message. I think we’re ready. I’m going to contact service on Monday with the complaint “adjustable shocks have become invisible to the car “. Ie. Serious failures within this system are not reported to the driver. I believe that they will HAVE to repair this… it is a safety issue affecting the drivability of the car. Interesting that the reason that they wouldn’t look at the problem before, (no error code) is the very reason that they will have to now. I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks for doing all the research on this. Would be awesome if you are right and we could get it corrected. Would be such a better car then.
 
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2021 plaid with 21”. No real difference between modes for me. At most the comfort setting just allows the car to bounce after hitting a bump more than other modes but the initial impact is just as harsh.
Ha, I was thinking the same thing. I can feel a difference between sport and comfort but on certain surfaces comfort is just as harsh with the bounce that sport doesn't have, while on other surfaces it's much smoother. Seems to depend a lot on the particular surface and speed. On the concrete section of the interstate near where I live, the car is pretty harsh and bouncy, but around town on rough roads, much smoother.

As an anecdotal comparison, I have a 2021 Model 3 and a 2014 Model S that I compared to my new 2022 LR S in comfort mode. Both the other cars have coil suspension.
  • 2022 LR S is smoother than the Model 3 in all situations
  • 2022 LR S is smoother than the 2014 coil S in town on rough roads
  • 2014 coil S is much smoother than the 2022 LR S on the concrete segmented interstate near my house but about the same on asphalt covered interstate segments.
This of course is not ideal since I got the new LR S primarily as a long haul car for interstate travel, where it seems to have the worst ride for me, at least on the concrete interstate segments.

That being said, the new LR S has Pirelli summer tires and the old 2014 S has MXM4s on it so I don't know how much, if any, impact that has on ride. Both are on 19" wheels.
 
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I know it has been said before in the comments above, but the ride is also significantly worse if you are in anything but the lowest setting. I had been driving set to normal due to the big lip in the front, but gave up on that idea and noticed a modest improvement.
Anyone else?
Maybe lower it further?
 
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Ok… I got a service appointment for the 29th. I’m going to use the messaging system in the service app to give them information regarding our voltage testing.… especially the bit about the message ”Adaptive ride control disabled. Drive with caution.” which Pengy got and I didn’t. I have a suspicion that if Service can get that message to appear when you unplug one of the solenoids, (and take it out of jack mode) they will have fixed the whole problem. Anyway, it’s a good, non ambiguous goal for them to work toward. If any of you have a service appointment coming up, be sure and do the same.
 
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Ok… I got a service appointment for the 29th. I’m going to use the messaging system in the service app to give them information regarding our voltage testing.… especially the bit about the message ”Adaptive ride control disabled. Drive with caution.” which Pengy got and I didn’t. I have a suspicion that if Service can get that message to appear when you unplug one of the solenoids, (and take it out of jack mode) they will have fixed the whole problem. Anyway, it’s a good, non ambiguous goal for them to work toward. If any of you have a service appointment coming up, be sure and do the same.
I’m totally excited about this. My family has refused to ride in the S and chooses the 2018 3 for longer trips. (19s with below spec psi even)
 
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TL;DR Dampers work as expected.

Adaptive suspension is disabled in Jack mode and if it detects a fault in the system. A fault includes unplugging one of the solenoids. So to properly test the adaptive suspension control circuit you have to test it with it plugged in. I made a small inline test lead from some pins I had and was able to see voltages and changes when changing suspension setting. The leads were short and I wasn't able to really see the actual voltages from the drivers seat so once I extended the leads, I was unable to fit the pins back in the perfect spot even after trying about 10 times. I gave up but I can mail the test leads I made up to someone if they're interested.

View attachment 779629
Adaptive suspension disabled if solenoid not plugged in.

View attachment 779628
In-line tapping of control circuit
View attachment 779630
"Comfort" voltage
View attachment 779632
"Sport" voltage

The control systems are able to detect solenoid faults so I doubt without a fault stored in the system you have a faulty strut.
Thanks for doing this test. I suspected that it had to remain all plugged in to operate normally. Good work.

I have not followed all your posts. So do you feel the suspension setting does or does not work according to your Butt ;)
 
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Sport feels a lot stiffer and bumpier than comfort. I wouldn't call it Mercedes level comfort but much on par with like a Lexus IS where it's still a bit "sporty" but can absorb most bumps without feeling like a boat.

I have my ride height in medium though. On bumpy highways I see the toast message of "raising suspension for comfort" so I assume it goes into low by default and raises to medium automatically for more travel on compression.
 
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Definitely something wrong with your cars then. There is a very noticeable difference on my plaid between comfort, sport, and track mode.
That’s the thing with Tesla; there’s a possibility that something like 1-in-5 cars have flaws that aren’t caught by qc and must be caught by the consumer, and proven to service. We have had that experience with three S/X vehicles despite “it’ll be different or better this time”. There may be a dozen issues hiding, waiting to be discovered on each brand new, sight unseen non-negotiable long wait purchase.
 
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Ok… I got a service appointment for the 29th. I’m going to use the messaging system in the service app to give them information regarding our voltage testing.… especially the bit about the message ”Adaptive ride control disabled. Drive with caution.” which Pengy got and I didn’t. I have a suspicion that if Service can get that message to appear when you unplug one of the solenoids, (and take it out of jack mode) they will have fixed the whole problem. Anyway, it’s a good, non ambiguous goal for them to work toward. If any of you have a service appointment coming up, be sure and do the same.
Nothing there now. Do you have a summary of what was posted? (Other than suspension no worky)?
 
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I took my car in for service yesterday and listed the adaptive suspension as one of the issues. I told the person who checked me in all the information that has been gathered in this thread and he went back to talk to the techs. Their first rebuttal was that if ride height is working, then the adaptive suspension is working. After letting him confirm the ride height settings work I pushed back saying I just want them to check the voltage to the solenoid when in Comfort and Sport to confirm they are different. He went back to the techs and then they tried to feed me the line about needing an error message in order to say something is wrong. At this point I brought up that if they remove the solenoid they will see NO error message even though they SHOULD see the message that @pengy saw and @SteveSchweer didn't. The associate then said that this was something they could look into.

They've now had my car for 2 days, the associate today told me they are taking a "real hard look" at the adaptive suspension issue so they need to keep the car a little longer. Fingers crossed that they are actually trying to find something.
 
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I took my car in for service yesterday and listed the adaptive suspension as one of the issues. I told the person who checked me in all the information that has been gathered in this thread and he went back to talk to the techs. Their first rebuttal was that if ride height is working, then the adaptive suspension is working. After letting him confirm the ride height settings work I pushed back saying I just want them to check the voltage to the solenoid when in Comfort and Sport to confirm they are different. He went back to the techs and then they tried to feed me the line about needing an error message in order to say something is wrong. At this point I brought up that if they remove the solenoid they will see NO error message even though they SHOULD see the message that @pengy saw and @SteveSchweer didn't. The associate then said that this was something they could look into.

They've now had my car for 2 days, the associate today told me they are taking a "real hard look" at the adaptive suspension issue so they need to keep the car a little longer. Fingers crossed that they are actually trying to find something.
I really hope they find something. It would be great to solve this issue and then be able to use the fix for others experiencing this like me. Thanks for doing that!
 
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