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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.
 
One more thing.
I just noticed a new comment from "Andy Feimster NFEI" on Steve's YouTube posting.
One sentence stood out: "As hard as chips are to get these days I bet there are variations in the same model weekly!".
Clue?
Mine was delivered in December of 2021 as well. I have considered the “chip shortage” explanation too. Seems to me that, since the hardware all seems to interact nominally, ie. Shock softness DOES change when ride mode is changed and reacts to bumps encountered… the hardware (including chips) is ok. The problem is in the INITIAL VALUES given for the seven ride comfort settings. I believe that these “fine tuning “ values would be rendered in firmware rather than being “burned in” in a chip. Since they are essentially garbage, (5 of the 7 are zero) It looks to me to be an addressing error. The software is “looking” at an erroneous, random location for the values. They ARE changing things all the time. My tech mentioned that Tesla changed the internal communication protocols at about the time my car was built. (That is part of the difference between a’21 and a’22 model). In any event, it’s in Tesla’s hands now. I just checked with my Service Center and was ASSURED that they DO have the video and ARE working on the problem…. I only hope it’s true.
 
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Mine was delivered in December of 2021 as well. I have considered the “chip shortage” explanation too. Seems to me that, since the hardware all seems to interact nominally, ie. Shock softness DOES change when ride mode is changed and reacts to bumps encountered… the hardware (including chips) is ok. The problem is in the INITIAL VALUES given for the seven ride comfort settings. I believe that these “fine tuning “ values would be rendered in firmware rather than being “burned in” in a chip. Since they are essentially garbage, (5 of the 7 are zero) It looks to me to be an addressing error. The software is “looking” at an erroneous, random location for the values. They ARE changing things all the time. My tech mentioned that Tesla changed the internal communication protocols at about the time my car was built. (That is part of the difference between a’21 and a’22 model). In any event, it’s in Tesla’s hands now. I just checked with my Service Center and was ASSURED that they DO have the video and ARE working on the problem…. I only hope it’s true.
Thanks for this, lots of us are following this thread!
 
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SteveSchweer said:
"My tech mentioned that Tesla changed the internal communication protocols at about the time my car was built."

We have ascertained that both you and I had 2022 MS's delivered in December 2021. Only a small set of MS owners appear to have this issue. I am wondering if only those with this issue had had similar manufacturing dates. My question to the forum would be: If you have a very poor suspension in your 2022 MS, was it manufactured in November-December 2021? I know I am grasping at straws, but if we can pinpoint manufacturing dates it might result in a clue and perhaps a solution.
 
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SteveSchweer said:
"My tech mentioned that Tesla changed the internal communication protocols at about the time my car was built."

We have ascertained that both you and I had 2022 MS's delivered in December 2021. Only a small set of MS owners appear to have this issue. I am wondering if only those with this issue had had similar manufacturing dates. My question to the forum would be: If you have a very poor suspension in your 2022 MS, was it manufactured in November-December 2021? I know I am grasping at straws, but if we can pinpoint manufacturing dates it might result in a clue and perhaps a solution.
I have a 2021 MS refresh that was produced in November. It definitely has the suspension issue.
 
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SteveSchweer said:
"My tech mentioned that Tesla changed the internal communication protocols at about the time my car was built."

We have ascertained that both you and I had 2022 MS's delivered in December 2021. Only a small set of MS owners appear to have this issue. I am wondering if only those with this issue had had similar manufacturing dates. My question to the forum would be: If you have a very poor suspension in your 2022 MS, was it manufactured in November-December 2021? I know I am grasping at straws, but if we can pinpoint manufacturing dates it might result in a clue and perhaps a solution.
My MS long range has the issue. It was delivered the first week of January and the build date is Dec 2021. I am still doing some more test drives to sort things out better and will report back when i think i have something to add. So far, it seems keeping suspension on "Auto" works best, but i sure would like a fix from Tesla for this suspension issue!
 
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Mine was delivered in December 2021 and has the same bad suspension issue. Northern Illinois has many potholes and bad expansion cracks on concrete paved roads.

I didn't notice how bad it was until I drove my wife's 2013 BMW 535xi last weekend on a 30mi round trip. The BMW ride was quiet, smooth and a dream compared to my Model S that I drive in comfort mode daily. So much so that I was thinking it is time to look for another brand EV. One with excellent ride, support for Apple Carplay, and HUD which Musk engineering refuses to consider.
 
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Ok, I had a thought ... and feel free to tell me I'm crazy. Heck I thought I was when I tested it and figured that pacebo might be kicking in ... so I got a friend and ran through the test runs with him in the car and he fully agrees. Anyway. I have the issue of the rapid "bouncy" or oscillating suspension that presents most harshly on concrete segmented interstates. Drives me nuts since I have an old 2014 S in the garage I take out and it's much smoother on the same interstate segments with coil suspension. So a while back I went on vacation and felt like the car was really well planted and smooth on the interstate during that trip but after I got back it felt bouncy again. Then the thought crossed my mind. On that trip I had probably about 200 pounds of stuff in the rear hatch. So .. today I tried putting about 205 pounds of stuff in the back, specifically above the drive unit. I then drove it on a section of interstate by my house that was particularly problematic. It was noticeably smoother, with most (but not quite all) of the oscillation gone. Returned, removed the weight, and drove immediately on the same segment and the full oscillation was back.

Why did I do that? (ok, this is probably nonsense but this is the reason) The Plaid weighs 205 pounds more than the LR and (I assume) that weight is pretty much all in the rear drive unit/train. Again, might be nuts but the thought crossed my mind that my LR suspension could be tuned for the weight distribution of the Plaid.

For fun, this is my weight addition to get to about 205 pounds.

60lbs Bluetti Battery
62lbs bucket of putty
84lbs of cat litter

1653538207329.png
 
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You could be right, but since the tuning is done in software/firmware, there is no excuse for them not to take vehicle weight into account to customize it for each model. BTW has anyone received the new software update yet? It’s rolling out now. I believe that, if a fix is coming, it will be included in such an update… it will probably be item “n” in the release notes: “Bug fixes and improvements”.
 
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Ok, I had a thought ... and feel free to tell me I'm crazy. Heck I thought I was when I tested it and figured that pacebo might be kicking in ... so I got a friend and ran through the test runs with him in the car and he fully agrees. Anyway. I have the issue of the rapid "bouncy" or oscillating suspension that presents most harshly on concrete segmented interstates. Drives me nuts since I have an old 2014 S in the garage I take out and it's much smoother on the same interstate segments with coil suspension. So a while back I went on vacation and felt like the car was really well planted and smooth on the interstate during that trip but after I got back it felt bouncy again. Then the thought crossed my mind. On that trip I had probably about 200 pounds of stuff in the rear hatch. So .. today I tried putting about 205 pounds of stuff in the back, specifically above the drive unit. I then drove it on a section of interstate by my house that was particularly problematic. It was noticeably smoother, with most (but not quite all) of the oscillation gone. Returned, removed the weight, and drove immediately on the same segment and the full oscillation was back.

Why did I do that? (ok, this is probably nonsense but this is the reason) The Plaid weighs 205 pounds more than the LR and (I assume) that weight is pretty much all in the rear drive unit/train. Again, might be nuts but the thought crossed my mind that my LR suspension could be tuned for the weight distribution of the Plaid.

For fun, this is my weight addition to get to about 205 pounds.

60lbs Bluetti Battery
62lbs bucket of putty
84lbs of cat litter

View attachment 808869
I can see that 200 pounds for a Plaid vs non-Plaid could be a contributing factor. However, since many {if not most} 2022 MS owners do not have a problem with their suspensions, I think the search for a satisfactory resolution continues.
 
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I can see that 200 pounds for a Plaid vs non-Plaid could be a contributing factor. However, since many {if not most} 2022 MS owners do not have a problem with their suspensions, I think the search for a satisfactory resolution continues.
So, this is not a problem for 2022 owners? If not, then this really needs to be fixed now by Tesla. Inexcusable that 2021 owners have to suffer for $100k plus car!
 
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I have an LR made in September 2021, and I have this suspension problem too. Interestingly, the ride got noticeably better on 2022.12.3.1 and 2022.12.3.3. I didn't do any tests to confirm it, but it seems to have gone back to bad after the update to 2022.16.0.3. Has anyone else noticed software updates having an effect on this?
 
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Bad news…… I made my weekly call to my service center on Friday…. I talked to the same guy who, one week ago, ASSURED me that Tesla had my video, and was in the process of working on the problem…. THIS week, he acted surprised that I would ever THINK that he could send the video to Tesla without seeing the car first! It was like being transported back in time five months!…. It almost blew my flux capacitor! I reminded him that they had ALREADY seen my car for this very problem and pronounced it in perfect condition but it was as if the past five months had been erased from his memory. Maybe he’s a beta version of Elon’s Optimus project. Anyway, I have no choice but to play along. I made a service appointment for June 13 when I will sit down with one of the technicians and show him the video. (I now believe that NO ONE in the shop or in any department of Tesla has viewed it). I used to think that the Service Department was the logical conduit for technical/operational problems to be presented to Tesla… I now realize that they are the opposite. They seem to view their role as “gate keepers“ whose job it is to PROTECT Tesla from any bothersome problems. SO, I will now try a new approach… I will attempt to send the video directly to Tesla by every means possible. There are lists of employee names available online… maybe I can find one or two in the right department and I can get an email through. There are even instructions online for sending snail mail to Elon Musk! You guys can do this too. If any of you know anyone who works at Tesla, there might be a possibility of going through them. Please help!
 
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Bad news…… I made my weekly call to my service center on Friday…. I talked to the same guy who, one week ago, ASSURED me that Tesla had my video, and was in the process of working on the problem…. THIS week, he acted surprised that I would ever THINK that he could send the video to Tesla without seeing the car first! It was like being transported back in time five months!…. It almost blew my flux capacitor! I reminded him that they had ALREADY seen my car for this very problem and pronounced it in perfect condition but it was as if the past five months had been erased from his memory. Maybe he’s a beta version of Elon’s Optimus project. Anyway, I have no choice but to play along. I made a service appointment for June 13 when I will sit down with one of the technicians and show him the video. (I now believe that NO ONE in the shop or in any department of Tesla has viewed it). I used to think that the Service Department was the logical conduit for technical/operational problems to be presented to Tesla… I now realize that they are the opposite. They seem to view their role as “gate keepers“ whose job it is to PROTECT Tesla from any bothersome problems. SO, I will now try a new approach… I will attempt to send the video directly to Tesla by every means possible. There are lists of employee names available online… maybe I can find one or two in the right department and I can get an email through. There are even instructions online for sending snail mail to Elon Musk! You guys can do this too. If any of you know anyone who works at Tesla, there might be a possibility of going thr
Bad news…… I made my weekly call to my service center on Friday…. I talked to the same guy who, one week ago, ASSURED me that Tesla had my video, and was in the process of working on the problem…. THIS week, he acted surprised that I would ever THINK that he could send the video to Tesla without seeing the car first! It was like being transported back in time five months!…. It almost blew my flux capacitor! I reminded him that they had ALREADY seen my car for this very problem and pronounced it in perfect condition but it was as if the past five months had been erased from his memory. Maybe he’s a beta version of Elon’s Optimus project. Anyway, I have no choice but to play along. I made a service appointment for June 13 when I will sit down with one of the technicians and show him the video. (I now believe that NO ONE in the shop or in any department of Tesla has viewed it). I used to think that the Service Department was the logical conduit for technical/operational problems to be presented to Tesla… I now realize that they are the opposite. They seem to view their role as “gate keepers“ whose job it is to PROTECT Tesla from any bothersome problems. SO, I will now try a new approach… I will attempt to send the video directly to Tesla by every means possible. There are lists of employee names available online… maybe I can find one or two in the right department and I can get an email through. There are even instructions online for sending snail mail to Elon Musk! You guys can do this too. If any of you know anyone who works at Tesla, there might be a possibility of going through them. Please help!
Bad news…… I made my weekly call to my service center on Friday…. I talked to the same guy who, one week ago, ASSURED me that Tesla had my video, and was in the process of working on the problem…. THIS week, he acted surprised that I would ever THINK that he could send the video to Tesla without seeing the car first! It was like being transported back in time five months!…. It almost blew my flux capacitor! I reminded him that they had ALREADY seen my car for this very problem and pronounced it in perfect condition but it was as if the past five months had been erased from his memory. Maybe he’s a beta version of Elon’s Optimus project. Anyway, I have no choice but to play along. I made a service appointment for June 13 when I will sit down with one of the technicians and show him the video. (I now believe that NO ONE in the shop or in any department of Tesla has viewed it). I used to think that the Service Department was the logical conduit for technical/operational problems to be presented to Tesla… I now realize that they are the opposite. They seem to view their role as “gate keepers“ whose job it is to PROTECT Tesla from any bothersome problems. SO, I will now try a new approach… I will attempt to send the video directly to Tesla by every means possible. There are lists of employee names available online… maybe I can find one or two in the right department and I can get an email through. There are even instructions online for sending snail mail to Elon Musk! You guys can do this too. If any of you know anyone who works at Tesla, there might be a possibility of going through them. Please help!
Please continue to keep us apprised of this sad situation and advise us on how we can help. Thanks again for your persistence.
 
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