SiriusXM In the Refresh

[emailforbrett]

I have the 2021 Plaid. I want to subscribe to SiriusXM and I want to check with you folks to see if it works as advertised. Am I correct that there is no actual SiriusXM hardware in my car, rather the music is streamed over cellular like Spotify? If that is the case, then I need to subscribe to a streaming-only plan, and not mess with a radio ID? What I am concerned about more is functionality-like everything else in this car, it seems spotty after reading several threads. Does the SiruisXM app work as advertised? Is the app as stable as the Spotify app, which works fairly well most of the time. Is functionality similar to traditional vehicle SiriusXM units….simple seek, search, and station selection, with channel and album art?

I think I can start with three months free to try it out, but I want to check with you folks first who have been using it long term.

 

[DBV1]

If you have a refresh Model S, it has actual SiriusXM. It does not have the app. Album art is hit or miss, in fact the whole Sirius experience is not the same as usual cars. Can’t scan favorites, no channel selection by numbers, etc. There is a thread on it. But, I am glad we at least have though.

 

[DerbyDave]

The SXM radio in the car is hampered by the software interface Tesla provides. Currently, I can listen to a station, but you have to jump thru hoops to change the channels. It changes with each update on what you need to do. I have channels that no longer exist, like CBC3, still in the car icons. Anytime SXM channel lineup changes, it can be 6 months or more before the car refreshes it's list, so channels and the icons are out of order. Currently, you can select your channel, but the icon and name may not match. Six months ago after a major SXM channel update, some new channels were not accessible.

In my 2020 car and others without the latest MCU, there has been a scratchiness in the volume control that sometimes gets worse, and sometimes better with updates. This affects both the FM radio and SXM. When you adjust the volume, it creates static (scratchiness) you can hear. In really bad software updates, like my current and latest Full Self Driving Beta update, it snaps and crackles even without volume adjustment, clipping the music.

It is all a pretty regressive experience that cannot be fixed because you will need Tesla software engineers to update the code properly and actually test it before releasing it to us. In June 2020, I recall (perhaps this was bad memory) the ability to enter a channel directly by number. This was deleted by Tesla within the first 6 months and has never returned. In fact, nearly all the channel icons and descriptions omit the numbers now. Sometimes my Recent selections helps me find a channel. Favorites selections may, on a good day, display only the last Favorite I had playing. Pretty sad implementation overall, but I have a free lifetime SXM account. It is a tossup on whether it would be easier just to stream from my phone and the hassles with having to change channels by phone every time. The quality of the music using your phone can be better if you select high quality. It also will use more data as you stream from the phone.

 

[Blue Stuff]

Tesla fixed the major bug in the refresh MS. For quite a while the app would randomly disappear and you never knew when you would get it back. It has been stable for a while now. I do notice that the XM reception isn't as good as it is/was in my other cars. Overcast/trees have more of an affect.

Yes, finding channels is a pain but favorites work. The left scroll wheel can be pushed left and right to go up and down in the channel list.

 

[DerbyDave]

@Blue Stuff Favorites did work until my last FSD Beta update. Now Favorites does not work on this version. Hoping the new release, FSD Beta 11 (2022.40.5), that integrates FSD Beta with all other non-FSD Beta versions into one release for everyone will improve my experience again. It was released a day or so ago. It should go out to everyone this month. Good that they fixed it from completely disappearing. That "feature" lasted many months.

2022.40.5 Official Tesla Release Notes - Software Updates

Tesla software update 2022.40.5 (FSD Beta 11) includes FSD Beta v11 Release Notes, Full Self-Driving (Beta).

www.notateslaapp.com

 

[Blue Stuff]

Favorites did work until my last FSD Beta update. Now Favorites does not work on this version.

Good to know. Another reason for me to stay away from the FSD Beta.

 

[DerbyDave]

Good to know. Another reason for me to stay away from the FSD Beta.

You are getting the code in your next update. We will all have the same release of 2022.40.5. If you paid for FSD and your car can handle it, you will get it. It is out to pre-testing now, but you and I should get the same code within a month. Since the latest FSD Beta is still on 2022.20.19, this will be a huge leap for us, bringing us up to the rest of the Tesla world code releases. Of course, this new release could really hurt SiriusXM on our cars. Who knows?

 

[DBV1]

@Blue Stuff Favorites did work until my last FSD Beta update. Now Favorites does not work on this version. Hoping the new release, FSD Beta 11 (2022.40.5), that integrates FSD Beta with all other non-FSD Beta versions into one release for everyone will improve my experience again. It was released a day or so ago. It should go out to everyone this month. Good that they fixed it from completely disappearing. That "feature" lasted many months.

2022.40.5 Official Tesla Release Notes - Software Updates

Tesla software update 2022.40.5 (FSD Beta 11) includes FSD Beta v11 Release Notes, Full Self-Driving (Beta).

www.notateslaapp.com

I am not on FSD Beta, normal FSD and on latest normal Tesla release and favorites has not worked for a long time, at least as far as displaying in Favorites/Recents and being able to scroll through. They really need to allow us to make as sticky/presets in whatever order we want and availability to scroll through.

Also - album art is hit or miss now too with more miss. Weird how it will display quickly when changing the channel, but then goes back to channel logo. Heck - even channel logs are not always correct, like the latest Holiday Channels. Holly and Hallmark our backwards. What a mess. Why can’t Tesla just spend a little to fix this and while they add it, add Album art in drivers console for refresh models too.

I really like my model S, but the media interface alone, if not fixed and brought up to date with competition will drive me to another car next time. Glad EV market is getting so competitive, as will be many choices.

 

[emailforbrett]

SMH. Why am I not surprised. There is so much I do love about this car, but yet again Tesla makes me question whether it’s worth buying another Tesla again. Thank you for the feedback. If SiriusXM lets me try it free for three months, I’ll give it a shot. They are closed until Monday and their website won’t offer me the free trial.

 

[emailforbrett]

I signed up for the $7 a month plan to try it out so I can cancel if I don’t like it.

Question: I have saved my favorite stations. Is there not a way to just have the L/R click of the left scroll wheel only browse through the favorite stations? It sucks to have to scroll through all 300 stations when I only like about 20 of them. Even clicking the right arrow on the screen still goes through every XM station available.

 

[DerbyDave]

Favorites is supposed to save to the Favorites and Recents tab. This used to work for me until the last update 3 weeks ago. It doesn't work in the latest update for me. I have to go to Genres and select the channel again manually. This really cuts down on one's ability to channel hop.

I don't know about your scrolling and selecting questions, since I would be happy to tap the station icon in the favorites folder.

 

[emailforbrett]

I like to scroll through the favorites until I get to a song I like. By tapping the station on the favorites screen, you can’t scroll at all. As soon as you tap on a favorite station, the favorites screen disappears and goes to recents (I believe) with a few stations it suggests are similar. You have to click the FAVORITES tab again to get back into your favorites, then scroll down, then click the next station. Very cumbersome while driving. My wife’s car is simple…click a button on the steering to simply scroll through favorite stations only until you find a song you like. I wish the left scroll wheel would click through only the favorite stations. I don’t care to scroll through dozens of news and talk stations and fifty sports stations.

 

[DerbyDave]

At one point in recent updates, the Favorites and Recents are together in the mini-view SXM window. I think one row in this window was Recents, and the other was Favorites. This is currently not working on my car, probably the same for yours. In the larger SXM window, there are tabs for Favorites, and a separate tab for Recents. You can change the windows from maxi, mini, compact by tapping the leftmost tab on the upper right side of the window, where there are three tabs.

 

[DBV1]

I like to scroll through the favorites until I get to a song I like. By tapping the station on the favorites screen, you can’t scroll at all. As soon as you tap on a favorite station, the favorites screen disappears and goes to recents (I believe) with a few stations it suggests are similar. You have to click the FAVORITES tab again to get back into your favorites, then scroll down, then click the next station. Very cumbersome while driving. My wife’s car is simple…click a button on the steering to simply scroll through favorite stations only until you find a song you like. I wish the left scroll wheel would click through only the favorite stations. I don’t care to scroll through dozens of news and talk stations and fifty sports stations.

You are correct, there is no way to scroll through favorites, whether trying to do that through Favorites/Recents (as Sirius does not even show up in Favorites/Recents for most of the time and if a channel does it does not stay long) or when going to the SiriusXM Favorites, it scrolls through channels and not your Favorites.

Tesla has the absolute worst media interface in any car I have driven and like you said makes it a safety issue, as you have to look at the center console screen any time you want to switch to a favorite any other media. Just don’t get it, how Tesla does not understand that.

 

[Blue Stuff]

Tesla has the absolute worst media interface in any car I have driven and like you said makes it a safety issue, as you have to look at the center console screen any time you want to switch to a favorite any other media. Just don’t get it, how Tesla does not understand that.

Tesla doesn't understand because the software troops only use this in a lab. They don't drive the vehicles they support.

 

[emailforbrett]

I wonder if the Tidal app in the Tesla works better? I may give that one a shot. Anyone try it?

 

[DBV1]

I wonder if the Tidal app in the Tesla works better? I may give that one a shot. Anyone try it?

Tidal works well and sounds great too! I subscribed to it even though I use Apple Music, since Tidal integrated in car. Still think Tesla could make that interface better too though.

Shame Elon does nothing with Apple Music. Another just weird thing and just show they could care less about the media interface.

 

[Blue Stuff]

Shame Elon does nothing with Apple Music. Another just weird thing and just show they could care less about the media interface.

Keeping my sarcasm hat on: Elon never stops talking so never uses the media interface.

 

[maxibenson]

Since I have owned this car for 2 years now and there have been no updates to fix this...SXM favorites ain't being fixed. I think in the world of Tesla this is so low on the priority list that it's a waste of time complaining about it. The CEO doesn't care about this company because he's too busy with Twitter. I am looking at the Rivian or Audi E-Tron for next car. This was unfortunately not a great purchase and I frankly was unaware that the entertainment interface could be so bad. Both my previous Teslas were fine. Elon... if your listening, there's more to a car than just FSD. There's the enjoyment of listening to your favorite music. You obviously don't care.. so I don't care about your car anymore. And your customer service is.. well.. it doesn't exist. Maybe if I tweeted this it might get through?