Software expectations/issues for 2015 S85

[shudder]

Hi everyone—hoping you can help me with a few questions regarding my 2015 Model S 85 (w/ AP1), Lana... I'm posting them all here below. Maybe you can help me out? I've had the car for about a year and a half and have never asked about them until now, and would really appreciate info or answers regarding these questions. Much thanks.

-shud

1. Lana (named by my wife...) is currently on v10.1 (2019.40.2.3 40ef2d4d1432). Because of her older hardware, I know some new things included in recent releases do not work. That's fine, but now I feel like she is way behind on software updates...

==> Is there an expectation that Lana's older 2015 build hardware will continue to receive software updates, or is she fully cooked?​

2. Sometimes when I press the right wheel button to enter a voice command, I get the spinny on the dash interface and Lana takes no commands, eventually presenting me the "?". If I wait a sec and try again, it often works, but sometimes does not. Seems random to me, and a real annoyance when driving as I end up taking my eyes off the road to try to get it to work.

==> Is this on again/off again experience with voice commands expected?​

3. Sometimes for no reason, I get a small pop-up in the lower portion of the dash screen that says auto-pilot features will not run until the next drive. Seems odd: this happens as I am sitting in my driveway, before I have even begun driving! I understand that if you don't hold the wheel that AP will shut off as you drive, and is unavailable until the next drive ("No soup for you!"), but this is not that.

==> Does this random warning about AP being unavailable indicate a problem that I should have Tesla look at?​

4. When I have received OTA updates, often the updates notes are completely blank. So, too, with the manual. Yet sometimes they actually work. Right now, neither the notes nor the manual have any visible information in therm, and no matter what I do (switch screen modes from Day to Night, and back; soft reset; have not tried a hard reset, but feel that's overboard, but you tell me, please). This doesn't seem right.

==> Is there a way to make the update notes and manual actually show something onscreen?​

5. I've read a bit about the Tesla web browser, but not on the web browser in Lana, because, basically, it is non-functional. Even when I am home and on Wi-fi. I can type in a URL, and rarely do I get any resolution of the page. I have seen it occasionally work, but it does not seem related to anything that I can repeat. And it ain't fast, that's for sure.

==> Is there some special way to get the web browser to actually function and load pages?​

6. Thanks, everyone.

 

[JamstationP85D]

2015 P85D with all the same symptoms except my AP never complains and works well.
The 'notes' can be accessed sometime after the update.. its weird..

So.. as my wife would say.. its not you.. its me...

 

[shudder]

The AP thing is really obscure. So weird, I swear. It only happens every once in a blue moon. In general, my AP1 while driving is flawless. I commute the 101 in the Valley in LA every day for 24 miles, and this car has transformed my ride and my life.

So, it's me, huh? Who knew?...

-shud

 

[JamstationP85D]

The AP thing is really obscure. So weird, I swear. It only happens every once in a blue moon. In general, my AP1 while driving is flawless. I commute the 101 in the Valley in LA every day for 24 miles, and this car has transformed my ride and my life.

So, it's me, huh? Who knew?...

-shud

haha.. I was speaking for your car.. saying its the car!!! not you lol.

At least your AP doesnt fail due to being covered in snow... #fml

I dont think we are 'fully cooked'.. Looks like Tesla did lots of minor software releases late 2019 and then a major release for the newer cars. Hopefully we are just a few cycles behind and will get something.

 

[EV-Fixme]

Hi everyone—hoping you can help me with a few questions regarding my 2015 Model S 85 (w/ AP1), Lana... I'm posting them all here below. Maybe you can help me out? I've had the car for about a year and a half and have never asked about them until now, and would really appreciate info or answers regarding these questions. Much thanks.

-shud

2. Sometimes when I press the right wheel button to enter a voice command, I get the spinny on the dash interface and Lana takes no commands, eventually presenting me the "?". If I wait a sec and try again, it often works, but sometimes does not. Seems random to me, and a real annoyance when driving as I end up taking my eyes off the road to try to get it to work.

==> Is this on again/off again experience with voice commands expected?​

#2 could be sign of eMMC failure. Mine does that frequently also (about to fail.) Watch out for the other signs.

 

[cgiGuy]

I had a 2015 85D and had nothing with problems with what I think was a faulty cellular module. Constantly, voice commands would not work and also music would stop mid-song or after 1 song. I had to restart the screen pretty much every day to keep things working. After several trips to the service center, they finally replaced it with a LTE module under warranty and it seemed to clear up most of the problems.

Might be worth asking if there are any service bulletins or anything pertaining to your car that could help.

 

[shudder]

Thanks for the responses, folks.

I haven't had such intense probs as cgiGuy... it's just the annoyance of the voice commands not 'catching' or whatever. Just doesn't seem right. Should be better.

As to the eMMC failure EV-Fixme brings up, while that could be the case, nothing else seems awry (other than the probs I have brought up here), but of course I will keep an eye out. Thanks.

Hope you are right, JamstationP85D... I'd like to continue to see improvements in the car as she ages. The last update for me was a while ago, and I even think I saw the release notes the very next morning. Now, not so much. Maybe I just need to do a hard reset. Odd that it would need that kick in the pants, but ya never know. I'll give it a go tomorrow morning...

Lana...

-shud

 

[j6Lpi429@3j]

I have pretty much the same car as you. This is going to sound like nonsense but...
Go to the trip computer and clear trip1 and trip2 counters.
Then do a proper reboot of both screens.

Sounds like nonsense, but this worked wonders for me (servcie center did it actually). As I understand it, the trip computer stuff stores a LOT more than a single number, its more like a point-to-point history of everything. If (like me) you never use them, then they guzzle up more and more memory. As a result, new software updates wont download (no space!), and all sorts of other minor things start messing up.

I do still get voice control being a bit random, but I lvie somewhere with a really bad cell signal, and the sound clips are often (always?) sent over the cell signal for processing IIRC.
YMMV IANAL.

 

[shudder]

I love the outside the car [box] thinking, cliffski! I will try exactly that tomorrow. I have never used the trip counter, but happened upon it just the other day when I was looking for something else, and IIRC, it's at about 9,800 miles (1 and 2 are the same, I think?). It's just one of those things I don't use, or don't know how to use. Not sure it would be valuable to me to use, but you never know. I'll clear them though. Good thinking. Thanks for that!

I have to ask you—since you are from the UK—we were over staying in Cornwall (Truro) for three weeks in June, 2017. I drove a mid-sized car during our stay, and it just felt HUGE on your roads. Some of the roads were soooooo slim. Holy heck! What's your experience been like with such a large 'Murcan car?

-shud

 

[j6Lpi429@3j]

cornwall is indeed hell for the model S. I definitely encountered one road down there that was a no-go, and had to find another route. Thats an extreme case though tbh.
One of the main reasons I'd consider a model 3 /Y is to get a narrower car because of our roads. If they made a model S that was shrunk exactly down to model 3 size, I'd upgrade immediately. I'm not sure I want to swap from the big screen/2screens down to the model 3 screen...

 

[shudder]

Well, question #4 seems to have been adequately answered by cliffski! The clearing of the Trip counters followed by the hard reset seems to have done some good on that front: the release notes and manual are visible again! I know that log files run amuck can fill a filesystem in almost no time, so I will have to remember this trick with clearing the Trip counters (which I also do not use). Thanks! Great to have those back!!

-shud

 

[AustinP]

Well, question #4 seems to have been adequately answered by cliffski! The clearing of the Trip counters followed by the hard reset seems to have done some good on that front: the release notes and manual are visible again! I know that log files run amuck can fill a filesystem in almost no time, so I will have to remember this trick with clearing the Trip counters (which I also do not use). Thanks! Great to have those back!!

-shud

Other tip : delete your navigation history.
Yes, one by one as there is no way to delete them all at once.
As for update, look in TmC for 2020.4: it’s coming our way too with some nice goodies in it.

 

[shudder]

Thanks AustinP for that extra tip about getting rid of even more unnecessary log info left behind after months of driving around with it when I don't necessarily need any of it (nav history).

I also looked around in here and found some threads re 2020.4, and one of those led me to Teslafi, where I found the attached chart. I am not understanding why so many cars are so way behind. Isn't there some mechanism Tesla have in place to insure all cars in the fleet get updates in a relatively short amount of time? Looking at this chart then, Lana is SEVEN ITERATIONS behind on OTA updates? Whaaaat? I don't really understand this. Makes no sense to me. She's in my driveway every night, connected to WiFi. Why is this so? Thanks.

-shud

 

[krsgio]

really that list doesn't really prove anything about you being "7 iterations" behind because really if you look specifically at AP1 cars only you'll see 66% of them are on 2019.40.2.3 and nothing else beside 2020.4 has even targeted MCU1 cars until now and even then it's a handful at most.
As for your #3 my car (15 P85D) intermittently has this issue even though the car is perfectly clean and worked fine the previous drive then randomly next time I drive it I cant use cruise or AP which is mildly annoying depending how long that drive it occurs on. I haven't bothered to ask service about it since it's only happened about 4x now without any rhyme or reason. I've put the car to sleep and woke it up several minutes later and that's helped before.

 

[shudder]

...really that list doesn't really prove anything about you being "7 iterations" behind...

Ah. I didn't drill in! Thanks for pointing that out about most of the other AP1 cars. Makes more sense with that granularity of data in place about the older cars. My office mate has a 2018 M3, and he often scratches his head at why I don't have the same FW as he does. This explains it (somewhat).

So, are you saying krsgio that 2020.4 will be pointed at our older AP1 cars then? That would be cool to catch up a bit.

My #3... mine has done it a few more times than yours, but not enough to warrant a visit to my local SC (just 6 miles away). I don't want to waste their time on it. Just a bit ennervating is all. Thanks.

-shud

 

[shudder]

Well, hey. I got 2020.4 the other night. Pretty cool stuff in there for this older car (that's for sure!). The texting from the front screen works pretty well. But, alla sudden my voice commands are being completely ignored (this was intermittent before, but now it's all of them). I note there are some threads here regarding voice command issues, so I will read up.

-shud

 

[aerodyne]

Well, hey. I got 2020.4 the other night. Pretty cool stuff in there for this older car (that's for sure!). The texting from the front screen works pretty well. But, alla sudden my voice commands are being completely ignored (this was intermittent before, but now it's all of them). I note there are some threads here regarding voice command issues, so I will read up.

-shud

This is the kind of surprise I don't like getting, hence I avoid updates now...

 

[shudder]

I totally get you, aerodyne, but I like to stay up to date myself (when I can). While some updates have been confounding (especially the jump to version 9 in late 2018!), I do find most to have really great stuff.

On that point, I think I now have voice commands working. In fact, I may have been doing them wrong all along (!!), and this why my experience with them was so on again, off again over the past few years: I have been pressing the audio button and HOLDING IT down while uttering commands. I did this because it was the only way I could get them to work, but sometimes they just didn’t function, no matter what I did. I read the other day in another thread here re 2020.4 to just TAP the button and say your commands. That’s what I did this morning and it works! I asked Lana to set temp to 70. And then I asked her to turn off the driver side seat heater. She complied on both! Cool.

-shud

 

[am_dmd]

Well, hey. I got 2020.4 the other night. Pretty cool stuff in there for this older car (that's for sure!). The texting from the front screen works pretty well. But, alla sudden my voice commands are being completely ignored (this was intermittent before, but now it's all of them). I note there are some threads here regarding voice command issues, so I will read up.

-shud

It's because you named your car after your wife.

 

[shudder]

No no no no noooo. My WIFE named the CAR. SHE called her Lana, not me! Hahahaha

-shud