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Software update 2020.48.26.x update, font size problems

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Revisiting this thread, one month post major UI change. No further change to my M3 firmware. No info available about the reason for change has been offered by APP chat with appointment service, or phone call with local customer support. No answer to my question regarding where it is going, what to expect. No official suggestion that Tesla has any concerns, or is even looking into it. Tweet by EM in the middle of the night, meaningless to me. I accept that there will always be a difference of opinion, but I want Tesla to tell me why I must accept a display that is not what bought into, and is hard for me to read. They don't even try. And while on the subject of difference of opinion, rather then arguing here about why it is better to have it one way or another, or dismissing people on the forum with jibes about it being first world problems, or your the problem, maybe we could agree that a touch screen touted ad nauseam with the sales slogan "Only gets better", never is better unless ability to cater to needs is built in simultaneous with change? The updated Tesla slogan should be "my way or the highway". It took this UI being shoved down my throat to realise what I bought into. Brand no longer recommended, due fear of next firmware, no going back.

After thought edit: What is the name for fear of firmware phobia?

Yeah, I am having a lot of those second thoughts as well. I knew going into this 2.5 years ago that tesla had a severe control problem, (anti right-to-repair, keeping a lock on service and parts, other proprietary choices, etc). Those were all serious concerns I had before purchase, but I also wanted the best EV available, and I do love the car but there is a lot I don't love about Tesla. My hope was that Tesla would slowly come around (or be forced to come around) to recognizing that WE own our cars but they have made only modest steps in that direction (and MANY steps away from that). This update is just a stark reminder that Elon can come into our garages any time he wants and fundamentally alter our cars in ways we may not want. Many will say this UI change is trivial, or we are wrong for complaining, but I say BS. The driver interface (whether analog or digital) is certainly part of any car purchase decision I (and I suspect many others) make, and this new UI is very much not to my liking. If the car had this new UI 2.5 years ago I am not sure I would have bought it.

There is more to it, that is perhaps a lot more concerning. The whole UI update smacks of both arbitrary change for changes sake, and also a complete lack of usability testing. This is absolutely not how something as mission-critical as a driver interface should be treated. The nearly complete radio-silence from Tesla is not helping either. If Tesla wants to alter my car, two conditions should be always met: (1) the reason for the changes should be made completely clear to me, and (2) I should have to consent to those change. We are not getting either of those.

To be totally fair to Tesla, this is not just their problem (but they are not helping at all). The whole tech industry is an anti-user dystopian nightmare these days. There is widespread hardware DRM from appliances to phones to tractors and nearly everything in between that makes repair and modification often difficult or impossible. And for software (Windows 10, etc) there is a constant grind of forced updates that often alter your devices in ways you would really prefer they did not. This is not the tech world I want, and I really wish Tesla would do better (and that we would DEMAND they do better).
 
(1) the reason for the changes should be made completely clear to me, and (2) I should have to consent to those change.
Tesla has never done #1 - yes it would be great if they did.

On #2 you could argue you gave consent when you hit the install button. I'm typically in the "let other people play with it for a month before installing" group. I have no desire to be on the "bleeding edge" on software for something as important as my car. On occasion the new releases improve functionality but almost all releases break something. I prefer to go in with an informed choice. Look at #chargegate and #batterygate where many have similar regrets about doing an update on a major scale - these events will happen again. Those who install in day 1 can get seriously screwed. Maybe you can't hang on forever but I've skipped this release entirely on my MS and prefer to make that decision at the right time. There's just no good reason for me to rush an update. Now maybe if FSD went out with a wide release, maybe I'll shorten the honeymoon period to a week but never on day 1 or less. Heck I normally leave my car wifi disconnected, only enabling when I'm ready.

Great to be back to a dash that's readable for all!
Well, for MS/MX folks anyway.
 
. Am I crazy or did they make the font larger on the MS? Speedo, range, gear selection.
Definitely bigger, including the current speed readout and limit signs. Still not happy about PRND moved to the left. It was right above the actual stalk, so you naturall registered the change when you shifter gears. Now you have to look at the opposite side of the instrument cluster when moving the stalk.
 
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Update. On 2020.48.30 now.
Traffic lights are back, but only for the lane you’re in. Funny enough, if you’re lane has two traffic lights (see picture) it still shows only one of them, in this case only the one on the right (red). The other one stays gray. Don’t see the logic. Other problems not solved yet.
View attachment 625759


Since the latest update 2020.48.35.5 the fonts on the top of the screen are bigger, and the traffic light recognition has (also) improved. Have not been driving a lot lately (Corona), so don’t know if the overall experience is better too, but these are nice improvements.
 
Definitely bigger, including the current speed readout and limit signs. Still not happy about PRND moved to the left. It was right above the actual stalk, so you naturall registered the change when you shifter gears. Now you have to look at the opposite side of the instrument cluster when moving the stalk.
I agree with you on PRND to the right.
 
Have not been driving much for obvious reasons, so this UX downgrade comes as a big shock. I hope that reports of improved fonts will make it to the 3.

It's literally an ad for FullSelfDriving now. They moved everything around and shrank all the usable info so they could make a big ad out of what FSD is seeing on the road. Like that matters at all to anyone as a driver. I don't need a bunch of useless animations flickering in my peripheral vision. It's an ad taking up the most important 1/3 of the screen.

There should obviously be user selectable options, and Tesla has a nasty habit of not providing any. Font size and not having useless animations on the screen should clearly be user selectable. Fonts should never be grey on grey for anything regarding safety. I've put in a request to Consumer Reports to have a look at how poorly this is designed. Tesla at least listened to them even if they could care less about the customer.

Not to be too dramatic about it, but they just lost me as a customer. If they can just trash the UI anytime they want and force me to use it- I want out. Not having UI designers with any knowledge of human factors engineering is a hard pass for me.
 
I am also refusing the update. I am not planing to sell or replace the car any time soon and I still love the car, but if I had to replace it right now for some reason I would not buy a Tesla. Between this update, the new Model S controls, their strong anti-owners policies (like locking down repairs and fighting right-to-repair), their almost total lack of communication (both to owners and the press) and their obsession with FSD at the expense of drive-ability I have no faith in their future decisions. At this point I am even more bitter: I want these ideas to fail miserably so they don't poison the industry. As much as I hate the new update on its own is not that important, but it is a symptom of how self-obsessed and out of touch with good basic design Tesla has become. Really really sad.
 
I've said before how awful this update is, with zero improvements to the UI and many downgrades, but the last straw happened this weekend when my wife drove the Model 3 for the first time since the update. She is short and from her seating position, the speed is COMPLETELY blocked by her right hand on the wheel (was perfectly fine before this update). She has to remove her right hand from the wheel every time she wants to check the speed. I know it's futile, but I just put in a service request for a software rollback. This is complete BS and blatant incompetence from the software designer(s) and whoever approved this to be released to the fleet. Two months of this terrible interface with no confirmation that it will be fixed. This car is less safe than it was when I bought it only 5 months ago. Not impressed Tesla!
 
Further analysing the UI changes to the M3/Y, in an effort to understand it. With regard to the tiny grey on grey “gear” font(3mm or 1/8th of an inch):

We went from this “D” indication:
8A85769D-BC30-4FFC-ACD1-047669A0A2BF.jpeg


To this:
BD6CEFF8-4DA3-4E89-B64E-BDA2637F8E69.jpeg


Note, we lost not only font size, but more importantly for clarity, contrast, from black to grey.

Now, note that contrast is reserved only for FSD, AP
470D2AC1-4F06-44CD-B800-3A82A8B11139.jpeg


So, it appears we no longer have font contrast whilst manually driving, due, once again, to the single minded focus on autonomous driving.
 

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I've said before how awful this update is, with zero improvements to the UI and many downgrades, but the last straw happened this weekend when my wife drove the Model 3 for the first time since the update. She is short and from her seating position, the speed is COMPLETELY blocked by her right hand on the wheel (was perfectly fine before this update). She has to remove her right hand from the wheel every time she wants to check the speed. I know it's futile, but I just put in a service request for a software rollback. This is complete BS and blatant incompetence from the software designer(s) and whoever approved this to be released to the fleet. Two months of this terrible interface with no confirmation that it will be fixed. This car is less safe than it was when I bought it only 5 months ago. Not impressed Tesla!
Ah, glad to hear I'm not the last person in the world to still use 10&2 driving position. This is my biggest problem as well, I can no longer see any of the indicators including my speed. Moving all the indicators to the left side- now I can't easily tell when my high beams are on, whether I'm in F or R. Even any of the warning chimes or alarms that could come up. Now I'm actually expected to remove my control hand so that I can check my speed.

This is what happens when designers drive computers all day, and never actually test it in cars. I put in a request for a rollback as well. They ought to have that option as minimum for egregious mistakes. Hell even Netflix has that and I'm not going to die when Netflix messes up. I'm not really sure what happened to the design team. They previously were very solid and thoughtful about their designs. This update was done by monkeys so they can show me pretty animations that flicker in my peripheral vision and distract me. And that I can't turn off or rollback.


As far as I'm concerned these changes make the car genuinely more dangerous to drive, and when I'm driving I'm all business. Driving is by far the biggest risk factor in my life. That's why I sent a request to Consumer Reports for them to review this UI with safety in mind. I encourage you to do so as well.