Successful retrofit of passenger lumbar on 2021 Model Y

[tm1v2]

@osunick Believe me, I totally agree that using build date would be a gross, unreliable hack. But I've seen such things done out of laziness or incompetence or impossible deadlines.

Just to sanity check...has anyone confirmed that the passenger lumbar controls still work on a car that shipped with the feature from the factory?

 

[ItsMeDario]

@osunick Believe me, I totally agree that using build date would be a gross, unreliable hack. But I've seen such things done out of laziness or incompetence or impossible deadlines.

Just to sanity check...has anyone confirmed that the passenger lumbar controls still work on a car that shipped with the feature from the factory?

Good call!

 

[osunick]

Good call!

@osunick Believe me, I totally agree that using build date would be a gross, unreliable hack. But I've seen such things done out of laziness or incompetence or impossible deadlines.

Just to sanity check...has anyone confirmed that the passenger lumbar controls still work on a car that shipped with the feature from the factory?

Yes. It works fine for factory fitted passenger lumbar. Also the first thing I checked. Build date would be an architectural decision though. So if you've seen this in a car, please let me know, on the other hand I'd wager that I have a pretty good background and network for sussing out this stuff.

 

[terranx]

Damn, I was hoping to do this retrofit. I can't understand what possible justification they have for blocking the retrofit.

 

[MP3Mike]

Damn, I was hoping to do this retrofit. I can't understand what possible justification they have for blocking the retrofit.

Maybe in newer vehicles that aren't shipping with the passenger lumbar feature they are de-populating further including removing chips that require making firmware changes. At which point they would flag any vehicle not shipping with the feature to get the new firmware.

 

[ItsMeDario]

I'm pretty upset with this whole situation. I purchased all the necessary parts to do this update and now they're worthless. I really hope this was an honest mistake and this is restored soon.

 

[Grandpa Gebis]

My mobile service got rescheduled because the tech “had been going back and forth with people on if it could be done” so I won’t have an answer today. Someone else who’s done the retrofit should play dumb and submit a service request stating it’s not working and see what happens. I messed up and mentioned the retrofit from the beginning.

 

[zikronix]

I didn’t mention it my appointment is still next week. My car was built one day after the announcement. And the service center said they were looking into it. If they decide not to enable it again then I’ll just jump the switch.

 

[Grandpa Gebis]

I got confirmation today that there is NOT a configuration option for passenger lumbar. Seems like our options are: 1) wait for a possible software update to un-brick lumbar controls 2) wait for a configuration option to be added to allow enabling lumbar again 3) deal with no lumbar control and accept that the bladder will not be able to be changed. I would still love to see what happens if someone were to play dumb and just say their passenger lumbar stoped working, but I'm sure they would just see it didn't come with it and tell you to bug off.

I really hope that they didn't disable it based on VIN. In my opinion disabling this (if intentional) was a real low move. If they wanted to maintain control, offer a retrofit or charge for a config update for those of us who wanted to go the DIY option.

 

[tm1v2]

@Grandpa Gebis Thanks for digging into this, and I agree, so much. Disabling the controls is really low. We're adding the feature back using official Tesla parts, a feature which they stopped offering, so there is no other route to get it in these cars. Disabling the controls is pretty f***** up.

I hope this was somehow an accident or side effect and they'll fix it in a future software update, but I'm having trouble imagining how this could happen accidentally and only affect the cars without passenger lumbar from the factory. So no, I don't believe this was an accident.

 

[Prax]

This is just silly. The retrofit uses OEM parts and OEM connectors. Back in my BMW days, we had access to their programming software suite, and that allowed retrofits and changes like 3 blinks to 5 blinks. With Teslas being updated so frequently and "monitored remotely" we are now in a place where Tesla is ultimately in control of our cars until "right to repair" becomes a thing.

 

[X Ӕ A-12]

Yesterday I found this thread and was looking into doing this because my wife absolutely needs lumbar, especially since I have the LR for trips so she'll be the passenger on long trips. Hope this gets worked out.

 

[terranx]

Yesterday I found this thread and was looking into doing this because my wife absolutely needs lumbar, especially since I have the LR for trips so she'll be the passenger on long trips. Hope this gets worked out.

You could probably ask your dad to fix it for us

 

[ElectricAnt54]

There is a form at the bottom of this tesla www page. Perhaps ask for ability to be restored via that page?

Contact | Tesla

www.tesla.com

 

[terranx]

There is a form at the bottom of this tesla www page. Perhaps ask for ability to be restored via that page?

Contact | Tesla

www.tesla.com

Pretty sure that page goes to something like this:

 

[X Ӕ A-12]

You could probably ask your dad to fix it for us

He only responds on Twitter and I'm not allowed to be on Twitter yet.

 

[danaleighton]

Pretty sure that page goes to something like this:

View attachment 775422

Yes, apparently the same as every form on the Tesla site that I have ever filled out and got no response at all.

 

[zikronix]

My appointment is tomorrow. My advantage I hope is my car was built 1 day after the announcement

 

[zikronix]

Nope. Official word from service center is. Car doesn’t support lumbar

 

[ItsMeDario]

Nope. Official word from service center is. Car doesn’t support lumbar

That's bullshit, just because the car doesn't "support" lumbar doesn't mean we shouldn't have the ability to retrofit. Every car in history has been modified to death.