Tesla 3 screen shutdown whilst driving

[Electro664]

Screen went dark whilst driving. Spotify music briefly changed to a buzzing noise, then in an instant, all dark and quiet. Basic driving functions seemed to still be available. It was impossible to tell if lights or signals were working. Pulled off the road. No way at this point to tell if car was in park or drive. Whilst considering options, screen rebooted on it's own, and all normal functions returned. Latest software installed about 5 days ago(2020.24.6.9). 2020 P+ with 2300km on the odometer. Anyone have a similar experience? This happened at night, in busy city traffic, so was quite unnerving. I plan to put in a service request.

 

[DeanP]

Happened to me once while on the hwy. I rebooted while driving and came back on. All was good. I was nerve racking but...it's a computer. Sh!t happens.

 

[brkaus]

Twice in 2 year. Hasn’t happened in a long time.

 

[drtimhill]

It happens occasionally, the screen will reboot, and as you note the cars basically driving system always continue to function. The service probably won't lead anywhere, unless the restarts become frequent (which could indicate a hardware fault on the computer).

 

[New_Old_Stock]

Happened to me 2 times in the first 2 weeks of ownership. Hasn't happened again in a while (knock on wood). It is unnerving.

 

[holmgang]

Hasn't happened to me while driving, but has happened once before I started to drive and I drove away fine.

It's especially unnerving as tying the gear selection display, speed, etc, all to a single screen gives the impression that a dead screen = dead car. But as other said, the drivetrain can act independently.

Unless it happens often, they'll just chalk it up to a computer randomness -- much the same way other In Car Entertainment system will occasionally reboot

 

[WarpedOne]

Just to add to the pattern ... yes, it happened a few times to me also.
The screen does not control car operation, it just communicates its state to you (and takes some commands).
Yes, it's unnerving the first time, then its just inconvenient and later you just don't mind it anymore.

It's just this computer thing you know ... service can check for some loose wire, maybe a failing capacitor in PSU but not much more.

 

[Mike H @ BSE]

This also happened to me yesterday twice for the first time, LR -DM, 3000 miles. On motorway cruising and screen froze and displayed the P sign inplace of speed, then after about 5 mins screen went out. Had no idea of speed etc very alarming. Carried on and about 10 mins later screen came on and all back to normal. 80 miles further on same thing happened again but was nearly home so carried on. Back home I did a re-boot but have not used the car again. Happening also after having just installed update ( 2020.24.6.9) 2 days before. Reassuring to know car won't just die.
What chances its an update glitch or something more serious?

 

[Electro664]

Thanks for all the feedback. I am better prepared, should it happen again. Not worth a service call, for a once off, but I will try to report it. Apparently just doing what it is designed to do, recover safely from a non-critical software glitch whilst the car is in motion, enabling one to stay in motion, rather then pull over. However, I think it needs to be addressed, in the long term, with perhaps a standby computer, before it indirectly causes an accident due to startle or distraction. Educating drivers would help, but might be bad PR admitting another drawback of every indication on one screen.

 

[New_Old_Stock]

Hasn't happened to me while driving, but has happened once before I started to drive and I drove away fine.

After posting that I hadn't gotten a random screen reboot in a while, it did this same thing to me when I left the office for the day yesterday. Sucks because I use "comfort entry" and had to wait for the screen to reboot so I could set the wheel and seat to driving position.

 

[hugh_jassol]

I wonder if they could have a message that appears when this happens. Would need to be encoded in the display firmware... something like “Display is restarting, car will continue to operate safely while waiting.”

 

[KenC]

Screen went dark whilst driving. Spotify music briefly changed to a buzzing noise, then in an instant, all dark and quiet. Basic driving functions seemed to still be available. It was impossible to tell if lights or signals were working. Pulled off the road. No way at this point to tell if car was in park or drive. Whilst considering options, screen rebooted on it's own, and all normal functions returned. Latest software installed about 5 days ago(2020.24.6.9). 2020 P+ with 2300km on the odometer. Anyone have a similar experience? This happened at night, in busy city traffic, so was quite unnerving. I plan to put in a service request.

24.6.9 seems buggy. Only had one issue with the display in last 19 months requiring reboot, until 24.6.9. Then day after latest download the screen was frozen, and needed a reboot. Then yesterday, half the screen was frozen. Rather than reboot, I tried something I had been wondering about, I opened my AutoMate app, to see if it would show a facsimile of the screen and it did. Showed my speed and allowed me to adjust fan, etc.

And here's AutoMate:

 

[Gasaraki]

I wonder if they could have a message that appears when this happens. Would need to be encoded in the display firmware... something like “Display is restarting, car will continue to operate safely while waiting.”

But the display computer crashed, how is it supposed to display that?

 

[f308gt4]

24.6.9 seems buggy.

Yeah, I’ve noticed a couple weird glitches here and there. Today, as I began driving, I noticed that none of the button icons on my screen worked. Music was playing and I could control the volume, and the map was moving, but if you pressed an icon on the screen, nothing, Wound up doing a 2 button reset while I was driving, which took a while. I don’t know if the turn signals or lights were working, and it seemed like forever for it to finally restart. I probably should have pulled over, but didn’t think it would take so long to restart.

 

[New_Old_Stock]

Yesterday I turned off the AC. Just as I touched the button, the entire screen when black and it rebooted. SMH
I'm still stuck on 20.17 so I hate to think how buggy it might get with the next update...

 

[holmgang]

I wonder if they could have a message that appears when this happens. Would need to be encoded in the display firmware... something like “Display is restarting, car will continue to operate safely while waiting.”

yes. but also thats why i personally would like a small forward display (hud, or just simple transparent glass) with vital information like speed (in this instance, run off a different system)

But the display computer crashed, how is it supposed to display that?

on firmware, operating at a different "level" on the computer stack

 

[New_Old_Stock]

Even after a few months daily driving the 3, I still would like a small HUD. Would be a great option to upsell folks to the Performance.