Tesla infotainment system upgradeable from MCU1 to MCU2

[Need]

I don't think it'll make much difference. Honda has been extremely aggressive about their takata recall and yet there are still millions of the defective airbags out there.

I am still getting mails from BMW to do the airbag recall 4 years after I traded the car in for a Tesla. Millions and millions of airbag will never get fixed because the 2nd hand owners do not even know they have the problem unless they take the car to a dealer for repair/maintenance.

How would Tesla handle recalls? I don't think they do mails. I know that when I took my car to service, they will say, hey your car has a recall item (I think it was charge port) and they did it for me. I suspect they will do the same with MCU recall (if that happens). They will only change it out if you bring it in for service for other reasons.

 

[MP3Mike]

How would Tesla handle recalls? I don't think they do mails.

They are required to send mails as part of a recall. They don't have to send mails for TSBs. (Which is likely what your charge port item was.)

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I am still getting mails from BMW to do the airbag recall 4 years after I traded the car in for a Tesla. Millions and millions of airbag will never get fixed because the 2nd hand owners do not even know they have the problem unless they take the car to a dealer for repair/maintenance.

How would Tesla handle recalls? I don't think they do mails. I know that when I took my car to service, they will say, hey your car has a recall item (I think it was charge port) and they did it for me. I suspect they will do the same with MCU recall (if that happens). They will only change it out if you bring it in for service for other reasons.

I had a Honda CR-V for 20 years and changed my address 5 times during that period. Honda managed to track me down and kept sending various recall notices for 20 years even though I never sent them a change of address. I figure they get their information based on state registration data. Since I registered the car every year, they knew who it belonged to. Maybe your old car was in an accident before it was registered to a new owner so BMW kept trying to contact you since you might be the last owner on record.

Tesla should be able to use the state registration information as well as their current customer account data to track down owners.

 

[68882]

If your car allows OTA updates then they just push service notices to the car. Every month the driver can tap ‘ignore’. Or tap yes to schedule the repair.

 

[wayner]

How do we find out exactly what model of MCU that we have in our cars and how long it will last? I have a P85D made in Dec 2015 - I paid for the 3G to LTE upgrade and when they did that upgrade they said the "screen" stopped working so they said they replaced it. I think it is still an MCU1 but how do I figure that out.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

How do we find out exactly what model of MCU that we have in our cars and how long it will last? I have a P85D made in Dec 2015 - I paid for the 3G to LTE upgrade and when they did that upgrade they said the "screen" stopped working so they said they replaced it. I think it is still an MCU1 but how do I figure that out.

MCU2 didn't come out until March 2018. It's most likely MCU1 unless you paid the $2500 to upgrade it to MCU2 since early 2020

If you look under Software and then click on Additional Vehicle Information, if you see "Intel Atom" listed for Infotainment processor, then you have MCU2. As an alternative check, if you have a tab for Tesla Theater under Entertainment then you have MCU2.

 

[wayner]

Thanks - I am 99% sure that it is MCU1. The news stories don't use "MCU1" terminology - does this potential recall then affect all MCU1s in Tesla vehicles?

Is there anything that would cause one's vehicle to last longer or shorter - like miles driven? My car only has 64k kms (40k miles) despite the fact that it is now 6 years old. (I erred when I said the year of manufacture above - the car was made in Dec 2014 and delivered in Jan 2015). But I have used services like TeslaFi that hit the car's IT systems more frequently. Woud driving more miles mean you will hit the wall sooner? What about using more API calls to Tesla's server that will then hit your car. Will that shorten the life?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Thanks - I am 99% sure that it is MCU1. The news stories don't use "MCU1" terminology - does this potential recall then affect all MCU1s in Tesla vehicles?

Is there anything that would cause one's vehicle to last longer or shorter - like miles driven? My car only has 64k kms (40k miles) despite the fact that it is now 6 years old. (I erred when I said the year of manufacture above - the car was made in Dec 2014 and delivered in Jan 2015). But I have used services like TeslaFi that hit the car's IT systems more frequently. Woud driving more miles mean you will hit the wall sooner? What about using more API calls to Tesla's server that will then hit your car. Will that shorten the life?

The potential recall is only for MCU1 vehicles.

Miles driven as well as the amount of streaming and other usage could affect how long the original MCU memory lasts. We currently have a late 2017 Model S 75D with MCU1 and it is experiencing long reboots, black screens, slow to wake up and is generally very slow. We're waiting on the recall (or on screen message indicating replacement needed) to replace the eMMC. It has 68k miles on it and has been driven more than our older 2017 S100D with 48k miles on it. The 75D almost always used streaming audio over the past 3+ years. The S100D originally had MCU1 but was upgraded to MCU2. The S100D only used streaming audio about 1.5 out of the 3 years before it was upgraded to MCU2 and never really had any problem with long reboots or general slowness.

So while miles driven isn't an exact measure, it does indicate the car was used more and might've streamed more. The additional usage caused the memory to wear out faster.

 

[wayner]

Is the fix for this problem replacing the eMMC, or does the entire MCU1 need to be swapped out?

 

[SucreTease]

The news stories don't use "MCU1" terminology - does this potential recall then affect all MCU1s in Tesla vehicles?

Yes, it only applies to MCU1.

Is there anything that would cause one's vehicle to last longer or shorter - like miles driven? My car only has 64k kms (40k miles) despite the fact that it is now 6 years old. (I erred when I said the year of manufacture above - the car was made in Dec 2014 and delivered in Jan 2015). But I have used services like TeslaFi that hit the car's IT systems more frequently. Woud driving more miles mean you will hit the wall sooner? What about using more API calls to Tesla's server that will then hit your car. Will that shorten the life?

The problem is caused by the eMMC chip used in MCU1, which provides persistent storage. The vehicle logs and settings are stored there. Each storage cell in these chips have a nominal number of times that they can be rewritten. So, as the vehicle logs are written to them, they eventually wear out and start to exhibit problematic behavior. I do not believe that is is known (by us owners) whether the failures are due to a bad batch of chips, whether some chips are failing to meet their specs, whether Tesla failed to properly estimate their usable lifetime, or whether subsequent increases in logging since the MCU design was introduced decreased their predicted lifespan.

Tesla fixed this problem in MUC2 by using a much larger chip, leading to far fewer writes to each cell. Thus, they will last far longer before exhibiting problems.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Is the fix for this problem replacing the eMMC, or does the entire MCU1 need to be swapped out?

There are multiple options.

• The cheapest is to just to swap out the eMMC. This option could be free (warranty or potential recall) or up to $500 for diagnostics, parts and labor if you want to pay for it. The part itself only runs ~$125 but then there's labor required. Tesla has been charging some people a diagnostic fee as well which brings the price up to ~$500.
• The second option would be to swap out the entire MCU1 with a rebuilt MCU1. This would probably cost ~$1500 and if the rebuilt MCU1 has the old eMMC, it would eventually have the same problem. Hopefully Tesla will only use the newer eMMC when rebuilding MCU1 in the future.
• A third option is to install MCU2. That will run $2250 to $2750, including labor, depending on if you want a new screen and an FM tuner. This option will add lots of new functionality but since you have a pre-AP2 car, it's not as much of an incentive as it might be for cars built from October 2016 - March 2018.
• A fourth option is to get a 3rd party (non-Tesla) to swap it out for you. I think they are charging $300+ for this service. It was a valid option before Tesla started swapping the eMMC out themselves.

 

[smilepak]

The million dollar question is, what happens to those who went with upgrades to MCU2 due to this

 

[bikeandsail]

New The million dollar question is, what happens to those who went with upgrades to MCU2 due to this

Enjoy your upgrade and let time and legal issues sort themselves out.

 

[ccdisce]

The million dollar question is, what happens to those who went with upgrades to MCU2 due to this

Refund the upgrade cost. Bean counter fine print will probably get in and say no sales tax or charge card costs will be refunded tho.

 

[Fiver]

the car was made in Dec 2014 and delivered in Jan 2015).

Hey, completely un-related to the MCU issue... Be happy! Your P85D was built during the small window when the much sought after '+' suspension was being used. You probably have the rare Recaro rear seats as well. Bit of a unicorn if you have both.

 

[BrokerDon]

Hey, completely un-related to the MCU issue... Be happy! Your P85D was built during the small window when the much sought after '+' suspension was being used. You probably have the rare Recaro rear seats as well. Bit of a unicorn if you have both.

My March 2015 built P85D+ is a bit of a unicorn:

• Plus suspension
• front and rear Recaro seats
• every option except 3rd row rear facing seats
• Ludicrous power
• MCU2
• Arachnid wheels
• 4-year extended Tesla warranty through July 2023

LOVE IT !!!

Will consider selling when there is a Model S refresh + full self driving actually working reliability + 500 mile range.

 

[HankLloydRight]

My March 2015 built P85D+ is a bit of a unicorn:

• Plus suspension
• front and rear Recaro seats
• every option except 3rd row rear facing seats
• Ludicrous power
• MCU2
• Arachnid wheels
• 4-year extended Tesla warranty through July 2023

LOVE IT !!!

Will consider selling when there is a Model S refresh + full self driving actually working reliability + 500 mile range.

All you need now is a 100kWh battery!

 

[Akikiki]

Or 200 kWh battery.

 

[Saabstory88]

Just FYI, my service center is telling me that the there is no more option to pay $2250 to retain the center display.

 

[rob4448585]

Just FYI, my service center is telling me that the there is no more option to pay $2250 to retain the center display.

Not surprised at all. A newer screen is easily worth the $250