"Ticking" issues on new cars

[Todd Burch]

Today on my drive to work I turned off the radio, and sure enough heard the ticking. It's on a period of just over 4 seconds (just under 0.25 Hz) and sounds just like a slowly ticking clock.

With the radio on it's inaudible. But if you drive around with the radio off, I could see it getting annoying quickly. I can confirm this sound was not heard on my old early VIN car. Hopefully they find a fix. I'm actually surprised they started letting these cars go out given that sound, unless they knew that a relatively simple fix could be implemented.

 

[wk057]

You can hear the noise at 11, 15, 19 and so on. Hopefully this one is more clear.

I couldn't notice anything in the video, so I timmed, filtered, and volume boosted by 1500% to make this audio clip from your video: Tesla Model S Ticking - Filtered.mp3

I can hear what sounds similar a hard drive head movement...

I'm not sure if this would bother me or not... we'll see when I get the P85D in a couple of months.

 

[lalainyourface]

I have this EXACT noise. Its like a click click every 3-4 seconds. I thought it was just me until David at the Tesla Store mentioned that there a few other cars that were brought in with the same sound.

 

[franknesss]

Have you had a chance to bring the car in? I'm curious as to if they've made progress towards fixing the sound.

I have this EXACT noise. Its like a click click every 3-4 seconds. I thought it was just me until David at the Tesla Store mentioned that there a few other cars that were brought in with the same sound.

 

[Todd Burch]

Have you had a chance to bring the car in? I'm curious as to if they've made progress towards fixing the sound.

Latest I heard on this from my service advisor yesterday is that the ticking noise is the sound of the EM braking system doing self-checks. (But every 4 seconds?!?)

Hope a fix comes out. It's annoying when the music's off.

 

[franknesss]

Yes i agree it's very annoying when you're trying to enjoy the drive at 45mph.

Latest I heard on this from my service advisor yesterday is that the ticking noise is the sound of the EM braking system doing self-checks. (But every 4 seconds?!?)

Hope a fix comes out. It's annoying when the music's off.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks wk057 for helping with the sound.

I couldn't notice anything in the video, so I timmed, filtered, and volume boosted by 1500% to make this audio clip from your video: Tesla Model S Ticking - Filtered.mp3

 

[lalainyourface]

I brought it in twice at the Fremont Store. The lead foreman stated that he noticed it on all the newer cars and currently there is no fix. This was around mid October. 17th-ish

 

[yobigd20]

perhaps this 'ticking' is those required noisemakers that EVs are supposed to have for pedestrian alerts. weren't they supposed to start being phased in in September? (I really hope that's not what it is!!) Electric vehicle warning sounds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"require hybrids and electric vehicles traveling at less than 18.6 miles per hour (30 km/h) to emit warning sounds that pedestrians must be able to hear over background noises. The agency selected 30 km/h as the limit because according to NHTSA measurements, this is the speed at which the sound levels of the hybrid and electric vehicles approximated the sound levels produced by similar internal combustion vehicles. According to the NHTSA proposal, carmakers would be able to pick the sounds the vehicles make from a range of choices, and similar vehicles would have to make the same sounds. The rules are scheduled to go into effect in September 2014"

 

[Todd Burch]

perhaps this 'ticking' is those required noisemakers that EVs are supposed to have for pedestrian alerts. weren't they supposed to start being phased in in September? (I really hope that's not what it is!!) Electric vehicle warning sounds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"require hybrids and electric vehicles traveling at less than 18.6 miles per hour (30 km/h) to emit warning sounds that pedestrians must be able to hear over background noises. The agency selected 30 km/h as the limit because according to NHTSA measurements, this is the speed at which the sound levels of the hybrid and electric vehicles approximated the sound levels produced by similar internal combustion vehicles. According to the NHTSA proposal, carmakers would be able to pick the sounds the vehicles make from a range of choices, and similar vehicles would have to make the same sounds. The rules are scheduled to go into effect in September 2014"

No--it's very quiet and can't be heard outside the car.

 

[Blu Zap]

Franknesss, thanks for bringing this up. I took delivery of my P85+ on 9/30/14 as well, at the factory. I had not noticed the ticking. I'll turn off the sound system today and see if I have the same issue. Thanks.

 

[breser]

perhaps this 'ticking' is those required noisemakers that EVs are supposed to have for pedestrian alerts. weren't they supposed to start being phased in in September? (I really hope that's not what it is!!) Electric vehicle warning sounds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"require hybrids and electric vehicles traveling at less than 18.6 miles per hour (30 km/h) to emit warning sounds that pedestrians must be able to hear over background noises. The agency selected 30 km/h as the limit because according to NHTSA measurements, this is the speed at which the sound levels of the hybrid and electric vehicles approximated the sound levels produced by similar internal combustion vehicles. According to the NHTSA proposal, carmakers would be able to pick the sounds the vehicles make from a range of choices, and similar vehicles would have to make the same sounds. The rules are scheduled to go into effect in September 2014"

If that was the case then my car built in September should be making the same noise, it doesn't. It also doesn't have the Autopilot or the new brakes. I suspect that rule hasn't gone into effect.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

For those of you with the ticking noise, throw up an analog clock on your car's web browser and that might make the noise more tolerable...

 

[mattreidy]

I wish I'd never run across this topic... I hear the noise now when I'm not listening to music. I've got autopilot hardware...

 

[mspohr]

For those of you with the ticking noise, throw up an analog clock on your car's web browser and that might make the noise more tolerable...

Reminds me of a review of a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud I read many years ago. The writer commented that at 60MPH, the loudest sound was the ticking of the dashboard clock... to which the factory representative remarked "We'll have to do something about that clock".

 

[shivasmith]

I'm glad this thread is here... my 3-week-old Model S has this strange ticking sound too... kinda odd / annoying... however, despite that, I love the car like crazy... most amazing car I've ever owned or driven, BY FAR.

I look forward to a resolution to this because other than this, my car is basically silent 90% of the time.

I just visited the Tesla Service center (Oct 22, 2014) addressing a ticking issue in my car. When I arrived, service advisor knew exactly what the problem was and told me that "all" new cars have the same issue and as of now there is no known fix. I just wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else has addressed this issue on their recent delivery and if there's a name for this problem. Also if Tesla has made any official statements regarding this. I picked up my car on Sept 30th 2014.

In the video, you can start to hear the "ticking" at 25mph @ 19 sec into the video.

- - - Updated - - -

As far as the sound in the video given... it is *barely* perceptible.... not the best recording of it... almost can't hear it at all -- I know the sound very well since my car has it.

A better recording probably at slower speed on a very smooth quiet road would capture it better. I believe I hear it somewhere inside the left part of the driver's side dash... a clicking or ticking sound... happens maybe about every 15 or 20 seconds... sometimes can be a bit intermittent tho'... it is subtle but definitely there... can't hear it at faster speeds since drowned out by road noise.

I'm not convinced it's a rattle per se... sounds a bit more like an "actuator" firing or some kind of servo or relay perhaps.

I could make a recording of it at some point.

I just visited the Tesla Service center (Oct 22, 2014) addressing a ticking issue in my car. When I arrived, service advisor knew exactly what the problem was and told me that "all" new cars have the same issue and as of now there is no known fix. I just wanted to start a thread to see if anyone else has addressed this issue on their recent delivery and if there's a name for this problem. Also if Tesla has made any official statements regarding this. I picked up my car on Sept 30th 2014.

In the video, you can start to hear the "ticking" at 25mph @ 19 sec into the video.

 

[Archer]

I have the exact same issue. My car is a late September build and has the autopilot hardware but the ticking noise didn't appear until I brought in my car to have them upgrade the brake booster a month ago. Apparently, the upgrade was required for the autopilot to work properly when the time comes. I contacted my SC about the problem and will update this thread when I learn more about any possible fix.

 

[shivasmith]

Yup that's it. I know exactly that ticking sound... have the same thing.

You just have to crank the volume on your video and then it can be heard.. slightly subtle still, but very clear now in this recording, so thanks!

I look forward to an eventual resolution... in the meantime I otherwise love the car like crazy!

You can hear the noise at 11, 15, 19 and so on. Hopefully this one is more clear.

 

[Thud]

I hear The Tick occasionally on my s85 too. Delivered Nov 30. Seems to happen at regular intervals, every 4-5 seconds. Not too worried about it, with a car this silent every little thing is more noticeable.

 

[Todd Burch]

You'll find it always starts exactly above 25 mph and happens every approx. 4 seconds in this speed regime.

 

[dlt]

Is this also present on new p85ds? As far as i know almost everyone has reported this with autopilot-equipped s85:s..