Touchscreen Phantom press - volume down

[scronce]

I'm having a spurious bug where the touchscreen will get phantom presses on the volume down (bottom right). When I happens I can see the volume popup on the the 17" screen and see it go down to mute. It started happening the 2nd week in October, shortly after I upgraded to LTE (This is a March 2015 P85D). It's probably connected with the upgrade (they have to take the display apart) but I'd like to have a reproducible case before brining it in for service.

It seems to be related to having the sunroof open and the angle of the sun inside the car but it's been very difficult to reproduce. When it first started happing, I noticed a thin brush like hair sticking up in the spot were the volume down is on the screen. I thought that this plus heat was causing the screen to think there was a touch there. I used some tweezers and pulled out the hair. About a week later it happened again. It continues to happen with the sunroof open but I can't find the pattern. For example. This weekend with 4+ hours of driving with the sunroof open, it happened twice. Neither my wife or I could figure our why. It doesn't seem to be direct sunlight hitting the screen. This morning for the first time it happened with the sunroof closed (although from 6 to 5 volume then it stopped).

Has anyone have this bug before?

 

[Andyw2100]

I see that no one has responded. I don't want you to think that everyone is ignoring you, so I'll respond. I have not experienced anything like what you have, though, so unfortunately can't offer any insight.

Sorry, and good luck!

 

[California Roll]

Strange. Keep us posted on your progress in fixing it.

 

[scronce]

Thanks for reading. Here's some more observations.
The last 3 times I have started the car the volume was muted. The volume was at 4-6 when I turned the car off. This might be a related or different bug. I reset both the 17" and dash displays just in case. (had not rebooted since the 7.0 firmware upgrade).

This morning I saw the volume go down while backing into a parking spot at work. This is a garage so not sun related this morning. I again saw the volume popup just above the touch screen control on the 17" display. I think this means it's not a problem with the roller switch on the wheel but rather with the touch screen. When you control the volume from wheel, you see the popup on the dash, not on the 17" display.

I stopped the car to watch it and did not see a grayed rectangle selection around the "-" volume control on the screen. When you use your finger to control volume up and down on the touchscreen it highlights your selection in a grayed out rectangle the same size as the active part of the screen. I'll need to watch this and see if this is always true.

I still don't have a reproducible bug to show the service center so I'll keep observing. I'll update the thread when I find out more.

 

[Andyw2100]

Thanks for reading. Here's some more observations.
The last 3 times I have started the car the volume was muted. The volume was at 4-6 when I turned the car off. This might be a related or different bug. I reset both the 17" and dash displays just in case. (had not rebooted since the 7.0 firmware upgrade).

This morning I saw the volume go down while backing into a parking spot at work. This is a garage so not sun related this morning. I again saw the volume popup just above the touch screen control on the 17" display. I think this means it's not a problem with the roller switch on the wheel but rather with the touch screen. When you control the volume from wheel, you see the popup on the dash, not on the 17" display.

I stopped the car to watch it and did not see a grayed rectangle selection around the "-" volume control on the screen. When you use your finger to control volume up and down on the touchscreen it highlights your selection in a grayed out rectangle the same size as the active part of the screen. I'll need to watch this and see if this is always true.

I still don't have a reproducible bug to show the service center so I'll keep observing. I'll update the thread when I find out more.

This may sound like a silly question, but you didn't install a screen protector of any kind, right? (I'm sure you would have said so if you had. I'm just thinking of things that could cause the screen to be acting wonky.)

 

[Discoducky]

Like Andy suggests, nothing should be touching the screen, but I would go another step and do a screen wipedown and focus on that area to see if there is anything sticking in there (possibly a liquid spilled there and dried out?)

And after the wipedown, check the areas around it for touch sensitivity. Maybe that part of the screen is being squeezed or is warping such that the touch area is delaminating. All just guessing at this point...

Good thing to reboot both the 17" as well just to get anything else out of the way.

Oh, one other thing, does the scroll wheel on the steering wheel counteract the ghost volume changes? That is the only other place that controls volume.

 

[scronce]

Thanks for your replies.
No, I don't have a screen protector. Yes, I have cleaned the screen paying special attention to the volume area. I'm pretty sure it's related to the LTE install Tesla Serive did were they had to remove the 17" display.
Last night when I got home, parked, and opened my door.. the bug happened. This time I did see the grayed out rectangle as if the screen was being pressed. I was able to get video of it happening.

 

[Andyw2100]

Thanks for your replies.
No, I don't have a screen protector. Yes, I have cleaned the screen paying special attention to the volume area. I'm pretty sure it's related to the LTE install Tesla Serive did were they had to remove the 17" display. Last night when I got home, parked, and opened my door.. the bug happened. This time I did see the grayed out rectangle as if the screen was being pressed. I was able to get video of it happening.]

I think you're just going to need to take the car back to the service center. Hopefully they'll be able to get everything straightened out!

 

[scronce]

Thought I'd update this thread with the resolution. Over time the phantom presses got more and more frequent until I was confident I could make it happen for the Tesla Service crew. I brought it in last Friday and was able to make it happen right away for my service advisory. I probably didn't need to wait that long. Turns out they have a diagnostic mode that can show were it's seeing screen touches. As soon as they brought that up they could see the phantom presses on the bottom right.

I got a call in the early afternoon letting me know they found and fixed the problem. For the first time ever after owning many different cars since the early 80's I heard something new from my service advisory. "Sorry, it was our fault". This is why I love Tesla. When they installed the LTE module they had miss torqued the screen. They didn't just silently fix it like any other service shop, they took the time to explain the problem and apologize for mistake. Tesla really is a new type of auto manufacture.

 

[Troyrod]

Interesting. I get phantom presses, mostly turns up the cabin temp and seat heaters, when I wipe/clean around the dash area. SC was unable to duplicate it and it doesn't happen enough for it to be a big issue for me.

 

[green1]

Interesting. I get phantom presses, mostly turns up the cabin temp and seat heaters, when I wipe/clean around the dash area. SC was unable to duplicate it and it doesn't happen enough for it to be a big issue for me.

known issue that wiping the dash can cause static electricity issues that generate phantom screen presses, there was a service bulletin about it quite a while back, something about adding a ground strap to the centre instrument display if I recall correctly.

Additionally, if wiping the screen itself (or the frame where it touches the screen) that any moisture residue can be interpreted by the screen as a touch (doesn't sound like your issue, but I just wanted to include it for completeness in case I was misinterpreting)

 

[Troyrod]

known issue that wiping the dash can cause static electricity issues that generate phantom screen presses, there was a service bulletin about it quite a while back, something about adding a ground strap to the centre instrument display if I recall correctly.

Thanks for the info. The SC that I took it to didn't mention anything about an SB.

 

[green1]

Thanks for the info. The SC that I took it to didn't mention anything about an SB.

They may just not have known what to look for, there are a lot of service bulletins, and unless you know an issue is in there you might not look for the right things.

 

[jpinto]

I have the same issue, after the MCU2 upgrade. I initially mis-diagnosed it as being the scroll on the steering wheel playing up. Later (when actually mid replacement of said steering wheel buttons...) I was able to verify that the issue is the phantom clicks on the lower right corner of the touchscreen. Will take it to SC, have them review the MCU install and correct it.