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Trailer Mode Icon Always Red
- Thread starter glide
- Start date
I noticed the same thing when I have trailer mode enabled and my bike rack Installed (No electrical connection).
I’m assuming that since red means electrical fault detected, it’s letting me know there is no electrical connection and is normal?
I agree that this is confusing if it is expected behavior.
I’m assuming that since red means electrical fault detected, it’s letting me know there is no electrical connection and is normal?
I agree that this is confusing if it is expected behavior.
I don’t own a Y (I tow with an X) but my guess is that when you manually enable trailer mode (using the center display) AND nothing is plugged into the trailer electrical connection socket at the rear next to the hitch, the icon shows as red to indicate that no trailer is connected to the car. Makes sense to me.
Did you check the Y user manual to see what it says about trailer mode?
In my X when I connect my trailer electrical cable to the car the trailer icon is blue. If I recall correctly, there have been a couple of times in the past 2 1/2 years that I have been towing where I did not fully insert the cable and the trailer icon was red, indicating a bad electrical connection to the trailer.
My concern is that if I have it enabled, and it detects a fault, won’t that impact driving dynamics?
I believe when trailer mode is enabled it reduces autopilot capabilities and disables parking sensors.
From reading the manual it sounds like it’s only really for use with a trailer that has a connection for lights.
It does disable the rear sensors and auto steer/navigate on autopilot, I believe.
It seems that with a bike rack, we aren’t supposed to enable Trailer Mode... the rear sensors go nuts but I’m not sure if there is any consequence other than the visual indicator.
The strange part is I have seen the icon turn solid blue with nothing attached to the wire harness. I’ll try and hitch up my trailer over the weekend and see how it behaves.
That is correct. When in trailer mode only TACC is available, all other Auto Pilot features are disabled, and the rear ultrasonic sensors are disabled so that when you go into Reverse they don’t alarm nor will they even detect a trailer is attached (no visual indicator on the display).
A rep at my local service center today told me Trailer Mode is for trailer lights. You shouldn't turn it on if it is just a bike rack. That's probably what is causing the alert.
Since we’re both experiencing the same thing and the manual doesn’t explicitly say to enable Trailer Mode while using an accessory without an electrical connection, it sounds like this is expected behavior.
Since we’re both experiencing the same thing and the manual doesn’t explicitly say to enable Trailer Mode while using an accessory without an electrical connection, it sounds like this is expected behavior.
we just did a long road trip with bikes and had the same "problem". What we found is, if you start driving and then put on trailer mode the icon will turn red. If you turn on trailer mode before you start driving, it will stay blue. But the car basically needs to go to sleep to fix it. So if you are driving and pull over, put it in park and turn off trailer mode and turn it on, it will still be red. But if you start your trip with trailer mode turned on before you drive away it will stay blue. Maybe a bug? either way, it didn't seem to affect anything with driving, red or blue was the same.
Even just having a bike rike and leaving trailer mode off is sort of a pain because the screen will show these big warning lines that it see's something. Turning it on removes those, but then that means you can't use autopilot, which sucks for long road trips haha
Even just having a bike rike and leaving trailer mode off is sort of a pain because the screen will show these big warning lines that it see's something. Turning it on removes those, but then that means you can't use autopilot, which sucks for long road trips haha
Rshephorse
Member
Rshephorse
Member
a hitch rack is not the same as a trailer-- trailer mode is for when you are actually towing a heavy object. Don't use trailer mode for a hitch mounted rack. One snafu is if you plug in a 'hitch light' - the car may assumer you are plugging in a trailer. The reason I suggested a 'rack mode' in a previous post is so that the rear bumper rangefinders would be silenced.
The sensors going bonkers is why I plan to continue using trailer mode. As long as there is no harm in it... (aside from loss of autopilot)
I’ve been towing a trailer off and on for about two months with my ‘23 MYLR. It would seemingly go into trailer mode automatically when I plugged in the trailer lighting harness, and disengage trailer mode when I removed the trailer. This was handy. Since software version 2023.2.0.5, the trailer icon will appear red when making trips after removing the trailer and disconnecting the wiring harness. I’ve found I’ve had to manually disable trailer mode to get the icon to go away. It’s mildly annoying given this appeared to be automated in prior SW versions. I do feel this new implementation, if not a bug, might improve safety. It gives you a visual indicator that you aren’t towing anymore, which might be a problem if you expect to be towing something.
I have the same issue on my M3.
It appeared after using the trailer frequently for a period.
I can enable/disable trailer mode but the red icon keeps coming back.
This does not seem to affect driving, I can also use autopilot no problem. This would not be possible in trailer mode. So it seems just annoying.
The most probable cause seems to me being a hardware fault in the cars trailer related electronics after having the trailer connected. A software bug seems less likely in my opinion (i work as a software engineer, but not at Tesla).
I think connecting «anything» to the trailer socket, or at least anything reasonable, should not harm the car. So this could be a design deficiency if I am right. I will ask Tesla to look into this at a later time, but for now I will live with it.
It appeared after using the trailer frequently for a period.
I can enable/disable trailer mode but the red icon keeps coming back.
This does not seem to affect driving, I can also use autopilot no problem. This would not be possible in trailer mode. So it seems just annoying.
The most probable cause seems to me being a hardware fault in the cars trailer related electronics after having the trailer connected. A software bug seems less likely in my opinion (i work as a software engineer, but not at Tesla).
I think connecting «anything» to the trailer socket, or at least anything reasonable, should not harm the car. So this could be a design deficiency if I am right. I will ask Tesla to look into this at a later time, but for now I will live with it.