Using Tesla Service Mode Alert Time to Assign Blame?

[thelastdeadmouse]

I've been letting someone borrow my car on and off for a few days while they're having car trouble. We've both driven the car during that time. At some point I started getting false positives on the parking sensors, I didn't notice when it started exactly because that's not uncommon during the winter with snow stuck to the front of the car. Today I checked and the passenger fog light is pushed in and one of the parking sensors is either pushed in or missing.

The other person insists it wasn't them. I pulled up the service mode notifications so I could see when the issue started. I'm hoping someone can verify for me that

A) more than 12 notifications can display, and
B) notifications older than the previous day will display

so that I can say with confidence that February 7th at 2:53pm is when the problem was first detected, and not that it may have happened earlier but those alerts are just no longer displaying.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Bummer. There are very few people I would trust with my car. I had a bad experience in 1977 and have never let anyone borrow my car, since.

 

[Shelburne]

I never loan out a car, not even my 2007 Volvo with 183,000 miles on it, let alone my M3

 

[EVRider-FL]

You can’t prove that the borrower caused the damage even if it happened while in their possession, so what are you hoping to accomplish? If you let someone borrow your car (I wouldn’t), things can happen that aren’t the borrowers fault. I suggest you let it go.

 

[thelastdeadmouse]

You can’t prove that the borrower caused the damage even if it happened while in their possession, so what are you hoping to accomplish? If you let someone borrow your car (I wouldn’t), things can happen that aren’t the borrowers fault. I suggest you let it go.

Step 1 is determining if I can definitively tell when the damage occurred. What happens after that is between me and the other party.

 

[ucmndd]

Just get it fixed and learn the lesson. Is this worth losing a friend or straining a family relationship over?

Entirely possible that happened without the other driver's knowledge in a parking lot (or the same thing while you were driving). They said it wasn't them and they don't know when it happened. If you have so little trust and think they're lying to the point you're trying to find the smoking gun to prove it to them, why on earth are you letting this person drive your car?

 

[thelastdeadmouse]

I know interpersonal strife is more interesting than the technical question here, but people are assuming a dynamic that doesn't exist in this case. They think I did it and didn't notice, I think they did it and didn't notice, and we're taking each other at our word. The question is who has the car when it happened, if the logs can answer that question then great, case closed, we'll resolve it how we see fit.

Thanks.

 

[android04]

I don't know the exact range that the error history will display, but I don't believe that it will keep more than about 3 days of messages. I've been there trying to hunt down specifics of a possible problem that happened over more than a week or two and it doesn't go back that far. So it is possible that your problem started a long time before the first error message you saw in the history.

A Tesla engineer would have access to log files that go back much further, but they won't be looking at them for a situation like this.

 

[nate704]

There are two things(?) that I never let anyone to borrow:
1. My wife
2. My cars
LOL

It looks like your "friend" was using your Tesla as a snow plow.

 

[jkdman123]

I think the key is determining if you get an alert *every time* the car is driven after the damage. If the alert doesn't pop up all the time, they can claim it happened way back before you gave them the car and you didn't notice. Then when they borrowed it, the already damaged sensor started alerting.

 

[jjrandorin]

I've been letting someone borrow my car on and off for a few days while they're having car trouble. We've both driven the car during that time. At some point I started getting false positives on the parking sensors, I didn't notice when it started exactly because that's not uncommon during the winter with snow stuck to the front of the car. Today I checked and the passenger fog light is pushed in and one of the parking sensors is either pushed in or missing.

The other person insists it wasn't them. I pulled up the service mode notifications so I could see when the issue started. I'm hoping someone can verify for me that

A) more than 12 notifications can display, and
B) notifications older than the previous day will display

so that I can say with confidence that February 7th at 2:53pm is when the problem was first detected, and not that it may have happened earlier but those alerts are just no longer displaying.

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View attachment 904762

You probably need to go to a tesla service center and ask them the question in person. Given that you are trying to get some sort of definitive statement on this, that would be the best course of action. I havent seen anything definitive on how long alerts remain or if they get purged etc.

 

[afadeev]

I've been letting someone borrow my car on and off for a few days while they're having car trouble. [...]
The other person insists it wasn't them. I pulled up the service mode notifications so I could see when the issue started. I'm hoping someone can verify for me that
[...]
so that I can say with confidence that February 7th at 2:53pm is when the problem was first detected, and not that it may have happened earlier but those alerts are just no longer displaying.

Relying on Tesla error notification to assign blame for minor damage on a shared car is highly unlikely to be:

1. Definitive.
2. Legally binding.
3. Positive for the relationship between yourself, and whomever you've allowed to borrow your car.

If you are not OK accepting the possibility and the cost of your authorized party damaging your car, you should not be allowing others to drive it.
If you are OK with that eventuality, you should not be asking this question. At all.

The other party already claimed it's not their fault.
For all you know, some a-hole kicked the car while it was sitting in a parking lot. Whose fault would that be?
The more you dig into this question, the more pissed off you will get. And the more you will piss off the friend and/or relative whom you've allowed to drive the car.

Is it worth it?

a

 

[stopcrazypp]

I've been letting someone borrow my car on and off for a few days while they're having car trouble. We've both driven the car during that time. At some point I started getting false positives on the parking sensors, I didn't notice when it started exactly because that's not uncommon during the winter with snow stuck to the front of the car. Today I checked and the passenger fog light is pushed in and one of the parking sensors is either pushed in or missing.

The other person insists it wasn't them. I pulled up the service mode notifications so I could see when the issue started. I'm hoping someone can verify for me that

A) more than 12 notifications can display, and
B) notifications older than the previous day will display

so that I can say with confidence that February 7th at 2:53pm is when the problem was first detected, and not that it may have happened earlier but those alerts are just no longer displaying.

I know a lot of posts are instead addressing your backstory (which you probably would have gotten better answers to your technical question if you left it out completely), but I'll try to refrain from doing so.

I never used the service mode, but I know for a fact the alerts in the regular alerts section do not stay forever (at least in the UI; it could still be in a log somewhere that is not shown in UI). Back when one of Tesla's updates introduced a dashcam USB bug, I remember trying to diagnose and noticed older messages I have seen before are deleted.

This reddit post claims the alerts are stored for 13 days, although it cites no sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/w0dsmo

I guess you can test yourself. Check up on it every day and see what day your last alert gets deleted from the UI.

 

[father_of_6]

Seems like you'll get the answer in time. If it only keeps the logs for a number of days, the current entries are going to fall off.

 

[father_of_6]

Bummer. There are very few people I would trust with my car. I had a bad experience in 1977 and have never let anyone borrow my car, since.

They made a movie about @Soul Surfer and this bad experience called "Dude, Where's My Car?"

 

[PianoAl]

I'm guessing you've spent some time trying to figure out how that damage could have happened. Something pushed in the fog light and knocked the sensor cover, but didn't leave any cracks. A rock on the highway probably would leave a mark and not cause both issues. My guess is that someone with just the right bumper configuration hit it in a parking lot. You and borrower are blameless. Also check your garage for any protruberances at the right height.

If the sensor cover fell off, look for it in your garage and in her driveway.

Split the cost. You benefit most cause it's your car, but you were especially nice to let her borrow it.