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What is this high pitched cricket like noise?

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I'm not sure If this is related to the noise everyone else is having but I've been getting a noise that seems to have got worse in the cold from the front of the car. It isn't effected by acceleration or regen and only changes pitch and volume with changing speed. It could be normal but I've not been able to drive another tesla to compare. Not sure if its the drive unit, invertor or something else but It annoys me every time I drive the car.

That's gear whine, aka the noise the gears make when they mesh together. Not the noise in this thread.

The gear whine in your example does sound a bit louder than normal but hard to say if it's an issue.
 
My 2023 Model Y Long Range (6/2023 delivery) makes a similar high pitched noise around 50 MPH.
The noise is within the range of 8k-10k Hz with 30dB gain. See the attached snapshot of a recording on GarageBand.

It usually starts around 50 MPH, but is otherwise present in a much wider range.
After it starts, even if speeds go below 50 MPH, the noise still tends to stay until the speed is below 30 MPH.
Noise is intermittent and comes and goes with seemingly no input from the driver.

Here is a video demonstrating the noise on audio analyzer: Tesla Noise
The noise starts around the 8th second. Notice the spike in intensities around the 8k-10k Hz range when the noise starts.

Tesla says this is a normal operating sound, even though it is not one of the noises they have under their Normal Operating Sounds list.

1st SC visit - tech said they can't hear it.

2nd SC visit - they can hear it, it is a "gear lash", normal noise, most Teslas make it, some are worse than others. Come back later so that eng team can have a look as well.

3rd SC visit - they can hear it, it is a "bearing in FDU", normal noise, no risk to reliability or safety. Though as a goodwill they offer replacing the FDU with a remanufactured unit as a one time thing only. Even if the noise gets worse, no further replacements will be done. They did mention past replacements had a low success rate.

I took the case to NCDS arbitration requesting replacement or repurchase on the grounds that the noise isn't one of their Normal Operating Sounds and that Tesla refuses to take responsibility to fix it if the replacement doesn't work or makes it worse.

NCDS denied the claim. Rationale - "a subjective impairment that one driver may find unacceptable, but another driver may find normal."

Those that proceeded with FDU replacement - did they replace with a new or remanufactured FDU? @Benito1283

Has anyone succeeded enforcing state's "lemon low"?

View attachment 1010682

UPDATE: got the drive unit replaced 2 days ago. No noise so far.
 
New Model Y Performance owner experiencing the same noise. Picked up the car 2 weeks ago and this intermittent CD loading like sound is driving me crazy since, and my car only have 2000 miles on it. I don't have any good microphone but my phone to record this, but I'm 100 percent sure it's the same noise. It usually happens when I drive above 50mph and most intense around 70-80mph. The noise doesn't go away even after 5-hours long road trips.

However, to me this noise seems to be coming from the A pillar, door, and front dash speakers. I wonder if this is an EMC issue since I work on powertrain for EV at the different company and these speaker signal lines might just pick up the unfiltered EMC noise from the FDU/battery/HV cables. Again this is just my assumption since I thought the noise is from the speakers instead of from the front drive unit.

Has Tesla offered other solutions to resolve this other than the front motor swap?
 
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New Model Y Performance owner experiencing the same noise. Picked up the car 2 weeks ago and this intermittent CD loading like sound is driving me crazy since, and my car only have 2000 miles on it. I don't have any good microphone but my phone to record this, but I'm 100 percent sure it's the same noise. It usually happens when I drive above 50mph and most intense around 70-80mph. The noise doesn't go away even after 5-hours long road trips.

However, to me this noise seems to be coming from the A pillar, door, and front dash speakers. I wonder if this is an EMC issue since I work on powertrain for EV at the different company and these speaker signal lines might just pick up the unfiltered EMC noise from the FDU/battery/HV cables. Again this is just my assumption since I thought the noise is from the speakers instead of from the front drive unit.

Has Tesla offered other solutions to resolve this other than the front motor swap?
That sucks, I'm looking forward to the day when folks buying new don't hear it anymore. Your report just reinforces that they still haven't fixed the issue in production yet which is disappointing. Does conditioning for supercharging, or supercharging itself temporarily get rid of the noise for you?
 
That sucks, I'm looking forward to the day when folks buying new don't hear it anymore. Your report just reinforces that they still haven't fixed the issue in production yet which is disappointing. Does conditioning for supercharging, or supercharging itself temporarily get rid of the noise for you?
Yea it sucks, but finding this community makes me feel a bit better. I will try supercharging after work before I drive home today and see if there's still this zzzzz noise going on.

This zzsszzz sound has been loader since I first noticed it at mileage around 500 miles, and today I'm at 2300 miles. I also went through almost all the posts in this thread and found @ev_go123 's post on his "mechanical stethoscope" recording, which should prove the point that this is a FDU issue. Have you or ev_go replaced the FDU or push the SC to replace FDU for you? I live in the bay area and the SCs are notorious in this region.
 
I couldn't get the SC to change the FDU for me (in Europe) so I live with the noise. It stills bothers me but I kind of get used to it and I try to not let it ruin my life lol. It's just a noise after all.

That's not an answer but that's my way of seeing this for the time being.
 
Yea it sucks, but finding this community makes me feel a bit better. I will try supercharging after work before I drive home today and see if there's still this zzzzz noise going on.

This zzsszzz sound has been loader since I first noticed it at mileage around 500 miles, and today I'm at 2300 miles. I also went through almost all the posts in this thread and found @ev_go123 's post on his "mechanical stethoscope" recording, which should prove the point that this is a FDU issue. Have you or ev_go replaced the FDU or push the SC to replace FDU for you? I live in the bay area and the SCs are notorious in this region.
I'm on my second FDU. This first one made the noise at 50-80 mph like you are saying, very annoying for highway driving. The SC replaced the first under warranty (it took a battle to get it done) and the new one makes it from about 35-55 mph, so I hear it around town, but it goes away at highway at least.

However, to me this noise seems to be coming from the A pillar, door, and front dash speakers. I wonder if this is an EMC issue since I work on powertrain for EV at the different company and these speaker signal lines might just pick up the unfiltered EMC noise from the FDU/battery/HV cables. Again this is just my assumption since I thought the noise is from the speakers instead of from the front drive unit.

Those noise I hear definitely isn't coming in from the speakers. If yours is coming from the speakers, it would be a different issue. The origin of noise in can be deceiving though.
 
1st time in Oakville, as soon as tech rode with me, no noise!

2nd time in Kitchener, tech drove the car without me and “confirmed” internal issue with rear DU, saying it would be replaced.

Came the day for supposed replacement, got the car right back, nothing was done, and tech mentioned they replaced a few rear DU’s without success. Before that I had iterated I was sure the noise came from the front. I challenged them on why they noted “confirmed internal issue” but saying it was fine after. They simply apologized. Next time I’m gonna use this to escalate.

They let me do a test drive, the test Model Y was great! And I DID hear the chirp that’s a VERY faint and acceptable version. So I think the chirp is always there just louder on our unfortunate cars. If it were like the test drive car I could live with. Mine, that’s what I can only focus on when I drive. Hard to unhear it.

Interesting thing, I tried the Post 2 method of tightening the front ground strap. I went for over-tighten. And, maybe I’m imagining things, but the noise got louder and more frequent. I see this as a good sign. Maybe the ground strap has something to do with it after all. I’m gonna do it again but just do a snug tighten instead of over tighten.

How would you recommend I prep the contact point? Is WD40 okay? I did use it when I redid the ground strap, maybe that’s what caused the noise to be more. In any case, that spot seems to be where the problem lies.
 
I had another service visit today for other issues, so I tried another ride-along for the FDU squeal. Finally, I did get a technician that could hear the noise. He said there was a field service engineer at the SC today, and they would take additional drives to measure the decibel level of the noise to see if it met the minimum level required for replacement.

Unfortunately, it did not meet the minimum noise levels, so it was deemed “normal.” At least they acknowledged the issue this time, so… progress?

Interestingly, the SC also had a redesigned Model 3 there available for test drive. I was curious so I took them up on the offer. It’s a lot more refined than the 2018 LRAWD 3 I had before my Y. Great new features, the buttons on the steering wheel replacing the stalks took less time to adapt to than I expected, and it was much quieter on the road.

However, that fresh-off-the-line Model 3 exhibited the same high-pitched drive unit squeal at about 60 mph. Granted, it was quieter, likely thanks to the improved noise reduction and insulation, but it seems like it is still a problem in the latest drive units off the line.
 
So after having a hissy fit about never buying another Tesla again, we obviously bought another Tesla. Test drove a bunch of vehicles to try and trade our MY for and were reminded how many annoyances there are with non-Tesla vehicles. Instead, we actually traded ours in on an inventory vehicle in hopes that the new one would screech less, picking up Ultra Red, HW4, and free acceleration boost along the way. The result? The 2024 Model Y LR, produced 13 months after our 2023 Model Y LR still screeches, pretty much off the lot. It's currently much quieter, though time will tell if it gets worse with miles. So yeah, seems like pretty much all new AWD Tesla vehicles have this noise, even as our 2021 is dead silent. It's definitely disappointing.

Other oddities: The suspension is slightly more refined than our 2023 "comfort" suspension, with a quite a bit less head bob. It's also quieter at speed and the steering wheel feels like it's a slightly different material. This is the wife's car for when we return her 2021 lease in 3 months and I was hoping all would be well so I could buy a new Highland. Prob will go a different way instead.
 
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Mine is making the noise in a wider range of temperatures now, and at more speeds (randomly between 35 and 70 now). Service continually refuses to attempt any fix, but I have to get this resolved.

Looking at the Tesla website’s contact options, there are very few ways to talk to an actual person. There is a mailing address for their engineering headquarters, and I’m tempted to take it back a few decades and write them a letter describing the issue and asking for advice. More than likely it will end up in the nearest recycling bin, but I thought I’d give it a try.

Has anyone else tried mailing them a letter? If so, any reponse?
 
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Mine is making the noise in a wider range of temperatures now, and at more speeds (randomly between 35 and 70 now). Service continually refuses to attempt any fix, but I have to get this resolved.

Looking at the Tesla website’s contact options, there are very few ways to talk to an actual person. There is a mailing address for their engineering headquarters, and I’m tempted to take it back a few decades and write them a letter describing the issue and asking for advice. More than likely it will end up in the nearest recycling bin, but I thought I’d give it a try.

Has anyone else tried mailing them a letter? If so, any reponse?

Tesla is not going to do anything for anyone. This "defect" is in thousands upon thousands of cars. As an example, DirtyTesla recently posted about selling his Model Y for his CT and mentioned his rear drive unit had a very unpleasant high pitched whine. Tesla offering a fix at this point would cost them an insane amount of money, which is why they're going to deny it until they absolutely can't anymore. IMO, the best approach would be to try and apply pressure by building public awareness. A well-shot YouTube video with high quality audio that demonstrated the issue could be forwarded to various Auto publications or YouTube personalities to see if they'd considering mentioning something about it. Right now, I think the highly variable nature of the issue (temperature / speed / hearing sensitivity / etc) has a lot of people ignoring it. If more people knew what it was, they would be far more likely to recognize it as an unacceptable defect.
 
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Tesla is not going to do anything for anyone. This "defect" is in thousands upon thousands of cars. As an example, DirtyTesla recently posted about selling his Model Y for his CT and mentioned his rear drive unit had a very unpleasant high pitched whine. Tesla offering a fix at this point would cost them an insane amount of money, which is why they're going to deny it until they absolutely can't anymore. IMO, the best approach would be to try and apply pressure by building public awareness. A well-shot YouTube video with high quality audio that demonstrated the issue could be forwarded to various Auto publications or YouTube personalities to see if they'd considering mentioning something about it. Right now, I think the highly variable nature of the issue (temperature / speed / hearing sensitivity / etc) has a lot of people ignoring it. If more people knew what it was, they would be far more likely to recognize it as an unacceptable defect.
A well shot YT video explaining it could definitely be helpful. It could be informational too, to attract viewers. For example, I can't hear any of the noise in any of the recordings provided in this thread. I think a really cool aspect of the YT video could be showing how across a wide sample of people many can't hear it at all (and why that is based on human hearing, the frequency, etc). Kinda like an internet white dress / blue dress debate.
 
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What does everyone think about filing a complaint with the NHTSA? Safety concerns over bearing/DU failure at high speeds?

I just had it in today for a trunk leak, could not find leak…. 🙄 as for the noise; same ole…they’re willing to die on this hill;

“Verified customer concern. The noise is originating from the front drive unit. It's important to note that all vehicles have some drive unit noise. Some are more pronounced that others and they all are louder when the temperatures are below freezing. These front drive unit noises are normal and do not pose short term or long term durability risks. This noise concern does not require ”
 
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Hello everyone,
Just to give an update on my saga with 10khz cricket. I filed lemon law suit, Tesla agreed to refund vehicle price.

Listed below is outlined reasoning I provided to my lawyer which got agreement out of Tesla. Also provided is a state minimum requirement for Lemon lawsuit justification, which varies by the state.

1. The noise is not in an normal operating noise published in an official documentation.
2. The vehicle I purchased is not as advertised per reasoning above.
3. Noise is getting progressively worse and inconsistent with vehicle normal functionality. This suggesting ongoing defect development within FDU.
4. Impact to vehicle safety and resale value cannot be ruled out per reasons outlined above.
 
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