While driving: a system reboot occurred

[lorentzd]

I see that other Tesla owners have encountered a reboot while driving. This reboot… my first, occurred yesterday afternoon while I was getting off of NJ route 47 south. What I found was interesting to me… the Model Y retained complete control over driving/steering and braking functionality. The reboot took place over what seemed to be about 30 seconds and returned the screen back to where it was… so my navigated trip returned and all was good… like it never happened. When leaving RT 47, I had just taken the car out of AutoPilot and it remained off after the reboot. This was my first long distance trip since ownership/delivery in Nov. 2021…that was greater than 100 miles… and this one was about 330 miles “in” when the reboot took place with only another 30 miles to go. I will attempt to read the other “reboot entires”.

 

[Thp3]

It can happen. In my five years it happened twice, on a two mile trip and on a 30 miles trip. I think it’s random. You likely won’t see it again for months.

 

[Ciaopec]

I see that other Tesla owners have encountered a reboot while driving. This reboot… my first, occurred yesterday afternoon while I was getting off of NJ route 47 south. What I found was interesting to me… the Model Y retained complete control over driving/steering and braking functionality.

And while driving, you can force a reboot as well, if necessary. The system that rebooted does not control the basic functions of the car (steering, braking, etc).

 

[xyeahtony]

Yes the system that controls the MCU is purposely separate from the driving system for obvious safety reasons so if it goes black u can still drive and do turn signals and so forth u just might not have radio or hvac or nav for a couple mins while it reboots

 

[avs007]

And if you use the turn signals, they will blink, but you won't hear them blinking until after it's almost done rebooting... Likewise, your wipers and headlights will still work.

 

[Mike_TV]

I'll add that FSD beta continues to work, as expected, but it's eerily quiet (no radio, navigation voice, turn signal clicks) as the car continues to drive, taking turns and merrily going on it's way.

 

[ShelJW]

Happened once to me during my first month of ownership.

I've owned my MY now for over three months, hasn't happened a 2nd time.

 

[Mike94531]

My MY has rebooted twice now. Luckily both times I pulled over before it turned into a brick. (no lights, no movement, nothing worked)
Nothing worked on the car, it was a dead as a paperweight , scared the daylights out of my kids.

Both times it happened right after putting it in reverse and then the screen froze with the car bricking just a few moments later. There have been a few updates since and I cross my fingers it does not happen again.

 

[bluenycom]

My MY has rebooted twice now. Luckily both times I pulled over before it turned into a brick. (no lights, no movement, nothing worked)
Nothing worked on the car, it was a dead as a paperweight , scared the daylights out of my kids.

Both times it happened right after putting it in reverse and then the screen froze with the car bricking just a few moments later. There have been a few updates since and I cross my fingers it does not happen again.

The car should still drives fine without the screen; you just don't have any audio or visual indicators until the screen is back. I rebooted the screen intentionally several times when it froze up (previous FSD software version) while driving. I just kept on driving. There was a youtuber who removed the screen completely to test and it still drove okay.

 

[lorentzd]

My MY has rebooted twice now. Luckily both times I pulled over before it turned into a brick. (no lights, no movement, nothing worked)
Nothing worked on the car, it was a dead as a paperweight , scared the daylights out of my kids.

Both times it happened right after putting it in reverse and then the screen froze with the car bricking just a few moments later. There have been a few updates since and I cross my fingers it does not happen again.

Mike - your 2 incidences were indeed worrisome. Did you report them to Tesla? If so, what was their response?

 

[lorentzd]

Mike - your 2 incidences were indeed worrisome. Did you report them to Tesla? If so, what was their response?

Mike - Sorry… one additional thought… you said your reboot ‘bricked’ your MY. I’d argue that what you just described was not really a reboot but instead a total shutdown (& and apparently an automatic restart). My MY continued to run through the reboot and I lost what was going-on, on-screen… you had to “pull” your MY off the road. Two different experiences & events, IMO. Please keep us up to date on your future experiences and keep safe!

 

[Yelobird]

My MY has rebooted twice now. Luckily both times I pulled over before it turned into a brick. (no lights, no movement, nothing worked)
Nothing worked on the car, it was a dead as a paperweight , scared the daylights out of my kids.

Both times it happened right after putting it in reverse and then the screen froze with the car bricking just a few moments later. There have been a few updates since and I cross my fingers it does not happen again.

Your example is rather confusing based on what you said. You say you had to pull over both times yet you also say both times were as you were in reverse. Were you on the highway driving in reverse? I would guess a reboot in reverse would shut down function as it would let you select new functions like “D” when you can’t select them.

 

[DanDi58]

My MY has rebooted twice now. Luckily both times I pulled over before it turned into a brick. (no lights, no movement, nothing worked)
Nothing worked on the car, it was a dead as a paperweight , scared the daylights out of my kids.

Both times it happened right after putting it in reverse and then the screen froze with the car bricking just a few moments later. There have been a few updates since and I cross my fingers it does not happen again.

So how did you get it going again? If it was really 'bricked' then nothing the driver could do would 'unbrick' it. It would require service to fix. What OP has mentioned is a simple screen reboot that has no impact on the ability to drive the car.

I've had my car over a year and 14k miles and never had it reboot while driving.

 

[Erland Lukanen]

I see that other Tesla owners have encountered a reboot while driving. This reboot… my first, occurred yesterday afternoon while I was getting off of NJ route 47 south. What I found was interesting to me… the Model Y retained complete control over driving/steering and braking functionality. The reboot took place over what seemed to be about 30 seconds and returned the screen back to where it was… so my navigated trip returned and all was good… like it never happened. When leaving RT 47, I had just taken the car out of AutoPilot and it remained off after the reboot. This was my first long distance trip since ownership/delivery in Nov. 2021…that was greater than 100 miles… and this one was about 330 miles “in” when the reboot took place with only another 30 miles to go. I will attempt to read the other “reboot entires”.

I had that happen to my 2023 Model 3 LR two days ago, September 2. I on about a mile into a short return from shopping and the computer rebooted. Accelerator and braking controls seemed the same but no turn signals and I suspect non-function brake lights, etc. This could be a very serious issue if it happened in a heavy traffic area.

 

[DanDi58]

I had that happen to my 2023 Model 3 LR two days ago, September 2. I on about a mile into a short return from shopping and the computer rebooted. Accelerator and braking controls seemed the same but no turn signals and I suspect non-function brake lights, etc. This could be a very serious issue if it happened in a heavy traffic area.

It would not affect the brake lights. It's really only an irritant. The only vital info you lose is speedometer. Not sure why your turn signals were affected, I've had this happen twice and don't recall them being affected. You just would not see them on the screen.

 

[lorentzd]

From here on forward, let’s define “being BRICKED” as leaving your tesla vehicle ”dead on the side of the road“, i.e., not responsive to manual reboots.(?) [great discussion, BTW]

 

[Erland Lukanen]

It would not affect the brake lights. It's really only an irritant. The only vital info you lose is speedometer. Not sure why your turn signals were affected, I've had this happen twice and don't recall them being affected. You just would not see them on the screen.

Okay, when I said no turn signals, I meant that I had no visual or audible indication the turn signals were on or off. I noticed this because I needed to turn in the time the system was rebooting. It wasn't possible for me to get out at that time to see if the signals were actually on or off. By the time I got to a place where I could check the turn signals, the reboot was finished. Tesla service confirmed a successful reboot and said "Sometimes this can happen proactively and can be completely normal ". I hope it doesn't reboot when trying to navigate a particularly busy area. Tesla's evaluation said there was a cellular error during startup and rebooting was the fix. It didn't suggest I find a place to reboot, it just did while I was driving.

 

[DanDi58]

Okay, when I said no turn signals, I meant that I had no visual or audible indication the turn signals were on or off. I noticed this because I needed to turn in the time the system was rebooting. It wasn't possible for me to get out at that time to see if the signals were actually on or off. By the time I got to a place where I could check the turn signals, the reboot was finished. Tesla service confirmed a successful reboot and said "Sometimes this can happen proactively and can be completely normal ". I hope it doesn't reboot when trying to navigate a particularly busy area. Tesla's evaluation said there was a cellular error during startup and rebooting was the fix. It didn't suggest I find a place to reboot, it just did while I was driving.

But again, it's perfectly safe for the car to do that, as noted in many posts above.

 

[Snakedoc]

I had a similar issue as Mike, only both times I was just getting ready to leave. Once from home and the other from a parking garage. I hop in the car, step on the brake and when shifting into gear, the screen would go completely dead. Wouldn't shift into gear or anything. I guess its similar to a 2 wheel scroll reboot, it's just that it did it on it's own. It took over a minute for it to reboot.

 

[Kairide]

I’ve never had this happen in my Y, but have had it happen in my S. I’ve also had to manually perform a reboot while driving due to a frozen center screen. No issues, other than losing your speed while driving. Turn signals, brake lights, headlights, etc.. all still work. You won’t hear/see the turn signal visualizations, but they work. Resets while driving aren’t a big deal and don’t affect any vital functions of the car.