Blind Spot Detection problems of the 2015 Tesla Model S

What happened? while driving my 2015 Tesla Model S, the main touchscreen (mcu) began intermittently going black, disabling access to essential vehicle controls, navigation, climate settings, and rear-view camera display. At times when the mcu was functioning, the rear-view camera feed would still display a black screen upon shifting into reverse, leaving me without any rear visibility. Component or system that failed: media control unit (mcu1) / emmc memory failure rear-view camera and/or associated wiring harness safety risk: the intermittent blackouts of the mcu and loss of rear camera feed created significant safety hazards, especially when reversing or attempting to adjust driving settings while in motion. The loss of rear visibility increased the risk of collision with pedestrians, cyclists, or obstacles. The mcu failure also limited access to defrost/defog controls and turn signal audio feedback. Problem reproduction and confirmation: Tesla service has confirmed both the mcu1 hardware failure and the rear-view camera malfunction. The problems occurred repeatedly before being inspected. Inspection: the vehicle has been inspected by Tesla service center technicians, who diagnosed both the failing mcu1 and the defective rear-view camera. Warning messages or symptoms prior to failure: for mcu: slow system performance, frozen screen, then intermittent complete blackouts while driving. For rear-view camera: black or distorted camera feed when in reverse, even when the mcu display was otherwise operational. These issues began occurring in June 2025 and became progressively worse until Tesla inspection on July 6, 2025.

1)mcu1 flash memory failure in production from 2012 to 2018, part is available, but would require downing the car to remove/replace. 2)the symptoms of this failure include the loss of indicated gear state and reduced driver visibility from the loss of rearview camera, defrost/defog and exterior signal lighting which increases the risk of an accident. Driver display is black or booting up slowly during this time and the car can be put into gear and driven prior to the display showing dnr gear state making it a safety risk to anyone walking near the vehicle if it was accidently put into gear. 3)issue was confirmed by Tesla and was told an update to mcu2 hardware at $2250 was needed at the customer (my) expense. The vehicle was under a full Tesla warranty, so I refused and asked them to fix this issue. Tesla service cleared/freed up some memory but said the issue would return unless I paid to update to mcu2 hardware. The issue has returned as they stated. 4)yes, by Tesla service and Tesla engineering. Both confirmed that this was a known issue with the mcu1 hardware in production from 2012 to 2018 and recommended that I (the customer) update the vehicle to mcu2 hardware for $2250. 5)there are no warning lamps or messages to inform the operator of an issue. Only the black driver display, but that doesn’t prevent the operator from putting the vehicle in gear. The symptoms start with slow driver display boot times and progressively get worse over time losing the rearview camera, defrost/defog and exterior lighting controls. The display lag becomes enough to be able to accidently put the car in drive or reverse without displaying indicated gear state on the dash making it a safety risk to anyone walking near the car.

My vehicle is subject to the Tesla mcu recall, in which the substandard emmc was killed by excessive logging and rendering the entire mcu inoperative. I had the mcu replaced prior to the recall, and filed the reimbursement claim when it went live. Tesla denied my claim, stating that the replacement was done for reasons other than those specified in the recall. Other Tesla owners report similar claim dismissals. Tesla must be legally forced to honor the recall and reimbursement order.

My guess is the mcu or the computer chip of the car stopped working. I read there is an investigation on Tesla for this issue with Model S. Every last few software updates the car has been getting worse and now the electrical stopped working completely. I can use my blinkers even! the car drives and charges, but that is about it. 40k miles total and build 2015.

Touch screen will blank, show unusual characters, not respond, exhibit pixillation, stop rear vision camera from displaying, not play radio or music properly and/or intermittantly, and present navigation information improperly. Media computer was replaced last year, but new computer still has those same and other problems. Happens with vehicle in motion, city and highway, randomly. Evidence indicates this may be related to a memory storage hardware chip inside the media computer, being of too little total capacity. Or related to internet signal from manufacture being unreliable, week, intermittent, or defective.