Nine problems related to software have been reported for the 2016 Tesla Model S. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I am the owner of a 2016 Tesla Model S 90d the "center screen" in this car is central to the use of many safety functions of the car, such as the reverse camera, headlight controls, defroster controls, and turn signal chimes. The screen in my car has become highly unreliable, often locking up, rebooting, or failing to respond, causing the aforementioned functions to be unavailable. It is my observation that these functions worked well in the past when the vehicle was originally delivered, but have degraded over time as Tesla has pushed software updates to my car. I have discussed this issue with Tesla and am aware of the proposed NHTSA recal of the center screens due to a emmc flash wear out issue. Tesla has assured me that this is not the issue with my car, and has requested that I wait for future software updates to resolve these issues. However, it is my observation that software updates have continuously made this situation worse, and Tesla has offered no specific date on which this will be resolved. This is unacceptable for safety functions of a vehicle. Tesla has also mentioned that I can upgrade to "mcu2" at a cost of $3500, and that this system works much better. Owners of these vehicles should not be required to pay to maintain the safety and functionality of their vehicle. I request that you investigate the scale of Tesla "mcu1" center screen issues beyond the emmc flash issue and work with Tesla to make sure this is resolved quickly for the 150,000 owners of these vehicles.
Vehicle main computer lags, reboots, and comes up with a black or garbled screen regularly, including while driving, especially when a usb stick is inserted and/or the dashcam functionality is in use. Tesla service insists it is a software issue (for over 1 year now) and has to date refused to replace any hardware despite spending several weeks of time attempting to fix the issues. The car has had 25 over the air firmware updates and has undergone two separate complete factory resets since my initial complaint to Tesla in July 2019. Symptoms prevent audio for turn signals and autopilot from working properly. Prevent backup camera from opening or displaying properly. Make using the built in navigation system and entertainment systems difficult and often dangerous, causing driver distraction. When the mcu reboots while driving it takes nearly 15 minutes for the nav system to restart. My tegra based mcu's emmc shows roughly 2400 / 3000 avg block erases, and 81 reserved blocks, not meeting the new thresholds set by Tesla engineering for replacement (which, for my h8g2d apprently require less than 65 resvered blocks remaining). The system has regularly shown squashfs errors due to corrupted memory.
The emmc flash memory is failing, leading to the main screen blacking out for several minutes happens randomly while driving and when at stop and when the car is booting up. This prevents adjustment of several components including climate control, manual lighting, cruise control/autopilot, music it has been happening for over a month, progressively getting worse. Service came out to just reset the 12v and update the software and said everything is good but it definitely is not because its getting worse day by day.
The main control screen has been intermittently inactive or black. Almost everything in the car is controlled by this screen. I have asked them to fix it for over two years on over six occasions with no resolution. The screen now at 64k miles is totally dead and will not restart. It disables the ability to charge the motor drive system battery, the ac heat and defroster system, control of the lights and wipers. According to thousands of web pages this issue is caused by software disabling the main file system memory chip prematurely. Telsa service wants me to pay $1146 to fix this out of warranty even though I complained about it multiple times during warranty. It makes the car useless and unsafe and there should be a factory recall issued.
Center screen goes dark and no access to controls during driving. It happens when backing up or randomly during driving. Tesla first sent a software update to fix the issue and scheduled a mobile technician visit. After the software they sent I was told it's taken car and cancelled the July 2nd 2020 technician visit. On 6/30/2020 after the update the screen went bland and yesterday 7/1/2020 they schedule a service center visit on the 7/17/2020 in bloomington IL, they have to wait for the parts to arrive. Yesterday night 7/2/2020 I got a email that parts have been ordered, my concern is that they might use refurbished parts or use the same defective screen and I will have the same problem in future.
My car's center screen console stopped working after an update. I could not reset it and so it stays blank using reset instructions from Tesla. I do not have access to my turn signals, backup camera, cabin and climate controls making it less safe for the vehicle to operate. The vehicle was stationary when it happened. I believe and based on conversation with Tesla this is an mcu problem with they have me pay $2500 to upgrade. I think this is an electrical systems design fault and should be subject for recall as they should know that the vehicle cannot handle data they are pushing to the vehicle via software update.
The contact owns a 2016 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that the failure occurred when the electronic owners manual could not be accessed on the infotainment screen. Over time, the screen would intermittently go blank and other features on the home screen would no longer function as needed. The contact had taken the vehicle to a Tesla factory service center where he was informed that a remedy for the defect was not available however, the technician would provide a software update. After several software updates, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 29,000. Consumer has brought the vehicle to the dealer 7+times, there was no indication of upgrade of the software.
Tesla pushed over-the-air software updates to my vehicle, which reduced the range the car could travel on a single charge, owners. The software updates, which started in may 2019, were made to fix for batteries that could ignite in non-crash scenarios.
Nhtsa action number: dp19005 - investigation subject : battery management software updates starting with a software update in may 2019, Tesla capped the max voltage the high voltage battery would charge to. They claim they did this "out of an abundance of caution" after several non-crash fires happened to these models. Tesla took action to downgrade horsepower and range along with all other aspects of performance through a total voltage cap after claiming to be releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released. This change happened while the car was parked in my garage and stationary.