Tesla: If MicroSoft Built Cars
At the end of my last service, I was told to contact Tesla support within five days of subsequent lock-up issues, presumably to grab log files and to facilitate remote diagnosis. To that effect I sent an eMail alerting them of the latest, somewhat unexpected, reboot.
I got back the response yesterday (three day delay). Their response, including my responses sent in reply, are below. It threw me for a loop, essentially sounding like they were taking the '90s era punchline of MicroSoft comparing itself to the automobile industry as something to which to aspire, or at least accept. I've gotten responses from Tesla which have ignored the question or which have been basically "bring it in for service". Of all the Tesla responses I've gotten, this was the first that seemed to be downright poorly informed while minimizing the concern. Systems spontaneously restarting should never be accepted as normal, and if this is actualy Tesla's party line, I would strongly discourage anyone from buying their products.
Thanks for contacting Tesla with your concern regarding the systems powering up message and touchscreen rebooting. Tesla vehicles use very advanced computer systems. However, these computers still rely on RAM or Random Access Memory like you would find in your laptop or PC.
The Systems Powering Up Message is displayed when the memory or RAM of the touchscreen computer becomes full. This is similar to when your laptop or cellphone my slow down, and turning it off and back on clears the RAM and performance is restored. When this occurrs sometimes the touchscreen will reboot.
That sounds like a poor way of recovering a system. Normally if a running program (on my laptop or my cell phone) were to consume too much memory, it would be killed in order to save the critical processes (as well as less demanding colleagues). Does Tesla know which programs are leaking or otherwise requesting an over-allocation of memory?
Technically, this isn't true; I set my computers to not actually over-commit memory so that they don't get themselves into this situation.
To clear the memory from time to time it may be necessary to complete a touchscreen reboot and power cycle following these steps. Please note these steps will not delete your settings or preferences.
Touchscreen reboot:
Place your vehicle in park at a safe location. Unplug any USB Devices from the center console. Place your foot on the brake pedal, and hold it down for the duration of the reboot. Press and hold both the left and right scrolling wheel buttons on the steering wheel until the touchscreen goes off, and continue to hold until the touchscreen illuminates and displays the Tesla logo in the center.
Power Cycle:
With the Vehicle in Park select Controls on the touchscreen, then select E-Brake & Power Off , then select Power Off. Remain in the vehicle with the doors closed and foot away from the brake pedal. After 60 seconds press the brake pedal to wake the car up.
If the concern persists following these steps, please reply to this email and I can have the appropriate team review the concern in more detail.
I've repeated the reboot several times over the life of my car to fix intermittent issues (e.g. all sound stopping, odd theramin-like sounds playing, non-responsive MCU, audio glitches, networking freezing) and these continueto repeat. I've got a pending appointment with a service center to investigate the screens locking-up; they had asked me to report someof the problems if they repeated so that the system logs could e remotely pulled.
Are these all common problems on the recent Model X vehicles? During my last service, they performed a factory reset and the vehicle tested to within specifications. Despite that, the networking stack has failed (until reboot), the displays continue to lock-up for periods of time, and there are several audio glitches (ranging from no audio, to degraded audio, to what sounds like artificial engine hum through the cabin speakers). Where can I find a list of known issues so I know what to expect, rather than reporting known problems that are being addressed?
Visit our Support Page, which covers frequently asked questions about Tesla and your vehicle. You can reach Customer Support 24/7 at ServiceHelpNA@Tesla.com or by phone at 1-877-79-TESLA (83752) with any further questions and concerns.
Where? Will that provide a link to tickets tracking the memory leaks?
It's a little disconcerting that a drive-by-wire vehicle needs to reboot in the middle of operation (even if "critical" systems are separate). Which systems are affected by the reboot (e.g. environmental systems appear to be; but what about auto-steer and emergency braking/lane changing?). The rear-view camera and speed read-out are certainly affected.