Model S 75D 2018 won’t turn on. Car off. Press brake pedal to switch gears message. Pressing brake doesn’t start it

[Spinball]

Hi folks, while enjoying our honeymoon driving round Scotland, a couple of days ago I couldn’t start the car in the morning because pressing the brake did not switch it on. There is a ‘Car off’ message bottom right of the drivers display. I’m pressing the brake pedal which normally starts the car but I was getting the message ‘Press brake pedal to switch gears’. I’m pressing the brake pedal. Both screens and everything by else appears to be working ok.
Starting the car from the app doesn’t work.
Resetting the screens via the scroll wheels doesn’t work.
Eventually the car just started and we continued our trip. The car drives perfectly and the brake pedal is working fine.
The next morning it started fine.
However, exactly the same problem happened again this morning but this time the car wouldn’t start after a while so I called Tesla support and they got me to switch the car off and back on again fully which fixed the problem.
I have started the process of having it serviced, but it is out of warranty and I’m guessing it’s not going to be cheap, whatever the problem is.
Has anyone experienced this before? Is it just software? Is it because the car is cold first thing in the morning? Is there a problem with the brake pedal?
Many thanks for any help that you can give.

 

[Pink Duck]

If a full power off and start fixed the problem, then it’s likely software/firmware state was cause. Give it a while to see if it recurs before requesting service.

 

[Spinball]

The first time the car started in this situation, I was frustratedly switching the drive selector up and down and pressing the accelerator. It felt very random. Doing the same didn’t work this time.
I’m a tech guy and normally I advise people to switch their equipment off and back on again as a first course of action, but didn’t think to do it myself. Fingers crossed it’s just one of those memory leak type of intermittent software things.
I’ll wait to see if it happens again, thank you.

 

[MrBadger]

Our Model 3 MCU ‘car computer’ failed in a similar way, although we got no on screen message as we only have a single screen and no aux drivers screen.

I don’t know what runs that drivers screen, ie is it independent of the MCU.

Various parts of the car worked, but with no screen and having pin to drive on left the car stranded until it was recovered back to service centre.

One major part of this was that there was no comms via app or Tesla service. May be worth checking to see if you have app access.

Whilst our whole MCU was condemned, it was actually the communication gateway that had failed - it was failing on reboot and everything then shutdown and started all again.

Recovery tried everything on the day (LV and HV disconnected etc) and unfortunately due to location could not recover until next day when Tesla sent out service tech with laptop. Ironically it actually woke next morning so no need to plug in. But when back at service, Tesla diagnosed the gateway issue so replaced everything.

If you still have MCU1, maybe worth considering an upgrade to MCU2 if they diagnose an MCU fault. MCU1 have a known issue with EMMC (memory eventually wears out) which I believe is covered under a safety recall.

Hth

 

[srichards]

Hi folks, while enjoying our honeymoon driving round Scotland, a couple of days ago I couldn’t start the car in the morning because pressing the brake did not switch it on. There is a ‘Car off’ message bottom right of the drivers display. I’m pressing the brake pedal which normally starts the car but I was getting the message ‘Press brake pedal to switch gears’. I’m pressing the brake pedal. Both screens and everything by else appears to be working ok.
Starting the car from the app doesn’t work.
Resetting the screens via the scroll wheels doesn’t work.
Eventually the car just started and we continued our trip. The car drives perfectly and the brake pedal is working fine.
The next morning it started fine.
However, exactly the same problem happened again this morning but this time the car wouldn’t start after a while so I called Tesla support and they got me to switch the car off and back on again fully which fixed the problem.
I have started the process of having it serviced, but it is out of warranty and I’m guessing it’s not going to be cheap, whatever the problem is.
Has anyone experienced this before? Is it just software? Is it because the car is cold first thing in the morning? Is there a problem with the brake pedal?
Many thanks for any help that you can give.

What's the battery level in the key fob like? The older S needs a fob in the car so if there's a fob issue it won't start. I had mine being strange last year so ended up getting another key in the end and it's been fine since (kiss of death). Worth just trying a new battery of a good make.

 

[Spinball]

Our Model 3 MCU ‘car computer’ failed in a similar way, although we got no on screen message as we only have a single screen and no aux drivers screen.

I don’t know what runs that drivers screen, ie is it independent of the MCU.

Various parts of the car worked, but with no screen and having pin to drive on left the car stranded until it was recovered back to service centre.

One major part of this was that there was no comms via app or Tesla service. May be worth checking to see if you have app access.

Whilst our whole MCU was condemned, it was actually the communication gateway that had failed - it was failing on reboot and everything then shutdown and started all again.

Recovery tried everything on the day (LV and HV disconnected etc) and unfortunately due to location could not recover until next day when Tesla sent out service tech with laptop. Ironically it actually woke next morning so no need to plug in. But when back at service, Tesla diagnosed the gateway issue so replaced everything.

If you still have MCU1, maybe worth considering an upgrade to MCU2 if they diagnose an MCU fault. MCU1 have a known issue with EMMC (memory eventually wears out) which I believe is covered under a safety recall.

Hth

Pretty sure there was connectivity to the app. Both screens working fine. It has MCU2. That was a deal breaker for purchasing it used from Tesla. Thanks for replying.

What's the battery level in the key fob like? The older S needs a fob in the car so if there's a fob issue it won't start. I had mine being strange last year so ended up getting another key in the end and it's been fine since (kiss of death). Worth just trying a new battery of a good make.

I’ll check the battery voltage at the end of the holiday and swap it out if needed. Might be worth keeping a spare in the glove box.
Thanks