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Main Screen Freeze Error + Apple iPhones plugged in by USB

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This is taken from the 6.2 thread:

When I was on a roadtrip earlier this summer, my touch screen became totally unresponsive to touch and I had an error message on the center screen. I was a bit panicked because I was quite a distance from home, and you really do need that interface to operate the car. (i.e. my a/c was off and it was getting hot). A re-boot seems to have fixed it and I've never had the problem again.

I've had this exact thing happen twice now in the last couple weeks. Both times a reboot fixed it, but it's got me a little worried since I'm out of warranty (nearing 70k miles).


Ditto, happened to me several times a couple of months ago. Service diagnosed it as a USB error. I had an Apple-branded USB cord plugged into the port nearest the passenger side. After unplugging the cord, the error has not recurred. Service suspects a software issue and reported it to the software team.

I have had this issue as well. The main screen freezes at times with an error on the dash saying that the touchscreen need service, please contact Tesla. Service pulled logs and said it was related to the iPhone pinging the screen when plugged in via USB cable. I am only able to reproduce this intermittently, but there are times where the phone power cycles (as if you plugged it in for charging, then unplugged) about 12 times in a minute before the screen freezes. Sometimes a reboot helps, and other times, I need to power down the car completely and get out, then reboot, to fix it. So their diagnosis is probably right.

The recommended fix was not right. The service center told me to stop plugging in my iPhone. Player please. I need not go further.

They also recommended that I get a 12V cigarette lighter and plug my cord into there for charging. I say no to clutter ... Elon gave me a car with no grab handles, door pockets, or anything else that would indicate clutter is ok. I'm definitely not adding a cigarette lighter adapter!

I will try plugging it into the other socket and see if it affects anything. It shouldn't. It is also possible that the latest patch(es) have addressed this by now since I have not seen the error for almost a month. We'll continue to monitor.

Have you had this bug?

- K
 
FWIW, I plug my iPhone 6 into the USB plug on my car every time I get in and have never seen this in 55k miles of driving.

A few few months ago I did have a different issue where the phone itself would ask me if I wanted to trust the car every time I plugged in but I think it was an iOS update that fixed that.

What at kind of iPhone do you have and what iOS is it running?

If it happens again, definitely call your service center and have them pull the logs so engineering can take a look. You should also use the bug report feature in the car as well (use the voice command to say report bug). I think your service center was just trying to give you workarounds until the issue is resolved.
 
My wife and I both have an iPhone 6S and iPads and often have them plugged into the USB ports. We have had issues with some non-Apple charging cables not being able to supply power to what is connected to them. We have never had the error message you describe in over 30K miles of driving.
I agree with you that "the fix" recommended to you by Tesla service is not satisfactory. But I do not understand this statement "Service...said it was related to the iPhone pinging the screen when plugged in via USB cable."
What does "pinging" mean? I assume you have your phone connected to the car by Bluetooth. So does Service mean that the phone communicating to the cars CPU via Bluetooth is somehow causing a freeze of the CPU or the graphics card driving the main screen?
 
The phone is connected by Bluetooth and plugged in for charging only. Service advisor specifically meant the phone was trying to communicate with the car via the USB cable and causes the freeze. I have an iPhone 5c and a Samsung Galaxy S5 that are both regularly plugged in. The error is indeed rare over the last 18,000 miles and only happened in the last few months a total of maybe 6 times.

But when it does, it's high consequence.
 
I had a similar issue with my touchscreen locking up and indicating service was needed. A reboot always cleared it. After occuring about half dozen times in the first few weeks of ownership, I made a service appointment. After running diagnostics and checking the logs, they told me it had actually failed about a dozen times but sometimes had self-corrected. The SC told me there was an incompatibility between my phone and the USB connection (used for charging purposes only). In my case, I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 so the problem doesn't appear to be iPhone specific.

Though I am still skeptical, I have only seen the problem once in several weeks since switching to using a cig lighter adapter to charge my phone. I'm still irked that such a technologically advanced car still requires me to use the 12V charger adapter for phone charging.
 
When my issue occurred, I had an Apple USB cable plugged-in, not an actual iPhone. It was just the cable. I have since unplugged the Apple cable and have not had any issues. This cable was plugged into the 2nd port (closest to passenger). The first port is used by my center console. When I place my iPhone on the console cradle, I don't have any issues.
 
When my issue occurred, I had an Apple USB cable plugged-in, not an actual iPhone. It was just the cable. I have since unplugged the Apple cable and have not had any issues. This cable was plugged into the 2nd port (closest to passenger). The first port is used by my center console. When I place my iPhone on the console cradle, I don't have any issues.

The Apple lightning cable (all lightning cables, I believe) has a microchip in it that negotiates a licensed/secured/authorized connection with the device. I wonder if that "smart cable" is causing some issues with the MS USB port?
 
The Apple lightning cable (all lightning cables, I believe) has a microchip in it that negotiates a licensed/secured/authorized connection with the device. I wonder if that "smart cable" is causing some issues with the MS USB port?

That would seem consistent with my experience as well as what the service center told me. They were specific about having seen this problem only with Apple products that they've noticed.
 
That would seem consistent with my experience as well as what the service center told me. They were specific about having seen this problem only with Apple products that they've noticed.

Well, Tesla undoubtedly has control over their USB stack implementation, so this is on them. For the record, I almost never plug my iPhone in to the car and I have the touchscreen freeze once or twice a week.
 
I have a non-Apple USB cord. I got it because it's Tesla red ... yes, it's hot looking and aesthetics matter. :) Anyways, I can confirm this happens with non-Apple cords.

I wish there were ways to disable USB pinging from the iOS or Android side of this equation. Or, Tesla can just have an option in the Settings menu to Disable USB Communications with a small dialog box explaining that some phones try to communicate with the Tesla software and causes freezes. I'd be good with that. I'm sure there is a better way to word the tooltip.

- K
 
I have a non-Apple USB cord. I got it because it's Tesla red ... yes, it's hot looking and aesthetics matter. :) Anyways, I can confirm this happens with non-Apple cords.

I wish there were ways to disable USB pinging from the iOS or Android side of this equation. Or, Tesla can just have an option in the Settings menu to Disable USB Communications with a small dialog box explaining that some phones try to communicate with the Tesla software and causes freezes. I'd be good with that. I'm sure there is a better way to word the tooltip.

- K

Or they could fix the bug.
 
This is taken from the 6.2 thread:








I have had this issue as well. The main screen freezes at times with an error on the dash saying that the touchscreen need service, please contact Tesla. Service pulled logs and said it was related to the iPhone pinging the screen when plugged in via USB cable. I am only able to reproduce this intermittently, but there are times where the phone power cycles (as if you plugged it in for charging, then unplugged) about 12 times in a minute before the screen freezes. Sometimes a reboot helps, and other times, I need to power down the car completely and get out, then reboot, to fix it. So their diagnosis is probably right.

The recommended fix was not right. The service center told me to stop plugging in my iPhone. Player please. I need not go further.

They also recommended that I get a 12V cigarette lighter and plug my cord into there for charging. I say no to clutter ... Elon gave me a car with no grab handles, door pockets, or anything else that would indicate clutter is ok. I'm definitely not adding a cigarette lighter adapter!

I will try plugging it into the other socket and see if it affects anything. It shouldn't. It is also possible that the latest patch(es) have addressed this by now since I have not seen the error for almost a month. We'll continue to monitor.

Have you had this bug?

- K


I have same issue as you mention but not with my iphone but with android phone...I did notice that the error messages went away when I stopped using USB charger instead I use the 12V adapter