Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

How best to contact Tesla about unacceptable changes in "v7" dashboard.

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

neroden

Model S Owner and Frustrated Tesla Fan
Apr 25, 2011
14,676
63,892
Ithaca, NY, USA
At the moment it's looking like I'm going to have to simply refuse software updates -- permanently. With my February 2013 Model S, I don't need or want any of the new features in v.7, and I can't even use most of them, but the current betas dramatically damage the dashboard display by:

(1) removing the front-and-center instantaneous power meter with power-limit and regen-limit lines, which I use routinely (valuable for careful handling in bad conditions, and for monitoring how much of a 'lead foot' I have). Incidentally the power-over-last-50-miles graph is completely useless to me due to the hills here -- the data runs off the top and bottom all the time -- so I certainly don't want to put that on the dashboard.
(2) removing the digital clock with date, which I use routinely (embarassingly, I never know what the day of the week or the date is)
(3) removing the digit after the decimal point on the trip meters, which I use routinely for watching energy up and down the hills
(4) removing the always-on odometer display, which I use routinely (people ask all the time how many miles are on the car)
(5) removing the outside temperature display, which I use routinely
while adding absolutely nothing of any value for me.

Unless these things are rectified, I would consider this update to be damage to my vehicle. I'd expect to be compensated handsomely if it were forced on me -- but it's simpler to simply refuse to update it.

Unfortunately, I"ve read things about Tesla Service Centers refusing to service cars without applying the software updates. So it's not clear whether I'll be able to get service from Tesla at all if they insist on damaging my car during annual service.

I have no idea how best to reach Tesla. It seems like these are stupid mistakes on their part which would be easy to fix, a matter of mere hours of work. The power meter should be an available option for the center display (selectable in the 17" touchscreen under "settings"). The "status line" information should be an available option, in the same way. Problem fixed.

But how to reach Tesla to express how serious this is? You *do not remove functionality from a car which the customer has purchased*. Ever.
 
Last edited:
I too prefer having the info on the current display in my classic Model S, but I found a workaround for losing the date in the center screen. The number appears in the calendar app icon. Now if I just knew what day of the week it was!
 
This is what you get when Silicon Valley does cars. They're platforms with software, and as per Silicon Valley since day one, software changes, including UI. People come, cash out their options, move on, or retire at 30. New people come in, wanna make a dent, figure out ways to convince the CEO to make changes. CEO is eager for new, new, new, and again like every Silicon Valley company ever, 99% of your customers haven't become customers yet, and you're designing for them, and over time, your existing customers are less and less important and their voices less and less heard.

I think the look and feel of 7.0's dash screen is awful. I don't care for a skeumorphic mini-me car. I don't have autopilot or parking sensors so there is nothing that damn mini-me is gonna do for me except show me the brake lights or turn signals are on. And the headlights, of course, with that stupid bright oval-shaped pool of light in front of mini-me. Oh, man does that suck.

I seriously think I'll hold off on 7.0 as long as possible if that really is what they come out with.

But in the end, just like with long-time iOS and Mac OS X users, long-time Tesla owners comfortable with existing ways are screwed. You just don't matter and your opinion doesn't matter either.
 
But how to reach Tesla to express how serious this is? You *do not remove functionality from a car which the customer has purchased*. Ever.

Tell that to all of us who bought Fords with MyFord Touch. And before anyone says, "You don't have to install those updates" the system was (is) so buggy we all installed updates hoping promised features would arrive and bugs would be fixed. We were fools.
 
It wouldn't be an OS if they didn't have to make it ugly at some point.

I'll grin and bear it through the first couple of versions of V7.X

At some point the most important things will come back, but I'll forever miss the beautiful speed dial that is in the current V6.2 version.
 
While it may not change anything you have three ways for TM to get feedback: First, you have to assume that beta testers represent a cross section of owners so they surely have some input. Second, we know that Tm monitors this site and their own forums on TM and, Finally, you can write/call ownership experience yourself.

The good news: If something can changed in a way you don't like with over the air updates it can also change for the better in the future.
 
Tesla knows about the discontent with the betas leaks. They read these forums. If they release it with the goofball clock, darn right I'll complain.

I hope everyone that is unhappy with the new interface complains. Otherwise, we'll be stuck with it forever, or at least until a new UI designer decides to arbitrarily change it to something else, maybe better, maybe something even worse...

I love the Model S. In fact, I just picked up my second one today :), but I'm not going to quietly stand by and let a poorly thought out UI design change ruin an otherwise excellent product.

They can easily fix it, but they will not if they think people are fine with it.
 
Neroden
Thank you
for starting a dislike thread on version 7
all that info on the current dash is very useful to me
and I use it all.
the new version looks like all the brands of cars that have acc.
it should be an option to have the classic dash or
new autopilot dash and let the drivers decide.
If they don.t
you will see a lot of people refusing this downgrade to V7
 
Neroden
Thank you
for starting a dislike thread on version 7
all that info on the current dash is very useful to me
and I use it all.
the new version looks like all the brands of cars that have acc.
it should be an option to have the classic dash or
new autopilot dash and let the drivers decide.
If they don.t
you will see a lot of people refusing this downgrade to V7

I did post this on other thread

May be Tesla can come with up two different settings for the dashboard ....one classic style as what exists now and other is the new version..while the critical updates are applied either way..
 
Tesla knows about the discontent with the betas leaks. They read these forums. If they release it with the goofball clock, darn right I'll complain.

I hope everyone that is unhappy with the new interface complains....
Likewise, I hope everyone that thinks it is an improvement let's them know that as well.
I applaud you though, in holding your yelling at them until you see the actual release.:D:D
 
With a dog in the car, I always look at the outside temperature. It determines how much I hunt for a parking spot with shade.



What is with all this invisible design crap anyway? Taking information away is BAD UI! Just like recent OS and web UI, you have to know something is hidden to find it! WTF is that?

This kind of stuff is DI? Designers Interface, not User Interface.
 
My understanding is that if Tesla replaces a major assembly, such as a drive unit, they don't have a choice on the software upgrade. Now maybe they can skip the MCU/IC and just do the DU, but I doubt it.
 
I've posted plenty of times in the other thread as well. While I understand the argument for waiting until the software is actually released to complain, I also understand how slow Tesla can be to make changes to software that has been released. I think our best chances for keeping the parts of the current UI that we need, like the combined speedometer / power meter, lie in making sure Tesla knows how disappointed we will be if they take it away from us.

I agree that information that has been made available should not be taken away in future updates.