Intermittent Electrical Problem Tesla Can't Fix, 5 Months Left on Warranty

[john8899]

My 2020 MYLR with about 20,000 miles suddenly developed an intermittent electrical problem that the Tesla Service Center has been able to duplicate and document but not fix. When the car is parked with Sentry off for about 10 minutes or more, it often loses all USB functions, both security and music. The only way to restore USB is a soft reboot. The type of USB drive is irrelevant.

Most days when I drive the car for the first time, I have to reboot to restore USB functionality before driving. Intermittent USB happens in both directions. One time when I was distracted while loading the car with USB gone, I found that it had come back when I returned to the car. The only solution is to leave Sentry on while the car is parked in my garage, but Sentry is a poorly programmed energy hog.

Tesla has had the car twice and nearly a month ago advised me that they could find nothing in the vehicle logs or any reports of similar problems in their database. They said they were reporting the problem to some higher level and would be in touch with me if a solution was found. I have heard nothing from them since then. My warranty expires in August 2024.

The intermittent USB problem is a nuisance and time waster, and it’s making me hate the Tesla. I’ve never before had a car that could not be repaired, and I would never buy a used car with such a defect. Anybody buying a used Tesla should get a full money back guarantee for at least a week or two to check for intermittent electrical problems like this that are not be easy to detect and apparently impossible to repair.

 

[EVRider-FL]

How many USB drives do you use and where are they plugged in? How many other USB’s did you try?

Even if Tesla figures out the issue after your warranty ends, you should be covered because you brought it to their attention while under warranty.

 

[zoomer0056]

Keep attempting to fix through the service center. PITA for sure, but you gotta be persistent. Document everything. At the same time, get real familiar with the Lemon Laws of your state.

 

[laservet]

This may be helped when a new software version comes. I had the problem in the past, storage devices stopped working in the car, weren't even recognized as being present so I couldn't reformat it, rebooting the car sometimes helped for a bit. Those same devices check out normal in a camera, a computer, so I know it's the car. Tesla remote service replaced the USB module in the car, didn't help. Then with one of the software updates the problem disappeared. Now, a year later, it's back.

 

[john8899]

Keep attempting to fix through the service center. PITA for sure, but you gotta be persistent. Document everything. At the same time, get real familiar with the Lemon Laws of your state.

Lemon laws do not apply to a 4-year-old car.

 

[john8899]

This may be helped when a new software version comes. I had the problem in the past, storage devices stopped working in the car, weren't even recognized as being present so I couldn't reformat it, rebooting the car sometimes helped for a bit. Those same devices check out normal in a camera, a computer, so I know it's the car. Tesla remote service replaced the USB module in the car, didn't help. Then with one of the software updates the problem disappeared. Now, a year later, it's back.

This started happening in late November 2023, and several software updates have made no difference.

 

[zoomer0056]

This started happening in late November 2023, and several software updates have made no difference.

There's a reportedly new update that's supposed to address how much battery sentry uses. This seems related to your case since sentry uses USB, but maybe not.

 

[john8899]

I

There's a reportedly new update that's supposed to address how much battery sentry uses. This seems related to your case since sentry uses USB, but maybe not.

I'm on the standard update schedule and thus have 2024.2.7, which doesn't deal with sentry. It only made the wipers run every day in dry weather.

 

[zoomer0056]

2024.2.7, which doesn't deal with sentry

That's correct, the update that reportedly deals with this isn't available yet. See this article on NotATeslaApp.

Tesla Targets Sentry Mode Vampire Drain: Upcoming Update to Slash Power Use by 40%

Tesla's latest update aiming to cut Sentry Mode's power consumption by 40%, addressing the vampire drain issue and elevating vehicle security

www.notateslaapp.com

 

[Z_Lynx]

This started happening to me in the last week or two. I get in the car, it says there is an incident, can't open the usb to view any files on it. Rebooting allows me to view the files but it fails again and I have to reboot all over again. And there are no new sentry files.

I also have a 2020 MY.

I will pay more attention to when it quits working and see if it matches the pattern of the OP.

 

[john8899]

This started happening to me in the last week or two. I get in the car, it says there is an incident, can't open the usb to view any files on it. Rebooting allows me to view the files but it fails again and I have to reboot all over again. And there are no new sentry files.

I also have a 2020 MY.

I will pay more attention to when it quits working and see if it matches the pattern of the OP.

About 10% of the time, my car also requires two consecutive reboots to recover USB. On those occasions, I get a Loading Error after the first reboot. Most of the time, one reboot is all that is needed.

 

[C-Bus Y]

Same issue here. USB drive is not accessible most of the time without a soft reboot. I had this problem a while ago and it went away. Came back recently. I even purchased a new storage device but it didn’t fix the issue.

Seems like a software problem.

 

[john8899]

Same issue here. USB drive is not accessible most of the time without a soft reboot. I had this problem a while ago and it went away. Came back recently. I even purchased a new storage device but it didn’t fix the issue.

Seems like a software problem.

Take your car to a Tesla service center. They won't be able to fix it, but if enough people with the same failure complain, somebody at Tesla may make an effort to troubleshoot the problem. I turned off Sentry when I left the car with the service center so that that USB would disappear when the car was parked, and it did.

 

[BroncoAZ]

Are you still eligible to purchase the extended warranty out to 6 years? Might be worth the investment.

 

[john8899]

Are you still eligible to purchase the extended warranty out to 6 years? Might be worth the investment.

Yes. Before my warranty runs out in August, I will either get the Tesla extended warranty or a third-party warranty. I haven't researched extended warranties yet. I also haven't researched whether a manufacturer can run out the clock on performing a warranty repair simply by claiming that the problem can't be fixed before the end of the warranty period, but doubt that coverage could be denied if the problem were reported prior to expiration of the warranty.

 

[john8899]

Here's another thread reporting the same problem:

Sentry Mode red X most of the time