USS Parking sensors retrofit?

[boatmen-poet]

I'm desperately thinking about retrofitting USS parking sensors into my Berlin-made Model Y.

I heard some rumors that all is missing is 12x parking sensor with it's retainer and 2 wiring harness on bumper side as vehicle-side harness is still installed.
Maybe extra coding is needed in Vehicle Controller and some toolbox procedures.

I dig a little into epc.tesla.com and figured I will need:
* 12x parking sensors with retainer brackets (you will find it as “17- electrical -> 1727 - Parking sensors”) on webpage Parts Catalog
* Front bumper harness 1489045-01-D (17 - electrical -> 1710 - Harnesses -> Front bumper harnesses)
* Rear bumper harnesss 1489046-00-C (17 - electrical -> 1710 - Harnesses -> Rear bumper harnesses)

Has anyone tried such thing before?
Do you know any electric/electronic/software works needed to be done except drilling bumpers, installing painted sensors and connecting harnesses? I guess Toolbox will be needed to perform assigning address for each sensor.

 

[KMC_307]

Won’t work. The cars configuration determines if you have USS or not. There’s no way to tell the car it has USS all of the sudden.

 

[Watts_Up]

You can find some after market sensors which could be a very simple and not very costly solution.

 

[MP3Mike]

I heard some rumors that all is missing is 12x parking sensor with it's retainer and 2 wiring harness on bumper side as vehicle-side harness is still installed.

Besides the problem with the car's configuration, does the controller still have the USS control chips on it, or did they depopulate it to save money?

 

[hmadsen]

Besides the problem with the car's configuration, does the controller still have the USS control chips on it, or did they depopulate it to save money?

Not 100% sure, but i would imagine the USS are connected to some USS controller, that is then connected to the rest of the car via some can-bus

The problem you will be facing is how to get the car set to accept input from the USS controller, i bet Tesla will not be of any help, and without them you really have no way of getting the USS integrated into the car so that they work like if the car was a MY 22 or older.

 

[MP3Mike]

Not 100% sure, but i would imagine the USS are connected to some USS controller, that is then connected to the rest of the car via some can-bus

My understanding is that Tesla integrated the USS controller into the VCLeft or VCRight controller to save money.

From looking at the parts catalog it looks like it is part of VCRight:

 

[hmadsen]

My understanding is that Tesla integrated the USS controller into the VCLeft or VCRight controller to save money.

From looking at the parts catalog it looks like it is part of VCRight:

View attachment 993459

There is no mention of this part changing Part Number between MY 22 and MY 23 ?

If they redesigned it to omit the USS part or they just did not mount the components, it would probably have a new part number.

If it would be possible to retrofit an MY22 or older unit into a MY23 car i dont know but still, i would bet, even if a Service Center wanted to help someone enable this function, they were probably not able to, it is my understanding that most manufacturers use "VCI" (Vehicle Configuration Index) which means that if something is to be enabled it needs a specific VIN dependent VCI code to enable it.

This was how it was done on my previous GM car atleast and i was told that the reason they did this is because nowadays a lot of features are more or less only software, and if they did not protect these functions with some "encrypted code" everyone would be able to buy the lowest spec car, and just enable stuff without paying specifically for it.

On the car before the one i mention, there were quite a lot of features that required little to no hardware to enable. I did a rainsensor/light sensor retrofit, a folding mirrors retrofit, an anti-hijack retrofit, Rear seat audio cluster, upgraded the radio from basic FM and CD/MP3 to a DVD based navigation and color screen instead of a monochrome one and swapped the instrument cluster for one that would do needle sweep.

The car i got after that was all locked down, if i had opted for the Matrix LED headlamps i would not even have been able to change one of those myself....Well i could change it if it broke, but it would not work unless it had been coded into the car with secret codes only available from the GM servers in Germany.

 

[MP3Mike]

There is no mention of this part changing Part Number between MY 22 and MY 23 ?

The change wasn't made on a model year break, and the parts catalog really doesn't contain that level of detail. (The only time they break things out is for major refreshes, like the Model S, there are only three options, but stuff was changed way more often than that:

If they redesigned it to omit the USS part or they just did not mount the components, it would probably have a new part number.

Huh? There are 6 different part numbers for VCRight, and only two of them mention USS: (Though one mentions that it can be used in place of one of the USS ones.)

 

[stos]

I was just about to login here and post a thread about this, except it’s for my ‘23 Model X. Had some front-end damage that I’ve decided I’ll fix myself for about a grand in parts plus some repairs on the bumper, if I thwart the $2k it’ll cost to buy a new bumper and repaint the whole thing. Figured if I do end up wanting to go that route, I could try buying all the parts required for USS including the USS variant bumper and fender flares/garnishes (left one needs replacing anyway), and then of course the USS sensors and wiring.

This is not to enable my parking sensors, but to enable my auto-front doors. It’s frustrating the Model X got permanently gimped (yes, manual does not state anything about a “future update” to enable them) when they decided to remove USS from the most advanced vehicle in their lineup.

If anyone with knowledge or Toolbox experience can help me here I’d appreciate it. Otherwise may post in the Model X subreddit since again I’m focused on those auto front doors.

 

[TasosT]

Also a desperate Model S owner here, I'm tired of the random graphs the current vision system shows.
My only concern is how would it be possible to run the wires. I've looked everywhere and I haven't found anyone having done that before.

 

[terranx]

Also a desperate Model S owner here, I'm tired of the random graphs the current vision system shows.
My only concern is how would it be possible to run the wires. I've looked everywhere and I haven't found anyone having done that before.

It hasn’t been done, but from what I’m seeing in the catalogs the wiring is pretty simple.

It’s something I do plan to look into for my S. I just wish I could buy prepainted bumpers with the sensor mounts from Tesla (in my case I got ultra red, which wasn’t sold until after they had already eliminated the sensors).

The other issue will be actually enabling the sensors in software. I don’t think the version of toolbox we get access to can do it. There are folks out there who can make gateway edits, but the money does start adding up quick when pursuing a “maybe”

 

[KMC_307]

It hasn’t been done, but from what I’m seeing in the catalogs the wiring is pretty simple.

It’s something I do plan to look into for my S. I just wish I could buy prepainted bumpers with the sensor mounts from Tesla (in my case I got ultra red, which wasn’t sold until after they had already eliminated the sensors).

The other issue will be actually enabling the sensors in software. I don’t think the version of toolbox we get access to can do it. There are folks out there who can make gateway edits, but the money does start adding up quick when pursuing a “maybe”

I’m gonna say it again, it’s not possible.

There is no version of toolbox that can enable the sensors. Your car is getting software updates without sensor support based on its original configuration. Your car is marked as a vision based system and therefore you will only receive software for a vision based system. It simply can not be retrofitted. As long as you have no access to the vehicles configuration, there is no way to tell the car to download the correct update next time one is available.

My two cents: just deal with Tesla vision or sell the car.

 

[terranx]

I’m gonna say it again, it’s not possible.

There is no version of toolbox that can enable the sensors. Your car is getting software updates without sensor support based on its original configuration. Your car is marked as a vision based system and therefore you will only receive software for a vision based system. It simply can not be retrofitted. As long as you have no access to the vehicles configuration, there is no way to tell the car to download the correct update next time one is available.

My two cents: just deal with Tesla vision or sell the car.

Gateway configuration changes are possible. Our version of toolbox can’t change what we want, but others can. I have had gateway changes made to my model 3 without issue.

So no, it’s not impossible.

 

[KMC_307]

Gateway configuration changes are possible. Our version of toolbox can’t change what we want, but others can. I have had gateway changes made to my model 3 without issue.

So no, it’s not impossible.

Im talking specifically about reactivation of the USS, not gateway changes at all.

 

[terranx]

Im talking specifically about reactivation of the USS, not gateway changes at all.

How do you think the car determines what software to run / how to configure its hardware? It’s all gateway configuration. With the appropriate gateway changes and the software redeployed, the USS will work

 

[DJ DizzR]

I had USS on a previous QX60. Besides the beeping, when backing up, I rarely paid attention to it. I still relied on the 360 cameras and my own eyes to judge close parking. My new MY23 Y doesn't have it and frankly, I don't even miss it. I use the cameras and mirrors to judge parking distance again, no difference from my QX60. Maybe I'm not understanding this obsession with USS as a must have option. As someone mentioned, there are aftermarket options to add USS if its really a deal breaker for some people.

 

[DanDi58]

The problem is, even IF you were able to get the SW to recognize the retrofitted USS, the next update would likely take it away again.

 

[terranx]

The problem is, even IF you were able to get the SW to recognize the retrofitted USS, the next update would likely take it away again.

Not really how it works. As long as it's not a paid feature like autopilot, gateway changes persist. I have several on my model 3 that have persistent for at least 6 updates now