Some Tesla owners with older vehicles are experiencing a range of worrisome issues
One of the prevailing narratives surrounding Tesla is that the company isn’t so much an automotive company as it is a tech company. And truth be told, the description fits. Tesla over the past few years managed to shake up the entire auto industry by incorporating any number of novel tech-oriented innovations into its vehicles
As a prime example, Tesla was the first auto company to introduce over-the-air software updates that enabled users to take advantage of new features after driving off the lot.
Unfortunately, though, a Silicon Valley-esque approach to automotive design can sometimes lead to frustrating usability issues. A new report from Business Insider claims that some older Tesla models are experiencing a few glitches wherein the 17-inch touchscreen in-dash display simply stops working. Other users, meanwhile, have noted that older versions of the Model S have simply stopped charging.
Is this a widespread problem? Hardly, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye out for as Tesla vehicles accumulate more miles on the road. Remember, the Model S didn’t start shipping until the summer of 2012, which is to say that it remains unclear how the cars age relative to their gas-powered counterparts.
That said, the culprit behind the aforementioned glitches appears to be a flash storage chip.
As to the underlying issue, a Tesla repairman not affiliated with the company explained: Tesla vehicles “create so many logs in the car, they write to [the chip] so fast that it basically burns them out. They have a finite amount of writes; they can only do so many writes. The amount of logging they’re doing is excessive.”
Incidentally, Elon Musk took to Twitter a few days ago and intimated that the issue has been addressed, perhaps via a software update.
Unfortunately, though, a Silicon Valley-esque approach to automotive design can sometimes lead to frustrating usability issues. A new report from Business Insider claims that some older Tesla models are experiencing a few glitches wherein the 17-inch touchscreen in-dash display simply stops working. Other users, meanwhile, have noted that older versions of the Model S have simply stopped charging.
Is this a widespread problem? Hardly, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye out for as Tesla vehicles accumulate more miles on the road. Remember, the Model S didn’t start shipping until the summer of 2012, which is to say that it remains unclear how the cars age relative to their gas-powered counterparts.
That said, the culprit behind the aforementioned glitches appears to be a flash storage chip.
As to the underlying issue, a Tesla repairman not affiliated with the company explained: Tesla vehicles “create so many logs in the car, they write to [the chip] so fast that it basically burns them out. They have a finite amount of writes; they can only do so many writes. The amount of logging they’re doing is excessive.”
Incidentally, Elon Musk took to Twitter a few days ago and intimated that the issue has been addressed, perhaps via a software update.