Tesla's Full Self-Driving computer failure leaves customers in dire straits

Tesla's Full Self-Driving computer failure leaves customers in dire straits without many key features and quickly depletes battery packs for months.

Last month, Electrek released a special report about Tesla having a major problem with the new version of the “Full Self-Driving computer,” AI4.1, failing due to a short circuit, and Tesla must replace the computers.

We found examples of the issue that arose as early as July. The problem can start quickly, within a few miles on a brand new car or after a few hundred to a few thousand kilometers.

When the computer fails, many car features stop working, such as active safety features, cameras, and even GPS, navigation, and rangefinders.

Tesla's fix was to completely replace the computer, but sources also mentioned a temporary software fix to enable other features in the meantime.

It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of people affected. At the time of the article, we had received a number of customer complaints and we have sources within Tesla who estimate that, based on service requests, thousands of new Tesla owners are facing this issue.

We reported that this should lead to a recall since features like backup cameras are now considered a safety feature and required for new vehicles by NHTSA, but Tesla has not issued a service report and has never filed a notification with NHTSA.

Electrek contact NHTSA to ask if they are aware of this issue. We will update when we get a response.

There are now a number of customer complaints about this particular issue on NHTSA's Tesla Model Y and Model 3 pages.

Since we published our original report on this issue last month, dozens of other customers have run into this problem. They report long wait times for a new computer as Tesla tells them it needs more parts, possibly new computers.

Others showed documents from Electrek showing they didn't have time to replace their computers until February. For some customers, that can mean more than two months with severely damaged vehicles.

In addition to the handicapping features mentioned earlier, customers have expressed other problems with living with their brand new cars without a working computer. The computer seems to be stuck in an “auto update loop”, which drains the battery quickly.

The customer with this problem estimated that his Model 3 consumes about 5 kWh per day when parked, doing nothing about this computer problem.

Some owners have expressed concerns about rapid battery degradation and wear on other components due to this issue. It is also a big problem for people who don't have money to charge at home, and their cars are stuck in getting out quickly because of this issue.

Electrek see documents showing that Tesla admits it's a computer problemue “internal lameness.”