Have a Tesla over-the-air update disaster? Try these reboots.

Christmas came early for Tesla owners with a “holiday” update that added new features and tools to the software system controlling the electric vehicles. 

But with new features like more voice commands, TRAX music-making, Twitch video streaming, Camp Mode, and new games like Stardew Valley and backgammon comes the inevitable errant Tesla whose computer just won’t update.  

Tesla with its screen-based driving system is known for its quick and painless over-the-air updates. It’s similar to downloading and installing a new operating system on a smartphone. While connected to your WiFi, the car downloads and updates to a new version in about 30 minutes, bringing a slew of new features and changes to the driving experience. But sometimes things get sticky. 

The last big update before this one was Version 10 out at the end of September, and sure enough, issues came up then, too.

But the good news is there’s always customer support a phone call away and even some tricks you can do yourself. 

Rebooting is a bit like holding down a bunch of buttons on an iPhone and praying when (if!) it restarts it’s sorted itself out. On a Tesla there are various reboots from soft to hard, some that can be configured while driving, and others that risk “bricking,” or shutting down the computer system for good. Reddit Tesla pages and Tesla forums are filled with advice to restart your car and force it to work, dammit! 

One poster lists four different ways to reboot: 

1) Hold down both scroll wheels – reboots the touchscreen, This corrects problems with navigation, backup camera, and the infotainment system. This can be done while driving.

2) Hold down both buttons over the scroll wheel. This reboots the instrument cluster. It corrects some problems with the IC, but I don’t recall which ones. This can also be done while driving albeit you briefly lose the instrument cluster information.

3) Hold down both buttons over the scroll wheel while pressing the brake pedal. This is a deeper reboot than the previous one. Obviously, you can’t do this while driving.

4) Power down the car and turn it back on. This is done with the e-Brake power off setting from the touch screen. Wait two minutes and then press the brake pedal to turn the car back on. This procedure actually removes power from parts of the car and can correct hardware glitches, for example a non-functioning Autopilot camera.

For some drivers, the latest holiday update hasn’t even popped up on their screens yet. This toggling trick is a way to manually get the update to show up on the car. 

Sometimes life with a Tesla is a bumpy ride for entirely different reasons. Like a loose wire that sends things, well, haywire. 

At this point, Tesla owners are getting used to a refrain common for other digital devices: “Have you tried turning it off and on?”