After acknowledging earlier this month the eMMC failures that cause the touchscreens in older Model S and Model X vehicles to go blank, Tesla is now taking the pre-emptive step to warn owners before the failure occurs.
In June of this year the NHTSA announced it was investigating the Media Control Unit (MCU1) failures on approximately 63,000 Model S/X vehicles built between 2012 and 2015.
Fast forward a few months to November 9 and Tesla surprises everyone by offering owners who experience issues free replacements of the impacted parts. The policy change was also retroactive, as owners who have already had to pay out of pocket for the repairs may be eligible for a reimbursement early next year.
Now it looks like Tesla has taken an additional step in acknowledging the eMMC failure. According to an image posted to the TMC forums by ethange, if your eMMC is getting close to failure, a message that reads “Center Display storage device degraded. OK to drive – Use Mobile App to schedule service” now appears on the screen.
This message was added in the recent 2020.40.9.2 software release according to Tesla hacker @greentheonly.
Despite the recent steps taken by Tesla to address the issue, it may be too little too late. On November 17, 2020, the NHTSA announced it was expanding its investigation into the scope and safety-related consequences of the touchscreen failures. The blank touchscreen does not affect steering, acceleration, or braking, and no accidents have been reported as a result of the failure.
Depending on the results of that analysis, Tesla may still be forced to recall impacted Model S/X vehicles.
Last week Tesla issued two separate recalls for the Model X and Model Y that impacted nearly 10,000 vehicles.
