Guest essay by Eric Worrall
My question – do you need good cellular internet coverage to be able to drive your Tesla? A surprise new Tesla issue might be a real problem for people in the middle of an emergency.
Server Error 500 sees some Tesla drivers locked out of their MuskMobiles
CEO blames ‘Increased verbosity of network traffic’
Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Sun 21 Nov 2021 // 23:58 UTC
Some Tesla drivers who fancied going for a spin on Saturday were unable to do so after an update to the cars’ companion app produced server errors.
Teslas don’t use conventional keys. Instead they require the presence of a fob, key card, or authenticated mobile phone app that links to the electric vehicles over Bluetooth. This is apparently easier and/or more convenient than a key, or something. Heck, everything’s better with Bluetooth, right?
Drivers that use the app to kcikstart their cars reported they could not activate their cars with their apps.
I’m experiencing 500 server error to connect my @tesla Model 3 on my iOS app in Seoul, S.Korea. Seems like this is a worldwide issue. @elonmusk
— Jaehwan Cho 조재환 (@hohocho) November 19, 2021…
Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/21/tesla_server_error_500_lockout/
Elon Musk to his credit jumped onto Twitter to personally field questions about the outage (h/t The Register).
Server error 500 is one of the most generic internet errors. It usually occurs when the website software crashes while trying to fulfil your request. On most web servers, Server 500 occurs when level system software captures complete failures of the application software layer, and wraps the failures in a “Server 500”, to try to provide some meaningful feedback to the end user.
My question, where does this unexpected vulnerability leave drivers in an emergency situation? If you need cellular coverage to connect your mobile to your automobile, to satisfy the security system, I’m sure we can all think of plenty of scenarios when cellular coverage might be unavailable.
Even if this problem only occurs during a botched software update, in my opinion it is a concern.
Of course, my experience of a major power outage caused by a big flood nine years ago was cellular tends to die about 48 – 72 hours after the electricity dies, so maybe by the time your Tesla security system internet connection breaks down, you don’t have any charge in your vehicle battery anyway.
It is not just your vehicle security system you have to worry about, if you live in California. California recently passed a law outlawing gasoline backup generators and mandating zero emission emergency equipment, so batteries everywhere.
Thinking about the problems Tesla drivers just experienced over the weekend, I’m kindof glad I can start my gasoline vehicle with an old fashioned automobile key. During the last big outage, my gasoline vehicle had the range to keep me mobile for multiple short trips to the shop and the local gas station.
Is man’s ingenuity outpacing technology?
Gee a key should be thrown in with the electronic fob. Or an independent localized (in-car) signal starter – thumb print?
An electronic fob shouldn’t require any kind of network connection. The phone app seems to be a different story, but that shouldn’t prevent the driver from using the fob instead of the app.
I’m just thinking logically here, I don’t own a Tesla.
As I understand it, only people who were trying to use the phone app were blocked; the fob still worked.
Direct answer to your question: No, only his growing stupidity.
“Is man’s ingenuity outpacing technology?”
No! Only his stupidity. I doubt if there is cell coverage in over half my home county here in West Virginia. To require cell coverage to start your car is totally asinine (in this case should probably be spelled ass-inine or dumb-ass-inie).
Early versions of Windows demonstrated Murphy’s Law in action. Tesla not having a backup is arrogance.
Every Tesla owner is given two magnetic wallet cards that unlock the car and allow driving it without internet connections. The author of this article didn’t care enough to do that simple bit of research, never once thinking “Hmm. Maybe Elon & Co already thought of this.” Those cards are useful for valet parking and friends driving your car. Simple and easy. If a Tesla driver doesn’t carry the wallet card, the problem in this post is his own fault.
I’d have to agree.
Human nature comes into play. How many people carry two house keys in case they lose one? How many people carry backup car keys in case one fails? Only those who’ve been caught out and seriously inconvenienced.
I have a £5 note in my car, along with a handful of coins, also a £5 note on my bike. I’ve been caught with no cash when needed far from home. I also carry tablets for migraine in said vehicles. But not two keys for anything. My wife has spare keys, but she’s not always with me.
Yes, but how many people no longer carry their wallets either?
It has become that our phones are our life. Hey, there are some cool shiney things I love about owning a phone in the 21st century, but the growing deep dependency is such that if we ever got a lingering network failure we would have people with no idea how to function.
In fact the only thing keeping society from collapsing completely is that food and water still have to be obtained by a 3rd party. If they ever work out how to literally download food and water from your phone using next gen printers then people will die during the next network failure.
I had this mental image of a huge mouse feeder and water bottle hanging from the side of a house after reading that last paragraph.
Sorry but you are making excuses for Tesla . .
The access and start up of the vehicle is over complicated.
Keys in my hand work every time !
On my 1992 Volvo, only server 500 error I had when fuel pump relay became intermittent, £16 of new hardware resolved ‘software’ failure
Re-flowing the solder on the relay’s pcb normally does the trick. On my 1997 Volvo I can also diagnose most faults without the need for a computer/internet. There aren’t any modern cars that make me want to trade in my 940…..
Hi Gavin
Mine is also 940 petrol. Yes, done the soldering on all connections and now keep it in the glove compartment as a spare, just in case the new one does it while on the road.
So Vuk, you passed up an opportunity to convert your vintage car to wine & cheese fuel like Prince Charles did?
C’mon man.
Fossil fuel is always in the tank while wine & cheese occasionally can be found in the hamper in the car boot.
Relying on the internet in order to start your car is like relying on the wind to light your house.
Just one more reason in a long list of reasons NOT to buy a Tesla.
Presumably Tesla know where you’ve been how you got there and at what speed? Just like smart meters supply energy companies with all the information about your domestic energy use.
It is rather creepy, all these entities keeping track of what we are doing.
We have no idea what cars are recording these days. With the 2 way internet connectivity, electronic data recorders, the miniaturisation of audio recorders and cameras and the connection of smart phones. This, coupled with the slim profits from car sales and the lucrative market in data collection.
Plus no one will ever know.
You did see the part about starting the car with a key card or a fob, no internet connection required, right? Seems to me these make it easier to start than any other car. Another reason to buy a Tesla (if I could afford it…).
Actually, my car starts with a fob or a key and it’s not a Tesla. No Internet connection needed or available. It also runs just fine after a hurricane comes thru and the power is gone for weeks.
Agree! Is it unfair to say that it serves those owners right?
I cannot think of one reason to buy an electric-driven car of any brand. Except a nice Matchbox.
.+
Judging from the occasional news stories I see about Tesla owners getting into trouble trying to use some of the “features” of their car, I suspect many of them do consider the Tesla more akin to a Matchbox than a functional automobile.
“…do you need good cellular internet coverage to be able to drive your…”
Boring old FIAT Tipo (1.4L)?
No. Just a key
wouldn’t the fob still work or it it a fob or app only issue?
Fob still working apparently. Unfortunately many drivers rely on the app and don’t take the fob with them.
we know many drivers are idiots, that just proves it LOL
Ayup!
They bought a Tesla. Enough proof.
Been in one Jim?
Not authorized to charge, not authorized to drive. The path is not without warnings.
Indeed. This is not a bug, it is a feature.
If you value your freedom never buy anything with a subscription model where you can avoid it.
Ready Player One
Got that?
If internet/cell service is required to use the car, then it wouldn’t be usable at all for me…
Not required, the fob still working without internet, but many drivers rely on the app and don’t carry the fob. That is their mistake – never rely on internet coverage.
“Accidentally increased verbosity of network traffic”
-We started recording every word spoken and sound made in your vehicles before we had the server capacity to handle it.
Don’t let Gropin’ Joe ride in a Tesla, then. The noises that emanate from his nether regions would probably cause another server error. 😵
I have some quite new cars, and they also have an app that I can use to start most functions in the car, unlocked it, etc. But I also have a key that works in the car in case I don’t have internet or connection. The maximum that would happen in a cold day is to arrive to a cold car and I would have to wait it to be warm inside.
I bought a new 2009 Altima with push button start and twice a security system steering wheel lock failed – the emergency key wouldn’t work. Had to have it towed from terminal D parking at DFW airport (required a special tow truck) to the nearest Nissan dealer both times. Even though the warranty had expired Nissan covered the repairs and insurance refunded the towing expenses my wife’s and my inconvenience was not compensated.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
I recommend you read the fine print before signing up for the enabling car apps. I know when you sign up for Fordpass, for example, you allow access to your driving habits (speed, braking force, location, time of travel) in exchange for the ability to start your car from anywhere in the world. I definitely don’t want to give up my data for the conveniences provided with the app. The fob works just fine.
Teslas also work like this. Some drivers don’t carry the fob, so got stuck for a few minutes. This is sheer bollox reporting.
And for a stolen Tesla you see “404 – not found”.
They should have an app for that – find my car
Especially useful when you can’t remember where you left it
Drinking too much the night before can cause this.
I’m sure such an app would be popular
My iPhone knows map app knows where I parked my car.
Easy to find though.
It’s probably out of battery somewhere within a 20k radius of where you left it.
(or the thieves realized what they had just boosted and just abandoned it. I had that happen to me back in the ’80s when our employer changed our fleet to all small bore 4 cylinder engines that wouldn’t pull the skin off a rice custard)
I guess that’s no worse than a stolen any-other-kind-of car
Nah.
If you were a fugitive from justice who stole a car with the intention of fleeing to another state (which is often the case), you wouldn’t want to pull into a gas station on the way to fill up and rob it and then wait around for an hour or so while you charged up your battery to get you another 100 miles or so.
Even felons aren’t THAT dumb.
This is inane. Every Tesla OWNER (not commentators who have never owned one) has a magnetic card in his wallet that will both unlock the car and allow him to drive it if, for example, his phone runs out of juice. Just like an old-fashioned key. That’s also how you allow a parking valet to drive your car. Clearly, the author here did zero research and never talked to a Tesla owner before writing this drivel.
Exactly
You mean intelligent Tesla owners who know that electricity doesn’t magically appear at the socket. That whatever can be backed up by an alternative must be backed up.
If you actually do know that – you are in a very tiny minority (of a very tiny minority). The ones that I know can’t pour sand out of their boots with printed directions on the heel…
Please forgive me, but I don’t understand what you are trying to say.
Sigh. Every Tesla owner that I know is an idiot, who believes in magic, completely ignorant of the technology that makes things happen for them. Does that make it clear?
Probably not, I suspect you are trying to talk sense to a Tesla fanboi.
You assume the average Tesla owner is smart enough to figure out what the card is for and will remember to put it into his wallet.
Oh, for heaven’s sake.
Like Jan says. Your comment is dumber than what you make the average Tesla owner out to be.
I know two Tesla owners. Both are denser than a bucket of rocks. It appears that several others have had similar experiences.
Well they did buy a Tesla … nuff said.
Or remember to bring their wallet. If they’re relying on their phone app for their car, they’re probably relying on their phone apps for everything else too.
“Clearly, the author here did zero research”
Yes, the author Jan Tw did zero research.
Tesla owner: https://twitter.com/hohocho/status/1461806946978258955 with several others voicing complaints of being locked out.
SEVERAL reports from SEVERAL news outlets can be found with a simple search.
They may have the card or not, but the complaint is being locked out.
Sorry, mate. You clearly don’t own a Tesla or know much about them. The article you linked to says: “I’m experiencing 500 server error”. Note the word server. The problem was with Tesla remote servers, which is very clear in the reporting and Elon’s apology. The Tesla cards still work without an internet connection; the cards are keyed to the car. You just hold the card near the driver’s pillar and the onboard computer recognizes the card. If you have the card, you are not locked out. This is very simple stuff. Reporters just seized on TESLA OWNERS LOCKED OUT!! Good headline, lousy reporting.
The card works – IF YOU HAVE THE CARD!
Many years ago (obviously), I met a distant cousin of mine at a family funeral. He worked as a professional locksmith in Los Angeles – and the ONLY thing he did was go on calls for people that had locked their keys in the car. Made quite a good living from it, too.
The Tesla people I know would be HIGHLY unlikely to forget their cell phone – they’ll probably be among the first that will go for implants. But a BACKUP method? Doesn’t occur to them; they NEVER forget their phone, and it will ALWAYS work for them.
You people truly do move in quite rarefied circles, where NOBODY you know has ever had a problem consequent to their own foolishness.
IF the card works like credit cards, if the servers are down, the cards don’t work.
Reading comprehension is important. The card is just like a key fob that will unlock doors or start your car.
That assumes
1) they brought the card with them. Since they can get in with their phone and that is their preferred method of access, many probably don’t even think about the card bringing the card along
2) they didn’t leave the card in the car if they did being it along. Ever hear of people who locked their keys in the car? same issue here.
as for the reporting, the reporter reported the facts: Tesla users did complain of being locked out. That’s factual no matter how much you try to rationalize it away.
Then why was Elon Musk tweeting about it. It seems to have caused enough of a problem in the Teslaverse to get his attention. You must also adjust temperatures.
I call the old-fashioned mechanical locks and keys “smart locks” or “smart keys”, because it’s the smartest system that always works whether or not power or internet are available. Anything else seems dumb unless it’s ok to wait through an outage.
Have you ever tried opening up one of those old-fashioned locks at 10 below zero in a Chicago winter? People used to carry aerosol spray cans of lubricant to unfreeze the locks. Of course that doesn’t help if you leave the spray can locked in the car trunk …
Soon we’ll have flying cars they say.
Just as bad or worse when it happens on your desktop PC…..
Well, if you will use Windoze…
Use Ubuntu, or any other Linux distro.
Just upgraded to Window 11 not too long ago. My PC seems to boot up faster now.
Is that of critical importance?
Seems to. Seems to.
Microsoft have been making Windows pretend to boot faster for decades. It stilldoes ‘stuff’ after the desktop is shown.
Windows is a basket case. The registry is the main problem because it gets insanely full almost immediately, and continues to grow every day. They literally had problems at one point because it became too large for the system to manage.
They never worked out a better system, and it’s stuck on a track to oblivion. Only corporate market share keeps it alive.
Win10 has the same “feature” of fast boot. Sounds like it may have been turned off on your system, and the upgrade turned it back on by default.
How it works is to write the state of the memory for all of the various things that are running when you tell it to shut down to disk. Then, on boot, it just reads that state right back into memory, and those apps don’t have to reinitialize – they go on as though shutdown never happened.
Works great – so long as one of those apps doesn’t crash in such a way as to disable your system EXCEPT for the shutdown/restart.
(One of the first things I disabled when I went to Win10. With an SSD as the primary drive, it boots almost instantly anyway, before I can even turn a monitor on.)
“Win10 has the same “feature” of fast boot. Sounds like it may have been turned off on your system, and the upgrade turned it back on by default.”
Yes Observer, that might have been true. It never occurred to me to check Windows 10 and see if the fast boot feature was turned off.
If I were to switch to Linux, I wonder if apps on my PC like Google Earth would still work or do I have to switch to a Linux version?
You probably have to switch to a Linux version, but it’s free.
If you use an SSD, it will boot in less than 30 seconds, from a cold start.
I haven’t run Windows since XP came out and you couldn’t replace anything in your computer without calling Microsoft for an authorization code.
The nice thing about Linux is that, if you have trouble doing something one way, you just install some different software and the job becomes relatively easy.
The other thing about Linux is that it supports older hardware. As a result, I very seldom have to buy a new computer.
General note: Not trying to start an OS war here (Anthony doesn’t want HIS server to blow up!)
I stick with Windows because I was a professional developer for many, many years – mostly in Windows shops. I probably have three or four man years invested in software that just makes my life easier, and I’m not at all interested in futzing around to get them working under Linux. (Or an emulator under Linux – for those thinking of switching, there are several good ones out there, and they will almost certainly work for any widely used app.)
I don’t switch my own computer any more often than ten years – fourteen, for the one I built this year. Once I got Win10 locked down, it works just as well as my last one, which was XP. (I had to get something that would work better for intensive graphics; my new profession is as an indie writer, where I do my own covers.)
@commieBob specifically – I completely agree that Windows has only gone downhill since NT 4.5. Although better since the days of WinME and Vista…
What I hate about Windows is they can’t leave well enough alone. They have to change the user interface I spent so much of my time learning.
I knew XP inside and out. They could have left me an interface option while stll upgrading the software But I guess they think they have to create a new interface as a marketing tool. That’s fine, but leave us an option to use an interface we are familiar with. It’s extremely irritating when they change everything for no reason. Makes a guy want to go to Linux.
“I don’t switch my own computer any more often than ten years”
Same here. My current home PC I got shortly after Win 7 came out, so it’s going on 11 or 12 years now. Still has a few years left in it, so won’t be replacing it anytime soon. My home laptop is newer by a few years, but I’ll likely be replacing that one sooner as it’s starting to show the wear and tear of the years
And that makes me sooo want to drive an electric car or any newer car. Any uplink that can be severed, shutting off operations is a horrible idea in this untrustworthy age. Think what the government/woke corporations (but I repeat myself) could do through a “you are too drunk to drive” monitoring system, or simply OnStar like services because, well, your social credit score is just too low for us.
Just for reference, I drive a stick-shift Dodge Dart with no uplink what-so-ever.
Uplink is not required. Idiots who rely on the app instead of carrying the fob got stuck is all.
>“you are too drunk to drive” monitoring system
This is a new mandate buried in the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. It will be required starting 2026.
“Congress mandates new car technology to stop drunken driving”
Since Tesla cars don’t make sense, it is consistent that neither does their start functions.
Early adopters disagree, apparently!
Religious fanatics rarely find anything to criticize.
Tesla put up a ‘big’ dealership here in FLL last year. Converted an inconvenient Best Buy plot when Best Buy moved to the defunct but very convenient Sports Authority building. Both on Federal highway between Sunrise and Oakland Park. But they don’t sell many even tho South Florida ought to be a big market—lots of money, most round trips under 120 miles (e.g. FLL to Miami or Miami airport or Palm Beach) and no need for heaters. Reason is simple. Most living is high rise condos and no way to charge in the parking garages. My unit is in the second nicest complex in FLL, right on the beach. The garage has Rolls, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis. Mercedes is plebeian, and my BMW convertible is downright pedestrian. There are ZERO Teslas.
That doesn’t explain why you think they don’t make sense.
If you can’t keep it charged, then it makes no sense.
Can you explain why Tesla cars don’t make sense? I’ll wait.
They’re electric
Mark is like the old man who refuses to use the elevator because he can’t see the wires that make it move.
What joy getting an infernal error 500 in the middle of a car fire. With these fires being slow you are unlikely to go up as toast.
One more thing that makes these kinds of cars not usable in rural areas. Lots of places out here in Kansas that there is *NO* cell coverage.
What happens on the Gulf Coast when people are trying to get out of the way of a hurricane track and the cell system is clogged with traffic?
Use the fob
Yeah, duh. Why are people commenting here being so stupid??
It’s bad enough that the some of the commenters here are stupid; what’s worse is that they seem to think that Tesla owners are all stupid.
To be fair, a vast majority of people are often stupid in certain situations. A friend of mine owns a cobblers shop, and gave me urgent advice regarding my keyless car and a spare battery for the fob. Apparently a customer had called roadside assistance when the battery in his fob failed and he didn’t know how to start the car.
In reality, if you Read The Fine Manual, you discover that thefob also has rfid, and holding it up to the start button allows you to start the car even if the fob battery is flat. I’m certain that this has happened to thousands of ignorant but otherwise quite intelligent drivers.
I call that willful stupidity.
In addition, here in Western Washington State, there are huge gaps in cell coverage. Yet, I have NEVER seen a Tesla stranded on the side of the road, and there are a great number of them around here.
“To be fair, a vast majority of people are often stupid in certain situations.”
So true. I work with the public everyday as an appliance salesman. I have dozens of stories of how people loose all their ability to think when confronted with an out of the ordinary situation.
Tesla’s stock price is valued more like a technology company than a car company. I guess the reliability of their product is closer to technology than automobiles as well.
Big Brother doesn’t lie in the future. Big Brother is here now.
Are there any rights left that Big Brother can’t prohibit?
1984 was supposed to be a warning, turns out it was an instruction manual.
Did a new Russian hacker team just get created?
I have a backup plan with a normally aspirated V8 Toyota and a key, but not a tax credit.
Meanwhile the Rivian battery is not living up to claims. surprise, surprise
They should have mounted some Solyndra solar “units” on the vans for good measure.
They could carry a fob, or a card, but they don’t, and in the spirit of intermittents, they were locked out.