Tesla finally acknowledges eMMC failure with its touchscreen, offers extended warranty

Tesla announced that it is extending its warranty for its MCU touchscreen over a longtime eMMC failure problem that rendered the screen useless.

The move comes after NHTSA put some pressure on Tesla.

Owners of older Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles have been reporting some issues with their MCUs.

The touchscreen becomes less responsive, the power-up time becomes longer, the screen freezes and has to be rebooted, or there is even total failure of the MCU unit.

Some owners believe that it is a problem with the embedded Multi-Media-Card memory (eMMC) in the MCU and that it is being overwritten to the point of failure.

It has been known as the “eMMC failure” problem.

Tesla introduced a new MCU in 2018 that doesn’t have the same problem, but owners of older vehicles are still experiencing the problem in having to replace the unit out of warranty, despite seeing Tesla’s mistake as the source of the problem instead of a normal issue that occurs over time.

Earlier this year, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that it has launched an official investigation into the matter.

A few months later, Tesla finally acknowledges the issue and offers an extended warranty on the 8GB embedded MultiMediaCard (“8GB eMMC”).

Many Tesla Model S and X owners, including myself, are reporting receiving the following email today:

Tesla writes about the issue on its website, acknowledging the problem for the first time:

Tesla is committed to building the highest quality products as we accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. For customer peace of mind, we are providing additional coverage on some Model S and Model X vehicles built before March 2018 that are equipped with an 8GB embedded MultiMediaCard (‘8GB eMMC’) in the media control unit. We are aware that this component may malfunction due to accumulated wear. If this occurs, it could result in a blank or intermittently blank center display, or an alert indicating that a memory storage device has degraded and to contact Service. This condition has no impact on basic vehicle driving functionality and controllability, and we are not aware of any injuries or collisions relating to it.

Due to the problem, Tesla says that it is adjusting its warranty to “repair or replace the 8GB eMMC free of charge at any Tesla Service Center” for owners of Model S and X built before March 2018 with less than 100,000 total odometer miles and within eight years starting from the date the vehicle was first put into service or delivered by Tesla to the first purchaser/lessor.

Electrek’s Take

I am glad that Tesla is finally addressing the issue, but I am bummed that NHTSA had to get involved.

Many people felt that when Tesla started offering the $2,500 infotainment upgrade, it was a way for them to fix the issue without having to pay for it since owners who felt that their onboard computer wasn’t working as well could pay for the upgrade.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.