Tesla releases new software update with Auto Steering Wheel Heat and Sentry Mode lighting

Tesla has started to release a new software update to its fleet of customer vehicles with two new features: Auto Steering Wheel Heat and Sentry Mode Lighting.

The automaker writes in the release notes of the new 2023.2.0.5 software update about the new Auto Steering Wheel Heat feature:

Set your steering wheel heater to regulate its temperature automatically based on the climate control set temperature. To access steering wheel heating controls, tap the temperature settings to bring up the climate control panel.

Obviously, this only applies to Tesla vehicles with heated steering wheels.

With the new software update, Tesla is also making a significant addition to Sentry Mode.

Tesla’s Sentry Mode is an integrated surveillance system inside Tesla’s vehicles using the Autopilot cameras around the car – it has been game-changing when it comes to vandalizing parked cars.

It builds on TeslaCam, an integrated dashcam system.

On several occasions, Sentry Mode videos went viral, and the vandals turned themselves in after the online pressure. In other cases, it helped police with video evidence to help them identify and find the vandals.

But it has also been capturing footage of strange events around Tesla vehicles and impressive moments showcasing the performance of Tesla’s vehicles. We built a list of some of those moments a few years ago.

Tesla has also been building on the feature to release new ones – most recently, a new live camera view feature.

On top of filming what is happening around the car, Sentry Mode is also capable of detecting potential “threats” and launches an alarm to deter those potential threats.

Now with the new 2023.2.0.5 software update, Tesla is adding a pulse of the headlights to the system:

When a threat is detected, Sentry Mode will softly pulse the headlights to indicate that your vehicle is recording video. The pulsing stops after 60 seconds or when the vehicle is unlocked.

The new software update has now started to roll out in Tesla’s customer fleet, but it can take a few days to even a few weeks for it to reach the entire fleet.