Tesla Service Mode: How to Access It and What It Does

Tesla ships a very detailed and comprehensive diagnostic and repair utility that is available in-vehicle, without requiring external plugs, adapters, or computers. It helps both Tesla and 3^rd party technicians service Tesla vehicles far more efficiently.

Who Can Access It?

Unlike many other vehicle manufacturers, who require OBD-2 ports, service subscriptions, and other external utilities, anyone can access Tesla’s service mode. All owners and 3^rd party technicians can access Service Mode by simply entering a special mode in the vehicle.

What Features Does It Have?

Service Mode is a special hidden app in the vehicle that provides various diagnostics tools that let you test various vehicle subsystems and components. Remember that if you’re exploring service mode on your own, you’ll want to be careful. Many of the features kept inside Service Mode are intended for debugging or repair – and not for the average user, however, Tesla provides a very user-friendly interface.

The options available will vary based on the vehicle and the systems available in that vehicle. For example, the Model S will have a diagnostic tool to troubleshoot its door handles, while the Model X will have one for its falcon-wing doors, but most tools will apply to a wide range of vehicles.

How to Access Service Mode

Tesla’s Service Mode is accessible via the touchscreen with just a few taps. Go to the vehicle controls button (the car icon), and tap the Software tab. After that, locate the vehicle model badge, (e.g. MODEL Y Long Range), directly beneath the vehicle image.

Tap and hold the word “MODEL” for 2 seconds, until you see a small ripple then let go. A menu and on-screen keyboard will pop up, prompting for an access code. Type the access code “service”.

Once you do this, it will bring up the SERVICE menu and a new app in the dock that’s red with a wrench. The entire display will also have a red border around it, indicating the vehicle is in Service Mode. Do NOT drive the vehicle in Service Mode, as many safety features are disabled while Service Mode is active.

How to Exit Service Mode

Once again, you can disable Service Mode from the primary display. If you’ve gone into another app, locate a bright red icon with a wrench in the dock or in the All Apps menu.

Once you bring up the Service Mode app, tap on the last icon in the left column. It’s red and shows a door with an arrow. Simply tap and hold this icon for several seconds to exit Service Mode. You’ll know once Service Mode is exited because the red border around the screen will be removed.

If you can’t find the Service Mode app, start Service Mode again by going to Controls > Software and holding the badge icon to enter Service Mode mode again. Once you’re back in the menu, tap and hold on the red exit icon.

Vehicle Info

Tesla breaks Service Mode into various sections which we’ll go through below. The Vehicle Info section provides most of the same information available in the vehicle’s Software menu, showing you things such as VIN, Autopilot computer, software version and more. At the bottom, you also have access to Service Alerts, Service Settings, Software Reinstall, and a Touch Screen check to confirm your display is working correctly. There is also a button for Additional Resources, which takes you to your vehicle’s Service Guide online.

Driver Assist

This tab has two menus – Cameras and ECU. The Cameras menu provides nominal information on the vehicle cameras, including pitch information – useful for technicians working on the windshield. You can also clear camera calibration from here – but you can also do that within the regular vehicle menus and get a full preview of all cameras.

The ECU tab provides information on the vehicle’s electronic control unit and GPS/GNSS.

Infotainment

The Infotainment tab has two menus – Connectivity and Software. The Connectivity menu provides information on Wi-Fi and Cell connectivity and the status of the vehicle’s modems. You can run tests on either modem from here.

The Software tab provides information on the vehicle’s downloaded software and backup banks. Here, you’ll see that both the infotainment and Autopilot systems have 2 side-by-side banks – one keeps the previous update. Map info is also available here. These will be blank or display “—” while updating.

High Voltage

The High Voltage section is one of the most useful menus – it provides you with the ability to conduct Battery Health tests. The UI here provides information on the entire high-voltage system, including the battery, inverter, motors, vehicle charger, as well as the contactor and high-voltage pyro fuse.

The second tab in the high voltage menu displays the temperature of the battery and details on connected charging apparatuses.

Low Voltage

The Low Voltage system is all the other electronics in the car, and it provides information on the various low voltage components, including the 16v Lithium-Ion (or 12v Lead-Acid, for older vehicles).

This UI is drastically different in the Cybertruck – where it does not run on 16v, but rather 48v.

The last piece of the Low Voltage UI is Homelink. If you purchase Homelink – an add-on module – Tesla will install it for you. If you choose to install it yourself, you can commission the Homelink module through this menu. In the menu, you can also see how many devices are programmed and how many codes have been transmitted with HomeLink.

Thermal

The Thermal menu displays the status of the HVAC system, as well as the battery’s portion of the loop. It’s one of the coolest-looking menus since its animated.

It provides options for self-tests, as well as several options for the coolant and thermal pumps. This UI is for vehicles with heat pumps – legacy vehicles will have an A/C compressor and resistive heating.

This is also where you can view the status of your cabin and HEPA filters, and you can see if they need to be replaced.

Chassis

The Chassis menu provides you with steering options – and the ability to view or adjust your steering wheel offsets, look at suspension information on the Model S and X, re-calibrate the steering column, and confirm each of the buttons on the steering wheel and its stalks are working as expected.

It also provides you with some details on the vehicle’s brakes – showing some test and brake bleed options. An option for Brake Burnishing option is also available here.

Closures

The closures menu shows the status of windows, or automatic doors as well as the status of the front and rear defrosters. You can recalibrate each window and confirm it’s working properly. On the Model S it displays information on the automatic door handles, on the Model X it has a test for the gull-wing doors and for the Cybertruck you can test the tonneau cover.

Safety & Restraints

This menu simply displays the status of airbags, seat restraints, occupancy sensors and the pyro fuses in them, letting you confirm that each item is working properly and doesn’t have any faults.

Service Mode+ and Toolbox3

Of course, Tesla does have their own way of getting even more data than what is provided in Service Mode, through Service Mode+ and Toolbox3 – a subscription-access service similar to other vehicle vendors.

Service Mode+ is an additional set of tools that are internal to Tesla and require a Toolbox3 setup and subscription to access. It provides further information to fleet owners, collision centers, and Tesla technicians to diagnose and repair vehicles, as well as providing the capability to easily enable or disable Service Mode on vehicles remotely.

Toolbox3 is a subscription service that Tesla offers 3^rd-party technicians and collision centers for around $3,000 per year or a hefty $500 for 30 days. Toolbox3 is installed on a computer and uses a special vehicle interface cable connected to the vehicle. If you’re a technician looking for details on how to set up or use Toolbox3, Tesla’s Online Service Manuals provide a per-vehicle and per-hardware spec guide on how to set it up.

Tesla’s Service Mode, a feature that allows both users and technicians to diagnose and view vehicle information, has had several features added to it recently. Chief among them for everyday Tesla owners is a health meter for your vehicle’s Cabin Filter.

Cabin Filter Health

The update displays a “Cabin Filter Health” UI in the HVAC section of Service Mode. This health readout is shown as a percentage of health, with a lower number indicating that the cabin filter needs to be replaced. However, we’ve also seen some users report they had a value over 100%. The health meter is intended to provide an approximation of the useful life of your Cabin Air filter.

Tesla likely approximates the health of the cabin filter based on the filter’s age and how many hours the HVAC system has been used. It may also consider the fan speed of the HVAC system to account for higher airflow through the filter.

When to Replace

In general, Tesla recommends replacing the Cabin Air Filter every 2 years, and that the HEPA filter, for vehicles with access to Bio-Weapon Defence Mode, be replaced every 3 years, but this can vary depending on usage and the amount of debris going into the cabin.

Tesla is one of the few manufacturers, if not the only one, that runs air continuously through the cabin filter, regardless if it’s coming in from the outside or inside the vehicle when the recirculating air option is on. This helps the air inside the vehicle to become cleaner as it continues to be filtered.

How to Replace

The Cabin and HEPA Air filter replacement procedure is straightforward and could be a DIY task. Tesla provides instructions on a model-by-model basis on how to replace them, but in general, the basic steps are below.

The filter replacements can differ based on model year as well. High-voltage connections are also passing through the HVAC module, so extra caution is needed. We recommend reading your vehicle’s specific instructions before proceeding. They will advise against touching any electrical connections.

Basic Replacement Instructions

1.      Turn off Climate Control

2.      Remove the passenger-side floor mat and move the seat fully back.

3.      Use a pry tool to release the clips that hold the right-side front footwell cover to the instrument panel, and then disconnect the two electrical connectors inside.

4.      Working from top-to-bottom, use a trim tool to release the right-side panel from the center console.

5.      A single T20 screw secures the cabin filter cover, remove the screw and cover.

6.      Fold the 2 tabs securing the filter away, and then pull the upper and lower filters out.

7.      Ensure that the arrows on the new filters face towards the rear of the vehicle, and install them.

8.      Proceed through steps 6-1 in reverse to reassemble.

Once again, these steps vary by vehicle configuration, model year, and do not apply to legacy vehicles without a heat pump.

Tesla’s Autowipers have been a long-standing issue for customers, as well as Tesla’s engineers. Elon Musk has often mentioned that improvements to Autowipers have been around the corner for years, but they appear to have taken a rain check.

Tesla owners often complain that their wipers are running against a completely dry windshield on a sunny day, or not running at all in light rain. Moderate to heavy rain performance seems to be improved for the most recent update to Auto Wipers.

In our test, we cover the vehicle’s windshield with Post-It notes to find out what the vehicle’s cameras can see.

The Water Problem

Tesla vehicles lack a rain sensor. This is a result of Tesla’s strategy to rely upon Tesla Vision to replace all sensors – which they’ve successfully used most recently to replace the ultrasonic parking sensors (USS) on their vehicles. Tesla believes that vision is the solution to achieving all self-driving capabilities, and this includes the elimination of extraneous sensors such as USS and radar.

Of course, many other vehicles employ simple rain sensors that do function fairly well, and effectively detect the presence of water on the windshield. So, what’s stopping Tesla Vision from doing the same thing?

The problem isn’t Tesla’s detection methods, it’s the view of the windshield Tesla has. Water droplets are small and the three front cameras only capture a small portion of the entire windshield, making it difficult for them to capture and acknowledge the fact that there is water on the windshield that needs to be wiped away. This is in addition to the fact that the cameras are focused further away, to drive and navigate the vehicle effectively, rendering the visuals close to the camera blurry – leaving a rather technical challenge.

Our Test

Even Tesla’s front-facing, wide-angle camera can barely see the yellow Post-In notes in our test, let alone the blue Post-It notes spread through the windshield. Tesla’s other front-facing camera, the “main” camera, sees only a trace of the Post-Its along the bottom. In reality, Tesla has no idea what’s on the vehicle’s windshield and can only make assumptions based on a few square inches near the top of the windshield. If any rain droplets are on this portion of the windshield, they’ll also be out of focus. If the view of the rain droplets was as clear at the image at the top of this article, Tesla would have perfected auto wipers years ago.

Tesla’s third front-facing camera, the “narrow” view, is only available on hardware 3 and it’s just a zoomed-in version of the main camera, which causes it to miss our Post-It notes completely. With hardware 4, Tesla removed the narrow camera and now determines the narrow view by cropping the main camera, which has a higher resolution in hardware 4.

Tesla’s Engineering Magic

Tesla is able to detect drops on the windshield when they land in front of the camera cluster, but again, since the cluster is mounted high above most of the windshield, this can lead to the windshield filling up with water droplets before a wipe is triggered.

They’ve also tried using the vehicle’s other cameras, such as the repeater or B-pillar cameras to detect falling rain – which can help the Autowiper system build confidence that there is water on the windshield. Once it has enough confidence, it triggers a wipe – or changes the wipe modes. However, in reality, due to the focal length of the cameras, it has a difficult time detecting rain droplets because they’re out of focus.
In the image below, taken from Tesla’s wide-angle camera, you can see that the water droplets from the previous image are nearly impossible to detect. On the left, is the windshield with the water droplets, and on the right is the windshield after being wiped. While the droplets cause a slightly blurry image, they’re extremely difficult to see.

Wiping Away Challenges

The transition to entirely vision has left a considerable challenge for Tesla’s very capable engineering teams. The current Autopilot hardware suite lacks a good view of the windshield itself, but it can detect falling rain. Given that Tesla’s software can detect and display other vehicles using turn signals, it is also possible that they could detect other vehicles using wipers or use other cameras to see rain on the vehicle, such as the B-pillar cameras, to increase the system’s confidence that a wipe is required.

However, these solutions are likely to not be perfect, as they don’t provide an accurate representation of what the driver sees in the windshield, but instead an accurate representation of what the vehicle itself can see.

When engaging FSD on a lightly rainy day, your car may drive perfectly, but you’ll have a windshield full of rain when supervising!

Of course, there are many other reasons to run the windshield wipers beyond simple rain – spray and debris from vehicles in front, water falling from trees or being kicked up by deep puddles, or even snow settling on the windshield. Another challenge is bugs – they leave sticky smears at higher speeds when impacting the windshield, causing spots that can impede either vehicle vision or driver vision.

Future Solutions

Tesla likes to avoid solutions that only solve a single problem – such as adding a rain sensor. It is an additional manufacturing complication, adds additional cost to vehicles, and segments Tesla’s vehicles between model years.

On the other hand, cameras have solved many problems over the years – such as Tesla Vision taking over from the USS system that was present on pre-2022 Tesla vehicles. While it did take until FSD V12 for Autopark to become available to vision-only vehicles, the upgraded Vision-based Autopark is a marked improvement over the older USS solution.

Another such problem has been auto-high beams, which were solved with better oncoming vehicle detection and improved AI – which has led to a feature that is much better than its original implementation. This updated implementation has also led to improvements in the use of Matrix headlights – a feature that for now is only available in Europe and China due to legislative issues in the US.

Tesla is most likely going to be pushing another hardware revision – Hardware 5 – in the coming years. Some of the indications of this include the Cybertruck’s bumper camera – which is also expected to arrive in the Model X and Model S in the future.

There is a chance that Tesla may include a forward-facing interior at some point – to solve the fact that Vision is unable to currently see the windshield. However, Tesla also strongly believes they’ll achieve level 4 or 5 of vehicle autonomy in the future, so they could also be banking on autonomy removing the need for good auto wipers.

A Personal Example

If you get into your Tesla on a rainy day or add some drizzle via a watering jug, you can see how Tesla’s Autowipers will not activate unless water is placed directly in front of the camera cluster. You can also spray some water onto the camera housing and take a seat inside and use the camera preview to view what the cameras can see. It’ll provide you with a blurry, limited view of what the cameras see.

We may see further software improvements, but it may be a difficult engineering problem to solve with the limited camera capabilities that currently exist on hardware 3 and hardware 4 vehicles.