Wild FSD Ride with Red Steering Wheel of Death

[CapheDa]

Last night, I was cruising around 77 mph in the HOV lane using FSD. This was a part of the freeway that is dark and curvy. The twisty turns felt smooth until, out of nowhere, chaos hit. A red steering wheel flashed on the screen, a monotone emergency alert blared, hazards went on, and my headlights completely cut out, plunging me into the pitch-black darkness of the freeway with lots of late night traffic surrounding me as the truck decelerated. The audio alerts went to mono and my music stopped. The AC went to “Lo”and full blast. The screen, suddenly looking alien with a design I didn’t recognize, screamed at me to take over with a blinking red steering wheel. My heart raced, but I kept cool. The truck was already slowing down fast, and I didn’t want to risk a rear-end collision by slamming the brakes. Instead, I grabbed the steering wheel to disengage full self-driving and started easing to the right. With my left thumb, I flicked on the high beams-thankfully, they worked-lighting up the road as I carefully merged toward the rightmost lane. I drove and simultaneously found the headlights on the menu. They were Off so I switched them back to Auto. Once I was safely in the rightmost lane with lights and hazards still on, I maintained 60 mph and I performed a reset while still moving at slow freeway speeds. The reset took its sweet time, but eventually, it came back to life like nothing happened. Full self-driving kicked back in with a press of the right thumb button and the rest of the drive was smooth. Talk about an adrenaline rush! I had been driving on FSD for about 3 hours when this happened. One possible trigger was that right when it happened, I was in the process of plugging in my USB-C cord to my phone which is positioned near the screen. The cord could have “selected” something on the screen during a bounce. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.

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[Beetlebug62]

Yeah, that's definitely a possibility. Capacitive screens can be sensitive.

 

[Gritted Cybe]

Had a "critical take over" on FSD yesterday during a pretty heavy rain storm.. Nothing like that though. Its quite crazy to hear the lights went off and hazards on automatically! Thankfully you're safe.

 

[Docedward]

Had a "critical take over" on FSD yesterday during a pretty heavy rain storm.. Nothing like that though. Its quite crazy to hear the lights went off and hazards on automatically! Thankfully you're safe.

Saturday, driving back from Alabama- and my first drive on 2025.14.3.1, it kept on bailing out on FSD in the rain. Never had this before in mild rain. It did happen once in a huge tornado downpour but never in a moderate rain. All the way back home driving in the raining, CT dances with FSD and every 18 wheeler shutting down FSD when it sprayed me. Someone at Tesla is definitely messing around with FSD settings behind the scene. It’s different.

I know software and FSD software updates are different, but FSD is definitely different on 2025.14.3.1.

 

[Bill Carlson]

Saturday, driving back from Alabama- and my first drive on 2025.14.3.1, it kept on bailing out on FSD in the rain. Never had this before in mild rain. It did happen once in a huge tornado downpour but never in a moderate rain. All the way back home driving in the raining, CT dances with FSD and every 18 wheeler shutting down FSD when it sprayed me. Someone at Tesla is definitely messing around with FSD settings behind the scene. It’s different.

I know software and FSD software updates are different, but FSD is definitely different on 2025.14.3.1.

I have had FSD red steering wheel kickout in rain. It's a shame it can't alert when it sees ahead in stead of throwing up its hands in traffic and rain. My experience with FSD is like babysitting a very talented 3-6 year old learning to drive but not remembering anything.

 

[btcrealm]

I've had several red screens and kicking out of FSD due to bad rain or snow storms. I've never experienced it doing what it did you.

My recommendation is open a service ticket and tell them to repush this update, I've had them do that. I think there are times it may not install properly.

Also any time this happens hit the mic button and say 'bug report'. It should take all the data at the time of the incident.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_gb/GUID-85DDA8E1-596D-4980-9C17-C4F4E0FAA280.html

 

[btcrealm]

Once I was safely in the rightmost lane with lights and hazards still on, I maintained 60 mph and I performed a reset while still moving at slow freeway speeds.

I guess I'm showing my ignorance here but I was completely unaware it was even possible to do the two scroll wheel reset while driving the vehicle. Driving capabilities were not impacted?

 

[TyPope]

For me, on my first commute home using 2025.14.3.1, I had 2 issues. I have two left turns on my drive. One is a stoplight in a turn lane. Very simple. It stopped, waited, and then when the light changed, my CT proceeded to turn directly into the left lane of the side street I was turning on. There were people behind me so I took over immediately lest they think me drunk. The second turn is a stop sign and slightly obstructed view. My CT did all the things right until it pulled out into the left (oncoming) lane. I let it drive for a bit in the wrong lane before taking over and reporting "We're not in bloody England, lass. Get this FSD fixed right quick."

WTF?!?!? It's never done that before.

 

[CapheDa]

I guess I'm showing my ignorance here but I was completely unaware it was even possible to do the two scroll wheel reset while driving the vehicle. Driving capabilities were not impacted?

I don’t recommend it because it is off putting to see the screen go dark while you are driving but in an emergency it is possible. You can still drive it but you have no gauges or anything and the sounds come from some auxiliary speaker somewhere.

 

[Oscar]

I am very disappointed and frustrated with the recent a few updates. FSD gets worse than before. For no reason at all, FSD stops working, even in perfect condition. Usually it comes back after a few minutes. However on last Saturday on the way home from NYC, it was on strike almost all the time and I have to drive almost all the way home.

 

[EVnewbie]

For me, on my first commute home using 2025.14.3.1, I had 2 issues. I have two left turns on my drive. One is a stoplight in a turn lane. Very simple. It stopped, waited, and then when the light changed, my CT proceeded to turn directly into the left lane of the side street I was turning on. There were people behind me so I took over immediately lest they think me drunk. The second turn is a stop sign and slightly obstructed view. My CT did all the things right until it pulled out into the left (oncoming) lane. I let it drive for a bit in the wrong lane before taking over and reporting "We're not in bloody England, lass. Get this FSD fixed right quick."

WTF?!?!? It's never done that before.

I had it turn into the left lane and stay there once last week. Same intersection it has turned flawlessly at many times before. Hasn’t done it again, just that once. Weird.

 

[jeniferkey]

I have had the red flashing take over and lock out the last couple of weeks on a regular route I drive where the lanes had been shifted and it makes the road go over the rumble strips. I’ve driven this road since I got the truck and only recently (after the update) does it now require take over and lock out FSD. Today I almost remembered to disengage, but just not in time. I tried the two finger reboot while driving, but it stayed locked out of FSD until I stopped and got out and got back in. It’ll get me trained to disengage FSD at that spot, but so irritating. And today it also swerved around dark skid marks in the road. Another first I didn’t need.

 

[TyPope]

I had it turn into the left lane and stay there once last week. Same intersection it has turned flawlessly at many times before. Hasn’t done it again, just that once. Weird.

Same. It never had a problem before. Ever. I guess it forgot. Or, like I said, became English.

 

[James Cole]

Care to share build dates or vins of trucks that are having this problem?

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