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Backup Camera View Blacked Out

27K views 125 replies 71 participants last post by  scottsha 
#1 ·
This is what I was told by a technician when I went to have my 12 volt battery replaced earlier today at a local service center. My back-up camera was in perfectly working condition before I had them take my car.
However upon receiving my car back I noticed that when accessing the camera through the app the screenview for the camera went completely black. I tried rebooting the car while at the service center to no avail. The technician labeled it as a firmware bug that may work itself out with the next update but if not, according to his engineering contact, it could take up to 3-6 months for it to be restored. I've never heard of something so crazy and for me this is a quite an inconvenience as I usually have my back-up camera on at all times and it makes it a lot easier for me to back in my tight garage space. Has anyone else experience a firmware bug related to their back-up camera? :rolleyes:
 
#4 ·
50.6? No, I don't think they reinstalled it all. I pulled it back into the service bay and the technician fiddle around with the screen a bit more but quickly dismissed it as a "bug". I'm wondering now if I should wait on the new firmware release or have 50.6 re-installed again.
 
#5 ·
I have the backup camera bug where it occasionally is off color and flickers (purple shades mostly). I was told it's a known bug supposedly being fixed in update 2019.4 (which seems to have been leapfrogged by the Sentry update). I still haven't gotten updated past 2018.50.6
 
#15 ·
I had my backup camera replaced last week by Mobile Service (it had the purple flickering issue), and after the installation the tech had to re-apply 50.6 to my Model 3 in order to initialize the camera. Prior to that it was all black when he put the car in reverse. If the SC didn't apply (or re-apply) the latest software update after installing the new camera that's probably the issue.



It must be a firmware issue, since the new camera I got last Friday started doing the purple flickering thing on Monday, and it also has faint purple lines on the screen when reversing. Hopefully they will eventually fix both, not a major issue but sort of annoying at times.
 
#6 ·
I would tell them to give you a loaner for as long as it takes for them to work it out. They break your car and say "sorry, maybe it'll work out in 3-4 months"? Totally ridiculous!

Not to mention that backup camera is federally mandated (or did they push back that rollout)? So they are messing with your federally mandated safety equipment. Tell them to get on it.
 
#7 ·
I have the similar "bug". My back up screen first went black shortly after I received the car back in the end of October. Re-set didn't help, but the next morning it was working fine. Happened to me again when I went out Saturday night. Sunday morning it was working fine again. No explanation.
 
#8 ·
Mine has blacked out temporarily several times. Most recent was two days ago. But it was back the next time in the car. I'm on 2018.50.6.
 
#122 ·
So now I've had my camera replaced twice and the traveling service technician keeps putting it on the cameras being at fault. I keep reading firmware as the issue and it seems logical BUT. I've also noticed when heavily loading the trunk the issue of the dreaded black screen in reverse pops up and pretty much for the past month we've been without a backup camera despite it being replaced two weeks ago. I've rebooted multiple times, cameras replaced, opened the rear camera from the screen manually and now we are continuously without the backup camera. For the 'moderator' the issue does appear to have become rampant, extremely frustrating, and cause for concern amongst TESLA owners. Trust me I'm still a "TESLA Fan Boy" at heart for all that this guy and his company are doing to create a better world for my kids to grow up in. But a problem is a problem and it doesn't get fixed by being dismissive. TESLA PLEASE HELP US with this little problem we are having
 
#10 ·
rampant? because 4 others replied that they have had it be black at some time during ownership? There are currently something like 200k Model 3s in North America, 30,000 owners on this site. now, if you had 10,000 people reply that they experienced this, THAT would qualify as rampant
Maybe even if half the people who viewed this thread said they experienced this at some point
 
#14 · (Edited)
Semi-rampant? I've had this issue, randomly, over the past 4 or so months. Very Intermittent.

When it is black, there appears to be no way for me to fix it (reboot, out of rear camera mode, back in, etc). It's just black until it decides to actually show a picture.

Recently I washed the rear trunk deck and number plate area so I could change the plate mounting and the camera did not work for hours immediately after getting the trunk bonnet area wet. Then worked the next AM, approx 12 hours later.

The first couple times it was black when in Reverse, I just ignored it. But it has happened at least ten (10) times and I've only had the car five (5) months. I chalk it up to the fact we all bought Windows 95 cars that need constant rebooting so we just learn it will malfunction by design. And expect that it'll never get fixed.
 
#11 ·
I've had black a few times in October back at 42.something...haven't had a black camera since...They'll get to it in good time :)

(still frustrated at the purple flicker when the camera sees snowy white)
 
#12 ·
My backup camera started acting up a week ago (1st purple tint then blacked out, white guidelines visible). Tried all different kinds of rebooting without success. Camera was working normally the next morning. Camera has blacked out one more time then returned the next day. Tesla service told me to not bring car in but wait for firmware update. Got my M3 end of Oct 2018. Never had this problem with Model S x 4 years.
 
#18 ·
My wife had this happen once a while ago, but the backup camera came back quickly. It happened to me a couple of weeks ago and it did not come right back. I drove home and then tried all the reboot and power down options with no luck. I filed a bug report. The next day, when my wife drove it it was back. It hasn't occurred since.

In another thread, someone suggested that it was triggered by going into reverse too quickly after setting trip navigation. I haven't had time to test this yet, but I have been careful to wait until trip navigation has fully settled down before going into reverse. We are on 50.6 firmware.
 
#19 ·
I had the occasional black back up camera in a software release last year, but a subsequent release fixed it.
Now it's back occasionally with 2019.5.3.
It can usually be fixed by going back to Park and putting it in reverse again, but it's annoying.
I fully expect it to be fixed with the next release, so I don't worry about it too much.
But I LOVE the back up camera—in slanted space lots you can immediately see down the row as you pull out, and I can back it between two cars in our driveway with just 6" on each side to spare. It's just great.
 
#21 ·
I want to watch a youtube video of someone keeping the loaner car keys and driving off with the loaner car, after refusing to accept a car in a worse state than when it was dropped off.
 
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#22 ·
As an update my rear view camera has been working consistently since Wednesday. Since I reported this incident someone from Telsa's California office has reached out to me by phone letting me know that it is a known issue that is affecting a number vehicles that he's optimistic should be remedied with the latest firmware update. Time will tell. The car I replaced with my Model 3 (98' Saturn) was very low tech so it's still taking me some time to acquiesce to such a tech laden vehicle.
 
#24 ·
I think I got a black screen twice after putting the car in reverse to back out of the garage. Not recently. If I remember right, hitting the reverse view button on the screen made the image appear instantly. I suspected the camera system was not yet awake after start-up - I engaged R too quickly for it. Who knows what sort of initialization routines take place on start-up, and they might vary so that a problem appears intermittent.

On the "rampant" subject: a 1% occurrence rate will light up an online forum with complaints. We all want to hear the facts, but let's keep this in mind. Parts fail, software has bugs, so the real story of this thread is that someone at a Tesla service center told the OP the problem they apparently caused would go away in 3-6 months. That's either a training failure, or something more profound. Only customers can fix this, beginning with "That can't be right. Let's go talk to the manager." and working on up from there.
 
#25 ·
Last month, the back up camera went out for an entire day. I made an appt with the service center that same day. The following day, the camera worked again. I got a call from the service center saying that it's software and the next update, it will be fixed. The service appt was canceled. A few weeks ago, I got the new update which included Sentry mode. The back up camera was a bit slower coming on when you put the car into reverse. But it was there. Last night, we put the car in reverse and it stayed black. When we parked and put the car into reverse, the camera came back on. At first I was thinking this was a connection issue, but maybe it's software related and will be fully fixed in the future.
 
#28 ·
I never had this problem before getting the last update (sentry mode). It typically comes back within a few seconds but it has been out for as long as 3-minutes at times.
 
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#29 ·
A few months ago I noticed that the bottom left and right sides of the image looked like there was frost frozen on the glass, or it looked like the glass could be cracked in a curved fashion around the lower 1/10th of the image and curving up the left and right sides a bit. I tried to clean the lens, but it didn't change.

Today, after not having driven the car for a week, the image is all ROSE colored and flickering, but never goes to normal. Are these things people have seen before? Its a replace the only remedy?
 
#30 ·
Today, after not having driven the car for a week, the image is all ROSE colored and flickering, but never goes to normal.
Was the camera pointed at something very bright or light colored? I think this happens when it's trying to adjust white balance/brightness.
 
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#33 ·
This is what I was told by a technician when I went to have my 12 volt battery replaced earlier today at a local service center. My back-up camera was in perfectly working condition before I had them take my car.
However upon receiving my car back I noticed that when accessing the camera through the app the screenview for the camera went completely black. I tried rebooting the car while at the service center to no avail. The technician labeled it as a firmware bug that may work itself out with the next update but if not, according to his engineering contact, it could take up to 3-6 months for it to be restored. I've never heard of something so crazy and for me this is a quite an inconvenience as I usually have my back-up camera on at all times and it makes it a lot easier for me to back in my tight garage space. Has anyone else experience a firmware bug related to their back-up camera? :rolleyes:
We have had this happen while we were developing our VSC defeat device. When you disconnect the main battery contactors the rearview camera will show as black afterwards. You can try a reset by holding down both thumbwheel buttons on the steering wheel, it has worked before but it often doesn't work instantly. After that, give it a few days and see if it returns.
 
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