By Karan Singh
The Cybertruck has now celebrated its first Halloween, and owners did not disappoint in coming up with clever and unique decorations for their stainless steel trunk. Make sure you’ve got whatever is left of your candy nearby cause we’re going in.
Aliens
Up in the hero image to get us started – the Cybertruck is really a piece of alien technology. At least, that’s how it appears when it first arrives in town. So, why not celebrate the alien-ness of the Cybertruck to North American roads? We love it.
Spooky
@jayvee10x over on X put together this fantastic display for Halloween and included their Cybertruck! The Cybertruck would definitely be a good vehicle of choice to take on zombies and walking skeletons.
Halo
TeslaKen over on the Cybertruck Owner’s Club forums put together this outstanding Cosplay of Master Chief from Halo, and wrapped up his Cybertruck to look like a Warthog. Probably one of the coolest costumes we’ve seen so far.
Jaws
Sometimes, all you need to do to get a scare is to show some nice sharp teeth. The smoke machine just completes the look with the red glow.
More Aliens
Terry Stach and Robert Martin captured some aliens in their trucks. Best to keep an eye on these ones, lest they whisk you away in their Cyber-UFO. Just watch out though, because @brandtsla over on X is being chased by that UFO!
Here’s mine! pic.twitter.com/CANAPDVhiG
— Robert Martin (@RobbyMD3) November 1, 2024
CyberUFO spotted on Halloween night @Cybertruck @brandontsla pic.twitter.com/XjHFNwZvb3
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) November 1, 2024
Cyberbeast Cerberus
The Cyberbeast’s logo is the three-headed hound that guards the gates of hell – Cereberus. Turns out that S.E. Robinson let the dogs out. Our favorite, all things said. Maybe a smoke machine and some red lights to complete the look though! Oh wait, he’s got that too!
Cyberbeast is ready for Halloween 🎃 pic.twitter.com/zcc3h808JI
— S.E. Robinson, Jr. (@SERobinsonJr) October 20, 2024
The Cybertruck makes an incredible canvas for Halloween decorations, and we’re eager to see even more creative ideas emerge as it heads into its second Halloween season next year.
By Karan Singh
Tesla has begun adding the ability for service technicians—both Tesla’s and third-party — to log repair history in their vehicles.
This new feature is part of update Tesla update 2024.38.2, which also includes other features such as Reduced Sentry Mode Power Usage, and Track Mode Powertrain Endurance.
While this isn’t exactly a feature most users will see often, Tesla has added some features that should help technicians know more about a vehicle’s history. Best of all, while Service History is aimed at technicians, it’s also accessible by any Tesla owner.
So, grab your wrench, and let’s take a detailed look at Tesla’s new Service History.
Service History
Service History is a new feature in Tesla’s Service Mode that tracks all the maintenance a vehicle has received. Technicians are prompted to use Tesla’s Correction Codes, which define the repair that took place and then provide an optional timestamp for the repair being completed. In short, it’s a way to keep track of repairs and services within the vehicle. This should make it easier for technicians to solve issues by being aware of the vehicle’s history.
Service History is accessible directly on the main panel of Service Mode. While Tesla already has internal tools to access a vehicle’s history, the real benefit will be when the vehicle is serviced by different technicians. For example, a local tech could now be services that Tesla serviced performed and vice-versa.
Service history is also permanent and stays with the vehicle. Once entries are added, they cannot be edited or removed, so there’s no tampering with a vehicle’s service history.\
These timestamped history logs are permanently saved to your vehicle and are accessible by Tesla and anyone else who can put their car into Service Mode. If you want to take a peek and are on 2024.38 or higher, you can follow our Guide on Service Mode here.
Entering a Service Item
When entering a new Service History entry, you’re given a few options, including a Correction Code. Tesla maintains a list of Correction Codes for pretty much everything under the sun, from a full-out swap of the battery pack or one of the motors to things as simple as replacing the wiper blades or adding windshield washer fluid.
Technicians servicing Tesla vehicles will have the option to indicate whether they’re a first-party doing the work (Tesla Service), a qualified third-party independent repairer, or an unknown—like the vehicle owner themselves.
If you’d like to add an entry yourself, you can give it a try, as it’s pretty straightforward. You can select a Correction Code for something you’d normally DIY, like adding washer fluid. You can then select a timestamp, which is optional, and then select what type of repairer you are – first party, qualified third party, or other.
Expanding Service History
Tesla’s new Service History is a really interesting idea. It puts third-party technicians and vehicle owners on equal ground, with everyone having access to a vehicle’s history. It’s also going to be useful for owners to keep track of simple tasks like tire rotations, wiper blade replacements, low-voltage battery replacements, and more.
Service History also helps solve the issue of Tesla not being able to effectively track vehicle services done by qualified third-party repair shops, who often won’t push the vehicle correction codes via Toolbox 3.
Instead, this allows even unfamiliar repair technicians an easy-to-see and easy-to-use solution to log and diagnose potential issues quickly.
We’d love for Tesla to make Service History even more accessible, potentially moving it out of Service Mode, which only a small percentage of owners will ever go into.
It’d be useful if Tesla moved certain options into the main Controls > Service area, allowing vehicle owners to add simple things like adding windshield wiper fluid. For more complex changes, Tesla could ask owners to enter Service Mode, and remind them that all entries are permanent and can not be changed or removed, even by Tesla.
By Karan Singh
As part of Tesla software update 2024.38.4, Tesla has finally included updates to Sentry Mode to reduce its power consumption.
Sentry Mode is part of Tesla’s security system that keeps the vehicle sensors and cameras on to detect, record, and then inform the owner about suspicious activity. You can read more about it, including how much power it consumes, in our guide covering Tesla Sentry Mode.
Sentry Mode Battery Drain
Sentry Mode keeps the vehicle awake and continuously processes data from the vehicle’s eight cameras. However, due to the vehicle’s architecture and processing the multiple video feeds, Sentry Mode consumes a significant amount of power. Over a 24-hour period, an average Model 3 or Model Y will typically experience a battery drain of about 7-14% with Sentry Mode enabled, or roughly about one mile per hour.
While Sentry Mode is a great security feature, owners often have to decide whether the loss of range is worth the added security. Sentry Mode also becomes an issue when leaving your vehicle parked for an extended period of time, such as at the airport.
Sentry Mode Improvements
Tesla announced earlier this year that they were bringing significant efficiency improvements to Sentry Mode by cutting power usage by 40%.
Update 2024.38 is bringing about those changes. Tesla is changing the way its onboard computers process video to make Sentry Mode use much more efficient. Right now, the vehicle needs to keep its FSD and MCU (infotainment) computers on to process videos from the vehicle’s cameras. However, that’s changing with some architectural improvements in update 2024.38. We’ll have a much closer look at what’s changing in an article later this week.
This change will arrive first with the Cybertruck in update 2024.38.4 and later. According to our source, it will also be available for other models in a future update, but Tesla is starting with the Cybertruck first.
Since most Cybertrucks have FSD included as part of the Foundation Series, they’re on FSD-specific updates, meaning that the number of Cybertrucks with update 2024.38 is extremely small. Once it becomes more widely available, we should be able to get some numbers to see how close Tesla got to its 40% power reduction.
