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Tesla: Fix Black Touchscreen

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Mitch Bartlett
Tesla 3 header

Some Tesla users may experience a problem with their touchscreen where it is black and unusable. Users won’t be able to change the AC or use many of the features of the vehicle while this is a problem. Use these steps to reset the touchscreen.

Tesla Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Model S (All Years)

Touchscreen Tip: Tesla’s touchscreen is a critical part of the car’s user interface, and it’s essential to keep it clean to ensure that it functions correctly.

Reset the Touchscreen

  1. Shift the vehicle to Park.
  2. Press and hold both steering wheel scroll buttons until the screen goes black.
  3. After about 30 seconds, the Tesla logo will appear, and the screen will restart.

System Reboot

  1. Shift the vehicle to Park.
  2. On the touchscreen, select Controls.
  3. Select Safety.
  4. Select Power Off.
  5. Do not open the doors, touch the brake pedal or the touchscreen, etc., for at least two minutes.
  6. Wake the vehicle, and your touchscreen should be reset.

Power Cycling

  1. Press the Brake pedal.
  2. While continuing the hold the Brake, press and hold both buttons above the steering wheel for about 20 seconds until the speedometer blinks.
  3. Stop pressing the steering wheel buttons, but continue pressing and holding the Brake.
  4. Hold down both scroll wheels. The screen should go blank, then a “T” will appear. At this point, you can release the Brake and scroll buttons.

After this process, the touchscreen should reset. It will take about a minute or two.

I hope this guide has helped you fix the touchscreen in your Tesla.

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Comments

15 responses to “Tesla: Fix Black Touchscreen”

  1. Bill Krause

    When the “black screen of death” afflicted our 2020 Tesla X two weeks ago, the dashboard also went out. no lights, no nothing.
    Had to pull to shoulder and reboot. Also had to reboot two days earlier because of crazy dinging, odd error messages, etc.
    I can’t even imagine how bad this would have been at night on I 95…..
    So far, after two weeks with both email and phone, no response from DE Service Center.
    Car is 6 mos old, 2000 total miles.

    Reply
    1. Model Xs

      Damn! Had the same issue yesterday. My MX 2020 had to be towed to Tesla service. I’ll update when the issue gets resolved.

      Reply
      1. Richard Sieben

        I had the same issue. I pushed on the right button on the steering wheel and gave command turn on screen. It worked!

        Reply
    2. Eric Swenson

      Bought the car Sept 4, 2021. Model 3 AWD LR. Black screed happens about 6 times. The time it has been black has been increasing. Last time, after trying all 3 types of rebooting, it took over 20 minutes to come up. It’s a hundred mile drive to the closet Tesla shop. They will not send a rover to fix it. What a big F ing hassle.

      Reply
  2. Donald Fung

    I got my Model Y on the 05/20/2021 and by the next day, I had the frozen screen and black screen. I tried the rebooting process that only fixed the problem temporary because within a few hours, the problem keeps happening.

    My family and I were going on a out of town trip the first weekend, and after about 30 minutes in the trip, the black screen happened. My wife and son got scared that the car may shutdown, so we had to abandon the trip and went home very disappointed.

    I wrote to the service department about the problems, but nobody has responded.

    Reply
  3. Gerri SORKinKIN

    My screen has gone black twice today. I also had the screen freeze where I could see the text but the screen did not respond to touch. Scary! My Model Y is only about 4 months old. I live up the CA coast 2 plus hours from Santa Rosa.

    Reply
  4. George

    Have a 2020 x
    Same issues
    Can’t take a trip or feel car is reliable
    I am paying for a Tesla I want it to work
    Considering NTSB for obvious safety issue. Lemon law or just getting a lawyer if not fixed in reasonable time frame
    Obviously a safety issue
    Someone gets hurt because of this there will be real liability issues
    Recall time??

    Reply
  5. Glen

    I have a 2017 Model S. I have had the MCU black screen issue for over a year. I now am having both the dash and MCU go black. It took me 20 minutes the other day to get the car so I could drive it. I have reached out to Tesla service over and over the last year and have yet to get any help with this. I understand there is a chip shortage but you would think some of the older Tesla’s that have been having this issue of over a year would get moved to the front of the line especially since I was given a recall email stating I needed to bring it in for replacement. It is now becoming a safety related issue. My wife will not drive the car. Ridiculous for a $100K car!!!

    Reply
  6. JL Nix

    I have a 2014 model S. I bought the car 06/2017 and I have had the black screen problem starting about 6 months after I got the car. I called service center but I could not get any one on the phone just a voice mail message to go to Tesla app and schedule a service call if I had a problem. I scheduled a date to have car repaired about two weeks later, after one week the 12 volt battery also died, I placed another service call, I received a reply from service center saying ok no problem mobile tec would be at my home to replace the 12 volt battery but they would have to cancel SCREEN REPAIR they said they would let me know when they could repair screen problem, by the way this is second call that service center has canceled on my screen problem.

    Reply
  7. Danielle

    I’ve been having the same issues with my 2020X. The screen froze and then went black for the fourth time yesterday while we were on a road trip. It froze while we were backing into a supercharger so since the back up screen was frozen we backed into the charging station and damaged the car. I feel it is unsafe and unreliable to drive at this point. I’ve been trying to schedule a service appointment for this issue since October. Tesla keeps canceling it saying my car doesn’t have an issue. I called the support line last night. They weren’t much help in resolving the issue but they did log a formal “case” about it and escalated it to the service center manager. Terrible service all around.

    Reply
  8. Lori L Mayles-Wells

    I had the same problem—six month old car–I did what the first answer I saw here said, to hold down both buttons and it rebooted

    Reply
    1. Darrell

      I have a 10 day old Model Y that the scrren is going black on. Any ideas of what is happening? reboot helps temporarily. Tesla service scheduled for 1/28/22

      Reply
  9. Judy

    I just had the black screen this morning. My Model Y is only one month old. When everything is in hurry, it happened to me. I spent 10mins tried to fix the problem, no luck! Two hours later, the screen went back on.

    Reply
  10. Carlos Montoya

    My model S 2016 would go blank occasionally thrn it started happening everyday, reboot, back on, then one day it never went back on! No air conditioning in 90-100 degree weather makes the car undriveable and my turn signals stopped working, radio stopped working since the touchscreen is black

    Reply
  11. Wayne whaley

    I have had the same problem. Touchscreen went black. I have a 2022 tesla y and have very few miles. WEW

    Reply

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