Top Tesla Tips and Tricks

Tricks for Tesla's Navigation

Here we have some Tesla tricks and tips for you on how to use the navigation better and faster.

Adjust Autopilot to Speed Limit

You're driving at 50 km/h with active Autopilot within a built-up area. But as soon as you pass the town sign, the speed limit increases to 70km/h. How can you now adjust the Autopilot to the new speed?

For this, you can either tediously turn the right scroll wheel, or you can do it simply with one of the following tips:

1. Press the gear selector down for about 3 seconds, or

2. Tap on the screen on the icon that shows the maximum speed

Using Smartphone as a Speedometer

If you miss the speedometer in Tesla and prefer to have the speed directly in front of you, then you can attach your smartphone directly to the steering wheel with this special phone holder. Download a free speedometer app, and you can use your iPhone or other smartphone as a speedometer.

Preconditioning via Navigation

Your Tesla's batteries charge faster when they are warm, as the electrical resistance is lower. If you've been on the motorway for a long time before charging at a Supercharger, your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y uses the waste heat from the electric motors to reach the optimal temperature.

If you've just started driving, or in cold outside temperatures, it makes sense to precondition the battery. All you have to do is enter a Supercharger as your destination in the navigation system. Your Model 3 or Model Y will then warm up the battery to the optimal temperature. When it's worthwhile to preheat the battery, we've summarized in a separate post.

Navigate Home by Swiping

You surely know that you can save favorites in your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y's navigation system. This includes your home address and workplace.

If you have saved your home address, you can navigate home at any time by simply swiping the search field to the right. If you are at your saved home address, swiping to the right navigates you to work. Try it out.

Display Charging Stations on the Map

If you want to display all charging stations on the map, tap once on the map and several icons will appear on the right. Press the charging station icon, and all charging stations will be displayed.

You can also filter the charging stations by charging speed in the navigation. The icon with a lightning bolt shows you the slowest charging stations, and the icon with the 3 lightning bolts shows you the fastest charging stations.

By now, Tesla shows not only its own charging stations but also many others. You can recognize Tesla chargers by their red color.

Tips for More Safety

Tesla Sentry Mode

Tesla's Sentry Mode is probably the most advanced safety system available for cars on the market. If you have it activated, your Tesla uses its 8 cameras to record the surroundings as soon as someone gets too close to your vehicle. In case of damage, you thus have plenty of evidence.

You can either activate Sentry Mode in the vehicle under Safety, or you can simply go to the Tesla app under Safety and turn on Sentry Mode there. All further details on this safety mode, power consumption, etc., can be found in this article.

Restricting Tesla Access

If you want to park your Tesla Model Y or Model 3 in a valet parking but want to prevent it from being taken for a joyride, your Tesla offers the so-called Valet Mode. This mode limits top speed and acceleration, locks the glove compartment and front trunk, hides stored addresses in the navigation, and removes stored Wi-Fi, Homelink, and Bluetooth accesses.

When you use it, you thus have control over which functions of the car are accessible.

Emergency Brake

Among all the tips and tricks, here's one for you that could potentially save lives.

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y do not have a manual handbrake. Therefore, it's good to know that there is still an emergency brake. This could be important, for example, if the driver has a cardiac arrest or becomes unconscious. In this case, as a passenger, you can activate the Tesla emergency brake.

And this is all you need to do: Hold the P button on the right gear selector for 3 seconds. Then the emergency braking is initiated.

Automatically Locking Tesla

We are Tesla drivers because we love the modern operation. One of the settings that make you love your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y even more is "Lock on Walk Away". If you use your smartphone as a key, you can also use this brilliant feature.

Tap on Vehicle -> Locks -> Lock on Walk Away and make sure that the Acoustic Lock Confirmation is on.

Now, when you get out and move away from your Tesla, it automatically locks itself and honks softly, so you also get an acoustic confirmation that it is locked. If you still have open windows, they will be automatically closed.

If you accidentally left a door open, you'll hear it from the warning tone, and you can close it. So you don't have to worry about that either - Tesla has, as always, thought of everything.

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Save Dashcam Video by Honking

Both Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, as is well known, have many cameras mounted around the vehicle. You benefit from this not only through Autopilot but can also use them as a security system.

Go to Vehicle -> Safety -> Dashcam. Here you can check Auto, which, for example, automatically saves the video in case of an accident.

What you can also set here is Save on Honk. So, if you're in a dangerous situation, you just have to honk, and the last 10 minutes and the next 2 minutes are automatically saved.

Glovebox Pin

Did you know that you can set a PIN for your glovebox in Tesla? This way, you don't have to worry about valuables if someone else drives your car. And it just adds an extra layer of security to your Model 3 or Y.

You can activate the glovebox PIN by going to Vehicle -> Safety -> Glovebox PIN and following the instructions there.

Of course, you can also get a secret compartment for the armrest of the Model 3 and Y to store valuables in it.

Parking on a Steep Slope - Strong Parking Brake

If you need to park your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y on a steep slope, you naturally want to ensure that it doesn't roll away under any circumstances. For this, there's the strong parking brake.

To activate it, you need to hold the P (Park) button for 3 seconds. Then a yellow P icon appears on the screen, and you hear the parking brake tightening.

Hidden Manual Charge Port Unlocking

In the rare case that the charge port on your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y doesn't unlock, you can do it manually. For this, the charging process must be finished.

To do this, open the trunk. On the top left, you'll find a small opening in the lining. Inside it is a latch, which you can pull to manually unlock the charge port.

Tricks in the Tesla App

Let's move on to tips and tricks in the Tesla app. For this, we've picked out the most important ones for you and listed them here. If you'd like to read more about the app functions, here's the relevant article. 

Send Address to Your Tesla

One of the most convenient functions of Tesla's navigation is that you can send an address from your smartphone to your Tesla. So, if you research your destination on your smartphone before departure, you can simply go to Share and then select Tesla.

 

Your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y then automatically plans the fastest route along any necessary Supercharger stops for you. So you just need to get in the car and drive off.

Extended Quick Selection in the Tesla App

In the Tesla app, 4 icons are available in the quick selection by default. Here's a special Tesla tip because it's possible to add a fifth icon.

Open the app and press and hold an icon in the quick selection. This opens the menu where you can choose between different functions. Now patience is required. Because you have to quickly take any icon from the bottom and drag it to the right next to the existing 4 quick slots.

Do this several times very quickly until it works. Click save, and the 5th icon stays there. Now you can exchange all icons at will and have gained an additional function in the quick selection of the Tesla app.

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Unlock and Start Tesla Remotely

Imagine you are on vacation and see in your weather app that a severe hailstorm is imminent at home. In the rush, however, you parked your Tesla not in the garage but outside. But as a Tesla driver, you can do something about it!

If you have someone you trust with your Tesla, you can ask them to repark your car. They don't need a key for this. Instead, you can unlock and also start your Model 3 or Y via the app. Now there's a 2-minute window in which the Tesla can be started and reparked without a key. Great tip, isn't it?

Preheat Interior in Winter and Cool in Summer

It's probably one of the most luxurious features of your Tesla. Is your Model 3 or Y too cold in winter or too warm in summer? No problem - you can simply temper the vehicle via the Tesla app. Within a few minutes, the interior reaches the desired temperature, and you avoid freezing or sweating.

Defrosting Tesla in Winter

While everyone else has to laboriously scrape ice off their car windows in winter, as a Tesla driver, you can simply defrost your vehicle via the app. Go to Climate and then you'll find the "Defrost Vehicle" function at the bottom. Keep in mind, however, that you're using electricity and don't leave the function on for too long.

Practical Settings

Easy Entry Mode

Tesla has thought of a very useful function for getting in: the Easy Entry Mode. Here, you can set the position of the driver's seat and steering wheel so that you can get in and out as easily as possible.

Just set the checkmark for Easy Entry in the driver profiles and save the settings once. The next time you enter your Tesla Model 3 or Y, the seat and steering wheel automatically move to the Easy Entry position.

As soon as you press the brake pedal, you are moved to the correct position for your saved driver profile. If you put the lever in Park, everything moves back to the Easy Entry position.

WARNING: If you have saved in Easy Entry mode that the seat moves all the way back, you must also ensure that there is no child in a child seat or objects in the footwell. The seat moves back regardless of counterpressure. You can stop the seat from moving back when getting out by touching one of the adjustment levers on the seat.

Automatically Fold Mirrors at Certain Locations

One of the best tricks to make your life easier is the automatic folding of your side mirrors at certain locations. If you have a narrow garage, or you want the mirrors to automatically fold in whenever you drive into the car wash, you can do that with your Model 3 or Y.

Simply go to Vehicle -> Fold Mirrors. A small field with "Save Location" will appear. Press the button, and every time your Tesla is within 7.5m of the saved location, the mirrors will automatically fold in.

Automatically Lower Mirrors When Reversing

We also have tricks for you for parallel parking your Tesla Model 3 or Y. Namely, you can set your mirrors to automatically lower when reversing. This way, you can see exactly how far you are from the curb.

To set this up, go to Vehicle -> Mirrors -> Automatically lower mirrors. As soon as you switch to another gear, the mirrors automatically return to their original position.

Display Range in km or %

The left side of your screen shows you the driving data. At the top of the screen, next to the battery symbol, your range in kilometers or your charge level in % is displayed.

If you tap on the value, you can easily switch between the two views.

Reduce Autopilot Sounds with Joe Mode

If the sounds of the turn signals or Autopilot are too loud for you, you can mute them with a simple setting.

Just activate Joe Mode. You can find it under Vehicle -> Safety -> Joe Mode.

Fact: The idea came from a man named Joe, who didn't want to disturb his sleeping children. He posted this suggestion on the internet, and Tesla named the Joe Mode after him.

Set Trunk Opening Height

If you have a low garage, you naturally want to make sure that the trunk doesn't hit the ceiling or the garage door. Tesla has made it easy to set how far the trunk lid should open.

To do this, open the trunk and then manually bring it to the desired height, or press the trunk close button briefly. Once at the desired height, hold the trunk close button for 3 seconds until you hear a confirmation tone.

Now you can close the trunk and open it again to check if everything worked.