2024 Tesla Model 3 Highland: Chassis Upgrades

October 31, 2023

By Kevin Armstrong

Tesla has made significant improvements to the new Model 3

MotorTrend

The 2024 Tesla Model 3, also known as the Highland, recently fell into the hands of the folks over at MotorTrend. The staff has been combing through every piece of the car to find the slightest flaw. While the optics of the new look exterior and refined interior get the attention, MotorTrend went poking around underneath the shiny exterior to give a close-up look at significant chassis and suspension upgrades.

Softer Springs and Intelligent Suspension

The 2024 Model 3 Highland, in both its Standard and Long Range variants, has adopted softer springs coupled with innovative frequency-response suspension dampers. This upgrade facilitates a smoother ride, absorbing more significant impacts such as dips, potholes, and bumps.

The frequency-selective damping isn't an entirely new concept; Koni first introduced it in the late 1990s. The technology alters damping force based on the suspension inputs, achieving a perfect balance between comfort and stability.

Steering Updates

The 2024 Model 3 Highland has also seen changes in its steering mechanism. The variable-ratio steering rack from the previous model remains, which adapts its responsiveness based on the driver's input. However, Tesla has adjusted the ratio, moving from 10.3:1 to 10.6:1, requiring the driver to use more steering input for the same turn. This change targets better predictability and increased stability, especially at higher speeds.

Improved Control Arms

A common issue with the outgoing Model 3 was the front upper control arms. They were susceptible to cracking, which allowed water infiltration, leading to rusting and unpleasant noises. The 2024 Model 3 Highland addresses this with its new forged steel control arm, designed to be more resilient to rust, and offers a sealed ball joint housing to prevent water intrusion.

While this upgrade might be hard to spot, the 2024 Model 3's redesigned steering knuckles enhance driving dynamics by providing greater stability, particularly at higher speeds and during braking, and by minimizing bump steer.

Updated Tire Specifications

The U.S. variant of the Model 3 Highland will sport new standard 18-inch all-season Michelin Primacy tires optimized for Tesla. These tires promise reduced rolling resistance, translating to a slight boost in driving range.

Bushings play a pivotal role in ride comfort and handling. Tesla has revamped the bushings in the front and rear suspension and the rear subframe to minimize noise, vibrations, and harshness, elevating the driving comfort of the Model 3.

While Tesla aims to redefine its reputation for impeccable quality with the 2024 Model 3 Highland, there have been observations of inconsistencies, such as the mis-installation of brake dust shields. However, it's worth noting that these were early-build models from Tesla's Shanghai factory. It's anticipated that production will improve as Tesla irons out potential issues on the production line.

Tesla to Add Restricted Driver Profiles for Safer Teen Driving

May 14, 2024

By Not a Tesla App Staff

Tesla is set to introduce restricted driver profiles in an upcoming update, aiming to improve safety for teenage drivers. Tesla hacker @greentheonly, also known as Green, recently decompiled the 2024.14.3 update, revealing the change.

Restricted Driver Profiles

Over the years, many people have asked Tesla to bring in restricted driver profiles, similar to Tesla’s currently existing Valet Mode. Valet Mode already serves to restrict the car’s maximum speed, reduces acceleration, and disables the use of Autopilot and FSD. The new restricted profiles will let you apply certain restrictions to driver profiles without the full-fledged restrictions of Valet Mode which also limits HomeLink, GPS history and more.

What Restricted Profiles Could Do

From Green’s post on X, restricted driving profiles will display “training wheels” next to the profile, indicating their usage for new drivers. The ability to add a maximum speed and enforced chill mode are expected to be part of the feature package.

Other restrictions that could also be implemented could include disabling the use of Autopilot and FSD, or perhaps requiring certain features to remain disabled or enabled, like disabling “Joe Mode”, frunk or glove-box access, summon, and locking Sentry Mode to active.

Given how easy it is to swap profiles on a Tesla, Tesla would need to prevent a user from switching from a restricted profile to a regular profile. Tesla could do this in a variety of ways, such as tying driver profiles to a key card or mobile device and requiring a PIN code to exit the restricted profile, much in the same way they do it in Valet Mode.

Enhanced Safety Implementations

Additional safety measures could include alerts that notify parents or guardians when the vehicle reaches its destination or exceeds set speed limits. Given that a Tesla can automatically call emergency services in a crash, this could be an excellent feature for ensuring the safety and security of young drivers on their own for the first time.

Release Date

Elon Musk has previously mentioned that FSD V12.4 is being rolled out sometime shortly, and given that Green has found this 2024.14.3, it could be coming very soon. The latest Tesla update being rolled out now is 2024.14.6.

Tesla Intel Vehicles Receive Some of the Visual Updates in Spring Update 2024.14

May 14, 2024

By Not a Tesla App Staff

callmeKuRue/X

Tesla announced last month that its Spring Update, version 2024.14, would come with visual updates, but that they would be exclusive to the Model 3 and Model Y with Ryzen processors.

Tesla has slowly started rolling out update 2024.14, but until last night, it was only available to vehicles with the Ryzen processor.

We now have our first glimpse into update 2024.14 on vehicles that include the older Intel Atom processor.

Visual Updates

According to Tesla, none of the visual updates would be available on vehicles with Intel infotainment units, however, it looks like those vehicles will be receiving some of the features as well.

The Visual Updates include four items:

A new immersive full-screen visualization while parked that features the vehicle front and center.
A new media player that has a better layout and includes more controls and a new minimized state.
Expandable Autopilot visualizations that are available to everyone include a smaller map in the top-right corner.
And a redesigned and more compact drive mode strip for vehicles for Auto Shift, which doesn't apply to Intel vehicles.

New Parked Visualization

This is probably the biggest feature just because it’s executed so beautifully. Unfortunately, it’s not available on vehicles with MCU 2 (Intel Atom)… at least not at this time.

It appears that Tesla may be using a higher-resolution 3D model or different shaders to create this new visualization. This could be the reason for its exclusivity to the faster AMD Ryzen processor. However, it could just take some time for Tesla to optimize it for Intel Atom processors or use a different model that is more suitable for the older processor.

The Model S and Model X are also not receiving this new parked visualization at this time. Although the Model S and Model X use the instrument cluster for visualizations, given the appeal of the new parked visualization, we wouldn't be surprised if it became available on the Model S/X in the future as well.

The Cybertruck already uses the new parked visualization, although it doesn't include an instrument cluster like the Model S/X.

New Media Player

Tesla's new media player on the Model 3/Y

The improved media player that exposes additional controls and has a new minimized state, is arriving on vehicles with Intel processors.

Tesla included the new audio player as part of the Visual Updates that would be exclusive to AMD Ryzen vehicles, but the new media player on Intel appears to look and function exactly like it does on AMD vehicles. If you haven’t seen the new media player, take a look at our in-depth look at Tesla’s new audio player.

Expandable Autopilot Visualizations

The new, expandable Autopilot visualizations are also available on Intel vehicles. Although users with FSD already had full-screen visualizations, Tesla is bringing over additional features. This includes everything we've seen on AMD vehicles, including the new media player, the 'Navigate to' module, and the map preview in the corner of the screen.

For owners without FSD, this will bring full-screen visualizations to Autopilot for the first time. The full-screen visualization will look and function much like it does in Europe. It includes all of the new controls, improved vehicle detection, and the ability to display turn signals, but it won't display everything FSD does, including curbs and drivable areas.

Update: Intel vehicles are only getting the full screen visualizations if they have FSD and they’re in the U.S. or Canada. It’s not clear why the full screen visualization option is not available without FSD since other vehicles without FSD, but with the AMD processor are receiving the feature. This will hopefully be fixed in an upcoming update.

Other Updates

While Intel-based vehicles aren’t receiving all of the visual updates as expected, they are receiving a lot of the other functionality in update 2024.14, including Audible, Sentry Mode Previews, Trip Progress Bar, Spotify improvements, Better Route Available and many more.

Final Thoughts

Although this update doesn't bring the most appealing part of the Spring Update to Intel vehicles, it brings more than was expected.

The new parked visualization is the most exciting, but arguably least useful aspect of the new update. While it's beautiful and fun to play with, the new media player that features quick access to the most used controls is a much more useful addition.

The improved full-screen driving visualizations being available to everyone with the map in the corner is also a nice addition.

While we're not seeing the new parked visualization available on older vehicles with this update, it may arrive later once Tesla has a chance to optimize it for the slower Intel processor.

If you haven’t checked out Tesla’s new Spring Update, take a look at some videos of the best features in Tesla’s 2024.14. update.