Any computer controlled device is prone to needing a good old fashioned reboot and Tesla vehicles are no exception. This question seems to come up a lot so here are the instructions on how to restart the touchscreen in your Tesla Model 3 or Model Y.
As you’ll find in the owners manual, rebooting or restarting the touchscreen is a simple task. All you have to do is press and hold both steering wheel buttons at the same time for a few seconds until the touchscreen goes dark. Once the screen goes dark, it will take up to a minute for the Tesla T to display and the system to come back online.
Tesla says you should only do this when the car is parked but I have successfully used these same instructions to reboot the touchscreen while on the highway when the screen starts malfunctioning. While driving if you do the reset, you will lose all sounds and audio feedback from the car. Turn signals will not make a sound although they will still flash, music will stop playing, chimes will not happen. Autopilot however will still function and continue to navigate you to your destination.
If you need to fully reboot all systems of the Model 3 (or Y), the instructions are slightly different. This time, you will have to be in Park and you’re going to hold the brake pedal down and then hold the steering wheel buttons down. Keep holding the brake pedal plus steering wheel buttons until you see the Tesla logo display on the touchscreen and then you can release.
