Don’t Believe Everything You Read Online
In my last post, Straightjackets and Swear Jars I shared a little bit about issues I found with my new Model Y and how it didn’t exactly match the car I ordered.
A quick recap—the car I ordered had slightly different features than the car I received. The discrepancies were: 1.) A smaller display (15.4” instead of 16” and a lower resolution); 2.) a different colored headliner; and 3.) and older chipset (HW4 instead of HW4.5). Of the three the last one was, by far, my biggest concern.
After a conversation yesterday with a Tesla representative I learned Tesla has never sold a car with the HW4.5 and HW4 is the latest they’ve released. Benjamin, the Tesla rep, said the entire rumor of the updated 4.5 hardware originated from a typo in some Fremont built cars. A quick check after we got off the phone substantiated what he told me was true. I also got a slight discount for the other discrepancies.
No, Tesla has not released any customer vehicles with a distinct or upgraded "HW4.5" (also called AP4.5 or AI4.5) hardware.
What briefly appeared in late December 2025 and early January 2026 was a temporary labeling error on the Autopilot computer in some Fremont-built 2026 Model Y vehicles (mostly Performance and Long Range AWD models). Owners who physically inspected the computer (under the glovebox or via the EPC parts lookup) saw labels like “AP45” or “Hardware 4.5” and a new part number (e.g., 2261336-02-A or -S2-A).
Tesla quickly clarified the situation in January 2026:
The “HW4.5 / AP45” marking was a misprint / labeling mistake in the parts catalog and on some physical units.
There was no actual hardware change — the computer is functionally identical to standard HW4 (AI4).
Tesla updated its Electronic Parts Catalog to remove the HW4.5 reference and now lists the part as standard Autopilot Hardware 4.
In the car’s own software (Software → Additional Vehicle Information) and Service Mode, these vehicles still show as “FSD Computer 4” or HW4, exactly like every other recent Tesla.
All in all I walked away completely satisfied with the customer service experience. This entire ordeal ended up being a masterclass for me in how rumors with no basis in reality can take on a life of their own online.
There are multitudes of people in social media groups claiming to have the new HW4.5 hardware in their vehicles and also stressing how important it is if the owner plans on renting their car’s computing power back to Tesla while their car isn’t in use.
The upcoming program that allows Tesla owners to rent out the car’s significant computing power is set to happen later this year or early 2027 and should be a decent revenue stream for Tesla owners. So, understandably, people are getting whipped into a frenzy over this in online Tesla groups.
Are these online bot/trolls just spreading falsehoods about updated hardware to stir up chaos? Or do these people actually believe they have HW4.5? In retrospect from my online interactions I’d guess it’s a little of both.
To say I feel naive to have been fooled into believing this is an understatement. However, it's a good reminder to check and recheck everything you read online or in the media.
Now I can just relax and enjoy this wonderful car. It's looking like we may be taking it on its inaugural road trip to Arizona. Perhaps the memories we make will make up for the couple of days I was in sucked into the fabricated nonsense of online drama. It'll be nice to put this entire ordeal in my rearview.
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
This story is a perfect example of how rumors can snowball online!
Are the bolts all the places you have to stop to charge or are they just all the places you could stop to charge?
Yes, the computer determines the most efficient stops and also the duration of charge. Most of these stops are between 8 and 15 minutes. We're going to try to find hotels along the way that allow us to charge for free. This will cut down on our charging stops tremendously. We're also going to find an Airbnb in Sedona with a wall charger so we can just top up at night while we're sleeping.
Oh, that is not bad at all. 15 minutes might be pushing it a bit, but it gives you a chance to stretch your legs I guess. I'm looking at maybe making a trip out west for the big 50 this year. I haven't decided yet. I feel like wherever I got it's going to be far too short of a trip.
Charging an EV takes longer than filling up with gas, for sure, but it requires a kind of a lifestyle change for road trips. The software does an excellent job of managing everything and keeping you from running out of range. You can set the minimum amount of charge you're willing to go down to in the app and I have mine set to 20% so the computer will design the route so the car is never below 20%. I'll definitely be getting out to stretch my legs and planning meals around charging stops as well.
That will be a fun trip! There's so much to see when you go west. We've done the southern route, through Kansas City and down to Albuquerque but I think we'll prefer this northern route through Colorado and Moab, UT. The southern route can get a bit depressing. There are a lot of dying towns and ghost towns between KC and NM—and long stretches of open land without any signs of civilization.
I'd probably fly if we head out there in the fall. There is no way we would have the time to drive with work and all of that. That is cool about how the tech works with the car. It seems there are a lot less caveats than I would have thought. I think it would still be a huge shift for me mentally and internally. Did I ever ask you about how speeding works with the automated self driving? I can't remember. Does it stick firm to the speed limits or can you say you are allowed to go no more than 8 over or whatever?
Flying is best when there's a time crunch. Tesla's tech makes owning an EV as simple (in some cases even simpler) than an ICE vehicle. The hardest part for me was learning to trust the tech. Even with my willingness to learn and watching countless videos it took me about a year-and-a-half to fully trust it. With speed on Full Self Driving, you used to be able to manually set your Max speed above the speed limit (ie, 72mph in a 65mph zone) and you can still do that but now they have presets—Chill, Standard, Hurry, and Mad Max modes. They not only differ in speeds but also driving styles. Chill feels like a chauffeur, everything is smooth and measured and it's limited to about +2 over the posted speed limit. Standard will keep you within 5/6 mph of the speed limit. I haven't tried Mad Max yet but I hear it's pretty wild and I've also heard about some people getting speeding tickets while you're on it. We've already had FSD save us. We were on the freeway here locally and someone on the other side of the freeway hit the median and lost a wheel and it bounced over into our lane. FSD avoided it. After I experienced that I was sold.
Hmm, that is interesting. Even at the higher speeds I would guess it is still safer than a lot of the morons out on the road!
For sure. It will still make simple mistakes from time-to-time but, generally, FSD is about 5-7x safer than a human driver. It's jumping to about 10x with v14.3.
That's a nice way to put it, Eric! And thank goodness you can!
Thanks Lizelle! I hope you're feeling better!
https://x.com/i/status/2041607656461234332
#hive #posh
How many people, naively, are spreaders of false rumors. But also, and they scare me more, how many people work generating false information, deceiving and playing with disorienting people. These days it came to light in Venezuela the number of people that Maduro's government paid to transmit false information and to unleash hatred on social media. This is Machiavellian. It's good that you were satisfied with the explanation and soon you will go on a trip with your new car. I wish you the best. Hugs
I know, it's getting pretty crazy online. Once started these falsehoods spread like wildfire. Many of the accounts doing this online are foreign. It was such a relief for me when I could just finally relax and enjoy the car. Thank you Nancy! Hugs to you and I hope you have a good week.
I am sure there are hundreds of false stories spreading online if not thousands... Good to hear that all got resolved to your satisfaction.
For sure. Social media is riddled with falsehoods now. Thanks!