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.
