I haven’t written about my Tesla for a while, but a few times a year the company pushes out over-the-air (OTA) software updates. These updates typically add features and fix bugs/recalls. Yes, despite what the mainstream media would have you believe most Tesla recalls are fixed with simple software updates. Once a year, usually around Christmas, the update is laden with some really cool stuff.
Let me tell you, 2023’s OTA update did not disappoint.
Among many other useful features (detailed here) were some completely pointless but fun ones. My favorite one by far in the “pointless but fun” category was the ability to add custom lock sounds. This is the sound the car emits when you walk away to let you know the doors are locked.
There’s a dropdown menu in the UI that allows you to choose between a few standard hilarious ones, a smattering of different kinds of fart noises and screaming goats among them. If you have a little technical expertise you can also download any .wav file to the USB drive in the glovebox to add one of your own custom sounds. Believe me, as you can see from this article, people are really having fun with this.
We rented a Honda CRV hybrid last year while vacationing in Sedona and it had the most striking sound when backing up or driving in full hybrid mode. It sounded like angels singing. Everyone who rode in the car commented about how strangely comforting it was to them. After driving the truck for a month we kind of got attached to it.
Yesterday I set myself on a task to figure out how to get that sound downloaded into my Tesla. It required a few more steps than I thought. The sound file I found was recorded at ridiculously high volume that nearly blasted out the car’s external speakers.
Determined, I marched back up the stairs with the USB drive, found a program called Audacity, and used it to decrease the volume of the sound file, then downloaded it to the drive again.
Now, finally, the angels are singing but won’t startle the crap out of anyone in the process. What a sense of accomplishment.
Behold, let the angels sing...
~Eric Vance Walton~
(Gif sourced from Giphy.com)