An independent Canadian Tesla communityJoin the conversation
Tesla CanadaOWNERS. KNOWLEDGE. CONNECTION. Join our group

Don’t Test Tesla’s Emergency Drive Away: One Owner Faced a US$539 Service Bill

Tesla Canada
Row of white Tesla V4 Supercharger posts with two white Tesla cars plugged in beside a building

If your Tesla has update 2026.38.3 or newer, do not tap Activate on Tesla Emergency Drive Away just to see what it does. One owner who did found that the car needed a Tesla Service visit to clear the alert, and the reported bill was US$539, even though the car never moved.

What Tesla Emergency Drive Away does

Emergency Drive Away arrived with software update 2026.38.3 in early October and is listed again in the newer 2026.38.6 release notes. It lets you shift into Drive while a Supercharger cable is still connected, so you can leave right away if you are in danger. The release notes are blunt: “driving away with the cable attached will damage your vehicle and the Supercharger, and you may be responsible for repair costs.” Short camera recordings are also shared with Tesla when you use it.

When the feature launched, @TeslaCharging told owners that Supercharger repairs can cost up to $25,000 in electrical and civil work, and that a service visit for the charge port is mandatory, as Electrek reported.

The US$539 surprise

On October 28, Yaro (@Tutrifour) posted that a customer had tapped Activate while still plugged in, then stopped before driving off. The car showed an alert that only Tesla Service can clear. In a follow-up on October 30, Yaro wrote that service charges $539 “to inspect the charge port and to clear the alert. Yes, even if you didn’t move the car an inch.”

Drive Tesla Canada, which converted the charge to about C$754, says a Service Mode screenshot showed the alert “BMS_a228_EmergencyDriveAwayServiceRequired”. That matches Tesla’s own guidance that activation requires a service inspection. Tesla has not commented on the price, and it may vary by service centre.

What it means in Canada

At launch, Tesla said the feature works at U.S. Superchargers “for now”, according to Teslarati. Tesla has not announced it for Canadian Superchargers. Even so, the feature appears in the release notes Canadian owners see, and it could expand here later, so it’s worth knowing the rules now. Our tips:

  • Never test it. Tapping Activate alone can trigger the service alert.
  • For a stuck connector, use the normal charge port release or the manual release in your owner’s manual.
  • Read the release notes on your own screen after every update. Our coverage of update 2026.38.5.11 and Halloween Mode on 2026.38.3.2 walks through the latest builds.

Got questions about a new update? Join Canada’s most active Tesla Facebook group, Tesla Model Y & 3 [Ontario, Canada], where 17,000+ owners compare notes every day.

On X? Join our community Tesla Model* [Ontario, Canada] too.

Featured image: Tesla V4 Superchargers in Wiesbaden, Germany. Photo: Matti Blume / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources