Tesla easter eggs: the best secret modes and how to find them

Tesla’s electric cars are best known for their hi-tech cabins and silent running but all three current models are full of secret modes and games to discover.

That’s because the company tucks a few “easter eggs” – hidden features that often reference a popular movie or song – into the infotainment system of its electric vehicles to keep drivers occupied when the car is stationary.

The most recent additions to the hidden feature list, announced yesterday, are six classic Atari games, including Super Breakout, Asteroids and Centipede, Mashable reports. These can all be played on the vast touchscreen systems that feature on Tesla’s Model S and 3 saloons, as well as the Model X SUV.

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But there are far more secret modes in the popular electric cars. Here are some of the best and how to access them:

Holiday mode

While the electric whir of the Model X’s electric powertrain is unlikely to turn heads in the same way a V12-engined Lamborghini Aventador can, but Tesla has hidden a neat trick inside its electric SUV that’s sure to make it the centre of attention.

By activating “holiday mode”, one of the most “sophisticated and interactive” easter eggs to date, the car’s lights begin to flash and its doors open while playing Wizards in Winter by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, says Tesla news site Teslarati.

It can be activated by holding the “T” logo on the touchscreen for five seconds and tap the Christmas tree decoration. Drivers are then asked to close all the doors and step six feet away from the vehicle, the website says.

Romance and emissions testing modes

These are two very different easter eggs, so it’s best not to get the two mixed up.

Romance mode turns the central display into a virtual fireplace and can be accessed by tapping the wood fire in the easter egg dashboard, says US motoring blog Jalopnik.

Meanwhile, emissions testing mode turns the passenger seat into a whoopee cushion, the website says. Drivers can select from a number of different sounds, too, including “Ludicrous Fart” and “Boring Fart”. It can be activated by selecting the whoopee cushion logo.

James Bond’s submarine

One of the earliest easter eggs is inspired by James Bond’s Lotus Esprit-based “Wet Nellie” submarine from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me.

After pressing on the white sub logo on the easter egg dashboard - as opposed to the old method mentioned in the video above - the measurements used for the car’s ride height settings change to “leagues”, as in leagues under the sea, says TechCrunch. For instance, the setting for a “very low” ride height changes to “20,000 leagues”.

The graphic of the car next to the ride height menu box changes from one of Tesla’s EVs to the white sub, too. Sadly for James Bond fans, the tech site notes that the mode “doesn’t actually make the Model S a submersible”.

Back to the Future

Another nod to a blockbuster movie is a mode inspired by the Back to the Future series.

“There are so many different references to Back to the Future in this easter egg,” making it difficult to “list them all”, says Electrek.

Some of the references include changing the location of your vehicle to 1600 S Azusa Ave Rowland Heights - an “important filming location” in the movie - and it recommends a service on 5 November 1955, the day Doc Brown discovered the “flux capacitor”.

This easter egg is harder to find than the others on this list. When the car’s range reaches 121 miles, click the battery logo in the Tesla smartphone app and the easter egg will launch.

Psychedelic cowbell

A simple easter egg, but it’s one of the oldest and best-known hidden features in Tesla’s infotainment system.

Shorty after tapping on the Autopilot button five times in quick succession, the virtual road that appears on the car’s digital dashboards transforms from a dull grey to rainbow-coloured.

It also plays Blue Oyster Cult’s Don’t Fear the Reaper with a cowbell beat in the background, which is a nod to a Saturday Night Live comedy sketch from 2000 featuring Christopher Walken.