Tesla does not use ordinary OBD-II codes but a system of its own — something like BMS_a142 or VCFRONT_a191. Type the code from your screen or from diagnostics and see straight away which part of the car it concerns and how serious it is.
Underscores and capitals do not matter — "bms a142" finds the same thing as "BMS_A142".
The code looks complicated, but it is only three pieces of information stuck together. Once you can split them apart, you can tell what even an unlisted code refers to.
The first part says which controller in the car reported the fault. BMS is battery management, CP the charge port, DI the drive inverter, UI the touchscreen. This is by far the most important part of the code.
A single letter hints at how serious it is. The most common is "a", then "w" and "f". The letter "u" means the car is simply waiting for you to do something — usually not a defect at all.
The number is just a sequence within that controller. On its own it means nothing and it repeats across subsystems — which is why codes cannot be compared by number alone.
The most common type. The car logged the event and may have shown it on the screen. The range is wide — from something trivial that clears itself to something that needs attention.
The car is flagging that something is not right. Driving is usually still possible, but some function may be limited.
The more serious level. The affected component has shut down or is running in limp mode. These codes belong in a service centre.
A service record that is not shown to the driver. Only a technician sees it in diagnostics.
Not a defect. The car is waiting for you — press the brake, close a door, top up a fluid, change a setting.
A purely informational record of a state change. Usually it means something returned to normal.
A rare marker that appears only occasionally in the data.
What people look up here most. The list is recalculated continuously from real queries.
The codes someone looked at most recently.
If you do not know the exact code, start from the controller that reported it. Each group explains what it is responsible for in the car.
Copy it exactly, letter and number included. Photographing the screen is safest — codes often differ by a single digit, and mixing them up leads somewhere else entirely.
Some codes clear after a screen restart or after the car sits locked for a few hours. If the code does not come back, it was usually a one-off glitch.
A one-off entry and a code that appears after every drive are two different things. It helps a service centre enormously if you know exactly when it shows up.
With airbags, brakes, steering and high voltage there is no point waiting it out. With the other groups you can watch and see whether the code returns at all.
This page is a reference dictionary, not a repair manual. It explains what an abbreviation means and what it relates to — it does not diagnose your car. The same code can have different causes, and its meaning also shifts between firmware versions. For anything involving brakes, steering, airbags or high voltage, go straight to a service centre.
Error codes are only part of the picture. For cars on TesList you also see battery health pulled straight from the vehicle, plus a price calculator that works out from current listings what a given car is actually worth today.
The database grows according to what people search for. Try entering just part of the code — and if it genuinely is not here, drop us a line and we will add it.