Code EPAS3S_a132 was reported by the “Power steering — 3rd gen, secondary” controller in the car. The letter “a” in the middle places it among entries of the alert type.
The redundant channel of third-generation power steering. It takes over if the primary channel fails — which is why its own failure may not be felt at the wheel straight away.
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.
This is how the fault is named inside the car's firmware. For codes without a description it is the most precise clue there is — the name itself says what the event is about.
The text below comes from Tesla's technical documentation. We leave it in the original English so that translation cannot shift its meaning.
An internal software assertion has failed.
Electronic Parking Brake is preparing to enter winch mode
Winch mode request has been made.
Winch mode successfully entered, or canceled
Winch mode may not be entered successfully unless customer keeps foot on brake
Electronic Parking Brake was unable to release fully.
Electronic Parking Brake faulted during release && (nonterminal == TRUE)
Electronic Parking Brake attempts a new operation
Electronic Parking Brake may not be released, and caliper may be obstructed
The battery voltage measurement, nominally 12 volts, was lower than expected.
The vbat voltage measurement, is lower than 6.0 volts. If the measurement is lower than 0.25 volts, we do not set this alert, as this would indicated the switch supply is disabled.
Caliper state machine exits csmState CSM_FAULT
12V Battery or low voltage systems may be damaged
Stability Control reports Controlled Deceleration for Parking Brake is not available when car is in DRIVE
Motor negative lead voltage is greater than 6.0 volts while inactive
The Electronic Parking Brake motor is idle, and the negative lead voltage measurement is higher than 6.0 volts.
Caliper motor or harness may be damaged
One or more of the expected CAN messages from ESP were not received.
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.
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.