Tesla Santa Mode Easter Egg: How to Activate It and Everything It Does

Model S

Model 3

Model X

Model Y

Updated: December 24, 2023

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla's Santa Mode easter egg

Teslas offer numerous easter eggs. While most of them are fun to try, Santa Mode is easily one of the most popular and fun easter eggs. You'll find yourself coming back to Santa Mode again and again throughout the years.

What Santa Mode Does

After turning on Santa Mode you'll notice various visualizations have changed.

Santa Mode will turn your car on the screen into Santa and his sleigh. The sleigh will be pulled by two reindeer and you'll even see him carrying presents in the back. If you look closely, you'll see that Santa's sleigh is actually a modified Tesla.

You can pan and zoom the visualization to take a closer look at his sleigh.

You'll notice that the roads have suddenly been covered in snow. If you pay close attention, you'll even see that it has now started to snow.

Other vehicles that are normally rendered on the display will also change. Instead of other vehicle models, all cars will now be transformed into reindeer.

There are subtle details that show that Tesla went the extra mile with this easter egg.

For example, the speed at which your vehicle and the other vehicles are moving will affect how fast the reindeer's legs move. When you slow down, your reindeer will also slow down to a trot.

Your turn signals will also change. Instead of playing the traditional clicking sound that a turn signal makes, the sound has been changed to sleigh bells.

If you look closely at the collars your reindeer are wearing, you'll also see that they light up and flash red when you use your turn signals. If you use your left turn signal, the left reindeer's collar will flash, and if you're using the right turn signal, then the right reindeer's collar will flash. It's subtle but nicely done.

Two Variations

There are three ways to activate Santa Mode. There are also an alternate song that can be played. Two of activation methods are through voice commands while the other requires going into the All Apps menu.

How to Activate Santa Mode

"Run Rudolph Run": The most obvious way to activate Santa Mode is through the Toy Box. Tap on All Apps (the ... at the bottom), choose the Toy Box and scroll to the right to find Santa Mode. This will play the "Run Rudolph Run" song along with the visualizations, but unfortunately, the volume is fairly loud and can not be adjusted. The song will only play once through and will then stop.

"Ho ho ho": You can also activate Santa Mode via a voice command, by simply saying clicking the voice command button and saying "Ho, ho, ho." It's the same outcome as the method above, but easier to turn on.

"Ho ho ho, not funny": There's a second variation of Santa Mode that is also activated via a voice command. If you use the voice command, "Ho ho ho, not funny," then Santa Mode will turn on and the song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" will be played.

The only difference between the various ways of activating Santa Mode is the song that is played and the sound of the turn signals

Turn Off Santa Mode

To turn off Santa Mode, you can go back to the Toy Box and turn off the slider for Santa Mode. You should also be able to use the voice command "Turn Off Santa Mode," but unfortunately there's a bug that's preventing that from working right now, so you'll need to go through the Toy Box to turn it off.

External Speakers (PWS)

If your car is equipped with a Pedestrian Warning System (PWS), you'll also have the ability to play the Santa Mode music through the outside speaker of your car.

You'll know if your car is equipped with the PWS if it emits a low sound on the outside when traveling a low speeds.

To play ‘Run Rudolph Run' or ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer' through your car's external speaker you'll need to activate the easter egg through the Toy Box and turn on the slider for "Spread Cheer."

Available on All Models

Santa Mode is available on all Tesla models, including the Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y. The Santa Mode easter egg remains largely the same regardless of the Tesla model you have. Although it does require a vehicle with the PWS to have the option to play music outside of your vehicle.

Exclusive: Tesla’s AI Assistant Now Uses Vehicle Data for Personalized Responses

March 6, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

As part of Tesla’s App Update 4.42.5, which is now available on both the Android and iOS App Stores, Tesla has rolled out an improved AI Assistant.

If you’re not familiar with Tesla Assist, it’s the company’s AI-powered assistant, which can be found in the Service section of the Tesla app. The assistant was first introduced with app update 4.35.5, and it has slowly improved to help answer the most common Tesla-related questions.

At first, Tesla Assist could answer general support questions like “What is Sentry Mode?” or “Why is my range lower than expected?” It acted as a helpful starting point for answering questions, but the responses weren’t personalized for you or your vehicle. However, with this latest update, that is changing.

Personalized Support

The latest version of Tesla Assist introduces personalized responses. You can specify which vehicle or product your question relates to and ask specific questions about your vehicle. For now, the responses are limited to a few categories, like tire pressure, however, we expect the assistant to have access to more vehicle information in the future.

For now, you can ask questions such as, “What alerts were recently triggered on my vehicle?” or “Is my tire pressure low?”. We’ve also been successful in asking whether a particular accessory, such as a key fob, would work with our vehicle.

Tesla provides these answers based on information in their owner’s manuals, tutorials, and your vehicle’s details and data.

Just like before, Tesla continues to provide links to related articles, such as the Owner’s Manual or the Service Manual, depending on the context.

Future Releases

While the assistant can’t access every detail just yet — how many miles are on my vehicle — it’s already capable of pulling a lot of service-related information. It appears Tesla may be looking to expand this to other areas, with some responses stating, “Based on your vehicle’s data…”

It’s not clear what’s powering this assistant, but it could be some version of Grok, which will soon be available inside of Tesla vehicles.

The AI-based assistant can be found in the Service section of the Tesla app or by going into the main menu and tapping the question mark in the upper-right corner. Let us know if you’ve seen any other interesting responses from Tesla Assist.

Tesla to Build Third Megafactory in Texas With $200M Investment

March 6, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has revealed the location of its third Megafactory, following Mega Lathrop and Mega Shanghai. The new facility will be in Brookshire, Texas, covering 1.6 million square feet—twice the combined size of Mega Lathrop and Mega Shanghai.

Tesla has had a lease deal at the Empire West industrial park since at least late 2021, where a third-party company has been managing the shipment of vehicle parts from Giga Texas and Fremont factories service centers across North America.

Mega… Factory?

The name says it all. Tesla’s Gigafactories focus on vehicle production—like Giga Texas, Giga Berlin, and Giga Shanghai—while Megafactories are dedicated to Tesla’s energy products.

Tesla Energy is expanding rapidly, with executives suggesting it could soon become one of the company’s largest revenue streams as demand continues to outpace supply.

Mega Brookshire will manufacture Megapacks and Powerwalls, Tesla’s primary stationary energy products. Both use LFP batteries, meaning their production won’t impact Tesla’s vehicle output, as most of the company’s cars rely on NMC batteries.

Looking at the Numbers

Tesla plans to invest approximately $194 million in upgrades and equipment across the two buildings, with the facility projected to generate between $8 billion and $10 billion in annual revenue.

Of that investment, $44 million will go toward facility improvements, such as parking, electrical upgrades, accessibility, and structural updates. The remaining $150 million will be allocated to Tesla-sourced manufacturing equipment for product production.

Tesla will also be employing approximately 1,500 people in the local community, which will be a considerable economic boost for the local residents.

Mega Brookshire Phase 2

The Megafactory plans also include funding for a distribution facility, with Tesla set to invest $31 million in its purchase and an additional $2 million for equipment and facility upgrades. Given its proximity to Giga Texas, it’s likely that Mega Brookshire’s distribution terminal will support the Tesla Semi.

This marks Tesla’s first factory announcement since Mega Shanghai. While there were initial plans for Giga Mexico, where Tesla initially planned to build their next-gen vehicle, those plans have seemingly been shelved as Giga Texas and Fremont continue to expand.

Although an official timeline for Mega Brookshire’s launch hasn’t been shared, Mega Shanghai is set to begin production soon after breaking ground in May 2024. Based on that timeline, Mega Brookshire could be operational by mid-to-late 2026.