Since the Atari video game's secret message trend from the 1970s, the Easter egg concept has expanded in recent years and is now all the rage in the auto world. Carmakers today are increasingly putting Easter eggs in secret places to share the fun side of design, giving car owners something more to love about their rides.
Although brands like Jeep and Ford offer adorable Easter eggs, Tesla leads the pack with one of the cleverest and coolest collections in the industry. What makes the Tesla Easter eggs stand out from others is their ability to enhance user experience with humor and familiar references from pop culture. As revealed by Elon Musk, every Tesla model comes with a box of Easter eggs, and he's unwilling to admit how many more are left to discover. As we wait for exciting new ones to get uncovered, here are the coolest Easter eggs we know so far and the models in which Tesla hid them.
10 The Flashing Rainbow Charge Port Light
For Tesla, something as mundane as charging an EV is an opportunity to put on a show. To attract the owner's interest, or anyone else hanging around the charging spot, Tesla inserted an Easter egg that lights up the charge port in different rainbow colors. To activate the Easter egg, press the button on the charger handle ten times quickly when the Tesla vehicle is plugged in.
Once it's activated, the charge port light will cycle through all the rainbow colors for a few seconds before reverting to the standard color. The Easter egg works best in Model S, Model X and less impressively in Model 3 and Y since only the 'T' logo next to the port will light up instead of the whole charge port ring.
9 Santa Mode Easter Egg
Everybody loves the holidays, and Tesla went all out with a Christmas Easter egg that works in Model S, 3, X, and Y. Once activated, the Easter egg turns the on-screen Tesla into Santa Claus with two reindeer pulling his sleigh, it starts snowing, the road gets covered in snow, and other cars also become reindeer. The reindeer's legs will move according to how fast you drive, and using turn signals makes the reindeer blink red with sounds of jingling bells.
The Santa Mode Easter Egg is activated through several voice commands, each with a different audio result. If you use the voice command "Ho Ho Ho" to activate Santa Mode, Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" will start playing. Using the "Ho Ho Ho Not Funny" voice command prompt, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" will play instead. Be warned, though, the audio is rather loud, and its volume cannot be lowered or turned off.
8 The Psychedelic Cowbell Road
The Psychedelic Cowbell Road Easter egg is based on the Rainbow Road that appears in the final level of each version of the Mario Kart video game. When the Easter egg is activated, the on-screen simulated road animation changes into a psychedelic Rainbow Road. At the same time, the More Cowbell skit version of the "Don't Fear the Reaper" song by the Blue Oyster Cult also plays in the cabin.
As part of the Easter egg, Christopher Walken can be heard hilariously stating he "has a fever" and "the only prescription, is more cowbell." The Easter egg only works in autosteer capable variants of the Model S, X, Y, and 3. To activate the Psychedelic Cowbell Road, pull the Autopilot stalk down four times in rapid succession.
7 Spaceballs And Ludicrous+ Easter Egg
Some Tesla Model S, X, and Roadster models have an increased-performance setting labeled Ludicrous Mode, which helps propel them from 0-60mph in under three seconds. While the button for the mode is not hidden, Tesla hid an interesting Easter egg within the settings. Once you press and hold the button for five seconds, the screen goes black for a short time, then a star field swiftly appears and zooms forward until the screen is momentarily white.
The Easter egg draws the star field inspiration from the movie Spaceballs, which also involved a jump to ludicrous speed. When the flash fades, a metaphorical Matrix-inspired text box asks, "Are you sure you want to push the limits?" and you get to choose between a blue button for "No, I want my Mommy" and a red one for "Yes, bring it on!" In keeping up with the Spaceballs references, subsequent updates activate a mind-blowing Ludicrous+ performance enhancement.
6 Sentry Mode Easter Egg
Sentry Mode is a security feature installed in Tesla Model S, 3, X, and Y that records any threats to the car, particularly guarding against theft or break-ins. Sentry Mode, depicted by the eye of a sentient sentry turret from Valve's video game, Portal, can be toggled on or off using voice commands.
Since "Enable/Disable Sentry Mode" and "Turn Sentry Mode On/Off" sound a bit boring, Tesla included an Easter egg that consists of extra commands. Voice commands "Keep Tesla Safe" or "Keep Summer Safe" can also toggle on Sentry Mode. The commands reference an episode of Rick and Morty entitled "The Ricks Must Be Crazy," where Rick instructs his spaceship to keep Morty's sister, Summer, safe as Rick and Morty go on an adventure.
5 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
In the science-fiction comedy franchise, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams teasingly determined the numeral "42" as the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." In the fictional series, an enormous supercomputer called Deep Thought provides 42 as the answer after calculating for over 7.5 million years.
Since Elon Musk doesn't hide his love for nerdy content, he ensured that the Tesla Model S, X, Y, and 3 included an Easter egg that referenced this information. The Easter egg allows you to change the Tesla name to "Life, the Universe, and Everything." To activate The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Easter egg, access the "About your Tesla" menu, enter number "42" in the "Name Your Vehicle" field, and save.
4 The ModelXmas Show
The ModelXMas Easter egg is a holiday-themed show that Tesla exclusively designated to the Model X. The light show involves a well-orchestrated combination of the Model X's fog lights, headlights, and turn signals.
When the Easter egg is activated, "Wizards in Winter" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra will play in the cabin as the falcon wing back doors, front doors, and rearview mirrors open and close autonomously to the tune of the music. The show is activated by pressing the Tesla "T" icon for five seconds, typing in "holiday" or ModelXMas" in the text box that appears, then pressing okay and following the prompts.
3 Emissions Testing Toilet Humor
Described as "toilet humor" in one of Elon Musk's famous tweets, all Tesla Model X, S, and 3 vehicles can produce flatulent noises that make pretty good pranks. Fortunately, the Easter egg is easily accessible since owners need only tap the "whoopee cushion" icon from the "Easter Egg" menu.
The Emissions Testing allows drivers to choose from various fart sounds such as Boring Fart, Short Shorts Ripper, Ludicrous Fart, Falcon Heavy, and Neurastink. The driver can also select the seat where the fart sounds will come from using the left scroll button on the steering wheel or the turn signal.
2 Back To The Future
All the aspects of the Back to the Future Easter egg occur within the Tesla mobile app. Unlike other Easter eggs in this list, nailing this one requires a bit of precision and patience. The Tesla vehicle needs to be at exactly 121 miles of range, and simply touching the battery icon in the app launches the Easter egg. Several references and tidbits in the Back to the Future Easter egg tie it back to the original blockbuster sci-fi movie.
The Tesla's name changes to "OUTATIME" to reference the DeLorean's license plate, "Charging Scheduled" changes to "Time Circuits On," the "Charging" tab changes to "Fuel Chamber," and "121 Miles" changes to "1.21 GW" as a reference to the amount of energy necessary to travel back through time. Unfortunately, the Easter egg is no longer compatible with version 4.0 of the new Tesla app. Tesla has already released the new version for iOS, but Android users get to enjoy it just a while longer.
1 The James Bond - Lotus Esprit Submarine
Elon Musk loved the Lotus Espirit turbo submarine from the classic The Spy Who Loved Me James Bond film so much that he spent close to $1 million to purchase the prop car in 2013. His obsession with the submarine was so intense that he turned it into a hidden Tesla egg as well. Launching the Easter egg requires the owner to long-press the "T" icon and enter "007" in the text box that appears.
When the Easter egg is activated, the Tesla image gets replaced by the submarine version of the Lotus Esprit from the movie. Interestingly, activating the Easter egg a second time causes the submarine fins to get replaced by wheels. Since the Lotus Esprit Easter egg raises and lowers the suspension, it only works on Tesla Model S or X models with air suspension.