Joe Mode: A Must Know Setting For Tesla Owners

It's probably hard to fathom how many tweets Elon Musk receives, even before his controversial Twitter takeover. But it's reassuring to know that besides getting in fights with people, Elon's use of Twitter occasionally results in something productive. 

Such was the case in 2019 when Twitter user @schristakos hit up Musk to ask, "Elon can we get the auto lane correction feature without sound? Young kids in car, want to keep feature on but not wake them up," as reported by the International Business Times.

Hoping to get "Joe Mode" into V10. The default, of course, is normal volume, but selecting "Joe Mode" would lower the volume of strident beeps & chimes by half.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2019

A few months later, @schristakos got their wish granted, and "Joe Mode" was rolled out as part of Tesla's software update v10. We'll explain more about how Joe Mode works in just a sec. But first, who the heck is Joe? We may never know with 100% certainty, but a widespread consensus is that "Joe" is just a generic name for someone from the internet, presumably the person who sent the inspiring tweet. Sort an everyman — your "average Joe."

As you might have figured out, Joe Mode is a feature that reduces the volume of non-critical alerts by 50% to ensure that passengers are not disturbed. The affected sounds include turn signal indicators, Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, and Autosteer chimes.

Although Joe Mode was initially requested to avoid waking sleeping children in the rear seat, it can be just as helpful when adult passengers want to rest or if you're using your Tesla as a rideshare vehicle and want to maintain a quiet atmosphere. One final application for Joe Mode is if you're traveling with pets who might be easily excited by loud noises.

Joe Mode is available in every Tesla model. To activate it, tap the Car (Settings) icon in the bottom left corner of the touchscreen, followed by Safety & Security, then scroll to the bottom to find the on/off toggle for Joe Mode.

Since this feature was introduced in 2019, Tesla drivers have consistently requested an even quieter Joe Mode, including the possible addition of a volume slider. A Tesla interior is apparently so quiet that the chimes are loud enough to wake children even at half volume.

I guess we could make Joe mode quieter

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2022

Elon Musk tweeted in September 2022 that a quieter Joe Mode was possible, but nothing has been heard since then, pun intended.