Tesla’s 2026.26 Summer Update added a feature owners have been asking for since the refreshed Model Y and Cybertruck got it: a traction control mode you can actually choose, instead of one system trying to guess what you need. The new setting lives at Controls > Dynamics > Traction Control Mode, according to Tesla’s official release notes, and it offers three options.
Auto is the default and resets at the start of every drive. It continuously reads the driving surface and adjusts traction control on its own, which is what every Tesla has done until now. Slippery Surface is built for ice or wet roads and spreads traction evenly across all four tires to keep the car stable. Stuck Assist is the new one everyone’s talking about: it’s meant for snow, mud, or sand, and it deliberately lets the wheels spin more than usual so you can rock the car free, per Tesla’s owner’s manual page on traction control.
Here’s the catch: this specific software release brought the three-mode selector to the new (2024+) Model 3 specifically. The refreshed Model Y and Cybertruck already had similar traction modes from earlier updates, and Model S and Model X have had selectable modes for a while, according to The Weekly Driver’s coverage of the rollout. If you have an older, pre-refresh Model 3, Tesla hasn’t confirmed whether or when it’s coming.
Don’t assume your car has it yet, either way. Like every Tesla software release, 2026.26 is rolling out in waves — The Weekly Driver reports it started reaching cars in late July 2026 and is still spreading gradually several weeks later, so delivery timing varies by vehicle. The only way to know for sure is to check Controls > Dynamics yourself after your car updates. If the option isn’t there yet, your car isn’t broken — it just hasn’t gotten its turn.
For most owners, this won’t come up often. But if you’ve ever spun your wheels trying to get out of a snowy driveway or a soft shoulder after pulling over, Stuck Assist is built for exactly that moment, and it’s worth knowing where to find it before you need it.
Photo by Wallace Silva.