2017 Tesla Model S complaints

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V085000 (Steering, Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to make right and left turns as signaled by the software. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 64,000. Parts distribution disconnect.

When using the automated cruise control or full self driving, it will unexpectedly phantom brake. Seems to happen more when there is full sun. I have the latest updates. Did much better when cloudy, but it would still phantom break a few times during a 12 hour trip. But when in full sun, it did brake 10+ times.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the steering wheel electronics malfunctioned causing the horn to become inoperable. The vehicle was taken to the local service center to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the horn failure was caused by a faulty steering wheel air bag module assembly, and that the module assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 55,000.

-I think there is known problem with the Tesla. It autoaccelrates o behaves like someone is taking ove the control fo the car - The inital problem happend on June 24th 2022. I was in the parking lot of my work when It felt like I had lost control of the car to hit 2 parked cars. It cost severe damage to front of the car. Car was in the workshop for 4 months. This was completely unanticipated.I have hisotry of driving in US for over 20 years on major freeways before this without a single accident may have developed muscle memory( reflexes by repeated actions) in controlling the car. I was not distracted at the time. of note however my car had rear damages from being rear ended 10 days prior but Tesla authroized dealer had said it was drivable. The car was not in auto pilot mode - Tesla didnt give me any explanation and the repair workshop generalized saying it's usually driver's fault - Since the return from the repair I have 2 auto accelarations driving in the low speed zone. I had to break immediately to control it. Each time it felt like somthing remotely did this. There hasnt been recurrent damage. --The car was inspected by the Tesla authorized workshop couple of times and they claim nothing is wrong. -There have been no warning except on 04/15/2023 when it happened smewhere between 1.34 to 1.36 I thught I heard sort of noise/ quick warning. Again, each time it happens it feels like car is trying to do its own thing ( even when it's not in auto pilot mode)or someone is re

I was driving at low speed when I suddenly felt a very loud pop and snap. I thought I had a flat tire. The car pulled to the left. I had trouble pulling over and thought I was going to hit someone. I was able to come to a stop abruptly. I checked for a flat and had none. I called Tesla after limping the car home because I could not see a flat. The car had a broken control arm and had completely pulled the left wheel against the frame. Almost like I got something really hard but I hadn't. I had just pulled away from a stop sign when the snap took place. I was put at risk as well as my child. I couldn't control my vehicle. There were no warning messages. The vehicle was repaired by tesla and they didn't even call me to tell me what was wrong with it. I found out it was the control arm from the documents i was given.

The car, which was equipped by Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta software v11.3.3, attempted to make a premature left lane change in preparation for a left turn at the light, which almost put me in front of a pickup truck waiting in the center turn lane. Please find the attached dash cam video on this link: https://share.icloud.com/photos/0e9EMY-_AQSWXtCRe9YedeE7A

Windshield cracked after using Defrost. Had no chips or blemishes on the windshield prior to the incident. Outside temperature was 18F, car was covered in 1in snow from the night before; ran defrost for 20 minutes.Removed snow with plastic bristled brush, drive 5 miles and let it sit after shut down. Came back to see two foot long cracks near the defrost vent.

Since full self driving, beta has been turned on my car no longer slows down when I reduce the speed or when it encounters a lower speed limit sign, which it will read the speed limit. Prior to this when I decrease the speed or it noticed a decrease speed limit sign. It would use regenerative braking to slow the vehicle down. Now it’ just coasts , and actually sometimes maintains power at a high speed. There are times from going from a 60 and then to a 40 and then to a 30 mile an hour speed zone where it will continue to travel at 50+ miles an hour through the entire speed zone without slowing down which it did not do before FSD beta was active.I have to disengage the full self driving in order to get the car to slow down

This alert is about "phantom braking", which is well known to Tesla owners, and the subject of much online discussion among owners who seem to all experience this and are furious that it continues to exist. Here's what happens, very, very often yet: with adaptive cruise control engaged (with or without "autopilot", ie 'autosteer' also engaged), the brakes are applied suddenly without any need for braking (no objects in the way of travel, etc). We just completed a trip on I-94 from Billings/Red Lodge, Montana across North Dakota, where phantom braking was experienced probably 50 times, with no other vehicles ahead of us, and on perfectly dry pavement, etc. There had also been very dangerous icy conditions (lots of even "skating rink ice") on the stretch of I-94 in Montana, from Billings into North Dakota. Had the phantom braking occurred on one of the sporadic ice patches further east, it could have easily caused a serious accident, not just been a scary nuisance. In situations with heavy traffic, phantom braking could easily result in rear-end collisions by cars that may be following too close to react before we, the Tesla drivers, override the phantom braking by hitting the accelerator--even that simple maneuver cannot be executed before the car has suddenly decelerated 10-20 mph or more. Some of the phantom braking seems to have been somewhat corrected where we'd first encountered it, on I-394 west of dntn Minneapolis--it doesn't happen as often now as it did a few years ag

I have a video taken from the front camera of my Tesla S showing the entire incident that I can upload. On Dec 26, 2022 my beta FSD was engaged. The Tesla made a left hand turn onto the highway and then erratically ran off the road jumping the curb on a university sidewalk damaging wheels and tires. I suffered a right knee contusion from the impact of the hit.

Suspension aft link assembly is faulty and broke down so quickly. Causing car noise and shaking and it’s clearly a safety issue. Lot of other drivers have complained about same problem

2017 Tesla Model S steering veered me off the road while driving at a normal rate without auto pilot enabled. I had just installed the 2022.8.10.11 software update Friday morning before the almost wreck. The car then from Friday to Wednesday appeared to work fine and then Wednesday failed again with the steering assist being almost impossible to turn the wheel and fighting back against the driver. This is a major concern that it fights back constantly trying to adjust itself. If a power steering rack fails it should not fight back against the driver. I see there was a previous recall on 2017 for this exact issue but tesla said it doesn't apply to my vehicle and quoted $4300 to replace the steering system. https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-recalls-defects/tesla-model-s-model-x-recall-power-steering-problem-a4893117329/

On December 26, 2022 I was driving my Tesla S 2017. Full self driving was engaged. I have a video of the car footage showing the incident in full detail. The car took a left onto a 2 lane road and then without warning ran off the road hitting the curb and a metal drain. The force was so great that I suffered a contusion to my right knee from hitting the under side of the dash.

On January 6, 2023 I was backing out of a parking space and turning slightly. There was a deafening squeal. The car did not initially make noise when driven forward, but the noise did return with braking, and then also with turning while in Drive. The Tesla service facility has advised that the car needs new lower control arm(s) and fore -links therefore also an alignment because of the new parts. Apparently they stock these parts, and this may be a bad sign. The car is currently being repaired at the Tesla service facility in Henrietta, NY. The car was built in January 2017 and we are the original owners. It currently has 59,883 miles.

This is a 2017 Tesla Model S with 31K miles. The vehicle has lost its ability to charge on ny AC current. Only charges with DC from Tesla supercharger. Service told me that I needed a replacement part (Kit, Service, Gen3, charge sys, 48A, 1PH (1462537-02-E). Invoiced amount was $2500. Tesla refused to cover under 8 year battery warranty even though the problem is directly related to charging the battery.

Sudden loss of power steering is the issue. I was driving the car home and it was about a 5 mile trip. About half way home I tried to turn left and it took all of my strength to turn the wheel. I made it around that corner and the car did the same thing when I made a right turn. It continued for two more turns and something in the steering seemed to break loose when I arrived home and steering was normal as I backed the car into the driveway. The date was 02/01/2023 at around 7:30 PM. The roads were in good condition. We had driven over some very bumpy dirt roads the weekend before. The car was giving me warnings as the steering stopped working indicating that the EPAS wasn't working and it may be harder to steer the car. I felt that it was a very dangerous situation and my safety and the safety of other drivers was at risk. No damage occurred. There were no prior warnings or messages leading up to the steering failure. The car had been in for unrelated service the month before. I do not feel it's safe to drive the car until I have am certain there is a proven fix for the issue. The software version is: 2022.8.10.8 I have scheduled service for the car on 02/7/23.

The emergency trunk release does not work when the cinch motor fails on the power tailgate. Part is scheduled to be replaced by Tesla.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the contact felt like the vehicle had fallen into a pothole; however, the rear passenger’s side wheel had detached. Due to the failure, the vehicle swerved to the left and then right. The contact then stated that he was able to navigate the vehicle off the road into a parking lot. The contact stated that the vehicle was towed to his residence and then towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the rear suspension failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

Driver side door will not open from the outside of the car. The latch is not releasing inside. However the door can be open from the inside. The handles present themselves but it seems to be an issue with the latch releasing so the door can open. This can lead to a really bad outcome if it was an emergency situation. There has already been one fatality because of this known defect and I don't want to become another statistic. Tesla needs to recall all vehicles that are having this issue and fix it.

I have reported several comparable incidents that this recent article describes https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/dec/22/tesla-crash-full-self-driving-mode-san-francisco?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other to Tesla in 2020. Our Model S doesn't have full-autonomy software, and in our case the described "braking for no reason" happen in cruise-control mode, without the (semi) auto-pilot engaged. In one of our incidents the sudden emergency-like braking caused a rear-end collision with the car behind me, it was however light enough that no visible damage was caused to either vehicle. We had paid $5,000 for the (semi) auto-pilot feature when we purchased the vehicle in 2017. I reported these incidents to Tesla (I have the emails and their responses) and after several rejections from Tesla that the issues were not reproducible I asked them to take the vehicle back (trade-in) and remove it from the streets because it was unsafe to drive. I further argued that I can't sell this vehicle to someone with good conscience without letting them know that they should not use cruise control. Tesla never acknowledged an issue and also never took ownership of the problem, we are still driving this vehicle today. I'm available to provide further detail if needed.

Open recall is being refused of service.

My car hardly functions anymore and the Tesla service center is saying I need a new Infotainment Upgrade. This issue causes the car to not function properly.

On 10/25/2022 at approximately 2:54pm I was traveling north on I-5 through Salem Oregon in the middle lane. Autopilot was engaged as I approached slower traffic 1 block in front of me in the middle lane. A pickup was approx 1 block behind me in the left lane. I activated the left turn signal. The vehicle initiated the transition from middle to left lane. Halfway between both lanes the vehicle applied hard braking action while continuing forward halfway between lanes. I tried to take over with application of the accelerator and force on the steering wheel to return to the middle lane. The steering wheel fought against me and the vehicle made a series of s-turns while braking. I tapped on the brake pedal and the system deactivated. The vehicle decelerated from 65-70mph to what I would guess to be 20-25mph with maximum braking (objects in the cockpit flew forward). The pickup behind me was very close when I regained control. If any vehicles had been closer or had the roadway been slick, the incident could have caused a major accident. I filed a ticked with Tesla and they advised this was known as a "phantom braking" event. There is no known fix, timeline for a fix, or mechanism to advise when there is a resolution. Tesla closed the service request. I'm a commercial pilot (former Part 135 Captain) and former flight instructor. I've been driving for 38 years with zero accidents. I have not used the Tesla autopilot since this incident. It is not safe in the current configuration. T

Car started making a popping sound when accelerating and when letting off the accelerator. I checked and found that the front tire seemed to be loose. After checking further, I found a loose bolt that holds the control arm on. The car was just in Tesla’s service center for several issues to include checking the alignment.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while his father was driving at a slow speed, the rear driver’s side door independently opened. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that his father pulled over and closed the door; however, the door opened independently. Due to the failure, his father was forced to drive the vehicle back home with the door ajar with the chime and the door ajar message displayed. The contact was able to shut the door; however, the door handle failed to operate as needed the next day. The contact called a Tesla service center and was given no assistance. The contact stated that prior to the failure, all three of his other door handles had failed while raining. The vehicle had been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000.

Coolant leaking, before tesla can even look at my car they say i need new valves. Only way they could know this is if there is a faulty part. This should be a recall! Believe this is the Battery coolant.

While parking, i heard some noises underneath the front wheel area and turns out the tires are rubbing against the wheel well liner and the pins that were holding the wheel well in place were popping off. When driving off, i noticed the alignment was off and felt the car shifting around in a weird way so i pulled over into a parking lot and can see the liner nearly ripped off. Took it to the tesla service center and turns out the fore links on driver side is broken and also recommended the passenger side be replaced add it is starting to Crack. The car had 60k miles.

Right Headlight and running light failed. Can or replace bulbs. Tesla wants $1500 Ro replace a headlight!

Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an LED strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The daytime running lights are essential for safety driving in low light situations. These daytime running lights are seemingly built to fail. The lights dim then eventually no longer work. Tesla's solution is to have the customer purchase a brand new headlight at $1438.33. My vehicle is 4 years old and has been through. Tesla should either goodwill swap out these headlights for a non-built to fail component, or offer a repair for a quality LED strip with proper heat distribution. Without daytime running lights safety is a major concern on foggy, rainy, and low light situations. I have attached an image showing how the failure begins on top then slowly goes all the way down to the side of the headlight which fails later.

Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an LED strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The day

Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an LED strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The daytime running lights are essential for safety driving in low light situations. These daytime running lights are seemingly built to fail. The lights dim then eventually no longer work. Tesla's solution is to have the customer purchase a brand new headlight at $1500. My vehicle is 4 years old and has been through 3 pairs of headlights already, when the last set burnt out I just left them as is. Tesla should either goodwill swap out these headlights for a non-built to fail component, or offer a repair for a quality LED strip with proper heat distribution. Without daytime running lights safety is a major concern on foggy, rainy, and low light situations. I have attached an image showing how the failure begins on top then slowly goes all the way down to the side of the headlight which fails later.

While reversing into a parking spot, like I have over 1000 times in this car, I heard a loud crack and scrape. When the tow driver got the car up we were able to see it was a Lower A-arm failure in outward loaded bearing stress. This seems like a common problem with these cars as a simple google search found many other drivers with similar issues.

The car was left parked for 12h in a parking lot were I work. Whilst driving there and upon exiting the car, nothing out of the ordinary was observed. Getting back in the vehicule, the car seemed ok. Upon backing up the car, a loud sound plus weird wheel camber on the rear driver's side wheel were observed. Upon verification, it looks like a tie rod broke. Given the condition (no excessive load on the car, car parked, not significant impact that we are aware of, the sudden break), it tends to point to a fatigue fracture.

This is aTesla Model S electric car. The battery was 80% charged at the time of the incident. Under normal driving at a speed of around 40 MPH in a city road road, suddenly the car lost power. The steering wheel locked and I had no control over the car. Display screen in the instrument panel and the large central tocuh screen display blacked out. A few seconds later, the car control returned and I was able to safely drive the car. But, the momentary loss of control is dangerous and scary.

Random breaking was prevalent with driving computer 2.5, which recently upgraded to 3.0. The "phantom breaking" is more general and is very dangerous. There have been locations where the vehicle behind me almost wrecked due to my car brakes slamming on out of the blue. I looked up the issue online and found the problem has been happening for years. My wife will not ride in my car now due to the fear of an experience when this phantom breaking accused while she was with me. I am using adaptive cruise less often and not using autopilot. The downside is that the car's efficiency is reduced when not using these "smart" features.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that upon attempting to start the vehicle, he noticed that the 17-inch center display screen was black. The message "Wait For Start" was displayed. The contact stated that the vehicle tuned on after nearly 20 minutes. The contact was able to drive the vehicle, however, the center display screen remained black. The contact was unable to monitor the vehicle's speed and other functions while driving. The contact attempted to contact the manufacturer several times, however, the phone line was not being answered. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

Numerous incidents of phantom braking on open unobstructed highway, causing potential rear end collision. Reported to Tesla on several occasions. Currently on my 3rd MCU(media control unit). Service scheduled with Tesla but I am not optimistic since it has been a persistent issue since owning the car in 2017

The issue occurred twice over the period of the past two months, both times I was driving on highway with Tesla autopilot enabled ( It is Adaptive Cruise Control), for no apparent reason the car hit the brakes, all vehicles driving behind me had to hit brakes or change lanes to avoid Collision. Both times I created service request with tesla and got no clear answer to why its happening, first time I was told it is because the exit on map was about couple miles from car location so car had to hit brake hard and change lane to make it to exit but car never tried to change lane, it just did hard braking. 2nd time I was told it happened due to wheel alignment not being accurate. After wheel alignment was done I reached out to tesla again but so far they can not confirm or deny if tesla autopilot is safe for me to drive. I was told to use autopilot at my own discretion. Are car manufactures allowed to sell hardware or software without taking responsibility for its safety ?

Fingers can get caught in the retracting door handles which retract if the key fob is pressed while fingers are in the door handle

Tesla driver seat bolster hurts my bottom after 10/15 mins of driving. The seat cushion behind the bolster to the back sinks so low; and fails to keep me lifted. As a result, eventually after driving 10/15 mins bolster starts hitting my bottom and it starts to pain; and also numbs my legs. At this point, I have to take a break, get out stress and start driving. I have driven many cars upto 500+ miles in a single day no issues. Having a comfortable seat is a basic requirement in any car. I have reported this issue many times to various Tesla Service Centers. The seats installed in my cars seems to launched very pre-maturely without proper testing. There are many complaints online forums on this bolster pain and how badly it hurts. Tesla wants me to pay for the seat and no guarantee that the new seat will not such issues. If the installed seat itself is defective, why should I been paying for another defective one. Tesla is not willing to own the issue. I have done upgrades and paid alot of taxes so not willing to sell and buy another car and pay taxes again. I want to report this issue as I foresee safety issues with this car and similar many other cars; and how Tesla is not doing their basic customer service and offering bad products at very high price.

Driver side fore link snapped causing wheel to move in hazardous conditions

The left fore link broke while backing out of a parking spot. It's not available for inspection. If it had broken at a higher speed it could cause a loss of control. This is a known issue. The broken fore link has been replaced by a non-Tesla repair shop. There was no warning this would happen.

When backing up at a low rate of speed (<10 miles per hour), I heard a loud grinding noise. When I got out of the car, I noticed that my driver's side wheel was out of proper position. Forward driving caused grinding or rubbing noises. When I took the vehicle in for service, I was quoted a repair for front fore links (lower control arms) for driver's and passenger side. Q: What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? A: Driver's side fore link. I'll ask for the replaced part to be returned. Q: How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? A: Minimal risk was observed as I was completing a parking maneuver in my own driveway. A failure at a higher rate of speed might have caused loss of control. Q: Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? A: Yes - by dealer Q: Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? A: Yes - the manufacturer has reviewed the issue at their wholly-owned dealership/service center. Q: Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? A: No

Vehicle was handling normally. I pulled into the parking lot of my bank, put vehicle in Park, and exited the vehicle to use the ATM. Within five minutes I returned to the vehicle, put it in reverse, and immediately heard a loud scraping noise like a plastic water bottle perhaps having become wedged between a tire and the wheel well. I stopped the car and looked underneath but all appeared normal. I continued backing up another three feet, again with the horrible rubbing noise. I exited the vehicle and more closely observed the right front wheel and tire, which the entire wheel/tire assembly appeared to be offset toward the rear of the car with the tire jammed up against the wheel well liner. I pulled forward into another parking space about ten feet away and called for a tow truck. After about ten minutes I observed brake fluid puddling around the tire. I Googled the symptoms and it said this was most likely failure of the suspension fore-link. This was confirmed by the dealer, who replaced the right and left front lower fore links, the wheel well liner and some other parts. Vehicle acted normally until the fore-link failed with no warning. Had this happened while driving on the freeway it would have likely shredded the tire and/or resulted in an accident. Vehicle had about 54,700 miles on it. I have NEVER had any suspension failure like this on any vehicle I have ever owned and several of my vehicles have been high mileage vehicles with over 200-300,000 miles on them.

While pulling out of our garage, the aluminum left hand fore assembly cracked and a piece fell on the driveway. The left front tire then rubbed up against the wheel well, which made the car undriveable.

Suspension links are failing after only 50k miles causing tires to rub wheel well liner.

Front driver’s side suspension fore link snapped while traveling at low speed(possibly while turning). Wheel slid back and hit rear wheel arch during braking, compromising braking & controllability of the vehicle. The car was inspected and repaired by Tesla. The car only has 60K miles, but I was charged nearly $700 to replace. No warning lights indicated a problem.

My vehicle had a 360-degree dashcam safety recording feature, and a safety feature called Sentry which warns people who are too close to the car or bump the car that it is recording them. Tesla removed the feature from my car, presumably because it did not work with the hardware (they quickly upgraded the next cars), and now shows the Sentry feature in the software and even pretends like it is recording, but it is not. The feature was removed on all HW 2.0 MCU 1 vehicles even though it's paid for in the Advanced Autopilot package. Tesla should have to recall these cars and put in the appropriate hardware that all cars built shortly after my car have once they learned that the equipment they put in was not sufficient for what was advertised. I have recordings from my vehicle from when the feature was there that I can share with you to prove that the feature was there, then it was removed because of the inadequate hardware in the car (rather than recalling them to upgrade the hardware).

With no prior warnings while driving onto a main road with my wife and daughter I heard a thud in the rear of car at which time the car suddenly stopped. The driver's screen flashed "Suspension Failure". I could not drive the car to a safe location. I called local police who arrived and blocked traffic and my car was towed to nearby Tesla Service. The car has been at Tesla Service for past 11 days with no "diagnosis" and I received texts that they are awaiting parts and expect completion of repairs by evening of 7/26/2022.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that he received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) and the vehicle was taken to the local Tesla Service Center for recall repair however, upon picking up the vehicle, the center display screen turned black and was no longer operative. The vehicle was taken back to the Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that the computer chip that allowed the vehicle audio and radio to operate needed to be updated. The dealer informed the contact that he needed to pay out-of-pocket for the repair. The vehicle was in the process of being repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 13,715.