2023 Tesla Model S complaints

The horn on my car is triggered by a small flat electric "button" on the right side of the steering wheel. There is no horn when you hit the middle of the steering wheel. It is very difficult (and unsafe) to quickly react to a situation when you have to look down to find the horn. When backing out of a parking spot, the horn moves to my left side due to the wheel being turned. Several times, I have almost been hit in a parking lot because I can not quickly find the horn, and my muscle memory is to quickly hit the middle of the steering wheel. I have never had a car where the horn was not located in the middle of the wheel, and I have owned and driven many cars. This week, I was on a highway, and the car next to me began to move into my lane. My muscle memory hit the middle of the wheel, which of course did not work, and so I had to slam my breaks hard to keep from being hit. If I could have hit the horn in a fast and easy manner, the other car would have moved back into its lane. If there had been someone behind me, I likely would have been rear-ended from breaking so abruptly. I have had the car for more than a year, so I reject the idea that I will "just get used to it". Please look into this and request that Tesla recall and replace the steering wheel for all of their vehicles that have this horn arrangement.

Was driving on a highway when suddenly a whole bunch of error messages came on and my car became hard to steer. Wobbled off my lane which was extremely dangerous going 70mph. I reported this to Tesla and set up a service appointment. The day before my appointment they rescheduled it, pushing it out 30 days saying they don’t have the part in store. They haven’t looked at my car. They said they’re waiting for a new steering rack but don’t know when it’s coming in. Mentioned towing the vehicle and it being unsafe to operate - they must know there’s something wrong and clearly there’s a backlog of issues. They should have told me this earlier. My car is practically new. There’s absolutely no reason the steering rack would have broken.

Horn is not in the center of the steering wheel. When turning it is impossible to reach the horn. Not able to find the horn to avoid an accident.

While driving west on [XXX] thru Utah at 78 mph (speed limit posted 80) the car suddenly and almost violently applied full brakes and reduced speed to 50 mph before I could override by applying added pressure to the accelerator. There were no cars in front of me for over a mile, and the following cars were well back as well. This occurred late morning on perfectly dry pavement. There were few if any clouds, the temperature was in the mid to high 90's. The highway was divided with a significant center divider. If there had been a person following me within 5 car lengths there would certainly have been a rear end collision. The location was roughly 20 miles east of Green River, Utah. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Driving on straight section of highway at dusk. No autopilot or other features on. Road slightly damp from earlier rain. Driving approximately 60mph. Without me moving my hands or feet then car suddenly slammed on the brakes and speed decreased to approximately 20mph. I pulled over and reset the car computer by pressing the two buttons on the wheel and no further problems but had someone been behind me there would have been a terrible crash and my daughter was in the backseat. Looking online it seems Tesla "phantom braking" is not uncommon. I am frightened to drive my car ever again but have a 7 hour drive home tomorrow.

When driving I was cut off and reached for the horn. Due to the small button for the horn and the replacement, I couldn't use the horn in the emergency and almost had a very bad accident Tesla refuses to fix the problem

The steering wheel Tesla is using is causing a lot of safety concerns. The horn is now a button and not located in the center of the steering wheel. It's not very easy to find, especially in a stressful situation.

I received a letter from Tesla in Jan 2024 detailing recall 24V-035 for my Model S 2023 vehicle. This recall indicates the vehicle is not in compliance with FMVSS No. 111, S5.5.3. and promised an over-the-air software update to remedy the issue. However, it is now June 2024 and my vehicle continues to show no updates are available to fix this safety issue. My vehicle continues to run software version 2023.44.30.6 while the fix is only available in version 2023.44.30.7 and later. I am concerned the Tesla is either incapable of fixing the problem via software updates and is dragging its feet, or lacks the expertise to fix the problem via said software update.

The horn on this car is a small button next to the windshield wiper button. I had a truck cut me off and tried to honk the horn and I pushed the windshield wiper button by mistake. The horn requires you to use your thumb and is very difficult to use in an emergency situation. My car is a 2023 with the steering wheel horn set up and now the 2024 Tesla model S has fixed this problem with a regular horn. I would like my steering wheel replaced with the 2024 steering wheel that has fixed this problem. Thank you.

Frunk latch does not open with the first tap due to misdesigned frunk liner trim piece. The only way to open the frunk is after first tap to simultaneously tapping open and pulling the hood upward. It is only feasible using the phone app as the vehicle comes with key-card. This creates a safety concern due to fire crew would have an issue reaching a first responder loop to disconnect a battery located under the hood in case of an accident. The issue was reproduced to Tesla service team but they claimed that it is yet impossible to repair.

This model has a small horn button on the right hand side of the steering wheel, rather than the traditional location of a large horn in the middle of the steering wheel. This is a VERY dangerous location for a feature that needs to be easily and quickly located to prevent dangerous accidents. The main use of a horn is to warn another driver that they may hit you. With a small button in the right side of the steering wheel, it's not possible to have to look down onto the steering wheel and find the button when encountering these dangerous situations. Tesla has since changed the steering wheel, moving the horn to the center of the steering wheel, however, there are a number of Tesla cars, like mine, which still have this issue. I believe these cars should be recalled and Tesla should replace the steering wheel free of charge so it is safe.

I had a software update on my Tesla Model S for minor fixes (s/w version # 2024.14.9) and when I came to start the car the following systems are now working; 1/ All camera's are not working including review view camera. 2/ All ADAS systems are not working 3/ Windscreen wipers are not working 4/ Navigation is not working The biggest concern is the camera system and all the safety system associated with this are now not active on the car.

The horn button is located on the side of the steering wheel spoke, extremely difficult to find, especially in an emergency. I have had several incidents in which I was unable to locate the small button when needed to avoid a collision.

The Tesla has a very tiny horn button that is not in the center of the steering wheel. The button is off to the right with other buttons for the wipers and auto cruise. It is extremely hard to find in normal situations, but impossible to find in emergency situations because the button moves with the steering wheel. Someone tried to change lanes into me. I could not both honk and avoid him. Very scary and dangerous. I thought you should know.

The horn activation placement is not in the center of the steering wheel under the pad. It is on a thumb activated button to the right side of the wheel. It is a design flaw which was changed due to the negative fallout with the 2024 car model. Tesla wants over $2000 to correct this safety hazard. I have had several times when a panic use of the horn was missed due to it not being placed where it has been since the invention of the automobile. Thanks for your time in this matter. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The horn button is too small and in a non-standard location that makes it difficult to reliably locate and push it when it is needed. Several times I have tried to locate the horn to avoid an accident or alert other drivers I am nearby, but I cannot locate or hit the small button in time. I have had to swerve out of my lane several times because of this. Fortunately, no cars have been behind me in the new lanes, but how much longer can I rely on that?

There is a police report but I'm not in possession of it. Therefore I selected no below to get it passed this page. I recently sold my 2016 Tesla model S and purchased a 2023 Model S. Tesla has moved the horn on the Model S from the center where it can quickly be used in an emergency to a small icon to the right hand side of the steering wheel. This horn is impossible to use in an emergency. It is a gray icon with no physical or other attributes. The driver must take their eyes off the emergency, locate the small icon among 4 other icons on the black surface, then get your finger perfectly on it to press, otherwise you activate your wipers worsening a bad situation. I have been in several near accidents because of this. It includes an elderly couple who were t-boned directly in front of me. I was unable to use the horn which would prevented the accident. The elderly couple were injured with blood strewn in the car where her arm was gashed open. Even simple situations such as a car backing out of the space in a parking lot can't be quickly prevented. Tesla how has a steering "wheel" with the horn back in the middle where it can be safely used, but they refuse to refit the cars with the unsafe horn. I have pushed this issue with Tesla and they agree many people have complained about the the unsafe horn. Tesla states they will charge $2800 to fix the problem. This must be recalled to prevent many more accidents. It should have never been implemented.

This vehicle has a flawed design for the horn. It has been relocated away from the center of the steering wheel to a small section (1") of a plastic panel on the "spoke" of the steering wheel. It is extremely difficult to locate this spot, particularly in an emergency (what horns are for in the first place...). A vehicle backed into me while I was stopped at a traffic signal and I was unable to alert that vehicle of my presence. They struck my vehicle and caused damage. Thankfully no one was hurt (this time) and the damage was minimal. This design is flawed and is destined to lead to unnecessary traffic accidents and injured or killed occupants. It is unbelievable that such a design has been allowed for a vehicle.

This car does not have a traditional horn that is the center of the steering wheel. Instead, it is a button on the steering wheel with no tactile bump or other indication that your thumb is on the button. I have had a few instances where I need to honk the horn at a driver pulling out in front of me and was unable to activate the horn in time because I had to take my eyes off the road to find the horn button so I could press it. This is a significant safety issue because the horn is much less useful and it requires the driver to take his/her eyes off the road at a critical time.

Left Turn Signal Button About 1 in 20 times, the left turn signal button on the steering wheel does not register a press. Pressing multiple times in multiple places on the left arrow icon makes no difference. If I click the right button and then the left it's fine. Or, if I try later, the left button will work again for a while This has happened many times over the past several weeks

Took my Tesla S Plaid in for a tire rotation and found out that my Tesla model S Plaid cannot be rotated because the tires are worn deeply on the rear left side, the vehicle only has 12,928 miles on it. The Costco representative say it’s unsafe to drive and the tires need to be replaced. The inner side wall was shredded so contacted Tesla and they stated you need an alignment and new tires. I informed them that it’s a new car and I have not done anything wrong with them, such as going off a curb or hit something to cause such a defect, the alignment specs are defective from the manufacturer, with a little more research from online sources, everyone with a Tesla model X and S are having the same issues at 10,000 miles. They state that the rear camber is not within spec and requires a camber kit to fix the issue. I strongly agree that it’s defective from the manufacturer if many others are having the same issue. If I did not get an alignment at 12k miles the tires could have blown on the freeway, thank god I got it checked. I have attached a photo of the left rear tire and a photo of the right rear tire to compare, this is at 12, 928 miles on the vehicle.

Driving in a snow storm, and it requires complete visual attention to remain in lane and maintain a safe distance behind car in front. But you also need to manage wipers and defrost controls. Since this car has no console buttons and no stalk controls, adjusting anything requires looking away from the road for a significant length of time. Changing wiper setting requires using the right hand to press the correct steering wheel button (which requires looking at it) and then adjusting the settings with a scroll wheel using the left hand while watching the dashboard screen. Changing defrost setting requires invoking a menu button on the main screen, then visually locating the correct control on the screen. Again, significant time is spent looking away from the road, which in these conditions is hazardous. A second issue is with turn signals. Since there is no stalk control, turn signals are controlled using buttons on the steering wheel. When navigating a round-a-bout, the driver is required to use the turn signal to indicate the desire to exit. But the steering wheel is upside down, so the correct turn signal button cannot be located. I believe that this car is hazardous due to its lack of stalk controls and reliance on screen menus for normal operations. I am not allowed to do things on my phone screen when driving, yet this car requires me to do essentially that.

Tesla's decision to place the horn activation within a button on the steering wheel has impeded my ability to safely activate the horn in pretty much every emergency situation. It requires a glance down to find the button every time. This pulls focus off of the road and situation at-hand, posing major risk to all parties involved and increasing the chance of catastrophe. Further, the turn signals being put onto the steering wheel pose a similar risk, again drawing focus off the road to locate and activate the desired indicator direction. Worse yet, there is risk of indicating the wrong direction if attention must be focused on the road in busy intersections. Both of these items make this vehicle dangerous to drive, in comparison to a conventional vehicle, and has placed me and my family into harm's way multiple times. I strongly feel that Tesla should rectify this and retrofit these vehicles with the safety gear in the proper location.

Front safety system fault with complaints on Nov 21, 2023, Nov 27, 2033 and then on March 6, 2023 then Tesla service finally repaired and advised as follows: “Technician Notes Verified customer concern alert was not present on drop off but when moving drivers seat through range of motion found faults appeared. Inspected pin fit of harness found no pin issues. Replaced the drivers seat harness and re tested during seat movement verified faults not currently present.”

A car was coming towards me and I couldn’t honk because I couldn’t find the tiny horn button without taking my eyes off the road.

The tire has an excessive and extremely disproportionate amount of wear on the inner part of the tire and sidewall. It is still on the car at this time. The location of the failure is hard to visually notice. My tire losing pressure was the cue something was wrong. It was on the verge of catastrophic failure and only luck prevented this from turning into an accident. This same failure has been reproduced on a large number of Tesla Plaid vehicles equipped with 21” rims and these Michelin tires. It has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. I will be taking it tomorrow for warranty review from Michelin. There were no symptoms of an impending failure at all. The only warning light that ever showed was a communication error with the sensor that read tire pressure. However, I always checked the pressure manually since that particular sensor was intermittent with its reporting. These tires are rated for 30k and I’m barely over 12k.

The horn is a button now instead of a stalk and the turn signals are buttons now. This is dangerous as I almost got hit the other day and reaction was to hit middle of wheel for horn to alert other driver but nothing happened as it is a button and not in middle. Also harder to use turn signals now. Very confusing and dangerous. Tesla should be required to put horn in middle as in ALL other cars and turn signal stalks back

The Tesla Model S Plaid with the yoke does not have a functional horn feature in the center of the yoke. Instead, the horn button is a small one to the side. This is dangerous and not intuitive. Similarly, the capacitive turn signal buttons on the left make little sense. It’s particularly challenging to indicate the correct signal when I’m in a roundabout to note when I’m going to exit. There should instead be a stalk like every other vehicle I’ve ever driven in my life (I’ve driven MANY cars!) for the turn signal feature and similarly the center of the yoke/steering wheel should activate the horn. Tesla missed the mark on both of these areas. I entered 3/31/2023 as the date below, which is when I took delivery of the car in St. Louis, MO; however, the issue persists.

This complaint is about difficulties with the horn sensor on the steering yoke under emergency situations. After 14 months of driving the car, I have these safety issues: 1) The horn sensor is difficult to find in emergency situations. It is a single, small area located farthest away from the right-hand rest position and touching it requires a long stretch with the thumb. When turning, it is easy to lose the orientation of the yoke and nearly impossible to find the horn sensor. (See #5 in the attached image). 2) The horn sensor is near the cruise-control button ("right scroll button"). The cruise-control button is raised and I have accidentally engaged the cruise-control on multiple occasions when trying to reach for the horn sensor. I would lift off the accelerator, expecting to slow down, but imagine my panic when the car speeds-up due to the accidentally engaged cruise-control. (See #8 in the attached image). 3) The horn sensor does not work when wearing regular gloves. None of the steering yoke sensors with gloves. You have to wear special touch-senstive gloves. 4) The steering yoke airbag is NOT a horn button. All of my previous cars since 2000 had airbag horns. This is a hard habit to break. I urge the NHTSA to recall the steering yoke and make the airbag a physical horn button. This would alleviate the four safety issues above. Thank you.

The design of the car which uses turn signal buttons on the steering wheel instead of the traditional stalks creates a critical safety hazard. When attempting to use a turn signal while the steering wheel is turned (which happens when pulling out for circular driveways, making two very quick turns, or in emergency maneuvers), it is nearly impossible to find these buttons and be able to press the correct button. In fact, when the steering wheel is turned 180 degrees, the left and right buttons point in the wrong directions, and even if you can locate the buttons, it becomes very counterintuitive to press the correct position. There are so many times when I have had to take my eyes off the road just to see where the turn signal buttons are. Additionally there are multiple occasions when I have kept pressing the turn signal button but it does not turn on. It might be due to its capacitative nature. Turn signals need to be intuitive and easy to use. They should not require the driver to think where they are and guess the correct direction. This is such a fundamental safety feature. I am not sure how this design was approved in the first place. The NHTSA should require the manufacturer to replace the steering wheel with the traditional stalks instead of turn signal buttons on the steering wheel. Otherwise it creates a highly unsafe condition every time the vehicle is driven. The other safety hazard is the use of a tiny horn button on the steering wheel instead of the center of the

Tesla moved horn button away from center of steering wheel to a small button the frame of the steering wheel. If the wheel is turned such as making a u turn and another car tried making a right almost hitting me. I had no time to find the horn button and this is very dangerous.

The issue that appears to be a safety concern is the positioning of the horn button. With the release of the yoke style steering wheel, the horn activation was moved from the center of the steering wheel, where it is easily found in an emergency, to the right side spoke of the yoke steering wheel in the form of a tiny button, that is awkward to press in an emergency if the yoke is rotated during a turn.

I have a yoke to steer the car. The horn is only able to be activated by a small button and not a normal large push to the center of the wheel. It is a major safety hazard. You go to press the horn in an emergency and nothing happens. Then find yourself trying to find this small button and are probably already in an accident at that point. Please force them to fix this!

I have the plaid version… and this care wears out the rear ties within 12-14 thousand miles.. which is super fast and you can’t tell because it’s the inside of the tire. The metal shoes and is potentially dangerous and life threatening

The issue everyone with a Model S or X has is that when they refreshed the car in 2021, the removed the stalks by the steering wheel and that's mostly ok, however the horn was turned into a tiny capacitive touch button which in an actual emergency situation, you can't find it and even if you think you do, you didn't hit it right and it doesn't trigger the horn. A few times now I've had people in parking lots or at dangerous intersections almost hit me and every single time I've failed to trigger the horn. Luckily I haven't been in a collision because of hit so far, but this is extremely dangerous. Tesla has definitely admitted fault by undoing this change in the 2024 S and X vehicles being produced, and I would like to propose that they be required to make this change to all current vehicles that are affected by this terrible design defect which is endangering the drivers.

The 2023 Tesla Model S does not have a standard horn on the steering wheel. Rather than pressing on the air bag to trigger the horn like in most cars, Tesla has a small (about the size of a pea) capacitive button on the steering wheel. The button is placed in such a way that finding and pressing the horn in an emergency situation is nearly impossible. A driver has to look down away from the road and find the button to press it. This has nearly resulted in 2 accidents for me personally as I was unable to alert another driver of a dangerous maneuver like a lane change in a blind spot. Horns should be very easy to engage without needing to look away from the road. Tesla has recently begun releasing cars with normal airbag horns. It is my opinion that Tesla should retrofit existing cars without airbag horns with these new steering wheels.

Horn button is off to the right making it difficult and have to look to honk the horn. When pressing the center, like all cars, it does nothing. Safety issue

The steering wheel horn button is in a difficult place. It’s not in the center like normal vehicles. It’s off to the side and difficult to find in an emergency. I don’t even use the horn any more because it’s difficult to find when I need it.

The horn being a touch button on the wheel is unsafe in emergency situations. I need to be able to hit the horn at a moments notice, and this button makes it difficult to do so safely.

The horn is a touch button on the steering wheel which makes it hard to find and press in emergency.

No proper horn button, this is a major safety issue. Horn should be in the center or steering wheel. Almost got into crash.

My car doesn’t have a traditional horn, rather a small touch button obscured on the upper right of the “yoke” steering wheel. I’ve had multiple instances when I needed to use the horn only to not be able to find it in time. I believe this is a safety issue that Tesla should address.

To activate the horn you must press a small label which is not in the middle of the steering wheel. This requires taking eyes off the road and looking for the small area. There is a horn-like appearing big area in center of the wheel that has movement when you press it, but doesn’t beep the horn ---- See attached document for complaint

Another vehicle ran a stop sign in a parking lot as I was in the intersection. I couldn't find the horn button. The steering wheel has a tiny touch sensitive horn "icon" that's virtually impossible to find in an urgent situation, ESPECIALLY if the steering wheel is turned one way or the other. There is no raised area to help a thumb find the area to press even if one has both hands on the steering wheel. I couldn't look down to find it because I was trying avoid the other car, and my steering wheel was twisted to avoid getting hit. The car lacks the ability to press in the center of the steering wheel to sound the horn like cars have had for eons.

The turn signals are confusing and will lead accidents or not using them entirely. The signals were moved from a stalk in earlier models to two stacked buttons on the left side of steering wheel. This leads to accidentally signaling in the wrong direction and looking down at the wheel before each turn which is also unsafe. The buttons are not raised so it’s also too easy to intend to signal but accidentally miss the button while turning. Tesla should replace the old turn stalk or move the right turn signal to the right side of the wheel and raise the buttons so you can feel them.

The activation of the horn using a small capacitive button on the right side of the steering wheel is a serious safety problem. I have had numerous near miss incidents that were closer than they should have been because I was unable to quickly locate and activate the tiny horn button. I've tried using the "whole palm" method described by the manufacturer, but my palm is so large, that it doesn't easily fit in the space between the air-bag cover and the wheel, and I just end up activating the windshield wipers (which makes things even worse!!) The CEO comment in 2021 that every vehicle manufactured after November 2021 had the necessary hardware to activate the horn by pressing on the air-bag cover (like most normal cars) and that only a firmware update was needed to make it available. However, it's now more than two years later, and the problem still has not been corrected.

Nhtsa recall 23V-838; TC2023-657 has made my car less safe to drive. The constant nagging and nannying requires me to take attention off the road. Please stop.

There are several safety related issues with the 2023 Tesla Model S 1) The horn is a tiny raised marking on the steering wheel (right side), and not like in "normal" car where pushing/hitting the center of the steering wheel will activate the horn. This is unsafe, since in emergency the driver automatically hits the center, and does not have time to look for the time horn "button" 2) The turn signals are also "buttons" on the steering wheel. It's OK when the car drives straight, but if you turn the wheel to either side, the driver must LOOK at the wheel, find the turn signal and then press it. 3) The parking warning system works intermittently. I already have three big scratches on my car which I bought in June 2023, when the system was silence when I was getting out of a parking space, and I hit the car next to me. 4) The Auto wipers don't always work. I was driving at 60MPH in heavy rain. The wipers were working fine when all of a sudden they stopped and my field of vision was totally obstructed.

First of all, I have been driving tesla for 9 years and love them. But this new model S has a tiny button for a horn instead of a center horn. This was a meer annoyance up until today when I was nearly plowed into a by a car going the wrong direction at 60mph and no horn when I'm slamming the middle of the steering wheel. This is a serious and dangerous design flaw that needs to be remedied and recalled. The panic of needing a horn is reflexively to slam your hands in the middle of the steering wheel, not look for a tiny button on the right hand side of the yoke.

Both of my rear tires have the inner tread (closest to the center line of the vehicle) separating from the sidewall. Tesla blames the issue on Michelin because the alignment is within specification, and Michelin blames Tesla claiming that the problem is the rear alignment. Every single Tesla Model S Plaid owner I know that has the factory 21” wheel option is having this issue somewhere between 6,000 miles and 16,000 miles (estimated). My vehicle has 12,151 miles on it now, and I first noticed the issue at approximately 11,100 miles. The vehicle is close to being unsafe to drive due to potentially catastrophic issues associated with one or both tires failing at speed. There is absolutely no indication of impending failure, and because it is the inside edge of the tires which are separating, and there is plenty of tread left on the tire, owners are unlikely to notice the issue, especially since the tires are failing well before anyone would expect a tire to fail. Thanks for your consideration. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)