Tesla Model S Complaints

470 consumer complaints on file.

#11572290February 16, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES, SEAT BELTS
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model S. The contact became aware that the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Numbers: 24V051000 (Electrical System), 23V838000 (Electrical System), 23V862000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages, Electrical System) and 23V488000 (Seat Belts); however, the part to do the recall repairs were not yet available. The contact stated that the recall remedies were over-the air (OTA) software updates, and OTA updates had not been performed on the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a Tesla Service Center, who informed the contact that he needed to pay the diagnostic test fee prior to the recall repairs. The contact declined to pay the fee because recall repairs were free of charge. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11571328February 11, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Horn is not located in the center where it can be found in the event of an emergency. Instead it is in tiny non-tactile button on the right side. Have had incidents in which I almost got into an accident and needed the horn to alert the other vehicle of an impending collision. In each instance I was not able to locate the horn in a timely manner.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11571196February 10, 2024
WHEELS
Tire separation on the inside rear tires. I purchased my car new and had continued slight loss of air pressure at 12,000 miles. I inspected the rear tires and found one of the tires and begun to split open (at the seam where tread adheres to the tire), the other tire once sprayed with soap water had tiny pin hole leaks all the way around the same seam. I had tires replaced and filed a tire warranty claim. The original tires were Michelin Pilot Sport 4S and the tires I replaced them with were the same. Now at 30,343 miles the same problem occurred, both tires show separation around the inside seam with the tread still remaining. If left uncorrected/addressed the tires would eventually blow out driving.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11571165February 10, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11571150February 10, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11570273February 6, 2024
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11569741February 4, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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 steering wheel being the horn, as is the case with almost every car. So when is a horn used? Mostly in an emergency to warn other drivers. How does it make sense to take eyes off the road and look for that horn button on the steering wheel when even fractions of seconds are important to avoid a crash. I urge NHTSA to require Tesla to install stalks for turn signals and a center horn button, as these poorly thought of design elements jeopardize people's safety every time you drive the car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11569407February 1, 2024
STEERING
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11568799January 30, 2024
BACK OVER PREVENTION
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while reversing in her driveway, the front driver's side camera did not indicate there was a gate in the viewing area. The driver crashed into a metal gate on her property. The front bumper was damaged. There was no beeping sound while approaching the object. There were no warning lights illuminated. There were no reported injuries. The vehicle was taken to a body shop, where it was diagnosed that the bumper needed to be replaced. The rear bumper was damaged while at the body shop. The mechanic stated that the clips were missing. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact removed the USB and was unable to locate the incident. The manufacturer was contacted, who referred her to an approved body shop. The approximate mileage was 11,544.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11567372January 23, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
All tesla models have excessively bright headlamps, blinding oncoming traffic. There are many teslas where I live and commute. I had many instances where I could not see what was in front of me on a two lane road due to a tesla coming in the opposite direction at night. It is seriously dangerous to have these cars with such bright lights on the road. They create a hazard for every driver in the oncoming lane. I strongly believe that these bright headlamps ought to be illegal, as they jeopardize safety of drivers.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565490January 14, 2024
POWER TRAIN
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
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565424January 14, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565413January 14, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565388January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The horn is a button. As someone almost steered into me, I looked down to find the horn and almost ran into a child as my car swerved!!! This is incredibly unsafe to hide the horn button in an incredibly small area next to the wiper button and cruise control. How this was approved is beyond me!! Tesla needs to make all current cars correct by having the horn be accesible. Like every other car in the world!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565372January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565357January 13, 2024
STEERING
No proper horn button, this is a major safety issue. Horn should be in the center or steering wheel. Almost got into crash.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565342January 13, 2024
STEERING
The horn is a touch button on the steering wheel which makes it hard to find and press in emergency.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565341January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The horn is very difficult to hit in case of emergency. You have to look down and find the horn button, which is especially problematic for example if a child runs in front of the car, you have to take your eyes off the road and find the horn button and press it. All other cars in the world use the center of the steering for a horn, this model of Tesla S does not.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565338January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The horn button is to difficult to use during an emergency. Tesla knows this that’s why there cybertruck has the horn in the center of the wheel.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565330January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

← Back to Tesla Model S