Tesla Model S Complaints

470 consumer complaints on file.

#11503070January 22, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Malfunctioning system: AUTOPILOT, Self Driving. The vehicle is available for inspection. We were put at RISK following having several 'NEAR MISS' incidents. None of which resulted in an accident. The 2022 Model S PLAID with less than 2,929 current miles as of this entry, while being driven in daylight & evening hours on major freeways and interstate roads in Central & Southern California while using the "AUTOPILOT" FULL SELF DRIVING (FSD) has multiple times for NO APPARENT REASON & WITHOUT WARNING suddenly 'PANIC' BRAKED the vehicle from freeway speeds to less than 30 MPH. In one instance this caused the late model vehicle following us to take immediate evasive action and swerve into the adjacent lane without warning and then the vehicle HONKED continuously at us while passing us to our left. On each of the occasions I have had to OVERRIDE the Autopilot by pressing on the accelerator pedal as soon as I realized what was happening! On other occasions when in 'AUTOPILOT' self-driving mode, the vehicle has attempted to change lanes to exit the highway without awareness of how close the vehicle was to the end of the exit lane. Again I had to OVERRIDE the Autopilot by turning the yoke back into the lane to avoid running into barriers. I had believed that because this is a 'BETA' version that these conditions were being worked on and would be corrected with a software update. I have had numerous software updates installed. The current Version is 2022.44.30.10. For this reason, I have not reported these incidents to the manufacturer or made an appointment with the Local Tesla Service Center. The problems continue even with the current software update. Until recently, I was unaware of others having these same issues or that significant injury, death, damage, have occurred. However, since being made aware of this problem, I chose to report my experiences. I will follow-up and make an appointment with the manufacturer to have the vehicle inspected.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502382January 18, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Consistent with what is being reported on social media sites, my 2021 Tesla Model S Plaid is supposed to get 390 miles of range but in fact only gets approx 225-240 actual miles on a fully charged battery. This is wildly short of claimed mileage. Seems to be a common issue with Tesla Model S & Model X Plaid cars. Don't know if it's limited to the Plaid version of these cars or not
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502303January 18, 2023
STEERING, POWER TRAIN
When slightly pressing the accelerator while at speeds between approximately 35-70 MPH, there appears to be a vibration felt in the front of the car. It can be felt in the yoke and the pedal. It could affect the driver's ability to break or turn the wheel in emergency. It appears more than 60% of the owner of the same model and year has detected a similar shaking in the yoke and pedal, yet the manufacture delays to resolve it. https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/poll-vibration-felt-when-slightly-accelerating-refresh-mode-s-plaid-or-lr.236933/
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502181January 17, 2023
STEERING
The horn placement on the yoke steering is dangerous and problematic. It is illogical and useless in the prevention of accident avoidance. I have had several scenarios where I have needed to use the horn and could not find it because I was in a turn, or I intuitively slammed the palm of my hand on the center of the yoke, where the horn should be located. Also, when holding the yoke in the proper position my thumb is not long enough to reach the horn button. Just by luck and quick action I was able to avoid being hit in multiple scenarios. It is DISTRESSING and UNNERVING to be driving a vehicle where you CANNOT find the horn when needed! I cannot stress enough how important it is to recall these vehicles and place the horn in the center of the yoke/steering. How this design ever passed safety regulations and put into production is mind boggling!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501779January 14, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Sudden braking while using Adaptive Cruise Control. Multiple “Phantom Braking “ incidents during a long road trip.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501698January 13, 2023
STRUCTURE:BODY
1. When I was driving, the left rear door suddenly opened by itself. 2. It would cause car accident, injures and even death. 3. I haven't go to the service center yet, because it's very hard to make a timely appointment with Tesla. 4. No. 5. No.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501630January 13, 2023
STEERING
During normal driving, I was unable to activate the horn on a regular basis. The yoke steering wheel does not have a horn activator in the traditional "center" part of the steering column, and the purported method of activating the horn by covering all of the buttons on the right side of the steering york never worked for me. It's dangerous and I found myself on multiple occasions not being able to activate the horn.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501003January 10, 2023
STEERING
The steering wheel and lack of lane change and transmission stocks makes the vehicle hard to control at low speeds. Swiping the screen forward for Drive and backward for Reverse does not create any tactile confirmation. Low speed parking lot maneuvers have already resulted in a few close calls. Along the same lines, the steering wheel makes low speed control difficult. Finally, the missing lane change stocks creates an obstacle for normal and high speed maneuvering as the process is not intuitive, confirmation of the blinker is somewhat absent, and you can’t always use the signal depending on the wheel angle. If the yoke is turned the stocks are impossible to signal as well honking the horn. I encourage the reviewer to simply turn the wheel and attempt to honk or signal a lane change. As a final note, I’d prefer not to share my personal information with the manufacturer. The companies ability to follow up with all its in car electronics and software is impressive but can be detrimental to the end users experience. Software rollbacks, feature rollbacks, etc is not a foreign tactic to get users to comply for Tesla. Other than that, it seems like a fantastic car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11500756January 9, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Yesterday while my car was supercharging. Loud Arcing and electrical sounds were heard. I was inside the car with my seatbelt on as I was only planning on supercharging for about 10 minutes. Approximately 2 minutes after charging started I heard loud electrical sounds similar like when a transfer explodes. I was getting ready to get out of the car and it stop. Within 30 seconds or so my HVAC stop working and "cabin climate control system requires service-Cabin heating/cooling limited or unavailable" caution message was displayed. The cabin heating stop working completely and it was about 29 degrees f in Chicago. I went a little deeper into settings and more than 10 faults were showing relating to high voltage condition detected. I call roadside assistance for a tow and I was told I could still drive the car home which I did. Car sat overnight and faults remained and did not cleared. I had to drive in below freezing temperatures this morning to work and I had to wipe my windshield clean and it resulted in me NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE OUTSIDE DUE TO BEING COMPLETLY FOG UP. It looks like my heat pump stop working completely which shutdown the HVAC in the car. This is a safety hazard due to visibility outside car getting possibly blocked due to no A/C.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11500234January 5, 2023
POWER TRAIN
The gear shifter is unreliable without visually checking the gears on screen. It may or may not register the shift during selection. When merging from residential traffic to a main road turning right, the driver has to pull forward to check the incoming traffic. In ideal situation, if the other vehicles are approaching at speed, the driver would want shift in to reverse and backup from hanging over main road and back to the residential alley. However the inconsistencies of the gear selector make it dangerous during those occasions. The car could fail to register the shift, or cannot shift fast enough to reverse. It poses significant risks to the driver and other vehicles on the road. A front/rear cross traffic alert or a better mechanism to shift into reverse should be implemented. The mounted secondary gear selector in the center console does not light up during this cases, it it still require a visual check when defeat the purpose during emergency.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11499743January 2, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The instrument panel (screen) goes blank for approximately 5 seconds while driving. This issue happens at random. It has happened while on city streets, the highway, and in parking lots. Because of this issue, I cannot see my speed, the visualization of the car and surroundings (blind spot or pedestrians), any warnings that may pop up (such as an issue with the Autopilot or Full Self Driving Beta), nor any lighting or wiper information (for auto high beams and auto wipers). Tesla says it is a known issue, and it is software related, but there is no timetable for a fix. They do not believe a replacement screen/components will have any effect, so they are not offering any type of fix.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11498813December 25, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The Traffic Aware Cruise Control disengaged suddenly and unexpectedly multiple times during highway driving and rapidly decelerated from 70 mph to 35 mph. This occurred several times on a clear freeway without any obstructions or any basis for disengagement and placed vehicles behind at risk due to the sudden deceleration.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11498087December 19, 2022
SUSPENSION
Rear tires have alarming wear on the inside, where the inside sidewall meets the tread. This is identical to the other complaints that are logged on NHTSA about Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rear tires on Tesla Model S Plaid cars. Tires are: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 295/30 ZR21 102Y XL BSW. Specifically, the right rear tires loses pressure and needs to be reinflated. The left rear tire, according to inspection, actually looked worse, but is not yet losing pressure. This is impossible to see or know about without removing the tire or putting the car on a lift, since it is on the is inside sidewall/tread of the rear tire. There is high danger of a blowout because of some type of defect (camber/suspension or tire) which cannot be seen by the consumer. I would have never known about this if the tire technician had not alerted me, and probably would have had a high-speed blowout.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11498086December 19, 2022
TIRES
Rear tires have alarming wear on the inside, where the inside sidewall meets the tread. This is identical to the other complaints that are logged on NHTSA about Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rear tires on Tesla Model S Plaid cars. Tires are: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 295/30 ZR21 102Y XL BSW. Specifically, the right rear tires loses pressure and needs to be reinflated. The left rear tire, according to inspection, actually looked worse, but is not yet losing pressure. This is impossible to see or know about without removing the tire or putting the car on a lift, since it is on the is inside sidewall/tread of the rear tire. There is high danger of a blowout because of some type of defect (camber/suspension or tire) which cannot be seen by the consumer. I would have never known about this if the tire technician had not alerted me, and probably would have had a high-speed blowout.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497969December 19, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
All 2021 Tesla Model S and/or X do not have horns in the center of the steering wheel. Instead, they have a button, which is impossible to find during an emergency situation, especially after many decades of muscle memory has been developed. Keep in mind that many, if not most, who can afford one of these cars do have decades of driving experience. I would really appreciate if these cars were recalled and Tesla were forced to replace the steering wheels with one that has a horn in the center of the wheel.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497620December 15, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Our Tesla, in the "Full Self Drive" mode, has on more than one occasion applied the brakes suddenly without warning while traveling on the freeways. The date I indicate below was the last occurrence. I see that others have indicated this malady and I wanted to add our voice to this conversation. Thank you
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11496006December 5, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The navigation system keeps giving wrong directions due to an error in the GPS signal, I had to use my phone for route frequently. This is distracting and dangerous, and can lead to fatal accidents.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11495814December 2, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL:ACCELERATOR PEDAL
The contact owned a 2021 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving approximately 100 MPH, as he took his foot off of the accelerator, with the vehicle brake control set to "aggressive slowdown," as the vehicle slowed the contact looked into the rearview mirror and observed white smoke issuing from the rear of the vehicle. The contact then depressed the brake pedal, and instead of slowing the vehicle accelerated at a dramatic rate and the contact lost control of the vehicle and left the roadway. The contact stated he was not aware of any warning lights being illuminated. The vehicle went into a ditch and continued straight following the ditch. The contact stated that the vehicle had not lost any speed, rather it seemed to be going faster. The vehicle crashed through a fence, drove up a slight berm, and went airborne. The contact's vehicle crashed into the ground, front end first, after flying 130 feet in the air, and began to roll end over end two to three times. The contact and his two passengers were unconscious after impact with the ground, the vehicle had come to a stop and caught on fire. The contact had attempted to exit the vehicle once he regained consciousness, however, he had difficulty since the driver's side door was jammed and his left ankle was dislocated and his right ankle was broken. The contact had managed to crawl out of the vehicle through the driver's side window which had completely shattered. The contact stated that the passenger in the front seat was not seriously injured, although he was transported to a hospital and released that same day. The passenger in the rear was transported and hospitalized with internal bleeding and a broken rib, the contact was not told which rib was broken by the passenger. The vehicle had been engulfed in fire and the contact had rolled into a ditch, a passerby was on the scene and called emergency services. The contact was transported from the scene by a rescue helicopter and flown to a trauma center. At the trauma center, the contact was treated for int
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
3
Deaths:
0
#11495428November 30, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The adaptive cruise control will erroneously do a hard stop for no reason. This could cause an accident if someone is following me. The owners manual has a disclaimer / warning and Tesla states this feature is beta. They (Tesla) need to step up and fix this issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11494709November 23, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I lost the use of my right hand and am unable to activate the horn as it is a tiny button on the right side of the yoke rather than simply pressing the center of the yoke.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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