Tesla Model S Complaints (2023)

111 consumer complaints on file.

#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
#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
#11565320January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565313January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565296January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565247January 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565242January 12, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11565103January 12, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:HORN
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
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11562700December 30, 2023
STEERING, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11561747December 25, 2023
STEERING
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11561109December 20, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11559916December 13, 2023
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, VISIBILITY/WIPER, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11559068December 8, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11558073December 2, 2023
WHEELS
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)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11557479November 29, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The problem is with the regenerative braking. On an icy road, when the driver takes their foot off the accelerator, regenerative braking starts immediately and is quite strong as this is an electric vehicle. If the braking power is more than the icy road can afford, the wheels will lock up. This can and has caused drivers, including myself, to lose control and spin out. There’s nothing that the driver can do to avoid this, as there is no setting to attenuate or disable this feature (although there used to be a way up until 2021). In fact, the user’s manual actually warns of this: “In snowy or icy conditions, Model S may experience loss of traction during regenerative braking.” That’s it—just a warning as there’s nothing the driver can do about besides to driving in these conditions.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11551946October 26, 2023
WHEELS
I purchased my new 2023 Tesla Model S in 02/2023 (delivered in Fife, WA). The vehicle has staggered wheel sets - rear wheels/tires wider than the front. After being hit by a vehicle in 07/2023, the two back wheels were damaged. I took the vehicle to Exotic Collision center in Bellevue, WA, a Tesla-approved body-shop. While replacing the wheels in 09/2023, the body-shop found that the front wheels were installed in the rear, and vice versa. As a result, the tires didn’t fit properly which internally damaged the two wheels where wider tires were fit on narrower wheels, and all four tires. This was unrelated to the accident, hence not covered by insurance. I reached out to Tesla in 10/2023, with photos from the body-shop, and contact info of their technician. However, Tesla had denied accountability and demanded I pay in full for replacement tires/wheels. The two reasons they provided are - 1) I should have heard a noise, and brought back the vehicle to them immediately, instead of waiting for a body shop to find it, and 2) I couldn’t provide evidence that I didn’t change the wheels out myself. To me, neither reasoning makes sense. For #1, Tesla couldn’t show me what kind of noise I should have expected. Also, my vehicle is the proof that there would not be noticeable noise from the issue in every case. On #2, it is a case of proving a negative, which does not seem logical in this case. I know this to be an issue at the time I took delivery, given nothing else was done to the wheel-tire assembly until the body-shop tried to replace them in September. Also, this seems to be a safety issue. The body-shop recommended we do not drive as-is, and I had to pay $2718.00 at a local Les Schwab tire store (on 10/23/2023) to purchase a set of tires and wheels so that I can drive the vehicle safely. I strongly believe this should be Tesla’s accountability to resolve. Along with sharing this safety issue with you, I urge your help to resolve the matter.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11551159October 21, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The car does not have a horn button in the center of the steering wheel. There have already been multiple emergency situations where I needed to use the horn but could. It locate the button during the time sensitive emergency. This was a contributor to an an accident on 10/1.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11549374October 11, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Dear NHTSA Officials, I recently became the proud owner of a 2023 Model S. As pleased as I am with most aspects of the vehicle, there's a pressing safety concern I believe warrants your immediate attention. Nature of the Issue: Over the past two weeks, I encountered two separate incidents where nearby vehicles swerved into my lane. On both occasions, my instinct was to press the center of the steering wheel, expecting the horn to sound. However, it did not. Design Flaw: The actual horn mechanism in these vehicles is situated as a small capacitive touch button on the right side of the steering wheel. For seasoned drivers, such a drastic deviation from convention is not only counter-intuitive but can prove dangerous. Potential Resolution: There is already a discourse around a potential fix for this issue. An over-the-air software update by Tesla was proposed around 18 months ago, which, if implemented, could address the concern. Here is the pertinent tweet from Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, dated March 1, 2022: Link to Post: [XXX] Request for NHTSA Intervention: I urge the NHTSA to investigate this matter and compel Tesla to either release the promised firmware update or retrofit the steering wheels on the affected Model S and Model X vehicles produced since the design refresh. The implications of this design oversight go beyond just the driver's safety and extend to anyone in proximity to these vehicles. I trust that you will treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves and look forward to your timely action. Thank you, [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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