Tesla Model S Complaints (2023)

111 consumer complaints on file.

#11586722May 3, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11585101April 24, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11584127April 19, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11583445April 17, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11583121April 15, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11582617April 12, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
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
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11580793April 2, 2024
SUSPENSION
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11578911March 22, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11577803March 16, 2024
STEERING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
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.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11576318March 8, 2024
SEATS, AIR BAGS
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.”
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11574385February 28, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11573522February 23, 2024
TIRES
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.
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
#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

← Back to Tesla Model S