Tesla Model S Complaints

470 consumer complaints on file.

#11544002September 12, 2023
TIRES:SIDEWALL
Tire sidewall delaminated above the DOT markings. Vehicle purchased new, with only 8500 miles. No tires impacts and tire pressure maintained within recommended PSI (automatically remotely monitored by vehicle). Second rear tire to fail within last 500 miles of driving - failed in exact same way, and exact same place -delaminated above the DOT markings.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11543842September 11, 2023
SEAT BELTS
The drivers seatbelt unlatches by itself, without pressing the release button. Effectively, the drivers side seatbelt is unusable. Tesla has repeatedly refused to correct the problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11543709September 10, 2023
ENGINE
Vehicle became immovable due to sudden rear motor failure. Vehicle came to a complete stop in moving lanes of traffic with minimal warning to react.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11542504September 4, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
At least 6 times on two different trips, while driving with Adaptive Cruise control engaged, the car randomly and aggressively applied the breaks. It was so aggressive that if there had been a car behind us, they would definitely have rear ended us going 60+ miles per hour. It was difficult to hold the car in the lane when the breaks were applied so aggressively. We did some research and found that there were over 700 comments on this problem and it was being labeled as "fantom breaking". The breaking is very aggressive and very unsafe. The representatives at the dealership simply acknowledged the problem and said that Tesla will continue to try to correct it with a software download.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11542250September 2, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I have only owned my Tesla S for three months and have had several close call situations that would not have been as close if the car had a proper horn trigger located underneath the steering wheel airbag cover. The small capacitive button on the right side of the wheel simply isn’t safe, and 30+ years of driving has permanently imprinted the center location of the horn in my brain. In emergency situations, my subconscious makes me hit that large pad in the center of the wheel. And by the time I figure out why the horn isn’t sounding, it’s too late and I’ve had to take other evasive steering action that is often less safe.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11542041September 1, 2023
TIRES
Tire tread delaminated from the body of the tire, leading to loss of pressure and dangerous loss of vehicle control. Both rear tires had the same issue. 295 /30 R21
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541775August 30, 2023
SEAT BELTS
Rear passenger seat belt came unattached from receiver on braking. 7 year old in booster seat lunged forward
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541564August 29, 2023
STEERING
After backing out of a parking space and turning the steering wheel, the steering wheel locked up. I could still drive forward and reverse but had no ability to steer the car. I left the car in order to turn it off and when I returned and turned it back on, the steering unlocked. I had this happen two times today.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541526August 29, 2023
TIRES
My rear driver side tire failed on the interstate and lost pressure so quickly I had to pull over immediately. Thankfully the tire remained intact enough for me to safely pull over and no one was injured. After realizing this wasn’t just a puncture, I was shocked. This is either a major defect with the tire or with Teslas installation of the tire. The inner part of the tire was shredded but the rest of the tire has significant tread left. These tires are less than 1 year old and less than 16500 miles of use. The tires offer a 30,000 mile warranty.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541520August 29, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Tesla floor Mats are being held in place by small pieces of Velcro. These mats continually slide and get stuck under the pedals. Tesla has refused to address this common problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540722August 25, 2023
STEERING, STRUCTURE:BODY, SERVICE BRAKES
This is the second time in the last two weeks that my backup camera has stopped working. I have talk to the service center about this I was told that it is not a safety issue but a convenience to the driver and that I should use my mirrors and turn my head around to see what is behind me. I have taken my car in the service center to see if they can fix the problem (8/23/2023). Backup camera worked for a while than stopped again . I have made another appointment with the service center to see if they can fix the problem (8/29/2023.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540692August 25, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Vehicle braked without warning with cruise control engaged. Luckily there were no other vehicles near us when this phantom braking occurred.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11536291August 3, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The horn is a tiny button on the steering wheel. Several times when someone inadvertently started entering my lane I couldn't find the horn fast enough to warn them so had to veer away and brake suddenly to avoid them as I couldn't warn them.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535757August 1, 2023
SUSPENSION
Severe inner tire wear on the rear tires of Tesla Model S and X. I have a brand new 2022 Model S Long Range model and started noticing heavy inner tread wear on the OEM tires at only 15k miles. The car defaults the suspension to "Low" which goes into negative camber and wears out the inside of the rear tires. This is a known problem and discussed often online. See such forums from other owners: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/plaid-21%E2%80%9D-rear-tire-woes-factory-defect.269394/page-1 T
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535327July 30, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The adaptive cruise control has had phantom braking issues from day 1 of ownership (and through every software release from Tesla as I always update when a new one is available). Most of the time it's not possible to identify exactly what triggers the event. However, on July 27th 2023 I drove from Phoenix to Sacramento via I10, I210, I5 and had 6 phantom braking events. 5 were directly correlated with passing a semi with me in the #1 lane and the semi in #2. I had the car in adaptive cruise control mode, but I maintained steering control. The car approached the semis normally, but as soon as the car was completely alongside the truck it began braking aggressively. More than just allowing regenerative braking to slow the car, the brakes were applied. This did not happen with every passed truck, maybe 1 in 10. One of the 6 phantom events could not be correlated with any clearly identifiable cause. There is no warning when the car begins decelerating so it is a surprise to the driver. Further it is an extreme hazard to following vehicles who WILL be forced to react. I have not directly reported my specific events to Tesla. For one thing they have no reasonable way to do this (online access, phone access. The number they give to report problems hits an automated phone tree where there is no option for reporting issues). Clearly Tesla is well aware of their phantom braking issues. I'm reporting this to you now in order to apply more pressure to Tesla to finally resolve this. In general, considering some of the other phantom braking episode beyond this one specific trip, I have occasionally noticed the car displays a yellow signal light on the driver's display but only while phantom braking has already begun. I believe this is case where the car believed it saw a caution sign or signal light in it's cameras and was reacting to that. There were no signal lights, but the sun was either coming in that direction or reflected off of other vehicles or buildings.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11535138July 28, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The horn is a small button in a very small area of the steering wheel. The center of the steering wheel which acts as a horn on almost all other vehicles, does not work. In the event of an emergency, and the horn needs to be activated, it is difficult to find and press the small button, and the instinct would be to press the center of the steering wheel, which would not work and the horn would not activate.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534764July 27, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Adaptive Cruise Control. The vehicle in this mode suddenly brakes for no apparent reason which under the right circumstances could cause a collision. Tesla Service Center looked at it but could not reproduce. This has happened many times on various dates not just once. Sometimes it happens more than once on a trip, sometimes it does not happen. This happens with no warning. Tesla knows about this problem for years but has failed to correct.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534360July 25, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I was in the middle of a turn when someone veered into my lane. I tried to honk my horn to warn the other driver, but I couldn’t find it. The button was on the other side of the steering because the yoke was turned. I couldn’t find the horn button in time to avert a collision. Fortunately I was able to steer away in time.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11534339July 25, 2023
STEERING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Car has a small capacitive touch button for horn instead of center-press. During emergency incidents, it is not possible to react quickly and hit the horn, which has led to several near-misses due to a delay in alerting other drivers with the horn while searching for the horn button, which moves as the wheel (yoke) turns.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533847July 22, 2023
POWER TRAIN
Front axle half shafts have failed two times requiring replacement (on 3rd set now). During acceleration the steering wheel vibrates violently. Tesla service center diagnosed both times that front half shafts needed to be replaced. There seems to be some design or manufacturing problem - these items keep failing. The cost to fix is ~$1,650 so I delayed as long as possible until vibration became unbarable. First replacement was done under warranty, second replacement was required ~16,000 later and I was forced to pay for it. There is a Tesla service bulletin about this which I saw online.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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