2017 Tesla Model S Complaint Log

The fore link on the front left wheel (driver side) seems to have snapped. It got disconnected from the wheel when parking the car. Steering became impossible with the wheel wobbling and causing strong grinding noises. I had heard strange noises and weird snaps before when turning the wheel to get out of my garage a couple of times over the past few months but the car seemed to drive fine so I didn't get worried further. When I went for brunch on Sunday (02/06/22) and pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant I heard strong noises and received shocks through the steering column and I knew something was _very_ wrong. I took a couple of photos (see attached) and noticed what seemed to be the problem (wheel control arm - fore link). I called a tow truck and was glad I didn't run into the issue while on the highway... Tesla is now has the car and is asking for $1,500 for 2 Fore Link assemblies... The car only has 36,000 miles and has been exclusively driven in Northern California (no rust or corrosion from the dry climate)

Multiple times during our drive experienced random braking and alert sounds going off. Had wife and dog in the car which were also jolted forward due to the sudden braking in the middle of the freeway. Clear weather (post-rain) in night conditions.

My Tesla Model S has emergency braked several times on a divided highway when I was driving at about 65 mph. This has happened multiple times over the last 4 years. Sometimes it happens when I drive under a bridge overpass. Sometimes it happens if the camera sees roadwork equipment on the side of the road - no where near I'm driving. When this happens I'm always afraid someone is going to rear end me. I no longer use any of the self-driving features on my Tesla and do not enable the emergency braking option. I don't trust it.

The LED daytime running lights are failing for the second time on my vehicle. By failing, I mean they are burning out and no longer effective. This is a well-known issue with Tesla vehicles, however Tesla is doing nothing to resolve the problem. The only solution offered is to pay for an entire set of new headlights which costs nearly $2,600. The replacement headlights eventually fail within 24 months. Not having daytime running lights could be a safety issue. Tesla is aware of the component failure however no recalls for this defective part has been issued. I believe most Tesla owners of the "refreshed" Model S experience a degradation of the LED portion of the headlights, which are the daytime running lights. Today I was quoted $2,582 to replace both headlights. My lights were previously replaced in 2019 under the original vehicle warranty. Is there anything that can be done to have the lights replaced under a recall or have Tesla cover the cost of the repair?

When in Full Self Driving mode, on the highway going on an overpass.... the vehicle suddenly applies the brakes. Imagine going from 70 mph to 40 for no reason. I discussed with Tesla, they said the vehicle is reading the speed limit from the road below the overpass. Very unsafe.

My Tesla suddenly brakes, without any input or action by me, on the highway without warning causing me to take corrective action to avoid being rear ended. My wife refuses to drive with me. She feels unsafe in the car. I have submitted complaints to Tesla multiple times. The frequency of sudden braking has decreased but it still exists

While driving on the highway at 65mph on autopilot, the car brakes very aggressively without any obstacles obstructing my path. Clear road ahead and I got from 65 to 50 very quickly and for no reason. I won't accelerate back to 65, but again the car was aggressively braking me back down to 50mph. It begins to look like in brake checking the driver behind me and they become upset and drive aggressively around me. This has happened so many times, I've lost count. I'll fill out a single incident report, but this has been happening for the past couple of years. I know you guys are getting a lot of complaints about this issue so I wanted to let you know about another vehicle having the same problem.

In the last couple of months the incidences of random braking have increased. Usually this has been on the freeway when using adaptive cruise control and often when there are no other vehicles around. However last week I was driving manually (no cruise control or “self driving”) on a two lane road. My foot was on the accelerator pedal, and had been since the last stop light about a half mile before, when the car suddenly and vigorously applied emergency braking. I immediately pushed the accelerator to the floor to avoid being rear ended, but the car continued braking almost to a standstill before I had control again. There were no vehicles in front of me, however there were vehicles in the oncoming lane. They were not near the center line. I turned off the automatic emergency braking at that time because I felt it was dangerous to leave it active. I would additionally state that Tesla has a habit of rearranging the touch screen so that you no longer know where to find certain controls and is dangerous because it’s then necessary to take your eyes off the road to figure out how it works now. Finally, I’ve been driving Tesla vehicles since 2016 and I love them. I paid for the “full self driving” option years ago and a “beta” version became available a few months ago. This is not ready for prime time. If I wanted thrills I would go to an amusement park. Even more basic things like auto lane change often don’t work because the cameras are constantly getting blinded when the sun is low in the sky. Here in the north that is a good part of the day during the winter. I don’t see how their system can ever be made to work with the existing hardware. I wish there was a way to go back to a firmware version that worked better instead of them always tinkering with it. I feel like a guinea pig

There is an unresolved eMMC memory chip recall, but all my appointments to have it corrected were canceled, reasoning lock of parts. Tesla claims to have delivered software solution, however my center screen restarts frequently, and during that process several functions do not work. Among them A/C, defroster, heat... The reboot process is initiated automatically and takes anywhere from 3 to 12 minutes. After my recent appointment was canceled i was informed not to make further appointments for this recall.

I backed out of my driveway and heard something loose from the front part of the car. It wasn’t concerning enough to stop, thought it might be something moving around in the frunk. I drove to an appointment 3 miles away, parked, took out the tow bar from the frunk. After the appointment, I backed out, once the wheel was turned fully, I heard a snap. I got out and looked at passenger front tire. It was in contact with the rear wheel well. I straightened the steering wheel to pull the car back into the spot, but the tire was still rubbing on the wheel well. It had to be towed to tesla service center. It was diagnosed as a broken suspension forelink. I believe this could have been very unsafe if I had been driving at higher speeds. I also wonder about my drivers side forelink as well, since that wasn’t replaced.

Ever since I purchased this car I have suffered from Phantom Braking when using Cruise Control. As a result, I am unable to use any of the advanced Autopilot features. I spent $10,000 for something that has never even begun to work. Phantom Braking occurs seemingly at random, with no vehicles in front, nothing on the road and no overpasses or shadows. I try every few months to see if anything has improved, most recently in January on 101 north of Petaluma. The car suddenly braked, freaking out my passenger. I only try it when no other vehicles are around, so that I am not rear-ended when it happens, after some very scary near-rear-ending events early on. I have reported this problem to Tesla on MANY occasions but after being told "it is a known problem" I have given up reporting it. Is it repeatable? Yes, just drive on cruise control. Safety risk is being rear-ended. Has the problem reproduced by service? No, has it been confirmed, Yes. Has it been inspected by Tesla? Yes Warnings prior to the failure? No

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact received NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V00B000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages). While at the dealer the contact noted that the rear safety trunk latch does not release due to it being connected to the trunk release actuator. The "Trunk Open" warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed that the trunk actuator needed to be replaced but the manual interior trunk release does not function. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact purchased the trunk actuator however the replacement part failed to fix the vehicle. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure via email. The failure mileage was approximately 24,000.

The scroll wheel on the steering wheel failed which prevents the vehicle display from showing critical information. This scroll wheels are also used to reboot the computer when the system fails so it is a safety concern that needs to be addressed. Many Tesla owners have had a similar failure of the scroll wheels and a disassembly of the component clearly shows a defect in the manufacture of the part in that it has a thin extension that breaks due to normal use and as a result, failure of the scroll wheel is highly probable.

Since Tesla has disabled the radar, and went to vision only, my car is a nightmare to drive on autopilot or FSD on two lane roads at night. Phantom braking, numerous times it has went onto the shoulder thinking an oncoming car a 1/4 away was in our lane, twice it even went into the oncoming traffic lane. Never did this when radar was enabled. My car has radar but they turned it off in software update

My 2017 Tesla modes S has had a phantom braking for nearly five years. It usually occurs when the car is in cruise control and falsely identifies a vehicle (usually on the front right side) that isn't there. The sudden and rapid braking is disconcerting at best and dangerous at worst. Fortunately, I have not had an accident due to this sudden and inappropriate behavior. I have supplied this information to Tesla several times including dozens of "bug report" which is sent directly to Tesla when the incident occurs. Tesla has never fixed the problem.

On autopilot, if I approach a 60-mile speed limit section with speed more than 60mph and on my right is there a big container truck, my car suddenly slows down drastically. This makes people behind me mad because they think I brake-checked them. If I pressed on the speed pedal, it will accelerate but it will brake again if I release the speed pedal too soon. It almost consistently behaves like that.

Wiper motor failing

Reversing from my driveway it appears links or bolts on the steering and wheel suspension system failed. The wheels came into contact with the wheel cavity liner causing the steering to lock, the frame to protrude through the wheel cavity casing and the car to shut off or lock. The car is no longer safe to drive. The car is in my driveway, is available for inspection before I bring it back into Tesla for repair. Having just completed a highway drive, I dread to think what could have happened had this failure occurred on that journey at higher speeds. My car only has 40,000 miles and this issue or critical part failure appears to be premature. I have taken Video of the wheel moving independently to the car chassis structure. There was no warning in advance of the failure. I welcome an NHTSA or secondary inspection prior to repair by Tesla. I intend to deliver the car back to Tesla on 1/5/22.

While backing out of a parking space turning the steering I felt the car lurch and then heard a grinding noise from the left front tire area. Car was un-driveable and the front wheel moved forward and backward in the wheel well causing the tire to rub.

On numerous occasions the car, while on cruise control will suddenly, and for no reason brake. Sometimes very hard. The latest was today at 1336 MST.

Driving with autopliot engaged. I was in the left lane of a two lane highway when another car entered the highway to my right and car suddenly slammed on the brakes. i disengaged the autopilot. It happen several more time, so it is now a function I no longer use unless the highway is empty. I believe is was a $1000 option.

I was parallel parking and as I was turning the steering wheel I heard a loud think. Without thinking too much about it, I continued to try to park and get my car out of the way. There began to feel pressure on the front tire so I got out to evaluate the issue. I saw that the tire was attached to the arch liner of the vehicle. I quickly ran back into the car to straighten out the wheel. I then noticed the car was able to drive but when applying the break, the tire would touch/move onto the arch liner. I called roadside assistance and when they arrived, we evaluated that the force link in the suspension snapped. He asked if I hit anything but there was absolutely no impact, contact, potholes associated with this break. It seems to be faulty mechanics. Thankfully I was parking and not driving on a highway.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Front suspension failed while driving on highway at about 60MPH. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Car was hard to steer on highway when the the front suspension failed. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes. Tesla service confirmed that front suspension failed and did the replacement. See the attached receipts for details. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No

- What component or system failed or malfunctioned - Front suspension Fore Link - Fore Link Assy - How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? - Yes - Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer? - Yes - Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer? - Yes - Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? - No There is a TSB for this issue. However my car was just outside the recall window.

I have a 2017 Tesla Model S whose warranty just expired. The Model S is known for door handle defects and my car is no exception. The door handles on the Model S extend and retract and the defective design causes wire failure. This is well documented on the teslamotorsclub.com forums. I paid Tesla to replace the front passenger handle which would present but not open the door when pulled. Since this was an inconvenience and a safety issue I paid to have it replaced even though Tesla should cover the defect repair. I just checked my remaining door handles and they do not extend to open the door when the car is unlocked. The only one that functions is the new one I paid to replace. This means that if I were unconscious in the drivers seat anyone responding to aid me wouldn’t be able to open my door from the outside. In fact unless they started breaking in only one door would work. My chances don’t sound that great! I contacted Tesla with my concerns and they have provided me with a quote for replacement. I think they should cover the repair and recall all Model S to replace known defective handles. My car has version 2.5 of the defective design. The replacement I paid for is the 3.0 design which allegedly finally fixes the defect. I’m a Tesla shareholder and I know it would be expensive but everyone should have working door handles.

While driving in heavy traffic on highway 92, the left hand fore link assembly (Tesla part no 1041570-00-B) finally cracked. A loud crunch and a dark smoke plume was let out as the front left tire made contact with the wheel well. I stopped to check for a blown tire, but found none. The vehicle was still operable and maneuverable, though for any braking or more than mild turning, the tire again made contact with the wheel well and gave off loud crunching sounds. No warning lamps or messages prior to the failure, but some weeks prior, the left fore wheel's tire thread depth had started wearing down significantly – down to 1mm, vs the others being 4, 6, and 4 – this part had probably been slowly degrading until it finally cracked and failed permanently on the road. This problem is apparently widely experienced, reported, and published (see https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/cracked-forelink.95637 for others experiencing it at least back through 2017). I towed the vehicle to my nearest Tesla service center, and though it apparently is common and seems like a production defect, I had to pay for the whole repair of both fore link assemblies myself.

Headlight premature failure

Backing up into a parking space I heard a loud pop, soon after driving back home I noticed something felt loose on the LH side , come to find out my left fore link had snapped , my vehicle has low miles not even 25k and it snapped ! What if this would have happens at higher speeds! Supper scary! There needs to be a remedy to this!! RECALL!!

The main screen will go blank, turn off and not reboot up. The rear camera will not turn on, or turn off during backing up. Car will not boot up for several minutes.

Front passenger fore link broke while driving. Normal daily driving. Miles 29,426. Tesla is charging me for the repair even though it’s a known defect. Have photos to prove it.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact became aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, an unknown dealer informed the contact that the parts for the recall repair were not yet available. The contact stated while driving 55-65 MPH, the navigation screen inadvertently turned blank. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to continue to drive the vehicle. The contact also stated that the rearview camera would turn on with delay while reversing. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure and informed the contact that the parts for the recall repair were not yet available. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 58,000. Parts distribution disconnect

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact state that while driving at slow speeds over minor bumps in the road, an abnormal clunking noise would emit from the vehicle. He also stated that as the failure was intermittent and that no warning light would appear on the instrument panel during the failure. The contact had taken the vehicle to a service center where a service manager requested to ride along with the contact to evaluate the failure. The service manager was able to diagnose the failure and the service center replaced the fore link assembly on the driver’s side as well as other parts on the suspension. The contact questioned why the passenger’s side fore link assembly was not repaired. The contact was informed that the passenger’s side had no visible damage. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle had been repaired. The failure mileage was 13,224.

I was pulling out of my garage when I had trouble turning the wheel and there was this cracking sound from the front of the car. I looked at the left front tire and there was a liner inside the wheel well that crumpled against the tire and the steering was not responding the way it should. I pulled the car back into the garage as the car could not be safely driven. My wife and I were about to take a 3 hour road trip. Thankfully this happened when we just started on the road and not when we were driving 60 mph on the highway. I made an appointment with Tesla. The service technician came to the house a week later (the car remained in the garage) and told me I had to have the car towed to the Tesla service center; which I did today. He told me that the front control arm had snapped off. Tesla Service center currently has the car. I do have a piece that broke off from the car that I recovered inside my garage. There were no warning messages or other symptoms that I am aware off to the best of my recollection.

Compter screen goes black. I loose all functions . Its the same issue that is noted in the CR recall summary. However, they want to charge me 2000 to fix the firmware problems. Furthermore, the car has an extended warranty that apparently they won't honor.

Reversing out of my driveway and front driver side suspension control arm broke. Wheel smashed into wheel well crumpling in some sections and damaging other car paneling. Car was unable to drive and partially blocked street until towed. No warning lights or errors were present before or after the incident. Vehicle has not been inspected by anyone yet. Safety was not greatly compromised aside, but had failure had occurred on busier street or higher speeds could have been catastrophic.

The backup camera stopped working. I took the vehicle to the Tesla dealership and had to have the camera replaced. I am aware that there is a recall on Model 3 Tesla’s for a camera issue. I have also seen multiple sites online where Tesla drivers report issues with the backup camera for Model S vehicles.

The brakes have engaged while driving at high speeds (perhaps on about a half dozen occasions) when using either the adaptive cruise control or auto pilot, at a time when there were no road hazards or other cars in the forward or side vicinities. The braking that occurred was severe - a hard braking if you will. On two occasions, this same kind of braking occurred at the same point on a certain freeway that I was traveling on. This braking also occurred once while driving on a city street at low speeds with auto pilot engaged. The dates in which these incidents occurred were all in 2021. The only specific time frame I remember was in July 2021

I don't have this problem anymore because I had the circuit board replaced. The issue I have observed is the auto high beam feature doesn't work properly. They get stuck in the high setting and don't adapt to on-coming traffic. It's primarily in model y cars but all models have been observed. This might be as simple as needing the adaptive setting to be default or in my case a new control board replaced. The remedy before I got it fixed was to not have high engaged with the stock. I don't think there is a manual solution with the y or any newer teslas.

My vehicle had a 360-degree dashcam safety recording feature, and a safety feature called Sentry which warns people who are too close to the car or bump the car that it is recording them. Tesla removed the feature from my car, presumably because it did not work with the hardware (they quickly upgraded the next cars), and now shows the Sentry feature in the software and even pretends like it is recording, but it is not. The feature was removed on all HW 2.0 MCU 1 vehicles even though it's paid for in the Advanced Autopilot package. Tesla should have to recall these cars and put in the appropriate hardware that all cars built shortly after my car have once they learned that the equipment they put in was not sufficient for what was advertised. I have recordings from my vehicle from when the feature was there that I can share with you to prove that the feature was there, then it was removed because of the inadequate hardware in the car (rather than recalling them to upgrade the hardware).

Front RH side lower control arm unexpectedly snapped without any outside collision or driving error. Moving at low speed. Avoided catastrophic incident being on a local road and not the highway.

The upper control arm was replaced by Tesla outside of warranty because, as mentioned by technician, "the upper control arm ball joint was rubbing metal on metal and will fail eventually". I initially noticed this when the wheels were squeaking loudly while turning the wheel. According to the technician, this has been a common issue on the car. I realize Tesla did a recall in China but not in US so I'm submitting this info in case the data is helpful for any potential recall in the future. Please contact me for videos.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The local dealer and the manufacturer were made aware of the issue. The contact stated that the center console and display screen would go completely black. Parts distribution disconnect.

2017 Model S 75D, Suspension Defect. Pulling out of my garage, I heard a snap when I turned the steering wheel. I drove about 1 mile and could hear clicking. Did not receive an error message from the car, but I came back home and made an appointment with Tesla Repair. I tried to drive it to the appointment, but the entire front end of the car dropped and scraped as I pulled it out of my garage. I called Tesla Roadside assistance and had it towed to the Tesla repair shop. I never received any warning or messages from the car system.

My car with nearly 17,621 miles only had a part come off the suspension system off drivers side. Appeared to be an aluminum part that cracked in half while pulling from the garage. This car never was in a wreck. The suspension failed and my tire backed into the plastic casing which eroded the tires causing extensive damage. If this had occurred on the highway, this would have certainly caused a fatality to myself, family and other cars on the road. It appears this has happened to many prior owners of this vehicle, mainly model X and S around this time frame. I do not want to become a statistic before a recall is reached. As a physician, I am very concerned for my family and others that may be driving a dangerous vehicle.

MY TESLA MODEL S HAS THE V1 HARDWARE, ALSO KNOWN AS MCUV1, WITH THE DAUGHTERBOARD EMMC REPLACEMENT FROM THE PREVIOUS RECALL RUNNING ON FIRMWARE 2020.48.37.1. THE SOUND FOR THE ENTIRE CAR WILL CUT OUT. IT MIGHT COME BACK, BUT EVEN A REBOOT OF THE CAR DOES NOT SOLVE ANYTHING. THESE SOUNDS MAY INCLUDE BLINKER NOISE, SPEED LIMIT CHIMES, LANE DEPARTURE WARNING, AUTOPILOT ENGAGE/DIS-ENGAGE CHIMES, GEAR WARNINGS, COLLISION SAFETY CHIMES, EARLY BRAKING WARNING, AND A LOT MORE SAFETY-RELATED SOUNDS. THIS HAPPENS EVERY TIME I DRIVE THE CAR, NOT JUST THE REPORTED DATE. I HAVE BROUGHT IT IN FOR REPAIRS NUMEROUS TIMES, BUT THIS HAS NEVER BEEN ADDRESSED. I AM ONLY TOLD TO WAIT FOR A NEW FIRMWARE UPGRADE, WHICH I HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS NOW SINCE I FIRST REPORTED THE ISSUE TO TESLA. THIS ONLY HAPPENS WITH MCUV1 CARS AND THEY HAVE REFUSED TO PROVIDE A FREE HARDWARE UPGRADE EVEN AFTER MY INCESSANT REPORTS AND APPOINTMENTS STATING THAT IT IS UNSAFE.

I was driving at low speed when I suddenly felt a very loud pop and snap. I thought I had a flat tire. The car pulled to the left. I had trouble pulling over and thought I was going to hit someone. I was able to come to a stop abruptly. I checked for a flat and had none. I called Tesla after limping the car home because I could not see a flat. The car had a broken control arm and had completely pulled the left wheel against the frame. Almost like I got something really hard but I hadn't. I had just pulled away from a stop sign when the snap took place. I was put at risk as well as my child. I couldn't control my vehicle. There were no warning messages. The vehicle was repaired by tesla and they didn't even call me to tell me what was wrong with it. I found out it was the control arm from the documents i was given.

FRONT DRIVER SIDE CONTROL ARM/FORE LINK ASSEMBLY SNAPPED AND BROKE WHILE PULLING OUT OF A PARKING SPOT. LOW SPEED, STANDARD PAVEMENT. FELT LIKE I HAD RUN OVER A NAIL WHERE THE FRONT OF THE CAR LIFTED UP SLIGHTLY, POPPED, SOUNDED LIKE A TIRE POP, BUT THEN WOULD CONTINUE TO DRIVE. I DROVE IT HOME, BUT COULD FEEL THE CAR WASN'T RIGHT. STEERING WASN'T VERY RESPONSIVE.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2017 TESLA MODEL S. THE CONTACT RECEIVED NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 21V035000 (BACK OVER PREVENTION, VISIBILITY, EXTERIOR LIGHTING) HOWEVER, THE PART TO DO THE RECALL REPAIR WAS NOT YET AVAILABLE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT TESLA LOCATED AT 3248 LIONSHEAD AVE, CARLSBAD, CA 92010, (760) 305-4041) HAD EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE ISSUE. THE CONTACT HAD NOT EXPERIENCED A FAILURE. PARTS DISTRIBUTION DISCONNECT.

NHTSA RECALL #21V035. MY TOUCH SCREEN, FANS, BLINKERS AND LIGHTS HAVE GONE OUT WHILE DRIVING 4 TIMES IN THE LAST MONTH, IN MOTION ON CITY STREETS AND ON THE HIGHWAY. TESLA SAYS THEY DO NOT HAVE PARTS TO FIX IT. THE RECALL STATES THE FIX IS TO BE AVAILABLE STARTING MARCH. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FORCE TESLA TO ACTUALLY FIX THE CAR?

MY CAR WAS RECALLED DUE TO THE 8GB EMMC RECALL AND THIS IS MY SECOND TESLA. THEY HAVE MY OLD VIN NUMBER AND NOT MY NEW VIN AND THE ACCOUNT HAS AN ISSUE FINDING THE RECALL. I NEED HELP.