NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2023 Tesla Model X. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026
Couldn't find little horn button in an emergency. Horn should be activated by center push on steering wheel, not some random little button that is hard to find in an emergency when the wheel is not straight.
Horn should be relocated to center of steering wheel from small button on steering wheel. Very dangerous in times of emergency, as hand goes directly to center of steering wheel.
Subject: Urgent ADAS Issue: UI_a114 Error in Teslas with EAP/FSD in East Oahu I'm reporting a critical, location-specific safety concern affecting Teslas with Enhanced Autopilot or Full Self-Driving in East Oahu, particularly when heading westbound. This widespread issue, known as error UI_a114, disables all Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) without warning. It impacts essential safety features, such as Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keeping, and Emergency Braking, presenting significant risks. Tesla Support in Honolulu acknowledges this as a multi-year issue among East Oahu Tesla owners with EAP/FSD, regardless of activation status. This suggests a software-related problem or environmental interaction unique to this region, necessitating urgent investigation and resolution to ensure driver and public safety. Further details are provided in the attached PDF. Your attention and action on this matter are crucial.
Using Tesla Autopilot I was passing a semi truck on Ohio Turnpike and as I was right next to the semi truck my Tesla suddenly started to flash red warning light and make a loud squealing sound and began to rapidly decelerate. Luckily no one was right behind us or likely a rear collision would have occurred. The semi truck was a little closer than normal to me but was still within its lane. This happened twice that day so I stopped using Autopilot as it was dangerous and very frightening to me and my passenger.
The contact owned a 2023 Tesla X. The contact stated that while driving at 25 MPH, the contact became distracted by an incoming phone call and crashed into another vehicle. The air bags deployed upon impact and the contact became locked inside the vehicle. The whereabouts of the other driver were unknown. The police were called to the scene but were unable to assist with the contact's removal from the vehicle. After close to an hour, the contact finally found a latch to unlock the vehicle. The contact sustained a headache as a result of the accident but did not seek medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed from the scene to a Tesla service center. The contact stated that the forward collision avoidance feature failed to operate as needed which should have prevented the accident. Upon investigation, the contact discovered that the vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V862000 (Latches/Locks/Linkage; Electrical System). The manufacturer was informed of the failure but offered no assistance. The vehicle was later totaled without the contact's knowledge. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.
1.Tesla failed to adequately warn us that the 6 sensors in the front and back of the 2023 Model have been removed. Comment from Tesla Collision Center team in Carlsbad: "We both understand the calibration issue won’t be fixed overnight. A program should be in place to educate customers on the change from sensors to cameras." 2. Objects and images in the rear camera are much closer than they appear and the camera sensors do not work properly. Where was this warning when we bought this car? From Jared's Tesla Service report: "There are certain feature limitations which can trigger warning messages and cause some inaccuracies when using this feature. Service Engineering is aware of these issues and is working towards implementing improvements via future firmware updates." 3. As a result of Tesla's failure to warn us, I relied on the rear camera and camera "sensors" and backed into the corner of my neighbor's open garage causing $6,322 in damage.
As I drove my Tesla Model X Plaid into my driveway towards the garage to park, the vehicle suddenly accelerated itself (I have FSD but wasn’t using it at that time) and drove into the garage door as it was still opening, slamming and crushing into all the items that were on one side of the garage. When I quickly realized what was going on, I slammed the brakes and made the car stop. My daughter luckily was waiting for me on the stairs of the garage. If she were standing in the garage instead, it would have been fatal. I have already called Tesla about the incident and they said someone will visit and take a look in about a week. This happened on Sunday Sept 17th 2023 around 8 pm. When I bought the car in Dec 2022, as soon as I took the delivery of the car, I have experienced the front driver and passenger windows that kept opening by themselves multiple times. I had called Tesla and they replaced both the doors and it didn’t happen again after that. I asked the technician at the time that if the car can’t control such small things, how can I trust my life with its FSD? He assured me that this was the safest car and had multiple sensors that are constantly monitoring the safety of the car, but in my case I am shocked to see that the sensors didn’t do anything to stop when the car slammed itself into the garage.
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated while driving at various speeds or attempting to start the vehicle, there was an abnormally strong foul odor coming from inside the vehicle. The contact stated the odor ceased after driving for 30 minutes. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer three times. The contact stated that the local dealer replaced the filters, and the contact was advised to turn off the air conditioner and turn it on while driving; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
Touch capacitive buttons on the steering wheel and doors are major safety hazard. The touch buttons on the steering wheel for critical functions like blinkers, headlights, wipers and the horn are all moving with the steering wheel (so you have to look down to locate these critical functions while still moving, especially if you are turning at all), and worse, these buttons sometimes fail to activate even when you do push them. I have several times tried to turn on my blinker for a sudden lane change due to a hazard ahead, and the blinker does not respond / activate. My wife was driving and someone started to run a stop sign in front of us - I yelled "HIT THE HORN!" and she replied with "I CAN'T FIND IT!!!" (we were driving on a bend in the road, the steering wheel was not in the neutral position, and the horn is a tiny touch capacitive button). The button on the driver door to get out is the same or very similar, and I have a 30 second video I can forward you of how this button can fail to respond. In the video, you can see the tip of my finger bend when I first touch the button, I move my finger all over and around the button, and nearly 15 seconds later, the button finally responds and opens the door. The driver door also pops out about 10 degrees when it does open, then becomes very stiff and you have to push hard to get the door to open the rest of the way. The button for the headlights is also a safety issue - if you push and hold the headlight button for too long, it locks the high beams on, instead of just flashing them (or a long duration flash). When you push the headlight button, a menu pops up on the bottom center portion of the center screen, that will allow you to toggle automatic high beams on and off, but when moving, it is only there for 2-3 seconds, and the buttons are extremely small, making it hard to change settings for the headlights safely (must look away from the road, and try to hit the small buttons while moving / bouncing around).
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, he noticed the rear fender had detached and fallen onto the ground. The contact stated that the driver's side front wheel well had also detached from the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where the parts were put back in place using adhesive. The contact stated that the front fender had detached previously but had been reinstalled using adhesive. The contact was unaware of the cause for the failure and why the dealer was using an adhesive to reinstall the parts. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 9,649.
I'm not sure why NHTSA let Tesla remove the horn from the center of the steering wheel. Its now a button on the steering wheel. This is literally something Tesla is trying to fix that i'snt broken. The horn is a critical safety feature. Now that its a button its next to impossible to honk the horn while turning. There are certain tactile features that we drivers have all grown accustomed to and now they are being taken away and making the driving experience more dangerous for the driver, passengers and other vehicles/ pedestrians/ bikers. Please mandate that Tesla keep the horn in the center of the wheel so that we can hit it when its really needed instead of miss critical (mili)seconds looking for the button. I would also encourage you to consider mandating that the buttons on the wheel for signaling also be mandated to stay on a stalk. Most of the time the buttons are sufficient, except again when you're making two quick turns...you shouldn't have to look at the wheel in order to figure out which button signals left and right.
The power steering appeared to fail, and the wheel is locked in a semi straight position. It requires tremendous force to turn the wheel. This is a major safety issue to have this happen while driving.
Due to the location of the horn on the 2023Tesla Model X it poses a serious problem in an emergency. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The location of the horn on the steering column is a serious danger in an emergency due to its design and location making to hard to access in a emergency situation How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? there have been several close calls with other drivers merging over and there is not enough time to apply the horn due to its location. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? i know at least one other tesla model x owner who has reported this same issue to Tesla Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? The problem is due to the poor design which puts the horn in a bad location with the potential of causing an bad incident.
I have a 2019 Tesla model 3 with ultrasonic sensors and the parking assist system is great. I always feel like I can trust the system and the reported distances. My 2023 Tesla model x has no ultrasonic sensors and the parking assist system is terrible. So many false positives and false negatives that I just ignore the system. I have to park just by my own eyes and judgement. This puts my own car, other cars and private property at increased risks of collisions.
The falcon doors (Model X) has sensors that either permit or prohibit safe and prompt exit of the vehicle. Due to the doors being motorized, the rear passenger presses a button to begin to open the doors. In the case where the passenger feels their safety is compromised, or due to a safety hazard where they need to leave the vehicle - both of my doors have been repaired in total, or individually eight times to no resolve. These sensors are intended to detect (using ultrasonic sensors) whether there’s something blocking the door. It will open a quarter of the way, then stop and the passenger must hold the button for several additional seconds in order to further open the doors. Not only is this sensor defect a safety hazard, but also the delay after pressing the button and holding it is increasing the time it takes to safely and promptly exit the vehicle. One final note is that passengers cannot exit the rear doors (Model X) if the vehicle loses power due to not having a physical latch release like the other Tesla models. The right falcon door had this issue prior to taking and upon delivery. The sales person informed me it was common for this issue and blamed it on the interference from nearby vehicles. Even after six or more repairs, the issues continue.
I have been in situations where braking and steering isn’t really an option but honking is to let the other driver know where i am at. A button horn on steering wheel, is unintuitive and difficult to use and difficult to find in situations of emergency when every second matters. Happened to me when i was entering a parking lot while the other driver was backing up from his parking without looking behind. i was unable to alert the driver via honking as I didn’t want to waste precious time finding horn button, so the only option for me was to speed up to get out of his way. That i felt was a dangerous manoeuver given the small space. Having a standard car horn in the middle of the steering wheel is safe and easy to use. I hope my complaint is taken into consideration.
Interior rear light constantly blinks spontaneously while driving. There is no control to turn this light on or off. I have scheduled repair with Tesla and they have not fixed the issue. When I drive at light I get distracted by the strob light effect effect of this blinking slight. It’s on land off for no reason whether I’m driving or parked with the car powered off and all doors locked.
When driving at highway speed and using cruise control, the car periodically applies its brakes. Sometimes it will only do so for a second or two, then return to the cruise control speed; other times it will continue longer and I will have to intervene by applying pressure to the accelerator pedal. In shorter "phantom braking" episodes the speed may only be reduced by five or ten miles per hour; in longer episodes it could drop by twenty miles per hour before I intervene. I have driven the car for almost three months and have experienced this no fewer than twenty times. To be fair, I have driven almost nine thousand miles during that time, so I have spent a considerable amount of time on highways. When communicating with Tesla's service department, I received a reply message reading, in part: "... slowdowns for apparently no reason are generally caused by a few reasons ... This can easily be overridden by pressing the accelerator pedal ... There are no faults with any of the driver assistance hardware in the vehicle ... these behaviors are a limitation of software in the system ...A service visit is not needed at this time." I have owned cars for almost forty years and have never had these issues while using cruise control. That Tesla finds this acceptable is absolutely not acceptable. I believe it is an unsafe condition, as I have no control over drivers behind me and how they may act in the case of my car decelerating for no apparent reason.
Full Self Driving suddenly speeds up while waiting at red lights
Again I recently purchased new tire from Tesla in January 2023 In May 23rd 2023 I had another flat tire while driving - This time technician showed me that tire had a tear inside wall - and It must be a defect in material since Tesla does NOT cover tire warranty I had to pay for it again I replaced 3 tires since November 2022 till now in my new Tesla I believe this brand of tire should be recalled and replaced at free of charge
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that while attempting to park the vehicle in a parking lot, the vehicle independently accelerated and crashed into a supermarket door without warning. The air bags deployed upon impact. The contact was taken to the hospital for a checkup but did not sustain any injuries; no other injuries were reported. A police report was filed. The supermarket door was damaged as a result of the accident. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it remained in their possession. Recently, the contact received a notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V679000 (Electrical System; Service Brakes, Hydraulics) which was linked to the vehicle failure. The contact called the dealer about the recall and was informed that the part remained on backorder. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100. Parts distribution disconnect.
The headlight high beams do not properly light upward and the service center refuses to replace the headlight. They also had another new car the same way. Both defective which is a manufacturing problem and safety risk.
There was not an incident. But the vehicle is not so safe. The driver needs to move eyes from the road for many normal functions like wipers, horn, high beam. In addition, using the phone is dangerous because all the information is displayed on the main screen and requires the driver to look away an select options. This should be displayed in the dash board behind the steering wheel (like it was in prior models)
The windshield wipers, which are automatic only do absolutely NOTHING when it is raining. The only thing I can do is hit a button on the steering wheel each time I need the wipers to clear the windshield. Tesla claims is it working as intended...which apparently is not at all. When it began raining the last time I drove the car, it was nighttime and I had to stop in the middle of the road because the car gets overwhelmed when you hit the wiper button too many times in a row and it stops wiping entirely. This is very unsafe. And here is the much worse issue. The automatic emergency braking triggers randomly all the time. If there is a shadow across the road, it might slam on the brakes. If there is an overpass, it might slam on the brakes. If there is nothing in front of you on a perfectly straight freeway with no other vehicles around, it might slam on the brakes out of nowhere. I just drove this car 60 miles today and had 6 braking events where it went from 60-70 MPH to 30 MPH or less. A few of these incidents happened with cars directly behind me. This car is going to cause me to be injured when it suddenly stops for no reason and a driver behind me cannot react in time. It needs to be recalled or taken off the road. One of the braking events was so sudden and harsh that the tires squealed for a moment. Also, this is my 4th Tesla. The first three had none of these issues. The latest one is dangerous to the point that I am not comfortable driving it anymore.
I recently traded in my 2017 Tesla Model X for a 2023 Tesla Model X. I am concerned the falcon wing doors on the 2023 Model X do not have the same safety features they did on the 2017 Model X, posing greater risk of injury and harm. My 10 year old daughter suffered a concussion when the falcon wing door opened, failed to detect her standing nearby, and hit her on the head. I brought the car into my local Tesla service center where we reproduced the behavior of the falcon wing door. I stood close to the door while a tech and sales representative observed as it hit me while it opened. However, after leaving the car with the service center to be evaluated, Tesla concluded the falcon wing doors were functioning as expected and told us it is our responsibility to stand clear of the doors and that while the doors have sensors, they do not cover all areas around the door. I escalated the claim beyond the service center to an internal Tesla engineering team and received an identical response. I am concerned that Tesla is not willing to reassess the sensor coverage of the falcon wing doors and that these doors could cause more harm. I drove a 2017 Model X for five years and never experienced a safety issue with the falcon wing doors. The doors on my previous Model X would stop if they detected the slightest obstacle. We always felt safe using them. The sensors seem to have changed on the 2023 Model X and the falcon wing doors are far less sensitive to objects and humans. This is very concerning. What is more concerning is Tesla's response indicating they don't intend to do anything about it. The falcon wing doors are heavy and automatic. They aren't manual doors that are easy to control. I believe it is Tesla's responsibility to make these doors as safe as possible and integrate complete coverage with door sensors. I am submitting this complaint in the hopes that it will result in getting Tesla to improve the safety of the falcon wing door sensor system.
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that the center display had been malfunctioning since purchasing the vehicle new. Additionally, the contact stated that the windows would go up and would go down independently. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that while driving 25-30 MPH, several alarms sounded, and the steering wheel attempted to turn independently, nearly pulling the vehicle out of the lane. The contact stated that the Driving Assist features were turned off at the time of the failure. The vehicle was taken to a Tesla Service Center, who informed the contact that they had reset the operational center system software; however, the contact stated upon operating the vehicle after the service was completed, the music that was playing prior to the service resumed. Additionally, the failure persisted. The contact stated that he believed that the service was not completed properly. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15.
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that the vehicle displayed that a software update had been completed; however, the software update showed that the software was outdated. The update confirmation was displayed even though a software update was not performed. The contact stated that the screen displayed distorted images of the lines on the road and the vehicles nearby. The images were also moving around on the screen. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 1,942.
Purchased new Tesla in November 2022, however noticed bulging in the side wall in Left rear tire. Went to Tesla service center again was told that they do NOT provide warranty tire - again purchased new tire again again I do not feel that I did anything to contribute to the bulging in the tire wall I believe the tire was defective and I am very dissatisfied with this brand of the tire replaced 2 tires in 3 months in ownership
Flat tire in Left driver side after the cornering - called the Tesla road side assistance and was given spare tire however was charged full price for the new tire since Tesla does NOT honor tire warranty only after 2+ months after the pick up of new car
My vehicle has had a multitude of errors for 5 months now about the safety systems being disabled, seat controls malfunctioning, etc. Tesla refused to repair the car (despite only being months old) because I had requested a buyback due to other electrical issues with the vehicle. The driver facing errors (ones shown on the screen that the driver would see) simply said "Safety systems disabled". I contacted Tesla about this months ago and after they pulled the logs from the car, I was assured it was just a generic error and assured me that the car was safe to drive. Today, I found out how to access "service mode" where I could read ALL of the service alerts. It turns out the vehicle is reporting electrical "resistance too high" errors with the airbags which is clearly a safety issue. These errors go back months and were present when Tesla lied about the vehicle being safe to drive. Could the electrical issues cause the airbags to not deploy in a crash or, worse, deploy when they should not which would likely result in a crash? The errors appear to indicate that as they state "The left seat airbag may not perform as designed" and "The farside airbag may not perform as designed". Meanwhile, it's been nearly 5 months since I requested the buyback from Tesla due to this vehicle not being safe to drive, breaking down repeatedly, etc, and they have STILL not responded to my requests. I am at a loss as to how a car manufacturer can get away with such egregious behavior that puts their customers in danger.
The car has a little button to press for the horn rather than having the horn be in the center of the cars steering wheel. Per Tesla this is possible but is locked and needs a firmware upgrade to be active. This was announced almost 1 year ago. When driving yesterday a car began merging into my lane. I tried to honk but could not find the button without taking my eyes off the road which i didn't want to do. My natural reaction was to mash the center of the wheel, but that of course doesn't work. If tesla just needs to activate this, i don't understand why they haven't. This is a serious safety issue.
Seatbelt anchor broken/came off
There is an issue with the GPS in that the location is not accurate, sometimes it is off by 10-20 feet, enough to put it on a different road, sometimes it's off by 100s of feet. This is very dangerous as when using Autopilot, it uses map data to set the cruising speed, and if the GPS is reporting the car is on a different road, the speed can change to being faster or slower than the actual road the car is on. This results in sudden braking. The car will be on the highway, traveling at 55MPH, and then all of a sudden the GPS thinks its on a side street near the highway, and quickly brakes hard to the side streets speed limit 25MPH. With this issue, its not always safe to operate the auto pilot. Many people in tesla owners forum, say the issue is from an interference with the cars internal cabin camera and the GPS antenna and replacing the camera fixes the issue.
The steering wheel design includes a small button to engage the horn rather than a common practice of having the horn engage on center press of the wheel. In practice, this has turned out to be a significant safety issue and cause of confusion due to its in ability to effectively find the button or safely reach the button during safety concerns especially when the wheel is rotated since its general proximity is never consistent. Additionally, it is very close to other buttons which has caused it to accidentally be pressed and create confusion and anger with other drivers on the road.