What 647 owners told NHTSA about the 2015 Tesla Model S 60

A few times the steering control has shut off while I am driving. Steering failure lasts a few seconds and then returns to normal function. The car makes a VERY loud alarm sound when the steering is inoperable. I have not seen any failure messages on the screen or in the Service menu. I took the car to Tesla for service yesterday. They did some sort of remote scan of the fault codes and told me that there is nothing wrong. They told me to continue to drive the car and record when the steering stops working again. This sounds like ridiculously bad advice to me. While the steering control has always returned in just a few seconds, that does not mean that it will in any future failure. I am concerned about driving this car. Tesla wants $275 an hour to investigate the problem, which also seems ridiculous to me. I have seen that there has been a recall for similar problems in newer Tesla Model S vehicles. It seems logical to me that these problems may be related and deserve additional investigation ... at Tesla's expense.

NHTSA ODI 11678576

Many air bubbles are appearing towards the bottom of the instrument panel on our 2015 Tesla Model S. This started a couple of weeks ago and the bubbles are increasing in size and number and they are moving upwards. The bubbles don’t presently obscure important driver information such as the transmission mode (drive, park, reverse, neutral), remaining battery range (e.g. 80%), car speed (mph), parking sensor distance, brake light status, car door open, frunk open, tailgate open, time, outdoor temperature, car lights on/off, warning lights, etc. However, the bubbles likely will do so in the future. Much of this information is vital for safe driving (e.g. transmission mode, speed (mph), remaining battery range, brake light status, and warning lights). As such this display should be replaced by Tesla at nominal or no charge to the owner. According to the internet, the cause of these air bubbles is a failed seal around the instrument cluster that allows a lamination fluid between the LCD display and the cover glass to leak out. It is a very common problem with older Model S’s. It is a critical safety problem.

NHTSA ODI 11677992

Large drive unit that has previously been replaced by Tesla failed due to coolant ingress leaking through rotor seal. Known issue per 3rd party technicians.

NHTSA ODI 11676489

Hi, my trunk won't open when I press the button. This is the second occurrence that jas happend. When inside the trunk compartment the emergency cable to open the trunk is also not responsive and can not open the trunk. I think this is a big safety concern as the safety cord is there for a reason and in both cases id did not worked.

NHTSA ODI 11674779

Steering: While driving today (7/5/2025), all of a sudden and without warning, "driver assist" (power steering) became disabled. Steering wheel immediately became heavy in the sense that it was extremely difficult to turn. Motor: Also, on 02/22/2024, while driving on the freeway at freeway speed, all of a sudden and without warning, the rear LDU (large drive unit) failed and the car became inoperable. At that time, the car had approximately 45k miles on it.

NHTSA ODI 11671371

Electric power steering stopped working unexpectedly and making it very difficult to steer and drive safely.

NHTSA ODI 11671238

I parked my 2015 Tesla Model S and found the rear door on the passenger side would not open from the outside even though the door handle was extended. This is a safety concern as we could not open the door to remove our pet dog from the car. It would also not be possible to open the door from the outside to remove a child in a car seat next to the door or an elderly or disabled person sitting next to the door who is unable to open the door from the inside. This could be life threatening in the case of a car crash. It is a major safety defect that should be repaired at no cost by Tesla for the entire lifespan of the car. The problem persists and is reproducible.

NHTSA ODI 11664240

While driving and mid-turn, 2 alerts were announced (park assist not available; steer assist reduced) and I immediately lost the ability to turn the steering wheel (it was 100% stiff) mid turn and was almost t-boned by a vehicle in on-coming traffic. I was able to make the turn widely and pull car to the side while blocking the only lane of traffic. I had ZERO warning and ZERO ability to turn the wheel even into a simple driveway. There was a parking lot near and I couldn't turn the wheel just to turn into it. This almost caused a huge accident which I could have been killed in. Luckily my children were not in the car. If the car can just stop working with no warning, it is not safe to drive in my opinion.

NHTSA ODI 11658538

Safety concern related to the tail lights and trunk lid lights on a tesla model s. I have had to replace both right and left turn lights and the trunk brake lights on multiple occasions due to water intrusion into the light housings. Water seepage over time or after heavy rains starts shorting the LEDs, thus causing safety concerns due to non-functioning tail lights. The vehicle has not been in an accident. It was purchased from a tesla "dealership" and they stated that there were no accidents. The car history report also indicates that the car has not been in an accident. There has been one attempted repair which added two drains to the trunk lid but the repair did not remedied the seepage into the light housing. There are reports online relating to water seepage into the light housings so its not just my car.

NHTSA ODI 11654008

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that three door handles had been replaced over the years. The contact stated that the door handles were not responding, and the contact was unable to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that several attempts were needed before the door before being able to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that the driver's side door handle and the passenger’s side door handle were malfunctioning. The contact stated that there were no messages on the phone App, or on the instrument cluster. The contact had not yet taken the vehicle to the local dealer for the driver’s and passenger’s side front door handles. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 280,000.

NHTSA ODI 11648345

While driving approximately 45mph on a smooth dry road, the drivers side front lower ball joint broke in half. This caused the wheel to separate from the lower control arm and get lodged between the fender well and the front subframe. This caused the inner tie rod to bend and the cv joint to separate from the inner connection. The rubber brake line was torn in half and undercarriage damage due to it slamming to the pavement. I notified Tesla and scheduled an appointment. This happened on 02/26/2025 at approximately 7am. The vehicle did not drive abnormal or give any warning before the incident. All maintenance and services were up to date.

NHTSA ODI 11645192

The universal joint that connects the steering to the wheels is exposed to the elements and causes the steering to be difficult and/or stop working.

NHTSA ODI 11624386

The car veered suddenly to the left (out of the left lane of a highway) while supervised in auto steer. The driver could not move the steering wheel to avoid a collision with the guardrail as the steering wheel had locked up. The collision warning didn’t sound and emergency brakes did not activate upon impact. The airbags were deployed and the car was totaled.

NHTSA ODI 11624099

Failure part was drivers side front wheel "Fore Link Assembly" which broke at the wheel connection on our driveway while turning left in reverse. I heard a loud thunk but hadn't run over anything and nothing irregular outside so I continued but now I could hear something scrapping. Turns out it was the front tire now rubbing the wheel well liner when turning left. pulled the tire off and you could easily see where the fore link fractured. Fortunately this part didn't fail on the road as the outcome might have been bad considering the possible loss of control. Our car, 1985 purchased new with 68,450 miles was towed via required flatbed to a Tesla Service Center and repaired. I have all replaced parts including the fractured section that fell on our driveway. Outside of the repair personnel and myself no one has looked at the part but you can clearly see what used to be a circular opening was elongated and ,about a 90 degree section, missing.

NHTSA ODI 11622580

Car isn't cooling while supercharging. Problem originated while at Tesla Collision in Fort Lauderdale. Mike DiPietro, the general mgr stated they don't have a supercharger at Tesla Collision Fort Lauderdale to test it and they're not willing to drive it to the supercharger to test it because it's a service issue. When I dropped the car off it cooled while supercharging and now that it's not cooling while supercharging it presents a fire and safety hazard because it will only cool the moment the car is unplugged from the supercharger and then cools full blast for 45 minutes after the car is unplugged. I am well aware of the proper functioning of the cooling of 2015 Tesla Model S P90DL's because I have two of them and have since 2017. The fact that the cooling system kicks ONLY AFTER I UNPLUG from the supercharger clearly indicates the car sees a need to cool but because of a software issue. MIKE DIPIETRO, THE GENERAL MGR OF TESLA COLLISION FORT LAUDERDALE IS NOW THREATENING TO SUE ME BECAUSE I'M REPORTING A FIRE SAFETY/ACCELERATED BATTERY DEGRADATION ISSUE AND I SIMPLY WANT TO PICK THE CAR UP IN THE CONDITION WHICH i DELIVERED IT WHERE THE SUPERCHARGING WAS WORKING PROPERLY COOLING WHILE SUPERCHARGING. THREATENING LEGAL ACTION BECAUSE I'M REPORTING AN ISSUE THEY MAY NEED TO COORDINATE WITH TESLA SERVICE TO FIX AMOUNTS TO BULLYING. If I pick the car up it implies my consent the car is fixed and is NOT a fire safety hazard. They are unwilling to fix the supercharging fire the car is presenting because Tesla Service is a separate entity than Telsa Collision. This is NOT a valid excuse and reason not to fix this fire and safety issue. Please coordinate so that I may forward the chronological email chain which clearly shows the fire and safety issue can be clearly traced back to the [XXX] service. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11617666

Drove out of my driveway and 2 minutes later I hear a metal clink and my steering wheel pulled to the left. I was going 15-20 mph. Pull over and see the right rear wheel angled inwards. And see a metal piece broke off. Turns out the rear control arm broke for no apparent reason. Many others reported same issue and there was a recall on this for 2013-2014 SB-19-31-001 [XXX] but not years going forward even though many of the newer Tesla’s have same issue. Luckily I was going g slow but it seems it is just a matter of time before this happens to someone on the highway or at faster speeds to cause some serious damage and injuries. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11607787

Issue is with the rear hatch (trunk) latching mechanism. The rear trunk latch has partially disengaged but will not completely release and open the trunk. This is a safety concern because the emergency release inside of the trunk (pull cable) does not fully release the trunk either. If a child or person were to be in the trunk they could not escape either from inside the trunk (emergency latch) or externally (unable to close or open physically or with electronic release).

NHTSA ODI 11604982

Backing out of a parking spot, my car made a loud "thunk" and stopped. I put the car in park and got out, looking all around and under the car. I did not see anything. I backed out of the spot and circled the lot to see if there was anything in the parking spot I may have run over. Nothing. When exiting the parking lot, the car made the same "thunk" and again ground to a halt. I again exited the car and looked all around. This time, I could see that the front driver's side tire was not in the correct position. It was shifted toward the back of the wheel well. I knew something had physically broken. I had the car towed to a service center. They checked the car and said a suspension fore link had broken. They recommended replacing all of them, not just the one that broke. They blamed the age of the car (95,000 miles). I was incredibly lucky that this occurred in a parking lot given that the vehicle came to an immediate stop. There were no prior warning signs. The car last had a scheduled inspection at 87,500 miles.

NHTSA ODI 11604576

I was involved in a significant vehicle crash with my Tesla Model S, the vehicle wa a complete write-off and was towed away. I was taken via ambulance unconscious from my injuries. The vehicle was struck by a perpendicular vehicle who ran a stop sign and hit the front driver's side firewall/door area. The impact was hard enough to drive my car sideways against all wheels into the curb, over the curb, onto the sidewalk, and into a pole. My head hit the drivers window hard enough to break the glass and render me unconscious. No airbags deployed, curtain/seat/otherwise - no side impact airbags even. Seatbelt was worn, I was extracted by first responders - I later spoke with Tesla regarding my complaint of no air bag protection, and was told they would take this seriously and investigate. I later found out the car was auctioned off (presumably for scrap) with no evidence of Tesla even attempting an investigation and zero response indicating otherwise. After reaching out again to Tesla seeking a response, they assured me that they have GPS coordinates, Police Reports, asked for pictures (which I did send), and they promised to respond - that was more than 5 months ago and still no answers.

NHTSA ODI 11600212

The vehicle was involved in an accident due to a failure of the autopilot system. There was a recall letter sent out of 23V-838 a month prior, but changes either did not persist or was the primary cause of the accident.

NHTSA ODI 11588343

In 6 years the drive unit has failed and been replaced. Multiple other tesla owners report similar issue. I have a Tesla S 2015. The car will not drive or will abruptly stop driving when the drive unit fails. First incident I was driving on 55mph road and abruptly stopped. Second incident I cannot recall. Third incident tesla provided no support and the car was experiencing multiple driving failures which would turn back on to allow the car to only drive 2-7mph. Tesla reports they know it is a problem with the coolant leaking through the seals which kills the motor. If this is a KNOWN issue, why are these models still allowed on the road? This has me TERRIFIED knowing that a tesla can go from 55mph to abruptly stop when the drive unit dies. It happened to me! Now that I know it happens with others AND tesla is aware, it makes me question why there is no recall to fix it.

NHTSA ODI 11588135

Ive been notified that my front upper, lower arms, and bushings on my suspension are damaged. Tesla has sent me an massive bill to replace the parts on the car that I am not able to provide. As a looked up and talked to other Tesla S owners, this apparently is a major issues with all of them and very common. So common that China issued a recall requiring Tesla to fix this manufacture defect of wreaked and poorly manufacture parts. Why is the US not forcing this yet? They should be held liable for their fault mechanic engineer of the vehicle that is costing us THOUSANDS of dollars to repair and replace even at very low mileage Invoice attached. This was the cost AFTER they gave me discount for replacing a part I did not authorize. This was an issue with the dealership still.

NHTSA ODI 11584979

This incident happened on March 18, 2024 at approximately 4:20 pm central time. My daughter pulled out of the school parking lot after school. As soon as she pulled on to the main road she noticed a warning light pop up saying hood latch not detected. About one minute later the hood flew open very aggressively hitting the windshield and blocking her view. Tesla vehicles are equipped with a second safety latch that should prevent this hood from popping up. My daughter was blinded by the hood and could not see while in traffic. Thankfully, she was able to avoid running into another vehicle, object or off the road. I took the vehicle into Tesla on March 23, 2024 which was the first available appointment I was able to get. They inspected the vehicle and said they were not responsible for the hood flying open. I tried explaining to them the part that failed was the part that was apart of a recall in 2022 (the hoods 2nd safety latch). They told me my issue was different because they checked my latch in January 2022 and it was fine. They said my latch failed do to normal wear and tear. It just gave out. They charged me $235 for inspecting my hood. Since that day I have been trying to contact Tesla's corporate office to get them to repair my vehicle and refund my $235 but I have not had any luck. I am the original owner of this vehicle. I have had nothing but problems with this car from the moment I purchased the $100k vehicle. The company had to replaced the touch screen twice, the high voltage battery once, both headlights were replace. The car was in the shop several times for the leaking sunroof. Finally, the warranty ran on the car and the sunroof still to this day does not open. I went to the shop after the warranty expired and they were happy to tell me the car is not covered and it would cost $1300 to repair the sunroof after they had been patching it up with black tape. There are several reports of Tesla owners having this issue and Tesla need to step up.

NHTSA ODI 11585045

The component that Tesla has stated is the part that is failing is the MCU (Media Control Unit) which was a recalled part at one point but then Tesla decided to replace only a single part of the MCU which was the eMMC (embedded MultiMedia Card). Luckily the vehicle was not driving when it completely shut down and would not start back up but I was stuck in a restaurants drive-thru for roughly 4 hours till I could get a tow truck to come tow it. The tow truck had to put the car on dollies as the vehicle would not enter tow mode nor would it enter its emergency neutral mode so the vehicle could be moved. The windows would not go up or down and luckily the trunk was able to open because if not then I would have been stuck outside my vehicle as the door handles did not come out after I got out of it and closed the door behind me. Please read the messages from the tech as you will see that they tried to act as if they did not know what was going on with my vehicle but then i asked something else and they stated exactly what the issue was but supposedly could not confirm it was that unless they charged me a diagnosis fee and "got hands on" which I'm sure that info of what was wrong with my vehicle was nothing they needed to get their hands on. There were no warning lamps or messages UNTIL the vehicle shut off on me in the drive-thru and then the warnings started to populate staying that the vehicle was off, vehicle could not detect brake being pressed, and that the vehicle was not detecting the key. The repair estimate is no longer available in my app for some reason, probably because I did not repair the vehicle as they were wanting me to upgrade to the new MCU that is in the current vehicles and it would have been roughly $2,400.00. Just today, the vehicle would not start, would not move my seat or anything to its memorized position when I got in the vehicle and the screen was frozen, just as it did when the original recall happened of the MCU/eMMC, photo/videoattached.

NHTSA ODI 11583917

EMMC failed prior to recall and was replaced by 3rd party vendor. Recall reimbursement was denied. Emailed Tesla multiple times without response

NHTSA ODI 11583598