What 379 owners told NHTSA about the 2017 Tesla Model S 75d

Sudden loss of power steering is the issue. I was driving the car home and it was about a 5 mile trip. About half way home I tried to turn left and it took all of my strength to turn the wheel. I made it around that corner and the car did the same thing when I made a right turn. It continued for two more turns and something in the steering seemed to break loose when I arrived home and steering was normal as I backed the car into the driveway. The date was 02/01/2023 at around 7:30 PM. The roads were in good condition. We had driven over some very bumpy dirt roads the weekend before. The car was giving me warnings as the steering stopped working indicating that the EPAS wasn't working and it may be harder to steer the car. I felt that it was a very dangerous situation and my safety and the safety of other drivers was at risk. No damage occurred. There were no prior warnings or messages leading up to the steering failure. The car had been in for unrelated service the month before. I do not feel it's safe to drive the car until I have am certain there is a proven fix for the issue. The software version is: 2022.8.10.8 I have scheduled service for the car on 02/7/23.

NHTSA ODI 11505141

The emergency trunk release does not work when the cinch motor fails on the power tailgate. Part is scheduled to be replaced by Tesla.

NHTSA ODI 11502489

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the contact felt like the vehicle had fallen into a pothole; however, the rear passenger’s side wheel had detached. Due to the failure, the vehicle swerved to the left and then right. The contact then stated that he was able to navigate the vehicle off the road into a parking lot. The contact stated that the vehicle was towed to his residence and then towed to the dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the rear suspension failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 74,000.

NHTSA ODI 11502184

Driver side door will not open from the outside of the car. The latch is not releasing inside. However the door can be open from the inside. The handles present themselves but it seems to be an issue with the latch releasing so the door can open. This can lead to a really bad outcome if it was an emergency situation. There has already been one fatality because of this known defect and I don't want to become another statistic. Tesla needs to recall all vehicles that are having this issue and fix it.

NHTSA ODI 11500941

open recall is being refused of service.

NHTSA ODI 11498607

My car hardly functions anymore and the Tesla service center is saying I need a new Infotainment Upgrade. This issue causes the car to not function properly.

NHTSA ODI 11495214

Car started making a popping sound when accelerating and when letting off the accelerator. I checked and found that the front tire seemed to be loose. After checking further, I found a loose bolt that holds the control arm on. The car was just in Tesla’s service center for several issues to include checking the alignment.

NHTSA ODI 11493838

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while his father was driving at a slow speed, the rear driver’s side door independently opened. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that his father pulled over and closed the door; however, the door opened independently. Due to the failure, his father was forced to drive the vehicle back home with the door ajar with the chime and the door ajar message displayed. The contact was able to shut the door; however, the door handle failed to operate as needed the next day. The contact called a Tesla service center and was given no assistance. The contact stated that prior to the failure, all three of his other door handles had failed while raining. The vehicle had been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000.

NHTSA ODI 11493697

coolant leaking, before tesla can even look at my car they say i need new valves. Only way they could know this is if there is a faulty part. This should be a recall! Believe this is the Battery coolant.

NHTSA ODI 11493191

While parking, i heard some noises underneath the front wheel area and turns out the tires are rubbing against the wheel well liner and the pins that were holding the wheel well in place were popping off. When driving off, i noticed the alignment was off and felt the car shifting around in a weird way so i pulled over into a parking lot and can see the liner nearly ripped off. Took it to the tesla service center and turns out the fore links on driver side is broken and also recommended the passenger side be replaced add it is starting to Crack. The car had 60k miles.

NHTSA ODI 11492598

Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an LED strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The daytime running lights are essential for safety driving in low light situations. These daytime running lights are seemingly built to fail. The lights dim then eventually no longer work. Tesla's solution is to have the customer purchase a brand new headlight at $1438.33. My vehicle is 4 years old and has been through. Tesla should either goodwill swap out these headlights for a non-built to fail component, or offer a repair for a quality LED strip with proper heat distribution. Without daytime running lights safety is a major concern on foggy, rainy, and low light situations. I have attached an image showing how the failure begins on top then slowly goes all the way down to the side of the headlight which fails later.

NHTSA ODI 11491517

Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an LED strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The day

NHTSA ODI 11491528

Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an LED strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The daytime running lights are essential for safety driving in low light situations. These daytime running lights are seemingly built to fail. The lights dim then eventually no longer work. Tesla's solution is to have the customer purchase a brand new headlight at $1500. My vehicle is 4 years old and has been through 3 pairs of headlights already, when the last set burnt out I just left them as is. Tesla should either goodwill swap out these headlights for a non-built to fail component, or offer a repair for a quality LED strip with proper heat distribution. Without daytime running lights safety is a major concern on foggy, rainy, and low light situations. I have attached an image showing how the failure begins on top then slowly goes all the way down to the side of the headlight which fails later.

NHTSA ODI 11491544

Right Headlight and running light failed. Can or replace bulbs. Tesla wants $1500 Ro replace a headlight!

NHTSA ODI 11491491

While reversing into a parking spot, like I have over 1000 times in this car, I heard a loud crack and scrape. When the tow driver got the car up we were able to see it was a Lower A-arm failure in outward loaded bearing stress. This seems like a common problem with these cars as a simple google search found many other drivers with similar issues.

NHTSA ODI 11490930

The car was left parked for 12h in a parking lot were I work. Whilst driving there and upon exiting the car, nothing out of the ordinary was observed. Getting back in the vehicule, the car seemed ok. Upon backing up the car, a loud sound plus weird wheel camber on the rear driver's side wheel were observed. Upon verification, it looks like a tie rod broke. Given the condition (no excessive load on the car, car parked, not significant impact that we are aware of, the sudden break), it tends to point to a fatigue fracture.

NHTSA ODI 11490392

This is aTesla Model S electric car. The battery was 80% charged at the time of the incident. Under normal driving at a speed of around 40 MPH in a city road road, suddenly the car lost power. The steering wheel locked and I had no control over the car. Display screen in the instrument panel and the large central tocuh screen display blacked out. A few seconds later, the car control returned and I was able to safely drive the car. But, the momentary loss of control is dangerous and scary.

NHTSA ODI 11489769

Random breaking was prevalent with driving computer 2.5, which recently upgraded to 3.0. The "phantom breaking" is more general and is very dangerous. There have been locations where the vehicle behind me almost wrecked due to my car brakes slamming on out of the blue. I looked up the issue online and found the problem has been happening for years. My wife will not ride in my car now due to the fear of an experience when this phantom breaking accused while she was with me. I am using adaptive cruise less often and not using autopilot. The downside is that the car's efficiency is reduced when not using these "smart" features.

NHTSA ODI 11489078

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that upon attempting to start the vehicle, he noticed that the 17-inch center display screen was black. The message "Wait For Start" was displayed. The contact stated that the vehicle tuned on after nearly 20 minutes. The contact was able to drive the vehicle, however, the center display screen remained black. The contact was unable to monitor the vehicle's speed and other functions while driving. The contact attempted to contact the manufacturer several times, however, the phone line was not being answered. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

NHTSA ODI 11488946

numerous incidents of phantom braking on open unobstructed highway, causing potential rear end collision. Reported to Tesla on several occasions. Currently on my 3rd MCU(media control unit). Service scheduled with Tesla but I am not optimistic since it has been a persistent issue since owning the car in 2017

NHTSA ODI 11486433

The issue occurred twice over the period of the past two months, both times I was driving on highway with Tesla autopilot enabled ( It is Adaptive Cruise Control), for no apparent reason the car hit the brakes, all vehicles driving behind me had to hit brakes or change lanes to avoid Collision. Both times I created service request with tesla and got no clear answer to why its happening, first time I was told it is because the exit on map was about couple miles from car location so car had to hit brake hard and change lane to make it to exit but car never tried to change lane, it just did hard braking. 2nd time I was told it happened due to wheel alignment not being accurate. After wheel alignment was done I reached out to tesla again but so far they can not confirm or deny if tesla autopilot is safe for me to drive. I was told to use autopilot at my own discretion. Are car manufactures allowed to sell hardware or software without taking responsibility for its safety ?

NHTSA ODI 11486057

Fingers can get caught in the retracting door handles which retract if the key fob is pressed while fingers are in the door handle

NHTSA ODI 11485844

Tesla driver seat bolster hurts my bottom after 10/15 mins of driving. The seat cushion behind the bolster to the back sinks so low; and fails to keep me lifted. As a result, eventually after driving 10/15 mins bolster starts hitting my bottom and it starts to pain; and also numbs my legs. At this point, I have to take a break, get out stress and start driving. I have driven many cars upto 500+ miles in a single day no issues. Having a comfortable seat is a basic requirement in any car. I have reported this issue many times to various Tesla Service Centers. The seats installed in my cars seems to launched very pre-maturely without proper testing. There are many complaints online forums on this bolster pain and how badly it hurts. Tesla wants me to pay for the seat and no guarantee that the new seat will not such issues. If the installed seat itself is defective, why should I been paying for another defective one. Tesla is not willing to own the issue. I have done upgrades and paid alot of taxes so not willing to sell and buy another car and pay taxes again. I want to report this issue as I foresee safety issues with this car and similar many other cars; and how Tesla is not doing their basic customer service and offering bad products at very high price.

NHTSA ODI 11485653

Driver side fore link snapped causing wheel to move in hazardous conditions

NHTSA ODI 11485186

The left fore link broke while backing out of a parking spot. It's not available for inspection. If it had broken at a higher speed it could cause a loss of control. This is a known issue. The broken fore link has been replaced by a non-Tesla repair shop. There was no warning this would happen.

NHTSA ODI 11485325