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

Four separate issues to report: 1.) multiple instances of car braking while in self-drive mode. This has included driving at high speeds on highway and having vehicle slam on brakes nearly causing an accident. I took over as I was paying attention on all occasions. 2.) While is self-drive mode and a lane widens, car veers to “middle” of wide lane. This does not act in a way a normal driver would. 3.) Issues with middle screen stopping or resetting during driving. This was a reported recall issue and I did get the recall taken care of. Issue still persists. Tesla has not been responsive in getting this resolved. 4.) Recent issue with main screen panel behind steering wheel resetting while driving. Vehicle maintained operations, but I could not see speed or change gears while driving. This has happened before. Tesla updated CPU, issues persists.

NHTSA ODI 11454372

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.

NHTSA ODI 11453887

2/23/2022. Driving on highway with Tesla autopilot on and speed set to 65 MPH. Car was suddenly braking without any obstacle in front. Good thing that car behind me was quite a distance away, and I also noticed it slowed down immediately after seeing my car slowed down. This happened just after my Tesla model S with latest firmware update last week. The new firmware version is 2021.24.28. This is the first time I engaged autopilot after the firmware update.

NHTSA ODI 11453637

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while charging the vehicle at a charge station, the contact entered the vehicle and after a few minutes, an abnormal plastic burning odor was present in the interior of the vehicle. The contact noticed white smoke coming from the front of the hood of the vehicle. The contact exited the vehicle and unpluged the charger from the vehicle and waited a few minutes for the white smoke to clear from the front of the vehicle on its own. No warning lights illuminated the vehicle, and the only message that appeared on the vehicle monitor was charging was almost complete. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer who diagnosed the failure as the fan condenser had overheated and it would need to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, however, the contact had not picked up the vehicle from the dealership at this time. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23, 227.

NHTSA ODI 11453694

I experienced the "Phantom Braking" phenomenon while driving on freeways. It has happened 3 or 4 times in the last year or so. I did not see any obvious reason for the car to have slowed down dramatically because there wasn't a car in front of me at such instances. it occurred while Autopilot was engaged. It has happened on different freeways (I-680, I-880), traversing in different directions and at different times of the day.

NHTSA ODI 11453251

Las Vegas,NV approximately 9:00AM an unknown motorist cut me off on surface streets. I had to apply brakes hard manually not in driving assist mode in an hard panic stop to avoid collision. When I resumed driving I heard crunching and scraping sounds coming from driver side front wheel. I pulled over and inspected an noticed tire was close to wheel well. I the drove carefully to nearby Tesla dealership. Problem was diagnosed as a fore link failure. It is important to note there was no impact whatsoever. I don’t think suspension components should fail after hard braking at approximately 40 mph.

NHTSA ODI 11453091

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that on three separate occasions while driving at highway speeds with cruise control engaged, the vehicle would suddenly brake on its own. The contact was uncertain if any warning lights would appear on the instrument panel prior to the failure. The service center nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The contact stated that he was able to document the exact time that the latest failure occurred on the vehicle. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 48,000.

NHTSA ODI 11452686

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

NHTSA ODI 11452895

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

NHTSA ODI 11452476

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.

NHTSA ODI 11451174

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)

NHTSA ODI 11450885

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.

NHTSA ODI 11450521

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.

NHTSA ODI 11450357

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

NHTSA ODI 11450410

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.

NHTSA ODI 11450439

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.

NHTSA ODI 11450139

While on I65N, traveling at full speed on cruise control but not auto drive, the vehicle automatically applied the brakes. There was no apparent reason to brake. There were no cars in front or to either side and nothing on the road. We slowed quickly and abruptly, throwing everyone in the car forward. The slowing was so fast and so extreme that we were almost rear ended by the semi behind us. If he had not been able to move partially into the right lane and us into the left, he would have hit us at 70 mph. This is not the first “phantom braking incident ” that we have had but it definitely is the most dangerous one.

NHTSA ODI 11450168

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?

NHTSA ODI 11449983

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.

NHTSA ODI 11449501

My vehicle is the subject of Recall No. 21V-035 (SB2121001). At the time that I received notice of this recall, about 1 year ago, I had already complained to Tesla about the board malfunctioning for approximately 4-5 months. Each time I contact the Mfr, Tesla, about this issue, they continue to claim unavailability of parts for multimedia display board. They do, however, have an upgraded board that they would put in for a $1500 charge (https://www.tesla.com/support/infotainment). If they have no plans to offer replacement parts for my defection board, should they not be forced to put in the compatible part at no charge even though it is being sold as an "upgrade" (which they hope will get them around having to foot the bill for Recall replacements). After all, it's only an upgrade if the original board functions as designed...which it does not. The car was sold with a set of listed features - but maps don't update, voice recognition is nearly non-functional, and now video recording from the car's cameras have lost color and are two-tone. I even offered, as a compromise to get me a working board, to pay Tesla $1000 for the upgraded board and they declined. I'm requesting help forcing the Mfr to either fix my board with a replacement daughter board or replace the whole thing with a working upgraded infotainment board - all under the aegis of the existing recall.

NHTSA ODI 11448863

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.

NHTSA ODI 11447888

Wiper motor failing

NHTSA ODI 11445587

Headlight premature failure

NHTSA ODI 11445589

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S 75. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 70 mph, the brakes were seized while on autopilot. In addition, there was a warning error the contact was unable to remember. The contact mentioned the emergency brake engaged independently and the contact was unable to control the vehicle which caused the vehicle to crash into the guardrail. A police report was not filed. The air bags failed to deploy. The vehicle was towed to a service center where a diagnostic was not attempted but the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The VIN was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 21v846000 ( forward collision avoidance). The approximate failure mileage was 54,504. Vehicle was not listed on the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11444599

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.

NHTSA ODI 11444491