Home · 2018 Tesla Model S 60 · Complaints

What 129 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Tesla Model S 60

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (129)Crash / fire / injury (32)Electrical system (32)Driver assistance (23)Speed control (20)Suspension (20)Brakes (11)Steering (10)Body & structure (8)Lane Departure (8)Lights (7)Latches & locks (5)

8 of 129 complaints match · Lane Departure · clear filters

Dec 10, 2024Driver assistanceLane DepartureCrash

While driving in Autopilot mode, approx 70 mph in light rain the vhicle began to drift side to side almost crossing over the lane dividing line. Upon grabbing the wheel to take control the vehicle entered multiple 360 degree spins crashing into "K" rail. In the past I have noticed when taking control of the vehicle from Autopilot the wheel jerks.

NHTSA ODI 11629913

May 3, 2024SteeringLane Departure

Received and error message, Lane Departure Avoidance features unavailable and steering assist reduced simultaneously while driving between 65-75 mph. Steering will required extreme effort to turn. I was about 5 minutes from home exited the highway and took the backroads. Steering did require extreme effort. The following morning, car worked fine.

NHTSA ODI 11586895

Mar 19, 2024Lane DepartureDriver assistance

Shortly after an update in December, my 2018 Model S started getting alerts: Driving visualization temporarily degraded, charge port sensor fault, autopilot cameras unavailable, automatic emergency braking unavailable, lane departure avoidance features unavailable, steering assist reduced. The map no longer knows where the car is located and cannot navigate or tell what the battery percentage will be at. All automatic features have stopped working. The service center claims the ECU needs to be replaced. It was upgrade to the Autopilot/Full self-driving ECU in 2020. I have read reports from dozens of other Tesla owners that this update also broke their ECU. I believe Tesla knows the new requirements for full self-driving to be safe and usable does not work with their current ECU. They want to charge me $1600 to replace the ECU. I cannot receive the recall OTA update with my current ECU.

NHTSA ODI 11578300

Mar 14, 2024Lane DepartureDriver assistance

I believe my software is hacked. Car was purchased 6 months prior to when the vehicle shows registered to me. The vehicle shows no location with Tesla and has no direct contact from the vehicle with Tesla. My display screen blacks out while I’m driving on the freeway or streets. Leaves me feeling unsafe in bad areas I am driving to pick up drop off kids from college, school, or film school projects . Some of the safety hazard warnings do not work at times. Does not give me correct supercharger locations which leaves me in scary situations. Traveling on [XXX] my car excelled to 91mph without warning and didn’t use any sort of automated system as I do not have that capability. Tried to step on brake but did not work and I changed lanes which suddenly caused the car to slowly bring the car to driving mode again. Very scary. The car speaker had a male voice and all the car occupants pulled out their phones to see if it was coming from their phones. But it definitely came from the vehicle speaker system. My iPhone was hacked with NSO Israel' Company Pegasus spyware and now my car is being hacked. I never connect my device to my car. Although my kids do periodically. Please advice on this urgent matter. Please contact me [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11577417

Jan 14, 2024Driver assistanceLane DepartureCrash2 injuries

Multiple components failed or malfunctioned. FSD beta, lane keeping assistance, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and Automatic emergency braking, all failed or malfunctioned. I have requested TESLA to provide me the details on what happened, but after multiple attempts of reaching out to them, they are not providing any answers. I was driving with my son and we both got injured, my son was admitted to the hospital for 4 days. I am not sure if TESLA inspected it, they are not answering my questions. There was no warning or there were no symptoms of the problem before the failure. This is what happened, I was driving on FSD beta on a 2-way street with one lane in both directions, The car suddenly drifted, crossed the opposite lane, went over the sidewalk, and hit a tree. The airbags were released, and the front of the car was destroyed. The speed limit on the road was 25, and as it was in FSD mode, the speed was locked in at 25 mph. I was driving with my son, and my son got a lot of bruises internal and external from the seat belt, I had some bruises on my forehead. This is a complete failure of Tesla's FSD capability because it didn't detect the tree or the sidewalk and failed to apply the brakes. The car was declared a total loss by the insurance company. I am attaching a few photographs of the car after the accident.

NHTSA ODI 11565412

Jun 23, 2023SteeringDriver assistanceLane DepartureCrash1 injury

Maryland State Police Report [XXX] says: On [XXX], [XXX] was driving his 2018 Tesla Model S in Maryland on what is known in the DMV as the important highway, "The Beltway". According to Police Report [XXX], "Unit 1 was traveling southbound in Lane 1 on [XXX]. The Autopilot feature on the Tesla was engaged. The Autopilot malfunctioned causing the Tesla to lose control and leave the highway on the Left Side. The Driver was Transported by ambulance to the hospital ...." "Equipment Failure, Ran Off Road Left" INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11528444

Dec 3, 2021Driver assistanceLane Departure

MCU will not keep up with basic standard features. Map would not load mid trip causing autopilot to fail during a turn causing car to veer wide and almost crash into a wall. Advised Tesla service and they said the only fix is to spend $2000 to upgrade the MCU.

NHTSA ODI 11442507

Nov 7, 2021Driver assistanceLane Departure

I have been complaining since I got this Tesla in late 2017, that the car brakes unexpectedly on the Freeway. Tesla claim that nothing is wrong & this will happened if the sensor received a signal like light from another car, but I was driving on the Freeway during daytime? On 10/31/21 while driving autodrive on the freeway the car suddenly skid to the right twice, around 6.50 PM & 9.05 PM. My Grandson was in the car with me and witness the incident. Luckily I was able to straighten the car without any accident. Tesla made an appointment for a mobile visit on 11/5/21, but cancelled on 11/4/21 and reschedule one month later on 12/9/21 to a Service Ctr in Walnut. This is a Safety issue and Tesla is not seriously taking care of.

NHTSA ODI 11439631

Working with the data? Download all 129 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 25, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2018 Tesla Model S 60 verdict →