What 141 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Tesla Model X 60d

Our Tesla Model X is failing recently with several issues as listed below: 1. 'Autiopilot disabled' - Autopilot was not available to use since 09/2024 after upgraded to 12.x FSD upgrade. Tesla service diagnosed in 11/2024 with some error connected to evaporator fan, advised me to replace the kit at an estimated $580 2. 'Unable to start' - HV battery failed on 03/06/2025 with series of failures that was reported to NHTSA (VOQ#11651899). Tesla replaced the battery, and service delivered vehicle on 03/24/2025 3. 'Hood unlatch' failure - while driving home from Service center on the same day at 70 mph on I-95 freeway, the 'hood' popped up blocking the front view, and had to pull vehicle to shoulder to safety. There was NO warning message on the screen at all. Took the vehicle to service immediately, and service team pointed that they forgot to turn on 'auto-latch' resulting hood failure. They offered the 'free' repair of hood. 4. 'ECU Autopilot failure' - while taking the delivery of 'hood' fix on 04/22/2025, I noticed the 'autopilot' was still NOT working. Serviced diagnosed with 'failed autopilot ECU' at an estimated cost of $1791.55. Currenlty the vehicle is with Tesla Service team. My vehicle is with service team since 03/06/2025, and has been identified with series of issues/failures. It has caused severe safety failure putting our lives at risk with 'unlatched' hood while driving on a freeway. Also with HV battery failure its completely unreliable on when it might fail during driving. Now with failed autopilot ECU, we are unsure of the vehicles ability to navigate, drive function and safety concerns. Service team is unable to provide precise root causes or fixes, or restore it to a functioning vehicle. Every visit with service team there is a new issue with vehicle. Our family is greatly concern with the quality of the vehicle, persisting issues, safety concerns and overall reliability of the vehicle. Please find enclosed all service records.

NHTSA ODI 11659042

Based on thousands of posts, replies, etc, this seems to be a well known issue with this model/year Tesla as well as other years/models. It seems that the Wheel Sensor Cable is not fastened properly, and over time, the cable runs against the tire, causing the internal wires to be exposed, this in turn causes numerous faults to occur, which includes causing ABS, lane departure avoidance, traction control, stability control, ABS, and regenerative braking to stop working. This happens while driving resulting in an immediate change in how the vehicle functions which could easily lead to a major accident While there are numerous forums where this issue is noted, below is one that details the issue with photos [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11650036

‘safety restraint system issue’ error pops up when ever car is turned on was told that can cause airbag to not be deployed when needed.

NHTSA ODI 11638080

I was driving on [XXX] from Carson City to Reno in Washoe Valley while on autopilot, the car suddenly alerted with very loud alarms, showed 1. steering assist reduced, 2. Automatic Emergency Braking is unavailable 3. Traction Control disabled 4. Stability control disabled 5. Park Assist unavailable. I pulled over to a safe parking area. Then the car locked out for 75 mins, in Neutral gear, can't shut off, can't park, can't reset the car at all even after talking to Tesla support. While waiting for the tow truck, I turned it into Tow mode, was able to change into Park mode finally, and hard reset the car. I took it in and Tesla told me the steering system was the problem and I was out of warranty so I had to pay A LOT OF money to repair/replace it. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11579414

The vehicle was in cruise control and had a phantom braking event. The vehicle was going at 70 mph and suddenly braked even though there was significant distance between the car in front and nothing on the road. The sun was glaring on the road and possibly the car detected the shadow on the road as an object and braked because of it.

NHTSA ODI 11574320

The Tesla recall under NHTSA Recall No: 23V-838 has not been completed by Tesla. The upgraded computer I purchased from Tesla and had installed in December 2021 cannot accept the OTA update. Tesla is requesting that I replace the computer again for 2 thousand dollars for the recall OTA. Telsa said my current computer has an internal bug and needs to be replaced. I should not have to spend 2K for another computer that barely lasted 2 years.

NHTSA ODI 11573662

Auto pilot

NHTSA ODI 11571991

The Full Self Driving System failed to operate correctly. This caused my car to hit another car. I have asked Tesla for the data they use to tell what the driver was doing when the system was on but the Tesla staff who respond to my requests plead ignorance of what data I am referring to. I am not ready to spend the money it would cost to hire a lawyer to force Tesla to hand over the data from their system. I have video from the Tesla camera showing what happens. I will try to upload it. Here is a quick run through of what happened: I entered the freeway and got into the left lane. Once I was safely in the left lane and up to speed I turned on the FSD keeping my hands on the steering wheel. After a few moments the car veered to the right, I tugged against the pull of the FSD and got it back in the lane when all of a sudden it turned my wheel hard right into a minivan. It happened so fast that the wheel turned even with my hands on it. I have been trying to talk to someone at Tesla but it is difficult to break through the front lines as they deflect contacts away from anyone who might be able to answer my questions about getting the FSD incident data. The video is .mp4 so it is not allowing me to upload. Please let me know how to send you the video.

NHTSA ODI 11554607

I was driving on the highway on Tesla enhanced auto pilot when traffic came to a stop I’d notice my Tesla model X was not about to stop nor slow down for the stopped traffic so at the last minute I had to slam on my brakes and swerved to the right lane where I was hit by a truck pulling a trailer which subsequently rammed me into the truck I was trying to avoid rear ending after Teslas forward collision warning failed to notify me or stop the car from crashing in the first place

NHTSA ODI 11534683

After I started an update as requested on Tesla app, the car was giving error messages. I was able to drive but the errors were - 1. reduced steering assist 2. Autopilot and cruise control not available

NHTSA ODI 11493620

https://youtu.be/yRdzIs4FJJg "Autopilot is set to shut down 1 second before any impact. Makes the driver 100% in control before an accident. Makes the driver 100% responsible. Tesla has killed two motorcyclists in the past 4 months. At night the ai can't tell the difference between a motorcyclist up close and a car far away. So, it assumes car and runs right into it. Another interesting issue with teslas autopilot. They claim its 10x safer than a person. That not true. The claim is based on sheer accidents per mile. Autopilot is only really used on the highway, eating up miles quickly and in an environment where, although consequences of crashes can be more severe, they happen less often. When adjusted to compare highway driving autopilot to highway driving people, it's really only about as safe as a person, if that. In their 2022 cars tesla has done away with radar. So all new teslas have no idea the true distance something is from them. They are 100% cameras, while every other autonomous driving company is utilizing LiDAR. LiDAR is expensive and ugly. That's why tesla isn't using it. And taking radar out of their cars was just another cost savings measure. They were having a problem with the video and radar being at odds as to what's in front of the car. So instead of spending the money to fix it and fuze the sensors into a more robust solution. They just ditched radar and make the assumption that the video analysis is correct."

NHTSA ODI 11483069

My wife was driving the car in was turning left on to a major road, she apparently hit another car trying to turn right on to the major road from opposite side. Both cars must have started from a stop sign and neither of them knew the speed. My wife does not remember the details of the incident, she was shaken up, initially declined to seek medical care but soon after could not recognize people, so had to be taken to ER. The car with all the technology failed to alert the impending crash, did not apply emergency brakes, nor did not record the event which it was supposed to have.

NHTSA ODI 11478960

While driving on an interstate freeway on 8-14-2021, using the vehicle Autopilot driver assistance mode (which I had been using for the previous 18 months without incident), the vehicle failed to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of me. This collision resulted in no passenger injury, but resulted in both driver and passenger airbags to engage and resulted in total vehicle loss of the Tesla Model X. No other vehicles involved had airbag engagement. Tesla may have actual information on the functioning of the vehicle and the Autopilot software that may explain why the collision avoidance system failed, but refused to supply me with this information.

NHTSA ODI 11468429

On May 15. 2022 at 4:25PM while traveling north on highway 395 about 14 miles south of Bishop Californa. While traveling with little to no traffic, using adaptive cruise control (NOT SELF DRIVING) the vehicle suddenly stopped for no apparent reason in the middle of the highway. Fortunately, there were no cars behind us otherwise I probably would not be writing this. I have registered a similar complaint back in March for the same issue. We have had a total of 4 “phantom braking” incidents since buying the car in October 2021

NHTSA ODI 11464907

Our Tesla has had the “phantom braking” on 3 occasions. The first incident happened on southbound interstate 5 near firebaugh. right after we purchased the car. The car suddenly stopped from 70 MPH to about 25 MPH in the middle of the freeway. The second event on northbound 395 at 2:45pm 3/20/2022The car went from about 60 mph to about 25 with out warning. It happened once again at about 4:03PM the same day. All of these events occurred while the car was in adaptaive cruise control, it in self driving mode. I have one event on video, that showed skid marks ahead at the same time the braking occurred.

NHTSA ODI 11463136

While driving at speed approximately 4:20PM EST April 9th, 2022 on I95 near the Georgia/South Carolina border the onboard computer froze and became unresponsive, including the speedometer, the radio, navigation system, etc.. I became aware of the issue because the car started to slowly slow down but the display continued to show 70 MPH. I forced the computer out of Autopilot but the car continued to show it was in autopilot. shortly after the display behind the steering wheel went blank then rebooted, followed by the center console. thankfully I was paying attention and did not panic, had I panicked I could very easily been in an accident as I did not know what was going on with the car. I reached out to tesla multiple times following the incident and the agents and agents were non-caring and treated it as no big deal, and acted as if I should not be concerned about it. I could not even get assistance from them on getting service for the car. they kept pointing me to the Mobile app on the phone which would not function properly and after typing the incident into as I wrote above 3 times I gave up.

NHTSA ODI 11460294

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 70-75 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer could not duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,200.

NHTSA ODI 11455592

I was driving down a ramp and the emergency brake engaged, causing All of my belongings in my passenger seat and rear seat to fly off the seat. It felt like whiplash and my daughter was in the backseat as well. The next day, I had severe neck and upper back pain to the point that I couldn’t move. I am seeking care with a chiropractor.

NHTSA ODI 11452563

ON MARCH 1, 2021, WIFE AND I WAS DRIVING EAST BOUND ON ROUTE 80 HIGHWAY IN OHIO. TWICE THE VEHICLE BRAKED WHILE DRIVING IN CRUISE CONTROL. IT WAS A CLEAR DAY. THERE WERE NO CARS AROUND. NO BRIDGES OR OBSTACLES. AND THE ROAD LINES WHERE CLEAR. THE FIRST BRAKING OCCURRED WHILE WE WERE ON RIGHT LANE ON A TWO-LANE HIGHWAY. THE SECOND BRAKING OCCURRED (AROUND 5:15PM) WHILE WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE LANE OF 3-LANE HIGHWAY. WE WERE DRIVING APPROXIMATE 65MPH. AT BOTH BRAKING, MY WIFE WAS DRIVING. WHEN I HAPPEN, WE BOTH CONFIRMED THERE WAS NO CARS OR OBSTACLES AROUND US. WE CONTACTED TESLA, WHO AFTER REVIEWING THEIR LOGS SAYS IT WAS WORKING IN "NORMAL". THAT THE VEHICLE SAW SOMETHING AND BRAKED. EVEN THOUGH BOTH MYSELF AND WIFE CAN CONFIRM THERE WAS NOTHING AROUND US, PARTICULARLY SINCE COVID HAS SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED ANY TRAFFIC. THERE HAS BEEN A HISTORY OF ISSUES. ON OTHER OCCASION, ONE OF MY SIDE DOORS INDICATED THERE WAS SOMETHING THERE, EVEN THOUGH I WAS THE ONLY VEHICLE IN COMPLETELY EMPTY PARKING LOT. ONLY AFTER MANY COMPLAINTS AN ATTEMPTS DID THEY FINALLY REPLACE THE SENSOR. IT SEEMS THAT THEY ARE REPEATING THEIR DENIAL OF CLAIMS BY TWO EYE-WITNESSES OF THE ISSUES.

NHTSA ODI 11403562

TOUCH SCREEN AND MAIN DISPLAY UNIT AND CONTROLLER PROBLEMS. IT GOES BLACK VERY OFTEN, IT BECOMES SLOW MANY TIMES, RESTART TAKES A LONG TIME, SOMETIMES BLUETOOTH STOP WORKING FOR ALL DEVICES, NO SOUNDS CHIMES, NO AUDIO SOMETIMES, THE BLANK SCREEN STAYS FOR LONG TIME SOMETIMES DURING THE DRIVE. THIS IS BIG SAFETY CONCERN. I WENT TO SERVICE FEW TIMES AND MOST RECENTLY TODAY AND TESLA SERVICE DENIED THE SERVICE OR FIX SITING EVERYTHING WORKS. THEY ASKED ME TO RESTART THE SCREEN. THEY TOLD IF SCREEN GOES BLANK WEEKLY IT'S ACCEPTABLE.

NHTSA ODI 11388205