What 32 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Tesla Model S 60d

Sept 9th, 2023 while driving on the interstate the vehicle lost all propulsion power, red lights shown in "gear, P N D" indicator area. I was in left lane and had to get to the side of the road, 4 lanes over, where putting the car in park and back in drive allowed for it to move forward again. I proceeded to a charging station to inspect the car and during this I hear a thump in the trunk area when going over bumps. Upon inspection under the car the rear access cover was hanging down but it was dark. The following morning a closer look revealed the rear subframe where the engine mounts had broken and a large piece of the frame was missing from the inside down. Mounting tab and hardware were still in place but pulled from the structure itself. The car was not handling correctly as if it had a low tire but tire pressure was correct. At drop off I noticed the rear camber seemed quite cambered. As a structural engineer I can see where the mounting tab weld to the aluminum frame failed. The frame appears to be cast and extruded tubing welded together and the failure is what would be considered a weak point at a weld. Car is currently at Tesla Norfolk Virginia for an evaluation and when I showed them the issue the staff did not want to document the issue and requested I perform a drive along with a tech. I asked why as the pics were evidence enough as to my complaint and issue. Cursory investigation online yielded this is not an isolated occurrence and with others having very serious failures I felt it important that perhaps it is severe enough for a modified part replacement. For reference no crash damage or any other like issues have occurred prior with the car.

NHTSA ODI 11549422

while driving on a highway, car made warning sounds and displayed a message "steering assist is reduced, drive with care" the car was not drivable. I almost crashed as it happened on a curve. after i stopped, i soft reset the computer but that did not help. During the incident the steering wheel was set to comfort mode. i changed it to standard but i am not sure if that did anything. I completely shut down the car, waited about 5min and started it again. this time the message went away and the car started driving properly. I reported this to tesla. Despite this being a safety issue they scheduled to look at it in 2 weeks which sounds very dismissive of the issue. I researched the problem and there are many others reporting the same issues. there are videos on youtube how to "fix" it by resetting the car.

NHTSA ODI 11488930

AT ~5,000 TOTAL VEHICLE MILES, OUR 2019 MODEL S PERFORMANCE HAD SUDDEN AND COMPLETE POWER STEERING ASSIST FAILURE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, POSSIBLY CONCURRENT WITH AUTOPILOT (AUTOSTEER) FAILURE. EITHER I, OR THE AUTOPILOT SYSTEM, TURNED OFF THE AUTOPILOT FEATURE AT OR NEAR A SLIGHT CURVE ON AN INTERSTATE FREEWAY. IMMEDIATE "STARTLE" REACTION WAS THAT THE AUTOPILOT FEATURE WAS "FIGHTING" ME FOR CONTROL AS I TURNED THE STEERING WHEEL TO KEEP THE CAR ON THE FREEWAY, WITH EXTREME EFFORT. THE REALITY IS MOST LIKELY THAT THIS "FIGHTING" WAS ONLY THE IMMEDIATE IMPRESSION CAUSED BY THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF EFFORT REQUIRED TO TURN THE STEERING WHEEL, DESPITE BEING AT SPEEDS IN THE 60-70 MPH RANGE. SOON NOTED A SCROLLING SERIES OF WARNING MESSAGES: A. "STEERING ASSIST REDUCED: STEERING MAY REQUIRE INCREASED EFFORT." [WHICH IS A GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT.] B. "AUTOPILOT SAFETY/CONVENIENCE FEATURES UNAVAILABLE: FEATURES MAY BE RESTORED ON NEXT DRIVE." [WHICH, AFTER THE CAR HAD SAT PARKED FOR ~30 MINUTES, WERE RESTORED.] USER-VISIBLE MCU-DISPLAY FAILURE LOG REVEALED THE FOLLOWING SUPPLEMENTAL FAILURE CODES (WITH THE PROBABLE TIMES OF FAILURE):: 1. 17:26/APP_W207: AUTOSTEER TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE 2. 17:20/APP_W264 AUTOPILOT SAFETY/CONVENIENCE FEATURES UNAVAILABLE: FEATURES MAY BE RESTORED ON NEXT DRIVE I FEEL VERY STRONGLY THAT THIS SORT OF POWER STEERING FAILURE WOULD LIKELY HAVE RESULTED IN A LESS EXPERIENCED DRIVER SUSPECTING THE STEERING HAD "LOCKED UP" AND BE CAUSAL TO A MAJOR ACCIDENT. GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE FAILURE MODE, AND AT THESE SPEEDS, FATALITIES COULD BE LIKELY. OF NOTE, THIS IS AT LEAST THE FOURTH TIME THIS HAS OCCURRED TO US, BUT THE FIRST WITH THIS CAR; ALL OTHER EVENTS WERE IN A 2017 MODEL S PERFORMANCE, ALSO AT VERY LOW TOTAL MILEAGE. AFTER A FAILED REPAIR ATTEMPT, THAT MODEL S WAS TRADED IN TO TESLA FOR THIS MODEL S . . . .

NHTSA ODI 11407482

ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION, WHEN DRIVING IN ENHANCED AUTO-PILOT AND ENGAGED AUTO LANE CHANGE, THE CAR STARTED CHANGING LANES, THEN ABRUPTLY SWERVED BACK INTO MY ORIGINAL LANE. I LOOKED BEHIND ME AND COAST WAS CLEAR. IT'S NOT AT ALL APPARENT WHY THE CAR ABORTS THE LANE CHANGE. I WAS DRIVING THE SPEED LIMIT, 65 MPH ON A 3 LANE HIGHWAY AND I WAS IN A MIDDLE LANE, CHANGING INTO THE RIGHT LANE. FIRST OCCURANCE WAS IN TRAFFIC WITH PLENTY OF SPACE BETWEEN VEHICLES TO EXECUTE A SAFE LANE CHANGE. ONCE THE VEHICLE RETURNS TO THE ORIGINAL LANE IT WILL ATTEMPT AND SUCCESSFULLY CHANGE LANES. OTHER OCCURANCES SIMILIAR IN NATURE. WHEN ROUNDING A CURVE AND EXECUTING A LANE CHANGE WITH EHANCED AUTO PILOT ON, THE MANUEVER IS MORE ABRUPT, SERIOUS SAFETY CONCERN. ALL ENGAGED FUNCTIONS OF AUTO PILOT DISENGAGED DUE TO ERRATIC MOVEMENT. AS MENTIONED, THIS IS AN ONGOING PROBLEM AND ON OTHER TESLA BLOGS SIMILIAR OCCURANCES ARE REPORTED. A BULLETIN NEEDS TO BE ISSUED RELATING THE PROBLEM AND HAZARD TO TESLA OWNERS AND TESLA NEEDS TO SUPPLY A FIX TO THE PROBLEM

NHTSA ODI 11187433