What 122 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Tesla Model X P90d

The design feature of having the HORN be a soft key rather than palming the steering wheel just like every other car, has resulted in multiple occurrences where I tried to honk at someone to avert a collision, and the honk was delayed by hundreds of milliseconds as I had to recall that the horn is a soft key, that I have to hunt for depending on the steering wheel angle, at a critical time when milliseconds count. This is a really hazardous design decision I hope gets changed before it becomes a direct factor in people's deaths.

NHTSA ODI 11551475

My 2022 Tesla Model X is equipped with yoke steering wheel with capacitive turn signal buttons integrated, and there's no turn signal stalk. While I like the simplicity, the turn signal buttons sometimes do not respond. It happened about 10x in the past 12 months / 10k miles of ownership. I took the vehicle to Tesla service center twice in the last a few weeks and they couldn't do anything other than a customer paid diagnostics. The most recent occurrence was 9/17. Here's what I put in my service request. "I was about to move to the right lane, but right signal button did not respond for 10-15 seconds. In the meantime, left signal button worked and I was able to activate it twice just to confirm it wasn't my thumb being wet of something else, but the right signal button would not respond at all. I wanted to record a video but it wasn't safe to do so. I captured a dashcam recording in case that helps." Here's the service result on my invoice "Unable to duplicate concerns present on steering yoke. Checked vehicle logs and no hardware related concerns or abnormalities identified. Performed inspection in-house and verified proper operation." (I was charged $70.5 for the diagnoses) The same also happened on 9/4. I put in the service note "I pressed on the left turn buttons about 5 times when the first 4 times it didn’t respond. I’ve capture a dashcam video to record the exact time in case that helps." Here's the service result on my invoice "Unable to verify the customer concern, diagnosed and pulled car logs and customers time stamp. Reviewed data with the lead technician, and found no issues or cracked alerts during the time of when the button was operated. unable to replicate concern. Buttons are working as designed. No repairs needed at this time." This imposes road safety issues for me and other drivers, especially when I have to change lanes on busy roads.

NHTSA ODI 11547793

driving this morning when suddenly the car steering wheel stop responding and will no long turn right or left, and almost Couse to a crash with other cars. calling tow truck to tow the car to Tesla. waiting for diagnostic. car is mostly brand new, super dangerous

NHTSA ODI 11543918

At about 11:20pm on September 9th, the steering control went out while we were going around an exit ramp at which point the steering yoke became extremely difficult to use and tried to revert to a straight position in the middle of going around the curve.

NHTSA ODI 11543641

I'd like to report a safety concern. There are two issues. 1. the shape of the steering wheel, and 2. the location of the buttons and overall stalkless yoke. I have had this vehicle for a little over a year now, and there have been a number of times both issues could have caused a major accident. The first issue is the shape of the steering wheel. When driving normally, just every day driving, its not so much of an issue. But when you have to make quick, multiple emergency manuvers, the shape of the yoke (the fact that its not round'ish) is problematic. The yoke shape doesn't allow for quick maneuvers that you'd expect in emergency scenarios. The second issue has to do with the location of the high beams and the horn specifically, but could see other buttons being problematic for people with smaller hands than I have. I have attached several pictures with and without my own hands (for reference, I'm 6' tall with a medium build and proportional hand size.) As you can see, my thumbs aren't able to reach the high beam and horn buttons without moving my hands. Additionally, they aren't actually buttons and no way to know if my finger/thumb is in the correct place without looking at the yoke/wheel. This is problematic, because drivers would need to use those buttons quickly. Also, the high beam button isn't really user friendly. When trying to switch to high beams, you have to hold the button for a period of time, and it doesn't always work. Both of these issues are problematic and I recommend a review, as I'm seeing not only tesla with this steering wheel/yoke design, but have seen Lexus with the yoke design too. I work in the DC area and willing to bring my Tesla Model X to show your team so you can evalute the issue first hand. Thanks for your consideration

NHTSA ODI 11542094

Steering wheel left and right signals are hard to control while driving. Narrowly escaped accident because I have to look at steering wheel to press signal button. I am not sure how this signal cleared safety concerns. It happened several times , I stop looking at road and find signal to press it.

NHTSA ODI 11540873

While driving on an 80 MPH speed limit, 2-lane interstate in a rural area, the vehicle's "traffic aware" cruise control was enabled. The driver attempted to pass a semi-truck on left while the road was curving to the left. The vehicle's emergency lane keep assist appeared to engage causing the vehicle to swerve toward the semi-truck. The driver corrected back to the left, when doing so the power steering system failed causing the driver to apply significant force to the steering to avoid a collision. For the next 12 miles of driving the power steering never engaged and turning required significant force. While charging at a supercharger the error on the dashboard stating that power steering was not available persisted. Upon departure the error message went away and the power steering worked again. The manufacturer was contacted as the vehicle was under warranty. It was determined that no repair was needed after the power steering once again began to work, but the failure created a significant risk to the five vehicle occupants at the time of failure.

NHTSA ODI 11535805

In numerous incidents, I have attempted to signal other drivers using my horn in an emergency situation. In one such incident, I was in the left lane, traveling at approx. 40 miles per hour when a driver who was stopped in the right lane began switching into my lane. I went to honk to indicate my presence, but the capacitive touch button on the upper right of the wheel was difficult to locate in a quick emergency situation. Additionally, pressing the center of the wheel, as will honk in every other car on the market did not work. In another incident, I was traveling through an intersection at approx. 50 miles per hour, and an oncoming vehicle attempted to make a left turn as they did not see me (presumably). I attempted to honk, but again, the horn button was very difficult to location in such a quick, high-stakes emergency situation. It is my opinion that Tesla's current design for their Model X and Model S vehicles, where the horn can only be initiated via a small capacitive touch button, represents a safety hazard to owners of these vehicles, as well as the general public who may be interacting with these vehicles on the road. Tesla has prioritized design over safety, and it is only a matter of time before lives are lost through easily preventable collisions due to the lack of a standard warning device such as a horn.

NHTSA ODI 11534308

On Tesla's site, it says to report safety concerns to you vs to Tesla so that's what I'm doing since Tesla doesn't have any options to write to them about these problems. 1) I got into a parking lot accident on 7/7/2023 because of the "slide bar" on the Tesla Model X. I have had problems with it and complained to people about it before. If your hand has lotion on it, when you "scroll" up with your finger, it doesn't always "take". That's what happened earlier on 7/7 as well as in the parking lot. I scrolled to go forward, but it didn't scroll so when I hit the "gas" (its electric), it went backwards into the car in back of me. What if the car behind me was a person instead - that would have been awful. Tesla should fix this. 2) Tesla's horn is a small button on the right side of the 1/2 steering wheel. You can't even reach it with your right fingers when you are driving. If your right hand is not available, it is almost impossible to use your left finger to push exactly that small button for the horn. I also complained to Tesla about this safety issue when I had another problem with the car. Previously, someone cut me off and I couldn't even warn them because my right finger couldn't push exactly that small button. Another time, my right hand was occupied and I was just jabbing at the right side of the steering wheel to try to get the horn to sound, which it didn't. Thank you for listening.

NHTSA ODI 11531644

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model X. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V085000 (Steering, Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ODI 11517897

UNKNOWN

NHTSA ODI 11517726

Tesla has moved the horn button to be a small touch area within the steering wheel that can be used with the thumb in the right location. I was making a left turn, and a car ran the red light, I was trying to hit the horn and was not able to locate it with my thumb in time. The horn needs to be either made bigger or moved back to the center under the airbag, like all other cars.

NHTSA ODI 11515398

This is regarding the 2022 Tesla Model X steering wheel/yoke The button for the left and right turning signal occasionally does not work. When I tried pressing down the bottom, it is stuck and does not produce the haptic vibration It at least malfunctions once every 2-3 days. This is especially dangerous when I am merging onto the freeway, when it suddenly stops working. Tesla first address the issue by replacing the yoke/steering wheel when I brought the car into service on 9/12/2022. However, shortly after leaving the service center, the issue shows up again. I then had to submit a new service request, which was supposed to get fix/replace on 10/14/2022. However, the service center said the part is not available yet, so pushed back the appointment date to 11/07/2022 But they cannot guarantee that the part will be available on that date as well. At this point, I am driving a car that post safety risk and put others at risk, as I am not able to use the turning signal 100%. There was a few times I almost got into accidents. I mention this to Tesla service support, but they brush it off and simply said part is not available There is no urgency to fix it. I have at least 3 videos of showing the turning signal not working while I am driving. During those times, luckily I had a passenger with me that can help record. Can provide those videos if requested. Thank You

NHTSA ODI 11491675

In all late 2021 and 2022 Model S and X cars from Tesla, the manufacturer removed the left and right stalks for a) directional signals b) wiper controls c) forward/reverse/park controls and also made it nearly impossible to use the horn, with only a tiny button to sound the horn. The driver is forced to remove their eyes from the road to a) turn on left or right directional signals b) choose forward or reverse c) turn on window washers d) turn on wipers when they fail to turn on automatically and e) press the horn. AT NO TIME SHOULD A DRIVER HAVE TO REMOVE THEIR EYES FROM THE ROAD TO DO THESE FUNCTIONS. Traditionally, any driver could use a left or right hand without removing eyes from the road and use any such control. This is not possible.

NHTSA ODI 11482801

The 2021-2022 model X “yoke” steering wheel is poorly conceived and a safety hazard. 1) horn location is tiny, and moves as wheel turns, impossible to quickly activate horn in emergency situations 2) high Beam lights are on a tiny button which also moves and cannot be activated when wheel turns or in an emergency situation, or even when choosing to cross an intersection during a yellow light because a car behind you is tailgating. 3) wheel shape: when used at lower speeds in autopilot Beta mode, the electronics literally rip the wheel out of your hands when turning right on residential streets. It is impossible to maintain hands on the wheel without risk of personal injury during some autopilot beta turns. Safety of the vehicle would be returned if the prior 2017-2020 round wheel with turn signal, wiper control, and gear selector stalks returned. The inability for the driver to control following distance in the ADAS (cruise control) systems without dropping 3 levels down into on screen menus is also unsafe.

NHTSA ODI 11477961

1) low-speed turning is very difficult. makes hitting pedestrians/curbs/edifices much more likely, as well as just holding up traffic and frustrating other drivers. 2) turn signals require looking down at the steering yoke unless you're a real ninja. even if you get the hang of them without looking down, it's too easy to make a mistake. also i've noticed that when i'm trying to use the left signal, the terrible haptic faceplate will sometimes activate the right turn signal. when this happens in traffic at speed on the highway it can cause accidents. 3) horn is a haptic region that you have to look for to activate. i think this is being addressed but it's not sufficient to recall just to replace the current version with one with a normal horn in the middle. the entire thing needs to be replaced with a wheel and turn signal stalk. Elon Musk might be a genius but he has no business running an ongoing car company.

NHTSA ODI 11473732