2016 TESLA MODEL S Complaints

The contact owns a 2016 Tesla Model S. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact called the local dealer who confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not notified. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

Car was being pulled out of parking spot and front suspension failed. TESLA rode side service took car to TESLA dealer. TESLA said car was too heavy for parts and now the knuckles and the fore links for the front suspension need to be replaced. The car had a full alignment in February and everything was good. They said they were aware of a problem others are concerned about bit they can't do anything at this point as there is no open recall in the United States.

Tesla has released new Firmware 11 software, Version 2021.44.25.2, for the Master Computer Screen which is what controls all the software controlled functions of the vehicle. During the update, which was not communicated in advance of the update, Tesla did a complete USER INTERFACE change & redesign. This materially changed how the vehicle functions from a usability standpoint and a safety standpoint. With the said User Interface update and change (Again, Complete redesign), Tesla changed locations of "buttons" to activate functions required for safety. One major change (Among too many to be able to list in a Safety Complaint) was Window Defroster/Defogger, to keep windows clear of fog & frost. Tesla has moved buttons and options which were directly accessible with a single touch and no menu changes, and has moved said changes into sub-menu's. Doing this now requires the driver to take their eyes off the road, and at least one hand off the wheel for an extended length of time to navigate sub-menu's to find the placement of the button to activate defrosters. Instead of a fraction of a second glance to hit the button, now requires 2-5 seconds of looking to find it. Same goes for heat/ac controls. Further, the redesign materially changes the functionality of the vehicles menus, and completely changes the functionality of every and all options under the menu's. Again, Tesla did this with no prior notification that such a change would be taking place. Further, Tesla service will not reverse the software changes. Tesla, with this update, has focused more on a stupid "Holiday Light Show", and providing more games to the driver. I do not want a stupid light show or games. I want my vehicle to operate how it was advertised in a usability manor that does not decrease safety.

Sir/Madam, I own a Tesla Model S 2016 year car. I bought it in Nov 2018 from Tesla dealership. The car had free super charging and all warranty. In a parking lot entrance, someone rear ended my car and affected car back bumper and slight dent on quarter panel. The other car may not have traveled more than 5 miles as he was turning inside parking lot. The insurance company totaled my car saying Tesla won't provide parts quickly to repair. Since they can't wait, they totaled the car. Insurance company gave the car to us after deducting salvage value. Tesla didn't do body work in our area. So I took it to another shop and repaired the bumper and quarter panel. Due to pandemic we couldn't get rebuilt title quickly. Since my car was fully insured, insurance company said we can drive the car. While we were waiting for rebuilt title, I continue to use super charging and other work from Tesla. Once the salvage title entered into the DMV system, Tesla had access to it and since then, they removed all warranty and super charging. I am a realtor and use this car very much for my business. I explained to Tesla officers the need to have super charging, but they are saying once the car has rebuilt title, they will remove super charging capability. I told them I was using super charging it after my car was fixed, but they didn't care. I asked them if they can inspect the car for safety issue and they don't want to do it. Now my problem is I couldn't super charge even in other providers super charging location also. I provided all the details about the fix, rebuilt title etc. Even if they don't want to provide warranty, I certainly need super charging for free or by paying fee. I am wiling to do any safety check they want me to do. I am doing all other services in Tesla dealership only. I hope your department could intervene and help with situation.

Over the course of 3 years, I reported that steering was "too loose". Often times any of the driver assisted functions would stop working, and the steering felt so loose that it was almost like the wheels felt like they would fall off. Often times it felt as though the car was out of alignment. I commented with the Tesla Service Center team members many occasions over the last 3 years that the steering did not feel right and starting happening after 2 years of ownership. I did purchase an extended warranty beyond the basic warranty. I asked on several occasions in writing if they thought the safety of driving with the steering so loose would be in question, and they would never respond in writing. They would only tell me verbally that safety was not an issue. After pushing them to determine what the root cause of the loose driving was about and the loss of assisted driving functionality, they said that my steering column needed to be replaced. I was only informed of this after my warranty had lapsed. The cost to fix it was $3500, and I have no other options on places to get it fixed other than the Tesla Service Center(s). Needless to say, I was not very happy about this considering that I paid over $80K for the auto in July of 2017. I also purchased AutoPilot software in 2020, but it did not work very well considering the steering problems. My hunch is that Tesla is trying to avoid this problem and wait for folks to go beyond their basic warranty and have them pay for new steering columns. I would appreciate your investigation into this and help me with my concerns. Also the safety of the car seems to be in question, and not sure if they are trained to tell customers not to worry about this issue that I have discovered. Thank you.

Failure to fix the problem in a reasonable period of time. Recall notice was sent March 22, 2021 and still no promised replacement of the defective part.

I backed my tesla out of my driveway on 12/17. I could see as I backed into the street another car at the stop sign waiting to turn left. I was blocking part of the road so as the car was in reverse moving back, I put my tesla in "D". I clearly saw the D. I stepped on accelerator seeing they were patiently waiting and I wanted to get out of their way. As I touched gas I was in shock-I kept going in reverse! The car dash said "D" and in my shock i pressed down on the gas more. I ended up accelerating more in reverse and smashed right into a parked car on the street! I knew I was swerving back and steered into the middle of the street I thought. I never heard the warning sign on my car because it was in D. I didnt see the car in my rearview mirror and in the shock of the speed and my correct into the middle of the road, I dented my neighbors front left bumper only. Thankfully I didn't damage their lights. It only did a small scrape in the front right rear side of my model S. I did replicate the problem one more time on camera about 15 minutes later. But I was in such shock the camera drops below the road so it has my voice on it and I didn't want to hit someone else again. This is very dangerous to accelerate backwards when the dash says "D". I've taken the tesla in many times for the screens freezing. They say its memory issues and want me to pay 2500 to upgrade the internal parts. This puts my kids and anyone at risk if they're behind me when Im shifting to drive and drive off. There again were no warnings before the crash because the car was in D.

I was notified of this recall in March/2021 and Tesla says they have no time to fix it and they will schedule my appointment at some point. My Navigation and other key functions freeze frequently in busy metropolitan areas as well as rural and fails to keep up with notifications causing unsafe driving conditions. The remedy they suggested was to delete my driving navigation history to free up space which takes a ridiculous amount of time and only temporarily solves the problem. The recall notice is below. The Feb 06,2021 Manufacturer Recall NumberSB2121001 NHTSA Recall Number21V035 Recall StatusRecall Incomplete Summary The eMMC flash memory device is rated for an industry-standard 3,000 Program/Erase (“P/E”) cycles. Over time, and depending on usage of the affected component, the eMMC hardware exhausts cycles for each NAND cell. When the eMMC NAND cell hardware reaches lifetime wear, as measured by the number of P/E cycles and remaining available storage capacity, the eMMC controller will no longer be able to maintain the integrity of the filesystem. This wear-out condition can cause failures of the center display software components, and may indirectly cause loss of the rearview camera display, defrost/defog control settings, and exterior turn signal lighting.

1. MY INFORMATION DISPLAY SCREEN LEAKS LIQUID ONTO THE LOWER CPNSOLE CAUSING THE DISPLAY TO FIL INTERMITTENTLY. 2. IN HOT WEATHER MY DASHBOARD DISPLAY SHOWS SIGNS OF MELTING AND THEN FAILS TO DISPLAY ANY INFORMATIONSUCH AS SPEED, MILEAGE CAPACITY, ETC. WHEN THE WEATHER IS COOL THIS DOES NOT AHPPEN.

The contact owns a 2016 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the center display inadvertently went blank and froze, causing the contact to have to restart the center display. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The contact received a recall notification for NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the manufacturer had not returned his calls for the recall repair. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the issue. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000. Parts distribution disconnect.