2015 TESLA MODEL S Complaints

Electric power steering stopped working unexpectedly and making it very difficult to steer and drive safely.

I parked my 2015 Tesla Model S and found the rear door on the passenger side would not open from the outside even though the door handle was extended. This is a safety concern as we could not open the door to remove our pet dog from the car. It would also not be possible to open the door from the outside to remove a child in a car seat next to the door or an elderly or disabled person sitting next to the door who is unable to open the door from the inside. This could be life threatening in the case of a car crash. It is a major safety defect that should be repaired at no cost by Tesla for the entire lifespan of the car. The problem persists and is reproducible.

While driving and mid-turn, 2 alerts were announced (park assist not available; steer assist reduced) and I immediately lost the ability to turn the steering wheel (it was 100% stiff) mid turn and was almost t-boned by a vehicle in on-coming traffic. I was able to make the turn widely and pull car to the side while blocking the only lane of traffic. I had ZERO warning and ZERO ability to turn the wheel even into a simple driveway. There was a parking lot near and I couldn't turn the wheel just to turn into it. This almost caused a huge accident which I could have been killed in. Luckily my children were not in the car. If the car can just stop working with no warning, it is not safe to drive in my opinion.

Safety concern related to the tail lights and trunk lid lights on a tesla model s. I have had to replace both right and left turn lights and the trunk brake lights on multiple occasions due to water intrusion into the light housings. Water seepage over time or after heavy rains starts shorting the LEDs, thus causing safety concerns due to non-functioning tail lights. The vehicle has not been in an accident. It was purchased from a tesla "dealership" and they stated that there were no accidents. The car history report also indicates that the car has not been in an accident. There has been one attempted repair which added two drains to the trunk lid but the repair did not remedied the seepage into the light housing. There are reports online relating to water seepage into the light housings so its not just my car.

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that three door handles had been replaced over the years. The contact stated that the door handles were not responding, and the contact was unable to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that several attempts were needed before the door before being able to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that the driver's side door handle and the passenger’s side door handle were malfunctioning. The contact stated that there were no messages on the phone App, or on the instrument cluster. The contact had not yet taken the vehicle to the local dealer for the driver’s and passenger’s side front door handles. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 280,000.

While driving approximately 45mph on a smooth dry road, the drivers side front lower ball joint broke in half. This caused the wheel to separate from the lower control arm and get lodged between the fender well and the front subframe. This caused the inner tie rod to bend and the cv joint to separate from the inner connection. The rubber brake line was torn in half and undercarriage damage due to it slamming to the pavement. I notified Tesla and scheduled an appointment. This happened on 02/26/2025 at approximately 7am. The vehicle did not drive abnormal or give any warning before the incident. All maintenance and services were up to date.

The universal joint that connects the steering to the wheels is exposed to the elements and causes the steering to be difficult and/or stop working.

The car veered suddenly to the left (out of the left lane of a highway) while supervised in auto steer. The driver could not move the steering wheel to avoid a collision with the guardrail as the steering wheel had locked up. The collision warning didn’t sound and emergency brakes did not activate upon impact. The airbags were deployed and the car was totaled.

Failure part was drivers side front wheel "Fore Link Assembly" which broke at the wheel connection on our driveway while turning left in reverse. I heard a loud thunk but hadn't run over anything and nothing irregular outside so I continued but now I could hear something scrapping. Turns out it was the front tire now rubbing the wheel well liner when turning left. pulled the tire off and you could easily see where the fore link fractured. Fortunately this part didn't fail on the road as the outcome might have been bad considering the possible loss of control. Our car, 1985 purchased new with 68,450 miles was towed via required flatbed to a Tesla Service Center and repaired. I have all replaced parts including the fractured section that fell on our driveway. Outside of the repair personnel and myself no one has looked at the part but you can clearly see what used to be a circular opening was elongated and ,about a 90 degree section, missing.

Car isn't cooling while supercharging. Problem originated while at Tesla Collision in Fort Lauderdale. Mike DiPietro, the general mgr stated they don't have a supercharger at Tesla Collision Fort Lauderdale to test it and they're not willing to drive it to the supercharger to test it because it's a service issue. When I dropped the car off it cooled while supercharging and now that it's not cooling while supercharging it presents a fire and safety hazard because it will only cool the moment the car is unplugged from the supercharger and then cools full blast for 45 minutes after the car is unplugged. I am well aware of the proper functioning of the cooling of 2015 Tesla Model S P90DL's because I have two of them and have since 2017. The fact that the cooling system kicks ONLY AFTER I UNPLUG from the supercharger clearly indicates the car sees a need to cool but because of a software issue. MIKE DIPIETRO, THE GENERAL MGR OF TESLA COLLISION FORT LAUDERDALE IS NOW THREATENING TO SUE ME BECAUSE I'M REPORTING A FIRE SAFETY/ACCELERATED BATTERY DEGRADATION ISSUE AND I SIMPLY WANT TO PICK THE CAR UP IN THE CONDITION WHICH i DELIVERED IT WHERE THE SUPERCHARGING WAS WORKING PROPERLY COOLING WHILE SUPERCHARGING. THREATENING LEGAL ACTION BECAUSE I'M REPORTING AN ISSUE THEY MAY NEED TO COORDINATE WITH TESLA SERVICE TO FIX AMOUNTS TO BULLYING. If I pick the car up it implies my consent the car is fixed and is NOT a fire safety hazard. They are unwilling to fix the supercharging fire the car is presenting because Tesla Service is a separate entity than Telsa Collision. This is NOT a valid excuse and reason not to fix this fire and safety issue. Please coordinate so that I may forward the chronological email chain which clearly shows the fire and safety issue can be clearly traced back to the [XXX] service. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)