2023 TESLA MODEL S Complaints

The horn activation placement is not in the center of the steering wheel under the pad. It is on a thumb activated button to the right side of the wheel. It is a design flaw which was changed due to the negative fallout with the 2024 car model. Tesla wants over $2000 to correct this safety hazard. I have had several times when a panic use of the horn was missed due to it not being placed where it has been since the invention of the automobile. Thanks for your time in this matter. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The horn button is too small and in a non-standard location that makes it difficult to reliably locate and push it when it is needed. Several times I have tried to locate the horn to avoid an accident or alert other drivers I am nearby, but I cannot locate or hit the small button in time. I have had to swerve out of my lane several times because of this. Fortunately, no cars have been behind me in the new lanes, but how much longer can I rely on that?

There is a police report but I'm not in possession of it. Therefore I selected no below to get it passed this page. I recently sold my 2016 Tesla model S and purchased a 2023 Model S. Tesla has moved the horn on the Model S from the center where it can quickly be used in an emergency to a small icon to the right hand side of the steering wheel. This horn is impossible to use in an emergency. It is a gray icon with no physical or other attributes. The driver must take their eyes off the emergency, locate the small icon among 4 other icons on the black surface, then get your finger perfectly on it to press, otherwise you activate your wipers worsening a bad situation. I have been in several near accidents because of this. It includes an elderly couple who were t-boned directly in front of me. I was unable to use the horn which would prevented the accident. The elderly couple were injured with blood strewn in the car where her arm was gashed open. Even simple situations such as a car backing out of the space in a parking lot can't be quickly prevented. Tesla how has a steering "wheel" with the horn back in the middle where it can be safely used, but they refuse to refit the cars with the unsafe horn. I have pushed this issue with Tesla and they agree many people have complained about the the unsafe horn. Tesla states they will charge $2800 to fix the problem. This must be recalled to prevent many more accidents. It should have never been implemented.

This vehicle has a flawed design for the horn. It has been relocated away from the center of the steering wheel to a small section (1") of a plastic panel on the "spoke" of the steering wheel. It is extremely difficult to locate this spot, particularly in an emergency (what horns are for in the first place...). A vehicle backed into me while I was stopped at a traffic signal and I was unable to alert that vehicle of my presence. They struck my vehicle and caused damage. Thankfully no one was hurt (this time) and the damage was minimal. This design is flawed and is destined to lead to unnecessary traffic accidents and injured or killed occupants. It is unbelievable that such a design has been allowed for a vehicle.

This car does not have a traditional horn that is the center of the steering wheel. Instead, it is a button on the steering wheel with no tactile bump or other indication that your thumb is on the button. I have had a few instances where I need to honk the horn at a driver pulling out in front of me and was unable to activate the horn in time because I had to take my eyes off the road to find the horn button so I could press it. This is a significant safety issue because the horn is much less useful and it requires the driver to take his/her eyes off the road at a critical time.

Left Turn Signal Button About 1 in 20 times, the left turn signal button on the steering wheel does not register a press. Pressing multiple times in multiple places on the left arrow icon makes no difference. If I click the right button and then the left it's fine. Or, if I try later, the left button will work again for a while This has happened many times over the past several weeks

Took my Tesla S Plaid in for a tire rotation and found out that my Tesla model S Plaid cannot be rotated because the tires are worn deeply on the rear left side, the vehicle only has 12,928 miles on it. The Costco representative say it’s unsafe to drive and the tires need to be replaced. The inner side wall was shredded so contacted Tesla and they stated you need an alignment and new tires. I informed them that it’s a new car and I have not done anything wrong with them, such as going off a curb or hit something to cause such a defect, the alignment specs are defective from the manufacturer, with a little more research from online sources, everyone with a Tesla model X and S are having the same issues at 10,000 miles. They state that the rear camber is not within spec and requires a camber kit to fix the issue. I strongly agree that it’s defective from the manufacturer if many others are having the same issue. If I did not get an alignment at 12k miles the tires could have blown on the freeway, thank god I got it checked. I have attached a photo of the left rear tire and a photo of the right rear tire to compare, this is at 12, 928 miles on the vehicle.

Driving in a snow storm, and it requires complete visual attention to remain in lane and maintain a safe distance behind car in front. But you also need to manage wipers and defrost controls. Since this car has no console buttons and no stalk controls, adjusting anything requires looking away from the road for a significant length of time. Changing wiper setting requires using the right hand to press the correct steering wheel button (which requires looking at it) and then adjusting the settings with a scroll wheel using the left hand while watching the dashboard screen. Changing defrost setting requires invoking a menu button on the main screen, then visually locating the correct control on the screen. Again, significant time is spent looking away from the road, which in these conditions is hazardous. A second issue is with turn signals. Since there is no stalk control, turn signals are controlled using buttons on the steering wheel. When navigating a round-a-bout, the driver is required to use the turn signal to indicate the desire to exit. But the steering wheel is upside down, so the correct turn signal button cannot be located. I believe that this car is hazardous due to its lack of stalk controls and reliance on screen menus for normal operations. I am not allowed to do things on my phone screen when driving, yet this car requires me to do essentially that.

Tesla's decision to place the horn activation within a button on the steering wheel has impeded my ability to safely activate the horn in pretty much every emergency situation. It requires a glance down to find the button every time. This pulls focus off of the road and situation at-hand, posing major risk to all parties involved and increasing the chance of catastrophe. Further, the turn signals being put onto the steering wheel pose a similar risk, again drawing focus off the road to locate and activate the desired indicator direction. Worse yet, there is risk of indicating the wrong direction if attention must be focused on the road in busy intersections. Both of these items make this vehicle dangerous to drive, in comparison to a conventional vehicle, and has placed me and my family into harm's way multiple times. I strongly feel that Tesla should rectify this and retrofit these vehicles with the safety gear in the proper location.

Front safety system fault with complaints on Nov 21, 2023, Nov 27, 2033 and then on March 6, 2023 then Tesla service finally repaired and advised as follows: “Technician Notes Verified customer concern alert was not present on drop off but when moving drivers seat through range of motion found faults appeared. Inspected pin fit of harness found no pin issues. Replaced the drivers seat harness and re tested during seat movement verified faults not currently present.”