2017 TESLA MODEL X Complaints

I suffered a catastrophic suspension failure on the front passenger side while traveling at 70 mph (speed limit).

The factory installed trailer hitch receiver fell off while towing an empty trailer. I installed the trailer hitch receiver making sure the knob was in the green markings. The trailer was empty and within limits for the vehicle. I towed it about a mile in town. When driving over a manhole cover at an intersection I heard a loud bang and the receiver fell off. The trailer safety chains continued to pull the trailer. When stopping the vehicle, the trailer hit the rear of the vehicle and caused damage. It could have been a lot worse had I been traveling at speed.

Without warning, my steering became extremely rigid. I did not receive any indicators on the dash to suggest there was a mechanical/electrical issue prior to this incident occurring and only found out while trying to make a turn at a T-intersection. Turning my vehicle at low speeds requires two hands - it's so difficult my wife will not drive the Tesla after almost crashing into a ditch. I've researched the issue and found that Tesla recalled 2016 and earlier Model X vehicles for steering issues. I've requested a diagnosis and repair from Tesla given this extremely unsafe steering failure. Unfortunately Tesla does not offer priority to safety related failures and my appointment was set out about three weeks. As of today's date, I still have a vehicle in my garage that is unsafe to drive due to this steering component failure and my appointment with Tesla in Raleigh isn't until November 3, 2022 at 8:15 am. My current mileage is 57,637. I'm willing to make the vehicle available for inspection, if needed, but it will have to be before the scheduled appointment as I need this vehicle fixed due to it being a primary family vehicle. I do have message between myself and Tesla but cannot upload them here. Thank you.

Original infotainment MCU1 with upgraded memory continues to not allow service mode to initialize. Also screen goes black with no connectivity to the car from my phone app, no access to temperature control, or GPS mapping. No access to any seat controls or door controls. This occurred for 1 hour while driving to home. System is operational again - 10 days later with no driving in between. Tesla service came out to diagnose and are not sure of the cause, however failure cause safety issues for passenger overheating and control functions to operate the car as well as diagnose the issue.

Highly repeatable issue: driving on left lane of a highway going at high speed (60) with adaptive cruise control enabled (but *not* full self drive mode). Put on turn signal to merge into right lane. There was a car in the right lane directly next to me but I had not initiated the merge, was merely signaling my intent to merge. My car SLAMMED on the breaks (very dangerous as I was almost rear ended the first time by a 18 wheeler). Did some testing at a later date- if there is a car slightly ahead of me in the right lane, the car behaves normally (maintains speed) if there is a car in my blind spot, the car indicates there is someone in my blind spot but maintains speed. If I am driving in the left lane all three scenarios (slightly ahead, directly adjacent, in blind spot) the car maintains appropriate speed. It is only when car is directly adjacent when in left lane w/ right turn signal that car always now will slam on brakes. Very dangerous- Tesla has been made aware of the Issue 2x now- and had informed me that “it is beta software (?????!!!!!!) and to live with it.”

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that the message "Air Suspension" was displayed intermittently while driving. The vehicle was taken to the Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that no issues were found. The contact stated while her fiancé was pulling into a parking lot at 5 MPH with her in the front passenger’s side seat, the vehicle lunged forward and shut off inadvertently. The contact and her fiancé were unable to restart the vehicle, to turn on the hazard light. Additionally, they were unable to open the driver’s or passenger’s side doors. Additionally, the contact stated that the passengers occupying the second and third-row seats including her disabled father were also unable to open the rear doors. The contact stated that the vehicle was becoming increasingly hot. The contact and some of the passengers crawled to the rear seats and removed both the rear driver's side and the passenger's side door panels in order to access the emergency releases. The contact stated that one person pushed the rear door from the inside while another person was pulling the rear door from the outside and the door opened. The contact and the other passengers were able to exit the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but was unable to access the computer system. The manufacturer advised the contact to tow the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla Service Center where it was still being diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.

Starting on May 5, 2022, my car has been plagued with numerous errors messages that stated multiple features of my car were malfunctioning/disabled, both while I first got into the car, and also occurring suddenly without any warning while the car was IN MOTION on the road. This included loss of power steering, traction control, stability control, parking brake, automatic emergency braking, and lane departure avoidance . The same problem(loss of all these vital features) has recurred many times on May 22nd, May 31st, July 8th, and most recently, September 14th. Each time I brought the car in to the Tesla service center, they would have absolutely no idea what was causing the same exact issues. At the very first visit, they stated the incorrect-sized tires were likely the culprit. Even after the correct sized tires were put on, the same problems returned weeks later. Another time they replaced the MCU, but again the problem returned. Every time I brought the car in, they would basically return the car with no definitive repairs done as by the time they started working on my car, all the errors had disappeared, and they would declare the car as being "fixed". After 5 visits for the SAME EXACT problem over the past 5 months, it is extremely clear that Tesla has no idea what is wrong with the car, and keeps returning the car to me without permanently solving the problem. At this point, I feel this car should not be on the road as I could lose vital controls(power steering, brakes, etc) all of a sudden with no warning, exposing the passengers inside, and all vehicles and pedestrians around it to serious, life-threatening danger. Despite this grave risk, Tesla has refused to buy the car back even though it still has an active factory warranty, claiming that it is past the two-year buy-back window, and the fact that it already has a lemon title(for a completely different issue) from 2019. It is just a matter of time before a serious accident happens.

We were driving down the freeway in daytime sunny weather on “autopilot” (I was actively monitoring the vehicle of course) when the car SLAMMED on the brakes for no reason. It was aggressive and fortunately I disconnected the driver assist “autopilot” and immediately pressed on the accelerator (not an intuitive action) to avoid causing an accident. There was no reason for the car to behave this way. Furthermore, Tesla updated the software recently on my vehicle. I purchased the vehicle with radar, whereby it would use the radar as an input in coordination with other information for the adaptive cruise control and auto steer. (Collectively called the “autopilot” by Tesla. This recent software update took the radar out of the equation and made my car function differently (less robust) by now only using the cameras and not the radar. The cameras on my model year are not, to my understanding, of the same capability as the cameras that Tesla is using with their newest models. Despite the cameras being older, tesla modified the vehicle via over the air software update to only utilize the cameras, again, despite the car being designed to utilize the radar as an input to the semi autonomous driving. I take great issue with Tesla retroactively reducing the capability of my semi autonomous driving and not providing a warning or a clear choice. The phantom braking I experienced was after this software update that removed the radar. It’s one thing if a driver needs to be prepared to brake, but quite another if the car brakes EXTREMELY aggressively and the driver has to rush to press the accelerator, all while startled. I work as an airline pilot and this seeming total disregard for safety, removal of radar input that the car has on board already, and lack of transparency to the driver would never be accepted in aviation. I urge the NHTSA to look into the aggressive uncommanded braking. Thank you, Stefan

Headlights will not work. Due to the vehicle not having a method of turning on headlights without access to a properly working media control unit which happens to be of all touch screen functionality a blackout of the screen will cause the driver to have no other access to the headlights or other vital safety features. This issue has been ongoing with Tesla for a long period of time and it continuously put the occupants of the vehicle at risk for injury both severe or fatal. Repeatedly addressed this malfunction of the vehicle with the repair facility and it has failed to be corrected or repaired.

Under heat and stress, we noticed the front of the car would make cracking and creaking noises. We took the car in and they informed us that the rear linkages of the left and right front suspension and the upper linkages of the left and right rear suspension were worn down significantly due to the weight of the overall car. Our entire suspension needed to be replaced due to significant cracking and stress fractures. Had we hit a speedbump too hard or a pothole, the suspension would have collapsed on us. We're lucky that we brought it in but we can't be the only ones with this issue. We've never towed anything in the car and primarily drive on the freeway with no more than 2 people ever in the car. I know China has recalled the Model X for this reason. Why have we not?