2017 TESLA MODEL X Complaints

The car had no identifiable steering issues prior to this incident. On Saturday 7/16/2022 during a short, low-speed drive, steering effort suddenly became much higher during a turn, resulting in a near-miss. The steering would no longer self-center after a turn, and the vehicle was quite difficult to control in turns, requiring large turning force and with limited precision due to the force required to overcome the stiffness. Straight line driving was still relatively easy. Tesla repaired the vehicle three days later and retained the parts. The problem was described on the work order as 'Technician diagnosed the lower intermediate steering shaft joint was seized causing intermittent stiffness at certain degree of turn. Technician replaced the lower intermediate shaft and verified steering wheel is turning normally again.' The vehicle is now steering normally again after the part replacement. There are several threads on the Tesla Motors Club forum about others experiencing similar issues with the same part. The replaced part has a -A suffix indicating it has been revised. Others may yet experience this same dangerous failure of the original part if it has a design fault that Tesla corrected.

The vehicle brakes are aggressively applied at random times when traveling on the freeway. This only appears to happen when the vehicles TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control) is enabled. Thankfully I have not been rear ended yet. My family's safety is in danger when TACC is enabled. Not only am I concerned we could be rear ended, but I am concerned someone could think I am "brake checking" them and then proceed to act violently (road rage). There is a particular stretch of highway where this happens 100% of the time that would allow me to reproduce the occurrence on demand for investigative purposes.

Touchscreen turns off/goes blank while driving; lose air conditioning, rear view camera, etc. Dash Screen widgets/displays do not load and flashes between light gray and back to black while driving. I received a recall notice for the vehicle/touchscreen eMMC. I previously brought my vehicle in service in Nov, 2021 and received the vehicle back in Dec, 2021 and noticed no better functionality with the new 64gb part vs the old 8gb part. I later received a software update around February 2022 (software version 2021.24, about 12months after initial release). Immediately after that software update I began having the above issues with the Touchscreen and Dash screen. I called technical support over the phone and they said my vehicle was eligible for the recall (which I thought had been completed) and advised I make a service appointment for the eMMC recall.

Many instances of hard braking in cruise control with no cause. In the last 6 months it’s gotten very bad. It only happened very infrequently before when someone was turning off the freeway it would brake for just a second. Now it is braking hard in an extended fashion and multiple times in one trip. Sometimes we can see some reason, sometimes not. Once, traveling 75 MPH passing a large truck in the lane to my right, the brakes slammed on very hard. Fortunately, I had both hands on the wheel and avoiding crashing into him and the car be him me was far enough back to not hit me. Many other smaller instances, but today doing about 45-50 MPH the brakes slammed on HARD, didn’t release, and I had to steer to the left and hit the accelerator to avoid hitting a biker. I think the Tesla may have been reacting to the biker. I will not use cruise control any longer until it is fixed. It is terrifying and it’s just a matter of time until something really bad happens.

The steering, over three days has rapidly deteriorated. Working the steering wheel between +/- 15 degrees is fine. At 45 and 90 degrees there is significant resistance to turning. I believe the 2017 model is also prone to intermediate shaft U-joint failure.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, both center display screens turned off inadvertently. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local Tesla Service Center where the computer software was updated and reset however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the local Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that both center display screens needed to be replaced. The center display screens were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that the center displays needed to be replaced with upgraded parts. The contact stated that he was informed that the repair would not be covered under warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact initially stated that the MCU screen would intermittently go blank while driving at various speeds without warning. The contact then received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) and once parts were available, the vehicle was repaired. A few days after the repair, the contact stated that the screen intermittently failed without warning while driving. The contact took the vehicle back to the service center and was informed that he could either replace the entire instrument cluster screen or pay for a new chip (EMMC2) to update the instrument panel. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 52,000.

Driver display fails. Speed is shown incorrectly, then screen blacks out, Tesla symbol appears and then restarts. Unit has been brought in for repairs and was replaced with remanufactured part. Problem persists. Infotainment unit was repaired with remanufactured part to upgrade memory deficiency from 8 gb to 64gb. Problems with unit remains the same. Unit will crash, not respond to verbal commands, turn signal will not chime, information will not display, climate control will fail.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model-X. The contact stated while parked in a parking lot, the contact depressed the brake pedal and was not sure if she had placed the vehicle into reverse, the vehicle accelerated backward and hit the back wall across from her parked vehicle. The vehicle trunk lid and the bumper were damaged and crumpled. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer but was advised by the manufacturer to take the vehicle to a body shop. The vehicle had not been repaired. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle would lurch forward when it would be placed into drive. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 32,000.

We were experiencing very difficult turning at low speeds. No vehicle warnings occurred. We took the vehicle in to Tesla service for evaluation. We were told the vehicle was unsafe to drive and they would not allow us to take the vehicle home. They have had the vehicle for 3 weeks and have replaced the "steering column" or "Left-Hand Steering Gear" on service estimate, but in the process have not fixed the problem and are now on week 4 of the repair. In investigating steering issues with Tesla, there appears to be a recall issued for 2015 and 2016 model years involving the steering column. We believe the same issue is affecting our 2017 Model and is in need of a recall as well.