general problems of the 2013 Tesla Model S - part 1

Driver's side rear control arm failure. The outside knuckle of the control arm cracked and is missing a portion. Tesla agrees this is sb-19-31-001 and will not repair without payment, due to the age of the vehicle. Vehicle has been serviced by Tesla multiple times without comment that this should be replaced.

When driving my vehicle the rear axle snapped causing the vehicle to fishtail. When checked by insurance company for repairs they found the air suspension and rear axle snapped. It took out the air ride suspension, and bent 2 rims. It caused damage to the front fender as well as both interior wheel wells on the driver's side. Due to the suspension issue it caused a rock to come up and cracked windshield. The issue caused my vehicle to leave the road as I could not control the vehicle.

Driving at normal speeds and conditions my rear drivers control arm snapped off and wheel almost fell off , if driving at higher speed could have been deadly.

Lower rear driver side control arm broke. A pop was heard at the stop sign only yards away (40 approximately) from my destination. Vehicle was placed into reverse to back into a driveway. The vehicle got stuck in the middle of the road and required a tow to move it.

I bought a used, but well cared for, gently used and properly maintained, 2013 Model S p85 from an individual in CT on oct 8, 2022 with 77937 miles on it. I had the car about a month and a half of normal use when it ran well with zero issues, which included driving all the way from NY to vt over thanksgiving at highway speeds with no issue. When back in my own town and making just a few turns to get to work on local roads on 11/28/22, I found myself losing control of the steering column and going off the road at a very low speed. The only indication that something was wrong was the traction light that came on just before I couldn't steer anymore and luckily found my way off to a soft shoulder. The front right tire was tilted in significantly and the car required a tow, and then a whole series of expensive and extensive repairs effectively replacing all components of a failed suspension system, starting with a broken control arm on that front left side. The incident left me shaken. Even when I get my car back, assuming I can find a way to pay for this (currently $4k+), I am now not very confidant in the new but insufficient suspension parts, learning that so many other cases exist and there's a class action being filed against Tesla for insufficient strength of these parts to sustain the torque of the Teslas. This car wasn't subjected to any accident or abnormal use, it was only driven as intended. The damages however were extreme and sudden. I've included the current invoice from the dealer on the repairs, which grew daily as they investigated further, photos of the car tire and it being towed, and messages between myself and the Tesla service center. Thank you for your consideration.

Component failed: rear subframe cracked safety risk: car not stable to drive at speed, drive unit can twist or flop/drop confirmed issue w/ dealer who is also manufacturer. Root cause of failure not established, but no signs of collision. Working hypothesis is metal fatigue or stress as metal part is not built thick enough to withstand force places on it causing shearing. There are no warning lights or lamps, no symptoms prior to failure.

To whom it may concern, Tesla Model S, and potentially other vehicles, have notorious issues with their front suspension fore links perhaps causing unsafe driving conditions. The topic has been brought up on Tesla forums numerous times and countless drivers are experiencing the same issue due to faulty parts provided during the manufacture of Tesla vehicles. The issue causes turning tightness, tire rubbing, and complete car driving capability failure, usually at low speeds. With the frequency of the complaint and the potential danger it could cause should the front suspension fully fail at higher speeds, this serious matter needs to be investigated on an urgent basis. As older Tesla vehicles are now aging the occurrence and increased risk is only rising to everyday, unsuspecting drivers. Just recently, my fore link and front suspension failed only minorly, and without and complete understanding of what the issue was the car was experiencing I continued to drive the vehicle. The only noticeable issue that came up for me was tire rubbing during reversing and slight misalignment when the vehicle was parked. After taking it in to Tesla I now know that this could have been a fatal error on my part of the front suspension would have failed completely during highway speeds. When these front fore links fail, most will only experience minor issues like me and avoid taking it into repair, as the average car buyer does not understand that this could be a catastrophic failure. If this issue is not resolved and a recall seriously considered, I’m concerned in the not so distant future that this may lead to serious bodily harm if full failure of the front suspension occurs during highway or roadway speeds. Again, this is not an isolated issue. Countless and thousands of Tesla owners have shared their experiences online with the same issue. I’ve attached my Tesla service quote for your review, this repair costs upwards of $3,500.

I was approaching a stop sign at 2 mph when I heard a terrible metallic clunking sound from under the front of the car. When I went to make a right turn, I was unable to steer the car. I was able to get it into a parking lot where I saw that the front right wheel was cambered in at about 30 degrees. I took photos of the car and in the wheel well and saw that the wheel was disconnected from an upper control bar. I had it towed to the Tesla service center and they confirmed that the upper suspension link had disconnected from the wheel. There is a ball and socket type of joint that connects the two and the ball had popped out of the socket causing the problem. I had them check the right front connection and was told that that socket was also loose and needed to be replaced. I had both sides repaired. My concern is that had I been traveling on a highway at 70 mph, I would have lost control of the car causing a terrible accident. The fact that the other side also showed similar problems leads one to conclude that there is a design or material flaw in the Tesla modal s front suspension. The car has only 83,000 miles of normal driving usage. I believe that all Model S cars from this era should be recalled and inspected for this problem. Otherwise, accidents will occur and some may be fatal. Tesla told me that they were unaware of any such problems with their cars. A quick internet search shows that this is not true. I have the parts that were removed if you need to inspect them.

In June, began hearing noise from the front suspension area while turning at speeds from 0-45 mph. I created a service appointment and I was initially told the front control arms and shock needed to be replaced due to wear and tear and would not be covered under warranty. Was informed the shock was leaking and it was required to be replaced in conjunction with the control arms repair. Was told “I won’t say its safe to drive, because at some point it can fail ”by the service advisor on 7/6/21 on a recorded line (recording available but not able to be uploaded here). To me, this indicates a safety concern; however, I was told it is a wear item that commonly needs to be replaced on older cars due to mileage/age of car and is not checked on the annual service unless there is noise or problem. However, suspension items are not listed anywhere on the website, manual, or 2013 esa, or original warranty as being wear items needing replacement/checks after a set mileage or vehicle age. Having an annual service that does not check a wear item that appears to have turned into a safety item – makes no sense. Additionally, the front suspension was checked on 2021. 2. 11 @ 82,562 miles as evident by the uploaded service invoice. At the time, there was a difference of 6,146 miles and less than 5 months since the suspension check. I pointed the above concerns out and how I knew there was a pending NHTSA investigation into control arm failures, and it was then determined that the control arms could be replaced under warranty and the in conjunction and required spring would be customer pay per the esa contract.

1. Driving screen failed. 2. During wet weather brakes will not slow down car for 3 seconds. . . Very distrubing 3. 2013 Model S with under 100k miles had font end parts fail. Required a $3,000. 00 repair. Have never had an american car, even with twice the mileage have multiple front end parts fail.

Here is a terdsla in the junkyard:https://. . Read more...

Here is another Tesla in the junkyard: https://erepairables. Com/salvage-cars-auction/Tesla/model+s/vid-44567577 the air suspension has collapsed whilst the car was in motion causing the wheels to jam up in the wells and damage the liner and bodywork. Failure of the air suspension is a common defect in Teslas and many of these cases have been discussed in the Tesla forums and have been reported to NHTSA. Any normal car manufacturer would have fixed this problem by fitting limit stops on the suspension. But this company is run under the rule of lord elon musk who must never be questioned. There is no need to press the insane button. It comes as standard with every Tesla. Yours whompily. Keef.

Back and front suspension issues, tire blow while driving and caused unsafe operation.

Well I love my fist Tesla but after the first time it had to go in to the austin service center for a problem with a clicking /thumping noise as when I back up I heard & feel. So after having my car a couple days found it would need to have the large drive unit replace that will be still covered under warranty, but say the rear subframe needs to be replace & I have to pay to get replaced due to ' wear & tear ' as service center say, on my subframe it's never been in any accident etc. They say it's not covered the 100% warranty!!.

Was supercharging about 7 hours away from home, my screen turned off and would not reboot. . The dreaded mcu failure every Tesla owner fears, and every service center pretends does not exist. My car would not power off, as we were at the beach my a/c was on full blast. My car was now driveable with no key, and the doors would not lock whatsoever. Anyone with or without a key could just walk up touch the handle and get into my car. I had to stay close to superchargers as my a/c drained the battery heavily. Tesla essentially told me they would have to have me take it to a service center which were closed for the next 2 days because a mobile tech would not be able to replace it on spot. So now I get to drive 7 hours home in the most stressful situation of my life. As we got away from the coast and the temperature rapidly dropped I had water pouring off my windshield and down the sides of my car and out of my air vents! it was almost impossible to see and incredibly dangerous. My fiancee had to keep a towel in her lap to wipe the windshield every few seconds. Putting the lack of visibility aside and safety of a vehicle thats unable to lock. I had to manually find all Tesla superchargers along the route I also had to guesstimate how much charge I would need to make it to the next station which was quite the task due to the high a/c drain. After our last charging stop we had maybe 120 miles to go and I charged to 170ish. . At least 50 more than necessary. There was one point on our trip where we had 16 miles remaining and 17 to go. Somehow through a little help from the man above we made it home with a couple miles to spare. It completely astounds me that Tesla could just brush off such a horrendous failure of a very well known and documented issue. It's not a chance of if it fails as to a matter of when. Stock prices matter more than a customers safety.

My Tesla has the well know 'black screen of death' due to emmc failure. Without this, most functions of the vehicle do not work. This includes suspension adjustments, ac/heat, backup camera, radio, navigation, etc. Tesla has been a nightmare to get a live person on the phone, unless it's for new car sales. They scheduled an appointment for us but it's 3 weeks away and we cannot wait that long to have the car mobile again. I will likely take the emmc out myself, mail it to someone for replacement, and pay about 700. 00.

Main screen malfunction. Turned completely black. Turn signals no longer work and car will not charge. Backup camera not usable. Car is undrivable due to safety issues. I've been waiting for a replacement unit over a month already.

The main touchscreen on my 2012 Tesla s has stopped working completely- totally blank, resulting in no rearward facing camera, lower charging rates, no control over suspension height or steering stiffness; no a/c, no heat, no sunroof controls, no wifi, no bluetooth and no cellular; no map, no gps. No radio.

The touch screen for the electric vehicle (Tesla) went black rendering the vehicle to unable to be charged and any entertainment, climate and other basic functions for the vehicle to be used. The vehicle was stationary and parked when this happened but there have been reports of the screen going out while driving for other owners.

Tesla in junkyard. Back wheel fell off. Suspension giblets all hanging out. Very nasty. Give my regards to [xxx] yours whompily [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The media control unit (mcu) has failed on my vehicle over a month ago. I am still waiting for the Tesla service center to notify they have a replacement for me. Till then, the representative said the vehicle is still safe to drive. Failure of the mcu means I am unable to control most of the vehicles functions. Most notably, I cannot raise the vehicles suspension, turn on the air conditioning, or view the rear view camera. Others things affected are opening the sunroof, listening the the radio or music at all, use gps, connect my phone to the vehicles bluetooth, connect to my phone via Tesla app, the odometer reading isn't visible anymore, the walk-away lock feature is inoperative so if I forget to manually lock the vehicle it will stay unlocked, and there may be more features inoperative that I am unaware of. The failure of the mcu occurred after I was done charging at a supercharger station. I noticed the screen was glitching so I attempted to reset the screen. After a few seconds the screen should've came back on but it never did.

This is a complaint about a burned out Model S in the junkyard. The VIN is unavailable because the car is roasted so I have substituted the VIN of a different wreck in order to promptly file this urgent complaint. Here is the car I am complaining about. . Read more...

Mcu (center screen) failed in my 2013 Model S. I returned to the car after it was parked all day in an outdoor parking lot at work and it would not turn on. Rebooting, other troubleshooting did not remedy. As a result of mcu failure, turn signals did not work (exterior turn signals and audible indication of turn signals), air suspension could not be adjusted, climate control could not be adjusted, headlights could not be manually controlled, steering settings could not be adjusted, charge level could not be adjusted, media/entertainment could not be used, backup camera could not be viewed in addition to other functionality for the car. Leading up to the complete failure of the unit, the mcu would occasionally reboot itself during driving causing loss of turn signals and change in steering dynamics.

Here is a Tesla in the junkyard:https://. . Read more...

Here is a Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Tesla. . . . Junkyard. . . Read more...

Here is another Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Here is yet another Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Here is a Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Here is a Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Here is another Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Here is another Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...

Here is a fresh report of a Tesla suspension failure: https://teslamotorsclub. Com/tmc/threads/Tesla-upper-control-arm-cracked. 96329/#post-2257474 snip:it all took place yesterday when my wife were driving to visit one of her colleague. While turning into a left turn at a relatively low speed she heard a loud bang. She did not think of much but immediately she notice that her brake were completely gone and the dash had malfunction warning all over the place. She had to struggle to pull the car to safety but was hitting many of the safety bump on the ground. Within minutes the campus police pull up and ask her what happen. She got out of the car notice the our 2013 Model S p85 was sitting on the ground with one of the wheel completely bend. It looks like as if the axle had gave away. *** to me it is obvious that this is not an wear and tear. It is an manufacturer part defect. And after reading on many form it seem that the suspension was a big problem on the early production Tesla Model S. I have been in mercedes for years and my previous s class were at 125,000 miles. I have not seen anything like this. Currently they are still refusing to cover the repair. Luckily enough my wife was driving locally not on the freeway. I can't imagine what a catastrophic accident it will be if she were travel at a high speed. *** if NHTSA continues to ignore these failures there will be consequences. Please note: I am not a Tesla owner. I am continuing to file these reports in the public interest because you can see by reading the thread that owners come under pressure from Tesla supporters to keep these failures a secret. The pro-Tesla forums frequently censor, delete, or bury such complaints. I have used a dummy us address to comply with website requirements. My genuine contact details have been supplied to NHTSA.

I made a left turn on kellogg drive. I ran over some safety dots on the floor. The safety dots was abnormal large in size. Both my front and rear wheel ran over many large safety dots. The complete Tesla brake function failed and I have no brake. By the time my car stops I was literally sitting on top of safety dots. Once I come out of the car I saw that my left rear tire and rims look like is falling out of place. The police campus came and said it looks like your axel was broken. There was no damage to the outer appearance of my Tesla only a upper suspension which was damage. I believe the parts was an integrity issue and Tesla denies it.

Here is another Tesla in the junkyard: https://. . Read more...