general problems of the 2015 Tesla Model S - part 1

Tesla Model S has a notorious back hatch latching failure. It’s a flawed design that every replacement is a “when” and not “if for failure. As an owner its failed be about 4-5 times in 5+ years of ownership. The hatch back latching issue causes cruise control as well as their autopilot steering navigation feature to be disabled when latch starts acting up or failing to fully close, which are helpful safety components to keep your car on the road going at proper speeds and staying in lane. Reporting this in hopes someone pushes Tesla to do something about this flaw that should be a manufacturers defect.

My 2015 Tesla Model S has a serious safety issue where the vehicle suddenly reverts to park while driving and will not stay in drive. I had the car serviced at Tesla’s austin ridgepoint location, and they documented that the issue was “resolved” and “validated,” but the problem continues exactly the same. Tesla replaced the rear motor speed sensor, performed tests, and charged me $522 for the repair. However, the vehicle still cannot stay in drive and remains unsafe to operate. After I reported that the repair did not fix the issue, Tesla deleted the entire service appointment and technician notes from my account, removing documentation of the failed repair. This is a critical safety defect involving unexpected shifting behavior and high-voltage component concerns. Tesla has not resolved the issue and has removed evidence of the repair attempt from my service history. I am requesting NHTSA assistance so Tesla properly addresses this safety hazard.

An investigation has been conducted into a persistent and widespread defect affecting the 2015 Tesla Model S and other early models equipped with the first-generation media control unit (mcu1). This defect manifests as the physical degradation and spontaneous leakage of a sticky adhesive substance from the edges of the vehicle's central infotainment screen and instrument cluster. The leaking substance is not merely a cosmetic issue but presents a credible safety risk to vehicle occupants and the vehicle itself. The substance is a source of volatile organic compounds (vocs), a class of chemicals with a low boiling point that are known to off-gas into the ambient air, a problem exacerbated by high temperatures. Exposure to these compounds can lead to both acute and long-term health consequences, including respiratory irritation, headaches, and in some cases, serious chronic illnesses. Furthermore, the presence of flammable solvents and components within the adhesive, combined with the heat generated by the electronic components of the mcu1, creates a potential fire risk. This report is submitted to the NHTSA to provide a detailed, technical analysis of the adhesive degradation and leakage in the 2015 Tesla Model S. The purpose is to formally document this specific defect as a safety issue that warrants regulatory action, separate from but related to the manufacturer's previous recall for the mcu1's emmc memory wear. It is essential to demonstrate that the adhesive failure is not a cosmetic inconvenience but a distinct material failure with serious implications for occupant health and vehicle safety. This report aims to provide the necessary evidence and analysis to support a formal investigation and a comprehensive recall that fully addresses this physical defect.

Hi, my trunk won't open when I press the button. This is the second occurrence that jas happend. When inside the trunk compartment the emergency cable to open the trunk is also not responsive and can not open the trunk. I think this is a big safety concern as the safety cord is there for a reason and in both cases id did not worked.

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.

Issue is with the rear hatch (trunk) latching mechanism. The rear trunk latch has partially disengaged but will not completely release and open the trunk. This is a safety concern because the emergency release inside of the trunk (pull cable) does not fully release the trunk either. If a child or person were to be in the trunk they could not escape either from inside the trunk (emergency latch) or externally (unable to close or open physically or with electronic release).

I'm writing following several months of an "unresponsive screen" issue in my car. I initially thought this was a symptom of cold weather but learned it was related to "corrupt files" after a visit to the local Tesla service center. . Read more...

Unknown.

This is an updated video related to an issue I previously reported. I’m becoming increasingly concerned by the idea that Tesla’s recommended remediation is to replace the car’s mcu. However, the mcu in my car was upgraded to a newer version in July 2021. There are serious safety concerns with the need to perform a “soft reset” while the vehicle is operational (as seen in the video). Please feel free to reach out with any additional questions. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

While driving on the freeway, I thought I heard a rattling from the sunroof, and so I cracked the sunroof to 12% open, and then closed it again. The moment the sunroof closed, smoke with an electrical burn smell began billowing in through the air vents in the front of the car. We immediately opened the car windows to allow fresh air and exited the highway. Smoke continued to pour into the cabin while I pulled the car to the side of the road in a residential neighborhood. The car was parked within ~2 minutes of the smoke initiating. During this time, there were no warnings or hazards that I noticed on the dashboard. My family grabbed their immediate belongings and got out of the car, while I turned on the hazard lights, and also then exited the vehicle, popping the trunk of the car and the frunk to allow smoke to dissipate. The smoke didn’t seem to decrease after pulling to the side, nor opening and venting the car. After being at the side of the road for probably 1-2 minutes, a visible fire sprung up at the intersection of the hood/front windshield at which point I called 911. The fire quickly spread to consume the hood and cabin of the vehicle. Multiple explosions from the vehicle were seen and heard, sounding like gunshots at times, drawing many concerned neighbors from their homes. By the time the first responders arrived, the front of the car and cabin were largely consumed down to the metal framework, and the trunk had fallen shut and was also on-fire.

Front passenger door randomly opens on it's own. Usually vehicle is parked but has happened at low speeds (under 30 mph). Advised it's the door handle which has been "fixed" twice before while under warranty. Tesla will no longer fix without charging (warranty expired). If it's the door handle or the door this needs to be a recall issue for Tesla to fix. Please recall! data below is for most recent occurrence. This has happened at least 3 times this calendar year (2023).

Tesla is seemingly not producing replacement key fobs for early models. I have been attempting to order one for over two years and to my knowledge new stock has never once become available over that time. I have also checked with multiple dealerships in person. On older models, the key fob is required to operate the vehicle. I only have one working key fob. I am anxiously awaiting the day when it is lost or malfunctions and I am unable to rely on our only vehicle. . . Seemingly indefinitely. Tesla cannot consider their mobile app as an alternative to physical key fob. I live in rural vermont. It would be incredibly wreckless to rely on remote start/unlock. Internet connectivity is required on both the car and the mobile device on older models (newer models use bluetooth locally).

When the car is put in parked mode the rear left door opens by itself causing a hazard to the passenger and/or to any nearby pedestrian.

I drove through 3 inches of water at about 20mph, nothing else in the car got wet, it cause the car to go into shutdown mode with a high voltage error. We had hell getting it to neutral as the computer kept shutting down. I am still under warranty but they claim the seal fail because of high water yet nothing else got wet and is not under warranty, only the drive unit and the motors are. Well with out the battery connection to the motors the car does not run. I have tried to deal with them and they refuse to do anything about it. I think the seal was installed incorrectly at the factory to allow this to happen, I do have parts to view.

My instrument cluster is delaminating in my Tesla Model S. When I took it to the service center for the recall service the service center stated that the main screen was also delaminating. Service tech told me that the instrument cluster (and main screen) would eventually fail because of the delamination. I have had the car for less than 8 years. Both the instrument cluster and the center screen have a lot to do with safe operation of the vehicle so I believe they should be replaced for free under recall or at least have a much cheaper upgrade option. It is extremely rare for any car to have a common problem of the intstument cluster delaminating and this should be a recall since it is an ongoing, common issue. This is a problem telsa knows about and hasn't done anything to remedy for a reasonable price. They want $1,750 for the upgrade of the instrument cluster and the main center screen. I bought the car when they were talking about self driving features that are not even possible for this car so I was mislead on that too. Here is other documentation of this issue. . Read more...

Driver door of vehicle will unexpectedly and randomly unlatch and open whenever the vehicle is unlocked. While moving, as well as parked and when vehicle is unattended.

I brought the car in with working air, which included heating and a feature called climate keeper. I brought the car in with working supercharging. I got the car back with broken climate keeper and soon after broken air, completely broken, and broken supercharging. Also now the hood is bent.

I had the emmc replaced under recall in December of 2021. The board failed again in December of 2022 resulting in all controls of the car being inaccessible, the center screen was black. I had no control of lights or hvac and all the traction control, abs, and emergency avoidance features were not working. Tesla told me there was no fix except to upgrade to the mcu2 computer which cost me $1,872. This was related to the original recall that didn't really fix the problem. The mcu just went dead, no waring.

Hello, from what I’m told I need to replace the steering wheel controls, airbag and steering wheel harness for the horn to work.

My rear trunk lid failed to open and when I tried to open it with the emergency release cable instead the vehicle, that failed to open the back trunk lid.

Fatal Tesla accident. Cause unknown. Vehicle suddenly left the highway resulting in fatal collision. Tesla model 2015 s d.

With my 2015 Tesla Model S. The touchscreen component that controls rear backup camera, sound volume levels, air conditioning, mirror fold capabilities, basically all the car component settings that can be configured freezes mid drive or on car startup and the touch capabilities stop being responsive. This can also be a danger because it prevents turning sound down on radio/music in the event say ems or ambulances are near. I have read limited other reports of this online for their mcu1 component. Nhtsa forced them to do a recall on the daughterboard emmc memory issue and this feels similar. Tesla says they checked all my hardware components via remote diagnostics and the hardware checks out. The only "fix" right now is hard rebooting my car mid drive which can be scary as it causes center screen to blacken out and a 4-5 minute reboot cycle mid drive required. I plan to capture a video of this seeming software bug as well for my report to Tesla and could provide to NHTSA as well.

Like everyone else who owns an early Model S, we have had numerous issues with our door handles. A couple were replaced under warranty, but now the car is out of warranty. The design is obviously defective. Our best friends have the same car and they have had to replace all four of them. Our car just started opening two of the doors randomly. Not just unlocking, its actually opening the doors all the way. This is seriously concerning to me. Tesla wants $700 to fix the doors. It would seem to me that Tesla needs to recall these handles or at least fix them for free as issues arise for people. Its not okay to have doors that randomly pop open with children in the back seat. So dumb! please help!.

1)mcu1 flash memory failure in production from 2012 to 2018, part is available, but would require downing the car to remove/replace. 2)the symptoms of this failure include the loss of indicated gear state and reduced driver visibility from the loss of rearview camera, defrost/defog and exterior signal lighting which increases the risk of an accident. Driver display is black or booting up slowly during this time and the car can be put into gear and driven prior to the display showing dnr gear state making it a safety risk to anyone walking near the vehicle if it was accidently put into gear. 3)issue was confirmed by Tesla and was told an update to mcu2 hardware at $2250 was needed at the customer (my) expense. The vehicle was under a full Tesla warranty, so I refused and asked them to fix this issue. Tesla service cleared/freed up some memory but said the issue would return unless I paid to update to mcu2 hardware. The issue has returned as they stated. 4)yes, by Tesla service and Tesla engineering. Both confirmed that this was a known issue with the mcu1 hardware in production from 2012 to 2018 and recommended that I (the customer) update the vehicle to mcu2 hardware for $2250. 5)there are no warning lamps or messages to inform the operator of an issue. Only the black driver display, but that doesn’t prevent the operator from putting the vehicle in gear. The symptoms start with slow driver display boot times and progressively get worse over time losing the rearview camera, defrost/defog and exterior lighting controls. The display lag becomes enough to be able to accidently put the car in drive or reverse without displaying indicated gear state on the dash making it a safety risk to anyone walking near the car.

This is in regards to the same complaint about the Tesla charging at the super charging being very slow on my vehicle. I went to canada with the car charging and it was ridiculously slow even though it was at various superchargers.

The current mcu is useless. Freezes and restarts. It's really slow to utilize.

The navigation system stops and doesn't start. Checking on google, I see that this has happened to many Tesla Model S owners who have an older model. This is because of a chip store card that fails after 4-6 years. On a long drive, this doesn't take us to the next super charger. This can cause the car to stop suddenly when it runs out of charge, and create risk for drivers and for other vehicles on the road too. The navigation is important on Teslas to know that one can safely complete her journey without running out of charge.

A recall for my main media control unit was announced in March 2021. I have still not received the replacement unit from Tesla. My main screen goes black while driving. I lose ability to control hvac, navigation, music, suspension, security etc. I also am unable sometimes to drive the vehicle from standing as the car will "reboot" unexpectedly.

No early alert before slamming on the brakes, only tapping a rear bumper on a 1999 Toyota tundra. No damage to the Toyota but to my surprise, the insurance company said the Tesla's totaled. The airbags for the driver were deployed only, with no other passengers in the car. Quite a loud noise. I have an edr report, not sure how to interpret it. Did not hear any warning lamps. Fortunately, both the other driver and I suffered no injuries. I would like to find out exactly what happened.

Trunk states it's open, but it's closed. I can't reset it. When I crawled into the area to use the safety pull cord to open it, nothing happened! well, the pull cord broke. What if I'd been kidnapped and put in there?? I cannot open the hatch and it looks like an expensive repair from what I've read online. Surely this is a safety issue and should be covered under a recall.

The driver side screen and the central touch screen developed bubbles with multiple air fluid lines and bubbles. With the sun shining in from the side or rear of the vehicle, it made the screens nearly impossible to read. This created very unsafe driving conditions, as the driver was not able to see critical information from speed, dash board warnings, rear camera view and vital air conditioning functions such as defrost/defog. This was noticed within 1-2 days of having the recall repair for the vcm to upgrade 8gb emmc. The Tesla repair center said the two events were not related. Ultimately, I was left to replace both screen through and infotainment system upgrade costing $2250. 00.

Sometime about a month ago, when driving along the capitol expressway going home, the huge center console screen suddenly went blank for a few seconds. With the screen off, most vehicle controls as not accessible. Since I was near a supercharging station, I parked there and performed reset while proceeding to charge. After a few minutes, screen went back on.

The screen behind the steering wheel on the Tesla forms bubbles on the screen which is a common problem with these vehicles. The screen behind has controls of the vehicle and there is a fluid that leaks behind and is causing this issue. Tesla doesn’t want to accept it and repair it but so many customers with models prior to 2016 have the same problem.

Hello, my driver's side door handle broke back in November/December of 2020. As a result, it prevented me from entering the car on the driver's side. I had it repaired in December 2020. Now, my passenger side door handle has broken as well. My concern here is that if there is an accident where the car is on fire, etc. , and the passenger(s) inside my car are unconscious, that someone from outside the car would have a difficult time opening the door to pull them out. They wold need to break the glass and pull them out through the window. Although this is an option/workaround, I believe it puts all passengers in the car at risk of sever injury or death if this type of situation is experiences and time of essence it critical. I'm submitting this information b/c I believe that with the multiple door handle failures that this creates a significant risk to the safety of passengers in my Tesla. As a result, I think a more robust longer term solution is needed for the Tesla Model S. Thanks, trevor.

Instrument cluster is coming apart at edges and progressing into the actual display area. This will cause speedometer and other information to be distorted or unreadable. It appears as though the glue used to assemble the display is deteriorating and causing the issue. The dealer has explained that it is a common issue with these vehicles. The suggested repair would cost approximately $1500. This seems unreasonable for an obvious manufacturing defect affecting many vehicles. I have included pictures of my instrument panel as well as others with the same issue.