Body problems of the 2016 Tesla Model S

The retracting door handle on my Tesla Model S failed, creating a dangerous situation where I could not enter the vehicle when needed. This defect poses a serious safety risk because if this failure occurred during a medical emergency, a crash, or a fire, neither I nor first responders would be able to access the vehicle quickly. In real?world scenarios — such as needing to reach a child in the back seat, assisting an injured passenger, or evacuating the vehicle in traffic — a non?functional door handle can cause delays that lead to injury. The failure also increases risk in cold?weather regions, where being locked out of the vehicle can expose occupants to freezing temperatures. This is not a cosmetic issue; it is a critical safety hazard.

The trunk/hatchback failed to open. When I attempted to use the emergency release ( which you would expect to work in a real emergency) it did not work!! the truck would not open. How can you have an emergency release cord that does not work?!! and they are now charging to repair this!.

The latches for the rear passenger doors of a Model S are electric and do not function in the event the vehicle loses electrical power from the 12v system. A mechanical release is provided in the rear of interior passenger compartment. However the release pulls are located under the carpeting and no labelling is provided and no instructions are posted. The emergency door release pulls consistent of plastic tab about 1-inch long by 0. 5-inch wide and connected to a release cable. The plastic tab color is black, under the carpeting, and within an area coated in black coloring. The location of the release is below the rear seating above the floor boards, behind the rear passengers' footwell. The location is not intuitive or obvious and likely could not be located without reading the owner's manual, which passengers are unlikely to do. The location is not labeled inside the vehicle. The tab is small and black, under the carpeting that has to be moved to locate the tab, and provided with a black background. Passengers of limited mobility would not be able to locate and access the pull tabs to release the doors. Small children would not able able to locate and access the pull tabs without climbing off the seat and into the footwell. The pull force must be directed to the center of the vehicle. No mechanic exterior door releases are provided. In an emergency where the vehicle is without 12v electrical power, opening a rear passenger door would require an open rear window, or breaking the window to open access, climbing partially into the vehicle to the other side of the passenger's legs, locating the release below the carpeting, and pulling the release while simultaneously pulling the door outward to open. No labelling for this process is provide, nor is this maneuver detailing in the owner's manual. This level of detail is also missing from the, first responders reference: "information for first and second responders emergency response guide Tesla Model S electric".

1. ) passenger side door is a potential hazard. Door latch and door mechanism does not open from the outside. 2. ) lane keep assist on autopilot veers off to the right when it is first engaged and does not want to stay centered until it's been on for awhile.

Every time the car was put into park, or when the car turned off the passenger front door would pop open. Please see concern 7 on Tesla repair invoice.

Front trunk latch would not engage to latch frunk, and when frunk opened, would not engage to lock frunk. Error message kept repeating that frunk was opened, but it would not latch. When asked about the existing recall, was told that it does not apply to my vehicle, despite the problem being exactly as described in the recall.

So essentially I stopped for a charge about 30 minutes before, I charged it, then hopped back on the turnpike as I was heading to outer banks nc, while I was on the turn pike where I believe at the time I started to go around a curve not a sharp one but a curve right after coming off this bridge. Every 1 minute and 30 seconds you have to put your hands on the wheel and give it a jerk to keep it enable so it had to have popped up within the 1 minute and 30 seconds. As I was changing the album of the artists I was listening too I heard the beep beep beep which means you are approaching something and are about to hit it, as I looked up all I saw was blinking lights and really smacked the rear end of this traffic control truck, anywhere from 65-75 miles per hour with no time to react. If I remember correctly I had my car on 7 lengths away (maximum amount you can have away). As I hit the control I hit my head pretty hard on the steering wheel so the whole memory is blurry following when it happened and my adrenaline was very high but I didn’t wanna go to the emergency room even though they suggested highly because I have no health insurance and that would have had to come out of my own pocket and I was stuck in pennsylvania by myself and didn’t wanna get stuck in the hospital too. Thank you so much for taking your time to look at this it means a lot.

In April, 2023 we received a recall notice directly from Tesla about a safety recall involving the front trunk hood opening while driving. The letter stated we would be contacted later about the fix. But we have never heard anything since from Tesla yet the recall does not show up on your website for our car. Can you explain what happened to the supposedly required repair?.

All 4 door handles have ceased working. 1st responders wouldn't be able to gain entry.

Warning doors are opening by itself headlights are not working and parking sensors emergency braking as well a lot of issues with this car.

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, he heard an abnormally loud sound come from the driver’s side wheel. The contact pulled over and inspected the wheel but did not see an issue. The contact stated that he continued driving and while driving approximately 35 mph, the driver’s side wheel detached and went into the wheel well. The vehicle then began to steer slowly to the left independently and the contact was able to get the vehicle into a parking lot. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was towed to his place of employment. The local Tesla dealer was contacted however, the cause of the failure not yet determined. The dealer informed the contact that the driver’s side control arm needed to be replaced but the part was not available. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the contact was informed that the failure was not related to the control arm, but that the wheel well and the front fascia lower valence needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 140,466.

The safety latch on the front hood has failed 3 times. The first two times were not reported to Tesla, because I assumed that it must have been my fault and there was little actual damage to my car. Fortunately, both occurances were at low speeds in a parking lot. The result was that my hood didn’t align properly. There was no other damage to the hood. I read about a Tesla recall for this very issue, so when I had my last service with Tesla (may 1) to replace the drive train (under warranty), I asked them to fix the safety issue on my hood. They refused to cover it saying that 1. ) I was out of warranty. 2. ) they could find no record in their system of the occurrences because the timing of the incidents was further back than what their system can recover and 3. ) they couldn’t fix the latch without fixing the hood hinge mechanism I have since had a 3rd incident with my hood flying up. It happened on July 6. This time, there was damage to the hood of the car. I am uploading photos of the damage. I feel that Tesla should cover the entire cost of this repair. Clearly my 3 incidents were the result of a defective latch mechanism. I am fortunate that all of them happened at low speeds because it could have resulted in very serious injury if it would have happened on the road or highway. I am guessing that the latch in my Tesla is the same design and part number as the one in the recalled models. I,hope you can help me with this. Thank you for considering it.

The doors on my Tesla are electronic from the inside and outside. Sometimes the car will not let me out or in, especially in the rear drivers side door where the kids are. It will not open the door and presents a huge safety issue. My sons was trapped in the door previously and we couldn't get the door to open - it took about 5 cycles of locking and unlocking the car for the doors electronic door handle to finally allow the door to be opened recently there was a lawsuit for a similar issue in which a man became trapped inside a Tesla and died of smoke inhalation because the doors would not open and first responders couldn't get in the car either. I contacted Tesla, who was able to diagnose my car and create a repair estimate for the malfunctioning door handles without even looking at the car because the problem is so widespread and well known. They want $700 to repair my door handles that are locking me and the kids inside the car but I don't have money to repair right now.

Door/door handle. Puts my children at risk, as when I place car in park, door opens on it's own. With or without someone sitting there. Drivers side rear door. Not the first time this has happened. Tesla blames their self-extending door handles. This will happen if I am outside the vehicle and unlock it. Door opens, it also happens if we are driving, and I put the vehicle in park. When the door handles extend, the door opens. My son has unbuckled himself preparing to exit the vehicle, not expecting the door to open on it's own. When it did, if a passing car drove by, the door may even have been ripped off and/or my child injured. Thankfully, this time, he only got a few scrapes when he hit the concrete. The whole mess of the self-extending door handles has been a nightmare since the beginning. These handles have caused endless problems, and have been replaced on both my current and previous Tesla Model S multiple times, at minimum fifteen door handles have been replaced. I would need to go through countless service invoices to get an exact number. A door handle should operate problem free for the life of the vehicle. I should not have so many problems with one of the most basic functions of the vehicle.

The rear passenger door would open itself. This happened numerous times. An example of when it occurred and why it was dangerous is I would be in carpool line at my kid’s school and would slow down, stop, put the car in park, one passenger would leave from the front right door, I would put the car back in drive, start to drive off and then would see a warning that the rear right passenger door had popped open all by itself. I’m now driving 20 mph. I have young kids who are in the car which is very dangerous with a moving vehicle and a door next to them that has opened unexpectedly while now in motion. The car door would also open itself when it was just parked in a parking lot with no one inside it. I would come back from the grocery store and I would see the rear passenger right door just open. Tesla told me that I should disable the auto present door handle option for all doors except the driver door as a temporary solution until I could fix it with the dealership. I did this and it made the passenger rear right door inoperable. It jammed the door handle in a fenced out position and then it wouldn’t open or close at all which was another safety issue. If I had been in an accident and people needed to escape the car they would not have been able to through the rear right passenger door at all. Tesla told me they knew they had a problem with these door handles and would “upgrade” me to the new ones (they wanted to do both the rear door handles) for $1,000. They were asking me to fix both the broken one and the one that hadn’t broken as they said it would fail too. I was out of warranty and the manager did not think this was a serious issue. I thought it was a very serious safety issue. I told them that they should investigate and consider doing a recall. They ended up only fixing for free when I brought up filing an official complaint with NHTSA. Moving vehicles with car doors unexpectedly opening is a recipe for accidents that can be prevented.

Passenger door automatically opened when vehicle is in motion on a city street. No passenger was occupying the seat.

Door handle failure. The door physically opens by itself once the vehicle is placed in park and handle extends. This vehicle has had multiple handles replaced already, either due to not extending, so no ability to use and open car door at all, extending but not functioning, not retracting, and extending and physically opening the door with no occupant interaction. Happens when vehicle is stationary. Current failure could allow an external threat into the vehicle when putting the car in the park (such as carjacker, rioter etc. . . ) my previous Model S had over 15 door handles replaced due to a mixture of the same above issues. This is out of hand, a recall needs to be done.

Experiencing major and painful pressure buffeting from the lift gate of the Model S. This issue has been well documented amongst many owners and the resolution is to adjust the rubber discs that come into contact with the plastic adjustable shims of the car body. I've performed this adjustment and so has the service center. But now, there's no way of resolving this issue. Additionally, Tesla service refuses to even acknowledge this obvious defect. My 15 year old son and I performed extensive research on this matter, and we discovered a direct correlation between the inconsistent panel gaps of the rear portion of the Model S and the pressure buffeting. The threading attached to the frame, under the plastic adjustable shim is straight on the drivers side, and askew on the passenger side. The surrounding aluminum is also showing signs of ductile fracturing. The movement of this threaded component, prevents the shim from sitting equal to the drivers side shim, therefore causing the lift gate not being able to fully sit level, causing inconsistent gaps at the adjoining panel transitions. Even more disturbing, the aluminum body panel that surrounds the lift gate opening is exhibiting a significant tension stress. I haven't removed any interior body trim panels to examine the adjacent panels. I measured the body gaps resulting from this structural failure with a digital caliper. The difference in spacing is 3mm. This is significant. I've attached photos of the threaded rod area showing signs of ductile fracture, the right side of the lift gate opening exhibiting signs of failure from the tension stresses. This vehicle has never been in an accident. This potentially dangerous defect should be investigated and publicized to other unsuspecting Model S owners. This is an imminent safety concern.

Doors randomly pop open. When entering the car from any door, the front passenger side door and the rear driver's side door pop open. The doors also pop open anytime the car is put into park. Someimes it is necessary to put the car into park while in traffic at a stop light, or when stopped in traffic jams. This can happen on city streets, highways, frankly anywhere. When the car is put into park the doors pop open. This is clearly a safety issue in traffic. The car is low miles and only 3. 5 years old. 3 out of 4 doors have had issues. I see on Tesla forums that I am one of many people this happens to, shortly after the warranty expires, in some cases sooner all of these owners feel the same way I do, that there are clearly faulty doors that Tesla not addressing as a safety recall issue. The front passenger and rear driver side doors pop open under various circumstance, having small children in the back seat this is a large safety issue in my opinion. The front passenger door is also a safety concern. Although my children sit in back, I am often transporting elderly people in the front passenger seat. Having the front passenger door pop open in traffic is alarming and concerning to the elderly people in the seat. Additionally, the rear passenger side door can not be opened from the outside. The motors in the doors are routinely discussed in Tesla forums as having problems. Again, this is a safety issue. If there was an emergency in which the door needed to be opened from the outside to evacuate my children from the backseat, this would not be able to happen, as the handle will not even come out to open the door. These are too many issues on a car this young and present real and known safety issues that are not being properly addressed by Tesla.

Please see the attached report I filed on safer car. Gove and the letter I wrote to Tesla. I have not got response to any of those. . . This problem happened after I had successfully turned the car 90 degree to park headon. The car had to be at a very low speed at that time. Then when I as just a couple of feet from the curb, the car accelerated out of control. If you get the report from Tesla, you will find that car could not have accelerated this fast even if I had pressed the accelerator pedal by mistake. Many other drivers have experienced the same problem. It is a serious problem and please don't take it lightly. I asked Tesla to give me the report of that time and they did not give. We all feel that Tesla has become so mighty that it doesn't care. We depend upon you for our safety. So please do full enquiry.

As usual, I drove Tesla to work. My parking spot is a head-in parking spot. To park my car I have to make a 90-degree turn, so I pressed the breaks to slow the car. Just as the car completed the 90-degree turn and I was about to stop the car to complete parking, it accelerated out of control. It jumped the curb in the front and hit bushes about 5-6 feet ahead. The car suffered extensive damage that is estimated to cost about $20,000. I also trust that Tesla is committed to making Tesla 100% safe to drive. Therefore, it is in both parties' interest to find what exactly happened. Fortunately, Tesla keeps track of every movement that every Tesla makes. The record can prove beyond doubt what exactly happened. I, therefore, request a complete record of what happened at the time of the incident. This incidence happened between 9:50 am and 10 am est on August 22, 2019. As I was making a 90-degree turn to park, your record would certainly show that I pressed the breaks during the turn. The only way I could have put the car in the high acceleration - that my wife and I noticed - would be that I lifted my feet from the break and instantly pressed very hard on the accelerated paddle. I can't understand how could that be feasible. If the record does not show this precise pattern, than it points to a potential software flaw. Please provide me and the national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) with the complete record of every event that happened with my car on August 22, 2019 between around 9:50 am and 10 am. Some of the most important parameters that are crucial for the analysis of the situation are: what was the lowest speed of the car, at what time that happened, what was the highest acceleration of the car and the time interval between the lowest speed and highest acceleration.

Hello, I purchased a used car from Lexus of rockville on Saturday and as I was driving home I heard a 'pressure buffeting sound' ( sounds like a window is cracked- but all windows are up) I contacted Lexus on my way home and they told me to bring back the car . I returned with the car and the salesman and sales manager told me they would not take the car back because I pulled off the lot with the car. They refused to even look at the car. And informed me there was a no return policy. Which is ridiculous. Now, I'm stuck with a $50k that I can't drive. The noise is so bad it impedes my ability to drive, which is a complete safety hazard . I even asked if they could take this car back and let me finance a different car and the said 'absolutely not'. I have own 2 Toyota's and never experienced anything like this. I wanted to do business with Lexus because I always had good experiences but I notice your customer service has fallen way behind the curve. Very disappointing experience. Daily I deal with correspondences with the white house and customer service is always our one number one concern but clearly Lexus of rockville does not believe in customer satisfaction. This car came from auto action defective and now the dealership refuses to fix the pressure buffeting probably and is passing the expense on to the customers . Which is extremely deceptive please, contact me [xxx] [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Rear passenger door handle fails to open door. This has been a on-going issue with Tesla Model S vehicles. My first 2013 Model S had over 15 door handles replaced due to failure. My current 2016 Model S has had around 6. The last was front passenger door handle replaced in may 2018 which would not extend nor open the door. I have the failed unit in hand, as I had to pay out of pocket non-warranty (as I was over the warranty mileage), technician stated that the door handle shorted out due to water intrusion from poor design (his words). Rear passenger door handle has now failed. It will extend, but will not open the vehicle's door. This is a known, and on-going issue for the Model S vehicles of all years and trim levels. Tesla needs to come up with a solution, and permanent fix. I also want to report that all door handles fail to operate below in temperatures of f about 25% of the time after sitting overnight unless the vehicle is remotely pre-heated (as the door handles freeze closed internally (in the door) and will not extend.

The vehicle was in service for warranty issue. Tesla burbank service center denied to done the recall. Regarding to them, the recall is unnecessary and did not need to be done until raining. However, this recall is in needed for the power steering gear assist motor may move, causing the transmission belt to slip, and result in reduced or lost power steering assist.

While attempting to park my Tesla s75 d in a costco space, the car bolted. It felt like it was in autopilot mode without me engaging it manually. I slammed on the brakes. It hit the rear bumper of the car parked in front. Fortunately, it didn't do any damage to that vehicle but it caused plenty of damage to my front end. I'll need a new bumper and hood. It also deactivated my autopilot and radar which are behind the bumper. I can still drive the car and feel fairly safe as I believe the computer accidentally engaged the autopilot and now the autopilot isn't operational. However, I no longer trust this car. I've presented this problem to Tesla and they said is was user error but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I was not at fault. I've done research and there is a class action lawsuit in the works as this has happened to other Tesla users. My advise, don't buy a Tesla!!!!!.