15 problems related to wiper have been reported for the 2017 Tesla Model S. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2017 Tesla Model S based on all problems reported for the 2017 Model S.
Tesla originally confirmed issues with the mcu1 system in my vehicle and upgraded it to mcu2. I paid $1,599 for the repair/upgrade. Since then, the center screen has continued shutting off while driving. When this happens, the instrument cluster and controls go dark, I cannot see my speed, use the blinkers to signal, operate the ac/defroster, or access other critical vehicle functions. This has occurred multiple times on highways, including us-22 in new jersey, which created serious danger because I could not monitor speed or signal properly. Although Tesla addressed the mcu1 problem by upgrading me to mcu2, they told me afterward the vehicle was still “safe to drive,” despite the failures continuing. I believe this is unsafe because I lose visibility of all driving information and access to basic controls. Tesla now refuses to repair these ongoing problems. After I raised complaints about the severity of the issue, I was dismissed and mocked for my speech disability during phone calls, and Tesla placed me on a service restriction. As a result, I am unable to obtain further repairs for this safety defect. I am afraid to drive the car. No adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, parking collision warning, or rear cross traffic warning features were involved in this failure.
After the latest software update, the intermittent settings on the windshield wipers no longer work. At 10:15am on December 11, the Tesla service group confirmed in a message that this is a known firmware characteristic. There is no eta on a new firmware update to correct the issue. There notice states that it is an issue with the auto wiper feature, but the wiper does not work in manual mode either. Initially, they stated that they could inspect the car in a few days. Now they have pushed my appointment 2+ weeks.
Tesla designs a single piece headlight with no serviceable parts. This includes headlights, high beams, and namely daytime running lights. All of these components are on an led strip that overheats and un-solders due to this high heat, which causes premature failure. Some owners have reported as little as 3 months of life before failing. The daytime running lights are essential for safety driving in low light situations. These daytime running lights are seemingly built to fail. The lights dim then eventually no longer work. Tesla's solution is to have the customer purchase a brand new headlight at $1438. 33. My vehicle is 4 years old and has been through. Tesla should either goodwill swap out these headlights for a non-built to fail component, or offer a repair for a quality led strip with proper heat distribution. Without daytime running lights safety is a major concern on foggy, rainy, and low light situations. I have attached an image showing how the failure begins on top then slowly goes all the way down to the side of the headlight which fails later.
Went to back into charger and back up camera still showed photo from where car was parked at home before I started my trip. I noticed a car behind me in mirror but picture showed no cars (and wrong location).
Wiper motor failing.
Purchased a used Tesla, today (on 2nd day) driving on local street, it was raining a bit, turned on wipers, didn't work, pulled over and attepmted few more times, no luck. Tesla attempted to address the issue remotely through basic troubleshooting but no luck. When wipers were turned on, it was pulling downward instead of going up. They ended up towing car, currently in service center.
I have been reaching out to Tesla service center repeatedly regarding the emmc unit failure where it has gone completely blank and turns off during my drive several times. I lose all air control, bluetooth, rearview camera, and everything that the main mcu unit controls. I have had this happen when it was very cold outside during the night when I lost visibility due to the fogging inside and no defogging control available. I contacted the service center immediately on December 22, 2020 and made an appointment, which they diagnosed via logs on their end and never agreed to physically diagnose my car in person. They keep claiming that this is an issue that will be addressed in a future firmware upgrade, for which they do not know the timeline at all since the engineers are still working on it, and that this is not a hardware issue. I detailed all the issues I was having where either my screen would freeze up or go black and turn off completely and gave them exact dates/timestamps. Each time they saw there was an error and verified that the logs showed an issue but that this was still not a hardware issue and I have to just put up with this until the firmware upgrade is rolled out. This was their justification for not replacing my unit under the warranty adjustment program, and now I don't see my VIN in the recall database either. I am frustrated and expressed to them several times that I am honestly scared driving the car. I have logged all the messaging conversation with them as proof, and I have videos, pictures showing the failures as they occurred. I have had to pull over several times when these issues occurred to reboot the system before I feel safe to drive again, or I have had to sit in park when I start my car and wait until I reboot before I can start driving.
Touchscreen went blank and would not start up. Has to drive without climate control, defrosting and backup camera for 45 minutes.
My Tesla is experiencing the mcu problems outlined in NHTSA ea20-003 from 13 Jan 21 and prior. While in motion, on city streets and highways, and regardless of speed, my vehicle's mcu will spontaneously and at random intervals freeze. This results in loss of heat/cooling, front and rear defrosters, infotainment/gps, adas safety features and convenience, all cameras including backup camera, and turn signal audio indicators. The only resolution is to stop my vehicle, issue a reboot command, and wait up to 10 minutes for systems to restore. Tesla initially denied the issue, but then under Tesla's 9 Nov 2020 "warranty adjustment program" replaced the mcu daughterboard. The replacement did not resolve the issue. Tesla now states the mcu is operating normally but acknowledges that a fix is required in software that will, at an indeterminate time, become available and that until such a fix is released, system reboots should be performed as needed. The mcu continues to freeze while driving with the same symptoms as before the daughterboard replacement. The recommended solution to reboot cannot be performed while driving but must be performed immediately to restore safety functionality. Tesla has offered a $2,500 mcu replacement/upgrade that promises to eliminate the issue since the newer mcu has more storage and an intel atom cpu instead of a slower nvidia cpu. Tesla refuses to replace the existing mcu with a similar part in the meantime, despite initially acknowledging an issue and attempting a fix by replacing the daughterboard, and erasing the system due to possible "corruption" twice.
Central screen (media control unit - mcu) continues to shut down and restart which causes loss of air bag, climate (including DE-fogging), rear camera as well as media controls/gps. Tesla repair indicates that it is a defect that can only be fixed by upgrading to their new mcu2 at a large cost. Replacing with same system will not fix issue. This restarting/rebooting occurs when driving and when idle with no warning. Tesla claims it does not affect driving but it completely shuts down ability to charge, use climate control(including window clearing) and safety controls like airbags. This happens approximately 1x daily when driving car starting after Tesla installed something related to full self driving option.
For many months, my Tesla's computer would reboot or just shut down while I was driving. That would stop the defroster, the ability to back up, and multiple driving issue. Tesla suuggestec that I replace the chip and the screen, I paid$2500. They refuse to pay for it despite a recall on the specific issue. It is well documented with tesls.
Center display frequently goes blank or does not activate for several minutes, when starting the car, disabling the display that shows the backup camera. This has occurred more than 30 times. Tesla sent a letter saying owners affected by this problem (emmc failure) are entitled to a free repair, yet they declined to repair my car because their remote diagnostics could not determine that a problem existed. Additionally, when this occurs, most vehicle comfort features are disabled, including climate control. It is a very large distraction to the driver when the system completely fails like this while driving.
Main computer experienced the emmc failure which is widespread for this model and year, amongst others. I could tell it was imminent for failure, however we did not realize the vehicle needs this computer for turn signal control. Thus, my wife drove home from work with a dead computer and thought she has turn signals when she did not. Fortunately she made it home safely. We have not driven it since we realized this safety concern. Fufthermore, the backup camera also is unusable in this state. I went ahead and scheduled for the newer computer (without this known issue) to be installed as soon as I saw the symptoms of imminent failure, but it died a couple days later, and is currently not safely drivable while awaiting the part.
Mcu sporadically freezes and/or reboots (while in motion) without any input from us. This renders the defrost controls and the backup camera inoperable until the system restarts, which takes several minutes. The problem has gotten progressively worse over time. This is a known mcu failure due to manufacturing error on the part of Tesla causing multiple replacements and rendering the car inoperable.
Recently replaced Tesla windshield has ghosting issues. When reported to manufacturer, Tesla says its within specifications, no test results or the type of test completed was provided as proof.
| Wiper problems | |
| Visibility problems |