Tesla Model S owners have reported 43 electronic stability control related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common electronic stability control problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's electronic stability control (43 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Electronic Stability Control problems |
2013 Tesla s p85 mcu will not boot up after over the air software update between October 2 t o October 9th while I was on a vacation. Ota software version 2020. 24. 6. 11.
Tesla cpu failure is causing car to have issues. Bluetooth will not connect, car will not unlock, lights do not work- either are stuck on or off, blinkers do not work, back up camera does not work, air conditioning is stuck on which drains battery, cannot charge the car when it is not responding as charging port will not unlock. Car has essentially turned into a brick with <60,000 miles. Very disappointed in Tesla. These happen both when vehicle is moving and stationary.
This complaint is about Tesla's first generation media control unit (mcu). The mcu is the brains of the car and control the big center screen that the Tesla Model S is known for. When it failed not only did I lose the ability to use this big screen but I also lost key safety items signals, backup camera, cruise control, automatic breaking, and auto pilot. All the sound features are also disengaged as well and this was evident in the lack of sound for the turn signal as well as the lack of sound for the alert if your seatbelt is undone. Specifically in regards to the turn signal for example if you put the turn signal down to as if you are turning left the nob will lock into the down position leading you to believe your turn signal is working but unless you are outside the car you have no awareness to the fact that the signals are not blinking. In addition to this my car lost its control of the air condition and any millage tracking features were lost. The mcu completely failed on me 3 times. The first two times it came back after a few hours and the third time it never came back (was driven to the service center after 3 days and it still hadn't come back). The failed mcu allows you to continue to drive the car and you have no awareness to the safety features that are disengaged. Also, all the sensors are disengaged to me the user which stops the car from alerting me to objects ahead, behind and to either side of me. There are endless articles about the first generation mcu failures. The chips inside these cars are known to fail after a certain numbers of cycles and Tesla has yet to address this known issues leaving the consumer to fend for themselves. Please investigate these issues and hold Tesla accountable.
My main center display went blank. Failed to come back after multiple reboot attempts. Climate control, gps, suspension, backup camera, and most functionality lost. First noticed when stationary in my garage.
Mcu1 failure. Not able to have access to control panel for ac, power charging, main contol screen is black and unresponsive.
Tesla Model S main screen died. It's a known issue on early Model S with mcdu version 1. A chip on the circuit board can only handle xxx amounts of writes, or write overs, then gives up. Screen goes blank. Most Model S car functions are controlled on the main screen. My screen failed while driving. Unable to set or control charging. Unable to turn off a/c. Unable to hear turn signals. Unable to turn on or control headlights. Unable to close sunroof. Unable to change suspension settings. Unable to change steering settings. Unable to change lighting on the dash. Most features in the Model S are not available.
My infotainment (center lcd panel) shut off without warning and could not be restarted while driving. This sudden failure took my attention away from the road and repeatedly attempting to restart the screen was also a hazard forcing me to pull to the side of the road but was still unable to restart the infotainment center. With the infotainment system down, the majority of the features in the vehicle are cut off from me. I later read that this is a common problem affecting Teslas built between 2013 and 2018.
The main computer turns right off a couple times a day. When this happens while driving, most safety features are disabled and the cars electronic stop working. The cpu is known to have issues because a chip inside gets overloaded and does not clear itself properly. A recall should be had to replace this chip that does not remove the cashe properly.
The mcu1 (infotainment) center failed completely, rendering the vehicle inoperative!.
Tesla media control unit ("mcu") is no longer operable (screen turns black and loses all functions). The Tesla mcu is basically the car's central control system that allows you to adjust the headlights, the steering wheel resistance, the vehicle charging controls, the vehicle suspensions. . . Etc. The screen turned black, my turn lights are disabled (as shown in image, lights will no longer blink), my headlights are disabled, my airbag functions can no longer be switched to off when needed, the moon roof cannot be opened, the ac system along with defrost/cooling functions are all disabled and inaccessible. The vehicle dashboard displays "please wait while vehicle system powers up" for anywhere between 1 minutes to 4. 5 minutes. The vehicle is not operable during the system power up when I enter the car. This issue appears to be connected with the mcu failure and have persisted and worsened in the months leading up to the complete failure on 7/16. I would have to sit in vehicle for 1-4 minutes, unable to drive the car because it is loading up. This shows that the mcu is extremely essential to the vehicle, and not merely a media unit as they have tried to convince with the name. It appears that the mcu fails after a number of years/usage due to the old chip that rewrites over repeatedly. The mcu is pre-installed to fail in all vehicles produced prior to 2018 in the model x and s. Basically this system will fail in every car at uses the old mcu1, and doesn't apply to vehicles after 2018 since the switch to mcu2. I reached out to Tesla service center by phone (unable to access the Tesla app due to the inability for app and vehicle to communicate), and they quoted a replacement of the same mcu (but with an upgraded chip) at the price of $1201, with a 3 week waiting period. The car is not inoperable for the next 3 weeks due to the lost of essential and safety functions.
Mcu failure Model S 2015 82,000 large screen failed. Disabling lots of functionality including ac with over 100 outside air temp. Child in car. No turn signals, lights, navigation or ability to charge. Vehicle was stationary parked at home. No visible warning of failure before hand.
I was driving my 2019 Model S Tesla on autopilot down the freeway at freeway speed when suddenly it started braking and the alarms went off as if reacting to an impending collision. Only, there was nothing in front of me to react to. The guy behind me rear ended me and spun across traffic lanes. Thankfully, everyone walked away from this with what we think is just whiplash at this time - it could have been so much worse!.
Intermittent failure of the mcu1 ome, causing intermittent main screen blackout, turn signal malfunction, a/c disabling. Rebooting required mcu to be upgraded/replaced out of warranty.
The center screen of my Tesla stopped working when I started the car one day (car was parked), resulting in a loss of the backup camera and access to many driver settings, such as regenerative braking, automatic lights, etc. Rebooting the unit did not help, and the car would not shut off once the issue occurred.
The mcu failed while we were traveling, which basically locked the climate control, access to suspension, speed control, autopilot, navigation, radio, turn signals, and back up camera.
Mcu on Tesla crashed again. Last year it was replaced, and this year crashed again. Tesla keeps postponing repair. Saying they are too busy. With the mcu crashed, turn signal does not work and makes car not driveable. I understand you all are investigating this issue? the date identified below is the second time. This happened last year as well.
The mcu that operates the car failed.
Complete failure of mcu when starting the car after only 31k miles, causing blackout of al screens, driver information, controls, etc. Tesla had me drive it to the service center in that condition and charged $1,462 to replace without any indication that it is a known design problem. (note incident date is approximate. ).
Tesla mcu (media control unit) has well known and documented emmc chip that will fail on all Model S and x cars from 2012 to summer 2018. This was a result of Tesla engineering writing their logs to the emmc which has limited number of write cycles, Tesla has since resolved where logs are written but the damage has been done. Tesla refuses to accept this mistake and will charge users $1300+ to replace. When this issue occurs the following safety issues happen blinkers do not work. Drive after a 30 second timeout no aeb (advanced emergency braking) no controlling suspension height no manual control of headlight lights no blinker sounds steering mode defaults to some setting (e. G. If I have it set to sport, during reboot of mcu is changes to standard or comfort, not sure but I can feel the steering wheel take less effort to turn than my normal sport mode) no hvac (heat, cool, vent) no defrosters no seat heaters no steering wheel heaters no radio/streaming no app connectivity to control the car no ability to see the car charge status from app trip a/b profiles user settings homelink bluetooth pairings no rear view camera this issues happening to all models world wide reference this post to see the hundreds of users that are affected by this and force to seek alternative methods of repair that is not Tesla approved. At which at any point Tesla could remove features from cars for not using one of their approved service centers. Which appointments are over one month out, forcing most users to drive their car in unsafe manors.
Well docmented failure of a memory chip that has been docuteted to fail after a certin amount of read/write cycles, Tesla has been well aware of this fault for years and has done nothing to address the issues leaving owners sometime stranded or reducled vehilce functionalty. Teslas respnose has been to replace the faulty system with a refurbish unit that will have the same issue in the futiure and charging the customer between 1500-2000 to replace.
Ecu1 is failing. Memory chip, paint on mirror peeling.
Noticed that the display on my Tesla Model S not working as I pulled my car out of the driveway. Tried rebooting but screen did not come up. Was able to drive the vehicle to Tesla service center though it felt a little unsafe as many of the controls are on the display. After diagnosis, Tesla service advisor told me that the mcu for my Model S has failed and needs to be replaced. I paid ~$2000 for a new mcu. After reading recent article on similar failures reported by other Tesla Model S owners, decided to report this as failure of the display unit while driving can be a safety risk.
Hi, I have severals issue with the car which are known issues for the manufacturer and for which service center says "yes it's an known problem on all these 2015 Model S car" but you have to pay to get it repaired because the car is over 4 years old and more than 100 000km, so not under warranty anymore. Theses issues are : * two doors handles 1042845-00-b (one I paid for being repaired 60. 83) one actually broken so right front door can't be opened from outside. Nearly all customers from Model S from 2012 to 2015 have this problem for doors. In my case two times were when childs closed the door from outside a bit stronger, so it can happen anytime you close a Model S door ftom this generation. The part 1042845-00-a has been versioned 1042845-00-b (the "a" is less resistant). * two windows can't easily be closes (the two on right side) even more when temprature is more tha 20c, anti-pinch system don't work well so the window reoppen. So sometimes you let the car with windows opened with rain risk if you don't check it. In this second case, service center says this is also a known problem and say they can change whole part with payment ! * more important is computer issue with emmc failure where 8gb nand memory is getting by the time with read/write error because of use cycles, making so many issues on computer : screen hangs (nned reboot), autopilot issue, entertainement media loading or use issue, maps fot gps slow or locked, long time before starting car (more than 2 minutes sometimes) until the time memory is definitly deas so the car remains unusable. In this case again, this is an problem from origin and should be replaced for free even after the 4 years warranty because problem comes with time. Tesla asked 2500 for whole replacement with computer, screens, 4g chip. . . Whereas they don't built it correctly ! * wheel broken no airbag, horn, commands. . .
2013 Tesla s p85 with manufacture quality control problems. My current concern is that my media control unit (mcu) touch screen in my Model S manufacture in 2013 failures of the touch screen with bubbles on the lcd touch screen and sometime just lines on the lcd display when it is hot under the sun. The car takes a long time to start up after driver get into the driver seat- sometimes it can take up to 3 minutes to start up the car and, lines on lcd display, sticky glue leaking down under the dash area from the passenger side. This mcu and lcd touch screen is the only control that can be use as an information system for this vehicle. This is a safety issues while driving and can be very distracting and can cause an accident while driving. This is a manufactures defect and it should be recall for replacement or repair. It is a very serious safety concern.
There is a known issue with Tesla media control unit (mcu) dead or won't turn on due to poor design of the emmc memories. The unit eventually dies once the memories are full and the unit won't turn on anymore. Since this mcu is the heart of the Tesla vehicle, all the safety features will be disable like collision sensors, hazard alert/notification, unlock the door/windows from the inside, most of the gauges on the dashboard are disable, even the lane turn signals are disable and the backup camera. My unit went out since may 2020, Tesla will not cover the defected unit, it they will charge me over $1700 to replaced a refurbished one. This is the 3rd time they reschedule my repair since they claim they don't have all the parts in stock. I've been driving the car with a dead mcu for almost 3 months. It is very unsafe when I drive the disable car on the road.
Random failure including loss of controls using mcu1. Frequent re-setting / re-booting required to operate the vehicle using mcu 1 controls.
Tesla is like a laptop with wheels. If the laptop's hard drive dies, the car won't work. That is what happened to my 2013 Tesla Model S p85+. The car's main computer had a combination of faulty design in hardware(small emmc memory chip) and software(high frequency logging to emmc memory) resulting the memory chip failed after 120,000 miles of driving. After the failure, the car will no longer drive for more than 23 miles or be charged beyond 23 miles of range. The air condition stopped working, the main control screen stay black. The car will receive no control. The original range is 245 miles.
I put the car in reverse and the screen was black. All the controls were stuck. . . Fan/ac. . . Back up camera did not work. My turning signals did not work. Tesla service center was closed so all the ac did not turn off and drained the battery all the way to 0 range. Took a lot of trouble to get to the service center the next day. They concluded the mcu was dead and had to be replaced claiming that it was wear and tear. Without any warning, the mcu crashed and comprised safety of the car with the turning signals, suspension and rear back up camera not working amongst others since the mcu controls everything. We believed Tesla knew of the problem and put it on owners to replace at their own expense if out of warranty even though it seems to happen around when the warranty ends. We have 2 Teslas and both the mcus died a little over 50k. It should have been a safety recall and the mcus replaced at no cost. Terrible business practice and service for such expensive cars. We are very disappointed in Tesla.
From a coasting position in an underground garage, I turned right to round a 90 degree corner. After completing the turn my car began to speed up rapidly. When I first noticed the acceleration beginning, I stepped on the brake, which had no effect. The car continued to accelerate over a distance of about 50 feet and collided head-on with a concrete wall. Front airbags on the driver's side deployed and my body struck them: face, chest, and lower legs. I have injuries from the incident.
On at least 2 occasions, while driving the car, the electrical system stopped working. One time, the car just shut down at a stop sign nearby my office; the second time, while driving on the highway, the car continued to run but all of the other electrons: speedometer, turn signals, radio stopped working. When I pulled over, the entire car shut down. Both instances required a "hard stop" to re-start the car. The dealer informed me that this can happen when the software has not been recently updated. However, you need WI-fi to update the software and it is not readily available where I reside and park my car. I consider this situation extremely dangerous in that the car can spontaneously shut down while in use. I am taking the car into the dealer today-probably so they can upgrade the software on site. However, this does not address future potential issues with the car. I do not have the ability to routinely take the car into the dealership for upgrades. Further, there is no message from Tesla when the upgrades are available. Please help. I really have no desire to die when the car stops working while driving it!.
Touch screen failure. Screen went blank Jan 3rd 2019 still under warranty. Was able to reset after many tries. Parked car went to winter home. Returned April 16th same problem. Working with Tesla through out problem. Finally Tesla said bring the car in. Now out of warranty so had to replace mcu $2250. 00.
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.
Due to recent news this week of NHTSA investigating the Tesla Model S from 2012 to 2015 regarding the faulty screen, I wanted to report that I had a similar problem. The large screen called mcu or media controlled unit on my Model S would have problems of blacking out while driving or when trying to start from a parked position. Ultimately, it shut down altogether. I had reported the problem to Tesla when the screen blackout problems were happening in 2018 and 2019 by calling customer service. Tesla's customer service told me to reboot the system by holding down the two scroll buttons. After multiple reboots over a period of 6+ months, the screen blacked out permanently, and the reboot solution no longer worked. I had to get the problem fixed at a cost of $2,614. 50.
Our Tesla Model S 2013 was purchased in August of 2013, 7years ago. The car was able to cover over 200 miles with a full charge. Starting June 2019, the brakes started to shake during braking and the traveled miles decreased drastically after sudden loss of range with 2019. 16. X software update that throttles batteries. Under the same conditions traveling the same route by the same person. Now, the full charge of car lasts approximately 100 miles traveled. Total super charged battery miles do not go beyond 150 miles even after waiting more than 2 hrs. Using 220 ampfor 7 hrs, the full battery charge goes up to 160 miles but even then the odometer travel covered is less the 110 miles under similar conditions of the original 200 miles traveled. We have paid for unlimited use of supercharger but we are told by Tesla not to use supercharger because it is bad for the battery. That is true. We get a little better results by using our own 40 amp, 220 volt charger but the car battery lasts less than 60% of the originalbattery under identical driving conditions with supercharger it covers less than 50%. We have taken the car to Tesla service center in rocklin but the technicians have said: "we ran test and battery is normal". We need help under stand what "normal" means. This car is not normal good for commuting to work now. 1) charging at much lower amps and avoiding superchargers. This took away the $2,500 purchase option and freedom of being able to travel without range anxiety. 2) replacement of the $2,500 mcu by Tesla technicians did nothing but more money into Tesla pockets. 3) begging to purchase a new battery, even though under warranty of 8 year extended from 125k to 150k mile warranty for prior to 2015 Tesla Model S vehicles is unable to be done. Very similar to the apple iphone battery throttle lawsuit.
Door handle problems the handle fails every 6months should be a recall drive train issues.
When I purchased my car less than a year ago, it came with a 50,000 mile, 4 year "new car" warranty although it was a used car with approx 25k miles. Within 6 months, an update came out over the air and changed my software, and ultimately lead to a range loss of approx 40 miles and an increase in charging time by approx 3x because Tesla, admittedly through their service texts, has limited the charging on my car to "preserve battery life. " this is akin to selling me a 8 cylinder car, and limiting it to 6 to not have to change engine. The car has become almost unusable as it takes 3 hours to charge when it used to take 45 minutes. The car was able to get a full 116 kw for an extended period of time when the battery was below 15%-30% and the charging would gradually (over 45 minutes) drop to about 40kw. Now it starts at around 110 kw and quickly (within 5 minutes) drops to below 80kw. It tapers off and charges around an average of 35-40 kw. Tesla should be changing the batteries as they knowingly are doing this to stop the battery from over heating and starting on fire. This is a hazard and Tesla, instead of replacing the part with a warranty, limits the performance of the vehicle without telling the owner.
I drove to work on may 2, 2019, and was trying to park in my allotted parking stall on the 3rd level of my office parking garage. My parking stall was along the outer edge of the garage and the only barrier to the outside was a set of three (about " diameter) cables strung between outside columns of the garage, besides a thin perforated corrugated metal sheet outside the cables, acting as a rain stop. I was trying to slowly turn right from the parking aisle to park between two pickup trucks on either side of my stall. When I had turned partway into my stall, my Tesla suddenly accelerated into my parking stall at high speed, hit the outside cables, rebounded backwards and stopped about 10 feet from the outside cables. The cables saved me from plunging 3 floors down from the garage. There was extensive damage to the hood and front portions of my Tesla. There was also some damage to the metal corrugated sheets outside the cables and a slight dent on the corner of the vehicle parked to my right. I have been parking in my office parking stall for about the past six months without any issue like this. I want to know why my car accelerated like that without warning and why the collision warning system was not triggered by the outside corrugated metal sheet. Also, there was an issue with my Tesla the previous evening. When I tried to start my Tesla after work, I got the 'systems are powering. . ' message on the screen and my car would not start even after a long wait. Then, I had to google to find a way to reboot the car computer, by pressing two buttons on the steering wheel. On the day of the accident, I used the intermittent rain sensing wipers for the first time, as there was a light rain. My car is still in the body shop waiting for some back ordered parts. I have asked Tesla to do a diagnostics to see if there were any software bugs in the system.
My car was fully engaged in auto park and it hit a car. I quickly braked to stop a worse collision. I patiently waited for Tesla to review their logs. They insist the auto park was working without fault. "the engineers have indeed said the autopark feature was operating without fault. " I keep questioning them. "if the vehicle comes into contact with another vehicle does not mean the autopark feature is operating with fault,' says Tesla. I reply, 1. Would you clarify it and say that if the vehicle comes into contact with another vehicle with the auto park activated and the driver not grabbing the wheel to interrupt the process that the auto park feature is operating without fault? 2. I repeat my question again. Do the engineers have any reason or proof to believe I activated the auto park incorrectly or in anyway interrupted the program to cause the accident? I understand they don't want to pay for repairs but I want them to either admit the feature was at fault or convince me I did something wrong to cause the accident to help prevent another accident. I think other Tesla drivers should be aware of how poorly this works. Also, I had brought the car in beforehand telling them that I didn't believe the auto park worked correctly. A Tesla salesperson also got in the car with me and agreed that the autopark did not seem to work. This proceeded the accident. Once again a report that the engineers see no fault.
Failure of vehicle to engage automatic emergency braking or apply adaptive cruise control braking in repsonse to a vehicle abruptly stopping ahead. Vehicle had adaptive cruise engaged at 57 mph on interstate highway and an acc sensitivity of 2. Vehicle forward collision warning did alert. This failure resulted in a rear-end collision with the car ahead.
I was making a legal u turn on a city street to park. I pulled behind a parked car and was going about 1mph when my car suddenly accelerated and hit the parked car. There were no warning sounds until the car hit the other car and then the horn and lights on my car went off. The car was not on auto park and no air bags were deployed however my car and the car that was hit had extensive body damage. There were not injuries to people. I don't know why the car accelerated instead of stopping. I have never hit the accelerator peddle instead of the brake and I doubt if I did it in this case.
On2/20/18 I was driving up my driveway. Upon reaching the top of the driveway, the car suddenly accelerated by itself resulting in the front of the car hitting the concrete wall in front. I informed Tesla and they claim that the computer showed that I pressed on the accelerator instead of the break. My answer is that I did not pressed on the accelerator. It just accelerated by itself. Aside from me, I have 4 passengers that can attest to this. I have lived in this place since 1986 and this has never happened. Since I have been driving up my driveway for 32 years, it is so routine for me that it is already ritual for me at almost the same speed and when to pressed on the gas and brake pedals the same way every time. This has not happened to my other cars and as my car insurance will show I have not been involved in car accidents for many years. I have not been shown any evidence except what Tesla told me. It is their words versus mine and my 4 other passengers who experienced what actually happened. Case number [xxx] thank you. ('parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). ').
While arked in my garage morning the center screen didnt turned on the media control unit know as mcu which is the center screen failed and the car wasnt able to charge, turn on a/c and many other functions of the car where disabled it is a very escencial part of the vehicle if it fails vehicle would not be drivable at all after battery is depleted.