2013 Tesla Model S: screen or infotainment failure

Filed Jan 23, 2026 · Acceleration, Electrical · GA

On [XXX], at approximately [XXX], I was driving my 2013 Tesla Model S (VIN: [XXX] ) on [XXX] in Barrow County, Georgia when the instrument cluster/speedometer display went completely blank while driving. This is an intermittent issue that occurs without warning - the display turns off and sometimes freezes. Because the speedometer was not displaying, I had no way to know my actual speed. I was pulled over by Barrow County Sheriff’s Office and cited for speeding. I explained the instrument cluster malfunction to the officer at the scene and showed him the blank display. I took my vehicle to Tesla Service Center in Duluth, GA (3380 Satellite Blvd) on November 4, 2025 - as soon as I could get an appointment after the incident. Tesla cleared the filesystem caches but did NOT inform me about the existing eMMC recall (SB-21-21-001) that affects my vehicle, nor did they perform the recall repair. My 2013 Model S is equipped with the MCU1 with the 8GB eMMC that is subject to the federal safety agency Recall 21V‑119. This is a known defect that the federal safety agency determined to be a safety issue because it affects critical displays including the speedometer, backup camera, and turn signal indicators. I have video evidence of the malfunction occurring and the Tesla service receipt documenting the issue. The fact that Tesla’s service center did not notify me of the applicable recall or perform the free recall repair. This defect directly resulted in me receiving a traffic citation because I could not see my speedometer while driving INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Aug 19, 2023 · CA

The central display computer goes blank while driving or when the car heats up. Suddenly the car does not respond to any touch screen. AC cannot be managed, rear camera is not available and the car is undrivable. The screen comes back when the car cools down completely. This happens everytime the car heats up -whether it is parked outside for couple of hours or inside the garage on a hot day or when I am driving for over an hour. This incident has occurred multiple times and I have to take it in to be repaired

Filed Jun 15, 2022 · Electrical, Wheels · CA

2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 Prior 2022 I shared with Tesla several times about my tires constant notification on the dashboard for low air. Tires were constantly being checked due to the dashboard display. I was told by Tesla it was covered, but no repair was done. When Tesla mobile or service only air was placed into the tires. Then I was told by Tesla mobile & calling 1800 when service, then when recall was performed it should fix the problem. Vehicle was not driven often due to black screen and tire issues/dashboard display. 2022 eMMC is finally replaced but now the warning on the dashboard reads 'Tire pressure monitoring system fault. Pressure sensor fault 'MAY' CLEAR NEXT DRIVE. This is negligent for Tesla to say IT MAY CLEAR NEXT DRIVE (see pic). Tesla service had the vehicle in shop several times and refused to repair/correct this SAFETY issue. I have complained and Tesla has blocked me from messaging Tesla. What if there is a blow out, low pressure, faulty system and an accident occurs causing hurt, harm, or death?

Filed Sep 16, 2021 · Electrical · WA

I had a failure on my main computer. The MCU failed and the screen would not turn on. Tesla replaced a chip in my MCU but it did not fix all of my issues. I have to reboot my computer 95% of the time I am driving. Here are the issues: 1) 3g/GPS not activating. Leads to not being able to use GPS navigation. 2) Computer freezes. Usually while sleeping, computer does not wake up or the central screen does not respond leading to failures in many systems including: blinker, AC, radio, rear view for backing up, garage control, creep mode, etc. One time I left my computer in 'camp mode' so that it would keep cool on a hot day. While I was away from car, I checked on my mobile app to see the status of the car. The app could not connect to my car. When I came back, the computer had frozen up which meant that the AC was no longer working. This caused a unsafe level of temperature in my car of 100 degrees +. Luckily there was no dog or child in the car but I hate to think if there was. When I leave the car in 'dog mode' or 'camp mode', I expect it to do what it states it is going to do and keep my car cool. This could be very dangerous, especially on a hot day. In conclusion, even though Tesla did the fix for my MCU and my screen does turn on, it is not fixed 100% leading to constant reboots due to 3g failures and computer freezes. This happens almost every day.

Filed Aug 15, 2021 · CA

Navigation and speedometer display went blank while driving , on 7/30/2021 at Palo Alto, CA. I pulled off the road, reset computer three times or so. Eventually, speedometer display came back, navigation was slow. I had to use Google map for a while. Service Center tested saying a chip update will be needed, and an upgrade, for $219.0. Set up service appointment for 8/10/2021at Tesla service center in Fresno, CA. I reside in Clovis , CA, zip 93619. Two days in service center, since 8/10-8/13/2021, I was told MCU board is in need of replacement, for a cost of $1500.0 extra. Tesla will not fix the condition on older model, 2013 S85!.?. OEM refusing to correct problem on older models. Driver confusion, and the car mechanism misbehaving, felt confusion while driving on three lane busy streets. Thank You, Bava

Filed Jan 29, 2021 · 64,000 miles · MD

Vehicle touchscreen constantly freezes and needs to be restarted. I reported this issue to tesla due to their claimed extended warranty on mcu issues, however, they have refused replacement. I am concerned about my safety driving the vehicle as a significant amount of operations are controlled by the touchscreen.

Filed Dec 2, 2020 · 55,400 miles · AZ

The touchscreen sometimes becomes unresponsive while trying to start the vehicle. The error message "touchscreen unresponsive: press scroll wheels on steering wheel until it restarts" will appear on the display behind the steering wheel. This seems like a safety issue since the vehicle will drive but without the touchscreen the backup camera and HVAC controls are unavailable, and the turn signals do not appear to not work, or at least no sound is heard while the turn signals are active. The touchscreen requires several minutes to restart. This problem matched the description of the recent notice from tesla about the emmc (embedded multi-media-card memory) failures. Tesla service was contacted about this in december 2020 with a request to diagnose if the emmc needs replaced. At the request of tesla service, several specific dates/times this occurred were provided (see attached images for examples). Tesla service stated that a more "recent" occurrence was needed in order to even perform diagnostics, but did not define "recent".

Filed Nov 14, 2020 · Electrical · 63,820 miles · NJ

The federal safety agency action #: pe20010 my tesla recently had the black screen following the system degredation that falls in line with me memory chip failure known in the model s 2013-2016. I am unable to use my blinkers, main screen for driving, my rearview camera for safety during reversing, or control many of the functions of the vehicle. Thankfully, this occurred while I'm my driveway and not during a trip so I was not in danger of harming anyone. I have attached a photo of the error showing on my screen in relation to this.

Filed Sep 13, 2020 · 100,861 miles · CA

The 17" touchscreen monitor is black and refuses to boot up or reset, reboot. This does not allow major functions of the car su in as program my the driving features, communications, GPS, climate control air-conditioning, rear view backing screen, turn signals or entertainment and other tesla features including safety features. This occurs at all times, from the time the car is turned on.

Filed Aug 29, 2020 · Electrical, Suspension · 75,000 miles · TN

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.

Filed Aug 7, 2020 · Electrical · 155,827 miles · NY

Center console (mcu) failed after updating software. Black screen. Unable to use, cannot charge. Cannot control anything. This seems extremely dangerous , as all the vehicle controls are through the center console. Had to get it towed to tesla service. Tesla said it was infamous emmc failure and had to replace the mcu out of pocket, totaling $2,738.67. They replaced it with the same exact version, basically saying its a known issue and that this will fail again eventually. This also encourages people *not* to update their software anymore, as any writes to that emmc module is just one step closer to failure again.

Filed Aug 4, 2020 · Electrical · 86,700 miles · CA

The center display is blank and unavailable, which disables many vehicle features including the backup camera system, air suspension control, and HVAC. The center display was working normally on august 1st, 2020. It seems to have failed overnight, because it has not worked since august 2nd.