2013 Tesla Model S fuel system problems

Filed Jun 3, 2026 · Electrical, Fuel system · OR

While driving my 2013 Tesla Model S at normal road speed, the vehicle suddenly lost all propulsion without any warning. I had to coast and maneuver across traffic to avoid being hit before the car came to a stop. After shifting into Park, the vehicle displayed DI_w072 and DI_f072 gate‑drive faults, which indicate inverter/drive‑unit failure and match a pattern reported by other early‑model‑year Tesla owners. This sudden loss of motive power created a serious safety hazard, including risk of rear‑end collision and exposure to oncoming traffic while disabled. • No alerts appeared before the failure • Fault codes appeared only after the vehicle stopped • Vehicle required towing • Incident occurred under normal driving conditions • Tesla has denied responsibility or involvement It was serviced by Tesla a couple days before. During servicing they stated on one side the drive axle was not completely installed upon arrival. They stated they "popped it in for free but the drive unit will likely need replacement soon." Prior to this visit i have had no issues or alerts with these parts or systems, I declined any work to these areas. The next day after receiving my vehicle back, I discovered the coolant reservoir was completely empty. No warning was provided that the coolant system had been left unfilled, and the lack of coolant may have contributed to thermal damage in the drive unit or inverter. They denied any work they did involve these parts and denied any responsibility. They denied my request to have the car towed to their service center and diagnose it unless i paid for it. They also estimated the repair to cost me 6k without any further investigation. I request that the federal safety agency evaluate whether this failure mode represents a broader defect affecting 2012–2015 Model S drive units/inverter electronics and whether further investigation or recall is warranted.

Filed Mar 13, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · CA

Explained to Tesla service center immediately upon purchasing vehicle while it was still under warranty that the vehicle range was unacceptable using TESLA's warranty guideline for requirements for a battery replacement while under warranty. TELSA refused to changed the battery even though I took the vehicle to TESLA several times while the Battery was still under warranty. A month after the warranty expired the motor died, it had been showing signs wear but TESLA failed to property inform me of the issue and charged me over $6000 for the repair due to my lack of knowledge on what the symptoms are for a failing motor. Shortly after the warning for "Charging - Maximum battery charge level reduced" has come on and TESLA is trying to charge me about $21,000 for a replacement battery.

Filed Sep 28, 2022 · Electrical, Fuel system · CA

The touchscreen failed and I need it replaced, but Tesla says it’s not part of what the NTSB negotiated with Tesla to do regarding these screens. 2014 model S. It’s not fair to me to have to replace what I believe is a defect. Also, I believe this car was salvaged in another state and then brought to CA and resold to me. There was a salvage record on Bumper and now it disappeared. There’s also a code on my car that reads that acceleration may be reduced and Tesla wants to replace connectors but I keep getting more and more parts added to the quote. They say this is a “preemptive” repair. They made a new firmware/software rollout which took away my Sirius XM capability and they say they know about it, but won’t reinstall my software. I believe their software/firmware has taken away attributes on my car. Tesla won’t give me the repair history to the car and I fear they are hiding all the recalls saying they’ve been done when in reality they haven’t. I’m worried about driving the car.

Filed Feb 14, 2021 · Fuel system · 35,000 miles · NE · crash

I was backing out of my garage and the left rear end of my car hit a car parked behind me. My car immediately sped up in forward direction in an arc causing me to hit just inside garage on the left . I tried to brake and to put it into park and nothing was working. It finally went into neutral and quit hitting the garage. There was lots of smoke and I thought car was on fire. There was lots of burned rubber under my left rear tire causing the smoke. None under right side. There were workers at the house (car behind me) and they said it was the car doing it. I wasn't sure what was happening. I called tesla that day and a total of 5 times and was told I would be contacted by special team in about 6 weeks and that they would be able to download what happened from computer. I have not heard anything from tesla. My car was checked out at the tesla shop in council bluffs after body work done and they said they were unable to check computer as to what happened and that would be done by tesla engineers. My insurance company has not been able to get any information either. They asked me to report unexplained acceleration on this site. It did $23,000 in damages to my car and $25,000 to my house and knocked it off foundation in affected corner. If both tires had been spinning I don't think I would be here as I would have gone straight through garage and flying as it is a one story drop to the back. I want to know my car is safe before driving again and have not been able to find out why incident happened.

Filed Nov 16, 2020 · Electrical, Fuel system · 120,000 miles · CA

My 2013 tesla model s had the touchscreen fail. This resulted in me having to pay for a brand new screen. I understand there is an investigation into the touchscreen failures and I would like to be included in the investigative process and receive reimbursement

Filed Nov 16, 2020 · Electrical, Fuel system · 115,000 miles · CA

I own a 2013 tesla model s that has lost the mcu and will no longer charge. In addition, the mcu causes the touch screen to open very slowly. I have complained and tesla would not replace the mcu and not compensate me for the inability to charge the car. The original complaint was that the touchscreen would not come on at all. I could not see any information whatsoever, during tesla's attempt to fix the screen, I lost the ability to charge the vehicle.

Filed Aug 2, 2020 · Electrical, Fuel system · 70,000 miles · CA

Same issue as other open complaints with emmc device failing causing black screen, no rear view camera, no ability to charge the car, turn signals inoperable, etc.. Based on the known software bug in this system it is reasonable to conclude that all models with this version of mcu/emmc software will eventually fail. See current the federal safety agency action number : pe20010

Filed Jul 12, 2020 · Fuel system, Transmission · 128,600 miles · NJ

While driving on a six lane highway, I received multiple alerts from the car saying that power was reduced, the vehicle was shutting down, service is required, pull over safely and vehicle may not restart. I pulled over into a parking lot to monitor the car, the alerts continued to come and go but the car remained on. I decided to drive the rest of the way home. I notified tesla service and received no response. The next day when I attempted to drive the car again, it would not start and there was a complete battery failure requiring battery replacement. There was no indication to me as the owner prior to this event that the battery was going to fail, however, access to my vehicle logs (which I cannot obtain from tesla) may have given me some indication. I was told battery failure was due to faulty seals on the rapid mate which allowed water intrusion and overcurrent within the battery.

Filed Feb 15, 2020 · Fuel system · 136,000 miles · OH

Tesla released an update that throttled how fast my car dc charges and reduced my range. I used to be able to start dc charging at 99kw and now it starts at 72kw and taper from there. Also I can't charge to 100% now. It stops around 97% and say "calculating remaining time" and after 30-40 minutes stops and says charging complete. My maximum rated range is now 167 miles down from 208 miles. That's a 20%, 40 mile loss of range. I had tesla look at it twice and they say nothing is wrong. Last appt they sent me a text on feb 10th and cancelled my appt saying there's no issue. Now in the winter I can't make it home to toledo oh from columbus oh a 132 mile trip. Real world in the cold you lose 25% range to keeping the battery warm. With tesla capping my range with the update plus the range loss in winter I'm short 10 miles.

Filed Jan 14, 2020 · Electrical, Fuel system · 122,300 miles · AZ

The federal safety agency action number: dp19005 - investigation subject : battery management software updates. Via software updates, tesla, suddenly, inexplicably, reduced maximum voltage of the main battery. The action resulted in instant loss of distance mileage of the car of 12 percent, from 237 miles to 208 miles. Horsepower and general performance of the car was also reduced. Tesla has implied that this action was taken, for selected tesla cars, out of an abundance of caution as a fire-safety update, but officially no safety recalls related to this unexplained action have been announced. No one associated with tesla has offered any further detailed explanation for this sudden action, which, in addition to reducing performance and distance mileage of the car, has also reduced, overnight, its intrinsic asset value. The results described here happened overnight, while the car was at rest---parked inside a garage.