2013 Tesla Model S: jerking or lurching

Filed Feb 18, 2020 · Brakes, Electrical · 27,000 miles · CA · crash

Twice my tesla lunged forward accelerating speed when trying to park resulting in accidents. I reported both issues to tesla. First time they denied that happening and the second time this past year they needed additional information. Then when I provided the information my emails kept getting bounced back. First incident occurred when parking in a school parking spot with a cement block. As I was slowly driving into the spot the car suddenly accelerated so fast my car went completely over the block and I pulled the steering wheel left to avoid hitting the building in front of me. I remember I kept pumping the brakes and it kept going faster. I clipped the car parked next to me and my car we to into the dirt area and since I pulled the wheel left to avoid the building it continued off the dirt area back onto the parking lot and finally stopped. The entire bottom of my car was damaged from going over the cement block and my whole left side was damaged from scraping along the front bumper of car parked to the left of me. That occurred in spring of 2016. The 2nd occurrence was september 30, 2019. I had paralleled parked in between a golf cart and a car; my car was completely stopped I had my finger on my control to put it into park and once again it lunged forward and I jerked my wheel to the left in order not to hit the golf cart straight ahead. I ended up clipping the golf cart and my right front end got the brunt of it. I have photos if you want them but I need to get help loading them if you need them so contact me if you want them.

Filed Dec 14, 2019 · 37,395 miles · MA · crash

On tuesday, december 10, my wife was slowly approaching our garage door waiting for the garage door to open when the car suddenly lurched forward speed such that the car went through the garage door destroying two garage doors, the load bearing column between the two doors. A lolly column inside the garage was broken in two pieces and our other car in the garage was damaged as were other items in the garage. The car eventually stopped when it hit the concrete wall of the garage but two marks on the garage floor indicate the rear drive wheels continued to spin even after hitting the concrete wall. We are the original owners of this car and have driven it for 6 1/2 years so we are very familiar with the car. Thankfully, she was not injured.

Filed Dec 7, 2018 · Engine, Transmission · 68,752 miles · CA

I was driving my tesla model s early in the morning in a quiet neighborhood when was slowly approaching to four-way stop sign intersection by gradually step on the brake. At the very beginning, I can feel the car decelerated, suddenly there was unintended acceleration that I felt. There was a jerking forward of the car, so I was not able to make a full stop at the stop sign. Then the speed drops down significantly, almost to zero. I pressed the flashing light because there was a line of cars behind me and I was in the middle of the road. The car was in almost zero speed, so I tried to move the car to the side of the road and pressed the acceleration pedal a little. The car didn't accelerate, instead, it turned into a stop situation. I realized I lost driving power of this car. I pressed the "p" button, then all four mode letters "p", "n", "r", "d" turned red, blicking. The car stopped close to the curb but partially in the middle of the road. I was able to get out of the car and called tesla roadside assistance. They checked some log and responded with towing service to send the car to the service center. The overall situation could have turned very severe safety issue if ever this happened on the highway, or there was human being walking across the street while I was not able to fully stop the car, neither control it. I am waiting for official service report but the car is confirmed not in drivable condition. And I feel extremely unsafe to drive it now and even not comfortable to drive it after what just happened this morning. The entire drive unit was maintained and changed to a new one in 2015, so its life only about 3 years in this car. Plus, I just had the car service at the tesla service center month ago. It is worrisome they can't even prevent such issue and detect it in an early stage, perhaps a design issue to address?

Filed Mar 6, 2017 · Acceleration, Brakes · 30,100 miles · CA · crash

The driver of our car was parking our tesla model s p85+ and slowly moving into the parking spot nearing the final distance in to the spot, when the car suddenly lurched forward, hitting and knocking down a light pole. The driver did not cause this acceleration to occur and was quite surprised to have this happen. There were no injuries involved in the incident, but a light pole located 1.5 feet way from end of the parking spot was knocked down and we have minimal damage to the front of the vehicle.

Filed Aug 24, 2015 · Electrical · 22,000 miles · CA · crash

On july 16, 2015 while driving my 2013 model s 60, I made a right hand turn into a parking space in simi valley, california. As I pulled into the space, I took my foot off of the accelerator and applied the breaks. Instead of stopping, the car lurched forward over a curb and a berm, stopping when it hit a fire hydrant, propelling it off of its bolts, generating a huge geyser of water. Because of the tremendous amount of water gushing over my car, I had no visibility and elected to stay in the car while attempting to dial 911. Moments later, a man who had been sitting in the car next to the space where I was attempting to park, opened the back door to ask about my condition. I then exited the car. I was not injured and thank goodness the car had not hit another person or another car. It took a tow truck about 15 minutes to arrive at the scene. All the while the torrential water surged around, under and over my car and now flooded the interior. According to tesla, either the car shorted-out causing all of the windows to roll down or there is a safety feature that causes the windows to roll down if the car perceives it is under water. The man who braved the flood of water from the fire hydrant to check on me saw the entire accident as he was sitting in his car. He said that my break lights were on as my car went over the berm. I have no idea what caused the car to accelerate by itself and I am certain that my foot was on the brake pedal. The next day, I heard from both my insurance company and the body shop that tesla wanted the car at their service center in van nuys. Several weeks ago, the claims adjuster called to say that due to the heavy water damage, the car has been totaled. I am writing this complaint on the federal safety agency's website because I believe there is something terribly wrong with this particular car. Also, see the federal safety agency report of previous 2013 accident.

Filed Aug 24, 2015 · CA · crash

This accident report is a previous accident involving the same 2013 tesla model s 60 as reported in the federal safety agency report filed on august 24, 2015. On on may 7, 2013 while driving my 2013 model s 60, I pulled into a parking space in thousand oaks, california making a left turn into the spot. As I pulled in, I let my foot off of the accelerator,and applied the break. The car lurched forward, jumping a parking block, then over a curb, and finally into a cement light post. The airbags deployed and I was stunned. I immediately called tesla who sent a qualified tesla tow truck. It took two hours to get the car onto a flat-bed truck because the car lost all power and shut down. It had to be dragged over two parking blocks, sustaining even more damage. Tesla sent the car directly to the body shop. I insisted that they run a diagnostic test because I was (and still am) certain that the car accelerated on its own. The van nuys service center rep said that the car had to be repaired first before any diagnostic test could be run. After three weeks I received a letter from tesla. The engineers reported to me that the accelerator was depressed to 48%, seconds before the accident and 98.4% at the time of impact. I still believe that the car accelerated by itself. It is my sincere hope that by reporting this accident (and the subsequent accident on july 16, 2015) further investigations can be conducted before people are seriously injured or worse. My insurance company (farmers) does not intend to investigate. It is less expensive for them to pay for a replacement value than to determine the true cause of this incident. Fortunately, you and your agency aspire to a higher purpose.