2015 Tesla Model S: grinding or squealing brakes

Filed Oct 26, 2026 · Suspension, Wheels · FL

On October 25, 2026, I was slowly pulling out of a residential parking space in my 2015 Tesla Model S, which has approximately 82,500 miles. Suddenly, I heard a very loud grinding noise, and the vehicle came to an immediate stop. Afterward, the car would not move either forward or backward. I had not hit any potholes, curbs, or other obstacles. There was no collision or external impact. When I inspected the vehicle, I noticed that the left rear wheel was severely tilted and misaligned. The vehicle became completely undrivable. Based on the visible damage, I suspect a serious failure involving the left rear suspension or wheel assembly. However, the exact component that failed and the cause of the failure have not yet been determined. The vehicle has not yet undergone a mechanical inspection. I have photographs documenting the condition of the rear wheel and suspension area. I am very concerned about the safety implications of this sudden failure. Had this occurred at highway speed, it could have resulted in a serious accident. I contacted Tesla regarding the incident. I am reporting this failure to the federal safety agency as a potential vehicle safety defect and requesting that it be reviewed for similar incidents involving the 2015 Tesla Model S.

Filed Mar 26, 2024 · Steering, Suspension · FL

This is the 3rd time a control arm on the car has cracked. I see tons of people online complaining about the same issue with the fault aluminum control arms. I have no damage and no rust and it just cracked on its on as i was backing out of a parking spot. I could have been seriously injured or my daughter had this happened on the highway. My dad is an issurance adjuster for 30 years and has never heard of any cars control arms cracking on their own. Please help as this is a huge safety issue and it seems Tesla has been putting the blame on the drivers. There was a grinding noise in reverse and the wheel was tilted inward. Multiple control arms have cracked in the car. A car that has no damage or accidents. This car is less than 10 years old and this doesn't happen with any other cars. It's a fault control arm part made out of cheap aluminum.

Filed Sep 22, 2023 · Suspension · UT

Tesla Model S began making clunking/grinding noise when reversing out of a driveway with the wheel fully turned. It turned out that the front left and right fore links have failed prematurely and caused the front wheels to rub on the wheel arch/fender. No potholes were ever hit to cause the damage. Car needed replacement parts totaling $979. A wheel alignment was also needed. Car only has 97,000 miles.

Filed Nov 8, 2022 · Steering, Suspension · OR

I was driving my car around town and heard a slight knocking sound. It didn't seem to be a significant issue. Within a few hours, the knocking turned into a grinding sound. It seemed like the wheel was getting stuck in the wheel well. It didn't appear to be a significant issue, so I drove the car home. There were also no warning lights or indicators. As I drove home, the problem got worse and worse to the point where I was concerned about not being safe, but also didn't want to tow my car for a short distance. When I got home, I removed the tire and discovered that the fore beam on the right side had broken and was no longer connected to the wheel. Further research has shown that this is a known issue and there was a recall for the same issue in China. Tesla states that this happens due to driver abuse and bad roads. I can assure you that this isn't the issue in this case. When I brought it to the shop, Tesla insisted on replacing both sides, which indicates a concern for this to happen again. I have requested the broken part to be returned to me so I can inspect what happened.

Filed Nov 23, 2021 · Suspension, Wheels · WA

While I was backing out from my car garage and turn the steering wheel, I heard a squeaking sound while applying a brake on the passenger front tire area. I stopped the car and went out to check, the front passenger tire pretty much pushed all the way back touching the wheel arch liner (see photo). I called tesla and they sent a tow truck to towed it to their service center near by. I didn't realize how wide spread the issue was until I research the problem online. I filed this complaint to solidify with other people which have the same problem.

Filed Sep 28, 2021 · Steering · OH

when backing out of my garage, I heard some loud metal breaking sounds from the front of the car on the passenger side. I drove the car a short distance and heard grinding sounds ... at which point I had the car towed. The part that broke was one of the Fore Link Assembly parts (or else the Front Suspension Aft Link Assembly .... the Tesla service department replaced both) .... these are the components that control the direction of the right front wheel when turning. I will upload a picture of the parts that were replaced ... showing the broken part. To the best of my knowledge, there was no apparent precipitating cause for the failure.

Filed Aug 16, 2021 · Suspension · MO

I own a 2015 Model S - 85D / Mileage 42967 purchased September 2015. On July 11, 2021, I visited family in IL and returned to my residence. I was heading to the grocery store and backing the car out of the driveway by the garage door going 5-10 mph. As I turned to the left to back out, I immediately heard a squeaky grinding noise by the front left driver-side of the tire area. I moved forward and backwards to straighten the car and heard the grinding noise again. I also felt the left front driver tire rubbing into the wheel well liner around the tire and a little wobbly. I very felt uncomfortable and decided not to drive the vehicle and parked it in the garage until it was towed. I was without my vehicle and drove an alternate vehicle with gas. I called Tesla on 7/12/21 to inquire and was inform I may need a wheel alignment and scheduled appointment for 8/2/2021. There was the risk and danger of having a severe accident as I did not feel safe hearing the grinding noise. On Sunday, 8/1/2021, as I pulled the Tesla out of the garage to be towed this friend noticed the left tire moving from side to side. I updated my Tesla appointment and informed them of this issue. I received a call on 8/3/2021 from the Tesla Repair technician stating the problem was a broken suspension joint with the Front Driver Front Fore Link. My thought was – “What if this had occurred and broke while on the highway driving 65-70 mph?" I immediately went online to google and found the article that Tesla posted a 2017 service bulletin about the fore link suspension. I informed the Tesla repair center about the article and asked if Tesla would cover the repair expense since my vehicle problem has the exact issued addressed by Elon Musk. I had to pay $978.36 repair bill. There was no inspection except the Tesla repair center. There was no warning indication, alert or message for this critical failed nor correspondence from Tesla regarding the critical suspension problem

Filed Jul 10, 2021 · Steering, Suspension · NC

While backing out of the driveway I heard a loud crack and grinding noise when turning the wheel to pull out into the street. Upon stopping a checking where the noise was coming I found that the left lower fore link completely sheared/ cracked off and the wheel was up against the back of the wheel well. ***The area where the wheel was backed up against (Completely tore the liner) has the cooling tubing (now leaking) & a high voltage wireline. This could've resulted in serious issues if we were traveling at higher speeds. Tesla has failed to reach out and call back regarding the issue and the vehicle is rendered completely useless/ undrivable. I've owned many vehicles and this is most certainly NOT NORMAL WARE AND TARE! This is a big safety issue and needs to be addressed ASAP. Thank god my family wasn't on the highway or any road above 5MPH when this happened. The damage would've been catastrophic.

Filed Apr 26, 2021 · Driver assistance · TX · crash · 1 injury

8:15 am, 6/19/20, I head a sickening thwack from the street from abt 300 yds away. Eerily, bec something very large was hit with no sound of squealing brakes or cries, I went out front to look left without seeing anything. Then I looked right and saw a man crouched to the ground beside a car. I iooked further rt & saw the back of a man thrown face-first into my trees. I didn't imme register what I was looking at until I recognized the body as my husband, screamed, & ran to him. He was snoring loudly. I was afraid to touch him, so I hovered over him calling his name. He did not respond. I turned to the street, screaming at passers-by to call 911. The crouching man said he had, but I was fearful of him & thought, "how do I know you have? Why are you so far away? Didn't you even come over to check on him?" I kept screaming as drivers stopped their cars and people gathered. Our 19-yr-old daughter came running out of the house, followed by our 17 and 15-yr-old sons. An ambulance came and took my husband, refusing me because of covid. Then I spoke with 1 of 2 police while the other spoke to the driver of the tesla. He said the driver admitted to being on his phone as the car drove itself, never seeing my husband and driving 45 MPH. When he said I could leave, I went to the er where I was imme told my husband had sustained severe brain damage to both sides of his brain and catastrophic other injuries. A police investigator met me at the er. Investigation of the vehicle & download of the computer were completed at police station. I was told the tesla had been in 1 prior ax, but had not registered "an event" on 6/19. Lawyer present did say the car was in "autopilot" & sev systems had malfunctioned: airbag, braking, warning sound, veering away, etc. I was later told he was doa, but brought back.10 mos later, husband is a non-communicating quadriplegic, severe tbi, feeding tube.

Filed Nov 27, 2020 · Steering, Suspension · 58,000 miles · LA

I was turning into a parking lot on friday, oct. 2, 2020, when suddenly I heard a grinding noise from the front right wheel. After parking, I couldn't see anything wrong. When I left, the noise continued, and although the car was driveable (less than 25 MPH), the grinding noise continued whenever I turned the wheels at all. Fortunately, I was only about a mile from the local tesla service center so I drove the car directly there. Although the car did turn, it was not turning as sharply as it should. But it was enough to get me there and into the parking lot safely. At that point, the right front tire looked like it was pushed back against the rear of the tirewell. We looked under the car and saw a detached control arm on the right side. They fixed the part and returned the car to me the following week.

Filed Oct 25, 2020 · Steering, Suspension · 71,500 miles · NY

Pulling my car out of my driveway, I attempted to reverse the car into the garage to charge it. After putting the car in reverse I heard a loud pop noise and the steering wheel refused to turn. Attempting to turn the wheel at all resulted in a grinding noise that made the car undriveble. After a tow truck was called, we noticed that the entire front driver side wheel was shifted backward and was resting on the rear of the wheel well liner. The air suspension controls would not allow me to move the height of the vehicle and instead were locked at "very high".

Filed Dec 10, 2019 · Suspension · 55,000 miles · CA

This is a complaint about a 2015 tesla 85d the full VIN of the affected car is unavailable so I have used the VIN of a similar car in order to make the complaint. Reason being that this matter is urgent. Here is a long thread of complaints about broken tesla suspensions. Https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/another-front-suspension-control-arm-failure.114967/page-10#post-4272985 a uk owner has posted this: ** driving down the motorway in the uk, a new smooth flat straight road, I touched the brakes to avoid a car cutting in, heard a sudden pop and then a crunch and grinding as I headed towards the crash barrier at 70mph! I managed to regain control by letting go the the brakes! I was very lucky that the car in front didn't slow down - it would have been a choice between the crash barrier & the car in front to hit! Fortunately it was late evening but still had a number of near misses getting across 5 lanes to the hard shoulder. I waited 9 hours on the side of the road to get recovered by the aa. The aa was convinced I must had hit something for this type of damaged to have occurred, he had a closer look and was shocked that he couldn't find any sign of any impact. This happened at 4yrs & 11hrs old / 55,000 miles and just passed an mot two weeks prior, so no sign of any damage then. Mine is a nov 2015 85d VIN 96,xxx my car is just out of warranty and the sc manager was quite rude & abrupt. They repeated 5+ times that my car is out or warranty. I'm lucky not to have injured myself or others. Critical suspension arms shouldn't fail so early on, considering this is known issue I expect tesla to fix this foc & replace the other front forearm as precaution. **** it is unlikely that this uk owner will file a the federal safety agency report. This is a known defect and the subject of a tsb. The new parts are no better. There needs to be a recall. Thank you. Keef.