2015 Tesla Model S: headlights failing or too dim

Filed Aug 11, 2026 · Electrical, Lights · CA

In Nov 2019, while driving at night, the center touchscreen (MCU) of my 2015 Model S went blank and would not recover after restarts. I lost access to nearly all vehicle controls. The daytime running lights remained on, but the headlights did not illuminate despite being set to auto, and I had no way to turn them on manually because the headlight control is on the failed touchscreen. Climate control was inoperative and the windshield began fogging, reducing visibility. I could not open the charge port despite a low battery. I avoided the freeway and took local roads home. This is the failure covered by Recall 21V035 (8GB eMMC wear-out). Tesla service confirmed via diagnostic logs an internal fault within the MCU and replaced it with a remanufactured unit. I paid $2,045.47 out of pocket (invoice uploaded). The defect was not remedied. The remanufactured MCU contains the same 8GB eMMC; since the 2019 replacement the screen still goes blank 2-3 times per year, recovering only after 10-15 minutes of holding the reboot buttons. As of Aug 2026, the federal safety agency's VIN lookup shows Recall 21V035 as "Recall Incomplete": Tesla has never performed the free remedy (64GB eMMC daughterboard). Component available for inspection. In Feb-Mar 2021, Tesla notified me my vehicle was covered and invited a reimbursement claim per its the federal safety agency-filed plan (49 CFR 573.13). I submitted the claim through my Tesla account within the claim period. Tesla's portal confirms this: it displays "You have already submitted for the reimbursement" and blocks resubmission (screenshot uploaded). The plan commits to a decision within 60 days. Five years later: no decision, no payment. In Feb 2026, Tesla Support confirmed it has no mechanism to check or process reimbursement claims. I am reporting Tesla's non-compliance with its filed reimbursement plan and its failure to remedy this recall.

Filed Jan 13, 2026 · Lights · 100,000 miles · VA

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH at night, one of the headlights became inoperable. The contact stated that both headlights had become intermittently inoperable, causing the contact to hesitate to drive the vehicle due to safety concerns. Upon investigating the issue online, the contact learned that several other vehicle owners were experiencing similar failures. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

Filed Apr 24, 2024 · Body · IL

This incident happened on March 18, 2024 at approximately 4:20 pm central time. My daughter pulled out of the school parking lot after school. As soon as she pulled on to the main road she noticed a warning light pop up saying hood latch not detected. About one minute later the hood flew open very aggressively hitting the windshield and blocking her view. Tesla vehicles are equipped with a second safety latch that should prevent this hood from popping up. My daughter was blinded by the hood and could not see while in traffic. Thankfully, she was able to avoid running into another vehicle, object or off the road. I took the vehicle into Tesla on March 23, 2024 which was the first available appointment I was able to get. They inspected the vehicle and said they were not responsible for the hood flying open. I tried explaining to them the part that failed was the part that was apart of a recall in 2022 (the hoods 2nd safety latch). They told me my issue was different because they checked my latch in January 2022 and it was fine. They said my latch failed do to normal wear and tear. It just gave out. They charged me $235 for inspecting my hood. Since that day I have been trying to contact Tesla's corporate office to get them to repair my vehicle and refund my $235 but I have not had any luck. I am the original owner of this vehicle. I have had nothing but problems with this car from the moment I purchased the $100k vehicle. The company had to replaced the touch screen twice, the high voltage battery once, both headlights were replace. The car was in the shop several times for the leaking sunroof. Finally, the warranty ran on the car and the sunroof still to this day does not open. I went to the shop after the warranty expired and they were happy to tell me the car is not covered and it would cost $1300 to repair the sunroof after they had been patching it up with black tape. There are several reports of Tesla owners having this issue and Tesla need to step up.

Filed Feb 20, 2024 · IN

I'm writing following several months of an "Unresponsive Screen" issue in my car. I initially thought this was a symptom of cold weather but learned it was related to "corrupt files" after a visit to the local Tesla service center. A full detailed description of the issue video of the issue can be found in the description portion of this link: [XXX] . I was told the issue was resolved following a three-day visit to the service center from [XXX]. Unfortunately, I've continued to encounter the problem. There are obviously many concerns regarding safety and the inability to utilize all of the car's functions (e.g. headlights, child safety features, indoor lighting, etc.). Perhaps the greatest concern is the fact that I have to do a soft reset in order to restore functionality and the soft function can be performed while the vehicle is operating. The following video is a demonstration: [XXX] I was reassured there is nothing wrong with my hardware and that everything seems to be related to the "corrupt files" in the vehicle's software. Thanks in advance. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Dec 24, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 44,500 miles · CA

2015 model s p85d with failed mcu (media control unit) since beginning of july. Tesla still does not have a part to repair my car. A temporary fix in august only lasted around 4 weeks and completely failed again. When mcu fails, all safety features are not available. No backup camera. No turn signal. No control on headlight so if it rains during the day I can't maually turn headlight on either. Basically just a car that moves and stops without any other function. Tesla is not taking the problem seriously and waiting nearly 1/2 a year and still no parts available is unacceptable. Tesla obviously have parts available to make new cars and are ignoring customer who actually helped a new car company to thrive. Please force tesla to take this matter seriously and

Filed Oct 22, 2020 · Lights · 85,000 miles · NY

Head and tail lights turned off while driving on highway and would not turn back on. Neither high nor low beams would engage! A driver behind me saw what happened and turned on his high beams to guide me approx 1 mile to a safe stopping place. Once stopped, I experimented: hazard lights would turn on. No other lights turned on. I rebooted both the "mcu" (central 15" screen) and "ic" (instrument cluster) per earlier instructions from tesla in case of automation failure in the car. The mcu took an extremely long time to restart and displayed screen corruption, problems which in the past had LED tesla to replace that component of this vehicle under warranty. When the mcu did start up, the instrument cluster displayed "driver assistance features disabled". I attempted to use tesla's voice-activated "report" function to get help from tesla, but this resulted in a message stating that "the microphone is being calibrated". This entire time, the head and tail lights remained off and would not turn on. Finally I used the mcu to access the lighting settings of the car. I observed that the "exterior lights" setting displayed "auto". However, it was 6:40pm and almost completely dark and the lights had been on previous to suddenly turning off. Also, with the "auto" setting, the high beams should still engage when pulling the left stalk - but this did not work. I next used this same screen to turn on the front fog lights. This worked! I then turned off the fog lights, changed the "exterior lights" setting to off then back to "auto" and all exterior lights (head and tail) finally came back on! It is my opinion, based on over 20 years in embedded software development, that the mcu's "exterior lights" setting had become corrupted and forced all vehicle lights off while I drove in darkness at 45mph. I could have died. Make tesla fix this before someone dies!

Filed Aug 11, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 54,000 miles · IN

The main center screen computer began degrading in performance over time (causing more driver attention to be diverted away from driving to deal with functions it controls, as it was laggy and not very responsive). Then, one day, I got into the car to go somewhere and wasn't able to boot the main computer/screen at all. In addition to everything it controls no longer being accessible or working (e.g. Climate control, manual headlights, dome lights, anti-theft alarm, power steering strength, suspension height, etc.), I also found that I no longer had working turn signals and had to use out-the-window hand signals when I drove to the service center for repair.

Filed Aug 10, 2020 · Electrical · 70,000 miles · CA

Mcu failure including black screen. No touch screen, climate controls does not work, turn signal not working. Can not control head lights. Charging not responding. Navigation not working. Back up camera not working.

Filed Aug 7, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 113,000 miles · CO

The mcu (version 1) of my car stopped functioning while parked and needed to be replaced. This is a known issue (emmc failure). The car was still operational however the following safety issues resulted from the mcu malfunction: - turn signals and audible chime both beame nonoperational - reverse camera beame nonoperational - high beam headlights beame nonoperational - lane departure warning may hae become nonoperational - climate control stuck at one level - instrument cluster lighting setting became unable to be changed additional issues resulting from the mcu1 failure: - all systems and settings accessed through the center console screen beame unaccessible - navigation system beame nonoperational - audio controls beame nonoperational - auto-pilot (lane assist) beame nonoperational - alternating current (AC) charging speed reduced to 2kw - remote access via smartphone beame nonoperational

Filed Aug 3, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 56,022 miles · IL

My media control unit failed in the vehicle making it unsafe to operate as the turn signals, defrost, headlight controls, among many other features of the vehicle were no longer accessible or functioning.

Filed Aug 2, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 48,000 miles · FL

After we returned from our summer home, I tried to drive the tesla. The main screen did not light up but I figured that a normal reset would fix the problem. As I drove, I attempted a reset but the screen remained black. I also learned that the turn signals would not work including the cruise control, windsheild wipers and headlight high beams. Worried about other problems, I returned home and have not driven the car since. Over the summer there had been several updates to the cars firmware and I was looking forward to the improvements. Prior to that. We were driving with other members of the family, all with the tesla app on their phones. The car went into "limp home" mode on I-95 and would not respond to numerous attempts to remedy the problem. The seat heaters would turn on and off, the doors would unlock and the entire car seemed to have a mind of it's own. I asked everyone to turn off their phones and the problem disappeared. Tesla service said they'd never heard of such a thing.

Filed Jul 31, 2020 · 85,000 miles · PA

Main computer in dashboard is failing. When it is non-operative the turn signals do not work (hazards do function), climate cannot be controlled, headlights cannot be turned on, rear-view camera is not visible. No specific failure time was recorded as this is a progressive failure of the computer. It will occasionally function as desired and other times remain off when you attempt to start the vehicle.