This is a complaint in regard to your investigation of tesla suspension defects. Please not that I have used the VIN of a random car to file this complaint. The car affected is a 2015 model s but the VIN is unavailable. Here is page 6 of a long thread reporting similar failures. Https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/failed-rear-lower-control-arm-service-bulletin-sb-19-31-001.205172/page-6#post-5339710 snip**I had the rear suspension failure happen to my car yesterday. Luckily my wife was in a parking lot, so no one was hurt. Its a 2015 model, but must have been produced sometime in 2014. About 100k miles.** photographs are attached. Snip**what is obvious to me as a structural designer of similar fittings, is that the part is poorly designed for anything but single use spacecraft. The ration of lug to bore diameter is literally "off the charts" as far as the design charts I have used.... Plus no protection from corrosion or dissimilar metals contact. A perfect storm for short tranverse stress corrosion cracking causing net section tension failure at a low level, say 5000 psi.** please look at the attached photographs. There are many thousands of these cars on the roads. The danger is increasing as the cars age. Please take immediate action. Thank you. Keef
2015 Tesla Model S suspension complaints
Page 3 of 6: complaints 41 to 70 of 150, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Vehicle has documented mcu/emmc issues that tesla avoids fixing. Hvac froze/inoperable, charging level froze inoperable to adjust, suspension settings inoperable causing scraping, disabling of autopilot and other navigation and safety features, occured mid-drive originally, now when stationary while vehicle is started it is inoperable/freezes for 7-10 minutes before turning on, often cannot select drive unless it is through the app on phone, backup camera fails/is unavailable or is very slow to appear, often after backup completed. July '20 at 64k miles dealer acknowledged emmc/mcu issues, performed soft reset, claimed worked m, yet aug '20 they had to do again. Vehicle continues to display issues associated with lagging/slow processor, dealer indicates it is not the documented issue abundantly described and consistent with issues on tesla forums across the internet. Further detailed documentation/communication available within tesla app when I submitted to tesla, but here is ancillary supporting documentation attached.
My infotainment mcu goes blank or is completely unresponsive. This will happen intermittently and without warning. Sometimes I get in my car and the screen remains blank for the entire drive, cutting off access to vital performance features of the vehicle, as well as disabling airbags. I've already taken this to tesla under their 'warranty program', but they refuse to do anything other than reset the computer. They will not repair or replace anything.
I noted a clunking noise on the driver side wheel area while driving. I ask for help from service, but everything is automated and they made an appointment for a month later. A few weeks after reporting the noise, I was breaking when my driver side front wheel seem to give way and the car started to skid. The affected wheels seem to be scraping the wheel well. Not much help from the service app and suggested I get it towed 200 miles away at $1100 so they could evaluate. My local tire guy saw the broken left lower control arm and said this was all over the internet and class action suit had just been filed. Telsa has been unresponsive and inaccessible due to their automated system. So far bill to fix is over $4,000.
Backing up in my driveway at 2 mile per hour, right rear suspension collapsed. Car transported by flatbed to tesla cleveland. Extensive repairs including to right front suspension. I note 42 other complaints of similar to the federal safety agency on tesla model s 2015-7 year models.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 tesla model s. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 to 30 MPH, the vehicle drove over pothole and the passenger's side front and rear tires sustained blowouts. Additionally, the passenger's side front rim was fractured, rear suspension was fractured, and the rear ball joint was also fractured. The vehicle was towed to tesla (8105 big lake road, clarkston, mi, 48346, (248) 241-9321) to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the front driver's and front passenger's side fore-link assembly, the passenger's side upper rear suspension link assembly, and passenger's side rear wheel liner needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 89,000.
Front end had problem, made noise for a while, made appt, then by the time appt came, something hap and rt front tire/wheel moved back into wheel well. (broke off). Had to be towed. Dealer was pretty adamant to be sure I did not hit or run over something, but when he found out I did not, then they were nice enough to cover it. The tow I had to pay, because it was out of warranty. Over 50k miles. Later they changed the suspension setup on models. I figured it was to fix problem.
Front suspension failed at 64,xxx miles. Loud rattling at low speeds and over any bumps or driveways. Tesla said it was a wear and tear item but at 64k miles, suspension should not have failed.
On saturday may 30, 2020, I was backing up our 2015 tesla model s in a parking area in ann arbor, mi, at a very low speed, when I heard a sudden 'jolting' noise. After driving about a mile further, when turning to park elsewhere, the right front tire began rubbing the rear side of its cavity (the wheel liner), and became unstable. We had to have it towed from that location 48 miles, to the tesla service center in clarkston, mi (covered largely by our insurance). Tesla diagnosed the problem as a failed right front fore link on monday, june 1st, and fixed the vehicle on the same day--(replacing both left and right front fore links). I was charged $323.75 for labor, but did not have to pay for the fore link parts (2 x $205 = $410). For some unknown reason, the right front wheel liner was not replaced as part of this repair. I called tesla clarkston about this when I noticed it and scheduled a road service repair for june 15th. I was charged an additional $167.00 (parts, labor, and $4.50 tax) for that service.
I was turning into a parking lot on friday, oct. 2, 2020, when suddenly I heard a grinding noise from the front right wheel. After parking, I couldn't see anything wrong. When I left, the noise continued, and although the car was driveable (less than 25 MPH), the grinding noise continued whenever I turned the wheels at all. Fortunately, I was only about a mile from the local tesla service center so I drove the car directly there. Although the car did turn, it was not turning as sharply as it should. But it was enough to get me there and into the parking lot safely. At that point, the right front tire looked like it was pushed back against the rear of the tirewell. We looked under the car and saw a detached control arm on the right side. They fixed the part and returned the car to me the following week.
Two days before the china recall on suspension for tesla, I had a quote to fix front aft link and rear upper link on both sides. It:'s a 2000$ job in part because of extremely expensive parts from tesla. It is exactly what was recalled in china. The guy also admitted that first versions of the links like mine were not good and that the second version was way more resistant. On many cars, this was replaced under warranty in the first four years but I have low mileage on my car with 47k miles. I thought that if china forces tesla to admit the failure, we should have the equivalent here in america.
Front passenger control arm is broken, pushing the tire into the wheel well. I was reversing in my driveway when I felt the drag on the passenger side of the car. I got out and looked around the vehicle and saw a metal piece snapped. I could not move the car, as the tire was pushed into the wheel well. Called for a tow truck. This vehicle was manufactured in fremont, ca in 08/2015, with the other vehicles sold to china, which are now being recalled for the same reason.
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".
On september 25, 2020 as I was backing into my garage I had the wheel turned to the left and there was suddenly a loud noise and the right front wheel appeared to have disconnected from the axle.
While backing out of the garage on a level surface we heard a loud pop. Unsure what the noise was I did a walk around the car but did not see anything unusual. We drove the car to the mountains at speeds up to 55mph. As we started to drive home we heard more sounds like something was loose in the suspension. We called tesla emergency road service and asked if there was a history with suspension issues. We also asked if it was safe to drive home. The tech said there was no service bulletin on the suspension. He was unsure if it was safe to drive. We did drive the vehicle some distance out of the mountains without incident. We stopped to visit a restaurant and we heard further sounds from the suspension on the driver's side of the vehicle. Inspection showed that the left front drivers wheel had moved back out of center in the wheel well and had rubbed the wheel well liner. From this point the vehicle was towed to the tesla service center. We later learned from an internet search that even at low speeds without any shock to the suspension, tesla model s control arm/fore link assemblies failed in 2015 vehicles. This is a dangerous situation and could be catastrophic if the failure occurred at high speed. We should have been informed that there was a history of failures and it was not safe to drive. We feel that both the front and rear suspension of the 2015 are prone to failure and should be recalled for safety reasons. Although the tesla is almost 5 years old the vehicle has just 23,170 miles. Suspension failures should not be happening at this point. The tesla service center did replace both left and right lower fore link assemblies as a good will measure since the car was no longer under warranty. .
Tesla model s had been sitting in my driveway for 2 years, sue to a medical condition I had. At near the end of 2 years I walked down to examine the car, noticed the car had settled down onto the tires. I had it charging continuously, but apparently the charging operation had faulted, and the car was dead. I charged the 12v computer battery, then charged the 400 volt traction battery. I turned it on but could not move far because there was some interference between tires and inside the fenders, when I would hit a bump. I waited for the air suspension to be pumped up, and drove the car to head for a tesla supercharger station. The trip there felt squirrely and assumed it was my studded snow tires. At the supercharger the steering got very difficult, and when I left I haqd to drive carefully to feel comfortable to my home. I researched online, found the electrified garage in seabrook, nh and set up a service appointment. They discovered I needed replacement rear air shocks and a new steering box. They explained that because the shocks were not moving for 2 years, they developed a corrosion between dissimilar metals (steel and aluminum) on the shocks. That resulted in corrosion on the steel, and corrosion on the aluminum, allowing large o-rings to expand and leak air. The repair shop said they only see that with teslas that sit unused for a time. I emailed tesla notifying them, but they never responded, perhaps because by then I was 14 months beyond my warranty. I will put in a different complaint for the failed steering box. Mileage at incident was 7,690. The corrosion and rust could have been defeated with appropriate engineering, such as a plastic shield between steel and aluminum.
After the 12v battery on our car died, it was replaced by tesla service. After the battery was replaced, the center screen (mcu) would not come on. This screen controls almost everything in the car, including backup camera, park distance controls, auto-pilot, door locks, suspension, adjusting braking and collision warnings, opening and closing sunroof, charging (it's an electric car - nonfunctional if we can't adjust charging), climate control, remote communication, software updates, entertainment system, etc. We contacted tesla, and the service manager told us these screens regularly fail at around 4 years (our vehicle is 4-1/2 years old). In addition, failure is apparently accelerated by the failure of the 12v battery. After waiting many weeks for a "replacement part," we were contacted and told they had accidentally ordered a complete replacement, which would cost $2,700 (we had been quoted $1,300). The car has been undriveable for months. In addition, if this is a part that regularly fails, it seems like tesla should cover the replacement. We have no choice but to pay $2,700 to replace a part that is apparently known to predictably fail. Please let us know if you need any further information.
I put the car in reverse and the screen was black. All the controls were stuck...fan/AC...back up camera did not work. My turning signals did not work. Tesla service center was closed so all the AC did not turn off and drained the battery all the way to 0 range. Took a lot of trouble to get to the service center the next day. They concluded the mcu was dead and had to be replaced claiming that it was wear and tear. Without any warning, the mcu crashed and comprised safety of the car with the turning signals, suspension and rear back up camera not working amongst others since the mcu controls everything. We believed tesla knew of the problem and put it on owners to replace at their own expense if out of warranty even though it seems to happen around when the warranty ends. We have 2 teslas and both the mcus died a little over 50k. It should have been a safety recall and the mcus replaced at no cost. Terrible business practice and service for such expensive cars. We are very disappointed in tesla.
Here is a tesla model s in the junkyard. Https://www.iaai.com/vehicledetails/35042733?rownumber=1 it is totally burned out. It looks as though the fire started when the car was stored in the junkyard.since there is burned and melted debris surrounding the car. Ithe front lh wheel and suspension assembly is no longer in its rightful place. Instead of being bolted to the car the broken steering knuckle is stashed in the front seat. This is most likely because the tow-truck driver picked it up off the ground at the scene of the crash and threw it inside the car. I am wondering how much longer you will allow these deadly defective cars to roam the highways. The federal safety agency database has hundreds of complaints about this. Many owners are now coming forward and lodging complaints but there would be many more owners that have been persuaded not to file complaints. Here is an example: https://jalopnik.com/one-week-old-tesla-model-x-has-catastrophic-suspension-1844564706 snip** one week-old tesla model x has catastrophic suspension failure and the resulting twitter feed is as bad as you'd think** tesla zealots pile in to abuse the owner and discourage him from reporting. It appears that he has followed that advice. Do please take action otherwise I will get very cross. Thank you. Keef [xxx] the unhinged. Redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
Mcu dead at 54,650 miles. Main control screen will not turn on. Has effected the following but not limited to. ' no aeb (advanced emergency braking) ' no controlling suspension height ' no manual control of headlight lights ' no blinker sounds ' turn signals inoperable ' steering mode defaults to some setting (e.g. If I have it set to sport, during reboot of mcu is changes to standard or comfort, not sure but I can feel the steering wheel take less effort to turn than my normal sport mode) ' no HVAC (heat, cool, vent) ' no defrosters ' no seat heaters ' no steering wheel heaters ' no radio/streaming ' no app connectivity to control the car ' no ability to see the car charge status from app ' trip a/b ' profiles ' user settings ' homelink ' bluetooth pairings ' no rear view camera ' no parking sensors
Please note that I have used the VIN of a junkyard tesla to file this complaint since the VIN of the affected car is unavailable. Here is a forum post in which an owner provides 100% proof of his steering knuckle snapping in half and nearly killing him. Https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/front-drivers-steering-knuckle-fractured-while-driving-at-55mph-video.199103/ snip** driving on the expressway, and a huge bang violently shook the car, as if I ran over a huge pothole, knocking my dashcam off its suction mount. Luckily I was able to keep it under control and pulled it to the shoulder. I get out and see the left side of my car is slammed to the ground, and the fender is riding on the tire. I limp it to a safer spot in a nearby parking lot, and take a look. The steering knuckle casting is fractured at the bottom of the air spring! Tesla roadside says they see nothing remotely wrong with my car, so I'll need to pay for the tow myself. I haven't heard of this before, and it doesn't seem common. I'm assuming a casting defect caused a crack that propagated into a complete fracture. Luckily my dashcam shows that this wasn't caused by hitting anything, as I'm sure that's the likely reason sc would give for a casting to fracture like that.** these steering knuckles are made from poor quality cast alloy and this same failyre has happened to many other cars. Please recall these deadly contraptions immediately. Thank you. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
In 2018 tesla notified me of needing to inspect and replace 5 bolts securing my steering box and power steering units. They did that and left. I had serious medical issues, so my tesla model s had only 7,590 miles. In 2020 within just a few miles but nearly 2 years from that 5-bolt replacement, I was driving on i89 towards a tesla supercharger, I felt the car was wandering ever so slightly within my lane, so I was uneasy, but attributed it to my 4 studded swedish snow tires. Arriving at the supercharger, noticed much steering effort to back into charging position. When leaving, it had more effort to steer, and it didn't bother me much once I was rolling along. Same wandering problem on the interstate. Looked on the internet and found the 38 page service bulletin from tesla. #sb-18-32-002 r1 several times in it tesla warned that if at any point more than 1 bolt is removed at a time, the steering box must be replaced. They did not elaborate as to why. It seems now we know. Another issue I mentioned to electrified garage in seabrook, nh is the rear of the car settles down to nearly touching the rear wheels overnight. I suspected an air leak and they reported that I needed two rear air shock assemblies and a new steering box. They said tesla offered no rear shock rebuild kit containing new improved seals. I am in shock over both these problems at 7,600 miles and sent 2 email letters off to tesla, and no reply from either letter. Perhaps the federal safety agency sees this as a repeating issue on low mileage 2015 tesla model s p85d electric cars? My 2015 tesla is still sitting at the electrified garage 10 dows lane - seabrook, nh 03847 after almost 7 weeks. I love the safety aspects of the model s, but after struggling over the pain of poor engineering & supplier problems, I am looking elsewhere until they work out the bugs. Sb-18-32-002 r1 attached.
In 2018 tesla notified me of needing to inspect and replace 5 bolts securing my steering box and power steering units. They did that and left. I had serious medical issues, so my tesla model s had only 7,590 miles. In 2020 within just a few miles but nearly 2 years from that 5-bolt replacement, I was driving on i89 towards a tesla supercharger, I felt the car was wandering ever so slightly within my lane, so I was uneasy, but attributed it to my 4 studded swedish snow tires. Arriving at the supercharger, noticed much steering effort to back into charging position. When leaving, it had more effort to steer, and it didn't bother me much once I was rolling along. Same wandering problem on the interstate. Looked on the internet and found the 38 page service bulletin from tesla. #sb-18-32-002 r1 several times in it tesla warned that if at any point more than 1 bolt is removed at a time, the steering box must be replaced. They did not elaborate as to why. It seems now we know. Another issue I mentioned to electrified garage in seabrook, nh is the rear of the car settles down to nearly touching the rear wheels overnight. I suspected an air leak and they reported that I needed two rear air shock assemblies and a new steering box. They said tesla offered no rear shock rebuild kit containing new improved seals. I am in shock over both these problems at 7,600 miles and sent 2 email letters off to tesla, and no reply from either letter. Perhaps the federal safety agency sees this as a repeating issue on low mileage 2015 tesla model s p85d electric cars? My 2015 tesla is still sitting at the electrified garage 10 dows lane - seabrook, nh 03847 after almost 7 weeks. I love the safety aspects of the model s, but after struggling over the pain of poor engineering & supplier problems, I am looking elsewhere until they work out the bugs. Sb-18-32-002 r1 attached.
This is a complaint about the ongoing problem of tesla suspension breakages. I do not have the VIN of the car so I have used the VIN of a junkyard tesla so as to be able to complete this complaint form. Here is a discussion forum thread complete with photograph of the rear wheel canted over at 30 degrees aka "gone whompy" https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/rear-lower-control-arm-failed.195049/#post-4731008 snip *** I finally got my car back after my 85d suspension had a catastrophic failure last thursday afternoon. I was driving in congested traffic on a city street when I heard a loud thud, similar to hitting a pothole, yet there was no pothole. My first suspicion was that I either had a flat or a problem with my air suspension. I quickly pulled over, checked tire pressure and raised my suspension to high and slowly continued on. It was pouring rain at the time so I remained in the car. The car had a strange wobble to it so I slowly pulled into the nearest parking lot to examine the situation. I was freaked out when I saw my right rear wheel with it's huge negative camber. Called tesla roadside and spoke to someone who told me they couldn't tow me since they couldn't see anything wrong with the car! On my invoice, I see they mistakenly gave both right and left control arms the part number 1027459-99-a, which from what I see is a 2014 part. The front upper control arms are listed as "2nd generation" and show part numbers 1043965-00-b and 1043966-00-b for the left and right arms respectively. Has this ever happened to anyone before? Would anyone know if my rear control arms are improved from my original ones? I'm very lucky that this didn't happen to me at highway speeds. *** tesla is covering up this problem andputting lives at risk. I petition you to investigate. Thank you. [xxx] these breakages information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
In a parking lot traveling 5mph ran over an elevated speed bump on left side of car when heard a snap in driver rear wheel area. Pulled over into parking spot and tire was cantered. Control arm had snapped. Had 65k miles and tesla told me it was not under warranty yet the new control arm looks much sturdier and different then the old one. I have pictures of both but this is a real problem for these 2015 and before models. Please help.
Air suspension loses air overnight. I bought my 2015 model s with air suspension ($2400. Option) in feb.-march 2015 VIN [xxx] the current odometer reading is 7,592 miles. The ny times commented about tesla suspension problems on this internet address link:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/business/tesla-model-s-the federal safety agency-suspension-failure.htmlthere are 34 posts on air suspension failure with the tesla on this internet link:https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/air-suspension-failure-very-unpleasant-results there are many other air suspension teslaa links on an internet search. Have more than 1900 characters to provide additional detail of earlier incident of air loss. Can email to you on request, as I saved it. [xxx] tel [xxx] email: [xxx] redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
I was at the drive-thru banking, sitting stationary when suddenly the car accelerated at full speed, out of my control, I could not brake. Finally, the car stopped with a red error message "low tire pressure"
Slow driving in the village. At a sharp turn to right (after the stop sign) I heard scratching the front right wheel on the chassis. It was dark and I did not find something strange so I drove slowly to my house, where I had a closer look: one photo is the good suspension on the left and the other is the broken on the right.
Please note, VIN of a random tesla used to make this complaint. This is a complaint about the broken fore-links which affects all tesla cars. The tesla forums have dozens of reports of forelinks breaking. Go to https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/find-new/10309935/posts and enter "broken forelink" "suspension failure" or similar. An expert has now given his opinion. Snip **electricdave, you have provided the proof of the primary failure mode these are experiencing! Their casting is probably cooling too quickly at that end as the break appears at the end where the liquid metal is poured in. You see how jagged that break is? That is the boundary where the two sides of the mold tried to join, and didn't quite fully join before starting to cool and crystallize. I am not a casting expert, but my limited experience would suggest they need need to increase the pool of metal above the part so this section can fully join together, or pour that end as a solid, and then drill the hole out during machining. Probably doing both should yield the properties that they need. If this were an airplane and that was a device controlling a flight control surface, it would be recalled. ** source: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/another-front-suspension-control-arm-failure.114967/page-10 to make things even worse musk has now unleashed games to play in the tesla that use the steering wheel as a game controller and put huge forces on the linkages by "dry steering" photograph of broken links showing bad casting is attached.
Note, VIN of junkyard tesla used to be able to file this urgent report. Thread posted today on teslamotorsclub forum. Https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/suspension-failure.181184/ **my left front suspension failed. I have less than a month warranty. The camber arm or fore arm broke at the inside end. There are are plenty of references on the us part of the forum. Mine is a 2015 85d. It is not driveable & has been taken away on a flatbed. I have now lost all confidence in teslas & regret my purchase. I have never had a suspension fault in any vehicle ive owned before & this includes a 911 porsche. Ive been to cooketown & back to melbourne. What if this fault had occurred back of townsville? Fix with fencing wire? Tesla needs to do a recall & address this problem.** I am filing these reports in order to try and prevent more people being killed by this failure. Elon musk claims these complaints are fraudulent and that the complainant is unhinged. I'm not anywhere near as unhinged as the tesla suspensions. Please issue an immediate recall. Thank you. Keef (unhinged) wivaneff
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