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2016 Tesla Model S electrical complaints

Page 4 of 6: complaints 71 to 100 of 150, newest first, as owners wrote them.

See the summary of 2016 Tesla Model S electrical problems: which part fails, at what mileage and related recalls.

Filed Nov 17, 2020 · Electrical · 28,400 miles · CA

Mcu1 failing. Many reboots. Known tesla issue. Recall is needed.

Filed Nov 10, 2020 · Electrical · 39,300 miles · MN

My main display is slower to start up, randomly freezes, reboots, or just goes black when I'm driving. This is the display that controls lights, the radio, the climate control system, and rearview camera. This happens at random times, including while driving.

Filed Nov 5, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 78,000 miles · WI

The mcu (master control unit) is the 17" touch screen display that controls most of the functions of the vehicle. Vehicle has been plagued over it's live with freeze up's and reboots. April 2019, screen locked up and would not restart, which caused vehicle to loose propultion, power assisted brakes, power steering, window controls (had to use emergency manual release to exit vehicle, then go back in and squeeze between the seats to get my disabled son out of the back as the back door handles did not operate either and had to try and find the well hidden manual release hidden under the carpet with no markings to get the rear door open and him out of his car seat). Vehicle also would not go in to park, I had to use my shoes (with steel toe) under the wheels to keep the vehicle from rolling down an incline. This also prevented the hood from being opened to potentially pull the power to the vehicle to force a reset as the reset buttons did not work. Also trunk would not open and had to climb through the inside to get to the manual release for the trunk to get diapers for my disabled son while we waited 4 hours for a tow. Once doors were shut, no way to get back in. Head lights also would not turn off. Had it towed to tesla service of highland park, illinois from milwaukee county, wisconsin. They said the headlights stayed on all night, and that the car "fixed" itself the overnight some how. No additional information would be provided. That was the worst failure, however, it still locks up and reboots at random times as it's in use. Either while driving (when that happens I loose turn signals and other safety features as well as ability to control vehicle settings) or while parked preventing it from being driven.

Filed Oct 29, 2020 · Electrical, Visibility · 40,800 miles · CA

The car has a defect mcu. All safety feature of the car has been disabled. I can not control climate control. I have lost my rear view camera. I can not make any changes to any setting to my car. I cannot turn off my car and my car is constantly on. I have to pull fuses to shut off certain aspects of my car or my battery will have significant drain while parked. I have brought my car into the a tesla service center to have the issue repaired. They do not have the parts and keep delaying the repair. The defective mcu is a know issue, I am surprised tesla will not replace the unit with a non defective unit and will only replace it with refurbished parts. Also, for a know defect that affects the safety of the car, why wont tesla keep an ample stockpile of boards to repair the issue. All they are doing is pushing the issue further down the link without any intention to properly fix the defective mcu.

Filed Sep 29, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 52,500 miles · IL

The emmc flash memory is failing, leading to the main screen blacking out for several minutes happens randomly while driving and when at stop and when the car is booting up. This prevents adjustment of several components including climate control, manual lighting, cruise control/autopilot, music it has been happening for over a month, progressively getting worse. Service came out to just reset the 12v and update the software and said everything is good but it definitely is not because its getting worse day by day

Filed Sep 28, 2020 · Electrical · 67,000 miles · TX

Car mcu (main computer that controls the vehicle systems) failed. When this happens you lose turn signals and A/C among other vehicle control systems. Apparently this has become so common most tesla owners I hear from have had to replace this at thousands of dollars. You can't use the car unless it's replaced as so much depends on it (like turn signals & other safety features). Tesla says it's a known issue and the first generation (mcu1) has a memory issue that will cause this for all of them eventually. Your only choice is a replacement (that we are told is defective like the original) or a few hundred more for an upgrade to mcu2 which tesla days the defect is fixed and won't happen with. I feel because this is a known defect that affects legally required items like turn signals and other safety features, that tesla should issue a recall or perform the replacement at no cost to owners.

Filed Sep 28, 2020 · Electrical · 60,000 miles · CA

My instrument panel and big screen goes out and it starts to boot loop while I'm either driving or when I get in and I try and drive off. My turn signals don't work and I can't see my speed.

Filed Sep 14, 2020 · Electrical, Seats · 38,000 miles · VA

The center touchscreen display is failing. This display controls most functions of the vehicle from climate control to entertainment. Currently, I am unable to active the rear defroster or adjust the climate controls. This is a known issue and the problems will get worse over time.

Filed Sep 12, 2020 · Electrical, Steering · 30,211 miles · CA

Mcu blacked out while driving on highway and when parked (sometimes while in reverse). 'autopilot features unavailable' and 'center display unavailable' error messages. Rear view camera was not available. Car startup and reboots took excessively long time. Navigation and voice commands were inoperative or unusable due to delay / inaccuracy. Web browser and screen rendering were increasingly delayed. All happened the day after full self drive upgrade was installed on 6/26/2020 with 30k miles. Tesla replaced rear camera, wiring from rear camera to mcu (8/10/2020 with 31.4k miles) and, ultimately, the replaced the mcu with the same old mcu (tegra chipset, 8gb emmc on 8/26/2020 with 31.5k miles). Logs with dates, times and symptoms available, along with tesla service repair invoices with dates, mileage and parts replaced.

Filed Sep 2, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 70,000 miles · OR

The emmc flash memory is failing, leading to the main screen blacking out for several minutes both while driving and when at stop and when the car is booting up. This prevents adjustment of several components including climate (fans, defog, AC), manual lighting, cruise control/autopilot, etc. It has been happening for over a month, progressively getting worse. Tesla is telling us we have to replace the flash memory (~$500, but there is no guarantee the problem won't reoccur), or replace or upgrade the mcu (~$1500-2500). The car was recently upgraded to full self drive hardware (paid for in 2016) and others have reported that this contributes to the memory dying, so we contend this design flaw should be repaired by tesla for free.

Filed Aug 21, 2020 · Electrical · 60,000 miles · CA

Media control unit (mcu) stooped working due to a chip failure. This resulted in a blank main screen (which controls many functions of the car). The AC did not work, not did the turn signals, or reverse camera. I had the faulty chip repaired at my expense and car functions fine now. Tesla is aware of this issue, and is unwilling to take responsibility for something that can clearly create an unsafe vehicle.

Filed Aug 14, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · CA

The center screen (infotainment center) went blank on me and I could not control main features. I couldn't control my sunroof which was left open to vent. I couldn't use my rear view camera. All sensors were not working. The air conditioning and heater was my working and I could not control them. Defroster and radio were not working as well. I could not control the headlights and certain driving modes.

Filed Aug 12, 2020 · Electrical · 26,500 miles · CA

This is an on going problem with the large center screen that controls almost everything except driving the car. It would freeze and stop all control of navigation, AC, audio, other auxiliary function. I had it repaired at least 10 times. Most recent problem it has for the past 2 months is all audio function stopped working. No audio at all, even when turn signal was on. It takes more than one minute to start up the vehicle every time.

Filed Aug 9, 2020 · Electrical, Lights · 29,216 miles · CA

The mcu failed early which causes the entire car to be undrivable. The car will not unlock and the driver does has access to the vehicle. Apparently this was known flaw by tesla and instead of fixing it under warranty, they are charging the owners $2000-$5000 to repair.

Filed Aug 6, 2020 · Electrical · 60,000 miles · CA

Mcu failure just outside of warranty causeing lack of safety featuressuch as loss of backup camera, loss of turning signals, loss of emergency hazard lights, loss of headlight controls, unlocking doors from inside of the vehicle. Fee to replace these basic safety features was $2000

Filed Aug 4, 2020 · Electrical · 62,000 miles · CA

Handle on passenger side failed, could not open door. Touchscreen failure, loss of all systems except basic driving functions, this happened after turning on climate mode. Now climate mode is constantly on running the A/C for the last 2 weeks

Filed Aug 2, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · OH

My main center display went blank. Failed to come back after multiple reboot attempts. Climate control, GPS, suspension, backup camera, and most functionality lost. First noticed when stationary in my garage.

Filed Aug 1, 2020 · Electrical · 66,000 miles · OH

The main screen in my tesla often experiences long start times, shuts off unexpectedly while driving on highway or surface street, limiting ability to control headlights, rear view camera, or operate defrosters and turn signals. One instance, I was unable to switch on headlights while driving. Another time I was unable to activate my left turn signal while driving, instead the car activated a portion of the left headlight. I frequently need to follow a reboot process on vehicle start in order to drive. The delay in or need to reboot prior to vehicle startup has been occurring more frequently in recent months. I've also experienced garbled display graphics while driving, requiring the need to reboot (one or more times) to operate vehicle function. The vehicle is still under warranty and service center informed me that the mcu computer will fail in approx. 1-1.5 years, but could not be replaced now.

Filed Jul 31, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 108,130 miles · CA

Mcu1 failure. Not able to have access to control panel for AC, power charging, main contol screen is black and unresponsive

Filed Jul 30, 2020 · Electrical · 29,000 miles · FL

Mcu1 screen constantly reboots taking away all controls from the driver. Happens multiple times. When screen blacks out it will last hours or days and you are unable to control anything inside the car as it is the main unit that controls all items inside the car.

Filed Jul 30, 2020 · Electrical · TX

Main control screen routinely went black. Renders the AC and other critical vehicle controls useless. This is a known failure for mcu1. This happened mostly while driving. Screen was replaced by tesla with refurbished model which will fail the same way. Rather than replacing with mcu2 which does not fail in this manner.

Filed Jul 28, 2020 · Electrical · 50,361 miles · GA

The main screen on my 2016 tesla model s has gone out and I am being told in his a known bad mcu issue. My car is 52 months old with 50,361 miles. This needs to be declared a defect so tesla is responsible for fixing this issue. I have been told the repair is over $2,000.*dt consumer stated telsa refuses to repair the vehicle under warranty.

Filed Jul 24, 2020 · Electrical · 38,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2016 tesla model s. The contact stated while vehicle was at a stand still, the vehicle failed to start-up due to the media control unit being inoperable. The failure caused the vehicle charging to be slow. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle resumed normal operations after 5 minutes. The vehicle was taken to tesla located at 5544 okeechobee blvd, west palm beach, fl 33417, where the vehicle was diagnosed and the contact was informed that the media control unit needed to be replaced. The failure recurred. An email was sent to the manufacturer however, there was no response. The failure mileage was approximately 38,000. *ln

Filed Jul 23, 2020 · Electrical · 67,000 miles · TX

Mcu failure causing no A/C, and causing non critical electronics to become inoperative due to design defect

Filed Jul 23, 2020 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 84,000 miles · NY

The main computer turns right off a couple times a day. When this happens while driving, most safety features are disabled and the cars electronic stop working. The cpu is known to have issues because a chip inside gets overloaded and does not clear itself properly. A recall should be had to replace this chip that does not remove the cashe properly.

Filed Jul 22, 2020 · Electrical · IL

Central touch screen unit also known as mcu1 that controls most of the vehicle's functions is not working properly. Response time is very slow, it lags and ramdomly restarts when the vehicle is in motion.

Filed Jul 21, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 72,800 miles · UT

Mcu computer is blacking out and requires constant resets. Connection to the app is spoty. Computer showing signs if not working properly. Reported to tesla. Was told they cleared my memory and they are 'diverting my concerns'

Filed Jul 21, 2020 · Electrical, Visibility · 49,000 miles · NJ

Main display failure. Unable to visualize controls. Temp over 100 degrees in car. Could not defog windows. Unable to out car in drive or reverse

Filed Jul 20, 2020 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 60,838 miles · CO

Tesla mcu (media control unit) has well known and documented emmc chip that will fail on all model s and x cars from 2012 to summer 2018. This was a result of tesla engineering writing their logs to the emmc which has limited number of write cycles, tesla has since resolved where logs are written but the damage has been done. Tesla refuses to accept this mistake and will charge users $1300+ to replace. When this issue occurs the following safety issues happen blinkers do not work. Drive after a 30 second timeout no aeb (advanced emergency braking) no controlling suspension height no manual control of headlight lights no blinker sounds 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 this issues happening to all models world wide reference this post to see the hundreds of users that are affected by this and force to seek alternative methods of repair that is not tesla approved. At which at any point tesla could remove features from cars for not using one of their approved service centers. Which appointments are over one month out, forcing most users to drive their car in unsafe manors

Filed Jul 19, 2020 · Electrical · 54,210 miles · NY

Mcu died.

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