2016 Tesla Model X acceleration problems

Filed Jul 19, 2026 · Acceleration, Brakes · WA

I was driving the vehical when something went wrong. The vehicle showed a warning stating "ABS disabled". I was worried by this, when I saw further warnings appear including "Safety restraint system issue" "Power braking assist reduced" and something about steering. The dashboard also showed "Park Brake fault" and a red icon with a seatbelt and another with an airbag. Alarmed, I pulled to the side of the road. I then discovered that I could not use the parking brake or turn on the flashers. There is no manual parking brake, and the car thought it was still driving. I was facing downhill and the only way to keep the car from rolling was to keep my foot on the brake. I had to call 911 and could only safely exit the vehicle, after they had ensured it would not roll. Again, I could not exit the vehicle, or even put on flashers to warn traffic. Tesla attempted to have me reboot the operating system but this also failed -- apparently there is no manual reboot or brake avalible.

Filed May 4, 2026 · Acceleration, Electrical · CA

I own a 2016 Tesla Model X P100D equipped with the Large Drive Unit (LDU). The component that fails is the rotor coolant seal in the rear drive unit motor. Coolant leaks internally into the motor and inverter, causing bearing wear, corrosion, isolation faults, and eventual complete drive unit failure. The affected drive units are still installed and available for inspection upon request. This defect puts my safety and the safety of others at risk because it can cause sudden loss of propulsion (especially at highway speeds), power reduction, or total drivetrain shutdown, potentially leading to a crash. Coolant in high-voltage areas also raises electrical fault/fire risks. The problem is widely reproduced and confirmed: Tesla service centers are familiar with it and replace failed units with updated “-U” revisions that include a coolant bypass. Independent EV shops confirm the exact root cause (rotor seal failure) via encoder inspections showing coolant intrusion and through disassembly. This is a documented pattern failure in all 2012–2020 LDU vehicles. No police or insurance inspections have occurred yet, as no crash or total failure has happened. Tesla is aware of the recurring issue through service records on similar vehicles. Early symptoms before full failure typically include rear motor whining/grinding (especially under load), reduced power warnings, “Rear Drive Unit Fault” messages, and visible coolant on the speed sensor. These can appear gradually. My vehicles have not yet experienced total failure, but the defect is known to be inevitable. I am proactively monitoring encoder sensors. Because this is a systemic design defect affecting thousands of vehicles with clear safety implications, I request the federal safety agency open an investigation and require Tesla to issue a recall for free repairs/replacements on all affected 2012–2020 LDU vehicles.

Filed Aug 16, 2024 · Acceleration · CA · crash

While parking, the accelerator pedal increased in speed without being pressed and the car had a sudden unexpected acceleration and crashed into a column in a parking lot.

Filed May 31, 2023 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · NC

Two issues that are concerning and I have told Tesla: 1. The car will be on cruise control and I will be relaxed and all of a sudden it will just brake for no reason. Praise God I am aware of it now and prepared so I have to compensate, but it is very dangerous and made the cruise control useless. While it was under warrantee I request it be fixed, but they said there was no way to do that. 2. The car's back up screen is compromised and has a distortion on the bottom that was caused by a download. I requested four separate times a service requests to fix it while it was under warrantee, but they were unable to repair it. The first time they said I needed to wait for a download, then the second time they said it was a hacker, third time they replaced a chip, and the four time they told me to repair it I need to upgrade my entertainment package for $1500 so I cancelled the appointment. All while I was under warranty. Four appointments later and I still have a distortion on my screen when I back up which is slowly getting larger and will be a safety issue I'm sure down the road. Two very obvious safety issues that while under warranty they would not fix. I wrote Tesla and asked them to review my service requests and to get some resolution. I was unsuccessful.

Filed Mar 24, 2023 · Acceleration, Steering · NV

I was turning left to northbound from westbound and as I was trying to accelerate to turn, my Tesla wouldn’t go past 11 mph. I stepped on the accelerator with all my might, but it wouldn’t go past 11 mph. On my dash, the alert said: “obstruction detected- speed will be reduced.” This is very concerning because the car was slowing down and obstructing the southbound lanes. This is very dangerous and could’ve caused a car crash. I could’ve easily gotten T-boned. After I made my slow turn, the car got back to normal and accelerated normally.

Filed Sep 21, 2022 · Acceleration, Airbags · FL · crash

On Tuesday September 13th 2022 morning around 10.55am EST, I had entered the Hindu temple of Florida premises driving my TESLA model X. I slowly progressed towards the parking spot and made a slow right turn to park the car. At that time the Tesla suddenly accelerated at full speed, took off like a rocket, jumped the curb, knocked down a sign post and jumped into the ditch which leads into a pond. The car veered to the right, jumped out of the ditch back toward the parking spots, hit two vehicles ( a Honda CRV and a Lexus) with a significant force and hit a tree with a big impact and finally stopped. Surprisingly airbags did not deploy. I was wearing the seat belt and was the only one inside the vehicle. Fortunately with gods grace I escaped with minimal injuries. I get nightmares every day since then thinking about how close to death I was. Had the gone gone straight into the pond, I could have drown to death inside the vehicle, had it gone in a different direction and hit those concrete walls of the temple, I could have been crushed. More significant was it did not run over any of the visitors who frequent thaw temple! This sudden unintended acceleration not only shocked me but also shocked several people who were witness to this crazy event. The CCTV footage I obtained shows the car going towards the parking spot and caught the initial acceleration and take off and the big thuds twice that ensue within a few seconds. I have heard Tesla cars were involved in certain freak accidents but never imagined that I could be part of one. I’m uploading a few photos, a video clip and a cctv footage clip for your review. I read reports that Tesla blamed these type of unintended acceleration on driver errors pressing the gas pedal! I’m in total disbelief how in the USA with so many safety standards and accountability, that this can continue to happen. ~ [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Filed Jun 4, 2022 · Acceleration, Engine · IN

The car started giving error messages of systems failing one after another on the highway. It slowed down instantly as if someone pressed the brakes and I could not accelerate. Obviously I did not press the brakes. There were a lot of vehicles behind me and this could have easily caused an accident putting a lot of people at risk. I had to get off the highway asap and get the car towed. The error messages included charge port disabled, automatic emergency braking is disabled, power reduced, traction control disabled, stability control disabled, cruise control disabled, power reduced. Tesla diagnosed and confirmed this being an issue with the onboard charger being faulty and replaced that with charge port itself for a total of $3727.60. They refused to cover any part of this which I think should have been taken care of by the company.

Filed May 12, 2021 · Acceleration · 25,628 miles · DC · crash

Tl* the contact owned a 2016 tesla model x. The contact stated that after stopping and pressing the brake pedal, the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration and drove forward causing the driver to loose control of the vehicle and drive through a bush and drive off a retaining wall and ended up crashing into a car. During the incident the air bags deployed and the vehicle was destroyed. No injuries were reported. No police report was taken. The local tesla service center located at 52 derwood cir, rockville, md 20850 was notified of the incident. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 25,628. The consumer stated the local dealer escalated the complaint to tesla hq and tesla couldn't download the data at the time of the incident.

Filed Feb 6, 2021 · Acceleration, Electrical · 19,500 miles · CT

Most times when I take my foot off the gas pedal, the car seems to accelerate on its own. However, when merging onto the highway, acceleration is reduced. As of the past couple of weeks, steering around turns has become a problem. The car operates like it's sliding on an ice patch.

Filed Aug 1, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 47,000 miles · CA

Main computer system died. All screens stopped functioning (including speedometer). Car wouldnt lock/unlock. Tesla said the mcu had to be replaced and they were going to charge me because it was 5 days out of warranty.