2017 Tesla Model X: lane keeping assist jerks the wheel

Filed May 10, 2025 · Brakes, Electrical · CA

I own a Tesla Model X, and for the past two summers I’ve experienced a repeating safety-critical issue during hot weather. After driving for a period in the heat, multiple systems begin to fail. The car displays numerous warnings including: •“Parking brake requires service” •“Traction control disabled” •“Stability control disabled” •“Steering assist reduced” •“Automatic Emergency Braking unavailable” •“Regenerative braking unavailable” •“Lane Departure Avoidance unavailable” When this happens, the steering wheel becomes very stiff and hard to turn, which severely affects my ability to drive and control the vehicle. I’ve brought the vehicle to Tesla service twice. The first time (when it was still under warranty), they said they couldn’t replicate the issue. The second time, I brought it in while the warnings were still active. Tesla only cleaned some sensors and returned the car, but the issue returned again recently with all the same symptoms. This only happens in hot weather. Once the car cools down, the errors disappear. This intermittent issue is difficult for the service center to replicate, but it presents a serious safety risk, especially because steering and braking functions are compromised. I believe this is a deeper electrical or software issue affecting multiple safety systems under thermal stress. The issue has not been resolved, and the vehicle remains dangerous to drive in high temperatures.

Filed May 5, 2024 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · CA

While driving CA-17, as is frequently the case, I had to disengage automatic steering several times to correct its poor lane keeping. Much to my surprise, the vehicle stopped maintaining speed, creating a dangerous situation with vehicles behind me as the uphill road caused the vehicle to rapidly decelerate the second I turned the wheel. After experimentation, I discovered that Tesla has completely removed cruise control capabilities from these vehicles unless you completely disable the FSD beta functionality, which makes this vehicle highly unsafe to drive in any environment where autosteer is inadequate, including CA-17. Further, this isn't just unsafe on weird highways. This poor decision on Tesla's part could very easily cause rear-end collisions on freeways. Nobody in their right minds would expect a vehicle to suddenly massively decelerate just because you correct its poor steering. This is just plain DANGEROUS. This so-called "Full Self Driving (Supervised)" version needs to be recalled immediately, and Tesla MUST be forced to make cruise control fallback available regardless of the FSD state. Until they do, it is fundamentally unsafe to allow Tesla vehicles to remain on public highways and freeways with FSD (Supervised) enabled.

Filed Sep 23, 2022 · Brakes, Electrical · NJ

Starting on May 5, 2022, my car has been plagued with numerous errors messages that stated multiple features of my car were malfunctioning/disabled, both while I first got into the car, and also occurring suddenly without any warning while the car was IN MOTION on the road. This included loss of power steering, traction control, stability control, parking brake, automatic emergency braking, and lane departure avoidance . The same problem(loss of all these vital features) has recurred many times on May 22nd, May 31st, July 8th, and most recently, September 14th. Each time I brought the car in to the Tesla service center, they would have absolutely no idea what was causing the same exact issues. At the very first visit, they stated the incorrect-sized tires were likely the culprit. Even after the correct sized tires were put on, the same problems returned weeks later. Another time they replaced the MCU, but again the problem returned. Every time I brought the car in, they would basically return the car with no definitive repairs done as by the time they started working on my car, all the errors had disappeared, and they would declare the car as being "fixed". After 5 visits for the SAME EXACT problem over the past 5 months, it is extremely clear that Tesla has no idea what is wrong with the car, and keeps returning the car to me without permanently solving the problem. At this point, I feel this car should not be on the road as I could lose vital controls(power steering, brakes, etc) all of a sudden with no warning, exposing the passengers inside, and all vehicles and pedestrians around it to serious, life-threatening danger. Despite this grave risk, Tesla has refused to buy the car back even though it still has an active factory warranty, claiming that it is past the two-year buy-back window, and the fact that it already has a lemon title(for a completely different issue) from 2019. It is just a matter of time before a serious accident happens.

Filed Oct 24, 2021 · Driver assistance, Electrical · OH

During hard rainfall the software of the vehicle issues an error: the windshield wipers, headlights, taillights and turn signal all stop working. Lane assist and parking assist fail as well. Sometimes the vehicle shifts into park when you stop. After stopping the vehicle, the doors won't open so you cannot exit the car. It does not matter if the car is moving or stationary when the software fails. You have to reboot the car and hope it resolves, usually it doesn't, or most often just wait to time the software glitch for the moment when the functions are temporarily enabled, specifically when trying to exit the car. We have taken this vehicle to Tesla for this issue multiple times and they have not solved it. This vehicle is a safety hazard, and a legal issue since the headlights and taillights go out, leaving you to drive without them in the dark.

Filed Jul 12, 2021 · CT

The MCU screen (large touch screen in the center of dashboard) has been malfunctioning. This started a few months ago when screen seemed to "crash" -- as I'm driving, the screen will turn black and take a long time to come back. On other occasions the map won't load and I receive a notice for "network error" (and have 5g service and not a satellite problem.) This would happen on and off for the past few months. I reported it back in March and was told they would order parts and get back to me and haven't. Then the 12 volt battery died and they replaced it but the MCU problems didn't go away. The last time I drove it, the screen froze up, then turned black and didn't come back on. The collision warning, lane assistance, and adaptive cruise control and steering all stopped working. I COULD engage the auto pilot and cruise control (the notification showed on the small dash board on top of the steering wheel, that they were both engaged) however, they didn't work. I set the car to 65 on the highway and the cruise control wouldn't go over 50. Also, on the back roads, the car drove straight through stop signs without stopping.