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Tesla Model X jerking problems

11 of the 1,560 owner complaints about the Tesla Model X describe jerking or lurching, most of them for the 2016 model year.

owner complaints
11
worst model year
2016
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.

By model year

  • 2025
    1
  • 2023
    2
  • 2020
    2
  • 2017
    1
  • 2016
    5

Often reported together

Lane assist 2Door locks 1ABS 1

What owners say

Filed Oct 22, 2026 · Driver assistance · WI

Full self-drive supervised version 14.3Lite. New update pushed to the vehicle by Tesla, unsafely removed ability to control maximum speed of the vehicle while using self-driving features. On this particular five- minute drive, vehicle blasted hold the wheel alerts (Red Warning with critical alarm), no fewer than 12 times, while my hands were still on the wheel, and twice with the standard beep beep and white general notification. On the slowest setting, vehicle proceeded to increase speed to 35 mph in school zone with a posted 15 mph limit when children are present and a normal speed of 25 posted. Vehicle saw the speed sign as indicated on the dashboard. Further, vehicle fully disengaged self-driving features with no advanced warning, multiple times. An automated self-driving supervised, vehicle follows other vehicles at an unsafe distance, regardless of setting. Tesla has removed distance settings, maximum speed limitations, and has increased the number of hold the wheel alerts (While the wheel IS being held) exponentially. Driving performance has also regressed with very jerky side to side motion. in the lane. This is a major regression over previous release, is unsafe and should not be on the road. Tesla provides no way to downgrade back to a safer version of the software and outright refuses to. additionally, when making manual left-hand turns, lane departure warning goes off even though I have it turned off as a feature, and attempts to pull me back into my lane, almost causing a collision, instead of a completed left turn

Filed Aug 30, 2026 · Driver assistance, Electrical · GA

The Full-Self Drive of my Tesla failed to follow the programmed navigation directions I set to take me home in one direction, but instead the vehicle took a completely different path on its own. When the vehicle was programmed to turn right towards my home, the car quickly jerked back into traffic and I was forced to take control before accidentally hitting another vehicle The vehicle continued to go into another direction and did the same thing several times later. I put my home address in the navigation to go home, but as soon as my Tesla was about to turn right into my subdivision it quickly pulled and jerked me left back into traffic and took me completely into another direction several days again. I let the car complete its misdirection and the car took me around the block into a parking lot and bought me back to my original planned destination to my home

Filed Jan 12, 2026 · Driver assistance · CA

FSD hw3 is so f ing dangerous. It’s tried to kill me many times. It forces lane charge or a jerking wheel wrestling disengage or swerve

Filed May 6, 2025 · Locks · CA

My 2016 Tesla Model X has a persistent and dangerous issue with the electronic parking brake. The brake frequently fails to disengage properly, and the car becomes jerky when attempting to move. When the vehicle is parked, a warning appears stating: “Parking brake not engaged. Vehicle may roll,” even when the brake is set. This poses a significant safety risk, especially on inclines. Additionally, the driver-side door latch mechanism has failed again. Tesla previously repaired this exact issue and charged me, but the failure has returned. The door sometimes fails to latch securely or does not open and close properly, creating a safety hazard. These issues have made me concerned about the safety of driving or parking the vehicle. I believe these components should be investigated as potential manufacturing or design defects.

Filed Sep 19, 2024 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · NV

Tesla updated my vehicle with FSD 12.5.2.1 and it is dangerous and should be recalled. The software is too much for my vehicles processor, it frequently freezes for as long as 10 seconds. This loses my speedometer, my signal information, and happened while merging and nearly caused me an accident. The lane keep assist has retrograded significantly, it often goes outside of the painted lines and is in danger of hitting curbs. The processor feels like it struggles to keep up, and the auto steer is unsettled and jerky as it changes its mind. Previous software worked great, Tesla is pushing the software beyond the hardwares capabilities and it’s going to cause accidents. Please stop them.

Filed Jun 26, 2024 · Steering · NJ

In dense rush hour traffic at approximately 7:20pm EST [XXX], a bus started merging in my lane just on my side on [XXX] . The horn in the 2023 Tesla Model X is a tiny button located in proximity of the right hand scroll button on the wheel right spoke. It’s difficult to hit in an emergency and in attempt to signal the bus I probably hit the scroll wheel several times instead. Pressing the scroll wheel once activates the autopilot (“full self driving” in my case). The car shook and lurched likely due to the conflicting inputs of activating autopilot and braking (my guess) or for some other reason. The location of the horn as a tiny button on the steering wheel close to other buttons affecting the car steering response is extremely dangerous. I failed to signal the bus and I almost crashed my vehicle in confusion of the wheel shaking response. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Mar 13, 2023 · Electrical · 24,000 miles · CT

The contact's wife owns a 2020 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that the vehicle had been experiencing electrical failures. The contact stated while his wife was starting the vehicle, a message indicating a low-battery voltage was displayed. The vehicle was taken to an unknown Tesla Service Center, where it was diagnosed that an electrical malfunction was causing a constant drain on the battery while the vehicle was turned off. The battery was replaced twice within two years. Additionally, the contact stated that while his wife was driving 25-30 MPH, messages indicating that the ABS, the Automatic Brake Hold, the regenerative brake, and the power steering was inoperable were displayed. Additionally, the vehicle jerked, causing the contact's wife to lose control of the vehicle. The contact's wife depressed the brake pedal and veered to the side of the road. The contact's wife notified the manufacturer of the failure and was instructed to reboot the vehicle. The contact's wife was able to drive to her nearby destination. Upon performing a diagnostic test remotely, the manufacturer informed the contact's wife that she could drive to the nearest Tesla Service Center located 60 miles away through the braking features had failed. The contact stated that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 24,000.

Filed Apr 27, 2022 · Transmission · 32,000 miles · CA · crash

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model-X. The contact stated while parked in a parking lot, the contact depressed the brake pedal and was not sure if she had placed the vehicle into reverse, the vehicle accelerated backward and hit the back wall across from her parked vehicle. The vehicle trunk lid and the bumper were damaged and crumpled. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had not taken the vehicle to a local dealer but was advised by the manufacturer to take the vehicle to a body shop. The vehicle had not been repaired. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle would lurch forward when it would be placed into drive. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 32,000.

Filed May 20, 2021 · Suspension · CA

The front left suspension fore link failed, making the car undrivable. We were leaving our driveway at low speed, and the wheel collapsed, dragging against the skirt and creating loud noises and lurching. The steering wheel could not be turned. No collision or other unusual force applied. Car at 36k miles. Tesla repaired, confirmed there was no collision. They said they replaced with an updated part indicating to us the original post is inadequate for safe driving. Since out of warranty we paid the $900+ to replace the inadequate part out of pocket.

Filed Nov 30, 2020 · Suspension · 61,000 miles · CA · crash

I was getting home, driving into my driveway at a speed of 5 miles an hr. I braked to park the car and I heard a jerk and the car made a big noise and then hit the front of my home door. I reversed and braked to see if it would happen and it did and the car felt like it was very heavy. We then parked on the driveway and called tesla roadside assistance and they informed us to get it towed to a tesla dealership. Tesla, refused to pay for the towing or the repairs or provide a loaner car. We requested them to replace it as part of the warranty, which they refused to do. We understand there are many people who are dealing with a similar issue. This is very concerning that tesla is knowingly putting our lives at risk, instead of addressing a known issue.

Related recalls

No recalls on record for this model year.

Questions about the Tesla Model X jerking

Which Tesla Model X years have jerking or lurching problems?

The model years with the most reports are 2016 (5 complaints), 2020 (2 complaints) and 2023 (2 complaints).

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