Another front suspension control arm failure

[RDoc]

Reversing out of a parking space we heard a very loud sound followed by a grinding/scraping noise from the front right. At first we thought we'd run over something, but there was nothing under or anywhere near the car. Moving the car forwards, the car felt like it first jacked up a bit on the front right, then moved smoothly, but still with the scraping noise. Since we were very close to home we drove home at very low speed with varying degrees of scraping and other noises whenever we went over bumps.

Tesla towed the car to Watertown and are replacing a control arm as I write this the next day.

There have been several reports of this kind of failure happening, so I wonder if they've got a systematic problem.

 

[Tiger]

Typically does not fail on its own, see Tesla suspension Hall Of Shame!

Typically fails due to excess tear and wear and/or corrosion.

 

[RDoc]

Well, if excessive wear and tear means normal driving, then I guess it makes sense. When we bought the car we'd imagined using it on the road, not placing it in a museum.

 

[Tiger]

Well, if excessive wear and tear means normal driving, then I guess it makes sense. When we bought the car we'd imagined using it on the road, not placing it in a museum.

Is that your expert opinnion or did you have the car checked and are stating after the fact?

 

[Pentium2004]

The car is what a little over 2 years old? This shouldn't happen unless you hit something pretty hard and even then it doesn't happen often with other cars. Imagine this happening running 75mph down the road. It would be pretty serious.

 

[RDoc]

Tesla has repaired the car and said that while not common, they do see broken control arms occasionally on older cars. There has been a part revision to fix this, so clearly there was a problem with the original design.

They won't replace the other side however unless it shows problems which seems a bit scary for those of us with older cars. At least in our case, there was no warning, it was a catastrophic failure.

 

[RDoc]

Is that your expert opinnion or did you have the car checked and are stating after the fact?

Well since the car was just in for it's annual inspection last week and the alignment was still OK, it's a bit hard to imagine how a control arm could be damaged without throwing out the alignment.

And yes, it is my expert opinion that we expected to be able to drive the car on normal roads.

 

[Az_Rael]

Any photos of the failed part?

 

[JohnSnowNW]

If you pay attention to the failures they occur exactly the same way, very low speed while making a tight turn. There doesn't appear to be much concern with the part braking while traveling down the road.

Most evidence seems to point that Tesla got some control arms that were manufactured without meeting specs, not that the part design was at issue. If it was a design issue, we'd see a lot more than a handful of these failures.

 

[jaguar36]

Well since the car was just in for it's annual inspection last week and the alignment was still OK, it's a bit hard to imagine how a control arm could be damaged without throwing out the alignment.

I think this just goes to show how worthless the annual inspection is.

 

[RDoc]

Just to close this: it was a lower control arm. The new version replacement part # FORE LINK ASSY, RH (1041575-00-B). They never showed me the broken part.

What still worries me is that it failed without warning, and while I also don't think the annual inspection is worth much, someone did at least see the control arm when they had it up on the lift and it still failed very soon after.

 

[Az_Rael]

What still worries me is that it failed without warning, and while I also don't think the annual inspection is worth much, someone did at least see the control arm when they had it up on the lift and it still failed very soon after.

I would ask them that question. How can they know the other control arm isn't bad when they missed the problem on the first one? Did they disassemble the other side and inspect all the bushings, torques, etc?

 

[3mp_kwh]

This issue is starting to show up on Twitter (linking to this thread). Aluminum castings bring light-ness, with the unfortunate negative of breaking, rather than bending, as their failure mode. In order to really get at whether parts like this are more failure prone, you might need finite element analysis (think, Southwest blades). I would not expect inspection eyeballs are always going to catch which ones are about to go. Thankfully, it so far appears the forces of parking (maybe sharp/severe steering angles) are what triggers the end.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The reports here appear too numerous for this to be an outlier. Like the bolt issue that prompted Tesla to issue its last recall, perhaps the same course of action should be taken here.

 

[Russell]

The car is what a little over 2 years old? This shouldn't happen unless you hit something pretty hard and even then it doesn't happen often with other cars. Imagine this happening running 75mph down the road. It would be pretty serious.

If it's the car in his/her signature, then its just over 3yrs old.

RDoc: S 85D Pano Roof, Silver, Grey Leather, Piano Black, Textile Headliner, Tech, Air Suspension, Subzero package. VIN: 78xxx
Confirmed: 1/31/2015; Production: 4/1/2015; Production Complete: 4/7/2015; Delivery: April 22


It would be nice to know what the mileage is.

 

[RDoc]

It would be nice to know what the mileage is.

38K

 

[cwerdna]

The reports here appear too numerous for this to be an outlier. Like the bolt issue that prompted Tesla to issue its last recall, perhaps the same course of action should be taken here.

Would help for those who actually hit this issue to file a safety complaint w/NHTSA at Home | Safercar -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (or equivalent safety body for your country), preferably after the issue is resolved.

 

[ModelS1079]

Today, 130.9K miles. 2012 Model S...
Feedback welcome!

 

[Spirous]

Exactly same happened here last week. Tesla refuses to do anything as mine have gone 120,000 km and no warranty anymore. Don't even reply. Have never been in an accident with the car, experienced some weird noise while driving, then was just backing into a parking space and it broke.

 

[sorka]

View attachment 326925
View attachment 326930
Today, 130.9K miles. 2012 Model S...
Feedback welcome!

Imagine if that happens while flying around a fast sweeping corner at 65 mph