Exactly the same thing happened to me today. They towed my car off and it is at the service center now. I was going 9...what if I had been going 90? Very concerning.
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Another front suspension control arm failure
- Thread starter RDoc
- Start date
For the folks sorka's asking, please do via Home | Safercar -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) if the car is operated in the US, it's a legitimate failure and not due to user error or abuse.
If you haven't and don't plan to, why the heck not?
I have a 2013 S with air ride. I pulled into a parking space with the height set on high. Went into a Chinese Restaurant, came out 5 minutes later, backed out of the space with -1/4 pound of food. Heard a loud noise and pedestrians put their hands to their mouths. Stopped after 2 -3 feet, ENTIRE front grill was on the ground. Gentlemen said you must have a 2013 and with air ride, same thing happened to me!! Had the piece put into place with assistance and drove home. Called Tesla WPB, Riveria Beach, brought the unit there a few days later. Unit was not put on a rack to check undercarriage. They had a tach drive the unit which he stated was fine. Had my own bodyshop take the unit to check. While he had the unit in the air he called me to tell me that this unit had obvious front end damage on the side the front end hung up on. CARFAX showed NO prior damage and none was reported to me at time of sale. Called the NHSA and filed a complaint. I have an aeronautical engineer staying with us who did research and stated that Tesla changed the design on later units due to this problem caused by a scoop in the under carriage that may be the reason for the failure. I have made 4 attempts to remedy this issue with some supervisor in NYC. He must be blind and deaf, he never responded. Class action perhaps or fix the darn unit. Fender had 2 prior cracks from past repairs, paint chip on the hood. Sorry I talked my neighbor into buying the SUV. Tesla has too many young folks and very few with good CS.
I did. And asked for a response.
Has anyone see forelink substandard strength TSB that was mentioned in this thread?
Have you seen this Technical Service Bulletin?
I tried to find it but it doesn't show up anywhere except truedelta which I don't subscribe to.
Have you seen this Technical Service Bulletin?
I tried to find it but it doesn't show up anywhere except truedelta which I don't subscribe to.
Lasttoy
Active Member
It's supposed to break if under enough stress to prevent even more damage. I replaced mine with adjustable links that will never break which is just slightly worrisome.
houstonian
ಠ_ಠ
How involved was the process?
Have a January 2017 S and while I don’t suspect anything amiss with the suspension, I’m curious to learn how one swaps it out on their own.
Also what did you base your decision on for the replacement part vs an OEM one?
Thanks!
Edited to add - got a pair of quickjacks last month for simple maintenance and detailing (like to do that myself) and am mulling if it makes sense to just proactively replace the two parts out of an abundance caution.
houstonian
ಠ_ಠ
From time-to-time.
Work often takes me to site locations where it's not unheard of to see potholes and gravel. That said, I can generally avoid them easily enough.
What worries me more is honestly backing into my driveway. It's not particularly steep but based on the replies upthread this stress (going in reverse, wheels turned, at an angle) seems to be an issue. Another factor is my car is my second office; I need it to work. Moreover as I am no longer under warranty my take is if I can do it myself I'd rather take a proactive approach and knock it out rather than waiting for it to potentially fail at an inopportune time.
Did anyone answer the question or not if the new Tesla version of these arms are solid metal (I assume they'd still be sliced extruded aluminum, but maybe cast aluminum)? Please take a picture under the car if the job's done and show the link as it is now... that says a lot.
As an FYI, I've replaced front upper A-arms on my model S, not preventative, but because of ball joint slop on one side. Did both because I always work in stereo for wear components. The only trickery on that job was the trailing bolts are bolted into a blind hole of the strut tower. So that "nut" stays hidden and inaccessible buried inside the chassis - don't want to over-torque and strip this one, otherwise you'd be very sorry. Used new Tesla nuts and bolts with the arms replacement, they come with blue Loctite pre-applied where needed on the threads. But the old ones looked easily re-usable many times over as they are high quality anti-corrosion coating, use your own Loctite and re-apply.
I'd say working on suspension on this car is like others and do-able. Depending on the part, you may need an alignment right after so line that up if needed. The upper A-arms I did have no possible adjustments so I skipped alignment.
As an FYI, I've replaced front upper A-arms on my model S, not preventative, but because of ball joint slop on one side. Did both because I always work in stereo for wear components. The only trickery on that job was the trailing bolts are bolted into a blind hole of the strut tower. So that "nut" stays hidden and inaccessible buried inside the chassis - don't want to over-torque and strip this one, otherwise you'd be very sorry. Used new Tesla nuts and bolts with the arms replacement, they come with blue Loctite pre-applied where needed on the threads. But the old ones looked easily re-usable many times over as they are high quality anti-corrosion coating, use your own Loctite and re-apply.
I'd say working on suspension on this car is like others and do-able. Depending on the part, you may need an alignment right after so line that up if needed. The upper A-arms I did have no possible adjustments so I skipped alignment.
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I drove my S to the Tesla Service Center in Fremont today and a tech came out and looked at the fore link and told me that I already have the updated part. He also stated that a March 2015 car was too old to have had the updated part from the factory and that they were replaced during one of my service visits. He stated that they do this proactively on any cars that come where they're already working on the front suspension. In my case, I had the front cv half shafts replaced 4 times, so it was likely one of those visits.
Big relief for me at least. I was ready to spend my own money just to buy the links and replace them myself.
Big relief for me at least. I was ready to spend my own money just to buy the links and replace them myself.
95K miles. Last replacement was 70K miles and they're holding up fine but that's only because I lowered the car to Tesla's original stock height before they raised it in 2014 by an inch increasing the cv joint angle by 3.6 degrees which was likely beyond the design limit.
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