ironically, my wife's Tesla is in for service because it failed inspection for the following (see pic). Is this the same thing?
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Another front suspension control arm failure
- Thread starter RDoc
- Start date
ironically, my wife's Tesla is in for service because it failed inspection for the following (see pic). Is this the same thing?
No kidding. Wonder if there is any way to follow up on the various NHTSA reports and see if they have looked into this at all?
I feel like that crazy dude (Keef, whompy wheels) may have screwed us all on this one since he filed all those false reports.
Edit: although I guess the NHTSA sometimes has a "light touch" on the industry players if they don't voluntarily initiate a recall based on how long GM was able to run with the ignition fiasco and how slow the Takata thing took. No way Tesla will volunteer for this one especially if they have to admit the crazy dude might have been on to something.
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Well, just joined the club. Had the exact same experience as described by the OPs thread. My 2017, 11,000 mile 90D S is getting both front lower fore arms replaced at the service center. Only the front passenger side experienced the issue. For the earlier nay sayers - this vehicle has been coddled and loved - it doesn’t even come out for winter to avoid the salt.
This issue has shook me...anyone who experiences these issues will lose a lot of confidence in their vehicle. Hopefully I can get some of it back. I was just about to purchase my second S. I will let a bit of time help me decide how to continue voting with my money. To date I have adored the vehicle and the entire experience.
And the answer to your inevitable question sorka, is yes.
This issue has shook me...anyone who experiences these issues will lose a lot of confidence in their vehicle. Hopefully I can get some of it back. I was just about to purchase my second S. I will let a bit of time help me decide how to continue voting with my money. To date I have adored the vehicle and the entire experience.
And the answer to your inevitable question sorka, is yes.
I’m sorry for everyone who posts here of their suspension failures. It’s preventable and shouldn’t have happened. I think I’ve decided to just eat this cost and pay to have mine replaced now.
Most people discuss failure of the fore link, but one person had a failure of the aft link. Was that a fluke? Anyone else have aft link failure?
Most people discuss failure of the fore link, but one person had a failure of the aft link. Was that a fluke? Anyone else have aft link failure?
I believe I've joined the "club", too. 2017 Tesla S 75D with <13,500 miles is in the shop now after having it towed last night. The service rep let me know that while they're not done inspecting it - they've determined it's "fully covered under warranty".
My story is similar to most. On way home from work yesterday, my car started making strange noises at low speeds, uphill and/or around these "islands" Seattle has at cross streets in neighborhoods to slow traffic. I got home, made an online service center appt for next week. Went out again and then the "catastrophic" failure began. I had to drive a bit (guessing a half mile) before I could find a safe spot and one big enough to pull over. Tire is gouged horribly. Metal showing through wheel well, car appeared to be sitting on wheel, but hard to see clearly.
For anyone who thinks this is due to "rough" driving - I politely suggest you STFU. I baby my car.
I was able to take some photos, but was losing light. They are probably not worth posting, as others' are much better.
My story is similar to most. On way home from work yesterday, my car started making strange noises at low speeds, uphill and/or around these "islands" Seattle has at cross streets in neighborhoods to slow traffic. I got home, made an online service center appt for next week. Went out again and then the "catastrophic" failure began. I had to drive a bit (guessing a half mile) before I could find a safe spot and one big enough to pull over. Tire is gouged horribly. Metal showing through wheel well, car appeared to be sitting on wheel, but hard to see clearly.
For anyone who thinks this is due to "rough" driving - I politely suggest you STFU. I baby my car.
I was able to take some photos, but was losing light. They are probably not worth posting, as others' are much better.
Just an update. Service center experience at an exceptionally busy service center was very positive. But it is clear that they have and are actively seeing these issues. Parts were available immediately, including their proactive replacement of the wheel wheel cover, along with a strong familiarity with the necessary verbal of it “being a manufactured parts issue” - leads me to believe that they are seeing a number of these coming in.
Unfortunately they do not yet have the script down on whether this part is still being used in the S line currently under production - as no one knew the answer to that query.
In retrospect, there may have been some early warning signs as to the lower fore arms eventual demise. On a couple of occasions when putting the car in reverse and backing out of the garage an audible pop was heard, after brief resistance to backing up - I chalked it up to it not being driven in a while, but if others experience the same, you may want to make a service appointment and see if your fore arms are the parts they are actively replacing after failure.
Unfortunately they do not yet have the script down on whether this part is still being used in the S line currently under production - as no one knew the answer to that query.
In retrospect, there may have been some early warning signs as to the lower fore arms eventual demise. On a couple of occasions when putting the car in reverse and backing out of the garage an audible pop was heard, after brief resistance to backing up - I chalked it up to it not being driven in a while, but if others experience the same, you may want to make a service appointment and see if your fore arms are the parts they are actively replacing after failure.
Same issue happened with me this week, except my car is newer. 2017 Model S 75D with only 15K miles
Never had an accident previously nor hit potholes at high speeds. I was parking at work early this week when I heard loud creaking from the front left as I was braking.
The noises got louder over the next day and started to include when I steered the car tightly.
The day after that as I was heading out to work the left front wheel was scrapping against the wheel well. I pulled over then reversed so I could drive back home and heard a very loud pop. At that point I towed it to the Santa Clara SC.
Service said the left lower control arm broke and that they're replacing it under warranty. I'm supposed to pick up the car later today. I can share a screenshot of the work order once I receive the car.
Really disappointed though given the car only has 15K miles and is 2 years old.
Never had an accident previously nor hit potholes at high speeds. I was parking at work early this week when I heard loud creaking from the front left as I was braking.
The noises got louder over the next day and started to include when I steered the car tightly.
The day after that as I was heading out to work the left front wheel was scrapping against the wheel well. I pulled over then reversed so I could drive back home and heard a very loud pop. At that point I towed it to the Santa Clara SC.
Service said the left lower control arm broke and that they're replacing it under warranty. I'm supposed to pick up the car later today. I can share a screenshot of the work order once I receive the car.
Really disappointed though given the car only has 15K miles and is 2 years old.
Did you file an NHTSA incident?
File a Vehicle Safety Complaint | Safercar.gov | NHTSA
I think I'm just going to add that link to my signature
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What exactly happens to these complaints? Are the automatically aggregated by vehicle type and problem, or is there a human that reviews each case? If it's a room full of people that manually go over these, at what point do they get together and say "I think there's a problem here"? When does it get to the point of causing a recall?Did you file an NHTSA incident?
File a Vehicle Safety Complaint | Safercar.gov | NHTSA
I think I'm just going to add that link to my signature
Might be interesting if folks can see a part number on the broken item and then see the part number either on the new one or on the receipt.
All good questions. It would not be surprised if they just sit there and do nothing until some event wakes the bear. My pessimism make me think that it takes some high profile accident to get the ball rolling.
What's really disappointing is that a tech, Juan, at the service center looked at my car and told me I had the updated arms but after removing the air damn for another reason a few weeks ago, I discovered the fore links have the old defective part numbers.
I've sent Tesla dozens of emails asking them to tell me if my car is safe. So far nothing as you'd expect. I cced my wife so that if I die in a horrible accident on the way to or from work that she'll know to ask to check to see if the forelinks were the cause.
Also remember the crazy dude (whompy wheels) was filing tons of false reports on this issue. Who knows if these are even on their radar due to that. The story behind the 'false' Tesla suspension complaints to NHTSA - Electrek
I always thought he was a secret Tesla fan boy intentionally adding so much noise that the NHTSA would forever ignore every complaint after that.
2013 4/13 build Model S85 55k miles. Only driven on all decent Seattle suburb/highway paved non pot holed, non salted roads. Garaged parked at home/work. We do get rain so wet but relatively clean roads (mostly washed clean from rain) Haven't joined the broken front/rear upper/lower fore/aft control arm/ball joint club yet. Seems that Tesla suspension design team lacked experience on suspension design margins. Shaving materials for weight loss on control arms and not knowing where to put the "beef" seems to leave little design margin to handle stress/wear/metallurgy variation.
Took a picture of the front upper control arm ball joint. Rotating tire spit road debris end up caking this ball joint area. Salt would be mixed in on salted roads and sit here eating away at all the surfaces. Squeezed the boot and they felt "empty like it just an air pocket". I'd imagine excess grease probably got squeezed out long ago from the motion. Probably want to brush off the debris here frequently and gently hose it off as basic maintenance. Probably not so easy to inject any grease into the boot without disconnecting the ball joint. A plastic shield probably would have kept most of the debris off this joint area.
Certainly wheel area is going to be dirty but this ball joint sits inline with the tire surface. Thus directly in path to catch all the tire spitting debris. Most other ball joints are near center of wheel hub or on the subframe and away from the tire debris path.
Just a pic for everyone to see what 55K mile on non salted non dirt roads looks like on the upper front ball joint.
Took a picture of the front upper control arm ball joint. Rotating tire spit road debris end up caking this ball joint area. Salt would be mixed in on salted roads and sit here eating away at all the surfaces. Squeezed the boot and they felt "empty like it just an air pocket". I'd imagine excess grease probably got squeezed out long ago from the motion. Probably want to brush off the debris here frequently and gently hose it off as basic maintenance. Probably not so easy to inject any grease into the boot without disconnecting the ball joint. A plastic shield probably would have kept most of the debris off this joint area.
Certainly wheel area is going to be dirty but this ball joint sits inline with the tire surface. Thus directly in path to catch all the tire spitting debris. Most other ball joints are near center of wheel hub or on the subframe and away from the tire debris path.
Just a pic for everyone to see what 55K mile on non salted non dirt roads looks like on the upper front ball joint.
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Our 2017 X is currently with the service centre for what am 99% sure is upper control arm failure.
28k covered, driving same roads and manner as all my other cars. In over 20 years of driving I've never been in a car with suspension failure at only 2 years old.
Judging by the number of reports on here Tesla has a major issue on their hands. I hope the suspension on the Model 3 is better designed, but Tesla's lack of automotive heritage is really starting to show....Just like the non automotive grade glue used for MCU screens.
28k covered, driving same roads and manner as all my other cars. In over 20 years of driving I've never been in a car with suspension failure at only 2 years old.
Judging by the number of reports on here Tesla has a major issue on their hands. I hope the suspension on the Model 3 is better designed, but Tesla's lack of automotive heritage is really starting to show....Just like the non automotive grade glue used for MCU screens.
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