Cracked forelink?

[evanklein2007@]

that's my video. the car is out of warranty, so they didn't have to do anything. there are no outstanding recalls, so they didn't owe me anything. should the part be reccalled and owners reimbursed? 100% yes. is that the current state of affairs? unfortunately not.

Gotcha. Yes - agreed on all counts. Total BS they haven't recalled. So disappointing. Def clouding my perception of all of Tesla.

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm very troubled by the fact that Tesla hasn't done a recall on this very dangerous part failure.

I seem to recall that Canada's equivalent to NHTSA investigated some of these failures and determined that they weren't dangerous and didn't require a recall:

Transport Canada (2020 - 0975) just notified me that they concluded their investigation as follows:

"We have determined that a failure of the rear lower control arm on the Model S is not detrimental to the safe operation of the vehicle and will be deactivating our file."

Note: that specific example is of a rear not a front control arm.

China's equivalent disagreed, and demanded a recall, Tesla disagreed but decided that fighting it would likely cost more than just doing the recall there. NHTSA has an investigation open right now, so it will be interesting to see what side of the fence they land on.

 

[ngng]

Gotcha. Yes - agreed on all counts. Total BS they haven't recalled. So disappointing. Def clouding my perception of all of Tesla.

the emmc recall *eventually* happened. maybe the NHTSA will do something about this, but, I'm not holding my breath.

I love my X, but I don't love the company that made it.

 

[ngng]

one thing I thought was interesting: when I brought the car in the tech mentioned he had seen numerous front link failures, but no rear link failures. I haven't searched, but, do we know if the failure only occurs in the front? or both ends of the car?

 

[evanklein2007@]

one thing I thought was interesting: when I brought the car in the tech mentioned he had seen numerous front link failures, but no rear link failures. I haven't searched, but, do we know if the failure only occurs in the front? or both ends of the car?

Everything I've seen online (and there's a lot) refers to the front only, and (strangely?) mostly the front drivers side.

 

[Percy]

Everything I've seen online (and there's a lot) refers to the front only, and (strangely?) mostly the front drivers side.

It looks like that lunatic from downunder is still clogging up the NHTSA complaints department.

EXCLUSIVE: Whompy Wheels Hunter: Who's The Man After Tesla Suspension Issues?​

In this exclusive, we interview Keef Wivaneff, a.k.a Keith Leech.

BY GUSTAVO RUFFOPUBLISHED 5 DAYS AGO

 

[evanklein2007@]

It looks like that lunatic from downunder is still clogging up the NHTSA complaints department.

EXCLUSIVE: Whompy Wheels Hunter: Who's The Man After Tesla Suspension Issues?​

In this exclusive, we interview Keef Wivaneff, a.k.a Keith Leech.

BY GUSTAVO RUFFOPUBLISHED 5 DAYS AGO

WOW! This guy is spot on correct. He has clearly identified the problem that does exist and I experienced with my Model S. It's downright criminal that Tesla hasn't done something about the defects in their suspension parts. They won't even acknowledge that there's a problem. I think they are putting lives at risk. Disgusting.

 

[Percy]

I can not understand why NHTSA has not done something about this problem.

June 8, 2021 NHTSA ID NUMBER: 11420214
Components: SUSPENSION
NHTSA ID Number: 11420214
Incident Date June 7, 2021
Consumer Location SCOTTSDALE, AZ
Vehicle Identification Number 5yjsa1e17gf****
Summary of Complaint
CRASHNo
FIRENo
INJURIES0
DEATHS0
Pulling my car out of my driveway, I heard a loud pop noise and the steering wheel refused to turn. Attempting to turn the wheel at all resulted in a grinding noise because the entire front driver side wheel was shifted backward and was resting on the rear of the wheel well liner. I had the vehicle flatbedded to the Tesla service center and they told me one of the fore links had failed. They blamed it on an impact or pothole, neither of which actually happened. After researching online, I've come to find there have been many documented failures of this same part - for no reason at all. Tesla even recognized they had a manufacturing issue and even issued a recall in China. This could have been a very dangerous situation. There was no warning, no cause, and the car has only 50k miles. I asked them to save the parts as I'm sure upon expert examination, they would prove to be defective.

 

[MP3Mike]

I can not understand why NHTSA has not done something about this problem.

Actually, they have. They started an investigation. Who knows how long that will take. (They moved fairly quickly on the MCU issue with eMMC.)

 

[evanklein2007@]

I can not understand why NHTSA has not done something about this problem.

June 8, 2021 NHTSA ID NUMBER: 11420214
Components: SUSPENSION
NHTSA ID Number: 11420214
Incident Date June 7, 2021
Consumer Location SCOTTSDALE, AZ
Vehicle Identification Number 5yjsa1e17gf****
Summary of Complaint
CRASHNo
FIRENo
INJURIES0
DEATHS0
Pulling my car out of my driveway, I heard a loud pop noise and the steering wheel refused to turn. Attempting to turn the wheel at all resulted in a grinding noise because the entire front driver side wheel was shifted backward and was resting on the rear of the wheel well liner. I had the vehicle flatbedded to the Tesla service center and they told me one of the fore links had failed. They blamed it on an impact or pothole, neither of which actually happened. After researching online, I've come to find there have been many documented failures of this same part - for no reason at all. Tesla even recognized they had a manufacturing issue and even issued a recall in China. This could have been a very dangerous situation. There was no warning, no cause, and the car has only 50k miles. I asked them to save the parts as I'm sure upon expert examination, they would prove to be defective.

That's my submission. I have tweeted at Elon twice now. I am awaiting a call from the person who runs the service shop who fixed my car. I am not going away quietly. It's total BS that Tesla has not addressed this situation.

 

[MP3Mike]

That's my submission. I have tweeted at Elon twice now. I am awaiting a call from the person who runs the service shop who fixed my car. I am not going away quietly. It's total BS that Tesla has not addressed this situation.

Tesla feels that they have addressed the situation. Some of what they wrote to NHTSA:

7.Description of how the recall population differs from similar vehicles not included in the recall, including vehicles in the United States:
Due to the opinion of SAMR/DPAC that the topic required a recall in the China market, Tesla was left with the choice of either voluntarily recalling the subject
vehicles or carrying a heavy burden through the
Chinese administrative process. While Tesla disagrees with the opinion of SAMR/DPAC, the Company has decided not to dispute a recall for the China market
only. Tesla is not conducting a recall outside of China based upon the Company’s determination that there is no defect in the subject components and no associated safety-risk. See section 8 below for further explanation

8.Description of the defect and risk to motor vehicle safety:
Tesla has not determined that a defect exists in either the Front Suspension Aft Link or the Rear Suspension Upper Link and believes the root cause of the issue is driver abuse, including that driver usage and expectation for damageability is uniquely severe in the China market. If the customer inputs an abuse load (e.g., curb impact, severe pothole strike, etc.), then the parts may be damaged, leading either to immediate failure or delayed failure from the compounding effects of the initial abuse and subsequent load input. Tesla has also not determined the existence of an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety. The occurrence of such failures in China (approx. 0.1%) and elsewhere (less than 0.05%) remains exceedingly rare and if a failure does occur, it is immediately apparent to the driver. For the Front Suspension Aft Link, a full separation typically occurs at low speeds and high steer angles, most often when the vehicle is in reverse. For the Rear Suspension Upper Link, the vehicle remains controllable after the part has completely separated. Finally, Tesla is not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths, or fires related to this issue.

 

[evanklein2007@]

Tesla feels that they have addressed the situation. Some of what they wrote to NHTSA:

Such garbage. There are no potholes in AZ and the car was never 'abused' - it's a defect in the manufacturing process and they know it.

 

[slowjt]

Was driving yesterday on the freeway in AP in heavy traffic with 3 kids in the car, and the car stops suddenly and successfully, but then a terrible sound emanates from the left front wheel. Kids crying so I pull off the freeway thinking something is caught on the wheel/tire to find the back of the LF wheel well cover lifted up and pressing against the tire.

Once roadside gets there, the tech shows me how the "A arm" has split and come off of the ball joint and dropped down and is interfering with the wheel. Wow!

Service was exceptional. I was about 1 hour away from the nearest service center in Friday afternoon traffic, but roadside and a loaner Tesla (O.G. from 2011, so now I understand a lot more about the posts from before 2015!) showed up and we were back on our way out of town within about an hour.

But, this could have been a serious accident. I wonder what caused the failure. The Tesla tech says maybe improper torqueing of the forelink.

Just wondering if this has happened to anyone else? My car has almost 30k miles and has had no other mechanical issues. Very unnerving, to say the least, at what could have been a serious accident if we'd been going at speed and the suspension had come apart like this then.

Thoughts?

slowjt
Out of the US for 17 months; 2016 S P90 parked in my garage from Dec 1, 2019 To June 25, 2021. Arrive home to find left front tire nearly flat; all others at spec. Rein flared the tire and take a short 1 mile drive to hardware store noting some resistsnce & a few clicks backing out of the garage. I assumed the brake caliper was sticking, Back in garage a short while later - no problem. Back out later to go for pizza & as I turn the wheel we hear a quite loud scraping noise so my wife get out to observe as I continue to back onto the drive. She shouts that the tire is rubbing on the inside fender wall when I turn the wheel. Not believing it I get out and verify her analysis. Very gently maneuver the S onto our street and proceed ~100ft to the corner stop sign and as I applied the brake the noise was like broken metal parts being rotated in a steel bucket. I reverse slowly / nothing. So I continue around the corner to next stop ~1/4 block, touch the brake & WOW! awfull metal noise again! Time to hope in my wife’s 1999 Beetle! I maneuvered th S back to the garage & noticed my wife quite proud that her Beetle at 47k is running Judy fine!

Cannot seem to post a photo but in short a buddy who knows his way around cars gets down to have a look to find the “control arm” pulled mostly off of the vertical bushing which appeared to ha ruptured upward out of the arm socket. All this while sitting idle in my grave for 17 months ??? I am suspicious it was taken for a joy ride over some very rough terrain by our house sitter… but from what I am reading…. ???

 

[David.85D]

“Tesla has not determined that a defect exists in either the Front Suspension Aft Link or the Rear Suspension Upper Link”

these aren’t the links that we see failing. All the examples here are front fore link and rear lower link.
are they trying to play games? Where’s the statement about the front fore link and rear lower?

 

[houstonian]

FYI - I had my front forelinks proactively replaced (the A part number → B part number) and also kept the old A parts. Jan 2017 S build.

Not sure if any 3rd party can do an analysis to determine a manufacturing fault but happy to supply the old parts if such an analysis can be done and if it would prove useful to IDing a potential safety issue.

 

[McGillUSAF]

My front left hand lower fore link just completely crack today
MS P90DL with 78k miles

 

[Percy]

Not all it's cracked up to be?

 

[bkmatise]

Has anyone been charged the cost of replacement? I was charged for one, which was cracked just like everyone else’s here, and they “voluntarily” as an act of “goodwill” replaced the other. This just happened. I thought they should cover it in full, as it is clearly a defective part - this shouldn’t happen under any circumstances. They refused to do so (and the manager was quite brash and rude about it, which was totally surprising to me as they’ve always been nice).
But this got me wondering, how often is this happening? Are they generally charging people for it, or covering it? I have found out that in China, Tesla was forced to do a recall and replace the fore links because of this very problem.

I was charged full price (over $1,600). My 2015 S 90D had over 50,000 miles on it so it was not covered by warranty.

 

[bkmatise]

I was charged full price (over $1,600). My 2015 S 90D had over 50,000 miles on it so it was not covered by warranty.

 

[bkmatise]

My front left hand lower fore link just completely crack today
MS P90DL with 78k miles

Be sure to report it to the NHTSA via their online report form. If enough people report, they may force Tesla to recall or reimburse customers. I have 2015 90D and the front forelink failed at 77k miles.