Cracked forelink?

[JenniferQ]

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?

 

[cwerdna]

Since you've used the words "could have been a serious accident" twice, it sounds like filing a safety complaint w/NHTSA at Keeping You Safe | Safercar | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is appropriate (and as directed in your owner's manual), after they've resolved the issue and you know what they fixed.

If you're the only one, no biggie. If there are others, that can help all other drivers w/the same revision/batch of parts in question.

 

[JenniferQ]

Thank you for that link. These are already lodged. I will be sure to notify them once things are officially settled.

2015 TESLA MODEL S 85D 5 HB AWD

2015 TESLA MODEL S 85KWH 5 HB RWD

Since you've used the words "could have been a serious accident" twice, it sounds like filing a safety complaint w/NHTSA at Keeping You Safe | Safercar | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is appropriate (and as directed in your owner's manual), after they've resolved the issue and you know what they fixed.

If you're the only one, no biggie. If there are others, that can help all other drivers w/the same revision/batch of parts in question.

 

[cwerdna]

Thank you for that link. These are already lodged. I will be sure to notify them once things are officially settled.

2015 TESLA MODEL S 85D 5 HB AWD

2015 TESLA MODEL S 85KWH 5 HB RWD

Are you talking about the suspension complaints where someone has simply filed reports based upon pics in a junkyard? If so, it's probably the doing of the infamous Keef troll who doesn't even live in the US and is jumping to conclusions w/o any real data or any knowledge of what happened.

 

[JenniferQ]

Might be, but they do sound eerily similar to what I experienced. Just not sure how to understand what happened to my car. Seems a very strange thing to happen "out of the blue" with no impact

 

[ilovemycoffee]

Sorry that this incident had to make your 1000th post. We received our MS a few weeks after yours, so I hope to learn from your experience.

 

[MP3Mike]

the car stops suddenly and successfully

I'm curious about this. Why did the car stop suddenly? Did you have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting something in the road? Did it do that on its own? Could you have hit a pot-hole while braking hard?

 

[JenniferQ]

I was using AP. There was a lot of traffic. The AP worked as it should have and stopped the car. Then we heard the crunch from the LH wheel. There was nothing on the road. But it felt like it.

I'm curious about this. Why did the car stop suddenly? Did you have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting something in the road? Did it do that on its own? Could you have hit a pot-hole while braking hard?

 

[thecloud]

Sorry to hear this. Years ago, my Toyota Celica unexpectedly died in the middle of the Santa Monica freeway in L.A. rush hour traffic (connecting rod broke in the engine). It's a sickening feeling, and heavy traffic makes it a nightmare to get off the freeway.

Glad that you were able to pull over, and everyone was fine except for being shaken up.

...roadside and a loaner Tesla (O.G. from 2011, so now I understand a lot more about the posts from before 2015!) showed up...

I wonder what kind of pre-historic 2011 Tesla loaner you must have gotten. Does it have a VIN? The first 10 Model S cars officially came off the line in June 2012.

 

[JenniferQ]

True. I will have to look. I was so happy to just get back on the road and asked my dd to look at the sticker on the windshield which she said showed 2011. It's definitely pre-AP and doesn't even have TACC. I will check the VIN when I get back in tomorrow. I am now curious myself after a break from drama.

I will say on the drive to LA, I noted two amenity-type things: Armrest is much harder than mine, but the stereo volume is much better. Where I need to have my car on 8/9 this one was blasting us out on 3/4. And I supposedly have the Premium Sound upgrade.

But on the good side, saw Mark Cuban today and got a selfie!


A good birthday trip for the 17 y/o with ABC stars all through the hotel and with enough drama to keep me moving forward. All's well that ends well, as the Bard says.

 

[ccdisce]

True. I will have to look. I was so happy to just get back on the road and asked my dd to look at the sticker on the windshield which she said showed 2011. It's definitely pre-AP and doesn't even have TACC. I will check the VIN when I get back in tomorrow. I am now curious myself after a break from drama.

I will say on the drive to LA, I noted two amenity-type things: Armrest is much harder than mine, but the stereo volume is much better. Where I need to have my car on 8/9 this one was blasting us out on 3/4. And I supposedly have the Premium Sound upgrade.

But on the good side, saw Mark Cuban today and got a selfie!
View attachment 240198

A good birthday trip for the 17 y/o with ABC stars all through the hotel and with enough drama to keep me moving forward. All's well that ends well, as the Bard says.

I am glad to hear that no one was hurt.
Statistically the failure rate based on 'reported' cases as a guess is around .000005% in the batch of cars produced 2015-2016. Factory data should be able to identify the lot# ( and who supplied them ) of the 'forelink' struts as to whether anything is done for the cars made with this lot will depend on the power's at Tesla.

 

[JenniferQ]

<snip>


I wonder what kind of pre-historic 2011 Tesla loaner you must have gotten. Does it have a VIN? The first 10 Model S cars officially came off the line in June 2012.

My bad. Or my daughter's. She read the date wrong. It's a 2014! Wow, what a difference a year makes. Nothing pre-historic after all.

 

[hacer]

I am glad to hear that no one was hurt.
Statistically the failure rate based on 'reported' cases as a guess is around .000005% in the batch of cars produced 2015-2016. ...

You are saying that 5 in every 10^8 forelinks put into 2015-2016 Tesla vehicles was 'reported'. At 2 forelinks per car, and less than 200k cars made in that time, that would mean there just 0.0008 cases were reported. That is a pretty unusual "guess". Even if you didn't mean to put the percent sign there, it's still less than 0.08 reported cases. Guess again.

 

[thecloud]

My bad. Or my daughter's. She read the date wrong. It's a 2014! Wow, what a difference a year makes. Nothing pre-historic after all.

Or in this case, what a difference 3 years makes.

As for the premium sound package, it's supposed to be loud enough when listening at a volume setting of 3 or 4. That's where I usually have it set. If you have to crank it up to 9 and it's not blowing out your eardrums, something is wrong with your sound system. I seem to recall a post a while back where someone else had this problem and it turned out some of their speakers weren't connected. The experience you're having in the loaner is what it's supposed to sound like, so you'll probably want to get that fixed.

 

[JenniferQ]

Well, mine is Oct 2015 so that's the "year" I meant.

Or in this case, what a difference 3 years makes.

As for the premium sound package, it's supposed to be loud enough when listening at a volume setting of 3 or 4. That's where I usually have it set. If you have to crank it up to 9 and it's not blowing out your eardrums, something is wrong with your sound system. I seem to recall a post a while back where someone else had this problem and it turned out some of their speakers weren't connected. The experience you're having in the loaner is what it's supposed to sound like, so you'll probably want to get that fixed.

I checked the equalizer settings and mine were very different from the loaner's. I will do some more research on that this week.

 

[tftf]

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!

Similar issues are reported all the time by Big Oil plants. Remember that Australian guy? Forgot his name.

Is this even real?

We all know Elon Musk and Tesla already are way ahead in manufacturing compared to all these ICE dinosaurs.

And it's not over. Soon, the alien dreadnought is here...

Elon Musk eyes “alien dreadnought” automated factory with engineering firm deal

Ahead of everyone. By orders of magnitude.

Therefore really not sure if these reported cracks and ball joint failures really exist.

 

[achilles992000]

Jennifer, my forelink broke also. driver's side.

 

[thecloud]

Well, mine is Oct 2015 so that's the "year" I meant.

Ah, that makes sense now. And you would definitely see a big difference with a pre-AP car since it still has a speedometer that's easy to read. (The classic speedometer uses the motion of colored arcs to visually indicate your velocity and energy usage.)

Back on topic, I note that every car brand and model has had front suspension issues reported at one time or another. Sometimes a part doesn't last as long as it should, and yes, sometimes parts are defective initially. It's statistically inevitable.

The advice that cwerdna gave earlier in this thread is sound, and I have no doubt that Tesla is taking your report seriously. Some people here feel a need to cast doubt on what happened to you and question your motives, but they likely either don't want any negative press that could hamper Tesla in its goal of mass-market EV adoption, or they just don't want their stock taking any hit if a recall is needed.

 

[ccdisce]

You are saying that 5 in every 10^8 forelinks put into 2015-2016 Tesla vehicles was 'reported'. At 2 forelinks per car, and less than 200k cars made in that time, that would mean there just 0.0008 cases were reported. That is a pretty unusual "guess". Even if you didn't mean to put the percent sign there, it's still less than 0.08 reported cases. Guess again.

DUH, yes I made a mistake by putting the percent sign in... my bad and thanks for pointing this out

Another owner below 'reported' his failure so my new guess could be more than 0.08 cases.
Any more unreported cases?
Supply chain issue?
Was forging, annealing, surface passivation performed?
Maybe a 'well made' metal 3D printed part would make the failure rate low enough on such a critical component.
Cost could be an issue here as I have not bought any 3D metal printed parts I have not checked with ARNC.

 

[Knightowl]

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?

Dont know how commen it is but when I did my 50k maintance (@64,559mi) on my 2014 pre AP car my left and right fore links and lower shock absorber bolts were all found needing to be replaced and had them do it at that time, they quoted me $750 to do it but they ended up goodwilling it and just charged me for the 50k annual and not the extra quoted me on top for the issues they found.