Late 2016 / Early 2017 S Owners: How Are Your Daytime Running Lights Holding Up?

[Cheburashka]

100% about to go out. Hopefully, it will go out before your warranty is over.

 

[Science fan]

JAN 2017 S75D-nee-S60D high-mileage owner here.

Curious to see if other members with a S (or X) built in this time frame experienced any issues with the DRLs. By DLRs, I mean the "halo" which borders the LED headlight enclosure.

Earlier this year the passenger side DLR partially failed where a portion of the DLR was not illuminated. I suspect one underlying lights (LEDs?) in the DLR strip went out, but never directly asked that question. I observed no other defect in the DLR or headlights at the time. I filed a service request under warranty. A ranger was dispatched by Tesla Service, diagnosed the issue, requested the replacement part - an entirely new headlight assembly - and then returned to swap it out when the part came in.

Shrugged it off to Tesla being Tesla and did not think anything more of it until the driver's side DLR did the exact same thing a few weeks ago. Like before, a portion of the DLR halo had gone dim but the headlight itself appeared to be functioning normally. Dropped it off at the SC they replaced the entire driver's side headlight assembly.

I can understand parts breaking but am suspicious the exact same failure occurred twice. This suspicion leads me to question if the supplier Tesla used to provide illumination to the DLRs had a defect in the manufacturing process - hence the thread. Curious to see if any other members with similar late 2016 / early 2017 build S's (or X's) experienced similar issues.

FWIW I've got ~49k on the car and the two part numbers that were replaced were:

• Drivers Headlight Assembly - HD/LP ASY, SAE UP-LEVEL, RH (1053571- 1 00-D) / Covered by 50k warranty
• Passenger Headlight Assembly - HD/LP ASY, SAE UP-LEVEL, LH (1053570- 1 00-D) / Covered by 50k warranty
• Bonus fact: Service said the part cost ~$1.2k + labor (asked as I'm rapidly approaching the 50k mark and debating whether or not I want to extend the warranty).

View attachment 315208

Same problem and resolution with the driver's side halo light around 36,000 miles and 3 years, under warranty, for my June 2016 delivery S75.

 

[MikloVL]

08/2018 build. Driverside headlight replaced in 11/2020 with 13k miles. Passenger headlight replaced 04/2021 with 18k miles. Both new F revision. Previous headlights were the original D revisions that came with the car. Praying these F’s hold up!

 

[Krash]

June 2017 build at 75k miles. Driver 10 o’clock position led recently went out. Passenger side seems fine.

Anyone get their old lights back or does Tesla keep them like a core charge? There are definitely earlier model headlight owners that would be better off modifying my old headlights than theirs, when mine come out.

My service center is under the impression that major revision upgrades of headlamps require the service center to get involved. My bet is that all you need is a firmware update. Anyone know for sure?

 

[Cheburashka]

June 2017 build at 75k miles. Driver 10 o’clock position led recently went out. Passenger side seems fine.

Anyone get their old lights back or does Tesla keep them like a core charge? There are definitely earlier model headlight owners that would be better off modifying my old headlights than theirs, when mine come out.

My service center is under the impression that major revision upgrades of headlamps require the service center to get involved. My bet is that all you need is a firmware update. Anyone know for sure?

No firmware update involved. Just straight swap. Easy DIY.

 

[Flyguy]

Took my 2017 MS 75 in for MCU2 upgrade last week. Thanks to this thread, I realized that both my DRL‘s were partially out. The upper part was out on both sides, and since it was symmetrical I never even noticed. Had both headlights replaced under warranty at the same time. Super helpful!

 

[Jlwine]

I have the D revision and both sides DRL are going out. They have been replaced about twice on one side and once on the other. I am now out of warranty. I was wondering if anyone who has the F revision has had the DRL go out.

On my 2016 Facelift Model S, both headlights needed replaced (Under ESA) in May of last year. They installed the "F" version, and a year latter--so far so good, with fingers still crossed.

 

[Jlwine]

…..The upper part was out on both sides, and since it was symmetrical I never even noticed. Had both headlights replaced under warranty at the same time. Super helpful!

This was my experience also, completely symmetrical. Both headlights LED surrounds, look like "J's" and I thinking having been a Jaguar owner for years prior to buying the Tesla, I got accustomed to seeing "J's" everywhere! LOL! I never noticed a problem, it was actually the Tesla ranger who pointed this out to me.

 

[rubyteg01]

I just noticed that the headlights are now 1053570-99-G and 1053571-99-G. I wonder what is different in the G version. The F version is no longer the latest.

 

[Science fan]

Same problem and resolution with the driver's side halo light around 36,000 miles and 3 years, under warranty, for my June 2016 delivery S75.

Same problem for the other side. I brought it to Tesla service center, now out of warranty. Thought about having it repaired, but decided against it. Could not bring myself to pay so much money for an item that will only need to be repaired again, who knows when. Not a good feeling about how Tesla designed this light to cost so very much to be repaired.

 

[headcase]

I've had my headlights replaced three times due to failing LEDs, and I just had the F series headlights installed under my ESA. The manager informed me that starting with the F series, they are using a new design with a built-in heat sink / heat blades to resolve the overheating issue and LED failure shouldn't happen anymore. This makes sense, as a previous service manager told me the underlying issue was related to the power supply for the headlights that came with the cars manufactured at that time, and not the headlights themselves.

 

[nomis_nehc]

I've had my headlights replaced three times due to failing LEDs, and I just had the F series headlights installed under my ESA. The manager informed me that starting with the F series, they are using a new design with a built-in heat sink / heat blades to resolve the overheating issue and LED failure shouldn't happen anymore. This makes sense, as a previous service manager told me the underlying issue was related to the power supply for the headlights that came with the cars manufactured at that time, and not the headlights themselves.

Damn, I just bought 3 headlights, 2 of F series, and 1 D. One of the F series is perfectly lit and white, and one of the F has the middle part failing. The D that I bought (which I thought was supposed to be a F from the description in the listing) was f'ed up in the LED as well.

It's so frustrating that this is the reality and there isn't a recall on this. It's such bull.

 

[FlatSix911]

Damn, I just bought 3 headlights, 2 of F series, and 1 D. One of the F series is perfectly lit and white, and one of the F has the middle part failing.
The D that I bought (which I thought was supposed to be a F from the description in the listing) was f'ed up in the LED as well.

It's so frustrating that this is the reality and there isn't a recall on this. It's such bull.

Interesting information... it sounds like the F Series headlight is still prone to failures.

 

[headcase]

Interesting information... it sounds like the F Series headlight is still prone to failures.

Or it could be a defect with just that one unit. Tesla Service also sent me a text saying that I should stop seeing failures with the F units installed, so we’ll have to see what the overall feedback becomes.

 

[nomis_nehc]

I've had my headlights replaced three times due to failing LEDs, and I just had the F series headlights installed under my ESA. The manager informed me that starting with the F series, they are using a new design with a built-in heat sink / heat blades to resolve the overheating issue and LED failure shouldn't happen anymore. This makes sense, as a previous service manager told me the underlying issue was related to the power supply for the headlights that came with the cars manufactured at that time, and not the headlights themselves.

I stopped by my service center today to pick up some cabin air filters -- which Tesla sells at incredibly good price IMO. I asked about the headlights, and the parts guy wasn't able to tell me what has changed or anything he knows about it. He did mention that Tesla just out of the blue sent 10 sets to the location without requesting, which is unusual based on history.

He thinks that it's a good chance that it is a revision that would solve this problem. Said that my center doesn't see that many S' go through so the stock they have should be fine if I want to take some time to think about picking it up.

 

[Amstel44]

Not a good feeling about how Tesla designed this light to cost so very much to be repaired.

It’s disappointing that Tesla won’t own up to this obvious defect. In absence of an enhanced warranty program to cover this, Tesla should at least add a button to a future software update that allows drivers to turn their DRL eyebrows completely off (as opposed to just Range Mode that only turns the DRLs off during daytime driving). Such a button would be welcomed by those with expired warranties who think it’s ridiculous to drop $1500 per headlight ($3000 to ensure they match) for a not-so-old car, but at the same time don’t feel good about rolling in a Tesla with bum lights.

 

[g1000x]

I’m getting my driver side assembly fixed under warranty on Tuesday. This will be the 3rd time replacing it. My previous assembly was a D part replaced in 2019.

 

[nomis_nehc]

I replaced my passenger side that has failing DRL and driver side (preemptively) with F revision that I was able to snag online. Hoping these hold up. Otherwise, will just have to wait until revision G pops online.

 

[nomis_nehc]

Or it could be a defect with just that one unit. Tesla Service also sent me a text saying that I should stop seeing failures with the F units installed, so we’ll have to see what the overall feedback becomes.

From experience, I have seen that the burn out starts out at the very edge, so it is probable that it's a defective unit since it was right in the middle. Having said that, it's definitely easier to say that it's probably still an issue in the F. But we'll see. I put in F for both sides, and once again, but PPF over it -- hoping this is the last time I am having to do this.

 

[headcase]

From experience, I have seen that the burn out starts out at the very edge, so it is probable that it's a defective unit since it was right in the middle. Having said that, it's definitely easier to say that it's probably still an issue in the F. But we'll see. I put in F for both sides, and once again, but PPF over it -- hoping this is the last time I am having to do this.

If you read my post further up regarding the F series, Telsa believes the redesign in that version has solved the LED burnout issue.