Model 3 steering failure

[Mustard K]

So had the fun of my steering dying on me during a parallel parking manoeuvre on a busy road today. I did a 2 button steering wheel reset and it came back to life and was able to complete the park.

Luckily this happened 0.2 miles from Tesla Stockport. I called the emergency roadside assistance and while waiting drove to the service centre carefully. Got through to the emergency assistance while in the SC foyer. They checked the car remotely and said that there were no faults logged, and that I should get the SC to physically check the car as it might be a physical issue that the software hadn’t picked up. The SC were utterly useless, stating that they close In 7 minutes (it was 11:53) and that they had no techs to look at it. They pushed the latest software (which I already had) to the car as the only “help” they could offer. I obviously said that had this happen when turning into a busy road or on the motorway then it could have been a whole different story and I’m a little concerned about driving the car with no further investigation or assistance. I was then told to call emergency assistance again, and to see if they could help any further.

Calling emergency assist again I was told that the car “should be ok” and have been booked in at the SC on Monday to have it checked over.

Very disappointed with how the incident has been looked into by Tesla, more so with the SC and apparent lack of concern or resolution.

 

[Durzel]

To be clear are we talking about a mechanical failure of the steering wheel here, or a failure of the scroll wheels/horn?

It sounds on the face of it that it was the former, hence the emergency recovery call, but if that’s the case what on Earth would a software update achieve?

And yeah - pretty disappointing that the SC just played the “it’s Saturday and we’re going home now“ card.

 

[pgkevet]

By failure of steering do you mean loss of power assistance or total inability to steer the car or just failure of the self-park function?
When mine got rodent chewed and I lost power steering and called roadside assistance they also asked if I could limp it to an SC. No way was I prepared to try that - quite apart from it being 90 miles - so they arranged a tow truck and enterprise loaner. The steering on my S is seriously heavy without power assist. yeah, it might lighten at higher speeds, but....

 

[Adopado]

So had the fun of my steering dying on me during a parallel parking manoeuvre on a busy road today. I did a 2 button steering wheel reset and it came back to life and was able to complete the park.

Luckily this happened 0.2 miles from Tesla Stockport. I called the emergency roadside assistance and while waiting drove to the service centre carefully. Got through to the emergency assistance while in the SC foyer. They checked the car remotely and said that there were no faults logged, and that I should get the SC to physically check the car as it might be a physical issue that the software hadn’t picked up. The SC were utterly useless, stating that they close In 7 minutes (it was 11:53) and that they had no techs to look at it. They pushed the latest software (which I already had) to the car as the only “help” they could offer. I obviously said that had this happen when turning into a busy road or on the motorway then it could have been a whole different story and I’m a little concerned about driving the car with no further investigation or assistance. I was then told to call emergency assistance again, and to see if they could help any further.

Calling emergency assist again I was told that the car “should be ok” and have been booked in at the SC on Monday to have it checked over.

Very disappointed with how the incident has been looked into by Tesla, more so with the SC and apparent lack of concern or resolution.

When was your car new? There was a known issue that could result in power steering failure (I'm presuming that's what you mean). There was a "soft recall" that meant any cars thought to have the issue had some wiring changes made when in the SC for other reasons. The problem was caused by water getting into a section of the loom that had been rerouted innappropriately due to RHD design changes (so never affected LHD vehicles). Cars imported beyond early 2020 shouldn't be affected by that particular issue.

 

[GlynG]

Come on - its not the end of the world. With most modern vehicles having electrically assisted steering racks occasionally they fail to assist and usually its an electrical gremlin/sensor. The steering continues to work fine but obviously a bit more effort is needed to turn the wheel, especially at parking manoeuvres but at anything over 15 to 20 MPH the steering become a lot lighter - but you can tell there isn't any assistance, the point is It isn't unsafe to drive without assistance.

The reset solved the issue and it may never resurrect though if it does you can be assured Tesla will sort this out.

Regarding the staff wanting to go home - You feel someone should have stayed and thoroughly checked your vehicle, however you are simply looking at your issue as the only issue they have to deal with. The staff also have a life and want to get home, they have completed their hours, No dealership of any marque will extend staff hours just because someone turns up with an issue a few minutes before they are due to close otherwise they would never be able to shut up shop - people would learn they will stay open if you turn up and take advantage of that - by finishing their shopping first or getting other chores out of the way - and the knock on effect would be customers arriving hours after official close time knowing they are likely not to have bolted their doors yet.

Take your own job - whatever that is - will you stay late just because a few minutes before closing someone calls in or rings wanting someone to complete a job - and a job (until its examined) without any idea of how long it would take?
So the service centre stays open, the staff have to stay, the lights are on and the heating, the staff want paying overtime rates, and the staff who have a family and due to go out are expected to just let the family down - your problem is greater than their life.

Mod comment: it's an old post but I've removed the very ending as it crossed the site rules (which I don't make).

 

[Mustard K]

To be clear are we talking about a mechanical failure of the steering wheel here, or a failure of the scroll wheels/horn?

It sounds on the face of it that it was the former, hence the emergency recovery call, but if that’s the case what on Earth would a software update achieve?

And yeah - pretty disappointing that the SC just played the “it’s Saturday and we’re going home now“ card.

yeah, complete locking of the steering wheel. I couldn’t turn it in either direction. Car could go forwards and backwards but no steering whatsoever.

 

[Mustard K]

By failure of steering do you mean loss of power assistance or total inability to steer the car or just failure of the self-park function?
When mine got rodent chewed and I lost power steering and called roadside assistance they also asked if I could limp it to an SC. No way was I prepared to try that - quite apart from it being 90 miles - so they arranged a tow truck and enterprise loaner. The steering on my S is seriously heavy without power assist. yeah, it might lighten at higher speeds, but....

Not even a heavy wheel, it would not move at all.

 

[Mustard K]

Come on - its not the end of the world. With most modern vehicles having electrically assisted steering racks occasionally they fail to assist and usually its an electrical gremlin/sensor. The steering continues to work fine but obviously a bit more effort is needed to turn the wheel, especially at parking manoeuvres but at anything over 15 to 20 MPH the steering become a lot lighter - but you can tell there isn't any assistance, the point is It isn't unsafe to drive without assistance.

The reset solved the issue and it may never resurrect though if it does you can be assured Tesla will sort this out.

Regarding the staff wanting to go home - You feel someone should have stayed and thoroughly checked your vehicle, however you are simply looking at your issue as the only issue they have to deal with. The staff also have a life and want to get home, they have completed their hours, No dealership of any marque will extend staff hours just because someone turns up with an issue a few minutes before they are due to close otherwise they would never be able to shut up shop - people would learn they will stay open if you turn up and take advantage of that - by finishing their shopping first or getting other chores out of the way - and the knock on effect would be customers arriving hours after official close time knowing they are likely not to have bolted their doors yet.

Take your own job - whatever that is - will you stay late just because a few minutes before closing someone calls in or rings wanting someone to complete a job - and a job (until its examined) without any idea of how long it would take?
So the service centre stays open, the staff have to stay, the lights are on and the heating, the staff want paying overtime rates, and the staff who have a family and due to go out are expected to just let the family down - your problem is greater than their life.

Hahaha. Nice work.

 

[Mustard K]

When was your car new? There was a known issue that could result in power steering failure (I'm presuming that's what you mean). There was a "soft recall" that meant any cars thought to have the issue had some wiring changes made when in the SC for other reasons. The problem was caused by water getting into a section of the loom that had been rerouted innappropriately due to RHD design changes (so never affected LHD vehicles). Cars imported beyond early 2020 shouldn't be affected by that particular issue.

New car on the 23rd of December, I’m first owner.

 

[Adopado]

Not even a heavy wheel, it would not move at all.

When at parking speeds without power assistance it feels like that (you can't turn the wheel when not moving). Using full strength and slowly moving forward it will turn ... and the faster you go the easier it is. I drove mine to the Service Centre with no power steering so I know what it's like! For it not to move at all there would have to be a mechanical failure that would not allow the restoration of normal function without a mechanical repair... since that did not happen I can only assume it was the power assistance that cut out.

 

[Durzel]

Come on - its not the end of the world. With most modern vehicles having electrically assisted steering racks occasionally they fail to assist and usually its an electrical gremlin/sensor. The steering continues to work fine but obviously a bit more effort is needed to turn the wheel, especially at parking manoeuvres but at anything over 15 to 20 MPH the steering become a lot lighter - but you can tell there isn't any assistance, the point is It isn't unsafe to drive without assistance.

The reset solved the issue and it may never resurrect though if it does you can be assured Tesla will sort this out.

Regarding the staff wanting to go home - You feel someone should have stayed and thoroughly checked your vehicle, however you are simply looking at your issue as the only issue they have to deal with. The staff also have a life and want to get home, they have completed their hours, No dealership of any marque will extend staff hours just because someone turns up with an issue a few minutes before they are due to close otherwise they would never be able to shut up shop - people would learn they will stay open if you turn up and take advantage of that - by finishing their shopping first or getting other chores out of the way - and the knock on effect would be customers arriving hours after official close time knowing they are likely not to have bolted their doors yet.

Take your own job - whatever that is - will you stay late just because a few minutes before closing someone calls in or rings wanting someone to complete a job - and a job (until its examined) without any idea of how long it would take?
So the service centre stays open, the staff have to stay, the lights are on and the heating, the staff want paying overtime rates, and the staff who have a family and due to go out are expected to just let the family down - your problem is greater than their life.

He wasn’t asking them to stay there overnight fixing it, he was asking for a bit of help in a desperate moment. Being told bluntly that they close in 7 minutes is not very sympathetic.

Maybe they could’ve pushed the boat out and spent 10 or 15 minutes arranging a courtesy car for the guy. The problem sounds catastrophic enough that obviously a software fix wasn’t going to do anything, so they were just fobbing him off.

 

[navt]

When was your car new? There was a known issue that could result in power steering failure (I'm presuming that's what you mean). There was a "soft recall" that meant any cars thought to have the issue had some wiring changes made when in the SC for other reasons. The problem was caused by water getting into a section of the loom that had been rerouted innappropriately due to RHD design changes (so never affected LHD vehicles). Cars imported beyond early 2020 shouldn't be affected by that particular issue.

Multiple system failure / Wiring Harness Recall

As it was a nice sunny day today I had a look at this. There was water present when I pushed back the black tubing running to the 3 items shown in AmPiste's photo above. It didn't look as though it should be a problem as I have now pushed it further away from the actual connectors which are...

teslamotorsclub.com

2020 models still plagued by this fault.

 

[Billbrown1982]

I think unfortunately this is one of those situations where your attempts to fix it yourself has hurt you in the long run.

If you had stayed where you was (with no steering) rang support and they connected in I would assume they would have seen the fault and then been forced to deal with it.

But because you managed to reset it and get to the SC they have just assumed there's nothing to worry about.

Real no win situation. I've had similar things happen to me over the years (not Tesla related) and now I think i'm so Jaded that when things happen like that, I just immediately let someone else deal with it lol

 

[Godsense]

Perhaps but having called roadside before the second thing they do is get you to do a reset. Odd it wasn't in the log at all given the amount of logging these cars do

 

[Adopado]

I think unfortunately this is one of those situations where your attempts to fix it yourself has hurt you in the long run.

If you had stayed where you was (with no steering) rang support and they connected in I would assume they would have seen the fault and then been forced to deal with it.

But because you managed to reset it and get to the SC they have just assumed there's nothing to worry about.

Real no win situation. I've had similar things happen to me over the years (not Tesla related) and now I think i'm so Jaded that when things happen like that, I just immediately let someone else deal with it lol

When I had this problem I drove the car, with some challenges, directly to the Service Centre. The issue affecting mine was already known by then and I had found out through this forum. I told the service staff this and that I was leaving the car with them. It was near the end of the afternoon but they sourced a vehicle for me and said the car would be dealt with the next day. That’s what happened and I picked up the car the day after that. A good response all round. No further problems. I think that was December 19 that it occurred.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Guessing its either loss of power or for some reason the steering lock came on (I presume these cars have a steering lock?)

Loss of power could be the known wiring issue for which there is a recall - you can check you car on the tesla website if it needs doing (although one would hope Tesla checked that for you)

Tesla Service

www.tesla.com

The steering lock - never heard of it being an issue, and I'm wildly speculating, maybe the key/card or whatever you use somehow got disconnected from the car and it engaged? I presume the fault actually sorted itself out after a while

The Model S has known issues with unversal joint on the steering wheel seizing (which can then spontaneously free up) and some cars have had suspension failures (which once failed, stay failed) but I think my money is a variation of the wiring loom issue.

Multiple system failure / Wiring Harness Recall

Well that was unnerving. Driving home from Gatwick, just as I enter the M23 northbound, multiple alerts for system failures. Autopilot disabled TACC disabled Regenerative breaking disabled Steering assist disabled TPMS disabled In fact, if there was a warning symbol for it, it was probably...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Mustard K]

I think unfortunately this is one of those situations where your attempts to fix it yourself has hurt you in the long run.

If you had stayed where you was (with no steering) rang support and they connected in I would assume they would have seen the fault and then been forced to deal with it.

But because you managed to reset it and get to the SC they have just assumed there's nothing to worry about.

Real no win situation. I've had similar things happen to me over the years (not Tesla related) and now I think i'm so Jaded that when things happen like that, I just immediately let someone else deal with it lol

Yeah, I agree - sadly I was blocking the road and had no option but to try the only thing i I could think of.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

A failure of power steering would definitely be logged. But as others have said failure of the physical steering system tends to be a one way trip to a flatbed..

Anything under Service/Notifications? (assuming that's not moved.. I'm too lazy to check right now).

 

[Billbrown1982]

Yeah, I agree - sadly I was blocking the road and had no option but to try the only thing i I could think of.

Ugh yeah that is the worst, when of course every other person that you are blocking has never ever ever had any kind of car problem and can't comprehend any possible reason why you are delaying their super important life.

 

[Hector75]

So had the fun of my steering dying on me during a parallel parking manoeuvre on a busy road today. I did a 2 button steering wheel reset and it came back to life and was able to complete the park.

Luckily this happened 0.2 miles from Tesla Stockport. I called the emergency roadside assistance and while waiting drove to the service centre carefully. Got through to the emergency assistance while in the SC foyer. They checked the car remotely and said that there were no faults logged, and that I should get the SC to physically check the car as it might be a physical issue that the software hadn’t picked up. The SC were utterly useless, stating that they close In 7 minutes (it was 11:53) and that they had no techs to look at it. They pushed the latest software (which I already had) to the car as the only “help” they could offer. I obviously said that had this happen when turning into a busy road or on the motorway then it could have been a whole different story and I’m a little concerned about driving the car with no further investigation or assistance. I was then told to call emergency assistance again, and to see if they could help any further.

Calling emergency assist again I was told that the car “should be ok” and have been booked in at the SC on Monday to have it checked over.

Very disappointed with how the incident has been looked into by Tesla, more so with the SC and apparent lack of concern or resolution.

I’ve just had this happen. Warning that assistance is reduced and then a complete failure whilst navigating a roundabout!! Was quite a scare. Managed to hobble to side of the road and did a reboot. This cleared it until the next time I started the car when it failed again. Awaiting a service visit… any help appreciated!