Model S long range refresh pulls hard left on hard acceleration. Need help!

[komrade]

I had the exact same issue on mine. It took me three different service visits to get it resolved.

The issue was with the steering rack column. As per the tech, the steering rack was unable to find the 'true zero' therefore the right side/tire was compensating and that's what caused the vehicle to steer left on hard acceleration.

Issue was resolved after the steering rack replacement.

 

[sorka]

I had the exact same issue on mine. It took me three different service visits to get it resolved.

The issue was with the steering rack column. As per the tech, the steering rack was unable to find the 'true zero' therefore the right side/tire was compensating and that's what caused the vehicle to steer left on hard acceleration.

Issue was resolved after the steering rack replacement.

Was it at all intermittent or did it pull to the side 100% on hard acceleration?

 

[komrade]

Was it at all intermittent or did it pull to the side 100% on hard acceleration?

Pull to the side 100% on hard acceleration. It was worse from the stand still.

Initially, the service center said it was torque steer and they recommended to do the alignment but that didn't fix the issue. Next, they said it was the suspension bolts that needed to be tighten up and that didn't fix it either. Finally, I took it to another service center and they test drove the car for almost an hour and found the issue to be from the steering rack column. It was replaced and the issue was resolved!

 

[CorporateB]

Pull to the side 100% on hard acceleration. It was worse from the stand still.

Initially, the service center said it was torque steer and they recommended to do the alignment but that didn't fix the issue. Next, they said it was the suspension bolts that needed to be tighten up and that didn't fix it either. Finally, I took it to another service center and they test drove the car for almost an hour and found the issue to be from the steering rack column. It was replaced and the issue was resolved!

That's interesting, good to hear that there was a fix for it at least.

Mine might just be tire-related + poor alignment from delivery. After 2 alignments from Tesla (the first one they didn't have the paper for so I'm not sure they actually did it), the car was mostly straight, maybe a slight pull to the left at max acceleration. With the new tires, that pull is to the right. I'm thinking my summer tires may be messed up and caused the car to pull left, so Tesla dialed in the alignment to appease me and dialed it in too far.

When I go back to summer tires next year and I have the garage space, I'll try swapping the tires side to side to see if that still happens. For now, it's good enough for me.....I think if I ask Tesla for anymore help they'll make it worse.

 

[sorka]

This is a Plaid. There is no rear diff. Plus the torque vectoring is advertised as a current feature so if the software was not already active, they'd be massively misadvertising it.

In my case, the alignment has been checked and I've swapped tires on both axles left<->right and it made no difference.

There is one other possibility other than a drive unit issue (excluding worn bushings or one or more bushing being torqued at the wrong height), and that is a cross diagonal ride height calibration issue where the front left and rear right have an equal amount of sensor underheight which would cause the front left and rear right to be pressurized at a higher pressure than the front right and rear left. Because of the frame stiffness of the body, this could mask cross diagonal calibration differences.

I figured out today how to prevent left pull 100%. Enabling dragstrip mode (no need to wait for it to be in ready mode) completely eliminates the pull to the left. Checking the steering angle on the CANBUS shows that it drifts from neutral to several degrees to the left when the wheel is perfectly straight which explains why it only happens 80% or so of the time when dragstrip mode is not enabled. My guess is that enabling dragstrip mode completely shuts down torque vectoring.

 

[Jeremy N]

I have a 2016 P90D which has recently and for no reason that I can think of started exhibiting this trait. It jumps right on heavy acceleration and back to the lft when you lift off. The faster you are travelling, the more proncounced it is. Quite unsettling particularly in fast curves where it has the effect of unsettling the rear of the car when you come on or off the throttle Downright dangerous.
Haven't had it.looked at by Tesla, but about to schedule it.
Any other feedback would be useful. Don't see that it can be software as I don't think k there is any separate torque apportionment to the wheels on the same axle but if anyone knows better please let me know.

I’m having this exact issue with my 2014 P85. What was the issue/Fix for your car??

 

[sorka]

I figured out today how to prevent left pull 100%. Enabling dragstrip mode (no need to wait for it to be in ready mode) completely eliminates the pull to the left. Checking the steering angle on the CANBUS shows that it drifts from neutral to several degrees to the left when the wheel is perfectly straight which explains why it only happens 80% or so of the time when dragstrip mode is not enabled. My guess is that enabling dragstrip mode completely shuts down torque vectoring.

Just replying to myself to make sure this isn't taken as a possible cause. It turns out it did not disappear with dragstrip mode enabled. It was just a lucky coincidence that the issue vanished on 10+ pulls when I tried it with dragstrip mode. The problem came back and continued to be intermittent with or without dragstrip mode turned on.