Had my 2015 Model S towed to the service center last night after the power steering died about 15 minutes away from the house. It was terrifying right at the moment that it happened, and it took a lot of muscle to get it home. Decided to call for a tow instead of muscling it to the SC.
This morning, the service center calls and said "this should only take an hour, there was a recall about this. Not sure why you weren't notified before." Apparently the grounding bolt corrodes and the power steering becomes electrically disconnected. After speaking with him I googled it and sure enough, there was a recall for this. Tesla issues a voluntary recall for power-steering bolts in all 123,000 pre-April 2016 Model S vehicles
Mine is still under warranty for another 1.5 years thanks to the 4 year warranty when I bought it in 2019, so nothing out of pocket. But sure was frustrating to have to deal with this when Tesla knew about it. Even more frustrating that my car has been at the service center a couple times in the past couple years; they could have done it at any time when it was there. Maybe the recall came out a few months before I owned the car, but still- you'd think they would tie it to the VIN and just perform the work the next time it shows up at an SC.
Anyway, if you have a pre-2016 Model S, go get this recall done as it sure beats driving off the road if your power steering dies unexpectedly in the middle of a turn.
This morning, the service center calls and said "this should only take an hour, there was a recall about this. Not sure why you weren't notified before." Apparently the grounding bolt corrodes and the power steering becomes electrically disconnected. After speaking with him I googled it and sure enough, there was a recall for this. Tesla issues a voluntary recall for power-steering bolts in all 123,000 pre-April 2016 Model S vehicles
Mine is still under warranty for another 1.5 years thanks to the 4 year warranty when I bought it in 2019, so nothing out of pocket. But sure was frustrating to have to deal with this when Tesla knew about it. Even more frustrating that my car has been at the service center a couple times in the past couple years; they could have done it at any time when it was there. Maybe the recall came out a few months before I owned the car, but still- you'd think they would tie it to the VIN and just perform the work the next time it shows up at an SC.
Anyway, if you have a pre-2016 Model S, go get this recall done as it sure beats driving off the road if your power steering dies unexpectedly in the middle of a turn.