I have owned my 2016 Model S for just over one year (25k miles) and have been a huge fan of Tesla. I like reading the forums and have been a very happy owner. However, I was driving home with my wife from church this morning and the car had a potentially life threatening failure. I began noticing a "thud" type sound on normal road bumps on my drive home, and when I slowed turning into my development and pressed on the brakes to slow down the car, it began making a shrill sound and the car began jumping up and down. I pulled over and noticed that it looks like something completely fell off the front driver's side axel or turning apparatus (I'm not very knowledgeable about car parts!) Has anyone else experienced this? I am hoping this is an anomaly as I really love my Tesla, but if this would have happened on the highway or on autopilot I can't imagine things ending well for me and my family. I am very happy to be safe at home. I will reach out to service Monday am to get this fixed. I am attaching a picture of what I saw in the front passenger side wheel where something seems to have completely come off the cars suspension.
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Don't waste your time here.....get it picked up and sent to a service center. We can't help you.
I've owned many vehicles and never saw a catastrophic failure like that. I'm not looking for a mechanic's advice for a normal fix. I'm just trying to see if this is a trend or an anomaly. I googled it and found a few references to an axel issue but not sure if that is what happened. A one year old $100k car shouldnt just fall apart on the road like that, right?
Sorry to hear about your issue. You're under warranty and you know it will be repaired and hopefully with an upgraded part. Your family is safe and that's what really matters.
A part failure can happen on any car, even Lamborghini doesn't get it right all the time.
Enjoy your car!
A part failure can happen on any car, even Lamborghini doesn't get it right all the time.
Enjoy your car!
Thanks, I'm hoping there is a good answer from the service team tomorrow. As far as being a "troll" I doubt a post on this message board is going to impact a stock price. If you want to meet me at the Maitland FL service center tomorrow RayW or gaswalla you can call me that in person, it will be fun. In the meanwhile I'm obviously concerned about my car and trying to figure out if this is a one-off or something you as a supposed Tesla owner should care about.
@FLMSOwner I'm so sorry that you experienced this issue, but Tesla service will take good care of you. Tesla Model S definitely has more service issues than your average car. Don't let the "mean girls" get to you.
hacer
Active Member
So that looks pretty bad. The torn metal is a ball joint attachment. Any chance you hit a pot-hole pretty hard? The clean sheer suggests a large force or possibly a material defect. If the former your insurance should cover the road hazard (typically considered collision); if the latter, your new vehicle warranty should cover the repair.
Unfortunately you posted a failure mode that has occurred to a few people here, but was picked up and ran with by a crazy dude with an axe to grind against Tesla. I am sure he will be here shortly under a new user name and this thread will become just him posting pics of random salvaged Teslas.
Frankly, I suspect there may be a problem with a particular lot of those castings or one of Tesla's vendors that just hasn't surfaced yet. But until we know more, a subset of folks here treat all these posts as posts by the crazy dude.
Please keep us informed if Tesla replaces it under warranty or what they say.
hacer
Active Member
It's sad there are so many rude people on these forums (but still a minority). It's also true that jerks like Keef keep showing up under new usernames to make specious claims, which doesn't help.
I expect that the other damage (felt etc) is the result of driving it with the broken ball joint mount. It would probably have been best to stop driving once you noticed the "thud" sounds but I don't think anyone should hold that against you. The good news (besides no injuries and no other property damage) is that the repair time should be pretty short.
jeffro01
Active Member
Call it what you will but some of us have been around long enough to be jaded enough to always assume the most nefarious intentions from these kinds of threads...
Jeff
Appreciate it, hopefully the service folks can pick it up tomorrow and get it fixed quickly. Ironically I had a service appointment set up later this week for my charge port door that isn't working properly and some other minor things, so it was heading up there anyway. The service team in Orlando has been really good in my experience. It is an awesome car otherwise, so hoping this is just some weird deal and it gets fixed quickly. I'll make sure I post an update after they fix it (and maybe the service receipt for the people who were calling me a troll ha.)
@FLMSOwner, I sincerely apologize for my comment which was based solely upon my past observations of individuals attempting to use this forum as a conduit to funnel false information to the broader media websites. In hindsight, I should not have made my comment based on limited information and would "Disagree" it if I could. I am sure the service center will treat you well.
BTW, here's why many people here are jaded when they see 'failed suspension' posts on this forum:
Elon Musk: Most Tesla safety complaints to the Feds were 'fraudulent'
BTW, here's why many people here are jaded when they see 'failed suspension' posts on this forum:
Elon Musk: Most Tesla safety complaints to the Feds were 'fraudulent'
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