I recently bought a CPO 2013 Tesla Model S P85+ and every time I start the car in morning the brake pedal is super stiff, like a rock, and then it lets up to regular brake pressure. This only happens when I leave it overnight. I brought the car into the service center and they replaced the brake booster but this did not resolve the problem. I brought it in a second time and they are now telling me this is "normal" for my model year. I drove 4 Tesla loaners for a total of 4 months prior to this and none of them did this. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there some sort of leak in a brake system that is causing it to lose pressure overnight? Thanks!
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Stiff Brake Pedal when Starting Car in Morning
- Thread starter rknp85plus
- Start date
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
Thanks for the reply. I am starting to get the feeling that they either do not want to fix it or they have no idea how to. Just wanted to see if another owner with the same vehicle model had the same issue.
Stiff as in it takes a lot of pressure to brake, or stiff as in you cannot move the pedal, even when stopped.
If you have to apply a ton of pressure when the brakes are cold, it could be pads. Someone replaced them and they need to be warm to work. High temperature pads are not uncommon as people will buy racing equipment even when it's worse for their application. If this is the case new pads will regain the feel.
If you have to apply a ton of pressure when the brakes are cold, it could be pads. Someone replaced them and they need to be warm to work. High temperature pads are not uncommon as people will buy racing equipment even when it's worse for their application. If this is the case new pads will regain the feel.
My 2013 S has consistent feel. Hard as a rock in the morning is definitely not normal. I'd do two things.
First: Every time this happens press the voice button and say "Note. The brake pedal is really hard right now." "Note" is the keyword to send a timestamped message to Tesla so they can correlate the logs. After you complete the message, if it succeeds you'll get a "thank you" response.
Second: Write a polite letter to Tesla Corporate explaining the problem. This method has been known to help others. One of the issues Tesla has is that they get their service people from the same pool of people who work at a regular car dealership. This means that some, certainly not all, of them have a "say whatever it takes to get the customer out the door without us taking time to actually diagnose the problem" reflex.
I have 2013 S85 and have exact same behavior since beginning. Long ago mentioned it to service center (at factory) and they reviewed it and said it was normal behavior and is only there when starting car after long time sitting. In fact after pushing pedal first time, brake pedal behaves normally for all driving. But it is true that newer builds do not display "morning stiffness" -- older is better sometimes and you have a lot of gems on your car that have disappeared since 2013.
bishoppeak
Member
If it stays stiff over 4 hours go immediately to your service dept(Sorry, couldn't resist)
Stiff as in it feels like there is a rock stuck behind the pedal. There is maybe about a couple of centimeters of give. Once I pump the brake to start the car, pressure goes back to normal. Happens every morning like clockwork.
Thanks for the advice! Looks like I may have to write a letter. They are definitely giving me the "run around" vibe just to get me to go away and not fix the problem.
Thanks, you are the first to have the same experience. There are a lot of other members with our same make and model that do not have the same experience. So frustrating.
I'm pretty sure I experience the same thing (although perhaps not every morning). I'm pretty sure it has to do with some amount of boost bleeding off. I've experienced this on other cars too (i.e. I believe our Honda does this sometimes too). I sort of wonder if it is at all tied to any application of the brake pedal once the door opens when you come to a stop the night before. As it never affects the actual braking, I'm not worried about it.
JPP
Active Member
My 2013 S85 does this every morning. I attribute it to the brake booster bleeding off. Note that older builds (2013-2014) have an old fashioned 'mechanical' brake booster, and this is why there is no true hill hold on these models. Once the electrically powered brake boosters appeared (?2015-like my wife's S70D), then true hill hold appeared, and also the morning 'hard pedal' disappeared.
My new to me P85 does this if it sits 24hours but not at 14 hour overnight. Not sure where the break point is but a typical day get home from work park it leave for work the next morning is normal. Get home from work and doesn't leave again till Saturday afternoon and it is firm till you turn the car on.
I'm sure it is a vacuum leak, and there should be a couple things to leak:
* Brake booster (they already replace it right?)
* Vacuum hose between pump and booster.
* Vacuum pump (So this is most likely the problem.)
I don't think there is anything else run by vacuum in the car, so that should be it.
* Brake booster (they already replace it right?)
* Vacuum hose between pump and booster.
* Vacuum pump (So this is most likely the problem.)
I don't think there is anything else run by vacuum in the car, so that should be it.
William13
Active Member
Signature P85 here. When brand new this did not occur except when unused for a week. Slowly this phenomenon occurred more quickly. Mine occurs if left 12 hours or so now. As mentioned above it is a slow vacuum leak. No worries. Remember every time you take a car in you have a chance that something will be broken. Also you must exchange cars and use free time of your own. This will not cause an accident or cause more than two seconds of time delay daily.
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