String of issues with 7 months old Model X

[F-Juice]

Hi All,

I have had my Model X for 7 months, and I've had a string of issues with it, and the latest problems are not fixed yet.
I was thinking of contacting the Tesla customer service with the list of issues I've had, but before that I'd like to share my experience and ask owners on this forum what are their thoughts.

Below is the list of problems I had, sorted by order of severity.

• Complete loss of sound. That means not only the audio app/phone streaming, but navigation instructions and even the blinkers sound is gone. This is usually fixed by rebooting the MCU with the 2 buttons on the steering wheel

• Both key fob failed in a 2 weeks span, one after the other. There was no notification of low battery in both cases. When I called Tesla, they also acknowledged their system showed no such thing. I had mobile service come twice to fix each fob.

• Above issues are annoying, but it is nothing major. Now we get to the potentially dangerous stuff. Black screen all of a sudden while driving on the highway in heavy traffic. No more sound, no more camera, nothing. I wondered (I actually still wonder now) if my blinkers were even working when I used the stalk, as I had no feedback whatsoever to tell me if they were active or not. Thankfully, this happened only twice, relatively early after taking delivery of the car. The screen and sound came back online maybe 5 minutes later. During these 5 minutes I thought I would pee my pants though.

• The horn never worked from day 1. Both sides of the steering wheel are not working. I really only use the horn when there is immediate danger, and it took me 6 months before realizing it didn't work. Another visit of Tesla mobile service, and they couldn't fix it right away because ...

• The steering wheel airbag is not functional. The guy mentioned something about the airbag harness that has an issue, and the whole steering wheel/airbag needs to be replaced. At that stage, my wife went ballistic when she learned I drove a car without airbag for over 6 months. Right now, her level of confidence in this car has dropped more than the Tesla stock in recent weeks, which is saying something.

• And finally, the latest weird thing that happened last week. My shift gear stalk just stops working randomly. The scenario is always the same though. I push the stalk up to go rear and park. I press the stalk down to go forward again. Nothing happens. The gear is stuck in rear. Trying to press the button on the stalk to park doesn't work either. Only way to move the car forward again is to reboot the MCU. That happened once if front of my garage while I was alone, and again a few days ago when I was driving with the whole family. After the airbag stunt, this one really broke the camel's back with my wife. She'd rather I don't drive that car until it gets a full checkup.

So, I'm asking everyone with a Model X on this forum, does that sound familiar? What do you think I should do ?
Contact Tesla with the full list of issues I had and ask for a full verification of the car ?
If they agree to that, do you think I can get a loaner car during that period ?

I love my car, it is really one of the most exciting thing I ever drove, but ignoring all these issues would be unreasonable I think, not to mention potentially dangerous.
I know the Model X had a difficult start with a lot of reliability issues, but I was hoping this period to be past us.
Have other people experienced so many issues ? Did I just pick the bad apple in the basket ?
I'm really looking forward to other owner's comments and suggestions.

Thanks,
Fred

 

[Fellsteruk]

Sorry to hear about your issues. I’ll be honest I’ve only had one of your issues happen “black screen” when driving but equally I’ve actually done a reset whilst driving which reboots both screens so that wasn’t too much of an issue for me.

I had 4 A4 pages of issues when I got my car, but once the SC knew about it they worked to fix them all, some got done quick others waited on parts and whilst it took a while they did a great job of fixing everything

I’d pull your list together, send it to your SC and ask them to book it in and work through your list they should be happy to do that!

 

[ripper88]

I have a 2018 September Model X and I haven't had any problems with it. Why are you writing a long post on here instead of contacting Tesla service?? Why are you asking us if you should contact Tesla Service? Of course you should contact Tesla with the full list of problems.

It sounds like there is an issue with the wiring harness feeding the steering wheel. I am sure if your airbag was non functional the computer would let you know. If the screen goes black or reboots the vehicle still functions like a normal vehicle and the blinkers still work. There is no danger.

Occasionally people are unlucky and it looks like you are one of those people. Equipment failures happen on all makes of vehicles. Contact Tesla service right away and get an appointment. Because these problems relate to safety (airbag) they should try and get you in asap.

I saw your previous post about how your falcon wing door crashed into a beam in your garage. I have a low ceiling garage and never had a problem with the doors hitting something. No to say that it couldn't happen. Why didn't you upload pictures?

You said: "I love my car, it is really one of the most exciting thing I ever drove, but ignoring all these issues would be unreasonable I think, not to mention potentially dangerous." Why would you ignore these issues? There is so much about this post that doesn't make any sense.

 

[LTR2018]

"The steering wheel airbag is not functional. The guy mentioned something about the airbag harness that has an issue, and the whole steering wheel/airbag needs to be replaced. At that stage, my wife went ballistic when she learned I drove a car without airbag for over 6 months. Right now, her level of confidence in this car has dropped more than the Tesla stock in recent weeks, which is saying something."

How did anyone even determine this? Did you get into an accident?
Smelling like FUD to me....

 

[365gtb4]

I had a freon leak the day I brought mine home. Took it back the next day, fixed. That's it.

 

[Axtrader]

Hi Everyone,

I've seen a couple of posts about the same issue but I couldn't really get the answers I was looking reading them.
Yesterday, after parking my 1 week old Model X in my garage, the sensor on the Falcon Wing Door failed to notice a beam and slammed the door into it.
Sadly one of the glass panel was hit and I now have a small dent and cracks near the corner of the horizontal panel behind the passenger seat.
From the inside, there is nothing visible, but you can notice it from the outside.

Reading this forum, it looks like issues like that have happened quite frequently to Model X owners, with the sensors failing to detect obstacles and the door ending up damaged.
I'd like to ask other members/owners of Model Xs how they dealt with this issue ?
Did Tesla cover for the repair ? How long did it take for the Service Centre to fix the issue.
In case you were out of your pocket, how much was the cost of replacement ?

Thanks in advance for your help!
Fred

F-Juice... This is your first post above. If you have been this unlucky, you need to go work them out at your Service Center. No more FUD!

 

[puritan]

I had issues 1 -> 3. A software update and reset fixed it. It looks like your steering harness isn't working. I had a harness issue with my falcon wing doors.

I consider all these teething issues a right of passage for any owner of a Tesla Model X. You should be up and running after your service appointment.

Don't give up on the car, it's like fine wine.

Also, ignore the guys on here who aren't necessarily being helpful.

 

[LTR2018]

Seriously though...how was the airbag nonfunctionality determined?
Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[ysquared2]

I’ve had issue 3 as well. Happened twice on Day 2 after I got my P100D driving on i5 with a baby on board. First time I freaked out but second time I performed a reset while driving.

After updating to 2019.12.1 everything seems normal so far. So update+reset should solve most of the issues, just like those windows PCs. If something ain’t working, just reboot

 

[F-Juice]

Wrote Tesla yesterday and add an update on most of the still pending issues:
"We have reserved a few parts that we may be the cause of the problem for the loss of audio, gear selector, scroll wheels and horn not working.
For the screens turning black while driving, this is a current firmware bug that is currently being worked on by our engineers.
They hope to have this resolved in future firmware updates. "

Have an appointment scheduled today. Hopefully that's the end of it and no more surprises

 

[BulldogsRus]

Hi All,

I have had my Model X for 7 months, and I've had a string of issues with it, and the latest problems are not fixed yet.
I was thinking of contacting the Tesla customer service with the list of issues I've had, but before that I'd like to share my experience and ask owners on this forum what are their thoughts.

Below is the list of problems I had, sorted by order of severity.

• Complete loss of sound. That means not only the audio app/phone streaming, but navigation instructions and even the blinkers sound is gone. This is usually fixed by rebooting the MCU with the 2 buttons on the steering wheel

• Both key fob failed in a 2 weeks span, one after the other. There was no notification of low battery in both cases. When I called Tesla, they also acknowledged their system showed no such thing. I had mobile service come twice to fix each fob.

• Above issues are annoying, but it is nothing major. Now we get to the potentially dangerous stuff. Black screen all of a sudden while driving on the highway in heavy traffic. No more sound, no more camera, nothing. I wondered (I actually still wonder now) if my blinkers were even working when I used the stalk, as I had no feedback whatsoever to tell me if they were active or not. Thankfully, this happened only twice, relatively early after taking delivery of the car. The screen and sound came back online maybe 5 minutes later. During these 5 minutes I thought I would pee my pants though.

• The horn never worked from day 1. Both sides of the steering wheel are not working. I really only use the horn when there is immediate danger, and it took me 6 months before realizing it didn't work. Another visit of Tesla mobile service, and they couldn't fix it right away because ...

• The steering wheel airbag is not functional. The guy mentioned something about the airbag harness that has an issue, and the whole steering wheel/airbag needs to be replaced. At that stage, my wife went ballistic when she learned I drove a car without airbag for over 6 months. Right now, her level of confidence in this car has dropped more than the Tesla stock in recent weeks, which is saying something.

• And finally, the latest weird thing that happened last week. My shift gear stalk just stops working randomly. The scenario is always the same though. I push the stalk up to go rear and park. I press the stalk down to go forward again. Nothing happens. The gear is stuck in rear. Trying to press the button on the stalk to park doesn't work either. Only way to move the car forward again is to reboot the MCU. That happened once if front of my garage while I was alone, and again a few days ago when I was driving with the whole family. After the airbag stunt, this one really broke the camel's back with my wife. She'd rather I don't drive that car until it gets a full checkup.

So, I'm asking everyone with a Model X on this forum, does that sound familiar? What do you think I should do ?
Contact Tesla with the full list of issues I had and ask for a full verification of the car ?
If they agree to that, do you think I can get a loaner car during that period ?

I love my car, it is really one of the most exciting thing I ever drove, but ignoring all these issues would be unreasonable I think, not to mention potentially dangerous.
I know the Model X had a difficult start with a lot of reliability issues, but I was hoping this period to be past us.
Have other people experienced so many issues ? Did I just pick the bad apple in the basket ?
I'm really looking forward to other owner's comments and suggestions.

Thanks,
Fred

"I've waited over seven months with some potential life altering safety issues (that are also infuriating my spouse btw), but before I contact the maker that will readily fix these under warranty...I thought I'd come to this message board first to get feedback!"

That's adorable!

 

[tangent]

I didn't get my X new, so I didn't have any of the fresh-off-the-production-line issues. I am happy to say 20,000+ miles of ownership the car has been problem free.

Center screen black out is similar to smartphone hangup, a simple reset should do the trick. I have done it a few times even when car is in motion. I temporarily lose non-essential functionalities like turn-single audio cues etc.

 

[mattack4000]

Lemon the car and buy another one if it is as bad as it sounds. No working airbag is a safety hazard and you will win any arbitration

 

[Anzir]

In 9 months of ownership I've had the first two issues you mentioned only a handful of times but I haven't had anything happen for at least 5-6 months now. Usually it's a software thing that gets corrected when the next software version is installed. For instance, I lost the ability to have my charger wand open my charge port but it regained the functionality with 2019.12

 

[01923109]

Damn that steering wheel issue is horrible. #3 is very common and I've had it happen before. As long as you know how to reset it isn't a big deal but I see how it can be scary

Similar to the loss of sound issue but not as extreme I keep having loss of bluetooth. If I change gears at all my bluetooth disconnects but that probably isn't the problem you are having

 

[Brian's ReX]

Seriously! Am I missing something?!?

I need to know how to 'test' an airbag (aside from the obvious) to know if it's functioning!

I've had my X for over a year... 14K miles... no issues except the screen going black with the last update (which 'seems' to be fixed with 12.1.1). But maybe I've been driving all these miles with a faulty airbag!?!?!?!? How do I check!?!?!

*sarcasm