Suspension Failure

[eclectricdave]

Pl view pics. Im not an aggressive driver, have not hit anything perhaps gone into a few country road pot holes but that is not unusual. I don't agree with meloccom about suspension. These items should last cars life not be a fragile item subject to yearly scrutiny. There doesn't appear to much noise in Aus about failed suspension. Perhaps Tesla have been replacing the parts when they see the cars. It appears to affect cars with AWD more than 3 years old. It will most likely present as a crack at the small end of the forearm You will need to remove it to check. If it fails there will be a loud shudder which might shake the bonnet. This is generally observed at low speeds whilst parking and the wheel may hit the wheel arch when you drive off. If you are in the country you might be able to do road side repairs to get you home. Fencing wire is useful and readily available. Im going to fix my forearm eventually and take it with me on trips .Id appreciate advice if anyone else has suspension failures.

 

[Shock-On-T]

My left front suspension failed. I have less than a month warranty. The camber arm or fore arm broke at the inside end. There are are plenty of references on the US part of the forum. Mine is a 2015 85D. It is not driveable & has been taken away on a flatbed. I have now lost all confidence in Teslas & regret my purchase. I have never had a suspension fault in any vehicle Ive owned before & this includes a 911 Porsche. Ive been to Cooketown & back to Melbourne. What if this fault had occurred back of Townsville? Fix with fencing wire? Tesla needs to do a recall & address this problem.

Ive got my car back less $650. tesla tech says you have hit something cant happen any other way. I may take action against them. The arm is elongated at one end & has a missing piece. Tesla probably think owners will not act for sums that small. Like a lot of car companies you deal thru a trained customer relations person you don't get to argue with the tech. The suspension is a lot quieter fault may been present for some time Ill send pic tomorrow.

What was the $650 cost? Did they fix under warranty?

 

[Uncle Paul]

There have been a few posts about suspension failures. Several of them have show pictures where an impact had weakened them, and others show no impacts. That seems to make a major difference on warranty coverages.

It may be that your several country road potholes weakened your suspension, and ultimately had something to do with the failure.

Sorry you had to go through this. It does not seem to be a rampant issue with Tesla, but there have been instances of the aluminum suspension components failing.

 

[eclectricdave]

ShockonT The $650 was to replace the forearm as Tesla calls it. They said I hit something. I cant get my head around how this arm is stressed but will have a look next week. Ive hit potholes in other cars Ive owned and never had problems.

 

[Shock-On-T]

ShockonT The $650 was to replace the forearm as Tesla calls it. They said I hit something. I cant get my head around how this arm is stressed but will have a look next week. Ive hit potholes in other cars Ive owned and never had problems.

Thanks. Just curious because I'm out of warranty, bit nervous of unexpected costs. $650 seems not to bad, although bit harsh if it just failed on its own.

 

[Grenadine]

My car is 3 months old and the power steering has failed. It has been with Tesla for a day but they have not been able to diagnose it yet. Hope it is not a related issue.

 

[Dborn]

I agree. Suspension components should not fail like this. Yes they are metal and metal is subject to fatigue on loading. That is what engineers are for. In this case portion of the ring has gone. That does not look like impact to me. In the middle of the arm perhaps, but this looks like a consequence of extreme stress. I repeat that is what engineers are for - to design out as much stress as possible and prescribe the correct metal alloy to mitigate the remainder. The margin of error is usually 1.5 to 2x the expected stresses. I doubt that a few potholes would have got you up there!! If they had, i have little doubt you would know about it! Your family certainly would have complained!!

 

[Kiwiadventure]

Best thing to do is sell your Tesla's as some of you don't trust Tesla now. How about VW as they are really trust worthy and they have their ID 3 (yes another 3) coming someday but they have too fix all their ID computers individually first which is going to take many months as they have 25,000 assembled before VW will be selling them to customers.

 

[EcoCloudIT]

I think the point is there is not a rampant issue with Tesla suspension however in this circumstance it may have a faulty part etc.

No need to cut down the OP or equally rip on Tesla.....however I do believe that a push on the OP’er at Tesla to be fixed under warranty is worthwhile....

 

[eclectricdave]

Ill be presenting Tesla with a Consumers Affairs threat if they don't come good.

 

[Blue heaven]

Ill be presenting Tesla with a Consumers Affairs threat if they don't come good.

In your report to consumer affairs don't forget to mention the country roads potholes your vehicle has struck that you have posted on this TMC forum read by Tesla employees, may not be the cause of the eventual failure but it's always good to be up front.

 

[Kiwiadventure]

Ill be presenting Tesla with a Consumers Affairs threat if they don't come good.

You can prove that you never drove over sharp pot holes or steel man holes with badly fitting covers. If you threaten someone you'll never receive good service and it can be fun for some staff to see you return.

 

[paulp]

Ill be presenting Tesla with a Consumers Affairs threat if they don't come good.

Complete waste of time. Been there before over a bad bmw x3. Government departments have zero interest unless you have absolute indisputable proof of cause. Car companies know that.

 

[alloverx]

Perhaps ask for some some extras to soften the blow.

Or if not yet paid, "I have not hit anything so it should be covered under warranty but can we split the difference to move on"?

 

[Dborn]

Perhaps ask for some some extras to soften the blow.

Or if not yet paid, "I have not hit anything so it should be covered under warranty but can we split the difference to move on"?

Tesla is COD in Australia. No pay, no car.

 

[George Marley]

My left front suspension failed. I have less than a month warranty. The camber arm or fore arm broke at the inside end. There are are plenty of references on the US part of the forum. Mine is a 2015 85D. It is not driveable & has been taken away on a flatbed. I have now lost all confidence in Teslas & regret my purchase. I have never had a suspension fault in any vehicle Ive owned before & this includes a 911 Porsche. Ive been to Cooketown & back to Melbourne. What if this fault had occurred back of Townsville? Fix with fencing wire? Tesla needs to do a recall & address this problem.

Hi Dave have you been playing any of those Tesla games that use the steering wheel? It seems to me that moving the wheels from side to side whilst parked would place a lot of stress on the suspension parts. Might even lead to metal fatigue.

 

[EcoCloudIT]

Hi Dave have you been playing any of those Tesla games that use the steering wheel? It seems to me that moving the wheels from side to side whilst parked would place a lot of stress on the suspension parts. Might even lead to metal fatigue.

Not on a 85D (with AP1)....games like the one you speak of aren't available on AP1 HW cars....

 

[eclectricdave]

No games GM but have had the steering wheel wrenched violently to the right on AP when the car thought I was going to hit something. It was a road side sign on my left. No physical risk just another AP debacle. For Aussies it is just before Gundagai SC north bound. We drive on left here.

 

[EcoCloudIT]

No games GM but have had the steering wheel wrenched violently to the right on AP when the car thought I was going to hit something. It was a road side sign on my left. No physical risk just another AP debacle. For Aussies it is just before Gundagai SC north bound. We drive on left here.

agreed, we had this issue in our Model X (AP2.5) around the 3rd of Jan.

 

[RDoc]

Mechanical things break because they are made by humans. Lucky you wernt driving at speed at the time, and hopefully tesla deal with it quickly for you.

Actually, a lot of the time they break because they're designed by incompetent humans.