Suspension Problem on Model S

[Vitold]

Seems this thread has some value. Sharing symptoms of potential problems before potentially serious problems arise. What a concept?

Mostly It is just noise. Without knowing vehicle accident/driving/maintenance history and frequency of occurrences you are likely make wrong conclusions and worry unnecessarily.

Best is to take your car for checkup as recommended by Tesla.

 

[Vitold]

WOW people are so naive, I live within 2 miles of my business, also on a paved road. My Model S has not been abused or driven regularly on any dirt road. The car was serviced at the Ross Park Mall sears service center just three weeks before the incident, So I blindly believed the car was in good shape. I just count my lucky stars that I did go onto that back country road that Sunday and had the failure at a low speed otherwise my Wife and I could have been killed or worse yet killed someone else. Now that I know that The Tesla ball joints are prone to wear out ,in my case, at about 70,000 miles, I will check them about every 30,000 miles for safety sake. My only purpose in the first place when posting here was to warn other Tesla Model S owners about the safety risk so that they have their cars inspected for safety issues. If I convinced just one owner to do so and potentially saved an accident I accomplished my goal.

There is now to much noise on this thread, so I will not reply again on this thread until I hear back from NHTSA about my case.

So you had your 100k electric car serviced at Sears. I am surprised that Tesla have agreed to cover some of the repair costs at all - it only got them into this kerfuffle. I hope they learned from their mistake.

 

[Krugerrand]

WOW people are so naive...

Speaking of which...

The car was serviced at the Ross Park Mall sears service center just three weeks before the incident, So I blindly believed the car was in good shape. I just count my lucky stars that I did go onto that back country road that Sunday and had the failure at a low speed otherwise my Wife and I could have been killed or worse yet killed someone else.

My only purpose in the first place when posting here was to warn other Tesla Model S owners about the safety risk so that they have their cars inspected for safety issues.

Really? Let me remind you of your opening post in this thread:
I have owned my Model S since May of 2013 and truly love the car. With that said, I must tell everyone about a recent problem I experienced this past Sunday while driving on a back road at a very low rate of speed, about 5 MPH. The road was rough so my air ride was at it max lift. As I was proceeding down a steep hill I heard a snap and felt my steering wheel pull to the left. I stopped the car for further inspection only to discover that my left front hub assembly separated from the upper control arm. Needless to say the car was inoperable due to a loss of steering. Thank goodness I was not traveling at a high rate of speed. This could of been a tragic accident causing injury or even death.
I contacted Tesla and they towed the car to a service center. They just informed that this is not covered under warranty, stating that the cause was due to normal wear and tear. I have owned many cars in my life and have never experienced such a failure. My car has been driven 73000 miles.

Has anyone experienced this failure on their car?

No where in your first post did you say or even suggest that your purpose was to warn other owners about a safety risk. Indeed, your intent was summed up in your last sentence and question; you were looking for sympathetic people, those who'd had a similar experience to yours.

If your 'only purpose in the first place was to warn other Tesla Model S owners about the safety risk...' you would have started your opening post with something along the lines: I want to warn other Tesla Model S owners about "a potential safety risk" that I've already reported to the NHTSA...

 

[lklundin]

So you had your 100k electric car serviced at Sears. I am surprised that Tesla have agreed to cover some of the repair costs at all - it only got them into this kerfuffle. I hope they learned from their mistake.

Yes. One would assume that Tesla has a limited budget for goodwill repairs, so when they offer one, they most likely decline another. So they should pick their goodwill offers with some care.

 

[gpcordaro]

So you had your 100k electric car serviced at Sears. I am surprised that Tesla have agreed to cover some of the repair costs at all - it only got them into this kerfuffle. I hope they learned from their mistake.

I said that this would be my last post before, but because of you uninformed bashers I must clear the air. My car was serviced by a Tesla employee at the sears. Tesla has ranger service from that location and they,Tesla, did the work and issued an invoice on their letterhead Lastly my car had 70k miles on it at the time, not 100k as you stated.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

I said that this would be my last post before, but because of you uninformed bashers I must clear the air. My car was serviced by a Tesla employee at the sears. Tesla has ranger service from that location and they,Tesla, did the work and issued an invoice on their letterhead Lastly my car had 70k miles on it at the time, not 100k as you stated.

Would you mind posting a copy of that service invoice? I'd be curious to see what was inspected and what wasn't.

In the interest of safety and informing other owners, it seems to me this would be far more pertinent than posting copies of NDAs or goodwill agreements.

 

[techmaven]

I said that this would be my last post before, but because of you uninformed bashers I must clear the air. My car was serviced by a Tesla employee at the sears. Tesla has ranger service from that location and they,Tesla, did the work and issued an invoice on their letterhead Lastly my car had 70k miles on it at the time, not 100k as you stated.

It matters what you asked them to do. So yeah, I'd be interested in the invoice.

Will you respond to the discrepancies where you said you didn't drive off-road, then you said you did once or twice, and then up to 10 times? Also, who did the last annual safety inspection? And didn't the car make noises with such a corroded ball joint?

Still, none of this indicates a design defect. You jumped to that conclusion well ahead of obtaining the necessary information to establish that.

 

[bonnie]

Most of you want to bash Mr. Cordaro and claim this is a non issue. If he gets quoted in the press or ends up on the national news, what do think he will say about his fellow owners? Counter productive.

I do believe it was an issue for the OP. For him, alone.

I think the issue (which you appear to be missing) is that he inflated it through his actions into a fleet-wide problem and then national news. Though I may have missed it, I have yet to see a post where he's expressed his horror or regret over what Neidermeyer and others have done with his one data point, unsupported by anything other than fraudulent NHTSA reports.

I can't speak for others, but I personally would be horrified at this point & likely would try to set the record straight about how I felt used by others with special interests. Especially if I'd been so willing to be public to begin with.

 

[Krugerrand]

Most of you want to bash Mr. Cordaro and claim this is a non issue.

I can only speak for myself (since you quoted me). I did no bashing. I pointed out a humungous inconsistency in the OPs stated intent for opening this thread versus what he actually posted in his first post. I know you can comprehend that; you simply choose not to because you have your own inconsistent intentions being here. I'm not fooled by your passive aggressive approach and neither are several others here.

If he gets quoted in the press or ends up on the national news, what do think he will say about his fellow owners? Counter productive.

More what ifs by you. I can play that game too. What if he breaks his signed NDA and Tesla sues him and he loses? What if his inconsistencies get picked up by the media? What will his family and friends think? What if you stop posting here? Will we miss you?

 

[Curt Renz]

I said that this would be my last post before, but because of you uninformed bashers I must clear the air. My car was serviced by a Tesla employee at the sears. Tesla has ranger service from that location and they,Tesla, did the work and issued an invoice on their letterhead Lastly my car had 70k miles on it at the time, not 100k as you stated.

What type of servicing did you request? Did you request a thorough inspection?

 

[James Anders]

PA State Inspection Checklist: Performing State Inspections

• To test the following: windshield washer and wipers, horns and warning lights, suspension components and steering, braking and fuel systems, tires and wheels, windows and mirrors, speedometer and odometer, seat belts and safety equipment.
• To inspect the body and chassis for rust and leaks (such that noxious or toxic fumes would enter car interior).

And in reality many PA inspection sites often ignore certain mandated checks on new or nearly new cars. I've often had to make a specific request to pull the wheels and check the brakes on a new car.

 

[3Victoria]

Dirt roads - likely a non-issue, other than: the steep hill and rough road likely let the ball joint drop out and exposed the problem; and Tesla had to extract the car from that road, requiring two trucks, and a very dirty car.

The pertainent details, such as maintenance schedule, preexisting symptoms, and environmental conditions have not been clarified, and limits us from making a good determination of the seriousness and significance of this incident. Eg was salt used on the roads, was there boot damage, etc?

However, the lack of info has not prevented many speculative and over the top conclusions to be drawn. Since these have implications to the reputations of the OP, Tesla as well as others, I personally find it sad.

However, I find the behaviour of the 'press' to be worse, since anyone worthy of that name should be doing far more due diligence before simply repeating accusations, opinion, and speculation.

Of course, this is obviously a naive belief when $bllions of dollars are at stake, and when mist appear to put their financial best interests before any modicum of truth.

 

[pchilds]

37 of 40 reports to NHTSA fake.

Feds Clear Tesla of Supension Issues; Musk Cites 'Fraudulent' Customer Complaints - HybridCars.com

 

[X Yes?]

37 of 40 reports to NHTSA fake.

Feds Clear Tesla of Supension Issues; Musk Cites 'Fraudulent' Customer Complaints - HybridCars.com

At least its case would seem to have been nullified, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that 37 out of 40 supposed consumer complaints about suspension issues were found to have been falsified.

Musk tweeted it, so there you go, case closed.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The car was serviced at the Ross Park Mall sears service center just three weeks before the incident, So I blindly believed the car was in good shape.

I would also be curious to know what Tesla did at this Sears facility.

Regardless, I believe whoever filed NHTSA complaints using someone else's VIN should be prosecuted for filing false reports and for fraud. Nobody has my permission to file a complaint with NHTSA about my vehicle other than myself, and if someone were to do just that I would consider it to be a fraudulent use of my VIN number without my permission.

 

[lklundin]

I think the issue (which you appear to be missing) is that he inflated it through his actions into a fleet-wide problem and then national news

- and International news as well.

But my main reason for replying is just to stress what an important point the above posting makes...

 

[chipmunk]

I don't mean to pile on, as I am sympathetic to your plight, however why would you take your Model S electric vehicle to Sears for servicing? I wasn't aware that Sears possessed the knowledge to properly service a Model S or any electric car. You said it was "serviced" at Sears, did they perform the same annual service that Tesla performs at its service centers? Is Sears a Tesla authorized service facility?

The reason I ask is because Tesla specifically inspects and re-torques, if necessary, all suspension components during the annual service. I've taken my car in regularly every year and have received all suspension TSBs including a bolt replacement on my lower control arms back in 2013. If you did not take your car to a Tesla service center, you likely did not receive the TSBs as well as a detailed and thorough inspection of your suspension.

He already answered your question. He said it was a Tesla Ranger who serviced it at the Sears service center.

 

[JohnSnowNW]

He already answered your question. He said it was a Tesla Ranger who serviced it at the Sears service center.

That doesn't answer what was actually done. Ranger ≠ annual SC inspection.

 

[chipmunk]

That doesn't answer what was actually done. Ranger ≠ Annual SC inspection.

Ok, fair, but I didn't see that he implied it was the annual SC inspection. My assumption is the answer is that it was not.

 

[vgrinshpun]

And in reality many PA inspection sites often ignore certain mandated checks on new or nearly new cars. I've often had to make a specific request to pull the wheels and check the brakes on a new car.

That was not my experience. The places I went to made thorough inspection, even the car was brand new (it needed safety sticker as it came without the one brand new).