Problems with 2013 Tesla Model S ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Re: nhtsa action number: dp19005 - investigation subject : battery management software updates tesla took action to downgrade horsepower and range along with all other aspects of performance through a total voltage cap after claiming to be releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released ever. after installing a software update 2019.16.x i lost range and the ability to charge the battery at higher rates. before the update, i was charging at 100% to 255 miles on my 85kw battery pack. the original miles were 265 miles when the car was new. of course normal degradation is expected. i currently only get 239 miles on a full charge as appose to 255 miles.

In the past year, my car has lost a significant amount of range, and has experienced slower charging speeds. after calling this to the attention of a tesla service center, i was told that there was nothing wrong with my battery and that the reports of a software update that lowered range were rumors. i experienced a 6% decrease in range in a few months. my car was 6 years old and only and 9% battery degredation over that period. in the past 6 months it has lost an additional 6% range now totaling 15%, and that additional range reduction seems to be linked to a software update from tesla. if there is a problem with the battery that may cause a fire, and that is the reason that tesla did indeed roll out a software update to increase safety, tesla should replace the batteries instead of reducing the rage . the most safe thing to do is replace the batteries. i love my car, and i am a big fan of tesla. tesla is very proud of safety in their cars, so they should do the right thing and replace these batteries.

On november 1, 2019, i was slowly braking and start turning right into my driveway on the 2013 tesla model s. i felt a surge of the vehicle and 1 second later, the vehicle landed on top of the staircase of my house entrance and driveway. i did not press on the accelerator at all when i slowly turning into the driveway.the vehicle sped on its own for only a split second. i called tesla roadside assistance. the representative contacted me and direct me to a repair shop and he told me that he would have the vehicle's information to be sent to the engineers to find out what happened. i had my vehicle towed but to repair shop but tesla support team has been ignoring all my calls and email. my vehicle was considered to be total loss by my insurance company.

11 days ago, the doors and windows stopped working on my tesla model s. the car was parked, and when i clicked on the "open" button to cause the door handles to extend, i discovered that the driver-side handle no longer opened. in fact, 3 of the 4 doors no longer opened. in addition, after crawling in through the passenger side door, i discovered that the windows no longer opened either. in addition to being a nuisance, this is a serious safety issue for several reasons. first, if the car is in an accident, emergency first responders will not be able to open the door. second, if a driver is approached by law enforcement or another person, he/she cannot open the window to communicate. in fact, earlier this year, a driver perished in a fiery tesla crash. the police were unable to rescue him, because they could not open his door. see https://www.autoblog.com/2019/02/25/fatal-tesla-model-s-crash-fire/. "according to reports, emergency responders and onlookers say they were unable to rescue the driver. the automatically deploying door handles on the outside don't appear to have deployed." apparently there are hundreds if not thousands of tesla cars with this problem. see https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/door-handle-not-functioning for a snapshot. for an example, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4j3beb5nog. i contacted at least 7 different people at tesla, but none of them seemed to view this as a safety hazard. they were more focused on charging me for what they call an "out-of-warranty" event, even though this problem with defective windows and doors has persisted since the very beginning. in fact, i have documented a long list of service failures with this tesla model s. i have over 100 emails outlining these problems, ranging from defective doors/windows to a battery malfunction to more. i can share these upon request.

On or about june 24, 2019, my parked car's software was forcibly updated without my prior knowledge, without any prior notification and without my authorization. this forced software update reduced the nominal capacity of my battery from 74 kwh to 68 kwh. on june 23, 2019, my 100% state of charge (soc) would charge each cell in my battery pack to 4.2 volts, resulting in a rated range of 257 miles. upon entering my parked car on june 24, i discovered that tesla "capped" the battery such that each cell would only charge to approximately 4.09 volts, resulting in a rated range of 226 miles at a 100% soc, or a rated range loss of 30-31 miles. four tesla cars that were parked recently caught fire. after the fourth fire, tesla issued an over the air (ota) software update preventing the full charging (e.g., to 4.2 volts for each cell) of the battery pack, limited the amount of current that can be "pulled" from the battery pack at any one time, resulting in a loss of acceleration. tesla stated the update was "out of an abundance of caution" after the occurrence of several non-crash fires. tesla unilaterally took this action of issuing a "fire-safety update" without informing the car owners of the reason for the update, why said update should be installed and the effect on the car once the update was installed. in my case, the update was forced on my parked car via an ota update on june 23 (or 24) without prior notification to me nor requesting my approval nor informing me of the consequences of installing the update (reduced range, power, etc.), tesla said that they were releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released. see, for example: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/16/18627746/tesla-fire-battery-software-update-model-s-x https://jalopnik.com/tesla-is-updating-battery-software-after-a-model-s-catc-1834794877

On or about june 24, 2019, my parked car's software was forcibly updated without my prior knowledge, without any prior notification and without my authorization. this forced software update reduced the nominal capacity of my battery by 16.02%. on june 23, 2019, my 100% state of charge (soc) would charge each cell in my battery pack to 4.2 volts, resulting in a rated range of 256 miles. upon entering my parked car on june 24, i discovered that tesla "capped" the battery such that each cell would only charge to approximately 4.09 volts, resulting in a rated range of 215 miles at a 100% soc, or a rated range loss of 41 miles. they also slowed the charging rate by over 50%. four tesla cars that were parked recently caught fire. after the fourth fire, tesla issued an over the air (ota) software update preventing the full charging (e.g., to 4.2 volts for each cell) of the battery pack, limited the amount of current that can be "pulled" from the battery pack at any one time, resulting in a loss of acceleration. tesla stated the update was "out of an abundance of caution" after the occurrence of several non-crash fires. tesla unilaterally took this action of issuing a "fire-safety update" without informing the car owners of the reason for the update, why said update should be installed and the effect on the car once the update was installed. in my case, the update was forced on my parked car via an ota update on june 23 (or 24) without prior notification to me nor requesting my approval nor informing me of the consequences of installing the update (reduced range, power, etc.), tesla said that they were releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released. see, for example: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/16/18627746/tesla-fire-battery-software-update-model-s-x https://jalopnik.com/tesla-is-updating-battery-software-after-a-model-s-catc-1834794877

Starting with a software update in may 2019, tesla capped the max voltage the high voltage battery would charge to. they claim they did this "out of an abundance of caution" after several non-crash fires happened to these models. tesla took action to downgrade horsepower and range along with all other aspects of performance through a total voltage cap after claiming to be releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released. this change happened while the car was parked in my garage and stationary. further, tesla has capped the rate of charge at their superchargers resulting in much longer charging times for this vehicle than has been observed before this update. thank you.

during all electrical fault failures the vehicle was stationary. i've had 6 service visits related to electrical faults causing mechanical failures. the steering rack failure was the most recent problem. tesla replaced the entire steering rack. the tesla owner's forum and teslamotorsclub.com owners say they've replaced only the steering motor and that 1 part fixes the power steering fault. the electrical charging port failed because of electrical faults. the 12-volt battery has failed twice during the last year. 5 door regulators have been replaced in the front 2 seats due to electrical faults. 3 window regulators have been replaced due to electrical faults. the power steering failed due to an electrical fault. i've paid $6,500 for electrical faults during the last year. the tires i buy are rated to 55,000 miles, but they keep wearing out unevenly, and often blowing out, at less than 30,000 miles. the service center cannot tell me why the tires are continually blowing out and wearing out unevenly after minimal use. i went to a tesla service center for help resetting my touchscreen and installing a firmware update when i was thousands of miles from home. the service center forced me to get nearly $2,000 of new regulators. parts were incorrectly replaced that were not malfunctioning. parts that malfunctioned once or twice were replaced. parts that were replaced the previous month, and were covered under the tesla parts warranty, were replaced again. the battery pack that powers the vehicle instantly lost 50-miles of range, 16% of total available range after visiting a service center. during 5.6-years of ownership, i lost less than 7% of total available range. i paid a $10,000 upgrade for range. i'm concerned it's a fault or that my vehicle was damaged or the battery was replaced with a defective battery without my knowledge.

It was a 2hr45min drive into work on an icy blizzardy morning, driving my 2013 model s rwd p85 with 90,000mi. have owned this car for 4 yrs. made it to work safely and the last 6 feet in the parking garage, going about 3 mph pulling at a right angle into a parking stall. had brake pedal depressed, shifted my foot to tap on the accelerator to inch forward and next thing you know, car is accelerating full throttle into a cement wall. crashed head on and airbag didn't even deploy. sat for a moment to catch my breath and try to process what happened. sent "bug report" on to tesla central from the car. the dashboard had prnd lit up in red and the vehicle would not go into drive or reverse. accelerator pedal was completely limp. zero resistance. thankfully, no other car was around me. called tesla service and they told us to reboot the car. we did, but accelerator pedal remained completely unresponsive. had to push out of the 5 story garage and tow it to an autobody shop. filed police report. reported to local tesla service center immediately. a few days later, we heard back from the tesla rep that said that report showed no malfunction. according to tesla accelerator went from 0% to 88% suddenly, implying "driver error." yet they also said the brake was tapped and then released prior to impact. this does not jive, why we a person accelerate, tap the brake then release? skid marks from rear tires left on garage floor. tesla won't release data. we do not want to accept this report and this is not what happened during the crash. today the auto body shop informed us that they were curious why the car is not driveable. after being reset, they discovered the accelerator pedal is broken. experience during the crash, combined with very unusual car behavior, and a broken accelerator refute tesla's claim of operator error.

1. the liquid crystal display that is the window to the car's soul has started leaking the liquid crystal stuff. the display shows defects and i'm concerned it will fail rendering the car unsafe and unusable. 2. the a/c and the heater11/ quit working and bloggers say it's the dc-dc converter that is a systemic problem. if it fails further it may again render the car unsafe or unusable.

Here is a tesla in the salvage yard. http://www.copart.com/us/lot/14649834?searchid=1942545060 it has been burned out. the suspension has collapsed and the car is propped up with pieces of wood. there does not seem to be any impact damage, the front bumper bar and the front wheels are not displaced. whilst is possible that the suspension has collapsed due to the fire it is also probable that this is another instance of suspension failure causing the battery pack to drag along the ground and ignite. please investigate the circumstance of this incident. i believe there is still an ongoing problem with teslas catching fire due to suspension failures and that the company is covering up this problem. gasoline fires can be extinguished relatively easily but a lithium battery fire is almost impossible to put out.

On july 16, 2015 while driving my 2013 model s 60, i made a right hand turn into a parking space in simi valley, california. as i pulled into the space, i took my foot off of the accelerator and applied the breaks. instead of stopping, the car lurched forward over a curb and a berm, stopping when it hit a fire hydrant, propelling it off of its bolts, generating a huge geyser of water. because of the tremendous amount of water gushing over my car, i had no visibility and elected to stay in the car while attempting to dial 911. moments later, a man who had been sitting in the car next to the space where i was attempting to park, opened the back door to ask about my condition. i then exited the car. i was not injured and thank goodness the car had not hit another person or another car. it took a tow truck about 15 minutes to arrive at the scene. all the while the torrential water surged around, under and over my car and now flooded the interior. according to tesla, either the car shorted-out causing all of the windows to roll down or there is a safety feature that causes the windows to roll down if the car perceives it is under water. the man who braved the flood of water from the fire hydrant to check on me saw the entire accident as he was sitting in his car. he said that my break lights were on as my car went over the berm. i have no idea what caused the car to accelerate by itself and i am certain that my foot was on the brake pedal. the next day, i heard from both my insurance company and the body shop that tesla wanted the car at their service center in van nuys. several weeks ago, the claims adjuster called to say that due to the heavy water damage, the car has been totaled. i am writing this complaint on the nhtsa's website because i believe there is something terribly wrong with this particular car. also, see nhtsa report of previous 2013 accident.

Timothy devine was killed after driving his vehicle off the road and down the canyon. the tesla started a brushfire that was so bad that 180 firefighters were called in and malibu canyon road was closed for over 9 hours. tang, a spokesman from the highway patrol said that timothy devine was so badly burned he wasn't recognizable as a person and that fire had melted the car down to nothing. was this suicide or driver error? was this known problems with steering, unintended acceleration, brake failure, etc. was this fatal crash, fire and explosions the the fault of the driver and or the fault of the vehicle?

Needed to replace drive motor, 85kw battery in the last 6 months and currently have faulty onboard charger and not able to charge. these frequent charging problems have really annoyed me. tesla service has been really nice and responsive, however, i decided to report these because the issues are beyond what's expected from a new car, let alone a tesla. this is less than reliable for a 1+ yr old car. if it wasn't for the extension of tesla drive train and battery warranty (unlimited miles) these would have been really expensive repairs. *tr

Tesla owners are still reporting that tesla's universal mobile chargers are still a fire hazard. tesla owners are still reporting that new replacement grey faced adapters under the recall are still overheating, melting, failing and burning. tesla owners are still reporting that some of them have not received the new grey faced adapter under the recall. some tesla owners are still reporting overheating, melting, burning and failures with new & old adapters. some customers report they are still using the old adapters that have been recalled because they haven't received the updated new grey faced adapter. the grey faced adapter has not addressed all of the fire hazards with the tesla's umcs. tesla's umcs still are a fire hazard. *tr

A stolen tesla crashed in west hollywood, killing the driver. photos seem to suggest that the driver side air bag may not have deployed. allegedly light poles split the car in half. the light poles seem to be the breakaway type. suggesting there may be a structural weakness that allowed the tesla to break in half, fracturing the battery, catching pieces of battery on fire, and exploding battery cells, sending flaming shrapnel through the neighborhood. *tr

Before defective nema-1450 could be replaced, i had a melt-down of the device while charging the car. the reason for writing: letter received today (letter dated 6/27/14) from tesla says they had developed a soft-ware update to prevent this (as well as replacing the part). my incident happened after my software was updated (i'm now 5.11, update was 5.8.4). claims of software protection should be validated. *js

The umc software "fix" did not fix the problems. charge connectors have continued to overheat, melt and burn. allegedly some of the umc connector to wire welds are insufficient, and a fire hazard, indicating poor manufacturing and poor quality control. some customers claim to have had a dozen or more umcs fail. tesla (elon musk) claimed that new and revised adapters would be mailed out within two weeks, it was about two months before the revised adapters under the recall started to be shipped out. the recall has been slow. customers are alleging that tesla does not keep ownership addresses up to date, so many customers are not getting recall notices or the revised adapters under the recall. tesla (elon musk) claimed that the adapters would contain a thermal fuse to reduce the fire hazard, yet allegedly the revised adapters that have been sent out under the recall don't have thermal fuses. the connectors between the adapter and the module/brick seem to be insufficient and a fire hazard. some customers are reporting that new revised gray adapters issued by the recall are also overheating and melting; even with the software updates that tesla (elon musk) claimed would fix the problems. allegedly the revised gray adapters have higher temperature plastics and improved welds; yet some umcs are continuing to overheat and melt. some of the underlying problems still have not been resolved, that's why the umcs are still a fire hazard. *tr

Tesla model s. has problems that with little or no notice the car can quit, leaving the car and occupants stranded dangerously in heavy traffic, sometimes with no lights. allegedly the traction battery, drive unit, contactor, inverter, converter and/or 12 v accessory battery can suddenly fail causing the tesla to quit with little or no warning, then coasting to a stop. allegedly in some cases after the vehicle comes to a stop the 12 v battery and systems will quickly fail, preventing parking lights and hazard lights from being used and preventing the parking brake from being released and preventing the engagement of tow mode thus preventing the vehicle from being pushed or coasted out of dangerous traffic to a safer location. not being able to engage tow mode, it makes towing the vehicle more difficult, time-consuming and risky. *tr

In 2014 a tesla caught fire in a toronto garage. this case was included in the nhtsa investigation into the issue of fires in teslas. tesla has claimed that the battery of the car was not involved in the fire and that the fire was probably caused by faulty house wiring. http://www.autofocus.ca/news-events/news/tesla-investigates-cause-of-toronto-garage-fire snip: 'in this particular case, we don't yet know the precise cause, but have definitively determined that it did not originate in the battery, the charging system, the adapter or the electrical receptacle, as these components were untouched by the fire,' said a tesla spokesperson. a video has now showed up in which the purchaser of that car shows the state of the interior. there is no doubt whatsoever that the battery did ignite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srmqbrb_lmm it appears t hat tesla has been telling lies and deliberately covering up the issue of fires. there have been many more fires since that that one. i have compiled a summary of some suspicious tesla fires: http://teslabears.club/t/great-balls-of-fire whilst that collection does contain some humorous posts i can assure you that i am entirely serious about this safety issue. i request that you reopen the fire investigation.

Despite the 14v006000 recall being issued about a month ago, customers are complaining that they have not received a recall notification, so they have been unaware of the fire hazards and only found out about it online after their charge connectors failed after the recall. allegedly on january 9, 2014 tesla ceo elon musk claimed that related recalled tesla model s. adapters would be mailed out within two weeks. yet a month later customers and allegedly even tesla service centers have not received the replacement adapters. the proposed recall as it stands seems to be insufficient because the only hardware that is replaced is the adapter. the connections between the adapter and the umc module are well documented to be the source of many overheating, melting and burning events. these connections should probably be replaced with connectors that are better capable of carrying the high current for long durations. despite tesla trying to portray a software update as a "fix", tesla charge connectors continue to overheat, melt and burn. despite tesla trying to scapegoat house wiring and wall outlets as the problem. there has been and continues to be occurrences of tesla charge connections overheating, melting and burning that house wiring and wall outlets are not the source. there is no doubt that house wiring and wall outlets have been and will be a cause and or factor in some cases, however that should not divert attention away from the faulty tesla charge connections that are a fire hazard. *tr

An individual claims that when he charges at a lower rate, that if the new software detects a problem it increases the charge rate rather than reducing it. if it is true, under some circumstances the update can increase the chance of an overload and fire. it seems in some cases that the tesla safety software update safety "fix" may be creating fire hazards. there may be a glitch, bad programming in the tesla software update. part of the nhtsa campaign number: 14v006000 recall, has a software update that by an allegation might increase current when the software detects a problem when it is charging at a lower charge rate. allegedly in some cases the tesla charger will charge faster than it is set. *tr

Allegedly a tesla owner had a charge plug and adapter overheat and melt, that could have caused a full blown fire. i find this concerning, especially in light of a recent tesla garage fire, that the fire department ruled the tesla charging circuit as a possible source. melted charging adapter/cord last evening my wife and i noticed what smelled like melting plastic. after a thorough investigation we determined that the odor was coming from the charging plug and cordset. after burning my hands and arm removing the plug i pulled the adapter off the cordset and sure enough the innerds had melted down.' http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/25444-melted-charging-adapter-cord california fire department says tesla model s charging system may have started garage fire http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-garage-fire-2013-12. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2013 tesla model s. the contact stated that the charging cord became extremely hot and the contact was burned after making contact with the cord. the plastic part of the cord had also melted. the charging cord was disconnected and the manufacturer was made aware of the failure, who advised the contact to call the fire department. the fire department found the charging cord to be defective. the contact filed a complaint with the manufacturer. the failure mileage was 5,500.

It is my opinion that, tesla is fraudulently misrepresenting statistics and the safety of its vehicles. it is my opinion, it is false advertising again. after the first tesla battery fire on october 1, 2013: on october 4, 2013 elon musk & tesla motors claimed "you are 5 times more likely to experience a fire in a conventional gasoline car than a tesla!" after the third tesla battery fire on november 19, 2013: on december 23, 2013 tesla motors claimed "tesla vehicle is over five times less likely to experience a fire than the average gasoline car" i think tesla motors is yet again using funky statistics to misrepresent and overstate the safety worthiness of its vehicles. after the third tesla battery fire, tesla was and is still using statistics that seemingly only figured on one tesla battery fire, rather than all three. *tr

Allegedly: a tesla owner awoke to the smell of burning electrical. she called 911. a fire fighter was injured responding to the garage fire. fire investigators suspect that the origin of the fire was the wall socket or the tesla universal mobile connector from the tesla charging system plugged into the wall outlet. i've seen evidence of many of tesla's charging connections fail. even if the connection failed at the wall socket, i wouldn't rule out the tesla design as a cause or a contributing factor. the design of the typical tesla charging configuration puts undue stress on the wall socket, which could contribute to a failure of a wall socket. in my opinion some of the tesla charging connections are not robust enough for the potential currents involved. many of tesla's charge connections are known for producing excessive heat. *tr

Many tesla owners have alleged having problems with their tesla power plugs and or adapters for their chargers. here is another example. quote: "had a very disturbing incident last night. my model s was charging in my garage when my smoke detector went off. i ran to the garage and saw plumes of smoke coming from the tesla nema 14-50 adapter. the car was still charging! i unplugged the charger from the car and yanked the charger adapter plug from the outlet. the nema 14-50 adapter fused to cord. the adapter had a hole on one side where it was melting. i called tesla and they sent out someone with a new mobile charger and nema 14-50 adapter. i am not sure how i feel about using this adapter again. the breaker never tripped nor did the car generate any error or shut off charging. i had the electrician come out and inspect the outlet. it showed no signs of charring and tested out fine for constant voltage within specs. not sure how i feel about tesla's response at this point. i plan on calling them in the morning." *tr

I took delivery of my model s on monday, july 1, 2013. i took the car for a fast drive and i smelled something burning. it was coming through the vents. the smell made me dizzy along with my family members to a point where we had to stop and get out of the car for air and walk it off. why hasn't the government issued a recall on the tesla model s. i called tesla, i was told, do not worry about it, the smell will eventually go away. this is b.s. i paid over $100,000 for a car that i cannot drive for 2 to 3 weeks because of a burning smell that makes everyone in my car dizzy and all tesla does is say, open your windows? go check the tesla forum, everyone is complaining about the smell but tesla will do nothing about it. http://www-origin.teslamotors.com/de_at/forum/forums/burn-smell-new-tesla-s-when-heat i will not give my real contact information because i am afraid of tesla and the ceo coming after me for reporting the company. this is a dangerous problem and unhealthy. *tr

Allegedly the tesla model s. "universal mobile charger" (umc) has an interrupt relay that is only rated 30 amps, on a circuit that carries 40 amps. allegedly some of the umc modules (aka controllers, bricks) have shown signs of overheating. there are concerns this could be a fire hazard. *tr

Many tesla owners have been alleged having problems with their tesla power plugs and or adapters for their chargers. here is another example. quote:"i plugged in the models today and the power ring turned red. looked at the universal wall connector and it was red. i tried unplugging it and replugging it in and no better. i then took the nema 14-50 adapter off from the cable and this is what i found". *tr

Tesla motors is dangerously misleading the public by falsely advertising it's batteries as "landfill safe" and "non-toxic". the false claims can have grave implications on public safety and the environment. putting batteries in landfills can be a fire hazard as well as a toxic hazard. when tesla batteries are compacted, opened, catch fire and/or explode; toxic materials can be released that are a public hazard and a hazard to the environment... in tesla's emergency response guide, it alludes to tesla batteries containing toxic materials. yet on tesla's blog to the public, they try to portray tesla batteries as non-toxic, green and landfill safe. tesla batteries have heavy metals like nickel and cobalt that can be toxic hazards.... in the tesla blog by [xxx] , he alludes to the batteries having heavy metals like cobalt and nickel. yet claims the batteries are non-toxic. elon musk and other tesla representatives have made similar misleading claims.... a quote from tesla's model s. emergency response guide: "high voltage battery - fire damage a burning or heating battery releases toxic vapors. these vapors include h2so4, oxides of carbon, nickel, aluminum, lithium, copper and cobalt. responders should wear full ppe, including scba and take appropriate measures to protect civilians downwind from the incident.".... by elon musk, co-founder & ceo of tesla motors: "batteries that are not toxic to the environment! i wouldn?t recommend them as a dessert topping, but the tesla motors lithium-ion cells are not classified as hazardous and are landfill safe.".... by [xxx] : "recycling our non-toxic battery packs above and beyond rohs, our lithium ion cells contain no heavy metals, nor any toxic materials.".... information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr