Re: nhtsa action number: dp19005 - investigation subject : battery management software updates
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.
I was driving my tesla model s early in the morning in a quiet neighborhood when was slowly approaching to four-way stop sign intersection by gradually step on the brake. at the very beginning, i can feel the car decelerated, suddenly there was unintended acceleration that i felt. there was a jerking forward of the car, so i was not able to make a full stop at the stop sign. then the speed drops down significantly, almost to zero. i pressed the flashing light because there was a line of cars behind me and i was in the middle of the road. the car was in almost zero speed, so i tried to move the car to the side of the road and pressed the acceleration pedal a little. the car didn't accelerate, instead, it turned into a stop situation. i realized i lost driving power of this car. i pressed the "p" button, then all four mode letters "p", "n", "r", "d" turned red, blicking. the car stopped close to the curb but partially in the middle of the road. i was able to get out of the car and called tesla roadside assistance. they checked some log and responded with towing service to send the car to the service center. the overall situation could have turned very severe safety issue if ever this happened on the highway, or there was human being walking across the street while i was not able to fully stop the car, neither control it. i am waiting for official service report but the car is confirmed not in drivable condition. and i feel extremely unsafe to drive it now and even not comfortable to drive it after what just happened this morning. the entire drive unit was maintained and changed to a new one in 2015, so its life only about 3 years in this car. plus, i just had the car service at the tesla service center month ago. it is worrisome they can't even prevent such issue and detect it in an early stage, perhaps a design issue to address?
Slowly pulling into a parking spot at a strip mall, i released my foot off of the gas, lightly tapped brake and the car "unintentionally accelerated" into a palm tree in front of a brick pillar at a strip mall. i backed out to assess the damage. husband was witness in driver's seat. this is the 2nd time this happened to me, (last year at a grocery store parking lot) altho the first time no damage was done and no reports were filed. poor decision in hindsight! since no person was injured, the police dept would not take a report. insurance was called as well as tesla. tesla took 6 days to pull logs and assured us it was being taken seriously and escalated to management. we received a call yesterday from tosha at tesla, relaying that they determined that t was driver error and log reports show that as the car was pulling into the spot, it was on a 3 on a scale of 100 and then it accelerated 87% and the brake was applied. does not make logical sense that the car could accelerate 87% in a matter of 2 feet! i am 150% sure i did not hit the accelerator. i am 47, not a 90 yr old woman who may have pedal confusion. this has never happened with any of our other non-tesla cars nor in my 40+ years of driving cars or motorcycles. their response is suspect and we are quite frankly fearful to drive the car safely. this stip mall has lots of people that walk by, esp elderly and the fact that no one or the pillar was hit is a blessing. air bags did not deploy. i will be asking tesla for a written report of their findings but not confident it will be provided. we plan to seek counsel as well esp since this is considered an "at fault accident".
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
I previously filed a complaint to nhtsa on 9/24/2013 with nhtsa id no. 10545230. i noticed similar issue was reported by 3 or 4 other tesla owners: (1) 9/26/2013 nhtsa id no. 10545488, (2) 9/29/2014 nhtsa no. 10639849, (3) 9/29/2014 nhtsa no. 10639935, and (4) 6/8/2015 nhtsa id no. 10723925. there was another similar case in camarillo ca as reported by ventura county star on 3/29/2013 but apparently was not reported to nhtsa. there were so many similar incidences happened with only a limited number of 2013 and 2014 tesla model s on the road, something is not right with the model s. tesla cannot keep blaming the drivers being at fault.
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