2014 Tesla Model S steering problems

“The contact owned a 2014 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed on the highway, the vehicle exited into a tunnel. The contact stated that his hands were on the steering wheel and that the steering wheel did not move; however, the vehicle inadvertently made a sharp left turn, and the passenger-side headlight struck the tunnel wall. The vehicle spun rapidly, and the contact's head snapped to the right. The air bags did not deploy. The contact received medical attention for whiplash. Police were made aware of the crash but did not arrive on the scene. There was no police report filed. The contact pulled over on the shoulder of the road and then restarted the vehicle. The vehicle had driven for a mile when the tire pressure dropped to zero. The vehicle was towed to the residence and then to a tow yard, where it was deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 180,000.”

“I had a hard braking event to avoid a collision with a vehicle that ran a red light in front of me and immediately lost power steering and was notified park assist was also unavailable. Error codes EPAS_w001, EPAS_w002, and a GTW code I can’t remember. After leaving the vehicle on a charger overnight, the error codes disappeared and power steering returned.”

“My car developed a handling problem. I took it to Tesla service and they told me it was a bent tie rod. The part was ordered and I took the car back in to have it installed around a month later. However, they then decided it wasn't a bent tie rod and instead was an alignment issue. They did an alignment and told me the car was fixed. The car was not fixed. I have taken the vehicle in several more times and test driven with multiple mechanics/technicians. They all agreed that there is a handling issue but it doesn't seem that bad and they've seen much worse from other Teslas (implying it is an issue with other cars as well). At this point I am told there is nothing they can do to the car despite it being somewhat dangerous. The car pulls extremely hard to the left under acceleration and pulls to the right under deceleration. However, I have had an alignment done multiple times, I've put new factory spec tires and rims on the car and replaced all of the front suspension including bushings and control arms. At freeway speeds, if you accelerate to pass, the car will veer aggressively to the left towards possible oncoming traffic. Imperfections in the road cause the…”

“The rear motor (drive unit) has gone out on this car twice in the last four years. I purchased it after it was last repaired. It most recently went out on 08/04/2023. When it went out two days ago it had less than 30,000 miles on it. This car has a motor on both the front and rear axles, so while the vehichle was still moving forward, if it slowed down at all that would engage the regenerative braking. Once regenerative breaking was engaged, the rear drive unit would normal perform that function, but since it was out, it simply knocked the vehicle out of drive and made the transmission flash red. During this part, steering was affected in that the power steering was out, and the ability to move forward was diminished because the vehicle came out of gear. I was able to put my foot briefly on the brake and then tap the car back into drive, but anytime the car slowed down and engaged regenerative braking, this process would repeat. Looking at the forums, this is a known problem. As already stated, this is the second time in less than four years that this motor has needed replacement. Additionally, Tesla is saying that this motor is did not have a warranty on it,…”

“This is a follow up to my last two complaints of sudden swerves that are probably causd by suspension failure. It is in my opinion highly probable that the suspension is likely to snap when brakes are suddenly slammed on hard at speed. This is known as Tesla "Phantom Braking" and you have hundreds of complaints about this on file. This situation is extremely dangerous. Not only might a Tesla that Phantom Brakes be run over by a following truck but if the suspension snaps it can cause the Tesla to veer into the oncoming lane with fatal results. As a precautionary measure I believe you should immediately ban Tesla adaptive cruise control and autopilot because these are the reason that phantom braking occurs. People are getting killed almost daily. Please stop this deadly experiment. Here is a near miss event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTk_T4olbws&lc=UgyIL5XI31XvUg7cg_F4AaABAg”

“This is a follow up report on the issue of sudden swerves by Teslas that have often proved fatal. Please note that I have used a random VIN since the VIN of the car in the crash is unknown. Also please not that as a non US resident I have had to use a dummy US address to enable the report. My true contact details are supplied. Here is a video taken by dashcam showing a Tesla ( actual year and model unknown) making a sudden violent swerve to the left and then back to the right and colliding with other vehicles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTk_T4olbws Sudden suspension breakages are happening to all years and models of Telsas. The quality of parts is not good and Tesla does not follow up on the causes of these failures. I beg of you to take action before more tragic crashes occur. They are crashes, not accidents. There is nothing accidental about weak suspensions snapping on the highway.”