2023 Tesla Model S Tires & Wheels Problems

The tire has an excessive and extremely disproportionate amount of wear on the inner part of the tire and sidewall. It is still on the car at this time. The location of the failure is hard to visually notice. My tire losing pressure was the cue something was wrong. It was on the verge of catastrophic failure and only luck prevented this from turning into an accident. This same failure has been reproduced on a large number of Tesla Plaid vehicles equipped with 21” rims and these Michelin tires. It has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. I will be taking it tomorrow for warranty review from Michelin. There were no symptoms of an impending failure at all. The only warning light that ever showed was a communication error with the sensor that read tire pressure. However, I always checked the pressure manually since that particular sensor was intermittent with its reporting. These tires are rated for 30k and I’m barely over 12k.

Both of my rear tires have the inner tread (closest to the center line of the vehicle) separating from the sidewall. Tesla blames the issue on Michelin because the alignment is within specification, and Michelin blames Tesla claiming that the problem is the rear alignment. Every single Tesla Model S Plaid owner I know that has the factory 21” wheel option is having this issue somewhere between 6,000 miles and 16,000 miles (estimated). My vehicle has 12,151 miles on it now, and I first noticed the issue at approximately 11,100 miles. The vehicle is close to being unsafe to drive due to potentially catastrophic issues associated with one or both tires failing at speed. There is absolutely no indication of impending failure, and because it is the inside edge of the tires which are separating, and there is plenty of tread left on the tire, owners are unlikely to notice the issue, especially since the tires are failing well before anyone would expect a tire to fail. Thanks for your consideration. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

I purchased my new 2023 Tesla Model S in 02/2023 (delivered in Fife, WA). The vehicle has staggered wheel sets - rear wheels/tires wider than the front.   After being hit by a vehicle in 07/2023, the two back wheels were damaged. I took the vehicle to Exotic Collision center in Bellevue, WA, a Tesla-approved body-shop. While replacing the wheels in 09/2023, the body-shop found that the front wheels were installed in the rear, and vice versa. As a result, the tires didn’t fit properly which internally damaged the two wheels where wider tires were fit on narrower wheels, and all four tires. This was unrelated to the accident, hence not covered by insurance.  I reached out to Tesla in 10/2023, with photos from the body-shop, and contact info of their technician. However, Tesla had denied accountability and demanded I pay in full for replacement tires/wheels. The two reasons they provided are - 1) I should have heard a noise, and brought back the vehicle to them immediately, instead of waiting for a body shop to find it, and 2) I couldn’t provide evidence that I didn’t change the wheels out myself.  To me, neither reasoning makes sense. For #1, Tesla couldn’t show me what kind of noise I should have expected. Also, my vehicle is the proof that there would not be noticeable noise from the issue in every case. On #2, it is a case of proving a negative, which does not seem logical in this case.  I know this to be an issue at the time I took delivery, given nothing else was done to the wheel-tire assembly until the body-shop tried to replace them in September. Also, this seems to be a safety issue.  The body-shop recommended we do not drive as-is, and I had to pay $2718.00 at a local Les Schwab tire store (on 10/23/2023) to purchase a set of tires and wheels so that I can drive the vehicle safely.  I strongly believe this should be Tesla’s accountability to resolve. Along with sharing this safety issue with you, I urge your help to resolve the matter.