2021 Tesla Model X Complaint Log

Heavy steering warning. Steering gear left hand drive.

Steering got stuck on the road while driving. I couldnt move or change lanes. It was really scary. Then I slowed down and then I had tp pull out of the road to the shoulder. Then I waited for 20-30 mins and restarted the car. Then it worked. I was able to go home. I contacted Tesla and they said they need to look into the issue. At the service center, now they are saying they need to replace entire steering system and the cost is 5000. This is not fair and unprofessional. And it is very scary experience.

After completing a 17.5-hour, ~1,000-mile non-stop road trip from Florida to Texas using Autopilot with no interventions or issues, the following week this vehicle experienced a sudden and total steering failure while slowly turning through my residential neighborhood. The steering locked up without warning and caused the car to drift partially into the opposing lane. No power steering warning was shown prior to the failure. Tesla Service diagnosed and replaced both the Front Body Controller (Part #1585663-00-C) and the Steering Gear Assembly (Part #1070801-00-F) under warranty. This is an extremely dangerous failure scenario — had it occurred at high speed, the outcome could have been catastrophic. I am reporting this to ensure it’s documented and investigated, as it appears consistent with similar steering failure complaints in 2021+ Model X vehicles.

Driving speed limit of 50 miles an hour on a two lane road and went to push the accelerator pedal and the entire assembly snapped completely off and was unable to continue driving the car

My car has 50,000 miles on it and is just over 4 years old. The steering column has failed causing it to not be able to steer. The service for this is a new steering column at a cost of over $5,000.00. The Y models and 3 models had a recall on this issue. Now it looks like the X models are having the issue as well. The consumer should not be responsible for this. It is dangerous. It is expensive to fix. A steering column should not fail at 50,000 miles. I am not the only person who has been faced with this issue. Tesla service even confirmed that they are seeing this on the X models. I think an investigation should be done. How many $5,000.00 repairs for safety has the consumer been saddled with?

While driving our screen shut down, autopilot and GPS stopped working and the doors would not open. My kids were stuck on multiple occasions and had to climb through the front seats. Tesla has already confirmed that the Driver Assistance System ECU (Turbo A and Turbo B processors) is a known issue. Over 1600 cases reported. This defect disables safety-critical driver-assist functions without warning, which meets the federal definition of a safety defect under 49 U.S.C. § 30102. Provide a free remedy to owners — including replacement at no cost — as required by 49 U.S.C. § 30120. Telsa denied coverage because we are out of warranty. I asked whether the known issue has been reported and why it is not being covered as a known safety defect. Because the problem involves loss of a safety system, it should not be treated as routine maintenance or wear and tear. It is a known safety defect and therefore must be reported and remedied at Tesla’s expense. Tesla refuse to address my concern and would only let me talk to store manager. They told me I had to email business resolutions to get more information. I have not heard back. I was forced to spend $2k to get my car fixed

Steering assist error code. Car has less than 25,000 miles and Tesla is reporting this is common and the steering rack needs to be replaced and the steering gear left hand drive. Tesla Temecula also said there was a system malfunction that caused it but they do not dig into that they just do the service for $5100. Looking online this is common.

My 2021 Tesla Model X has a serious safety issue with the driver’s door. When opened, the door swings freely with no support or soft-close resistance and can slam shut or fling wide open unexpectedly. This poses a danger to passengers and nearby people or property. I believe this issue may relate to a latch or hinge mechanism malfunction, and I am concerned about the lack of a safety interlock. I have reported this to Tesla, and they have not acknowledged it as a warranty or safety concern. I am submitting this complaint in the interest of safety for myself and other drivers of this model. I have videos and more detail but this site only allows static photos.

Windshield cracked due to defrosting; yes available for inspection upon request. If the windshield shatters due to defrosting this is serious safety risk and what can happen while driving is limited less. Vehicle was inspected by Tesla located in Peabody, Massachusetts and the representative stated they are aware, and this is why they tell customers to warm the vehicle up before turning on defrosting, in all the vehicles I've owned windshield cracking from defroster being on has never happened or been an issue. Also through research I found other Tesla owners have experienced similar. No there were no warnings of this happening outside of reading other Tesla owners experiencing this similar situation.

Summary: The front suspension defect on my 2021 Model X, confirmed by St. Petersburg Service Center (Invoice #3000S0013156326), presents a serious safety hazard. Timeline & Concern: Reported Dec 4, 2024, under ESA. Example of Tesla’s delay tactics—service was scheduled only after warranty lapsed. Issue diagnosed in May 2025 as a faulty front upper control arm. Safety risk: Failure could lead to loss of control. I request a safety investigation to prevent similar unsafe compromises.

12v Battery is keep discharging in every two to three months. Tesla service can't find issues or not telling me what is the reason. I have got 5 replacements of 12v battery in last one year. So I think there is a issue in car or bug they are not able to fix it because of limitation. Please let me know how to handle this.

Unintended, unexpected opening of front frunk hood while driving slowly in a parking lot into a strong wind gust. I did not deploy frunk switch and Secondary latch apparently inoperative

Steering rack failure: replacement needed for Model X 2021 at approximately 55K miles. From Tesla Service Center: Concern: Customer states: Alerts - Steering assist reduced/Steering may require increased effort. Repair Notes: Performed vehicle data review found alerts for steering rack assembly, inspected steering rack harness connections found good connections, inspected for any outside influence found none. Found steering rack has non-serviceable internal fault. Recommend steering rack assembly replacement and alignment check. Correction: Steering Rack (Remove & Replace) - Remove and Replace Part Quantity and Labor Hours $4,641.46 + taxes

Alerts: UI_a020 - Steering Assist Reduced APP_w264 - Lane Departure features unavailable This incident happened suddenly during a normal commute from work to home. It caused the steering of the vehicle to be very heavy and difficult to control which could have potentially led to an unwanted accident on the road. There root cause seems to be a failure in the steering rack component of the car. It is a very common and prevalent issue with Tesla vehicles, and complaints on various Tesla forums and Reddit threads about this same issue. There also has been NHTSA investigations in the past regarding this. The failure caused the loss of safety functionality such as Lane Keeping Assistance, Lane Departure Assistance, Autopilot and FSD. Tesla Service Center diagnosed the alerts as a steering rack hardware failure and is charging almost $5000 to replace the part. Given that this is such a prevalent issue among so many Tesla vehicles, it needs to be addressed by the manufacturer and should be a safety recall and not on the customer to pay out of pocket.

I was driving and the car started changing lanes. The steering became heavy and I was barely able to move it and required extreme force. Tesla screen displayed ( steering assist reduced ). I almost died. I was facing cars on both directions and was barely able to get my self to a safe spot. There was no warning before this happened. The car is currently with dealer The steering became acutely extremely heavy and unresponsive and locked on a busy road

This complain is regarding the recent recall regarding FSD tesla Smart Summon failures. Incident date June 02, 2024 Car was parked in a parking lot outside a movie theater. I was less than 20 feet away from car with clear visibility, and tried smart summon. Car pulled out of the parking making an acute turn damaging driver side door, and front bumper of car parked next to it. Tesla was contacted immediately regarding this malfunction of smart summon and requested them to stop offering this service to owners as it is dangerous. They took 3 months to conduct an internal investigation but refused to share written results. Instead read a generic statement from their website. Still not received a copy of the investigation. Tesla also refused to take take financial responsibility for the damage and their false claim. Smart Summon is dangerous and Tesla should not be allowed to advertise.

The steering locked up and it would not move. This happened as I was driving on a road at about 35 miles per hour. I could not steer until I dropped the car speed under 10 miles an hour and using great force was able to navigate the car to safety. I had the car towed to Tesla for repair. They kept it about 4 days and returned it. Within 40 miles of driving the car gave a notification that the steering was "reduced". I was in the car with my [XXX] daughter and about to get on the freeway. I immediately pulled over and had the car towed again to Tesla for repair. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

[XXX] I was driving southbound on [XXX] in Dallas, TX (near [XXX] exit) in Tesla ModelX, with 2 kids in the back seat. It is raining. My speed is around 60-65mph and I am in the rightmost lane. Suddenly the vehicle skids a little, and my steering wheel and brakes are not working anymore. It seemed that the car took complete control and does a full 360 rotation, crossing 4 lanes on the highway. I recall the 10 seconds when I am facing the incoming cars and the only thought I had "this is the end". For whatever reason, the incoming cars slowdown and my tesla makes a full circle, crosses 4 lanes again and gets positioned correctly in the flow of the traffic and in the rightmost lane. my speed now is around 20-30 mph and I suddenly regain control of the brakes and the steering wheel. My kids are crying in the backseat. I still am trying to figure out how and what happened, I cant believe I am alive and I did cry thinking that anything could have happened to my kids. We could have all died on the spot given the rain and how fast the highway traffic goes. I am [XXX] and have been driving for about 30 years. I know how to control minor skidding in rain. I go skiing frequently and can drive on ice (but this was no ice, just water). The only explanation is the malfunction of the Tesla mirrors/cameras (perhaps due to rain water), and taking the wrong decision to swerve the car completely across 4 lanes back and forth. I wish nobody has to go through such life-altering experiences due to a car malfunction, I will never forgive Tesla for the nightmares I still get and the trauma I and my kids had to go through due to the error of a machine. There were no issues before or after with the car, no damage, our tires were relatively new, no police was called. Tesla of course must record incidences like this and they did call me and escalated this to their highest level. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

It is commonly known that the drive shafts on the Model X fail. This is not a wear component and should be a recall. The suspension is also part of this issue and there are after market solutions to fix the suspension that is causing the failure of the half shafts.

Compressor fails causing cooling of the battery to fail and AC in the car not to work. System sais AC reduced charging reduced. No Air at all. It seems to be a very common issue. This seems unsafe and is a major expense to fix. $2300+

AFTER AN UPDATE I WAS REVERSING MY CAR , CAR STOPPED IN MIDDLE OF ROAD AND STEERING WHEEL LOST CONTROL WITH SIGN OF STEERING ASSIST REDUCED AND LANE DEPARTURE ..... IT WAS A DEATH SCARE. I CONTACTED TESLA, 3 WEEKS AGO AND TODAY MY CAR HAS GONE FOR REPAIR. I HEAR THAT MODEL Y AND 3 ARE RECALLED. I CAN NOT TRUST DRIVING TESLA MODEL X CAR ANY MORE.

At 50K miles the control arms on model X seem to always fail. This is a serious safety issue. My last model X had the same issue. Also my friends who have Teslas have many control arm failures.

On May 23, 2023the car went into the shop for an unrelated issue at that time the tires were checked and found to be needing replacement on front, nothing in notes about back tires. Tires we're filled with air at tesla service. Through out the day on message through app with service no one mentioned tl me the customer that tires needed changing and I was let to drive out on newly pumped up worn tires. 2 days while on the road with my children the tire blew put luckily no one was injured and car had to be towed. At this point they said ohh the back tires are also poor we need to replace both and both were replaced. Several weeks after this a rattle developed and the car went back in in July and the control arm had to be replaced. In november the car started making more noise and only 9k miles later the inner front tires wore worn to the steel belt and had to be changed again also at this time it was found that the half shafts were broken and needed to be replaced. The click on turning the wheel at slow speed continued so the car went back in 3 weeks later at this point they told me that the back tires were excessively worn which they failed to mention a month before and now had to be changed so somehow I avoided another tire blow out. Tesla at this visit also found that the front suspension links were broken and needed to be changed. The car is still clicking on turning to the left on the problem has not been fixed. I believe that the defective suspension has parts breaking because of a defect and this is causing unnecessary pressure on the tires and therefore causing early wear of the tires. This is a safety concern as the tires can blow out at any time if not checked monthly and still I can not rely on tesla workers to even communicate that these tires need to be changed. Also when the tires went bad after9 k miles tesla tried to blame it on me saying it's bc the tires were not rotated but this time they are stating they miss spoke bc these tires are not rotatable

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model X. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle lost power steering functionality with the power steering assist warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the vehicle was difficult to steer while entering a parking lot. The contact stopped and restarted the vehicle before driving back to the residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 8,000.

While driving, every few miles, an error will pop up on the instrument panel display that reads "Park Assist unavailable". This happens when driving normally, when not attempting to park, at any speed, with autopilot on or off. The error is accompanied by three, loud, beeps. They are of sufficient volume, and happen with sufficient frequency, that they are distracting from safe driving. They repeat every few miles, endlessly. I took the car in for service and was told the following: 1. The error is "normal". (Even though it refers to parking, and it happens when not parking.) 2. The problem cannot be fixed. 3. The sound accompanying the error cannot be muted. 4. This happens in all Tesla Model X cars. This is an ongoing issue, and occurs almost every drive. I'm supplying today's date as the "date incident occurred".

Hello, I wanted to alert you to Tesla's v11 software update for cars. This is the software we need to use for climate, lights, and most other functions has new and unsafe UI layout that I consider a safety issue. Icons have become tiny and difficult to see, they are also now nested in submenus, and the whole interface requires a driver to take their eyes off the road for a significantly longer amount of time to accomplish simple tasks like enabling or adjusting heating controls.

There is a windshield defect on MY vehicle but check the boards, it is a common problem. The windshield has a mottling defect which is not obvious in normal light BUT - drive into the sun and suddenly you are blinded. It must be a known situation as the boards report this on many different models. We have owned a prior Tesla X so it is not us getting used to the car, it is a defect.

On 10-16-21 Saturday around 7:40 PM, I was going to my brother-in-law's house which is on the left side of the road I was driving. It is a single lane road in a busy residential area. I wanted to park outside of the house by the road. I took a left turn towards the gate, then slight reverse and put in drive to pull to park parallel to the road. My Tesla Model-x went into 'Sudden Unintended Acceleration' mode, went left to right to left in a violent way, picking up speed like a rocket. I applied the breaks repeatedly, but the car did not stop and continued to race on the road for about 0.3 mile where the road takes slight left turn. It went and crashed into a 40 ft tall big pine tree at probably more than 150 mph. It knocked off part of the compound wall of the owner, and passenger front tire blew away and landed in their front yard. I had the seat belt on. No other vehicle involved. I was the only occupant in the vehicle. No fire. I called 911 from my cell phone. I opened the driver side door manually and got out. Police took the report from me and took pictures. The report will be in another 3 days. Ambulance took me to hospital. Broke rt Ulna, Lumbar 2 vertebra, Pneumothorax lt lung with collapse of left lung, s/p chest tube. Also cervical muscle strain/ rupture. Discharge after 3 days. Still lot of back pain. Unable to go to work. Car is total loss. I have Tesla insurance. Reported the accident to Insurance. Adjuster still working on the claim. Requested to 'Preserve the car' for further investigation. 7-14-21: When I stop at a light, the front end of car goes up by about 4 inches. Took to Tesla service center and I was told it is adaptive suspension and it is normal. 8-10-21. When I apply break to stop at a red light, and when I turn on Left turn signal, power shuts off completely, everything blank in the middle of busy traffic, had to reset power. very scary. Happened twice. complained. Tesla remotely updated SD card. Happened again on 10-15-21.

The front half shafts have failed 3 times already on this car, creating a safety hazard.

The touchscreen and instrument panel/dash screen went black and shut down on several occasions while driving the vehicle. I was not able to see how fast I was going and no indication of whether my turning signal or lights were working. But mostly, it was just scary. I have documentation of all the recent occurrences that this has happened, but it has been more than that (all times on Central Standard Time): 5/5/21 - 3:30pm 5/22/21 - 11:37am 5/25/21 - 11:20am 6/1/21 - 9:18am 6/12/21 - 8:00pm 8/23/21 - Car screens did not work, but did not black out 9/10/21 - 6:50pm

My SD card failed and had to be replaced on my 2021 model X. The car's screens went completely blank during the 2021.24.3 software update. Car lost all power while park, failed to turn on after 3+ hours, had to be towed to service center. There was told the SD card failed and had to be replaced. This faulty SD card seems to be more than just a 2016-2018 issue.

Since delivery in December 2020 the computer MCU has shut down for two minutes while driving over a dozen times. The computer reboots after a couple of minutes but during this time it disables all instrumentation, turn signals and other driver information. I brought it in to the Tesla Service Center in Highland Park, Illinois with a list of dates and times that it shut down and they told me it was a known firmware issue and that there would be a solution sometime in the future. I don't believe a 2021 Tesla that cost nearly $100 K would force me to stick my arms out the window to make turn signals.

Since my delivery date of 12/4/2020 I have had four different times where both of the screens on my Tesla Model X have gone blank. On two of the occasions the vehicle was parked but on two other occasions the vehicle was being operated at highway speeds on the highway. I have also experienced partial software downloads from Tesla twice. It is very discomforting to be traveling an interstate highway at 75 mph and have all the screens that display information necessary to operate your vehicle go blank. I have had one mobile technician look at the incomplete software download issue on 2/11/2021 state that maybe a new CPU/MCU needs to be installed. There are other posts at : https://hiride.com/tesla-fix-black-touchscreen/ that show similar touchscreen issues. With my latest Service trip on 6/22 - 6/24/2021 the San Antonio, TX Service Center was "unable" to recreate the problem and their diagnostics didn't show any issues. However just 3 days after I picked up the vehicle had the blank screens issue showed back up. Since Tesla service is exclusive to Tesla I cannot get a "second opinion" on the issue. And Tesla seems to believe this is a non-issue and a minor inconvenience that "just happens from time to time." "Nothing to worry about." I on the other hand consider this a safety issue. Please help by looking in to this problem and helping other Tesla owners to get this resolved.

WHILE DRIVING THE CAR LOST POWER TO ALL SCREENS AND FUNCTIONS SUCH AS SIGNALS AND SPEEDOMETER ALL STOPPED WORKING. THE COMPUTER SYSTEM REBOOTED IN 10 SECONDS. THIS HAS HAPPENED 4 TIMES IN MATER OF 3 MONTHS.

UNDER MEDIUM/HEAVY ACCELERATION, THERE IS A RATTLING/GRINDING SOUND LIKE SOMETHING IS COMING LOOSE. TESLA SAYS ITS NORMAL. ITS AN ONGOING ISSUE AND TESLA REFUSES TO REPAIR.

WE GOT A 2021 TESLA X FOR JUST ONE MONTH. BUT THE COMPUTER HAS DEAD THREE TIMES WHEN I WAS DRIVING IN HIGH WAY AND HAVE MY TWO KIDS IN THE BACK SEATS. TWO OUT OF THE THREE TIMES I HAD TO PULL OVER MY CAR TO TURN OFF THE ENGINE AND TURN IT ON AGAIN. ONE OF THE TIMES THE COMPUTER CAME BACK AGAIN BY IT SELF AFTER BEING DEAD FOR COUPLE OF MINUTES. LUCKILY I DID NOT USE SELF DRIVE MODE THOSE DRIVES. OTHERWISE WHO KNOWS WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE. I SPOKED WITH A CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BEEN TOLD IT'S A VERY COMMON OCCURRENCE FOR THEIR CAR. HOWEVER THIS IS NOT COMMON FOR US. THIS REALLY AFFECTS OUR SAFETY SINCE THE MONITOR CONTROL EVERYTHING. I HAVE TWO SCHOOL AGE KIDS AND I HAVE DRIVE THEM TO SCHOOL AND AFTER SCHOOL'S ACTIVITIES. SO THE SAFETY IS NUMBER ONE PRIORITY CONCERN FOR US.

I PURCHASED A TESLA MODEL X ON 14 NOV 2020 AND HAD BEEN DRIVING JUST AROUND 2 MONTHS. AT AROUND 11:10PM OR SO AS WE WERE CRUISING ON THE I-580, AND WERE 2 EXITS NORTH OF THE 680 HIGHWAY, THE ENTIRE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER IN THE CAR WHICH INCLUDED THE LARGE SCREEN AND THE DRIVER'S INSTRUMENT PANEL WENT COMPLETELY DARK. WE WERE BAFFLED AS THIS WAS SOMETHING WE NEVER ENCOUNTERED BEFORE. WE BEGAN PULLING OVER TO THE SIDE WHEN AFTER ABOUT A COUPLE OF MINS THE LIGHTS CAME ON AND THE PANEL SHOWED THAT WE HAD JUST AROUND 30 MILES OF RANGE LEFT. WE THEN PROCEEDED TO THE NEAREST CHARGING STATION WHICH HAPPENED TO BE THE TESLA FACTORY AT 45500 FREMONT BLVD, FREMONT, CA, 94538. AS WE REACHED THE CHARGING STATION WE SLOWED DOWN THE CAR BY TAKING FOOT OFF THE PEDAL AND WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE GEARS TO REVERSE WHEN THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED WITHOUT WARNING AND ENDED UP HITTING ONE OF THE CHARGING STATIONS. THE CAR FINALLY CAME TO A HALT AFTER STRIKING AND MOUNTING OVER THE CHARGING STATION. THE CAR STRUCK THE CHARGING STATION HEAD ON FROM THE FRONT AND AROUND THE MID LEFT PART OF THE FRONT BUMPER. WE WERE ALL SHOCKED TO SEE THAT NONE OF THE AIRBAGS WERE DEPLOYED, EVEN THOUGH THE COLLISION WAS PRETTY NASTY. WHILE THREE OF US MANAGED TO GET AWAY BADLY SHAKEN AND WITH STRAINED BACKS, ONE OF THE OCCUPANTS WAS SITTING IN THE REAR AND WAS IN THE PROCESS OF TAKING OFF HER SEAT BELT AS THE CAR WAS SLOWING DOWN. SHE WAS THROWN OFF HER SEAT AND SUFFERED INJURIES TO HER FACE. TESLA REFUSES TO ACK ANY VEHICLE ISSUE AND HAS NOT SHARED ANY ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORT.

HERE IS A 2021 MODEL X IN THE JUNKYARD. HTTPS://WWW.IAAI.COM/VEHICLEDETAILS/39434989?TENANT=US&ROWNUMBER=19 THE BACK WHEEL AND SUSPENSION HAS SNAPPED OFF. THIS IS NOT THE RESULT OF A CRASH IT IS THE RESULT OF A MANUFACTURING DEFECT. THE LOWER CONTROL ARM HAS CRACKED IN HALF ALLOWING THE WHEEL TO GO WHOMPABOUT. JUST LOOK AT THE PHOTOGRAPHS. THESE LOWER LINKS HAVE SNAPPED MANY TIMES ALREADY AND HAVE CAUSED FATAL CRASHES. PLEASE PUT A STOP TO THIS TESLA MADNESS. THANK YOU. KEEF