2013 Tesla Model S Driver assistance Problems

On [XXX], at approximately [XXX], I was driving my 2013 Tesla Model S (VIN: [XXX] ) on [XXX] in Barrow County, Georgia when the instrument cluster/speedometer display went completely blank while driving. This is an intermittent issue that occurs without warning - the display turns off and sometimes freezes. Because the speedometer was not displaying, I had no way to know my actual speed. I was pulled over by Barrow County Sheriff’s Office and cited for speeding. I explained the instrument cluster malfunction to the officer at the scene and showed him the blank display. I took my vehicle to Tesla Service Center in Duluth, GA (3380 Satellite Blvd) on November 4, 2025 - as soon as I could get an appointment after the incident. Tesla cleared the filesystem caches but did NOT inform me about the existing eMMC recall (SB-21-21-001) that affects my vehicle, nor did they perform the recall repair. My 2013 Model S is equipped with the MCU1 with the 8GB eMMC that is subject to NHTSA Recall 21V-119. This is a known defect that NHTSA determined to be a safety issue because it affects critical displays including the speedometer, backup camera, and turn signal indicators. I have video evidence of the malfunction occurring and the Tesla service receipt documenting the issue. The fact that Tesla’s service center did not notify me of the applicable recall or perform the free recall repair. This defect directly resulted in me receiving a traffic citation because I could not see my speedometer while driving INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11712888

Incident

Oct 26, 2025

November 20, 2025 To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation Subject: Safety Defect Complaint – Tesla Model S I am submitting this complaint regarding a serious and dangerous safety defect involving my Tesla Model S. Safety Defect Summary:    •   After the high-voltage battery failed, the vehicle would not enter Neutral.    •   I had to use Tow Mode in the middle of a street on a hill to avoid blocking traffic.    •   Once in Tow Mode, the car could not enter Park and the emergency/parking brake would not engage.    •   The car became completely free-rolling, posing danger to myself, other drivers, and pedestrians.    •   When Tesla returned the car to my home, their technicians also could not get the vehicle into Park or activate any emergency braking system.    •   The car is currently stuck in Tow Mode in my driveway with physical objects placed behind the wheels to prevent it from rolling. Why This Is a Safety Hazard: A vehicle that cannot shift into Park, cannot use its emergency brake, and remains free-moving after a failure represents a serious safety defect. This occurred without warning and left the vehicle unsafe to operate or even store. Request: I respectfully request that NHTSA investigate this as a potential safety defect affecting the Tesla Model S when the high-voltage battery fails. A car should never lose all ability to secure itself.

NHTSA ID

11700490

Incident

Oct 6, 2025

The contact owns a 2013 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH and depressing the accelerator pedal, the vehicle failed to respond as needed. The contact stated that the message "Take to Service" was displayed. The local dealer was contacted, and the vehicle was towed to the dealer by Tesla Insurance to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the drive unit was rusted and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure via email and a letter. The approximate failure mileage was 150,000.

NHTSA ID

11638261

Incident

Jan 16, 2025

Mileage

150,000 mi

Tesla instrument cluster screens are leaking fluid and eventually failing. The instrument cluster is the only place I can see my speed, thus my car is now unsafe as I can not tell what speed I am driving at.

NHTSA ID

11629453

Incident

Dec 7, 2024

While driving on the freeway at 70 MPH with 39 miles of range left, the vehicle abruptly slowed down to 20 MPH...cars behind us almost hit us due to the car slowing down despite me accelerating. We pulled to the right shoulder, rest the car and then was only able to go up to 20MPH...range still said 39 miles. Shortly after the car stopped, there was a warning displayed, and the car turned off and could no longer turn back on. I believe the battery failed. The car was towed to Tesla Irvine Barranca Service center and diagnostics confirmed the battery needed replacement. I traded in the car for a new vehicle. Safety of the driver, passengers, and the around us on the freeway were all at risk and we were lucky to avoid any issues. All Tesla told me was the battery died There was a warning that appeared when the car slowed down to 20mph...stating the car was no longer able to be driven

NHTSA ID

11624124

Incident

Nov 1, 2024

The contact owns a 2013 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving 57 MPH, the Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking was inadvertently activated. The emergency brake fault and parking brake fault warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was steered to the side of the road and inspected. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that unknown parts needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 95,143.

NHTSA ID

11594388

Incident

Jun 9, 2024

Mileage

95,143 mi

The contact owns a 2013 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the center display screen malfunctioned, causing the rearview camera to intermittently fail. Additionally, the failure caused a delay while switching gears to drive(D) and to park(P). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and determined through the Tesla App that the VCM daughterboard needed to be replaced with one containing an enhanced eMMC controller. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 95,500.

NHTSA ID

11505178

Incident

Oct 1, 2022

Mileage

95,500 mi

Sept 30, 2022. Driving East bound on interstate 10 ,east of Tallahassee FL, car started flashing dash RED. Car applied brakes while going 70 mph. Car made me pull off the road because of applied braking. It would not release the brakes. I called Tesla Roadside assistance, "you have a flat tire". Attached are screenshots. I didn't have a flat tire. Had to get towed 300 miles home. Next day brakes released, drove car. I keep getting error codes everyday. Car has been in service, "nothing wrong". This a safety Hazzard, imagine in heavy traffic on a bridge.

NHTSA ID

11494985

Incident

Nov 26, 2022

The contact owns a 2013 Tesla Model S. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting). The contact stated that the recall repair was performed twice however, the vehicle experienced an unknown computer failure. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the seats moved independently. The contact was unaware of a warning light being illuminated. The contact stated that the driver’s side seat would revert to the seat settings of the second driver independently while the vehicle was in motion. The contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the eMMC controller needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure occurred again and the eMMC controller was replaced a second time. The failure persisted. The failure mileage was 123,864.

NHTSA ID

11485517

Incident

Oct 7, 2021

Mileage

123,864 mi

The car suddenly has a powertrain issue, but it is a widely known problem with some estimates of 66% of all early Teslas having a powertrain issue by 60k miles. Mine happened at 56k. There is clearly a defect with early Tesla powertrains, as they increased the warranty to 8 years or 50k miles. My car is now at 9 years, and because of the low mileage due to covid, they will not cover the powertrain issue of the car. The following are links proving significant issues of my car. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093907_tesla-model-s-drivetrain-warranty-rises-to-8-years-same-as-battery-pack https://www.vehiclehistory.com/articles/tesla-problems-3-major-issues-you-need-to-know-about https://www.autoevolution.com/news/early-tesla-model-s-powertrain-reliability-issues-come-into-question-in-low-volume-study-102773.html I not only have the powertrain issue, but my center screen is also screwed up. This is a massive issue in Teslas because I cannot access my HVAC controls, or any safety controls with this not working. I have contacted Tesla numerous times, I will be happy to provide email exchanges and they have not done anything to help me except want to charge me a lot of money, 9k to fix all of this!

NHTSA ID

11467079

Incident

Jun 1, 2022

Brake pedal switch is malfunctioning causing the brake lights to turn on by itself when driving 60mph+ when I am pressing only the gas pedal and then it’s causing the engine to shutoff or power reduced due to “both pedals pressed” alert in the system. This can cause an accident 1st for sending the wrong brake light signal for the drivers behind me and 2nd to shut off engine when driving at high speeds. If this happens when driving uphill can cause the car to slow abruptly and even start going backwards due to engine shut off. Also I have concern that I had to reverse press (pull back) the brake pedal with my left foot in the middle of the highway to get rid of the alert while I was pressing the gas pedal with my right foot and then to regain gas power to continue to speed. Again, this is dangerous action that can cause an accident.

NHTSA ID

11457932

Incident

Mar 16, 2022

Part II AFTER I EMAILED TESLA KEARNEY MESA SERVICE STATION, WITH MY CONCERN ABOUT THEIR BILLING FOR THE RECALL AND CUSTOMER SERVICE; I WAS SENT A NEW BILLING. MIND YOU, ALL MY ISSUES ARE RELATED TO THE RECALL AND TESLA SCHEMES AND FALSEHOODS. SEE ATTACHED

NHTSA ID

11457920

Incident

Mar 22, 2022

The contact owns a 2013 Tesla Model S. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted and it was confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ID

11453426

Incident

Feb 15, 2022

Screen behind steering wheel that displays Speedometer goes black from time to time. Am told by a Tesla tech that this issue is related to outdated MCU1 hardware and that a 1500 upgrade to MCU2 hardware will resolve the issue. The current software that runs on 9 year old hardware (same chips are used from 2012-early 2018) is too bloated and causes usability issues that create unsafe driving conditions. It is imperative that speed, climate control and other functions that MCU handles have 100% uptime, especially when the vehicle is in motion. This is only possible by a hardware upgrade that can run Tesla’s latest software (which is automatically pushed several times per year). Right now, Tesla will sell customers an upgraded MCU for $1500-2000, depending on vehicle. This MCU can handle the latest software that inevitably finds its way to every Tesla vehicle through automatic updates. Customers should not have to pay $2000 to maintain basic features, such as timely vehicle power up, reliable speedometer and climate controls, and consistently performing music playing. I have had dozens of issues with MCU performance over the 5year ownership period. NHTSA should do a performance and reliability evaluation of a model S or X with MCU 1 vs MCU 2 and use this data as evidence to demand Tesla recall for all 2018 and earlier vehicles with MCU 1. Common issues include: 1. Waiting 30-90 seconds for vehicle to power up and become drivable. This is especially concerning when driver needs to move vehicle in a timely fashion (think of scenario with impending danger). 2. Either of 2 screens going blank for 2-30 minutes, including while driving. This creates anxiety and distraction for a driver loosing gauges and loss of vehicle controls 3. Inability to change climate control, especially in dangerous conditions Think of the vehicles core functions and controls relying on iPhone 4 hardware !

NHTSA ID

11442375

Incident

Oct 12, 2021

i was driving over 100mph, let off the accelerator and the car kept going that fast. Then all of warning lights came on, traction turned off, anti skid turned off. etc etc. I immediately applied brakes to NO affect. I called the Tesla Road Side Assistance. Lady was on the phone looking at my warnings. She could see the same warnings i was seeing. Applying brakes as hard as possible got the car to eventually slow down. It acted like the Cruise Control was stuck on 100mph. BUT, i never turned it on. EVER. This happened around first of May. Well two weeks later it happened again. This time Help Desk referred it to Jacksonville Service Center. The mechanic said he referred it to the "engineering" team at Tesla on 6/10/21. Have not heard back, I have been there several times, NO help at all. Refuse to discuss it.

NHTSA ID

11433965

Incident

May 15, 2021

The vehicle's main center console doesn't work, even after a recall notice from Tesla. Tesla tried to see what was going on with my car, but they could not find it, but 5-10% of the time my car still has a center console screen not working. There is a defect and these times it is very dangerous to drive the car.

NHTSA ID

11432706

Incident

Jul 7, 2021

Hi, Tesla has a recall from the NHTSA regarding the MCU chip that powers the main center console screen. It can fail over time. My vehicle is under the recall, and they did the MCU chip recall but it did not help the screen. It is still failing. Without the screen working, the vehicle controls are not usable since 95% of the functions are through the screen. I contacted Tesla and they have ignored me and declined to fix the vehicle, even though the purpose of the recall was to fix the center screen.

NHTSA ID

11423662

Incident

Jun 15, 2021

The contact owns a 2013 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) unit became inoperable causing the vehicle to stall. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with the VCM unit needing to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact then stated 18 months later, he received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 21V035000 (Back over prevention, Visibility, Exterior lighting). The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 120,000.

NHTSA ID

11423549

Incident

Aug 12, 2019

Mileage

120,000 mi

TESLA IS NOT REPLACING THE EMMC CARD THAT HAS BEEN RECALLED IN A TIMELY MANNER AS THEY ARE REQUIRED TO.

NHTSA ID

11407698

Incident

Apr 12, 2021

TESLA IS REFUSING TO REFUND THE OUT OF POCKET COST PAID FOR THE MCU TOUCHSCREEN REPAIR, DESCRIBED BY THE NHTSA RECALL NUMBER 21V035. PLEASE FIND ATTACHED TESLA'S AUTOMATED SYSTEM REFUSING TO REFUND, PLUS MY SERVICE RECEIPT SHOWING IT WAS PAID OUT OF POCKET.

NHTSA ID

11406908

Incident

Apr 7, 2021

Mileage

99,234 mi

MAIN PROCESSING UNIT FOR THE CAR STOPS WORKING AND DISPLAYS GO BLACK. TURN SIGNALS DO NOT AUDIBLY ANNUNCIATE. CLIMATE CONTROL TURNS OFF. LIGHTING, SECURITY AND OTHER SAFETY CONTROLS CANNOT BE CHANGED. I HAVE DATES AND TIMES AND SYMPTOMS FOR SOME OF THE FAILURES. OCCURS TYPICALLY WEEKLY, BUT CAN HAVE MULTIPLE EPISODES PER DAY. TESLA SERVICE HAS BEEN REQUESTED AND PERFORMED 4-5 TIMES. THE OEM MPU WAS REPLACED APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS AGO AND YET PROBLEMS PERSIST. MPU HAS FAILED WHILE PARKED, WHILE DRIVING, ON CITY STREETS AND HIGHWAYS. CAN OCCUR AT ANY TIME.

NHTSA ID

11388225

Incident

Nov 11, 2020

Mileage

95,000 mi

FAILURE OF THE TOUCHSCREEN RESULTS IN LOSS OF REAR CAMERA IMAGE DISPLAY WHEN REVERSE GEAR IS SELECTED, RESULTING IN REDUCED REAR VISIBILITY WHEN BACKING. SCREEN ALSO COMPLETELY FREEZES AND CANNOT CONTROL CLIMATE CONTROL ELEMENTS, SOUND, ETC. WHEN BACK UP CAMERA FINALLY DOES ENGAGE, BACKUP CAMERA SCREEN IS BLACK WITH TWO WHITE LINES.

NHTSA ID

11382923

Incident

Dec 10, 2020

Mileage

26,800 mi

2013 TESLA S P85 MCU WILL NOT BOOT UP AFTER OVER THE AIR SOFTWARE UPDATE BETWEEN OCTOBER 2 T O OCTOBER 9TH WHILE I WAS ON A VACATION. OTA SOFTWARE VERSION 2020.24.6.11

NHTSA ID

11366786

Incident

Oct 9, 2020

Mileage

106,000 mi

I OWN A TESLA MODEL S AND I REPORTING ISSUES WITH MY TOUCH SCREEN MCUS. IT HAS COMPLETELY FAILED AFTER 7,000 MILES. PRESENTLY I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL OF MY HEATING,, AIR CONDITIONING, FAN, SAFETY CAMERAS, GARAGE DOOR OPENER, OR ELECTRONIC CONTROLS ON ANY TOUGH SCREEN PORTIONS OF THE CAR. THIS IS A HUGE PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERN THAT IMPACTS ME AND THE PUBLIC AS WELL. I LIVE IN A MOUNTAINSIDE AREA AND WE DEPEND ON THE BACK UP CAMERA TO AVOID ACCIDENTS AS OUR GARAGE BACKS UP INTO A VERY NARROW LANE. AND I CAN NOT SEE THE CHILDREN AND ANIMALS THAT ARE IN BACK OF MY CAR WHEN I EXIT MY GARAGE. NOR CAN I USE ANY OF THE GPS FEATURES FOR GUIDANCE AS WELL. THE TOUCH SCREEN HAS COMPLETE FAILURE IN THE MCU UNIT. I CONTACTED TELSA RE THIS ISSUE AND INFORMED THEM THAT THIS IS A LIABILITY TO ME AND THE BRAND BASED ON THE HUGE SAFETY ISSUES THIS PRESENTS. I TOLD THEM I WAS GLAD THAT THE CALL WAS BEING RECORDED AS I DID WANT THIS ISSUE TO BE UNREPORTED. AND I INFORMED TESLA THAT THIS PROBLEM IS EXIGENT AS WE LIVE IN SOUTHEN CALIFORNIA AND THE TEMPERATE IS NOW OVER 120 DEGREES. THIS COULD CAUSE HEAT STROKE AND ALSO KILL OUR ANIMALS AS WELL. TESLA REPLIED THAT THIS MY MY PROBLEM AND NOT THEIRS. SOME OWNERS BELIEVE THAT IT IS A PROBLEM WITH THE EMBEDDED MULTI-MEDIA-CARD MEMORY (EMMC) IN THE MCU AND THAT IT IS BEING OVERWRITTEN TO THE POINT OF FAILURE. II KNOW NOW THAT IS A RECOGNIZED DEFECT KNOWN AS THE 'EMMC FAILURE' PROBLEM. I UNDERSTAND THAT TESLA NOW HAS INTRODUCED A NEW MCU IN 2018 THAT DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, BUT OWNERS OF OLDER VEHICLES ARE STILL EXPERIENCING THE PROBLEM IN HAVING TO REPLACE THE UNIT OUT OF WARRANTY, DESPITE SEEING TESLA'S MISTAKE AS THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM INSTEAD OF A NORMAL ISSUE THAT OCCURS OVER TIME. I NEED RESOURCES AND REMEDIES TO CORRECT THIS MANUFACTURE INDUCED MALAISE.

NHTSA ID

11353070

Incident

Sep 1, 2020

ON 8/6/2020 AT APPROXIMATELY 3:50 PM [XXX], I [XXX] WAS PARKING MY 2013 MODEL S 85 TESLA IN MY CARPORT. I HAVE LIVED AT THIS ADDRESS FOR 7 MONTHS AND HAD PARKED MY CAR THERE WITHOUT INCIDENT NUMEROUS TIMES. I WAS NOT DISTRACTED NOR INTOXICATED IN ANY WAY; I WAS SIMPLY PARKING MY CAR. AS I WAS ABOUT TO PUSH THE PARK BUTTON ON THE TESLA, SUDDENLY THE CAR UNINTENTIONALLY ACCELERATED, OUT OF CONTROL, THE BRAKE DIDN'T WORK, AND CONTINUED TO LEAP FORWARD AT FULL SPEED, CAUSING ME TO CRASH THROUGH THE GATE, AND BACK OF MY CARPORT, BOUNCING ONE TRASHCAN OFF MY SHED DOOR AND PUSHING ANOTHER ONE, AS I VEERED AROUND THE SHED CORNER KNOCKING THE CARPORT SUPPORTS OUT AS I WENT. CRASHING THROUGH MY NEIGHBORS BACK FENCE, I PLOWED OVER MY NEIGHBOR'S GARDEN AND BACK YARD WITH MY GARBAGE CAN AND CAR ACTING AS A BATTERING RAM. THE TESLA EVENTUALLY CAREENED INTO NEIGHBORS BACK CARPORT PLOWED OVER A GAS MAIN, POWER MAIN PANEL, WATER MAIN, AND SEWER DRAIN LINE. BASICALLY, ALL THE UTILITIES WHICH FED HER HOUSE, AND FINALLY STOPPED AFTER HITTING THE SIDE OF SPACE# 46 HOUSE. I SAW AND SMELLED GAS ENTERING THE CAR FROM THE BROKEN GAS PIPE. FORTUNATELY, THE POWER TO MY HOUSE ALONG WITH 40 OF THE SURROUNDING HOUSES HAD BEEN SHUT OFF THE PREVIOUS DAY DUE TO A TOTALLY UNRELATED INCIDENT. A POWER TRANSFORMER WHICH FED THE COMMUNITY HAD BEEN MIS-WIRED AND DESTROYED ALL THE ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND ELECTRONICS IN THE 40 HOUSES THE TRANSFORMER FED. IF THE POWER HAD BEEN ON, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN SPARKS AND AN EXPLOSION UNDER MY TESLA BATTERY PACK; WHICH WOULD HAVE CAUSED A SECONDARY EXPLOSION. I WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED INSTANTLY ACCORDING TO THE FIREMEN AND PGE GAS REPAIR MAN WHO SHOWED UP AFTER THE INCIDENT. ANYONE PRESENT WITHIN THE VICINITY AROUND MY CAR WOULD MOST LIKELY HAVE BEEN KILLED TOO OR INJURED. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *TR

NHTSA ID

11348946

Incident

Aug 6, 2020

Mileage

71,111 mi