2014 Tesla Model S Electrical Problems

Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration I am submitting a complaint regarding repeated denial of access to charging infrastructure for my electric vehicle due to fraudulent billing activity within Tesla’s Supercharger network. I own a 2014 Tesla Model S located in Alabama. My Tesla account has repeatedly recorded Supercharging sessions in California that were not performed by my vehicle. Tesla customer support representatives have acknowledged that this issue appears to involve VIN cloning or a flaw in their charging identification system. Because I blocked my credit card to prevent fraudulent charges, Tesla’s system repeatedly flags my account as having unpaid balances and automatically disables my vehicle’s access to the Supercharger network until those balances are resolved. This creates a situation where my vehicle can be denied access to charging infrastructure even though the charges are fraudulent and unrelated to my vehicle’s actual activity. The issue has occurred multiple times over several months and requires repeated calls to Tesla customer support to restore charging functionality. Loss of access to charging infrastructure can significantly impact the usability and operational reliability of an electric vehicle. I am requesting that this issue be investigated as a potential defect in the Supercharger billing or authentication system that could affect multiple vehicle owners.

NHTSA ID

11723948

Incident

Jan 28, 2026

The rear door handle has failed and now the door pops open when parked.

NHTSA ID

11720129

Incident

Feb 24, 2026

I am the current owner of a 2014 Tesla Model S equipped with MCU1. While driving, including at freeway speeds, the center touchscreen has rebooted unexpectedly, showing only the Tesla logo before recovering. During these reboots, critical vehicle functions are unavailable, including the rearview camera, HVAC/defrost controls, and other essential features. This failure matches the exact safety defect described in NHTSA Recall 21V-035 related to the MCU/eMMC failure. I reported this safety issue to Tesla Service and provided photo evidence of the screen rebooting while driving. Tesla has refused to address this as a recall or safety repair. Tesla claims the recall was previously completed under a prior owner but refuses to provide any documentation proving that the recall repair was actually performed, citing prior owner privacy. Tesla has further stated that diagnosis of this active safety defect would be customer-paid due to the basic warranty being expired and has indicated that the only path forward is a paid infotainment upgrade. Tesla is effectively requiring payment to diagnose and resolve a known safety defect. As the safety defect is actively occurring while driving and Tesla has marked the recall as complete without providing proof or correcting the issue, I am requesting NHTSA review whether Tesla is improperly closing out recalls without ensuring the defect has been remedied and whether charging customers to diagnose known safety defects is appropriate. After entering my VIN into NHTSA’s recall lookup, NHTSA shows Recall 21V-035 (MCU/eMMC failure) as Recall Incomplete for my vehicle. This directly contradicts Tesla’s claim that the recall was previously completed. Tesla has refused to provide documentation and is requiring paid diagnosis and a paid infotainment upgrade despite the recall being listed by NHTSA as unresolved.

NHTSA ID

11705673

Incident

Dec 6, 2025

My [XXX] mother owns a 2014 Tesla Model S P85+ (VIN: [XXX] ) with only 50,367 miles. The vehicle suddenly became completely inoperable without warning. It would not turn on, would not charge, and the charge port would not open. The vehicle had to be towed. Tesla diagnosed failures of the high-voltage battery contactors, the onboard charger assembly, and HV circuit integrity. These are essential high-voltage components that should not fail at such low mileage. When these parts fail, the vehicle loses all ability to charge, loses all propulsion capability, and becomes a stranded hazard. This represents a safety concern because the vehicle can shut down without warning and cannot be moved, which could leave occupants stuck in unsafe conditions or traffic. The charge port failing to open is also a safety issue, as the vehicle cannot be charged in an emergency and the owner has no way to safely get the vehicle off the road once it loses power. Tesla quoted nearly $4,000 for repairs and refused goodwill assistance even though this is a known early Model S issue and these components have been redesigned in later models. My mother is on a fixed Social Security income and cannot afford the repair or even the diagnostic fee. This situation may cause her vehicle to be repossessed through no fault of her own. I am requesting NHTSA to review premature high-voltage component failures on early Tesla Model S vehicles, as these failures pose safety risks and leave owners stranded with no warning. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11703740

Incident

Nov 23, 2025

After a high-voltage junction box repair performed by Tesla, the vehicle shut down 15 miles after leaving the service center. Tesla replaced the high-voltage harness at no cost but provided no explanation. After the HV harness replacement, new proximity/sensor alerts began triggering that were not present before their HV work. Multiple reasonable diagnostic procedures were refused, including bench-testing the sensors. Tesla is pressuring me to take possession of the vehicle without providing written confirmation that it is safe to operate following the HV system failure and subsequent replacement of HV components. I am concerned the vehicle may have unresolved high-voltage or wiring issues that could pose a safety hazard.

NHTSA ID

11701015

Incident

Nov 10, 2025

The contact owns a 2014 Tesla Model S. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000 (Electrical System); however, the OTA update had not been received. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that the OTA update was available. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, a case was opened, and it was confirmed that the OTA update was available. Later, the case was closed after the manufacturer confirmed the OTA update had been pushed to the vehicle. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ID

11646270

Incident

Mar 4, 2025

My instrument cluster goes off while driving making it impossible to know my current speed. It also will cut off when i put it in park and the car will not move until it completely reboots. Sometimes it will just freeze and say the car is off and in park while the car is in Drive moving. One time the cluster showed that the car was in reverse but when i hit the accelerator, car moved forward. Cluster is constantly rebooting itself. 2014 Tesla models S 85. I have an attached video where all warning signs are illuminated,no speedometer and shows its in park while im driving

NHTSA ID

11641238

Incident

Feb 6, 2025

Overnight while plugged in and after the battery showed it was fully charged, the battery suddenly lost charge, and the car sent repeated alerts to immediately pull over and stop driving. A notice on the car showed mileage was reduced and to immediately schedule a service call. After returning home, I downloaded to the car a recent software update that cleared the error. However, after the software upgrade, Tesla messaged that they did removed tests and the high voltage battery must be replaced.

NHTSA ID

11613809

Incident

Sep 10, 2024

Vehicle failed to charge at a tesla charging point. 60 miles from home , raining, had to have vehicle towed to house. Failed to charge at home charging point. Cost to have tesla fix, too expensive. Took 4 months to find another charge port for vehicle Vehicle continues to have issues

NHTSA ID

11600885

Incident

Nov 26, 2023

LCD dashboard is bubbling and liquid seems to be leaking within the dashboard screen. In some online research, there are concerns that contaminants can infilitrate the cabin when this happens. The problem seems to be pervasive for cars made by Tesla from 2012 to 2014. There were no warnings for when this problem ocurred. Tesla is saying that the part needs to be replaced at a cost of $1900.

NHTSA ID

11589771

Incident

May 1, 2024

The vehicles MCU storage files are 100% full, and unable to read or write new data.the caches and nodes to have been cleared several times to restore data storage and writing capabilities. 12v power resets have also been Performed as well as factory reset to eliminate potentially corrupt data and free storage space.while at Tesla they Reformatted gateway SD card. The Vehicle is still unable to take firmware update and unable to unlock vehicle gateway, therefore, a new key fob is not able to be programmed to vehicle. Tesla Tested vehicle app remote start capabilities and verified proper functionality. The tech had me uninstall then reinstall the Tesla mobile app, then pair phone to vehicle. They then informed me that a new Key fob will not be able to be paired to vehicle until infotainment upgrade is performed. no further repairs possible until info upgrade. To which that isn’t right and my car is inoperable for the second time because of this issue

NHTSA ID

11571804

Incident

Feb 14, 2024

Three separate reports from car to Tesla: Traction Control Disabled Stability Control Disabled Automatic Emergency Braking Disabled Two hours later my car caught on fire while parked at my home. It was declared a total loss.

NHTSA ID

11545459

Incident

Sep 15, 2023

Tesla has a Salvage Vehicle policy - when a vehicle has been branded as salvaged, regardless of future repairs, they will remotely disable the vehicle's ability to DC Fast Charge and require a DC System Inspection and DC Fast Charging Inspection at a cost of $870 that can only be performed by Tesla in order to service the vehicle and restore the DC Fast Charging feature. In my case Telsa has refused to perform the eMMC recall using the fact that I have not had the DC System Inspection service performed as their basis for refusing to perform the recall. Please seek an injunction against Tesla to ban them from using any pre-conditions such as first requiring a DC System Inspection in order to perform any recalls. Thank you.

NHTSA ID

11545026

Incident

Jun 8, 2023

Rearview camera goes out intermittently increasing risk of collision.

NHTSA ID

11541809

Incident

Aug 2, 2023

My car has the Gen 1 master charger assembly which is the stock part. The part malfunctioned and is a well-known issue with this vehicle. Luckily, I was not placed in harm's way when the part failed but there are many of those that have no been so lucky. This failure is not caused by the operator but is caused by the faulty factory part. This is a $3,000 repair for the owner of the vehicle alone not counting the potential risk of harm to the operator. The manufacturer must know that there is an issue with this part due to them replacing it with the Gen 2 model.

NHTSA ID

11540743

Incident

Aug 23, 2023

The air conditioning system is also the battery management system for keeping the car at optimal operating temperatures. If this system fails then the car will shut down to protect the integrity of the batteries. I have had my car air conditioning system serviced four times and the front louvers that direct air flow continually fail. The service center has decided there is nothing they can do because the problem doesn't have a dedicated error code for them to address. However, when I supercharge the car and the car gets hot the louvers aren't functioning properly and the car will not charge. Once I let the car cool down and drive, if the louvers are still malfunctioning the car will reduce power to the point that I have to pull over on the freeway and allow the batteries to cool down. This has happened multiple times where I have to stop on the freeway because the car reduces power and won't drive. When I ask Tesla to look at the problem they say because there is no dedicated error code for this malfunction, nothing is wrong with the car and I should keep driving it.

NHTSA ID

11540500

Incident

Jul 12, 2023

My original eMMC failed and Tesla at first wanted to charge me to replace it. Then, online, I found out my car had the 8gb eMMC that Tesla was supposed to “voluntarily” replace. I told Tesla this and they agreed to replace it at no charge. The next day, my MCU failed. The car wouldn’t unlock, wake up, or connect to the Tesla App. The next day it woke up and drove fine. The following day, it wouldn’t wake up again. I had the car jumped and taken to Tesla. They now say the original MCU needs an “upgrade” and I have to pay about $3400 for it. From my understanding, the eMMC is part of the MCU. It seems the replaced eMMC won’t work with the original MCU. So-they voluntarily replaced a part that caused another part to fail. This seems like a scam rather than a fix.

NHTSA ID

11540139

Incident

Aug 18, 2023

In 2014, I ordered this Model S P85D, received it on 12/20/2014, I also purchased a 4-year extended service plan. Starting from March 2017, it started to encounter random yet serious problems. The car would randomly produce critical errors, displaying several types of error messages, while losing most of its driving power; the driver would have to perform emergency pullovers onto the road shoulder, if available, before the power rapidly reduce to zero. Then the driver need to restart the main computer (sometimes several times), to reset the error messages. Only after that, the car became drive-able again. I wrote an email to [email protected] on 03/23/2017 describing the problem, since then, this became a chronic issue; Service centers in Virginia, Maryland, and San Juan PR have performed numerous attempts on this problem, none of them was able to fix it. According to my records, for this issue, the car has been in the shop for more than 10 times, and more than a dozen components have been replaced. The total time it has been out of service is more than 380 days. I now consider it "unfixable" by Tesla. This kind of problem have created many dangerous situations when it occurred on the road, especially when the driver doesn't know how to handle it, doesn't pull over on the shoulder quickly, or there's no safe place to pull over.

NHTSA ID

11512964

Incident

Mar 6, 2023

Instrument display is frozen at 0mph at 7:57am even while driving. Uploaded photo was taken at 9:19am as indicated on time stamp and on larger display at center of vehicle.

NHTSA ID

11497732

Incident

Dec 16, 2022

After updating vehicle to software version 11.0 (2022.8.10.6 d2b84545e244) my center screen which controls the majority of my functionality and safety features including my backup camera AND my instrument cluster will intermittently go blank. This prevents me from being able to use my backup camera, see warnings about the car, as well as be able to tell how fast my car is going. In addition, my turn signals no longer have a consistent audible tone when engaged.

NHTSA ID

11497364

Incident

Dec 11, 2022

The contact owns a 2014 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that both infotainment screens located inside the vehicle would display blank images which rendered several electrical safety features inoperable. The contact had taken the vehicle to a service center on three occasions where they informed him that they are aware of the failure but could not repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and he was given the same information as the service center. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 63,000.

NHTSA ID

11489182

Incident

Sep 1, 2021

Mileage

63,000 mi

The contact owns a 2014 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that her husband had buckled their son in the rear passenger’s seat and closed the door; however, while her husband was attempting to open the driver’s side door, the vehicle locked independently. The contact’s husband attempted to unlock the vehicle with the key fob however, the vehicle would not unlock. The contact stated that her husband downloaded the Tesla App to attempt to unlock the vehicle but the vehicle remained locked. The contact’s son also attempted to unlock the vehicle from the inside however, the vehicle failed to unlock or start-up. The contact’s husband was able to lower the rear passenger’s side window and remove the child from the vehicle. The contact stated that several hours later she was able to unlock and start the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the Tesla Service Center however, the mechanic found no failure with the vehicle. The mechanic stated that the vehicle might have rebooted itself. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ID

11485910

Incident

Sep 10, 2022

Air bubbles and leaking glue on instrument cluster obscuring visibility of speedometer and other displays.

NHTSA ID

11477964

Incident

Jun 4, 2022

My 2014 Tesla Model S is an unsafe vehicle as my dash goes black constantly and I lose control of the car safety items included in the dash panel such as speed, back up camera, visibility and power train. I have complained many times but Tesla does not respond with results that will make the car safe again.

NHTSA ID

11475648

Incident

Jun 15, 2022

The contact owns a 2014 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that the instrument cluster was delaminating and distorted. The contact was unable to see the messages and sensors. The contact stated that the liquid crystal fluid was leaking. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 95,000.

NHTSA ID

11470279

Incident

Mar 1, 2020

Mileage

95,000 mi