2015 Tesla Model S Driver assistance Problems

This issue involves critical safety systems, including the rearview camera, front camera, and Autopilot/driver assistance features. The vehicle was taken to Tesla for a recall related to the MCU system. Tesla marked the recall as completed, but no effective repair was performed. The rearview camera remains unavailable, the front camera system is not functioning properly, and driver assistance features continue to be disabled. Tesla returned the vehicle without resolving the safety issue. This condition poses a serious safety risk, as essential visibility and safety systems are not operational despite a completed recall.

NHTSA ID

11730301

Incident

Apr 9, 2026

Tesla Model S has a notorious back hatch latching failure. It’s a flawed design that every replacement is a “when” and not “if for failure. As an owner its failed be about 4-5 times in 5+ years of ownership. The hatch back latching issue causes cruise control as well as their Autopilot steering navigation feature to be disabled when latch starts acting up or failing to fully close, which are helpful safety components to keep your car on the road going at proper speeds and staying in lane. Reporting this in hopes someone pushes Tesla to do something about this flaw that should be a manufacturers defect.

NHTSA ID

11714890

Incident

Jan 29, 2026

What happened? While driving my 2015 Tesla Model S, the main touchscreen (MCU) began intermittently going black, disabling access to essential vehicle controls, navigation, climate settings, and rear-view camera display. At times when the MCU was functioning, the rear-view camera feed would still display a black screen upon shifting into Reverse, leaving me without any rear visibility. Component or system that failed: Media Control Unit (MCU1) / eMMC memory failure Rear-view camera and/or associated wiring harness Safety risk: The intermittent blackouts of the MCU and loss of rear camera feed created significant safety hazards, especially when reversing or attempting to adjust driving settings while in motion. The loss of rear visibility increased the risk of collision with pedestrians, cyclists, or obstacles. The MCU failure also limited access to defrost/defog controls and turn signal audio feedback. Problem reproduction and confirmation: Tesla Service has confirmed both the MCU1 hardware failure and the rear-view camera malfunction. The problems occurred repeatedly before being inspected. Inspection: The vehicle has been inspected by Tesla Service Center technicians, who diagnosed both the failing MCU1 and the defective rear-view camera. Warning messages or symptoms prior to failure: For MCU: slow system performance, frozen screen, then intermittent complete blackouts while driving. For rear-view camera: black or distorted camera feed when in Reverse, even when the MCU display was otherwise operational. These issues began occurring in June 2025 and became progressively worse until Tesla inspection on July 6, 2025.

NHTSA ID

11680801

Incident

Jun 25, 2025

The car veered suddenly to the left (out of the left lane of a highway) while supervised in auto steer. The driver could not move the steering wheel to avoid a collision with the guardrail as the steering wheel had locked up. The collision warning didn’t sound and emergency brakes did not activate upon impact. The airbags were deployed and the car was totaled.

NHTSA ID

11624099

Incident

Nov 7, 2024

The vehicle was involved in an accident due to a failure of the autopilot system. There was a recall letter sent out of 23V-838 a month prior, but changes either did not persist or was the primary cause of the accident.

NHTSA ID

11588343

Incident

Mar 17, 2024

EMMC failed prior to recall and was replaced by 3rd party vendor. Recall reimbursement was denied. Emailed Tesla multiple times without response

NHTSA ID

11583598

Incident

Mar 12, 2021

The MCU that controls the climate and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems stops working while driving. I sent a service request to TESLA and they replied that my older MCU1 is failing because of the new software updates. It isn't the eMMC card hardware failure, but the symptoms and safety concerns are the same. None of the controls work, as the main screen goes blank and resets while driving. TESLA told me the fix for this problem is to upgrade to MCU2, which they fail to provide for free as a safety recall. There was already a recall for the MCU memory chip failing and causing the same safety concern. The car disables the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems when this problem occurs. It happens about once or twice a month for the last year.

NHTSA ID

11581437

Incident

Mar 30, 2024

Unknown

NHTSA ID

11572224

Incident

Feb 14, 2024

The Model S, which was bought in 2015, had a sudden acceleration while I was trying to park near the entrance gate of the parking lot. The accident happened on May 25, 2023. Fortunately, nobody got hurt and the car was totaled. I feel strongly that this should be investigated, as this can be a very serious public safety issue. It was inspected by the insurance company. There were no warning messages prior to the failure.

NHTSA ID

11560001

Incident

May 25, 2023

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while he, his wife, and his son were in the vehicle he had begun veering right pulling into the driveway, at approximately 5 MPH, he had begun slightly releasing the brakes when the vehicle suddenly accelerated at accelerated high speeds. The contact immediately depressed the brake pedal however the vehicle speed continued to accelerate. As a response, the contact attempted to maneuver the vehicle to avoid crashing into the garage. The contact crashed into a nearby tree, jumped the curb, and became airborne crashing into the side of the home. The driver's side of the vehicle crashed into the side of the home where the laundry room was located ricocheting hitting the kitchen and bedroom windows and eventually coming to a stop. Due to the home being on a slope, the vehicle ended up falling into a nearby embankment after coming to a stop. All air bags deployed. The vehicle was towed. The contact was informed by insurance the vehicle would more than likely be totaled however this had not been confirmed. A police report was filed. The contact received emotional distress, cuts, and bruising to their hands. arms and forehead. The contact also suffered from back pain. The contact's wife sat in the rear on the driver's side and received emotional distress, trouble breathing, bruising on their face, and bleeding in the mouth. Their wife also received neck, back, and head pain. The contact stated that their wife ended up falling to the floor of the vehicle as a result of the crash. The contact's son sat in the rear on the passenger's side and received emotional distress, and back and neck pain. All persons received medical attention on-site, such as cleaning the wounds and icing any bruising. They were advised to seek additional care, however, have not been able to do so as of yet. The crash caused damage to the wall and flooring structures, electricity, and water systems in the home. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer. The cause of the failure had n

NHTSA ID

11559471

Incident

Dec 10, 2023

Mileage

60,000 mi

1)MCU1 flash memory failure in production from 2012 to 2018, part is available, but would require downing the car to remove/replace. 2)The symptoms of this failure include the loss of indicated gear state and reduced driver visibility from the loss of rearview camera, defrost/defog and exterior signal lighting which increases the risk of an accident. Driver display is black or booting up slowly during this time and the car can be put into gear and driven prior to the display showing DNR gear state making it a safety risk to anyone walking near the vehicle if it was accidently put into gear. 3)Issue was confirmed by Tesla and was told an update to MCU2 hardware at $2250 was needed at the customer (my) expense. The vehicle was under a full Tesla warranty, so I refused and asked them to fix this issue. Tesla Service cleared/freed up some memory but said the issue would return unless I paid to update to MCU2 hardware. The issue has returned as they stated. 4)Yes, by Tesla Service and Tesla Engineering. Both confirmed that this was a known issue with the MCU1 hardware in production from 2012 to 2018 and recommended that I (the customer) update the vehicle to MCU2 hardware for $2250. 5)There are no warning lamps or messages to inform the operator of an issue. Only the black driver display, but that doesn’t prevent the operator from putting the vehicle in gear. The symptoms start with slow driver display boot times and progressively get worse over time losing the rearview camera, defrost/defog and exterior lighting controls. The display lag becomes enough to be able to accidently put the car in drive or reverse without displaying indicated gear state on the dash making it a safety risk to anyone walking near the car.

NHTSA ID

11552280

Incident

Jun 7, 2022

My instrument cluster is delaminating in my tesla model S. When I took it to the service center for the recall service the service center stated that the main screen was also delaminating. Service tech told me that the instrument cluster (and main screen) would eventually fail because of the delamination. I have had the car for less than 8 years. both the instrument cluster and the center screen have a lot to do with safe operation of the vehicle so I believe they should be replaced for free under recall or at least have a much cheaper upgrade option. It is extremely rare for any car to have a common problem of the intstument cluster delaminating and this should be a recall since it is an ongoing, common issue. This is a problem Telsa knows about and hasn't done anything to remedy for a reasonable price. They want $1,750 for the upgrade of the instrument cluster and the main center screen. I bought the car when they were talking about self driving features that are not even possible for this car so I was mislead on that too. Here is other documentation of this issue. https://www.carproblemzoo.com/tesla/models/instrument-cluster-panel-problems.php

NHTSA ID

11525419

Incident

May 24, 2023

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently swerved in and out of the lane and accelerated unintendedly for approximately 8 to 10 seconds and then performed as designed. No warning lights were illuminated. The dealer was notified of the failure and an appointment was scheduled. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was informed that no failure was detected and informed that a report would be filed. The failure mileage was approximately 37,000.

NHTSA ID

11523468

Incident

May 22, 2023

Mileage

37,000 mi

When backing out of my garage, and reverse my car often times stops violently on its own

NHTSA ID

11521634

Incident

May 11, 2023

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that the center display screen became inoperable. The contact stated that the defroster, exterior lights, back-up camera and radio were inoperable. The contact stated that the vehicle occasionally stalled. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the center display screen needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was contacted, and the contact was referred to the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 79,000.

NHTSA ID

11521301

Incident

Aug 1, 2022

Mileage

79,000 mi

The issue began during the week of April 10, 2023. I started to experience significant steering wheel resistance in 90 degree intervals. My initial assumption was the power steering was starting to fail. The amount of force required to turn became progressively worse towards the latter half of the week. However, there were no warning lamps or messages indicating there were issues with the car. On the morning of Friday, April 14th after dropping my kids off at school, I was using the vehicle's Autopilot function while turning on an eastbound interstate on-ramp and noticed the car began to veer off course towards the concrete ramp barrier, forcing my to immediately grab the wheel to prevent a collision. It felt as if the wheel was stuck again at one of the 90 degree intervals mentioned above. I've driven this route countless times utilizing the feature and have never had an issue. It's worth noting that the resistance was felt regardless of whether or not the Autopilot feature was turned on. That afternoon I took my vehicle to the local Tesla service center and the representative immediately said it sounded as if the u-joint was going bad. They took the car in and had the part replaced within 24-hours. That evening I browsed numerous forums and learned this is a common issue due to the u-joint's lack of protection and exposure to the elements. I have never submitted a safety complaint before but the fear I experienced that morning combined with the lack of any warning lamps or notifications from the vehicle compelled me to share. I do believe this is a broader issue that needs to be reviewed.

NHTSA ID

11517371

Incident

Apr 14, 2023

My 2015 Tesla Model S was driving with autopilot on 3-17-2023 at 5:45 pm PST near the intersection of Lafayette St and Memorex Dr. in San Jose California when I noticed it panicked and slammed on the brakes while traffic was flowing at about 40 mph. The day was clear no rain, fog, or obstructions. There was a Jeep approaching faster from my rear left in the next lane but it wasn't in front of me. No other cars were in front of me either. There was traffic directly behind me and the car suddenly braked nearly causing an accident from the rear. The car showed an icon of a person in red (An indication of what it was braking for). However, there was no person in the area. I immediately hit the acceleration pedal to avoid the accident from the rear and to keep the car moving. The car never showed a "person" indicator before in the 4 years I have owned it. I know the newer models show it but not this year. I immediately requested service through Tesla as the car has phantom braked for ghost cars in the past but never a ghost person and it almost caused a serious accident. I was told by Tesla that there is nothing they can do and that I needed to press the "Push to talk" button in the car and say "Report a bug". I told them in a moment like that I am more focused on preventing an accident and that is not a good solution. I did provide the time, day and conditions to them.

NHTSA ID

11513609

Incident

Mar 17, 2023

When driving with autopilot engaged, the vehicle sometimes gives alerts even when there is no vehicle or obstacle in its path. Immediately once the driver takes control, the autopilot does not disengage but continue as usual. The autopilot suddenly brakes or slows down even when there is no obstacle on a freeway.

NHTSA ID

11506804

Incident

Feb 4, 2023

Fatal Tesla Accident. Cause unknown. Vehicle suddenly left the highway resulting in fatal collision. Tesla model 2015 S D

NHTSA ID

11493975

Incident

Sep 13, 2022

Tesla sent an “Over the Air” software update to my car that compromised the original functionality as designed at the date of manufacture. The software includes advancements that when installed on the original MCU1 hardware causes connectivity issues and significant delays in the Tesla Autopilot system, making the safety assistance system untrustworthy. Tesla informed me this is expected behavior when using the new software on the MCU1 hardware and that it was on the customer to upgrade to the newer MCU2 hardware at a cost of $2250 even when the car is covered under a full warranty.

NHTSA ID

11488815

Incident

Sep 10, 2022

When passing an off-ramp with a vertical wall next to the lane in which the car is travelling, the car sometimes rapidly slows down for no apparent reason. This has occurred at only two such off-ramps: North bound I-5 at 317th in Federal Way only while in the HOV lane and North bound on I-5 at the Berkeley Avenue SW exit at Camp Murray from the right lane.

NHTSA ID

11485675

Incident

Aug 19, 2022

Instrument cluster not powering on or crashes/glitches while operating the vehicle. This makes the vehicle unsafe to drive while auto pilot is engaged because the auto pilot system stops operating which could lead to a serious accident. The vehicle speedometer and all other instrument cluster warning systems are unavailable because the screen is off/not working. Tesla has performed a remote diagnostic and claims no issues are identified. They then proceed to upsell me the new infotainment system that will rectify this problem for $3,000 dollars.

NHTSA ID

11481478

Incident

Jul 10, 2022

Two issues to flag: 1) Door handles are defective. I have now had to replace all 4 door handles at $500+ each. There is clearly a design issue that should have been addressed and every part failing in the same way is unacceptable. 2) Phantom braking when 'Autopilot' engaged... rarely the car will brake hard at highway speeds for no apparent reason. I have noted this seems to occur on specific parts of road such as driving under an overpass with an uphill slope... this has been dangerous and required quick reactions to prevent the car from stopping on the highway.

NHTSA ID

11474720

Incident

Jul 19, 2022

Sudden braking for no reason. On Autopilot on freeway. Sudden braking from 70 MPH to 15 MPH. Happens about 1 in 3 road trips. No car in front.

NHTSA ID

11467401

Incident

May 16, 2022

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that the backup camera functioned intermittently and on other occasions, the image would remain frozen on the screen. The contact also stated that the MCU Unit failed and went blank on several occasions. While driving on some occasions, the MCU Unit would reboot. In addition, the defroster and turn signal chimes failed to function. The failure had gotten progressively worse. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the vehicle was serviced under NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) however, the failure persisted. The service center offered the contact a special offer of $2,000 for an Entertainment System Upgrade (NVIDIA Tegra 3 to Intel Atom Processor). The contact declined and Tesla acknowledged that there was a known issue with NVIDIA Tegra 3 Processor in the MCU and that an upgrade to the NVIDIA Tegra 3 would resolve the known failure. The contact was concerned that the backup camera failure might result in a crash with another vehicle or pedestrian. The vehicle had been taken to the dealer on three separate occasions and on each occasion, the vehicle remained in their possession for approximately 2 weeks. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000.

NHTSA ID

11467373

Incident

Nov 15, 2021

Mileage

80,000 mi