2026 Tesla Model S Problems
Owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA, grouped by component
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What this page shows
Everything below is an owner-reported complaint submitted to NHTSA about the 2026 Tesla Model S, grouped by the component NHTSA recorded on the report. These are not confirmed defects, and they are not recalls. NHTSA does not verify most reports before publishing them, and a category with more reports in it is not evidence that a part is defective.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Reports by component
Ranked by how many owner reports name each component category
- Driver assistance266.7%
- Brakes133.3%
Percentages are of component mentions. A single complaint can name more than one component, so these do not sum to the total complaint count.
Each component in detail
What the reports in each category say, in the owners' own words
Driver assistance
Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems.
From owner reports, verbatim
Supervised FSD does not have a remedy if it assigns an incorrect speed limit to the current roadway. The only action available is to disengage FSD. This incorrect speed limit happens quite often, especially in construction zones with temporary speed limit changes. Tesla used to have a ‘max speed’ setting that the driver could use to override an incorrect speed limit, but they removed that capability.
Car will just brake on the highway with out warning. Cruise control will just randomly change speeds. I was traveling on an overpass and speed dropped to 35 then jumped to 60mph.
Too few reports in this category for a page of its own — they appear in the full complaint list.
Brakes
Reports naming service brakes, the antilock braking system, brake hoses, master cylinders or the parking brake.
From owner reports, verbatim
Car will just brake on the highway with out warning. Cruise control will just randomly change speeds. I was traveling on an overpass and speed dropped to 35 then jumped to 60mph.
Too few reports in this category for a page of its own — they appear in the full complaint list.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Elsewhere on this vehicle
Data sources
- NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation — owner-reported complaints and the components recorded on them
Data on this page last refreshed .