2017 Tesla Model X Electrical Problems

High voltage battery management system generated fault codes BMS_u008 and BMS_f071 during a Supercharger charging session, prohibiting drive mode. Vehicle had been driven normally to the Supercharger with no drive-prohibiting alerts during transit. After connecting to the Supercharger, fault codes manifested. Despite fault condition, vehicle continued charging to 93% state of charge before requiring towing. This is the second such event — original HV battery also generated BMS fault alerts prohibiting drive mode during a charging session in January 2024 and was replaced with a remanufactured assembly. Third-party firmware alert data shows recurring hardware charging fault alerts (CHG_f018, CHG_f076, customer message: Unable to charge) occurring in January and February 2026, weeks prior to the March 2026 failure. Alert DI_u014 also fired repeatedly on March 18, 2026 indicating insufficient 12V supply contributing to undriveable condition — a separate system from the HV battery. Tesla Service Center has not investigated whether Supercharger charging events contributed to either failure, has not produced Supercharger session logs, and has not attempted software-level fault resolution before recommending full hardware replacement. Tesla's own firmware documentation describes BMS_u008 as potentially self-clearing and BMS_f071 as having a documented clear condition. Remanufactured battery subsequently drained from 88% to 0% over 11 days while unplugged at service center — 6-9% per day versus normal 1-3% per day vampire drain, consistent with active BMS fault causing abnormal parasitic draw.

NHTSA ID

11728947

Incident

Mar 18, 2026

During home charging using 40A, the 220 volt UMC connector started smoking and was melting. The charging appeared unaffected, and I caught it before it caught fire.

NHTSA ID

11702124

Incident

Nov 30, 2025

I own a Tesla Model X, and for the past two summers I’ve experienced a repeating safety-critical issue during hot weather. After driving for a period in the heat, multiple systems begin to fail. The car displays numerous warnings including: •“Parking brake requires service” •“Traction control disabled” •“Stability control disabled” •“Steering assist reduced” •“Automatic Emergency Braking unavailable” •“Regenerative braking unavailable” •“Lane Departure Avoidance unavailable” When this happens, the steering wheel becomes very stiff and hard to turn, which severely affects my ability to drive and control the vehicle. I’ve brought the vehicle to Tesla service twice. The first time (when it was still under warranty), they said they couldn’t replicate the issue. The second time, I brought it in while the warnings were still active. Tesla only cleaned some sensors and returned the car, but the issue returned again recently with all the same symptoms. This only happens in hot weather. Once the car cools down, the errors disappear. This intermittent issue is difficult for the service center to replicate, but it presents a serious safety risk, especially because steering and braking functions are compromised. I believe this is a deeper electrical or software issue affecting multiple safety systems under thermal stress. The issue has not been resolved, and the vehicle remains dangerous to drive in high temperatures.

NHTSA ID

11660199

Incident

May 10, 2025

I had a reoccurrence of Incident 11609414. After the original incident I had my car towed to the service center and "fixed". I paid out of pocket since my warranty did not cover the problem they claimed that caused my issues. 5 weeks later I had the same issue recur, while out shopping. My car would not shift into park, the emergency brake failed, my seat restraint failed, my airbag failed, my ABS failed, my steering assist failed. I had to stay in my car with my foot on the brake until I could get my car towed to the service center. Had I taken my foot off of the brake my car would have moved forward into a coffee shop filled with people.

NHTSA ID

11619734

Incident

Oct 14, 2024

When driving my car last Friday evening at ~5:45pm PST, I was about 1 mile away from home when alerts popped up on my car including- "Regenerative breaking unavailable", "ABS disabled", "Stability Control disabled", "Traction Control disabled", "Steering Assist reduced", "Automatic Emergency Braking is Unavailable" Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault" "Park Assist Unavailable". I drove the last mile to my house and when I pulled into my garage my gear shift would not work to put my car into park. I tried to then do a "soft reset" by holding both buttons on the steering wheel down, and this would not work. I frantically called the nearest Tesla service center and after 20 min the person there told me there wasn't anything they could help me with and gave me the number for Tessa Roadside Assistance. This whole time I had to have my foot on the break pedal to keep my car from moving forward and going through my garage wall into my house. I was on hold with Tesla Roadside assistance awaiting an answer for another 30min, and after talking with an agent he told me to "find a large rock to put under my tires to prevent the car from moving forward", this wasn't a feasible option as I was alone with a 12 year old girl, there are also not any large rocks near my garage. Tesla service then connected me with a towing agency, but let me know that since my car warranty only covers my battery and drive train, I would have to pay for the tow out of pocket. The tow truck driver came about 20 minutes later, so at this point I was sitting in my garage with my foot on the break pedal for well over an hour. There was no way that anyone could power off the car or get it into another gear other than drive. There was no way to access the 12v batter and disconnect the car since I couldn't open my frunk as the car was not in park. without the assistance of a tow truck I could have been stuck in my car for hours holding the break pedal.

NHTSA ID

11609414

Incident

Aug 16, 2024

April 2024: Tesla Model X repeatedly failed to download firmware updates, although offered via the car’s UI. The car uses the connected WiFi to download several gigabytes of data every month, but ultimately does not apply any updates. This is a serious safety issue, since it prevents all future software update recalls from being available to this vehicle. May 15, 2024: Tesla failed to fix this issue through remote diagnosis, and requested a service center visit. Tesla engineers diagnosed the vehicle at the Burlingame CA Service Center, and spoke to me on the phone that the root cause was a recent firmware upgrade that has permanently bricked the ECU unit, which now needs to be replaced. Since this ECU unit is not user-accessible or user-serviceable, there is no way for this to have been caused by the customer. Tesla quoted $2048 to fix it, out of pocket, even though this damage was not caused by the customer, or related to regular wear-and-tear, but (as acknowledged by Tesla) caused due to a faulty firmware update issued by Tesla themselves. May 17, 2024: After pointing this out to them, Tesla managers called me, offering to discount the repair by 25%. Many similar complaints about the exact same part (ECU unit) and the same mode of failure (bricked after buggy firmware update) can be found shared online by others. This is a systemic issue, and not a one-off failure for my car alone. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] All I am requesting is that Tesla fix this issue at their own cost and make my purchase whole, but Tesla has not honored that request so far. Thank you! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11607735

Incident

May 15, 2024

April 2024: Tesla Model X repeatedly failed to download firmware updates, although offered via the car’s UI. The car uses the connected WiFi to download several gigabytes of data every month, but ultimately does not apply any updates. This is a serious safety issue, since it prevents all future software update recalls from being available to this vehicle. May 15, 2024: Tesla failed to fix this issue through remote diagnosis, and requested a service center visit. Tesla engineers diagnosed the vehicle at the Burlingame CA Service Center, and spoke to me on the phone that the root cause was a recent firmware upgrade that has permanently bricked the ECU unit, which now needs to be replaced. Since this ECU unit is not user-accessible or user-serviceable, there is no way for this to have been caused by the customer. Tesla quoted $2048 to fix it, out of pocket, even though this damage was not caused by the customer, or related to regular wear-and-tear, but (as acknowledged by Tesla) caused due to a faulty firmware update issued by Tesla themselves. May 17, 2024: After pointing this out to them, Tesla managers called me, offering to discount the repair by 25%. Many similar complaints about the exact same part (ECU unit) and the same mode of failure (bricked after buggy firmware update) can be found shared online by others. This is a systemic issue, and not a one-off failure for my car alone. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] All I am requesting is that Tesla fix this issue at their own cost and make my purchase whole, but Tesla has not honored that request so far. Thank you! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11607733

Incident

May 15, 2024

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed with the Autonomous Self-Driving mode activated, the Auto-steer feature was engaged, and the vehicle inadvertently steered into the left lane of oncoming traffic. The contact manually steered the vehicle away from the oncoming traffic. An unknown dealer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but confirmed that parts were not yet available. The failure mileage was approximately 110,000. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ID

11586860

Incident

Apr 1, 2023

Mileage

110,000 mi

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ID

11583003

Incident

Feb 8, 2024

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue where it was stated that due to the year of the vehicle, it was considered an older model and parts were not yet ready for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA ID

11571901

Incident

Dec 12, 2023

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that when he purchased the vehicle, the Infotainment screen was delaminating, potentially causing issues with the display and communication of the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contacted was informed there was no recall for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.

NHTSA ID

11570871

Incident

May 12, 2023

Mileage

80,000 mi

The component that is not working on my car is the intermittent windshield wipers. The issue is that the intermittent wipers do not come on in eaither of the 2 low settings. The wipers only work in the steady low and high settings. When it is just misty out or a light rain, you have to manually push the button at the end of the stalk to give a swish of the wipers. If you are on the steady low setting, it is too much and the wipers squeak on the widsheild. I originally brought this into my Tesla service center in October and they told me that this would be fixed in a firmware update. I have followed up a few times as the update never came and today I am back at the service center and they have told me that they are still waiting for this problem to be addressed and that I should just use the other low and high speed wipers to clear the mist. It is now the end of December, almost 3 month later.This is not safe and should be addressed right away.

NHTSA ID

11560837

Incident

Oct 1, 2023

Manufacturer designed a Pyro Fuse (a/k/a Battery Fuse), the purpose of which is to open the main battery's circuit in the event of a detected crash via a squib charge, in order to prevent further property damage or risk to life. The obsolete design contained in this model depends on a small lithium ion battery with a 7-10 year lifespan. In this car's case, a timer notification kicked in at about 6.5 years of life. The risk to not recalling this part with the new part design (self-charging from the current) and all affected models in the fleet is that now all these vehicles risk higher odds of a catastrophic battery fires during collisions and other failures the fuse was designed to prevent.

NHTSA ID

11545839

Incident

Sep 21, 2023

Car was hit by a city bus on 12/17/22. Car was towed to repair shop. Damages were repaired. Shortly after repair, the Car started making high pitched loud sound when a/c turned on. Took the car back to repair shop. Diagnosis: Air conditioning unit and compressor failed. Tesla wants $5700 to fix it, $4444 of it labor charges. They are saying it did not have to do with accident. The car did not make this sound before the accident. See pics.

NHTSA ID

11545076

Incident

Dec 17, 2022

Dashboard or driver screen suddenly goes black while driving (and at other times will freeze on a certain speed, despite slowing down, or breaking.) At this point, driver does not know what speed he, or she is traveling at, nor what gear. Response from Tesla is to reboot the car. However, these episodes while driving continue and are very dangerous. Tesla is pushing paying $2000 to get an infotainment upgrade to solve this safety issue which seems to be a defect in the car.

NHTSA ID

11507909

Incident

Jan 17, 2023

This contains new information, a smoking gun, and is associated with NHTSA complaint numbers 11505487, 11505488, and 11505489. NHTSA Recall: 21V-035; Tesla Manufacturer Recall: SB-21-21-001 I was threatened a $35/day charge and tow/impound though no maintenance was performed on my vehicle. I went to pick it up and the vehicle was still suffering from the recalled eMMC issue which causes the screens to blank, freeze, etc. All driving information, safety features, and some exterior safety features are lost - it's a major hazard. This recall has two parts, the first part was a Tesla over the air update, which it pushed to the affected vehicles. I believe in doing this, Tesla has now stated to the NHTSA that the recall was complete. However, the recall has a secondary part "To be specific, Tesla will replace the VCM daughterboard that has the Hynix 8GB eMMC with a VCM daughterboard that has an enhanced 64GB Micron eMMC, free of charge." which Tesla is completely denying accomplishment. I have requested the car be repaired 7 times over the past 6 months and they have denied and avoided the recall repair, stating that there are no active recalls and forcing a paid upgrade to the MCU2. Tesla is abusing the over the air update capability and falsely stating that they're correcting issues to avoid correcting safety hazards. My vehicle has experienced 13 failures over our 6k miles of ownership in 6 months. In those 13 failures, 6 nearly caused catastrophic accidents. Additionally, the service center in Fort Worth (275 University Drive) has been altering/cancelling service records to avoid completing required recall repairs. The GM, [XXX] was recently fired/resigned and the senior service rep [XXX] was moved. Tesla must fix its unsafe vehicles and I recommend double checking all recalls Tesla has "completed" via over the air updates. They're artificially avoiding accomplishment of the recall and leveraging the safety hazard on the consumer. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U

NHTSA ID

11505612

Incident

Feb 4, 2023

Tesla’s entire car function (rear view camera, windshield heating, rear defrost) is supported by the center screen system. In Gen1 model X it uses a Gen 1 computer. Over the last 4 months. The screen blanks out while driving. I can’t access car functions. This happens while driving so it’s super dangerous. Only way to resolve the issue is to press a few more UI buttons on the screen. This impairs all car functions. I’ve submitted this a couple times to Tesla now and they say that this is a software issue they have not been able to resolve and they’re asking me to pay $2000 to get their next generation center console. I’ve mentioned that this is a safety risk as this can happen while driving, which makes me take my eyes off the road to fix the problem on the center console. They don’t seem to care about it. This is happened to multiple drivers according to the technician I spoke to, and they have not solved the issue. I recorded my last service with Tesla, and I have proof of them speaking of this issue.

NHTSA ID

11500664

Incident

Jan 8, 2023

MCU failure. Same symptoms as a failure of the mcu1, although mine was upgraded over a year ago to mcu2. It has failed. Failed strangely enough, after leaving the dealership, after an unnecessary recall to update MCU memory. My car does not have the problem. I was told, and given the car back. a mile from the dealership I realized that nothing was working. Can not turn on the defroster cannot operate any other features, air-conditioning, etc. it took three months to get the car back to them to try to address this problem all the time not having a fully functioning touchscreen and after two week time at the dealership they tell me that the MCU has failed and then I have to pay almost $2000 to fix it, additionally, they also said that this is the first MCU upgrade to the MCU to that they have seen fail, which brings up a whole lot more question. Carl was working fine when it entered the dealership to perform this unnecessary repair, but was not working when it left.

NHTSA ID

11492220

Incident

Jul 31, 2022

Original infotainment MCU1 with upgraded memory continues to not allow service mode to initialize. Also screen goes black with no connectivity to the car from my phone app, no access to temperature control, or GPS mapping. No access to any seat controls or door controls. This occurred for 1 hour while driving to home. System is operational again - 10 days later with no driving in between. Tesla service came out to diagnose and are not sure of the cause, however failure cause safety issues for passenger overheating and control functions to operate the car as well as diagnose the issue.

NHTSA ID

11489183

Incident

Oct 3, 2022

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that the message "Air Suspension" was displayed intermittently while driving. The vehicle was taken to the Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that no issues were found. The contact stated while her fiancé was pulling into a parking lot at 5 MPH with her in the front passenger’s side seat, the vehicle lunged forward and shut off inadvertently. The contact and her fiancé were unable to restart the vehicle, to turn on the hazard light. Additionally, they were unable to open the driver’s or passenger’s side doors. Additionally, the contact stated that the passengers occupying the second and third-row seats including her disabled father were also unable to open the rear doors. The contact stated that the vehicle was becoming increasingly hot. The contact and some of the passengers crawled to the rear seats and removed both the rear driver's side and the passenger's side door panels in order to access the emergency releases. The contact stated that one person pushed the rear door from the inside while another person was pulling the rear door from the outside and the door opened. The contact and the other passengers were able to exit the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but was unable to access the computer system. The manufacturer advised the contact to tow the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla Service Center where it was still being diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.

NHTSA ID

11486033

Incident

Sep 3, 2022

Mileage

93,000 mi

Starting on May 5, 2022, my car has been plagued with numerous errors messages that stated multiple features of my car were malfunctioning/disabled, both while I first got into the car, and also occurring suddenly without any warning while the car was IN MOTION on the road. This included loss of power steering, traction control, stability control, parking brake, automatic emergency braking, and lane departure avoidance . The same problem(loss of all these vital features) has recurred many times on May 22nd, May 31st, July 8th, and most recently, September 14th. Each time I brought the car in to the Tesla service center, they would have absolutely no idea what was causing the same exact issues. At the very first visit, they stated the incorrect-sized tires were likely the culprit. Even after the correct sized tires were put on, the same problems returned weeks later. Another time they replaced the MCU, but again the problem returned. Every time I brought the car in, they would basically return the car with no definitive repairs done as by the time they started working on my car, all the errors had disappeared, and they would declare the car as being "fixed". After 5 visits for the SAME EXACT problem over the past 5 months, it is extremely clear that Tesla has no idea what is wrong with the car, and keeps returning the car to me without permanently solving the problem. At this point, I feel this car should not be on the road as I could lose vital controls(power steering, brakes, etc) all of a sudden with no warning, exposing the passengers inside, and all vehicles and pedestrians around it to serious, life-threatening danger. Despite this grave risk, Tesla has refused to buy the car back even though it still has an active factory warranty, claiming that it is past the two-year buy-back window, and the fact that it already has a lemon title(for a completely different issue) from 2019. It is just a matter of time before a serious accident happens.

NHTSA ID

11485960

Incident

May 5, 2022

Headlights will not work. Due to the vehicle not having a method of turning on headlights without access to a properly working media control unit which happens to be of all touch screen functionality a blackout of the screen will cause the driver to have no other access to the headlights or other vital safety features. This issue has been ongoing with Tesla for a long period of time and it continuously put the occupants of the vehicle at risk for injury both severe or fatal. Repeatedly addressed this malfunction of the vehicle with the repair facility and it has failed to be corrected or repaired.

NHTSA ID

11479288

Incident

Aug 14, 2022

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, both center display screens turned off inadvertently. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local Tesla Service Center where the computer software was updated and reset however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the local Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that both center display screens needed to be replaced. The center display screens were replaced; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that the center displays needed to be replaced with upgraded parts. The contact stated that he was informed that the repair would not be covered under warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 26,000.

NHTSA ID

11467176

Incident

Jun 24, 2021

Mileage

26,000 mi

The contact owns a 2017 Tesla Model X. The contact initially stated that the MCU screen would intermittently go blank while driving at various speeds without warning. The contact then received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V035000 (Back Over Prevention, Visibility, Exterior Lighting) and once parts were available, the vehicle was repaired. A few days after the repair, the contact stated that the screen intermittently failed without warning while driving. The contact took the vehicle back to the service center and was informed that he could either replace the entire instrument cluster screen or pay for a new chip (EMMC2) to update the instrument panel. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 52,000.

NHTSA ID

11464344

Incident

Feb 1, 2022

Mileage

52,000 mi

Repeated failure of driver's screen. Screen goes blank and then reboots automatically. During that time, the speedometer and all other controls visible from driver's screen are unavailable to the driver. Was told that it would be fixed by a software fix eventually. Now they will fix the problem for $2,000. Will ask them to save all parts.

NHTSA ID

11457571

Incident

Mar 1, 2022