2021 Tesla Model X Driver assistance Problems

My car has 50,000 miles on it and is just over 4 years old. The steering column has failed causing it to not be able to steer. The service for this is a new steering column at a cost of over $5,000.00. The Y models and 3 models had a recall on this issue. Now it looks like the X models are having the issue as well. The consumer should not be responsible for this. It is dangerous. It is expensive to fix. A steering column should not fail at 50,000 miles. I am not the only person who has been faced with this issue. Tesla service even confirmed that they are seeing this on the X models. I think an investigation should be done. How many $5,000.00 repairs for safety has the consumer been saddled with?

NHTSA ID

11668225

Incident

Jun 17, 2025

This complain is regarding the recent recall regarding FSD tesla Smart Summon failures. Incident date June 02, 2024 Car was parked in a parking lot outside a movie theater. I was less than 20 feet away from car with clear visibility, and tried smart summon. Car pulled out of the parking making an acute turn damaging driver side door, and front bumper of car parked next to it. Tesla was contacted immediately regarding this malfunction of smart summon and requested them to stop offering this service to owners as it is dangerous. They took 3 months to conduct an internal investigation but refused to share written results. Instead read a generic statement from their website. Still not received a copy of the investigation. Tesla also refused to take take financial responsibility for the damage and their false claim. Smart Summon is dangerous and Tesla should not be allowed to advertise.

NHTSA ID

11635046

Incident

Jun 2, 2024

Alerts: UI_a020 - Steering Assist Reduced APP_w264 - Lane Departure features unavailable This incident happened suddenly during a normal commute from work to home. It caused the steering of the vehicle to be very heavy and difficult to control which could have potentially led to an unwanted accident on the road. There root cause seems to be a failure in the steering rack component of the car. It is a very common and prevalent issue with Tesla vehicles, and complaints on various Tesla forums and Reddit threads about this same issue. There also has been NHTSA investigations in the past regarding this. The failure caused the loss of safety functionality such as Lane Keeping Assistance, Lane Departure Assistance, Autopilot and FSD. Tesla Service Center diagnosed the alerts as a steering rack hardware failure and is charging almost $5000 to replace the part. Given that this is such a prevalent issue among so many Tesla vehicles, it needs to be addressed by the manufacturer and should be a safety recall and not on the customer to pay out of pocket.

NHTSA ID

11616404

Incident

Aug 1, 2024

[XXX] I was driving southbound on [XXX] in Dallas, TX (near [XXX] exit) in Tesla ModelX, with 2 kids in the back seat. It is raining. My speed is around 60-65mph and I am in the rightmost lane. Suddenly the vehicle skids a little, and my steering wheel and brakes are not working anymore. It seemed that the car took complete control and does a full 360 rotation, crossing 4 lanes on the highway. I recall the 10 seconds when I am facing the incoming cars and the only thought I had "this is the end". For whatever reason, the incoming cars slowdown and my tesla makes a full circle, crosses 4 lanes again and gets positioned correctly in the flow of the traffic and in the rightmost lane. my speed now is around 20-30 mph and I suddenly regain control of the brakes and the steering wheel. My kids are crying in the backseat. I still am trying to figure out how and what happened, I cant believe I am alive and I did cry thinking that anything could have happened to my kids. We could have all died on the spot given the rain and how fast the highway traffic goes. I am [XXX] and have been driving for about 30 years. I know how to control minor skidding in rain. I go skiing frequently and can drive on ice (but this was no ice, just water). The only explanation is the malfunction of the Tesla mirrors/cameras (perhaps due to rain water), and taking the wrong decision to swerve the car completely across 4 lanes back and forth. I wish nobody has to go through such life-altering experiences due to a car malfunction, I will never forgive Tesla for the nightmares I still get and the trauma I and my kids had to go through due to the error of a machine. There were no issues before or after with the car, no damage, our tires were relatively new, no police was called. Tesla of course must record incidences like this and they did call me and escalated this to their highest level. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11585512

Incident

Apr 20, 2024

AFTER AN UPDATE I WAS REVERSING MY CAR , CAR STOPPED IN MIDDLE OF ROAD AND STEERING WHEEL LOST CONTROL WITH SIGN OF STEERING ASSIST REDUCED AND LANE DEPARTURE ..... IT WAS A DEATH SCARE. I CONTACTED TESLA, 3 WEEKS AGO AND TODAY MY CAR HAS GONE FOR REPAIR. I HEAR THAT MODEL Y AND 3 ARE RECALLED. I CAN NOT TRUST DRIVING TESLA MODEL X CAR ANY MORE.

NHTSA ID

11535984

Incident

Jul 15, 2023

On 10-16-21 Saturday around 7:40 PM, I was going to my brother-in-law's house which is on the left side of the road I was driving. It is a single lane road in a busy residential area. I wanted to park outside of the house by the road. I took a left turn towards the gate, then slight reverse and put in drive to pull to park parallel to the road. My Tesla Model-x went into 'Sudden Unintended Acceleration' mode, went left to right to left in a violent way, picking up speed like a rocket. I applied the breaks repeatedly, but the car did not stop and continued to race on the road for about 0.3 mile where the road takes slight left turn. It went and crashed into a 40 ft tall big pine tree at probably more than 150 mph. It knocked off part of the compound wall of the owner, and passenger front tire blew away and landed in their front yard. I had the seat belt on. No other vehicle involved. I was the only occupant in the vehicle. No fire. I called 911 from my cell phone. I opened the driver side door manually and got out. Police took the report from me and took pictures. The report will be in another 3 days. Ambulance took me to hospital. Broke rt Ulna, Lumbar 2 vertebra, Pneumothorax lt lung with collapse of left lung, s/p chest tube. Also cervical muscle strain/ rupture. Discharge after 3 days. Still lot of back pain. Unable to go to work. Car is total loss. I have Tesla insurance. Reported the accident to Insurance. Adjuster still working on the claim. Requested to 'Preserve the car' for further investigation. 7-14-21: When I stop at a light, the front end of car goes up by about 4 inches. Took to Tesla service center and I was told it is adaptive suspension and it is normal. 8-10-21. When I apply break to stop at a red light, and when I turn on Left turn signal, power shuts off completely, everything blank in the middle of busy traffic, had to reset power. very scary. Happened twice. complained. Tesla remotely updated SD card. Happened again on 10-15-21.

NHTSA ID

11438228

Incident

Oct 16, 2021

My SD card failed and had to be replaced on my 2021 model X. The car's screens went completely blank during the 2021.24.3 software update. Car lost all power while park, failed to turn on after 3+ hours, had to be towed to service center. There was told the SD card failed and had to be replaced. This faulty SD card seems to be more than just a 2016-2018 issue.

NHTSA ID

11431269

Incident

Aug 31, 2021

Since delivery in December 2020 the computer MCU has shut down for two minutes while driving over a dozen times. The computer reboots after a couple of minutes but during this time it disables all instrumentation, turn signals and other driver information. I brought it in to the Tesla Service Center in Highland Park, Illinois with a list of dates and times that it shut down and they told me it was a known firmware issue and that there would be a solution sometime in the future. I don't believe a 2021 Tesla that cost nearly $100 K would force me to stick my arms out the window to make turn signals.

NHTSA ID

11423571

Incident

Jul 6, 2021

I PURCHASED A TESLA MODEL X ON 14 NOV 2020 AND HAD BEEN DRIVING JUST AROUND 2 MONTHS. AT AROUND 11:10PM OR SO AS WE WERE CRUISING ON THE I-580, AND WERE 2 EXITS NORTH OF THE 680 HIGHWAY, THE ENTIRE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER IN THE CAR WHICH INCLUDED THE LARGE SCREEN AND THE DRIVER'S INSTRUMENT PANEL WENT COMPLETELY DARK. WE WERE BAFFLED AS THIS WAS SOMETHING WE NEVER ENCOUNTERED BEFORE. WE BEGAN PULLING OVER TO THE SIDE WHEN AFTER ABOUT A COUPLE OF MINS THE LIGHTS CAME ON AND THE PANEL SHOWED THAT WE HAD JUST AROUND 30 MILES OF RANGE LEFT. WE THEN PROCEEDED TO THE NEAREST CHARGING STATION WHICH HAPPENED TO BE THE TESLA FACTORY AT 45500 FREMONT BLVD, FREMONT, CA, 94538. AS WE REACHED THE CHARGING STATION WE SLOWED DOWN THE CAR BY TAKING FOOT OFF THE PEDAL AND WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE GEARS TO REVERSE WHEN THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED WITHOUT WARNING AND ENDED UP HITTING ONE OF THE CHARGING STATIONS. THE CAR FINALLY CAME TO A HALT AFTER STRIKING AND MOUNTING OVER THE CHARGING STATION. THE CAR STRUCK THE CHARGING STATION HEAD ON FROM THE FRONT AND AROUND THE MID LEFT PART OF THE FRONT BUMPER. WE WERE ALL SHOCKED TO SEE THAT NONE OF THE AIRBAGS WERE DEPLOYED, EVEN THOUGH THE COLLISION WAS PRETTY NASTY. WHILE THREE OF US MANAGED TO GET AWAY BADLY SHAKEN AND WITH STRAINED BACKS, ONE OF THE OCCUPANTS WAS SITTING IN THE REAR AND WAS IN THE PROCESS OF TAKING OFF HER SEAT BELT AS THE CAR WAS SLOWING DOWN. SHE WAS THROWN OFF HER SEAT AND SUFFERED INJURIES TO HER FACE. TESLA REFUSES TO ACK ANY VEHICLE ISSUE AND HAS NOT SHARED ANY ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORT.

NHTSA ID

11406053

Incident

Jan 31, 2021

Mileage

40 mi