The NHTSA last July opened a preliminary investigation (PE 23-014) given just a dozen complaints.
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is opening a Preliminary Evaluation (PE) on 2023 model year Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles due to reports of inability to steer the vehicle and the loss of power steering. ODI has received twelve complaints alleging loss of steering control and power steering in 2023 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Five reports indicate an inability to steer the vehicle. Seven additional reports cite loss of power steering resulting in increased effort to control the vehicle. A PE has been opened to assess the scope, frequency, manufacturing processes, and severity associated with this condition. The ODI reports cited above can be viewed at http://www.nhtsa.gov under the NHTSA ID Numbers: 11517974, 11519678, 11520582, 11520831, 11525275, 11526827, 11526869, 11527644, 11527716, 11530026, 11532523, 11533252.
The Register read through the complaints back then and offered highlights such as this one:
Car steering felt stuck and slid off the road which resulted in crashing into a tree,” the Model 3 owner reported. “Tesla features did not help stay in the lane or break in an emergency
“Tesla features did not help…” kind of says it all. The steering feature certainly didn’t help.
Fast forward to today and a “Steering Assist Reduced” and “loss of steering control” and “UI_a020” problem has blown way up to over 2,300 complaints and seems to be climbing fast. Literally thousands of people are describing a major hardware failure (1044832-00-A or 1188832-00-A) that makes their brand new car completely unsteerable.
[11557546] Steering system malfunction and failure: I have a brand new tesla model y for less than 3 months. Two months after I have the vehicle, the steering rack had an internal fault. The steering rack was replaced at the tesla authorized repair shop. Eighteen days after that repair. I was involved in a car accident. The reason was because my car had veered to the right on its own while driving on a city street. I then turned the steering wheel to the left, but the car did not turn to the left. My car then hit another vehicle…
[11551248] We were turning onto a crowded street, and halfway through turning the power steering suddenly failed. We couldn’t get the steering wheel to move. We were facing perpendicular to the street and several cars were within inches of hitting us.
[11548563] Upon starting the vehicle, the center console displayed a fault code “ui_a020” and a message that steering assistance was disabled. …the tech I spoke with mentioned they have had recent reports of faulty steering racks. They replaced the entire steering rack… this vehicle was only a few weeks old at the time of the incident.
[11546398] I lost all power in my steering and was completely unable to steer. I contacted tesla who advised me to conduct a soft reboot… I refused to drive the vehicle, as I did not feel safe to do so. Tesla sent a tow truck to pickup the vehicle and drop off at a tesla service station. After 3 days, I was informed there was a malfunction in the vehicles steering rack and the entire part will be replaced. I conducted research and found a lot of owners are experiencing the same issue with 2023 tesla y, some even having crashes as a result. This is very unsafe and needs to be addressed.
As you can see, owners are very concerned that the 2023 Tesla manufacturing process has been generating hundreds of thousands of cars that can’t steer. I mean, read the sheer terror and fear in these complaints, mixed with the fact that they willingly paid a lot money for a known garbage brand that fails at everything related to common sense and safety. Naturally the NHTSA has had to upgrade their investigation to help the victims of Tesla fraud.
[11538099] Steering wheel locked up while driving under normal conditions at 45 mph. I was exiting the highway at this time and was luckily able to come to a complete stop. The car had to be towed to the tesla service center. This is a brand new 2023 tesla y purchased a month ago. The steering wheel has been locking up from time to time; and the steering of the vehicle sometimes feels unwieldy, uncontrollable, and simply undrivable. The issue is very dangerous. I googled the issue and came across reddit posts and other tesla forums where other tesla drivers have reported the same issue. There are also youtube videos that discuss the same issue. This seems to be a common enough problem that warrants a total recall. The tesla service agent acknowledged that the problem seems routine and pervasive, but downplayed the issue.
Yeah, maybe googling the issue and reading reddit posts and all those other tesla forums and watching youtube videos should have STOPPED YOU FROM BUYING A TESLA?
WTAF people. Don’t buy a Tesla. Don’t let friends or family buy a Tesla. Come on. The complaints sometimes read like “how is Tesla still in business” being written by the people who gave money to Tesla.