2015 Tesla Model S Recalls & Complaints

Incident: July 23, 2025 · Filed: August 5, 2025

A few times the steering control has shut off while I am driving. Steering failure lasts a few seconds and then returns to normal function. The car makes a VERY loud alarm sound when the steering is inoperable. I have not seen any failure messages on the screen or in the Service menu. I took the car to Tesla for service yesterday. They did some sort of remote scan of the fault codes and told me that there is nothing wrong. They told me to continue to drive the car and record when the steering stops working again. This sounds like ridiculously bad advice to me. While the steering control has always returned in just a few seconds, that does not mean that it will in any future failure. I am concerned about driving this car. Tesla wants $275 an hour to investigate the problem, which also seems ridiculous to me. I have seen that there has been a recall for similar problems in newer Tesla Model S vehicles. It seems logical to me that these problems may be related and deserve additional investigation ... at Tesla's expense.

Incident: July 17, 2025 · Filed: August 2, 2025

Many air bubbles are appearing towards the bottom of the instrument panel on our 2015 Tesla Model S. This started a couple of weeks ago and the bubbles are increasing in size and number and they are moving upwards. The bubbles don’t presently obscure important driver information such as the transmission mode (drive, park, reverse, neutral), remaining battery range (e.g. 80%), car speed (mph), parking sensor distance, brake light status, car door open, frunk open, tailgate open, time, outdoor temperature, car lights on/off, warning lights, etc. However, the bubbles likely will do so in the future. Much of this information is vital for safe driving (e.g. transmission mode, speed (mph), remaining battery range, brake light status, and warning lights). As such this display should be replaced by Tesla at nominal or no charge to the owner. According to the internet, the cause of these air bubbles is a failed seal around the instrument cluster that allows a lamination fluid between the LCD display and the cover glass to leak out. It is a very common problem with older Model S’s. It is a critical safety problem.

Incident: February 20, 2025 · Filed: July 27, 2025

Large drive unit that has previously been replaced by Tesla failed due to coolant ingress leaking through rotor seal. Known issue per 3rd party technicians.

Incident: July 1, 2025 · Filed: July 19, 2025

Hi, my trunk won't open when I press the button. This is the second occurrence that jas happend. When inside the trunk compartment the emergency cable to open the trunk is also not responsive and can not open the trunk. I think this is a big safety concern as the safety cord is there for a reason and in both cases id did not worked.

Incident: July 5, 2025 · Filed: July 5, 2025

Steering: While driving today (7/5/2025), all of a sudden and without warning, "driver assist" (power steering) became disabled. Steering wheel immediately became heavy in the sense that it was extremely difficult to turn. Motor: Also, on 02/22/2024, while driving on the freeway at freeway speed, all of a sudden and without warning, the rear LDU (large drive unit) failed and the car became inoperable. At that time, the car had approximately 45k miles on it.

Incident: July 3, 2025 · Filed: July 4, 2025

Electric power steering stopped working unexpectedly and making it very difficult to steer and drive safely.

Incident: June 1, 2025 · Filed: June 1, 2025

I parked my 2015 Tesla Model S and found the rear door on the passenger side would not open from the outside even though the door handle was extended. This is a safety concern as we could not open the door to remove our pet dog from the car. It would also not be possible to open the door from the outside to remove a child in a car seat next to the door or an elderly or disabled person sitting next to the door who is unable to open the door from the inside. This could be life threatening in the case of a car crash. It is a major safety defect that should be repaired at no cost by Tesla for the entire lifespan of the car. The problem persists and is reproducible.

Incident: May 2, 2025 · Filed: May 2, 2025

While driving and mid-turn, 2 alerts were announced (park assist not available; steer assist reduced) and I immediately lost the ability to turn the steering wheel (it was 100% stiff) mid turn and was almost t-boned by a vehicle in on-coming traffic. I was able to make the turn widely and pull car to the side while blocking the only lane of traffic. I had ZERO warning and ZERO ability to turn the wheel even into a simple driveway. There was a parking lot near and I couldn't turn the wheel just to turn into it. This almost caused a huge accident which I could have been killed in. Luckily my children were not in the car. If the car can just stop working with no warning, it is not safe to drive in my opinion.

Incident: February 12, 2025 · Filed: April 11, 2025

Safety concern related to the tail lights and trunk lid lights on a tesla model s. I have had to replace both right and left turn lights and the trunk brake lights on multiple occasions due to water intrusion into the light housings. Water seepage over time or after heavy rains starts shorting the LEDs, thus causing safety concerns due to non-functioning tail lights. The vehicle has not been in an accident. It was purchased from a tesla "dealership" and they stated that there were no accidents. The car history report also indicates that the car has not been in an accident. There has been one attempted repair which added two drains to the trunk lid but the repair did not remedied the seepage into the light housing. There are reports online relating to water seepage into the light housings so its not just my car.

Incident: July 14, 2020 · Filed: March 14, 2025

The contact owns a 2015 Tesla Model S. The contact stated that three door handles had been replaced over the years. The contact stated that the door handles were not responding, and the contact was unable to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that several attempts were needed before the door before being able to enter the vehicle. The contact stated that the driver's side door handle and the passenger’s side door handle were malfunctioning. The contact stated that there were no messages on the phone App, or on the instrument cluster. The contact had not yet taken the vehicle to the local dealer for the driver’s and passenger’s side front door handles. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 280,000.