2014 Tesla Model S problems
NHTSA has received 547 complaints about the 2014 Tesla Model S, and 24% of them involve electrical system. After that come suspension (16%) and drivetrain & axles (5%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 547 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 24% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 76 and 12
- Injuries and deaths
- 28 and 27
- Typical mileage
- 58,000 miles 332 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 50 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 58 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 66 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 62 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 33 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 28 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 11 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 13 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 9 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 332 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 58,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 64,000 miles (87 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 76 complaints mention a crash; 12 complaints mention a fire; 28 injuries reported; 27 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 83% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2014 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 13 model years of the Tesla Model S with enough data (198 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 9 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Reportedly: on 5-8-18 about 7 pm in fort lauderdale florida along the 1300 block of seabreeze boulevard; two teenagers were trapped and burned to death after crashing a tesla model s. A third teenager was ejected and seriously injured. It was a single car accident. Excessive speed is thought to be a factor. Friends of the victims were following the tesla in another vehicle, and said the vehicle was engulfed in flames preventing would be rescuers from pulling the trapped teenagers from the vehicle.
Tesla s and x batteries are a design flaw. Tesla's panasonic cells are made with thin metal casings so that the heat from one burning cell causes the neighboring cells to burst especially when exposed to air in an accident. These fires emit toxins such as florine gas. These cars should be recalled and the batteries replaced with a safer design. The recent accident in florida shows the need for this recall.
I bouht the car in may, 2018. And now I have some problems with steering. I feel that steering not working like it should. It getting hard to steer time to time.
My vehicle has had a problem with the mulitmediacard (emmc) for years. I have all the documentation from previous reports. I was notified finally by tesla that a recall is underway, but they have not scheduled the repair, and when I enter my VIN number on tesla's VIN recall search, I get this message error looking up VIN. Error code 91". There is no way to call tesla, as they require people to schedule in the app. But there is no way to schedule this service in the app at this time.