Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2015 Tesla Model S owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
I was parking in my usual parking spot in a parking lot at my office at approximately 8:15 a.m. As I approached my parking spot, I slowed my car by pressing on the brake and made a 90 degree turn into my parking spot. The vehicle was slowing moving forward and was less than 10 feet from where I intended to stop the vehicle when the vehicle suddenly accelerated on its own and crashed into the concrete wall that was at the base of my parking spot, causing the car's airbags to deploy. I did not have my foot on the accelerator pedal at the time the vehicle accelerated into the wall. I informed Tesla of the incident and they told me that the vehicle had experienced 100% acceleration immediately prior to the collision with the wall.)
When I purchased my car less than a year ago, it came with a 50,000 mile, 4 year "new car" warranty although it was a used car with approx 25K miles. Within 6 months, an update came out over the air and changed my software, and ultimately lead to a range loss of approx 40 miles and an increase in charging time by approx 3x because Tesla, admittedly through their service texts, has limited the charging on my car to "preserve battery life." this is akin to selling me a 8 cylinder car, and limiting it to 6 to not have to change engine. The car has become almost unusable as it takes 3 hours to charge when it used to take 45 minutes. The car was able to get a full 116 kw for an extended period of time when the battery was below 15%-30% and the charging would gradually (over 45 minutes) drop to about 40kw. Now it starts at around 110 kw and quickly (within 5 minutes) drops to below 80kw. …
I put the car in reverse and the screen was black. All the controls were stuck...fan/ac...back up camera did not work. My turning signals did not work. Tesla service center was closed so all the ac did not turn off and drained the battery all the way to 0 range. Took a lot of trouble to get to the service center the next day. They concluded the mcu was dead and had to be replaced claiming that it was wear and tear. Without any warning, the mcu crashed and comprised safety of the car with the turning signals, suspension and rear back up camera not working amongst others since the mcu controls everything. We believed Tesla knew of the problem and put it on owners to replace at their own expense if out of warranty even though it seems to happen around when the warranty ends. We have 2 teslas and both the mcus died a little over 50K. …
Tesla Model s main screen died. It's a known issue on early Model s with mcdu version 1. A chip on the circuit board can only handle [redacted] amounts of writes, or write overs, then gives up. Screen goes blank. Most Model s car functions are controlled on the main screen. My screen failed while driving. Unable to set or control charging. Unable to turn off A/C. Unable to hear turn signals. Unable to turn on or control headlights. Unable to close sunroof. Unable to change suspension settings. Unable to change steering settings. Unable to change lighting on the dash. Most features in the Model s are not available.
Noticed that the display on my Tesla Model s not working as I pulled my car out of the driveway. Tried rebooting but screen did not come up. Was able to drive the vehicle to Tesla service center though it felt a little unsafe as many of the controls are on the display. After diagnosis, Tesla service advisor told me that the mcu for my Model s has failed and needs to be replaced. I paid ~$2000 for a new mcu. After reading recent article on similar failures reported by other Tesla Model s owners, decided to report this as failure of the display unit while driving can be a safety risk.
Well docmented failure of a memory chip that has been docuteted to fail after a certin amount of read/write cycles, Tesla has been well aware of this fault for years and has done nothing to address the issues leaving owners sometime stranded or reducled vehilce functionalty. Teslas respnose has been to replace the faulty system with a refurbish unit that will have the same issue in the futiure and charging the customer between 1500-2000 to replace.
Mcu on Tesla crashed again. Last year it was replaced, and this year crashed again. Tesla keeps postponing repair. Saying they are too busy. With the mcu crashed, turn signal does not work and makes car not driveable. I understand you all are investigating this issue? The date identified below is the second time. This happened last year as well.
Complete failure of mcu when starting the car after only 31K miles, causing blackout of al screens, driver information, controls, etc. Tesla had me drive it to the service center in that condition and charged $1,462 to replace without any indication that it is a known design problem. (note incident date is approximate.)
The center screen of my Tesla stopped working when I started the car one day (car was parked), resulting in a loss of the backup camera and access to many driver settings, such as regenerative braking, automatic lights, etc. Rebooting the unit did not help, and the car would not shut off once the issue occurred.
Touch screen failure. Screen went blank jan 3rd 2019 still under warranty.was able to reset after many tries. Parked car went to winter home. Returned April 16th same problem. Working with Tesla through out problem. Finally Tesla said bring the car in. Now out of warranty so had to replace mcu $2250.00
Traction Control complaints in other Model S years
Frequently asked questions
How common are traction control problems on the 2015 Tesla Model S?
NHTSA has 20 complaints about the stability & traction control of the 2015 Tesla Model S, 3% of the model year's 668 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2015 Tesla Model S traction control problems?
No. NHTSA lists no stability & traction control recall for the 2015 Tesla Model S, though it has 9 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2015 Tesla Model S traction control problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 47,000 miles, and 16% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 2 crashes, 0 fires and 0 injuries to stability & traction control problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.