Owners filed 2,502 complaints about the 2015–2025 Tesla Model S with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 40th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2015 model year drew the most (667), and the single most-reported problem area is electrical system, named in 25% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2015, with 667 complaints, led by electrical system (265).
- Spike years: 2015 (4.8× the typical year), 2016 (4.7× the typical year), 2017 (3.1× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: steering complaints came at a median of 5k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 33 complaints mention a fire and 299 mention a crash; owners reported 152 injuries and 13 deaths.
Tesla Model S complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 667 | Electrical system (265), Suspension (149), Steering (51) | 49k mi | 70 | 12 |
| 2016 | 646 | Suspension (209), Electrical system (149), Steering (86) | 27k mi | 92 | 12 |
| 2017 | 424 | Electrical system (113), Suspension (107), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (66) | 24k mi | 55 | 4 |
| 2018 | 168 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (49), Electrical system (34), Speed control / acceleration (27) | 16k mi | 36 | 3 |
| 2019 | 44 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (12), Suspension (8), Brakes (7) | 5k mi | 4 | 0 |
| 2020 | 80 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (23), Suspension (14), Steering (10) | 3k mi | 16 | 0 |
| 2021 | 178 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (47), Steering (29), Electrical system (25) | 6k mi | 13 | 2 |
| 2022 | 138 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (34), Steering (21), Electrical system (16) | 10k mi | 3 | 0 |
| 2023 | 113 | Steering (20), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (16), Electrical system (9) | 150k mi | 8 | 0 |
| 2024 | 38 | Lane departure assist (19), Electrical system (7), Steering (4) | 5k mi | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 6 | Suspension (2), Transmission / powertrain (2), Wipers / visibility (1) | — | 0 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Tesla Model S problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical system | 630 | 25% | 49k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Suspension | 540 | 22% | 11k mi | Shock / strut replacement cost |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 319 | 13% | 45k mi | — |
| Steering | 288 | 12% | 5k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Speed control / acceleration | 224 | 9% | 7k mi | — |
| Brakes | 169 | 7% | 11k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Exterior lights | 148 | 6% | 54k mi | Headlight replacement cost |
| Body structure | 111 | 4% | 27k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Tesla models in the index
- Tesla Model 3 (4,295)
- Tesla Model Y (3,783)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.