2013 Tesla Model S
Complaints about this year name mcu far more often than the model's other years — 18% of them, about 42× the usual rate of 0.4%.
Generation 1 of the Tesla Model S, which began in 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 459 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 136 |
| Involving a crash | 41 |
| Involving a fire | 19 |
| Recalls | 11 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 94 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- mcu — 27.9% of this year's complaints, against 10.9% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: mcu, media, control unit, media control.
- emmc — 8.3% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (41.4×). Owners wrote it as: emmc, emmc failure.
- unit — 12.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the model's other years (3.4×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- screen — 25% of complaints, 3× usual
- unit — 13% of complaints, 11× usual
- charge — 13% of complaints, 6× usual
What owners wrote
FAILURE OF EMMC INSIDE MCU (MEDIA CONTROL UNIT). MOST OF THE CAR'S CONTROLS ARE ONLY ACCESSIBLE USING THE TOUCH SCREEN AND WITHOUT HEAT, TURN-SIGNALS AND ABILITY TO CHARGE, THE VEHICLE IS BARELY DRIVEABLE.SINCE I WAS OUT OF TOWN AND IT WAS WINTER, I HAD TO GO…
MAIN SCREEN MALFUNCTION. TURNED COMPLETELY BLACK. TURN SIGNALS NO LONGER WORK AND CAR WILL NOT CHARGE. BACKUP CAMERA NOT USABLE. CAR IS UNDRIVABLE DUE TO SAFETY ISSUES. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A [VIN] UNIT OVER A MONTH ALREADY.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 17V260000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V031000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 18V204000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V780000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V006000 EQUIPMENT
- 13V249000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V035000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 23V838000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 11. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Tesla Model S was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2013 Tesla Model S? What happened to yours?
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