2014 Tesla Model S
Complaints about this year name mcu far more often than the model's other years — 18% of them, about 40× 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 | 365 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 136 |
| Involving a crash | 52 |
| Involving a fire | 9 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 89 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- black — 9.6% of this year's complaints, against 3.1% across the model's other years (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: black, back camera.
- touchscreen — 6% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the model's other years (3.9×).
- concerned — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the model's other years (2.9×).
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
- unit — 12% of complaints, 11× usual
- emmc — 7% of complaints, 18× usual
- please — 16% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
THE MEDIA CONTROL UNIT (MCU) FAILED ON MY TESLA IN JANUARY 2020. THE MCU CONTROLS SAFETY FEATURES SUCH AS FRONT AND REAR DEFROST, HAZARD LIGHTS, HEADLIGHTS, TURN SIGNALS AND CHARGING FOR THE MAIN BATTERY. THE EMMC CHIP FAILED WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED. THE F…
TESLA MCU FAILING. NO REAR VIEW CAMERA. NO TURN SIGNALS AND ALL DISPLAY ITEMS ON THE CENTER SCREEN UNAVAILABLE INCLUDING CLIMATE CONTROL, WHEN THE MCU - MEDIA CONTROL UNIT FREEZES OR GOES BLACK. I WAS HAVING SYMPTOMS OF IMMINENT FAILURE AND I HAD THE EMMC CHIP…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V002000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V260000 PARKING BRAKE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V204000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 15V780000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V035000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 21V00B000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 23V838000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 24V051000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. 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 2014 Tesla Model S? What happened to yours?
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