59 NHTSA owner complaints · 8 recalls · data-computed verdict. No opinions — public data only.
Complaints per year on the road: 4.21
Verbatim reports filed with the United States safety regulator (NHTSA) by owners of this exact model year. Public record.
Motor is starting to make sounds and according to teslamotorsclub.com the motor will fail eventually. Many have to had to have the motor switched out multiple times. It is quite evident that there was a design flaw which Tesla corrected in later years.
The drive unit has water damage from normal driving. The car never went through deep water or was flooded, but the tech at the service center is saying the units are sealed but still can get water in them and corrode. How can a vital sealed part of the vehicle be damaged by normal driving and claim water damage? The car operated just fine the day before. Please advise.
I tried to start the car and got the “Center Display unavailable” message. Reset the computer doesn’t help. I have to wait for more than 5 minutes for the system to be on.
What the community is saying right now.
| Campaign | Component | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 17V023000 | Air Bags:Frontal:Passenger Side:Inflator | Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling all 2012 Model S vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as … |
| 23V838000 | Electrical System:Adas:Autonomous/Self D | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2023 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with all v… |
| 17V260000 | Parking Brake | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2016 Model S and Model X vehicles. The electric parking brake calipers have an internal gear that … |
| 15V780000 | Seat Belts:Front | Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain model year 2012-2015 Model S vehicles manufactured May 31, 2012, to November 12, 2015. The … |
| 24V376000 | Seat Belts:Front:Warning Light/Devices | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2012-2024 Model S, 2015-2024 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles. In the ev… |
| 21V035000 | Back Over Prevention:Software | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2012-2018 Tesla Model S and 2016-2018 Model X vehicles with a center display equipped with a NVIDIA… |
| 18V204000 | Steering:Electric Power Assist System | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2012-2016 Tesla Model S vehicles equipped with Bosch steering racks. The aluminum bolts that attac… |
| 24V051000 | Electrical System: Instrument Cluster/Pa | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2024 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, 2019-2024 Model Y, and 2024 Cybertruck veh… |
EPA combined 89 MPGe · estimated annual energy cost $850 · EPA range 265 mi
Re-priced automatically from your country's retail fuel, electricity and parts indices — change country in the bar at the top. Estimates; see methodology.
The most-reported issue in NHTSA complaint data is Electrical System (36 complaints in our indexed sample).
Our data verdict is CAUTION with a reliability score of 59/100, computed from 59 NHTSA complaints and 8 recall campaigns. See the verdict card for the top reasons.
Yes — NHTSA lists 8 recall campaign(s) for the 2012 Tesla Model S, 7 of them touching fire, crash or stall risk, the most recent recorded 10/01/2017. Check this car's VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls before you buy.
Fuel, maintenance band and depreciation — computed from public data in 10 seconds.
Open the true-cost calculatorComplaints & recalls: NHTSA ·
Fuel economy: EPA fueleconomy.gov ·
Scoring: our published methodology.
Maintenance bands are industry-average estimates (AAA Your Driving Costs, CarMD index) — labeled estimates, not measurements.
Last updated: 2026-08-20.