459 NHTSA owner complaints · 11 recalls · data-computed verdict. No opinions — public data only.
Complaints per year on the road: 35.31
Verbatim reports filed with the United States safety regulator (NHTSA) by owners of this exact model year. Public record.
This issue appears to be related to a known MCU failure affecting early Tesla Model S vehicles. The touchscreen exhibits screen melting/discoloration and eventually goes blank or becomes inoperative. When this occurs, critical functions including occupant detection indicators, seatbelt warnings, and windshield defrost controls may become unavailable. The loss of these functions creates potential safety risks involvin…
This issue appears to be related to a known MCU failure affecting early Tesla Model S vehicles. The touchscreen exhibits screen melting/discoloration and eventually goes blank or becomes inoperative. When this occurs, critical functions including occupant detection indicators, seatbelt warnings, and windshield defrost controls may become unavailable. The loss of these functions creates potential safety risks involvin…
Vehicle lights turned off while driving home with my family. Pulling over and turning off and on the car reset the problem. When lights turned off I received a warning light identifying a faulty right headlight and faulty left headlight. No accident and vehicle is currently outside manufacture warranty.
What the community is saying right now.
| Campaign | Component | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 18V031000 | Air Bags:Frontal:Passenger Side:Inflator | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling all 2013 Model S vehicles equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger fronta… |
| 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… |
| 14V006000 | Equipment:Electrical | Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain model year 2013 Model S vehicles equipped for, and delivered with, certain NEMA 14-50 (240 v… |
| 13V249000 | Seats | Tesla Motors, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain model year 2013 Model S electric vehicles manufactured May 10, 2013, through June 8, 2013. … |
| 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 … |
| 24V153000 | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings:Ex | Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2013, 2018-2021 Model S, 2020-2021 Model X, 2018-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y vehicles. A f… |
| 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… |
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 (195 complaints in our indexed sample).
Our data verdict is AVOID with a reliability score of 9/100, computed from 459 NHTSA complaints and 11 recall campaigns. See the verdict card for the top reasons.
Yes — NHTSA lists 11 recall campaign(s) for the 2013 Tesla Model S, 8 of them touching fire, crash or stall risk, the most recent recorded 09/01/2018. 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.