Tesla Has A Front Suspension Problem

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Wednesday that it has closed a preliminary evaluation into 74,918 Tesla vehicles concerning potential front suspension failures.

The investigation, which began in 2020, focused on 2015-2017 Tesla Model S and 2016-2017 Model X vehicles after receiving complaints about the failure of front suspension fore links, a critical component of the vehicle’s suspension system.

While NHTSA acknowledged that a failed fore link could cause additional damage to other parts of the vehicle, the agency decided to close the investigation. This decision was based on findings that no instances of fore link failure resulted in a loss of vehicle control during testing or in reported cases.

Reports have suggested that Tesla was aware of the defect and had, in some cases, blamed drivers for the failures. According to NHTSA, there was only one minor crash without injuries linked to the 426 instances of fore link failures, most of which occurred at low speeds while parking.

Although the investigation has been closed, NHTSA clarified that this does not mean there were no safety concerns. Tesla has conducted nine recalls in the U.S. for steering and suspension issues since 2018. NHTSA also noted that while Tesla issued a consumer satisfaction bulletin in 2017 to replace the faulty component in some vehicles made between January and May 2016, this did not address 75% of the failure instances identified during the investigation. The agency recommended that Tesla expand the terms of the bulletin to cover all vehicles equipped with the problematic fore links.

This article was co-written using AI and was then heavily edited and optimized by our editorial team.

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