In-car Electronics
CD or DVD players, radio, speakers, GPS, communication system (e.g., OnStar), display screen freezes or goes blank, phone pairing (e.g. Bluetooth), voice control commands, steering wheel controls, portable music device interface (e.g., iPod/MP3 player), backup or other camera/sensors.
What Owners Say
"It does NOT have one! Need I say more!"
James D., CA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"The screen continues to freeze, even after service. One service rep told me it may be because I have a USB memory chip with music on it plugged in. That seems like something they should be able to fix"
L W., CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Display screen froze and could not operate the car except to drive. Simple rebooting fixed the problem"
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Strange problems with display screen suddenly occurred after around 2 years of use - Tesla replaced with new, upgrade screen at no cost"
William N., CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Driver display screen froze and needed to be replaced. Tesla picked the car up and took it to the nearest service center, replaced it (warrantee) and had it back to me the next day"
Stephen W., NV (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"computer broke and display freezes so the whole system needs to be restarted. Costs $3,000 to replace!"
Mark G., MN (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Tesla made several attempts to repair the problem through software and eventually replaced the display screen. The new screen has started to exhibit quirks as well."
David P., IL (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"have to reset every other month"
Anonymous, WA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"Touchscreen replaced under warranty"
Barry D., MO (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"This was an unusual problem that caused them to keep the car for a week to check it out. We were given a loaner of a higher-trim model than ours for that time"
Anonymous, MA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Display screen computer broke, had to get it replaced"
Scott S., MD (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"These are all related, I think. I have a large screen in the center of the dash. This sometimes doesn't come on, at all. This doesn't prevent me from driving, but does prevent my closing the garage door from the car, and using the nav, music, etc."
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"The main display screen went blank. Repaired by Tesla."
Anonymous, VA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Screen goes blank shutting all electronics. Car still drives. Screen goes blank even when parked. Have lost phone conversations and had to pull over to call someone back. I have to reset a whole bunch of preferences on how I want to drive the car."
Matthew E., OH (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"The infotainment system computer failed and had to be replaced."
Anonymous, NC (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Instrument cluster behind steering wheel went black and would not come back up. Service Center said I had to replace the instrument cluster, which I did."
Anonymous, HI (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Screen freezes and requires a reboot. Occasionally there are other screen-related problems."
Anonymous, IL (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"Display occasionally fails to load when starting the car."
Darin C., WA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"Firmware update to my car screwed up USB file browsing, also broke TuneIn radio playback when pausing or taking a phone call for about 6 months until it was fixed in latest 8.1 update"
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Center console touchscreen began to leak a clear sticky goo and bubbles appeared in the screen. Even though the screen continued to work, I was advised to replace it because the goo could cause electrical problems. OUT OF WARRANTY. $1500 repair. I have heard that this is a common problem for this model year. Car is in covered parking at home and at work. I believe that this should be a RECALL issue. Perhaps don't recall all cars, but extend warranty for the screen."
Anonymous, (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Took the vehicle in for routine maintenance. The service tech noticed the LCD screen was starting to fail. I had them replace it."
Anonymous, TX (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Screen defect, inch square unusable pixels. Replaced under CPO warranty"
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"Map disappears in areas with poor or no satellite reception (due to the fact that the map is 'on board' the car's computer system). With regards to "Drive system". The "drive train" (motor) was replaced under warranty"
Theo K., CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"NOT able to turn OFF radio frequency emissions on car (bluetooth/cell/wifi type) without the nav unit and other functionality being extremely limited or eliminated. Caused me headaches and exacerbated a cancerous tumor in me, as these frequencies g"
James D., CA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"The 3G radio locks up rendering the navigation unit useless. Need to reset the console to restore the 3G radio. Also the map updates are out of date and the system makes peculiar route suggestions"
Leonard B., WA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"This is an ongoing problem that they've looked at several times. It still happens and I have to re-pair the phone"
L W., CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Pairs & unpairs continuously"
Anonymous, FL (2013 Tesla Model S Electric)"Occassionally wont pair requiring system to be restarted"
Anonymous, NJ (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"reception inferior to radios in all my previous cars. AM static under overpasses, near power lines. Have been complaining for 3 years. Service has worked on the car to no avail. OEM tires lasted only 13,000 miles. In all other respects, this is a fine car, a pleasure to own and drive"
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"I got into a small accident in October. They had my car until the end of December. They had problems doing the software update. I started having the screen issues, couldn't complete an update and took it in. Tesla said the OS on the drive was corrupted. They reformatted and restored the info. I also got a new 12V battery but I and still having issues with the screen not powering on."
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)"it has caused phone pairing issues for a year +"
Anonymous, MN (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)"Best I can tell voice recognition has never worked, but it is not a feature I care about and have only tried a couple times. I have only recently discovered problem when trying (unsuccessfully) to use the bug report feature"
Leonard B., WA (2013 Tesla Model S Base Electric)
"The camera, does not have depth perception. The car did not come with back up sensors so it was difficult to see exactly how far one was when backing up The models that were built in later iterations of the car"
Anonymous, CA (2013 Tesla Model S Performance Electric)