NHTSA Complaint #11338530 — 2014 TESLA MODEL S

ON MAY 19TH, I ATTEMPTED TO START THE CAR BUT FOUND THAT THE MAIN CENTRAL TOUCHSCREEN WOULD NOT TURN ON. MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS TO START, INCLUDING ALL AVAILABLE REBOOT OPTIONS AS INSTRUCTED BY TESLA TECH SUPPORT VIA PHONE FAILED TO RESTART THE SCREEN. BECAUSE SERVICE HAD TO BE PERFORMED AT THE DEALERSHIP IN ATLANTA, I WAS FORCED TO DRIVE THE VEHICLE WITHOUT THE TOUCHSCREEN. WHILE BASIC FUNCTIONS WERE AVAILABLE, THE LOSS OF THE TOUCHSCREEN CREATED A SIGNIFICANT SAFETY ISSUE. I HAD TO DRIVE ROUGHLY 75 MILES ON THE INTERSTATE DURING A HEAVY RAINSTORM. THE LOSS OF TOUCHSCREEN MEANT I HAD NO CLIMATE CONTROL--NO A/C OR DEFROST FUNCTIONS--SO VISIBILITY WAS GREATLY IMPAIRED AND I WAS REDUCED TO PERIODICALLY (AND DANGEROUSLY) WIPING THE WINDSHIELD WITH A TOWEL TO MAINTAIN VISIBILITY. THERE WERE MULTIPLE OTHER IMPACTS, INCLUDING LOSS OF ALL AUDIO AND BLUETOOTH, NAVIGATION, AND I WOULD WORRY THAT SOME OF THE ELECTRONIC SAFETY SYSTEMS LIKE COLLISION AVOIDANCE MIGHT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED. IF THIS HAD HAPPENED IN WINTER DURING A SNOWSTORM, THE IMPACT COULD HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE DANGEROUS. THE PROBLEM TURNS OUT TO BE WELL KNOWN BY TESLA. IT WAS A DEFECTIVE MEDIA CONTROL UNIT. THIS UNIT USES A FLASH MEMORY CHIP, HARD-SOLDERED TO THE CIRCUIT BOARD AND THUS NOT REPLACEABLE WITHOUT REPLACING THE ENTIRE BOARD. THE MEMORY CHIP HAS A LIMITED NUMBER OF READ-WRITE CYCLES, AND DUE TO THE TESLA'S PROGRAMMING, DATA ARE CONSTANTLY WRITTEN TO THE CHIP DAILY (AND THIS IS NOT A USER-DEFEATABLE OPTION). REPLACEMENT WAS DONE BY THE DEALER, FOR A COST TOTALING 1868.07, NOT COVERED BY ANY TYPE OF WARRANTY.