NHTSA Complaint #11420453 — 2014 TESLA MODEL S

On February 15, 2021, I was driving my Tesla Model S and turned onto a neighborhood road at a speed of approximately 10-15 mph. I just started to accelerate when an extremely loud noise came from the front end of the car, much like an explosion. The vehicle continued to drive, but was noticeably lower in the front. I pulled over and stopped. I was shaken by the noise and could have lost control. Fortunately, I was not driving fast and there were no cars near my vehicle. There was no warning in terms of lights or altered performance prior to the noise just described. After inspecting the bottom of the car and seeing nothing dragging or impeding driving, I returned to my house about a block away. The car was taken to a Tesla dealer and repaired. The "left front strut spring" had broken, according to the Tesla mechanic. The mechanic claimed that this was not unusual due to "rusting" that occurred in the Mid-Atlantic climate. The car had 54,500 miles on the odometer. I have never heard of a catastrophic break of such equipment, with no warning, due to "rusting". I am reporting the part failure because if the break had occurred while turning onto a busy road, the problem could easily have led to the loss of control and an accident. This was not a threat to me because I was on a little-used city road with a low speed limit. After the repair was made, I requested the broken part from Tesla, but was told it had been thrown away.