NHTSA Complaint #11444687 — 2016 TESLA MODEL S

Over the course of 3 years, I reported that steering was "too loose". Often times any of the driver assisted functions would stop working, and the steering felt so loose that it was almost like the wheels felt like they would fall off. Often times it felt as though the car was out of alignment. I commented with the Tesla Service Center team members many occasions over the last 3 years that the steering did not feel right and starting happening after 2 years of ownership. I did purchase an extended warranty beyond the basic warranty. I asked on several occasions in writing if they thought the safety of driving with the steering so loose would be in question, and they would never respond in writing. They would only tell me verbally that safety was not an issue. After pushing them to determine what the root cause of the loose driving was about and the loss of assisted driving functionality, they said that my steering column needed to be replaced. I was only informed of this after my warranty had lapsed. The cost to fix it was $3500, and I have no other options on places to get it fixed other than the Tesla Service Center(s). Needless to say, I was not very happy about this considering that I paid over $80K for the auto in July of 2017. I also purchased AutoPilot software in 2020, but it did not work very well considering the steering problems. My hunch is that Tesla is trying to avoid this problem and wait for folks to go beyond their basic warranty and have them pay for new steering columns. I would appreciate your investigation into this and help me with my concerns. Also the safety of the car seems to be in question, and not sure if they are trained to tell customers not to worry about this issue that I have discovered. Thank you.