NHTSA Complaint #11474810 — 2017 TESLA MODEL X

The car had no identifiable steering issues prior to this incident. On Saturday 7/16/2022 during a short, low-speed drive, steering effort suddenly became much higher during a turn, resulting in a near-miss. The steering would no longer self-center after a turn, and the vehicle was quite difficult to control in turns, requiring large turning force and with limited precision due to the force required to overcome the stiffness. Straight line driving was still relatively easy. Tesla repaired the vehicle three days later and retained the parts. The problem was described on the work order as 'Technician diagnosed the lower intermediate steering shaft joint was seized causing intermittent stiffness at certain degree of turn. Technician replaced the lower intermediate shaft and verified steering wheel is turning normally again.' The vehicle is now steering normally again after the part replacement. There are several threads on the Tesla Motors Club forum about others experiencing similar issues with the same part. The replaced part has a -A suffix indicating it has been revised. Others may yet experience this same dangerous failure of the original part if it has a design fault that Tesla corrected.