NHTSA Complaint #11630487 — 2021 TESLA MODEL Y

On [XXX], our 2021 Tesla Model Y had a catastrophic suspension failure while driving in live traffic. The car came to a sudden stop, the front suspension was loose and the vehicle was not drivable. We had the vehicle towed to the nearest Testa service center in Burlingame, CA. Tesla service center inspected the car and found that the lower lateral links in the front suspension had failed due to two critical suspension bolts falling out. One bolt had completely fallen out and the other had became dangerously loose and was about to fall out. The bolt failures led to a catastrophic failure of the front suspension and the vehicle became undrivable in live traffic. This is a low mileage vehicle with ~29,500 miles and there was no operator error or use that would cause a catastrophic bolt failure in the lower lateral links. Images of the issue from Tesla service center show that the bolts simply fell out after not being sufficiently fastened from the manufacturer. After Tesla service center identified the problem, we researched this issue and found an extremely relevant NHTSA recall for 2020-2021 Model Y vehicles that matches the exact suspension issue that occurred to us (21V-835 / SB-21-31-003 Recall). Our Model Y was built in November 2020, which is within the affected date range of this Recall, and our issue exactly matches this Recall. Tesla service center employees agreed this Recall seemed relevant and investigated. After a couple of days, Tesla service center contacted us and claimed that while the our catastrophic suspension issue looked very similar to the Recall issue mentioned above, our specific VIN was not listed in the Recall. Therefore, Tesla service center refused to repair the failure under warranty or recall and we were stuck with massive repair bill to fix a clear manufacturer defect that is already known and has been recalled. We are not sure why our VIN was not captured in Recall, but have been affected by the same dangerous issue. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (