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2016 Tesla Model X problems & recalls

NHTSA lists no recalls for the 2016 Tesla Model X and owners have filed 417 complaints. The most-reported area is suspension (148 complaints). 4 complaints describe a fire and 59 complaints describe a crash.

Recalls
0
Complaints
417
Crash reports
59
Fire reports
4
Injuries
32

Recalls (0)

NHTSA lists no recalls for the 2016 Model X.

Owner complaints (417)

What owners reported to NHTSA, by component. One complaint can name several components.

  • Suspension148
  • Electrical system90
  • Unknown or other83
  • Structure54
  • Steering44
  • Vehicle speed control33
  • Visibility/wiper25
  • Service brakes18
  • Forward collision avoidance15
  • Power train13
  • Exterior lighting13
  • Back over prevention12

Complaints over time

Mar 2016: 1 complaintApr 2016: 2 complaintsMay 2016: 1 complaintJun 2016: 4 complaintsJul 2016: 6 complaintsAug 2016: 6 complaintsSep 2016: 15 complaintsOct 2016: 2 complaintsNov 2016: 3 complaintsDec 2016: 1 complaintJan 2017: 8 complaintsFeb 2017: 6 complaintsMar 2017: 7 complaintsApr 2017: 9 complaintsMay 2017: 2 complaintsJun 2017: 8 complaintsJul 2017: 4 complaintsAug 2017: 2 complaintsSep 2017: 4 complaintsOct 2017: 5 complaintsNov 2017: 1 complaintDec 2017: 3 complaintsJan 2018: 0 complaintsFeb 2018: 0 complaintsMar 2018: 3 complaintsApr 2018: 1 complaintMay 2018: 2 complaintsJun 2018: 0 complaintsJul 2018: 0 complaintsAug 2018: 2 complaintsSep 2018: 0 complaintsOct 2018: 2 complaintsNov 2018: 1 complaintDec 2018: 1 complaintJan 2019: 0 complaintsFeb 2019: 0 complaintsMar 2019: 0 complaintsApr 2019: 1 complaintMay 2019: 2 complaintsJun 2019: 1 complaintJul 2019: 1 complaintAug 2019: 2 complaintsSep 2019: 1 complaintOct 2019: 3 complaintsNov 2019: 1 complaintDec 2019: 8 complaintsJan 2020: 5 complaintsFeb 2020: 3 complaintsMar 2020: 2 complaintsApr 2020: 0 complaintsMay 2020: 1 complaintJun 2020: 7 complaintsJul 2020: 25 complaintsAug 2020: 14 complaintsSep 2020: 5 complaintsOct 2020: 9 complaintsNov 2020: 17 complaintsDec 2020: 7 complaintsJan 2021: 16 complaintsFeb 2021: 6 complaintsMar 2021: 6 complaintsApr 2021: 10 complaintsMay 2021: 6 complaintsJun 2021: 4 complaintsJul 2021: 9 complaintsAug 2021: 3 complaintsSep 2021: 3 complaintsOct 2021: 4 complaintsNov 2021: 0 complaintsDec 2021: 4 complaintsJan 2022: 1 complaintFeb 2022: 2 complaintsMar 2022: 3 complaintsApr 2022: 3 complaintsMay 2022: 3 complaintsJun 2022: 4 complaintsJul 2022: 4 complaintsAug 2022: 6 complaintsSep 2022: 4 complaintsOct 2022: 7 complaintsNov 2022: 6 complaintsDec 2022: 4 complaintsJan 2023: 4 complaintsFeb 2023: 5 complaintsMar 2023: 5 complaintsApr 2023: 5 complaintsMay 2023: 5 complaintsJun 2023: 1 complaintJul 2023: 1 complaintAug 2023: 2 complaintsSep 2023: 1 complaintOct 2023: 2 complaintsNov 2023: 0 complaintsDec 2023: 6 complaintsJan 2024: 1 complaintFeb 2024: 4 complaintsMar 2024: 2 complaintsApr 2024: 4 complaintsMay 2024: 3 complaintsJun 2024: 1 complaintJul 2024: 0 complaintsAug 2024: 3 complaintsSep 2024: 0 complaintsOct 2024: 2 complaintsNov 2024: 0 complaintsDec 2024: 5 complaintsJan 2025: 1 complaintFeb 2025: 3 complaintsMar 2025: 2 complaintsApr 2025: 1 complaintMay 2025: 3 complaints201720182019202020212022202320242025
Complaints filed per month. Peak: 25 in Jul 2020. Hover a bar for its count.
Complaints filed per month
MonthComplaints
Mar 20161
Apr 20162
May 20161
Jun 20164
Jul 20166
Aug 20166
Sep 201615
Oct 20162
Nov 20163
Dec 20161
Jan 20178
Feb 20176
Mar 20177
Apr 20179
May 20172
Jun 20178
Jul 20174
Aug 20172
Sep 20174
Oct 20175
Nov 20171
Dec 20173
Jan 20180
Feb 20180
Mar 20183
Apr 20181
May 20182
Jun 20180
Jul 20180
Aug 20182
Sep 20180
Oct 20182
Nov 20181
Dec 20181
Jan 20190
Feb 20190
Mar 20190
Apr 20191
May 20192
Jun 20191
Jul 20191
Aug 20192
Sep 20191
Oct 20193
Nov 20191
Dec 20198
Jan 20205
Feb 20203
Mar 20202
Apr 20200
May 20201
Jun 20207
Jul 202025
Aug 202014
Sep 20205
Oct 20209
Nov 202017
Dec 20207
Jan 202116
Feb 20216
Mar 20216
Apr 202110
May 20216
Jun 20214
Jul 20219
Aug 20213
Sep 20213
Oct 20214
Nov 20210
Dec 20214
Jan 20221
Feb 20222
Mar 20223
Apr 20223
May 20223
Jun 20224
Jul 20224
Aug 20226
Sep 20224
Oct 20227
Nov 20226
Dec 20224
Jan 20234
Feb 20235
Mar 20235
Apr 20235
May 20235
Jun 20231
Jul 20231
Aug 20232
Sep 20231
Oct 20232
Nov 20230
Dec 20236
Jan 20241
Feb 20244
Mar 20242
Apr 20244
May 20243
Jun 20241
Jul 20240
Aug 20243
Sep 20240
Oct 20242
Nov 20240
Dec 20245
Jan 20251
Feb 20253
Mar 20252
Apr 20251
May 20253

Recent owner reports

May 27, 2025Unknown or other, Forward collision avoidance

Hi, several alerts have popped up, Regenerative braking unavailable, Park Assist unavailable, Automatic Emergency Braking is unavailable, Traction control disabled, Stability control disabled, ABS (anti-lock braking system) disabled. The odd thing is that the alerts come and go as they please. I can't figure out what it is. Could be software related. Possibly a software update has messed it up?

May 16, 2025Suspension

Sudden and catastrophic shearing of the driver side rear suspension arm (control arm). My understanding is all these cars from Tesla have aluminum suspension arms which causes identical and catastrophic failure of the vehicle during driving due to choice of Aluminum instead of stainless steel(SS). Aluminum has an ultimate tensile strength of only 90 MPa while SS can exceed 500 MPa. Since my car got disabled completely (motor gets disconnected from the wheel) I almost lost my life with vehicles coming at high speed from behind. I saw the same control arm failures with Tesla cars including S and…

May 6, 2025Latches/locks/linkages

My 2016 Tesla Model X has a persistent and dangerous issue with the electronic parking brake. The brake frequently fails to disengage properly, and the car becomes jerky when attempting to move. When the vehicle is parked, a warning appears stating: “Parking brake not engaged. Vehicle may roll,” even when the brake is set. This poses a significant safety risk, especially on inclines. Additionally, the driver-side door latch mechanism has failed again. Tesla previously repaired this exact issue and charged me, but the failure has returned. The door sometimes fails to latch securely or does not…

Apr 1, 2025Electrical system, Latches/locks/linkages⚠ Crash

The contact owned a 2016 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that while his wife was driving approximately 15 MPH from a traffic light, the vehicle was T-boned by another vehicle attempting to run the red light. The contact stated that the other vehicle crashed into the driver’s side front fender panel of the vehicle. The contact stated that the driver’s door was not impacted in the crash. The contact stated that the air bags deployed as needed. However, the contact’s wife was stuck in the vehicle, and unable to exit the vehicle because the doors failed to unlock. The contact stated that the veh…

Mar 27, 2025Suspension

I was parking my car at home when all of a sudden there was a violent/sudden drop in the front of my car. I initially thought I got a flat tire, but when I took a look the entire front suspension was shot and dropped as low as possible. The Model X feels and is very unsafe to drive and has a grainding sound like the car is about to fall a part.

Mar 10, 2025Back over prevention

Rear camera lags to appear when the car is put in Reverse. At times when switching to Drive the rear camera image stays on the screen. Sometimes it works as inteneded and sometimes it doesn't. The computer has its moments.

Feb 28, 2025Suspension

Wheel tilted in when backing out of driveway turning due to control arm failure

Feb 27, 2025Service brakes

My 2016 Tesla Model X (VIN [XXX] ) was manufactured in March 2016 according to the sticker on the driver door. My car is experiencing the same issue as the Tesla Service Bulletin #SB-17-33-002 under NHTSA's recall # 17V2600 when putting the vehicle into drive or reverse from park. Tesla is stating they can not perform the service work because there is no recall specifically for my VIN# even though the car is showing the same error messages on the diagnostics screen and showing the same symptoms and failure as the recall and service bulletin. The repair requires the replacement of the parking b…

Tesla Model X news

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall and complaint records, updated Oct 1, 2026. Complaints are owner reports and are not verified by NHTSA. Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.