NHTSA has received 6 owner complaints about the 2025 Tesla Model S, or 3.4 per year on the road — far fewer complaints than typical (complaint index 0.08, where 1.00 is the average of all tracked vehicles). Among the 86 model-year 2025 vehicles we track, it ranks #6 of 86 by complaints per year (#1 = fewest). Against other Tesla models its rate is 94% lower; against other Electric vehicles it is 93% lower.
Counts are normalized by time on the road, not by sales volume: a popular model generates more reports than a rare one, and complaints are not verified individually. How we count
Limited data: fewer than 30 complaints, so shares and indexes are unstable.
Complaints filed between 2025-07-24 and 2026-02-17. Median delay from incident to filing: 10 days.
6Complaints
3.4Complaints per year on the road
0.08Complaint index vs. all tracked vehicles
2Recalls
0.0%Share involving a crash or fire
4Last 12 months
Analysis
The previous model year (2024) drew 13.6 complaints per year, more than this one. The following model year (2026) drew 7.0 per year, more than this one.
The most common problem area is Transmission / powertrain (33.3% of complaints), followed by Wheels, tires & suspension (33.3%) and Steering (16.7%). Transmission / powertrain complaints are 2.9 times as common here as across all tracked vehicles. No report describes a crash, fire, injury or death.
4 complaints were filed in the last 12 months.
NHTSA lists 2 safety recalls for this model year. 4 NHTSA investigations cover this model year; the most recent is “FSD Collisions in Reduced Roadway Visibility Conditions” (engineering analysis, opened 2026-03-18, still open).
The power train of my 2025 Tesla Model S failed. As a result, the car had several systems alert on my console that they were "unavailable" or "degraded", and in addition to the alerts I experienced their loss or degradation in real time.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-02-17 · ODI 11718413
The power train of my 2025 Model S failed similar to failure of 7-6-25 which I previously reported to NHTSA (complaint #11718413) and Tesla.
Transmission / powertrain · 2026-02-17 · ODI 11718423
The turning signal button on the steering wheel doesn't respond intermittently. It's a safety hazard to not engage a turning signal when making a turn.
Steering · 2026-01-26 · ODI 11713304
I experienced excessive rear tire wear on both rear tires inner side The tire ended up blowing out on the rear passenger tire
Wheels, tires & suspension · 2025-12-13 · ODI 11704875
Tires wear excessivly due to incorect factory and non-adjustable camber settings causing extreme saftey concerns/blowouts, which are not visible without removal of tire or lifting of vehicle by average motorist.
Wheels, tires & suspension · 2025-09-26 · ODI 11689981
Excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA, trimmed for length. The ODI number is NHTSA's record identifier.
BACK OVER PREVENTION:SOFTWARE Campaign 25V002000 · 2025-01-07
Summary: Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2024-2025 Model 3, Model S, 2023-2025 Model X, and Model Y vehicles. The computer circuit board may short, resulting in the loss of the rearview camera image. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 111, "Rear Visibility."
Risk: A rearview camera that does not display an image reduces the driver's rear view, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Tesla released an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge. Tesla will also identify any vehicles that experienced a circuit board failure, or stress that may lead to a circuit board failure, and replace the affected computers, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 7, 2025. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-25-00-001.
AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:CUSHION Campaign 24V967000 · 2024-12-24
Summary: Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2021-2025 Model S and Model X vehicles. The driver's air bag could tear during deployment. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) numbers 208, "Occupant Crash Protection" and 212, "Windshield Mounting."
Risk: A torn air bag may not adequately protect an occupant in a crash, increasing the risk of injury.
Remedy: Tesla service will replace the air bag assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 21, 2025. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-24-20-001.
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is opening this Engineering Analysis to evaluate Tesla’s Full Self Driving Beta and Full Self Driving (Supervised) (collectively, FSD) degradation detection system. The focus of this investigation will be to assess the system’s ability, when encountering reduced roadway visibility conditions, to detect degradation and alert the driver with sufficient time …
Traffic safety violations while Full Self Driving ("FSD") is engagedOpen
The Office of Defects Investigation (“ODI”) is opening this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety consequences of FSD executing driving maneuvers that constitute traffic safety violations. This investigation concerns versions of FSD that Tesla has labeled as "FSD (Supervised)" and "FSD (Beta)." Tesla characterizes FSD as an SAE Level 2 partial automation sy…
Compliance with Standing General Order 2021-01 Reporting RequirementsOpen
The Office of Defects Investigation (“ODI”) has identified numerous incident reports submitted by Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) in response to Standing General Order 2021-01 (the “SGO”), in which the reported crashes occurred several months or more before the dates of the reports. The majority of these reports involved crashes in which the Standing General Order in place at the time required a report to b…
Actually Smart Summon sessions resulting in low-speed impacts.Closed
On January 6, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation 24003 (PE24033) to investigate Actually Smart Summon (Summon) sessions resulting in crashes during active sessions. According to Tesla, Summon is a short-distance SAE Level 2 system, controlled by the user from a cell phone within a certain distance and intended for use in parking lots and on private prope…
