2023 Tesla Model X Reliability Report

Powered doors cause the injuries in this category. Owners report a falcon wing door closing when the opposite door's button was pressed, doors and the rear hatch reversing and coming down on people, a door striking a child as it opened, and a thumb pinched during a door's final cinch. Rear doors are hard to open by hand when the battery is dead. Separately, fender flares, wheel-well trim and the underbody guard fall off, often in heavy rain. One dealer reattached parts with adhesive at about 9,649 miles.

Two crash reports describe the car accelerating while parking and failing to stop with the brake pedal pressed. One of those crashes injured two people. Other complaints describe automatic emergency braking triggering on shadows, hard deceleration beside a semi on Autopilot, and the car stopping dead in a highway lane while driver-assist features were in use. Owners say Tesla could not reproduce some of these events. Single reports also mention automatic wipers that fail in rain and a pedal that feels off because of low brake fluid.

Rear belts are the problem area. Reports describe twisted belts, a second-row buckle that stays stuck, belt tongues that do not seat in the buckle, and a broken anchor. One recurring rear left restraint fault means the pretensioner may not engage, and three service visits did not fix it. Tesla has called some of these maintenance issues or normal function, and in one case the belts came back from service unchanged. Parents with car seats in the second row raise most of these concerns.

The main complaint is unintended acceleration at low speed. Drivers describe the car surging while pulling into a driveway or waiting for a gate and then striking the garage door or gate. One such case happened at about 8,000 miles, and one crash is reported. Another owner says the car sped up during slow driving while Park Assist and traction control kept disengaging. With cruise control on the highway, phantom braking repeats and can cut speed by twenty mph before the driver steps in.

A front passenger restraint system fault keeps coming back, with warning chimes and an airbag light, whether or not anyone is in the seat. Repairs between about 30,638 and 36,106 miles, including a Restraint Control Module replacement, did not hold. Two crash reports are also filed here. In one, the air bags did not deploy after a pole impact and the driver's door would not open. In the other, the car braked hard and left the road while using Full Self-Driving.

Two separate seat failures are reported. The front passenger heated seat turns on by itself when the car is started from the phone. In one fire-related report it smoked and burned a hole in the seat with no one sitting in it, and Tesla replaced the seat under warranty. A second-row seat also fails to latch and lock in place at about 57,326 miles. Tesla declined warranty coverage for that seat and asked the owner to pay for a replacement.

In one report, the front left wheel separates from the hub while driving, shortly after a Tesla service visit. Tesla's service paperwork blamed missing hardware on the upper control arm. The result is a sudden loss-of-control risk, so recent suspension work deserves a close look on any car. The other complaint filed here is a crash the owner blames on the hard-to-reach horn button, not a suspension fault.