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2023 TESLA MODEL S — STEERING

crash · 2011060 · 2024-07-26

Vehicle

Make
TESLA
Model
MODEL S
Year
2023
Manufacturer
Tesla, Inc.
Component
STEERING

Severity

Deaths
0
Injured
0
Fire
No
Crash
Yes
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

There is a design flaw with the horn on the steering yoke. It is not easily located especially in times of stress or eminent collision. I have been driving for 50 years and all horns in my past vehicles have horns in the center of the steering wheel. Last April, I was backing up in a parking lot and through the rear camera, I saw a car behind me backing up. I stopped my car and could not get to the horn quick enough to alert the other diver and he continued to back up and he backed into my car causing $3,500 in damage. Yesterday, I was driving, and someone made a very unsafe turn that needed a horn to alert them, and I could not find the little button on the yoke to activate the horn. Yesterday's event, a near miss caused me to file this notice, although I should have done it sooner. Not as much of an issue, but the turn indicators are buttons too, and it is confusing to use them as opposed to a strike. I find myself not using the indicators as much in situations requiring a quicker need, typically like on the freeway. NHTSA should consider making all horns to be in the center of the steering wheel and all turn indicators to be strikes.

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
11604825
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown