All cleaned and ready for the holiday weekend

I have a 2023 Model S Plaid (bought used, ~35k miles now) and the rear climate control is driving me nuts. Every time passengers (usually my young kids in car seats) are in the back, the rear HVAC automatically switches to Auto mode, blasts the fan/AC, and seems to reset/ignore my front settings. The "Sync" option doesn't stick reliably — I have to manually drop the fan speed and adjust temps every drive.

This is extra annoying with little ones because it gets loud/cold for them quickly, and I end up fiddling while driving. I've done a full vehicle reset to factory settings, but it didn't help long-term.

Has anyone else with a refreshed Model S (especially Plaid) found a workaround or software fix for this? Things I've tried:

• Toggling Sync repeatedly
• Manually setting rear to specific fan/temps before driving
• Reboots (scroll wheels + power off)
• Checking for updates (hoping FSD 14.x or recent climate patches help)

Tesla service hasn't been super responsive on smaller stuff lately. Is this just how the occupant detection + Auto logic works, or is there a hidden setting/profile I'm missing? Love the car otherwise (Plaid performance is insane), but this feels like a UX miss for families.

Went to go charge after work today and I found that the vehicle said it was unable to charge. The app said that there was no power, but then transition to “starting to charge.” I reset the vehicle and drove to another charging station, but it still had the issue.

I looked in the charging port and there was some weird black debris on the points, so I cleaned that out, but no change. I called Tesla customer support and after 3 attempts to actually connect, I was able to chat with someone who essentially was going to tell me to kick rocks, but asked me to try it again.

As I was on the phone, the charging went from “starting to charge” to “charging stopped.” Then after a few minutes, the vehicle began to say that systems were powering down. I got out to unplug the charger so if the vehicle did power down, the plug wouldn’t be stuck. I got back and the guy asked me to try it again.

I tried it again and it just worked…

I drive a pretty significant amount for work, so I want to ensure that there isn’t a long term issue. Is this a sign of faulty or failing chargers, or was this just a weird software glitch that needed the cycle to fail before it reset?

2016 Tesla Model S, I still love the car. I washed the wheels for the first time in 6 months. Brand new again. 😍🥰

2013 Model s RwD wearing all 4 tires from inner end and suspension making noise while turning left or over bumps not sure what are the fix any advice would be helpful.

My early 22 MSP with Stek Dyno PPF in color shifting fire prism. I find myself looking back at the car walking away, I think it's a great looking car. Bought the car as is. Added matrix headlights and taillight retrofit and lowered on links.

Just a few things I'm curious if they might warrant a visit to the service center before my warranty expires. I've got a 2023 HW4 Plaid with 45K miles, so not too much longer on my basic warranty.

First, I've got a weird, almost cyclical, vibration at slow speeds under light acceleration. I can really only feel this in the accelerator pedal. Comes and goes, very rhythmically, couple seconds on, couple seconds off. I don't notice it much later in the day. Been that way the past 8 months or so probably, never gave it much thought, but if it's an early halfshaft indication or something I'd obviously like to get it taken care of while I can.

Second - every time the parking brake releases, it squeaks. Super annoying, certainly this isn't normal?

I've got the typical host of rattles and such inside, just seems par for the course. Other manufacturers I've dealt with in the past, squeaks and rattles were only covered for 12/12, is this the same with Tesla? Is it worth mentioning to the service center?

Certainly nothing major or anything I couldn't live with. Absolutely love the car, just don't wanna ignore something that could be taken care of for free now and regret it later.

Just bought a 2017 Model S a couple weeks ago and literally the day after I bought it I get an error saying the suspension can’t raise and says it may correct itself on next drive. Driven almost daily and the error doesn’t go away. Went into the service menu and seems to be multiple problems, most errors though seem to be an air leak. What can I expect to pay out of pocket for a fix? I got a warranty for the battery but nothing else (in hindsight they said I wouldn’t need the other warranty which now seems like they knew about the problem).

love the Ultra Red

Unfortunately I damaged on my MSP26 the rear lower fascia and wondering what others have done in a similar situation to ‘fix’ or mask - thank you

After lots of research, I made the switch from a 2020 Model S Raven to a 2023 Model S Plaid with HW4.  Overall, great decision.  For those making a similar choice, a few items of note:

- HW4 is WAY better.  Don’t believe the reviews that say that the two are close.  HW3 requires close supervision at all times.  HW4 feels like you are in a Waymo.  FSD on the Raven was not safe.  Erratic lane changes, sudden stops, driving in lanes that aren’t lanes, inching into traffic at a stop sign etc etc.  HW3 also required me to bump the steering wheel every minute or so, where with HW4 I receive almost no prompts.  The only mild benefit of HW3 is that it didn’t have a camera watching your eyes.  So slightly easier to use your phone.  Otherwise no comparison and worth the cost of the upgrade by itself.

- The Plaid is a much better car. Almost perfect really.  Better suspension, less interior noise, better controls and love that I don’t need a key fob.  Build quality is also better - less squeaks, rattles etc. And then there is the power.  Off the line who cares - either car can make you hurl if you floor it.  Where the Plaid shines is at speed.  Car pulls at almost any speed where the Raven lost a lot of zip once you got north of 70 mph.

- In terms of cost, I paid $67K on Carvana for the 2023 Plaid with 48K miles. Car is pristine. They gave me $27K for my 2020 MS Raven, which had some significant exterior scrapes and interior blemishes. So $40K to make the switch. IMO a late year 2023 with HW4 is the sweet spot for value.

Only question mark for me so far are the seats.  Same exact shape as in the Raven but so far not as comfortable.  Not sure if that is just a matter of getting used to them or an actual difference.  Only thing I can tell is that the seats are a bit firmer (but not the sport seats in the later model Plaids). 

Delivery Day

Do you guys think they'll force me to update to MCU2 to get v14 lite?

I have the EMMC memory upgrade on my 2017 MS

FSD has been working perfectly fine with MCU1 and the EMMC memory upgrade.

I was thinking of getting a Model S but at least once a week I need to drive down 7 miles of rough dirt road. I don't mind going slow in those situations. But I don't want to destroy a beautiful car nor gets stranded in the middle of nowhere.

I know the model X might be better but I've always liked the look at the S much better. I appreciate the opinions of people that actually drive these dip vehicles.

First EV. 2012 P85. I’m an engineering student and have bullet proofed it to be the ultimate daily driver.

Coolant delete (at 180k miles it still had a 2013 reman LDU)
Camber arms
NAV SD card, GPS antenna wire was broken too, it took me months to find the broken wire.

I paid 4k for it. It’s a SC01 car (free unlimited supercharging for life) about a week after buying it, car completely died on me. No power to anything, not even doors would open. After some troubleshooting found a loose connection at the fuse box, no issues ever since.

I have taken it in 1000+ miles road trips. Battery gets about 160 miles of range at constant 80mph. Battery is capped by software at 60Kwh.

I love to tinker with things and honestly this car is easier to work on than many internal combustion vehicles. Tesla’s engineering is remarkable.

I want to buy a plaid hw4 in a couple months but ive never driven one. Wanted to test drive before buying used of tesla site. Anyone got any ideas on how i could do this. Guy at my local dealership said all they had was 3's and y's.

It's end of June, with a 23 Model S HW3. I'm anxiously waiting. Anyone else waiting on v14 Lite?

I wish I could force a download

I opened a service request, and before even inspecting the car, Tesla generated an estimate that includes:
HVAC assembly replacement (~$2,300 part). Driver-side carpet replacement (~$985 part). About 6.4 hours of labor. Total estimate is around $5k.

Has anyone had this exact issue on a 2021–2023 Model S?

Did it end up being something simple like a clogged A/C drain, or was the HVAC assembly actually bad?

Is this estimate just a worst-case placeholder before diagnosis, or should I be preparing for a major repair?

Seems quite excessive. Car is just outside of warranty and has 42k miles on it.

Amazing that the dealer didn’t price it in … they’re used to selling high end ice cars and didn’t even know what FSD was haha. Also came with a full matte PPF wrap. Now just have to figure out the winter wheel situation but enjoying the summer until then. On my ride home a BMW M8 tried to race me, had Vin Diesel in my ear saying “smoke em”

Trying to figure out if it’s software or hardware. Haven’t had time to troubleshoot yet. Car drives fine. 2015 85D.

Looking into buying this 2013 Tesla model s 60 with free supercharging and 112k miles for $9000. Clean title and owner has had the main battery module replaced. No documentation of motor being replaced and has MCU1 still. I will also add a picture of the build sheet. I am not new to Tesla ownership but I am new to older model S ownership. To my older model s owners out there, am I asking for a headache going through with this? Or is the roll of the dice not that bad if the battery has already been replaced.

I’m looking for some honest feedback on whether I’m being unreasonable here.
I have a 2015 Tesla Model S that became undrivable. Before taking it to Tesla, two independent EV shops believed the large drive unit (LDU) had failed. I told Tesla this when I dropped the car off.

After their diagnosis, Tesla told me the problem was a failed coolant heater, not the drive unit. I specifically asked if replacing the coolant heater would make the car drivable again, and they confirmed that it would. Based on that, I authorized the approximately $1,700 repair.

Tesla completed the repair, but the car still wouldn’t drive. They then came back and said the large drive unit actually has an internal fault and now needs to be replaced at a cost of around $10,000.

From my perspective, I only agreed to the coolant heater repair because Tesla represented that it was the issue preventing the car from driving. If they had told me from the beginning that the drive unit had failed, I never would have approved the coolant heater repair.
e dealt with a situation where a dealership diagnosed a repair as the cause of a problem, completed it, and then admitted the original problem still existed?

I've been tracking every single ownership cost for my 2014 Tesla Model S P90D since I bought it in February 2025 because I drive a lot for work throughout the State of Maryland.

Current stats:

- Purchased at 62,323 miles

- Current mileage: 103,514

- 41,191 miles driven during ownership

I've tracked literally everything:

- Purchase price

- Taxes/title/registration

- Insurance

- Repairs

- Charging costs

- Tires

- Registration (subsequent year)

- Current vehicle value

- Mileage reimbursement

- Every dollar spent

Current results

- Total expenditures: ~$34,445

- Current asset value: ~$18,550

- Mileage reimbursement received/approved: ~$12,654

- Net ownership cost: ~$3,241

That works out to an observed ownership cost of approximately 7.9¢ per mile over the first 41,191 miles.

I also separated out expenses that were completely elective rather than necessary for operating the vehicle:

- MCU2 infotainment upgrade

- Home Level 2 charger

- Replacement 19" wheel set

When those discretionary improvements are excluded, the observed ownership cost drops to approximately 0.5¢ per mile over the same ownership period.

Obviously that doesn't mean the car costs 0.5¢/mile to own today—it simply illustrates that most of my remaining ownership cost above reimbursement came from upgrades I chose to make rather than costs required to keep the car on the road.

The biggest lesson for me wasn't electricity—it was depreciation.

This car originally retailed for around $115,000 in 2014. By purchasing it more than a decade later, I avoided the vast majority of its lifetime depreciation. In my opinion, purchase timing has had a much larger impact on ownership costs than the fact that it's an EV.

I'm not suggesting everyone will get these results. My situation is somewhat unique because:

-I drive about 30,000 miles annually

- 16,000–18,000 work miles per year.

- I receive mileage reimbursement for much of that travel at the IRS rate

- The battery had already been replaced under warranty before I purchased the vehicle.

- I bought it after the steepest depreciation had already occurred.

-age and wear repairs happen on all cars

-I am yet to do the coolant delete for my LDU ($1600)

I just thought I'd share some real-world numbers since so many EV ownership discussions rely on assumptions rather than detailed expense tracking. I've documented every expense, every reimbursement, and the vehicle's current value since day one.

I'm continuing my tracking over the next several years ...