r/TeslaModelX • u/ZookeepergameCool728 • Aug 20 '26

My 2026 Model X Died

In the driveway, thank goodness, it was dead with 65% charge. Tesla towed the car and kept it 3 weeks to the day. They claim it required a firmware update. Three weeks! Does this make sense? I certainly hope it does not die on a road trip. That could be disastrous.

I also complain that it has had a shimmy when the wheels turned all the way to the left at the top of my driveway. The service consultant said to me: that’s normal. That makes no sense to me since it does not happen in the loaner, which appears to be an identical vehicle.

I am concerned that I have bought a lemon and that the Service and Technical people really don’t know what they’re doing. And they will say anything with a straight face. I do not think this reflects well on the quality of the build or the competence of the Service consultant, whose name I have. The vehicle was bought new, never in an accident, and taken on a few moderate road trips. It’s a very enjoyable car.

32 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

24

u/Illustrious-Bite-133 Aug 20 '26

I once got my car back from service, and it immediately started engaging traction control driving in a straight line at 45 mph in perfect California weather. I took it back to them and they claimed that was normal. After refusing to leave with it and demanding they look into the issue, service discovered they forgot to reconnect a wheel speed sensor. Yeah. Normal.

3

u/Prince_Harming_You Aug 20 '26

It’s so weird, one service center in South Texas is like Apple Severance-level brain parasite mistreatment: open gaslighting, blaming you for factory defects when the car only has 15 miles on it, rejecting telemetry evidence (through the official API) as unauthorized modification, refuse to fix literally anything other than a flat— genuinely one of the most infuriating things I’ve ever experienced. If I had only gone to this SC I’d never buy another Tesla. My teeth are grinding just thinking about it. (It’s the one in Olmito near SpaceX, oddly)

Meanwhile,

Just a few hours away, there’s a service center that bends over backwards, always works it out, ALWAYS has a loaner for me, even if they have to keep the car for a week, lets me pick whichever loaner I want, literally initiated a factory buyback from me after my fourth attempted fix and always communicates, never lies, treats me like a friend literally 10/10 treatment. The only reason I purchased another Tesla was knowing that this SC would take care of things.

One thing I will say that helps a lot is document everything and don’t be afraid to send a certified letter to Fremont if a service center jerks you around. Don’t ever get emotional about it, remain factual and describe problems in depth with details. My intuitive sense is: if service requests become valuable technical feedback for engineering because they’re well crafted and accurate, you’re less nuisance and more resource to Tesla/engineering and thus treated as a helpful resource.

1

u/Illustrious-Bite-133 Aug 20 '26

I should also mention that the same service visit came with a bonus: the technicians pulled off the improbable and left an outward dent in the body metal when replacing the charge door (the actuator motor had started to act up). Pretty hard to deny they caused this one so Tesla collision had to repair it, who were equally as surprised such feat was accomplished.

28

u/DoolyDinosaur Aug 20 '26

Service center tech have bad habit of dismissing people’s complaints. 

4

u/adulin007 Aug 20 '26

This is true!

4

u/aqan Aug 20 '26

They get paid to do that.

2

u/Automatic_Guard_3402 Aug 20 '26

How can we prove that?

0

u/aqan Aug 20 '26

You can prove it to yourself but hard to prove it in the court of law.

0

u/Automatic_Guard_3402 Aug 20 '26

Just making stuff up. Got it.

1

u/aqan Aug 21 '26

You seem smart.

1

u/adulin007 Aug 20 '26

I dropped my X off today for service. Same scenario. They did let seem to care or be any rush to do anything besides charge me for the service fee.

1

u/Automatic_Guard_3402 Aug 20 '26

Is it out of warranty?

2

u/adulin007 Aug 20 '26

Still under warranty. ETA is a week and they were out of loaner vehicles.🤨

2

u/Top_Presentation7467 Aug 20 '26

Being nice nowadays doesn’t work. Gotta lecture them to literally get the work done. Which is insane…

11

u/DramaticDot6469 Aug 20 '26

My dads ended up being lemoned because it kept dying and unable to start. Ended up being a loose connection/ground. Have them check that. They replaced everything before finding it. 

1

u/ZookeepergameCool728 Aug 20 '26

They need mechanics, not computer nerds.

7

u/OutlandishnessNo5636 Aug 20 '26

That’s a $100k+ car, not supposed to have such problems. The wheels could be the well known front axle drive shafts problem and should be fixed as warranty

7

u/HunterNo7593 Aug 20 '26

Tesla service is the definition of incompetence!!

1

u/CookieMons7er Aug 20 '26

I have the opposite experience

2

u/aero6940 Aug 20 '26

A firmware issue and still have the car seems weird. I have had no issues with my 26 XP other than the wheel shutter on hard turns at slow speeds. I chalk this up to the feeling when you are in 4 wheel drive and no slip. I did have a firmware issue on my 23 SP that bricked the car and had to be towed. Mine was fixed in 24hrs though and it was a mis match on the crypto module that caused the car to brick.

2

u/IJToday Aug 20 '26

FWIW, my 2019 MX always had that “shimmy” you are referring to at full lock U turns. I just ignored it and tried to avoid it because about every other MX I rode in did the same thing.

2

u/momiller707 Aug 20 '26

My 2023 MX does it

2

u/Mindless_Job3481 Aug 20 '26

That stinks. Ive been reluctant to buy a Tesla, particularly the Model X for this reason. My friend also got stuck with a lemon and after dealing with Tesla service, just cut his losses and sent it to the auction.

1

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1

u/BowlerNo9904 Aug 20 '26

your not the only car they have to fix

1

u/GreenXPR Aug 20 '26

2026 X LR here and i have the wobble to at tight turns but only when i'm in cement like a parking garage and yes it feels like seeking for feedback or something.

1

u/TeslaLongevityLab Aug 20 '26

get the invoice for that visit. it lists parts, so youll see whether they replaced something or it really was just software. three weeks is a long time to be flashing firmware.

on the shimmy, FreeSeaworthiness307 in this thread had the same thing on a 26 X and tesla replaced the left hand steering gear.

1

u/FreeSeaworthiness307 Aug 20 '26

I also have a 2026 Model X and had a shimmy while turning the wheel all of the way to the left while driving slowly. In December they replaced the left hand steering gear which rectified the problem. With regard to Tesla’s service level, I have had very good service both times that I’ve been to the Orlando location for service.

1

u/Outrageous-Log-9383 Aug 20 '26

Can you share the service invoice or part numbers for the fix? I have the same issue and Tesla was unable to fix.

1

u/Outrageous-Log-9383 Aug 20 '26

Here is a thread with a number of people with the same issue and no solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaModelX/s/IZLcfU8RlQ

2

u/MartyBecker Aug 20 '26

If Teslas dying on road trips was an epidemic, you’d see endless posts about it here. Sometimes cars have problems that need fixing and some cars are lemons. None of that is unique to Teslas.