AutoUtility currently tracks 192 official NHTSA owner defect complaints for the 2023 Tesla Model X. Steering System issues are the most frequently reported category, appearing in 46 complaints (24% of submitted records). Among these NHTSA complaint records, 17 filings cite a crash, 2 cite a fire, 7 report one or more injuries.

Key Problem Findings
  • Total NHTSA Complaints: 192 reports
  • #1 Reported Problem Area: Steering System (46 reports • 24% of submitted complaints)
  • Secondary Problem Areas: Driver Assistance & Safety Tech (28), Electrical System (21)
  • Crash-Citing Complaints: 17 filings
  • Fire-Citing Complaints: 2 filings
  • Complaints Reporting Injuries / Fatalities: 7 injury filings • 0 fatality filings
Reporting Methodology: Statistics describe unverified consumer submissions voluntarily filed with NHTSA. Complaint volume is not normalized for vehicle sales volume or miles driven. Multiple components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission.
Total Complaints
192
Submitted to NHTSA ODI
Crash-Citing Complaints
17
Filings citing a collision
Fire-Citing Complaints
2
Filings citing smoke or fire
Complaints Reporting Injuries
7
Filings citing one or more injuries
Complaints Reporting Fatalities
0
Consumer filings citing fatalities

Most Reported Problems for 2023 Tesla Model X

Top automotive subsystem defect categories ranked by unique owner complaint volume in federal records

#1 Problem Area 24% of complaints

Steering System

46 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports
#2 Problem Area 14.6% of complaints

Driver Assistance & Safety Tech

28 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 6 crash reports 🩹 1 injury report entry
#3 Problem Area 10.9% of complaints

Electrical System

21 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 4 crash reports 🩹 3 injury report entries
#4 Problem Area 7.3% of complaints

Air Bags & Restraints

14 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 3 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 2 crash reports
#5 Problem Area 6.8% of complaints

Body & Structure

13 owner complaints submitted to NHTSA ODI
⚠️ NHTSA Recall Context

NHTSA records list 2 official safety recall campaigns for this model year involving the same broad component area:

*Component overlap means an official recall exists for the same broad vehicle system. It does not establish that an individual owner complaint was caused by, covered by, or resolved through that recall.
⚠️ 1 crash report 🩹 5 injury report entries
Domain Share Note: Share percentage represents the proportion of unique complaint filings referencing each vehicle system. Because single complaints may cite multiple systems (such as engine and electrical simultaneously), domain percentages represent individual category incidence and may sum to over 100%.

Recent NHTSA Owner Reports for 2023 Tesla Model X

Representative defect filings submitted by owners to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Air Bags & Restraints NHTSA ODI ID: #11756754
Filed: 08/13/2026

"I have a 2018 and a 2023 Tesla both with the same air bag failure warning, specifically Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Issue. Since this is a critical safety component of the car and Tesla appears to have a wide spread problem with this component, please look into this as possible recall..."

Incident Date: 03/11/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: AIR BAGS
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11748272
Filed: 07/04/2026

"I was using FSD any driving on XXX between [XXX] and [XXX]. Suddenly the car put on the 4 way flashers, slowed down and started to pull to the side of the road. There was no shoulder so the car would have stopped in the driving lane. I immediately turned the wheel back into the center of the lane..."

Incident Date: 06/30/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Steering System NHTSA ODI ID: #11747871
Filed: 07/02/2026

"I own a 2023 Tesla Model X and I am reporting a steering-related safety concern. When making hard left turns, the steering wheel/front end shakes or shudders and makes a LOUD sounds. This does not feel or sound normal and appears to be related to the steering or front suspension system. The issue..."

Incident Date: 07/01/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: STEERING,SUSPENSION
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11747215
Crash Cited Filed: 06/29/2026

"1. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The apparent malfunction involved Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) during an autonomous highway lane change. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. 2. How was your safety or the..."

Incident Date: 06/27/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE
Driver Assistance & Safety Tech NHTSA ODI ID: #11743859
Filed: 06/13/2026

"Every time I use FSD in my Tesla, and disengage it by steering or the brake pedal, I am FORCED to deal with a popup selection window that takes over my control interface and WILL NOT go away unless I divert attention from a critical issue such as a crash or collision that will be avoided by me..."

Incident Date: 06/12/2026 • Raw NHTSA Component: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Consumer Narrative Notice: Excerpts are sanitized text descriptions submitted by vehicle owners to the federal ODI database. They reflect the reporting consumer's observations at the time of filing and have not been independently confirmed by vehicle manufacturers or government investigators.

Complaint History for Tesla Model X

Reported defect complaint volume across sibling model years (2016–2026)

Model Year NHTSA Complaints Crash Reports Safety Recalls Detailed Report
2016 Tesla Model X 0 0 12 View 2016 Problems →
2017 Tesla Model X 0 0 10 View 2017 Problems →
2018 Tesla Model X 0 0 9 View 2018 Problems →
2019 Tesla Model X 0 0 8 View 2019 Problems →
2020 Tesla Model X 124 17 10 View 2020 Problems →
2021 Tesla Model X 39 3 24 View 2021 Problems →
2022 Tesla Model X 125 12 22 View 2022 Problems →
2023 Tesla Model X Current Page 192 17 17 Current
2024 Tesla Model X 26 2 8 View 2024 Problems →
2025 Tesla Model X 14 2 3 View 2025 Problems →
2026 Tesla Model X 0 0 0 View 2026 Problems →
Comparative Disclaimer: Complaint totals are unadjusted historical counts and are not normalized for vehicles sold, active fleet size, or total road mileage. Newer model years naturally have had less calendar exposure time to accumulate owner filings.

Detailed NHTSA Component Breakdown for 2023 Tesla Model X

Complete distribution of consumer defect reports across all 51 granular NHTSA system and subsystem classifications

Vehicle Component / System Total Complaints Crash Reports Fire Reports Reported Injury Entries Reported Fatality Entries
Other / Uncategorized NHTSA category: UNKNOWN OR OTHER 68 4 0 0 0
Steering NHTSA category: STEERING 29 1 0 0 0
Structure & Body NHTSA category: STRUCTURE 12 0 0 5 0
STEERING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 10 0 0 0 0
Seat Belts NHTSA category: SEAT BELTS 5 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 4 0 0 0 0
Forward Collision Avoidance NHTSA category: FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 4 0 0 0 0
Air Bags NHTSA category: AIR BAGS 3 1 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 3 0 0 0 0
Tires NHTSA category: TIRES 3 0 0 0 0
Electrical System NHTSA category: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS 2 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 0 0 0 0
Lane Departure Warning NHTSA category: LANE DEPARTURE 2 0 0 0 0
Seats & Restraints NHTSA category: SEATS 2 0 1 0 0
Service Brakes NHTSA category: SERVICE BRAKES 2 0 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 2 2 0 2 0
STEERING,SUSPENSION 2 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 0 0 0 0
Vehicle Speed Control NHTSA category: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 2 1 0 0 0
AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 0 0
Back Over Prevention / Camera NHTSA category: BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 1 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SEATS 1 0 0 0 0
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY 1 0 0 0 0
Equipment & Accessories NHTSA category: EQUIPMENT 1 0 1 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 0 0 0 0
EXTERIOR LIGHTING,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 0 0 0 0
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 1 0 0 0
SERVICE BRAKES,VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,SEAT BELTS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 1 0 0 0 0
STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,LANE DEPARTURE 1 1 0 0 0
Suspension NHTSA category: SUSPENSION 1 1 0 0 0
SUSPENSION,WHEELS 1 0 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 1 1 0 0 0
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES 1 1 0 2 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,LANE DEPARTURE 1 0 0 0 0
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES 1 0 0 0 0
Visibility & Wipers NHTSA category: VISIBILITY/WIPER 1 0 0 0 0
WHEELS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER 1 0 0 0 0
Data Attribution & Reporting Methodology: Complaints are unverified voluntary submissions to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). Because multiple vehicle components can be cited within a single owner complaint submission, component-level rollups may sum to more than the unique complaint count (192). Injury and fatality entries in the detailed table reflect raw values entered by reporting consumers across individual submissions; they are not deduplicated casualty statistics and may include duplicate or unverified entries. Complaint volume is not normalized for sales volume or vehicle mileage and does not represent an audited component failure rate.

Official NHTSA Defect Investigations (10)

5 OPEN 5 CLOSED

Formal safety defect inquiries and engineering analyses opened by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI)

Official Federal Inquiries: NHTSA opens a defect investigation when safety screening or consumer defect trends indicate a potential unreasonable safety risk. An open investigation is a formal inquiry and does not by itself confirm a defect or result in a mandatory recall.
OPEN Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA26002
Opened: 2026-03-18 • Currently Active

FSD Collisions in Reduced Roadway Visibility Conditions

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS

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 to respond. ODI will evaluate the performance...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
OPEN Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE25012
Opened: 2025-10-07 • Currently Active

Traffic safety violations while Full Self Driving ("FSD") is engaged

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS

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 system requiring a fully attentive driver who...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
OPEN Audit Query (AQ) ODI Action #AQ25002
Opened: 2025-08-20 • Currently Active

Compliance with Standing General Order 2021-01 Reporting Requirements

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS

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 be submitted within one or five days of...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
OPEN Recall Query (RQ) ODI Action #RQ24009
Opened: 2024-04-25 • Currently Active

Recall 23V838 Remedy Effectiveness

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:DRIVER MONITORING:SOFTWARE

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is opening a Recall Query to assess the remedy adequacy of Recall 23V838. On December 12, 2023, Tesla filed a Defect Information Report (Recall 23V838) applicable to all Tesla models produced and equipped with any version of its Autopilot system, which Tesla described as an SAE Level 2 (L2) Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS). Autopilot is the simultaneous engagement of Tesla’s Traffic-Aware Cruise...

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
OPEN Defect Petition (DP) ODI Action #DP23002
Opened: 2023-06-29 • Currently Active

Sudden Unintended Acceleration

Affected Component: VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a petition requesting that ODI reevaluate its decision to deny DP20-001 on the basis that intermittent high electrical current demands on the vehicles' 12VDC systems may have caused some or all of the incidents examined by ODI in DP20-001. The petitioner bases this information on a review of open-source research and the DP20-001 denial. The petition and related materials can be reviewed at NHTSA....

Active federal investigation. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE24033
Opened: 2025-01-06 • Closed: 2026-04-03

Actually Smart Summon sessions resulting in low-speed impacts.

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING

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 property. ODI analyzed complaint data provided by Tesla...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE24031
Opened: 2024-10-17 • Closed: 2026-03-18

FSD Collisions in Reduced Roadway Visibility Conditions

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS

On October 17, 2024, NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE24031) of Tesla’s Full Self Driving Beta and Full Self Driving (Supervised) (collectively, FSD) to assess: the ability of the FSD system to detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions; whether any other FSD crashes had occurred under degraded roadway visibility conditions that are similar in nature to the four SG...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Defect Petition (DP) ODI Action #DP23001
Opened: 2023-04-07 • Closed: 2026-03-18

Defect Petition Interlock Request

Affected Component: UNKNOWN OR OTHER

On March 21, 2023, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a petition requesting a “recall of all Tesla cars” produced from 2013 to the date on which the petition was filed due to what Petitioner considers to be the increased likelihood of pedal misapplication. Attached to the Petition is a paper authored by Petitioner. According to Petitioner, the differences in the operator controls between the subject Tesla vehicles and internal...

Closed without associated recall campaign. Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Preliminary Evaluation (PE) ODI Action #PE23006
Opened: 2023-03-24 • Closed: 2024-05-16

Front seat belt anchor detachment

Affected Component: SEAT BELTS:CRITICAL FASTENERS

On March 24, 2023, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) after receiving 2 consumer complaints alleging the front seat belts had suddenly detached from the outboard lap pretensioner anchor while in motion in model year (MY) 2022-2023 Tesla Model X vehicles. In its June 19, 2023 response to ODI’s May 4, 2023 Information Request letter of the PE, Tesla reported that its review of field repair data ident...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 23V488 Official NHTSA File →
CLOSED Engineering Analysis (EA) ODI Action #EA22002
Opened: 2022-06-08 • Closed: 2024-04-25

Autopilot System Driver Controls

Affected Component: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) upgraded PE21020 to EA22002 on June 8, 2022, to extend work and deepen the PE21020 crash analysis, to supplement that analysis with additional data, and to perform vehicle evaluations to understand how Tesla’s Autopilot system may exacerbate human factors or behavioral safety risks by undermining the effectiveness of the driver’s supervision. To support this work, ODI collected additional crash inform...

✓ Resulted in Safety Recall Campaign: 23V838 Official NHTSA File →
Official US Government Data Provenance

The complaint records on this page are retrieved directly from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) public database.

Local Production Store Compiled: August 2026 • Deterministic Audited Dataset • Zero Dynamic External API Runtime Latency.