Tesla should probably fix more of those whompy wheels, NHTSA says

The US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is recommending Tesla expand an existing service bulletin that aims to fix older Tesla Model S and X vehicles suffering suspension failures. The suggestion comes from the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), which just concluded its probe into the matter after finding 426 instances of the particular defect on Tesla vehicles.

As reported by Ars Technica, the defect is known in the larger Tesla community as the “whompy wheel,” which is caused by fore links failing on either the right or left sides of the front suspension — often when traveling at low speeds. The affected models include Model S (2015–2017) and Model X (2016–2017) vehicles.

The formal ODI probe was opened in 2020, and in its investigation, the agency narrowed the issue down to two part numbers that go bad. If the fore link breaks, the tire can end up rubbing against the Tesla’s wheel well, a problem ODI says hasn’t resulted in any loss of vehicle control.

NHTSA started looking into Model S suspension issues back in 2016 after finding out Tesla had customers sign NDAs to not talk about fixing their car’s suspension under “Goodwill.” Tesla eventually opened a service bulletin in 2017 to start fixing the issue on some cars built within about a four-month timeframe, but not always without blaming customers for the damage (a trend that continues today).