Model Y Owner Discovers Deep Cracks In Front Suspension Casting, Tesla Allegedly Says The Car Is Safe To Drive

Jul 19, 2023

One Tesla owner claims that they discovered cracks deep enough for light to pass through near their front suspension

A Tesla Model Y owner is telling his story on social media in order to get attention after finding large cracks in the front castings of his electric crossover. Concerned about the safety of the vehicle, the owner claims that Tesla has been unresponsive to him.

The owner, Nizar Kamel, first discovered the cracks in May, while checking for another issue that some owners complain about. While looking to ensure that the cap was firmly affixed to the brake fluid reservoir (it was), he discovered the cracks in his Model Y’s front casting.

Specifically, the cracks are located around the suspension subframe, which in the Model Y is made of a single piece of aluminum. Part of a novel “Gigacasting” process, Tesla makes these parts in one casting, rather than out of many smaller parts that are then welded together. That has the benefit of being less complex to manufacture (and therefore cheaper).

Read: New Tesla Model S Plaid Buyer Rants About Poor Build Quality On $140,000 EV

On the other hand, any small flaw in the casting has the potential to ruin the whole subframe, rather than a smaller part of it. Such was the case early on in Berlin, where piles of cracked parts were seen piling up outside its factory while it refined the manufacturing process.

So far, few American owners have complained of similar issues for Model Ys coming from the automaker’s Austin, Texas, plant, but such problems are reasonably hard to find. Kamel told Auto Evolution that it took him a few months to notice the flaw because he simply didn’t expect to find such a fundamental issue.

“At delivery, I inspected the car based on the main things other owners said to check,” he told the outlet. “At the time, everything was fine, but I did not check the frame or structural members, as the car was new from the factory, and one shouldn’t have to check that.”

Unfortunately, he says that despite submitting a service request in May, his Model Y has still not been repaired. Although a service technician saw the vehicle in July, Kamel doesn’t feel that his problem is being taken seriously enough.

“The manager of the service center said multiple times that ‘the car is safe to drive’ and that he had been assured by ‘engineers’ that it is ‘safe,'” said Kamel. “However, he will not give me anything in more detail or any official Tesla documentation to confirm that.”

More than simply a hairline crack, Kamel has posted photos and video of the area, showing that the fissures are large enough to see light through. We have reached out to Tesla for comment on this story but have not heard back yet.

Kamel said that upon discovering the cracks, he was “shocked, scared, and nervous for my safety as it is my only method of transportation” – which, we think, is a reasonable reaction since this is a safety issue. We’ve contacted him for more info and will update this story when he responds.

Hey @Tesla my 2023 Model Y has cracks though the metal on its front cast, is this normal? @elonmusk any thought on this build quality? #Tesla #modely #teslahelp pic.twitter.com/arfr2QRmkr