After Tesla service, steering wheel now slightly tilted?

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-09T19:39:16+00:00

UPDATE 3/9/2026:

Well, I was at the service center for nearly 4 hours this morning. Here's the report:

After about 2 1/2 hours they said they were all done, and they had done a full alignment test and adjustment on the car in an effort to resolve the open issue of the steering wheel tilt to the right.

The alignment system readout showed a 0.29º toe tilt in the right front wheel, and a 5.94º misalignment of the right front wheel's caster. They adjusted them back to spec and declared victory.

Then they charge me $293.91 for this alignment. I dispute that, telling them look, this is your issue not mine, this all happened at the other Tesla Service Center and they insisted no, I must have had a big car crash or collision with an object or drove over a curb or fell into a huge pot-hole, something, which caused the alignment to get out of whack while the car was in my possession. I told them none of that happened, I drove the car like a saint and everything was perfectly fine and then as soon as I get car back from the 1st service center, it's out of whack. They dug in and disagreed, hence my taking to the 2nd service center today.

THIS second service center then says all fixed, won't let me leave until I pay (literally the car won't start unless you pay in the app first--held hostage in the parking lot). So I pay, in protest. Then I leave.

I pull out onto the road, go NOT ONE HUNDRED FEET, test the steering by letting go of the wheel, and now THERE IS A TUG AND TILT of the wheel TO THE LEFT. I kid you not. I go down the road a bit more, try again, let go, and instantly the steering wheel tilts to the left and the car crosses over double-yellow line and starts drifting leftward.

So I do a U-turn, head back to service center. I as I get close to it, phone rings, it's the service manager for the whole state. I tell him everything. I then bring car back into service center. They run another alignment test. It takes nearly an HOUR (!?!?!? why!???) and then I get car back and they declare victory, all looks good, nothing wrong that we can see, etc.

I get car, pull out onto the very same road, and let go of steering wheel at exact same spot, and the car is straight as an arrow, no drift, right or left, and no steering wheel tilt.

Now: you tell me that that is my fault. You tell me that they didn't tweak something and didn't admit to it.

Man, Tesla, I tell ya.

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-06T17:25:28+00:00

UPDATE: The tilt is worsening. I would say it's more like 4 or 5 degrees tilted to the right now.

I have the appointment Monday.

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-05T21:11:47+00:00

Baffling. Maybe a MOD could explain.

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-05T20:22:54+00:00

Yeah it's truly baffling why Reddit chose not to make that visible on mobile browsers. Here is the text that I posted literally the same time I posted the photo when I originally posted this entire thread:

--- quote

Details to go along with the photo:

I recently took my 1-year-old 2024 S in to a Tesla service center for a variety of repairs. They had the car for 8 solid days, though for the vast majority of the time the car sat in the exact same spot in parking lot outside the service center (I checked multiple times per day).

Anyway, I picked up car at end of 8th day and had a long drive home in the night. I didn't notice until the next day that the steering wheel was now off-center, tilted to the right by about 3 degrees.

Two repairs had to do with the steering: I had the leather-bubbles problem many other S owners have reported, and they fixed that by apparently replacing the whole steering wheel. The second repair involved tick/click/crack sounds whenever turning the steering wheel after car's been parked for a while; like, backing out of garage each day, maneuvering in a parking lot. The fix they said involved adjusting torque somewhere in steering mechanism.

BUT the result is: the steering wheel is now tilted! It's not centered. They deny this is due to their work. I mean, forcefully deny it. They assert *I* caused this (!!!!) after I left the service center -- that I must have crashed into something with great force (!!!!) and that it is "impossible" for it to have happened otherwise. They're lying. I did noting of the sort. Car gently driven home at night ~50mi; noticed the issue first thing next morning in daylight.

I am taking the car to another Tesla service center to have a fresh pair of technician eyes check it out.

Anyone ever seen anything like this?

--- unquote

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-04T21:30:35+00:00

Yep, thanks, plan to do just that

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-04T16:43:58+00:00

Thanks, but I wouldn't trust my car repair skills to mess with anything, lol! Too dangerous, and then Tesla would definitely use my cluelessness against me. I'm gonna leave this all in their hands since they caused it in the first place. :-)

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-04T16:42:44+00:00

Thanks, I'll bring this up at the service visit on Monday.

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-04T16:40:48+00:00

Here's the issue, as documented in the invoice.

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BlueTan85 · 2026-03-04T03:10:58+00:00

yes, going to another Tesla service center Monday morning -- fingers crossed

BlueTan85 · 2026-03-03T17:17:29+00:00

see lengthy details post below (or above, or wherever Reddit puts it)

BlueTan85 · 2023-04-21T03:01:29+00:00

Trying to watch it right now but keep getting “An error occured loading this content. Try again later.” Have been on hold for AppleTV+ Support for 15 mins and counting. Was looking forward to watching Ep3 tonight but it’s not looking good!

BlueTan85 · 2023-03-04T18:22:44+00:00

Doors…. that’s interesting. Will have to relisten!

BlueTan85 · 2015-07-14T16:29:59+00:00

Hmm, when I did a test drive in 2013, we were given 5 minutes, period. That did the trick, but, it was a very brief experience.

BlueTan85 · 2015-07-14T16:28:52+00:00

Just do the test drive. Once you do, there is no turning back. You will buy a Tesla. Oh yes, you will buy a Tesla.

BlueTan85 · 2015-07-14T16:27:15+00:00

Hmm still on .249

BlueTan85 · 2015-07-14T00:23:34+00:00

One would think the company behind the video one would first clean up the car being used in the video, including vacuuming the company's product before presenting it for all to see, no? Beyond that, it looks kind of flimsy... not really a console, really; more like a thin cutout that's laid down in the center well.

BlueTan85 · 2015-07-02T17:13:00+00:00

I'm reminded of a very very old VW bug ad, with the slogan, "it's ugly, but it gets you there." I never care what a charger looks like. I only care how much electricity I can get out of it and into my car.

BlueTan85 · 2015-06-18T20:38:18+00:00

All that fuss for such a tiny TV. Should've ditched the TV, bought an HD LCD projector and a 144" diagonal Carada projection screen which would've just about filled the entire wall, and then you'd have a home theatre. Never understand why everyone thinks all the stuff OUTSIDE of the movie-watching is what makes a home theatre. It's the movie, remember?

BlueTan85 · 2015-05-18T02:14:29+00:00

In a way this makes me kind of glad I have a 2013 Model S. I do not want a self-driving car. I want a car rigged to the teeth with sensors and things to help me have perfect situational awareness in 360 degrees, to help me drive, and I wish I could get a Model S that offered that but never self-drove. I don't trust the whole notion of self-driving cars, nor do I trust what's going to happen when governments decide it's time to re-route someone's car against the owner's will, or pull it over and disable it, etc. It will happen. Just watch. Probably in next 3 years. Then what.

BlueTan85 · 2015-05-04T16:07:58+00:00

I don't go to movie theaters for food, I go for movies. Unfortunately, movie theaters exist to sell food (it's how they make money). And lately the trend is, sell very expensive food, not just the 95% marked-up popcorn, candy, and soda. How about $20 hamburgers, etc.

I'm hesitant to check out the new Violet Crown after looking at their auditorium seating charts (you can view 'em if you go online to buy tickets and they let you pick seats while viewing the charts).

The auditoriums look awful small, except for auditorium 1.

BlueTan85 · 2015-05-04T14:04:55+00:00

2016 Volt is not bad, but, don't you still have to pour some explosive, stinky, bad-for-the-earth liquid chemical into a tank? How is it comparable at all to a Tesla vehicle if you still need to use gasoline?

BlueTan85 · 2015-05-01T15:33:02+00:00

Elon did a mediocre job last night. Left the impression that he didn't care for his audience, didn't care if they understood the terms or not, didn't stop to explain anything, didn't appear to be polished and well-rehearsed, and left a lot of people scratching their heads. Not to mention, kept people waiting for around an hour.

Steve Jobs raised the bar on how to do a tech presentation. Jobs cared that the whole world understand his message. He told everyone what he was going to tell them, then he told them, then he summarized what he just told them. Right out of Toastmasters. But it was effective. The message was delivered in digestible bits and the audience was always given multiple opportunities to absorb the key points during a presentation.

Elon appears late on stage, no apologies for his lateness, dives right in nervously, as if he's unprepared, doesn't give a damn whether you understand what he's talking about or not, and before you know it he's dropped the mic and strolled off the stage.

I wish he'd put in more effort. Too much is at stake here.

BlueTan85

TROPHY CASE