NHTSA complaint #11453132

Owner complaint summary

The Tesla rear facing repeater cameras show the driver's blind spot when changing lanes. The cameras are also used during automatic lane changes when the car is in drive-assisted (FSD) mode on the highway and in city (FSD Beta). The cameras have a manufacturer defect. At night, light from the turn signal led is blinding a large part of the vision field of these cameras. This renders the blind spot vision for the driver but also the computer assisted automatic lane changes for the car partially obstructed. Tesla has acknowledged this defect by redesigning the rear facing cameras so the blinding is remedied. Tesla is refusing to fix this issue under warranty and requires owners to pay for this safety fix. Tesla's statement on this issue: "Hi Stephan! The blind spot camera performance on your vehicle is neither a defect of materials nor workmanship. It is a characteristic of the product. And it's a characteristic that has been design enhanced in newer vehicle production. If you wish to upgrade to newer camera technology, you have an option to purchase the upgraded cameras and have them installed." I am having my cameras replaced, and will pay for it. I believe Tesla should, however, seeing how this is driver safety related even if they are unwilling to acknowledge this.