Initially, Henrik Fisker—known for his work with Aston Martin—was appointed as the lead designer for the WhiteStar project; after a dispute with Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, Fisker was replaced by Franz von Holzhausen.

"[7] In January 2007, the American automaker Tesla Motors opened a facility in Michigan, employing sixty people to work on new projects, including a four-door sedan.

Their reactions were generally negative; Ron Lloyd, the vice president of the WhiteStar project, described the designs as "terrible [...] some of the early styles were like a giant egg".

[29][30][31] Tesla initially intended to manufacture the Model S in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and later in San Jose, California, but later withdrew from both plans mainly due to financial problems.

The "alpha" version of the Model S, featuring newly stamped body parts from the Fremont factory, a revamped battery pack, and improved power electronics, was completed in the basement of an office in Palo Alto, California.

[54] The vehicle's drag coefficient was improved by a solid front fascia instead of a grille, retractable door handles, and a flat underbody with no exhaust pipes to disrupt the airflow.

[70][note 2] A cast aluminum cross-member attached to the vehicle's body structure supports the front suspension and electrically assisted rack-and-pinion steering system.

[118][119] Its most prominent update lies in its front fascia, where the previous black grille has been replaced by a continuation of the body, leaving only a thin gap between the leading edge of the hood and the bumper, which houses the Tesla logo.

The top section shows status icons and offers quick access to features like charging, HomeLink, Driver Profiles, vehicle information, and Bluetooth.

[177][178] Autopilot uses cameras, radar and ultrasound to detect road signs, lane markings, obstacles, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, traffic lights, and other vehicles.

[185][note 7] In a 2019 survey by Bloomberg News, hundreds of Tesla owners reported experiencing dangerous behaviors with Autopilot, including phantom braking, lane departures, and failure to stop for road hazards.

[186] Users also noted issues like sudden software crashes, unexpected shutdowns, collisions with off-ramp barriers, radar failures, abrupt swerving, tailgating, and inconsistent speed changes.

[196][197][198] While Tesla initially planned to make battery swapping widely available, they reportedly abandoned the idea due to a perceived lack of customer interest.

[199][200] Jeremy Michalek, a mechanical engineering professor, suggested that the high cost, bulkiness, and resource demands of batteries made the creation of extensive networks of swappable packs—requiring storage, charging, and maintenance—economically and environmentally impractical.

[201] Critics have accused Tesla of exploiting California's zero-emission vehicle credit system by introducing the battery-swap program without ever making it accessible to the public.

[203] A 2015 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) concluded that in U.S. regions where the Model S is popular, its 68 percent higher manufacturing emissions are offset within a few years of average driving.

[207] The lithium-ion batteries within the Model S initially contained nickel and small amounts of cobalt,[208] which have a high environmental impact due to resource depletion, ecological toxicity, and extraction processes.

[205] A 2021 scientific study showed that the Tesla Model S is a profitable commercial battery pack for recycling due to its low disassembly costs and high revenues from cobalt recovery.

According to Thompson, if a Tesla cell is punctured too deeply or at an inappropriate location, it risks short-circuiting, potentially leading to combustion and the release of toxic fumes.

According to the Dutch newspaper NU.nl, the 2021 refresh introduced changes to the production process that made it impossible to complete final assembly at the Tilburg location.

[248] In early January 2014, Tesla issued a recall for Model S vehicles from 2013 due to the risk of overheating with the adapter, cord, or wall outlet during charging.

Following the recall, Jérôme Guillen, Tesla's vice president of sales, announced that nearly all Model S adapters had already been updated via over-the-air software to address the charging problem.

[249] Tesla announced a voluntary recall on November 20, 2015, of all of its 90,000 Model S vehicles, to check for a possible defect in the cars' front seat belt assemblies.

[263] In response to these incidents, Tesla extended its vehicle warranty to cover fire damage and issued a software update to increase the car's ground clearance at highway speeds.

[264][265] Tesla stated, "in this particular case, we don't yet know the precise cause, but have definitively determined that it did not originate in the battery, the charging system, the adapter or the electrical receptacle, as these components were untouched by the fire".

[271][272][273] In a 2014 review for the newspaper The Sunday Times, Nick Rufford remarked, "the Model S represents the last throw of the electric dice [...] if this vehicle can't persuade people to ditch petrol and switch to battery power, no car can".

[275] Keith Barry of Consumer Reports mentioned that the introduction of specific features, such as a yoke-style steering wheel, has "distracted from the flagship sedan's underlying brilliance, as has Musk's public image".

[276] The magazine Car and Driver noted that the Model S was the "first long-range, widely desired electric vehicle" when it was released, adding that "mainstream automakers [...] [struggled] to catch up".

Samuel Gibbs from the newspaper The Guardian referred to it as a "swish saloon car", writing that, unlike many other electric vehicles, it did not resemble "a bug or bubble-car".

[7] The U.S. News & World Report thought that its "basic interior feels out of step with its price, and newer rivals offer more room, style and, in some cases, range".