Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11565545January 15, 2024
SEATS
When involved in a rear-end collision the drivers seat malfunctioned. It went into a laid down position and twisted causing a back injury.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11564833January 11, 2024
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds and making a turn, the vehicle suddenly accelerated unintendedly. Then the vehicle resumed driving normally. While her husband was driving at unknown speeds and approaching a stop, he crashed into an unknown Tesla. There were no reported injuries. A police report was not filed. There was no fire or air bag deployment. The vehicle was taken to a collision center. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact called the local dealer, where an appointment was scheduled. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 3,048.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564763January 10, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Once the main battery dies the 12 volt dies within 15 minutes. I ran out of charge on a dark highway. Put on my flashers and within 15 minutes the 12 volt died and so did my emergency flashers. Reason being is Tesla uses the 12 volt for the main battery temperature mgmt which draws a lot of power. So in turn once your main battery dies your emergency flashers only have 10-15 minutes of use This is very dangerous especially being disabled on the side of the road
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564754January 10, 2024
SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
the car started to abruptly accelerate when slowing down the car at a stop light and would not brake. the anti collision functions did not work. the car went into a truck.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11564747January 10, 2024
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On 9 different occasions, my vehicle was operating in cruise control and slammed on the brakes for no reason. Fortunately, no vehicle was behind me. If there were I would have been rear-ended all 9 times. This has happed 8 times on the freeway and one time on surface streets.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564709January 10, 2024
SEATS, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The rear seat doesn’t detect kids under 50lbs. Putting the seat in car seat mode only disables the seatbelt alert and doesn’t keep the rear fans on. You can turn them on manually, but the car forgets that they should stay on if you precondition the cabin from the mobile app. Meaning that my child cooks in the back seat due to lack of rear cabin conditioning unless I remember to turn it back on in a buried menu every time.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564375January 9, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Back up camera not functioning.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564349January 9, 2024
WHEELS, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
Ever since Tesla pushed a software update to my vehicle on or around 12/20/23, the vehicle screen crashes and reboots every time I enter enter my vehicle. The software version is 2023.44.30.5.1. The vehicles systems; backup cameras, parking sensors, etc. are in operable for approximately 2 minutes during the reboot process rendering the vehicle unsafe to operate. I have reported this issue to Tesla on multiple occasions with no resolution offered other than a note that this is “considered” normal with the current software version. I was pushed software update 2023.44.30.8 on 1/8/24 and the issue persists. I have scheduled a service center appointment for 1/29/24.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564335January 9, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Repeated "phantom braking". With cruise control engaged and zero traffic in front of the vehicle, false readings on the collision detection system will cause strong, sudden, and unpredictable braking. Highly unsafe particularly in conditions where there is traffic behind the vehicle. In my first 900 miles of driving the vehicle there have been 20-25 of such incidents. When triggered, breaking force is strong and deceleration is sudden.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564205January 8, 2024
AIR BAGS, AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION
The Occupant Classification System (OCS) in the passenger front seat has displayed an error multiple times and airbag turns on even when a toddler sits in seat. I’ve taken it to Tesla twice going a third time this week and have owned the car for three months.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11564139January 8, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION
My Tesla has the latest update which includes the latest recall: 2023.44.30.5.1 08a3a7856854 I have discovered that the blind spot detection is intermittent, the red line indicator does not always work. This resulted in an accident where I changed lanes into another vehicle. I thought it was clear because the vehicle safety system didn’t properly indicate to me that it wasn’t. The right front of a Land Rover SUV contacted with my left rear fender above my left rear wheel. After the accident I have decided to check the blind spot indicator as I realized it cannot be trusted, and the vehicle behind you in the lane next to you can be at your rear corner and the car will 50/50 not report a car is there, and not give the red “unsafe” indicator. There were times a vehicle was side by side with me and the blind spot indicator did not light up at all. There are also times the side camera is either black with no image or with a delayed/frozen image when using the turn signal. The side fender cameras also fails to accurately show vehicle distance at night as they have excessive glair on the live view when changing lanes. However afterwards the dash cam recording on the HDD is crystal clear. Which means the live view with turn signal lacks the clarity required to be safe to use when driving. Either Software or hardware or both is lacking in keeping safety features functional. Recall? I believe Tesla should have another recall issued to address these problems. To make it safe for changing lanes by correcting the intermittent blind spot detection. By making the turn signal fender camera crystal clear for drivers when changing lanes. And by increasing the distance allowed before the blind spot detection says it’s safe to change lanes. And upgrading computer hardware to stop the lag and keep safety systems operational. Again this resulted in me changing lanes into another vehicle. I thought it was clear according to my cars safety features. It was not clear.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563831January 5, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
FSD Computer module (AP3 module) when starting to fail causes all active safety systems to top functioning, including but not limited to Lane Assistance, Automatic Emergency Breaking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Assistance, Blind Spot Warning, Pre-collision systems, etc. This is due to the ECU that processes the video feeds from the cameras needed for these function begins to fail, and is not surprising. What is surprising is there are absolutely zero customer or service facing alerts for this issue. Customers simply are unable to manually activate some features, vehicle display has difficulty recognizing objects and lane markings, and the service menu (meant for vehicle service/repair) shows part of the ECU as critical in diagnostics, but does not provide an alert. I can only guess that as previously only half of the module was used at a time, with the second half being for redundancy incase of a failure on one part of the unit, still allowing for full functionality. However, in newer versions of the vehicles software both halfs of the module are used simultaneously to increase processing power, thus eliminating redundancy. It is possible that due to the past redundancy that a failure of one half of the unit was not considered a cause for alarm (though I would have hoped a failing component would have caused an alert, unless the companies hope was that one half would work long enough on its own until it no longer needed to be covered under warranty). However, given both processors and now being actively used there should definitely be alerts and warnings. In addition to losing the convenience of several of these systems there is also a negative safety aspect of systems such as accident avoidance, pre-collision seatbelt tensioning, and others may not work in a pending collision (not that I have seen these systems function properly in past collisions when the module was fully working).
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563812January 5, 2024
STEERING
The car lost power steering while driving
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563651January 4, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
When autopilot is engaged, car unexpectedly brakes with no obstacle in front of car. Some called it “phantom braking”.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563336January 3, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The latest software update version: 2023.44.30.5.1 08a3a7856854 Is too stringent with having to keep eyes on the road that looking in the mirror causes it to beep. Also having to touch the steering wheel constantly is dangerous because if you move with slightly too much force, it disengages autopilot. I only use the autopilot feature on the freeway and I have never had an issue until this update, which I believe was made to make the system safer. In my view it is now much less safe since I’m not able to check my mirrors and ultimately I think it makes the autopilot feature useless. (I will not be using it) this is also less safe, in my view. Because before I would watch the road as the car steered, ready to take over, so it was like having redundant safety (human + machine). Now I’m back to just human safety.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563214January 3, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Autopilot feature is now unstable as I get constant nags if I look away for a few seconds to check my surroundings or check my navigation.i have been locked out of the feature multiple times over the past week forcing me to make navigation changes while manually driving.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11563098January 2, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Driver assisst function for cruise control/autosteer failed/malfunctioned. Applied Emergency braking systems while autosteer/driver control active. Multiple times on freeway. OTA software Updates require additional data downloading and are not required to install. Never received update and safety issues resolved via OTA are already being exposed and they are not allowed to do anything to prevent any damage or loss to the vehicle. Wifi at all government EV charging stations is a basic requirement.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11562929January 1, 2024
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Driving down the highway on a clear day with nothing in front of me, with adaptive cruise control turned on, the car suddenly started braking as if it was in full regen braking. I had to hit the accelerator pedal to override the braking.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11562918January 1, 2024
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Driving on the freeway 70mph on cruise control. Not auto pilot. No one around us and no warning. Suddenly car applied brakes on its own and dramatically slowed. Good thing there was no one behind us or else there would have been an accident and we would have been badly injured. Monday Jan 1 2024 1:35pm
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11562820December 31, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
After the latest update the Tesla autopilot feature is very unsafe to use. The screen constantly pings and nags the driver to pay attention drawing my attention away from the road. The system has become so sensitive that adjusting the AC down a degree causes the warning to pop up which distracts the driver and in my opinion is significantly less safe than the older version. The warnings are too sensitive and the noise/warnings flashing are significantly more distracting
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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