Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11542208September 1, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The car makes unintended braking when there is no vehicle in front. The car made a sudden brake from 75 mph to near 0 mph such that the driver felt that the vehicle almost flipped.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541549August 29, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On multiple occasions, I have had phantom braking issues with the car. Most notably, I have experienced this on Highway 80 between Fernley, NV, and Winnemucca. Originally, I was using the car's autopilot feature and I had multiple phantom braking events. I had the speed set for the speed limit of 80 MPH and the car randomly slammed on the brakes. By the time I was able to hit the gas pedal, I slowed down to about 60 MPH. Fearing I was going to cause a traffic incident, I stopped using autopilot and used the adaptive cruise control. I suffered over 50 phantom braking incidents with the adaptive cruise control. I kept using the feature so I could log a case with Tesla. Once I got home, I logged a case with Tesla and they said the cameras were dirty and that was the issue. On a second trip, taking the same route, I cleaned the cameras and had the exact same results. I have noticed taking the same route, I only have issues when it is sunny out. When it is dark, with less glare, the car operates okay. Autopilot and Tesla's adaptive cruise control are incredibly dangerous. I requested to have a standard cruise control, which Tesla said was impossible to get. I had a previous Tesla with standard cruise control and don't understand why we can't have that feature. Please investigate this and make Tesla offer a standard cruise control option so we do not have to risk our lives with their dangerous autopilot.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541317August 28, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control was engaged, my car abruptly tried to stop 8 times on the interstate while traveling at 80mph (the speed limit on the open stretch of road in central Utah). The weather was clear, no clouds, no wind, very light traffic, very good roads, no debris on the road, about 85 degrees, no shadows were cast on the road and during the day. I was on a 5 hour road trip. Out of the blue on at least 5 of the occasions, with a vehicle about a half mile or more ahead of me and no vehicle next to me my car abruptly braked - like emergency breaking - for no apparent reason. Two of the phantom braking occurrences happened when after passing a vehicle and I signaled and pulled back in to the right lane with at least a 3 second space, and my car emergency braked. This about caused an accident and thankfully it did not cause a road rage incident. Two of the times we were snacking once on vegetables when the car phantom braked and the bowl and vegetables went flying forward. Thankfully none of the times did I have my cup to my mouth as I would have gotten hot coffee on me and could have burned myself or have caused some destruction to my car. The passenger in my car safety was at great risk as well as everyone on the road near me. No warning that the car saw something or was going to emergency brake. My vehicle is available for inspection. I have not taken it to a dealer or elsewhere for replication nor has the vehicle or component(s) been inspected. There were never any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. Also, the problem occurs 100% of the time I am at one particular place on a local freeway so it can be replicated. I do know that it will occur there so I plan for it. When I travel this road south bound there is never a problem but when I travel north bound 100% of the time my car will phantom brake regardless if it's day, night, clear or wet. Tesla needs another option for cruise control now!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541231August 28, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
I was coming to a stop due to a train passing by. As I got closer to the other vehicles that were waiting for the train, I let go of the acceleration and then the vehicle on its own launched forward rear ending the car in front of me.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11541057August 27, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Major phantom Braking at 70mph on interstate 5, 4 times the brakes slamed on as if yo had done an emergency stop from 70mph to 20mph fortunately we were not rear ended as I had my son and grandchildren in the car. The car was in cruise control on each occurrence I finally had to stop using it for fear of a major accident
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540998August 27, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While driving at 55 MPM on Interstate 66 West near Reston, I was using Tesla Autopilot and experienced a very sudden heavy braking, braking to about 35 MPH in a second or less. The braking was so sever it lifted me off the back o f the driver's seat. The closest vehicle in my lane (rightmost lane) was easily more than a quarter mile ahead. There were no vehicles on the 2 lanes to my left. I was not near an exit nor was there an overpass ahead. This occurs frequently while trying to use Tesla Autopilot in a variety of conditions. In each case there is no obvious reason for the sudden braking while using autopilot. This is quite scary and clearly dangerous. My frequent passengers all ask me not to use Tesla autopilot while they are in the car. As a comment, I would be quite happy if Tesla provided an option to only use autopilot for keeping the speed without anything else.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540976August 27, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Intro: This is a well known problem with Tesla cars. It's referred to as "phantom braking" in the Facebook Tesla groups and is wide spread. Using only cameras since around 2021 for adaptive cruise control, the car will "slam on the brakes" even though the road is completely clear ahead. This can easily cause an accident if there is a car following you. It has occurred several times since I bought the car Jan 2022. - malfunction component adaptive cruise control. yes available for inspection - a rear end collision could occur when the car's brakes are activated so hard that the car decelerates from 70 to 20 in seconds - the problem is well documented - no, no inspection by any entity. Tesla knows the problems exists - no, no warning of any kind
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540889August 26, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I was on a road trip in South Dakota through I-90 and the vehicle stopped in middle of the road caused by phantom braking while running by its autopilot (7 times total). In multiple instances, there were vehicles not far behind. This is really scary as in any moment we could have been in a fatal accident on the 80mph road. Tesla needs to fix this ASAP. Not acceptable at all from a vehicle that costs this much.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540483August 24, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving westbound on US Rt 50 in Nevada with AutoSteer Beta engaged, car repeatedly decelerated rapidly with no audible or visual warning presented. This "phantom braking" could easily put vehicles traveling behind mine at risk of a collision. I have been able to reliable reproduce this in certain conditions - when a mirage is present on the roadway ahead and there are no cars immediately in front, the visual object detection system is apparently thrown off by the refraction of light and incorrectly detects cars, pedestrians, or motorcycles where none exist. As I see it, there are two major problems in play here - one is that the camera-based object detection system is easily confused by the presence of mirages on the road surface ahead and there are no other sensors in other portions of the EM spectrum (IR LIDAR or RADAR) to confirm the presence of visually detected objects. The second is the lack of audible driver warning before deceleration takes place. The only indication that occurs is the energy use indicator (a thin line at the top left of the screen) shows energy use transition to regeneration. Together, these constitute a serious safety hazard for anyone operating these vehicles and those following behind them.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540343August 23, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
On 8/3/23 on two occasions the vehicle suddenly applied brakes while in cruise/autopilot mode when there was no vehicle in close proximity in front of my vehicle. There was however a large commercial truck behind me on one occasion, which may have been effected by the application of brakes for no apparent reason. On 8/5/23, with the vehicle in the same mode, the system applied brakes.....there were no vehicles within a 1/4 mile front or rear. Tesla was contacted and reviewed the logs, stating that the vehicle braked for another vehicle..... As a 35 year police officers, my professional opinion is that this vehicle is dangerous when operated in this mode. I explained this to Tesla and their response was that sometimes you get false activations because the car perceived something that wasn't there and that's Ok. It's not Ok to unexpectedly step on the brakes at 70 or 80 miles per hour on a major highway! Had it been my daughter or my wife driving, I'm not sure they would have reacted as fast nor in the correct manner as it is confusing when it first happens.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540339August 23, 2023
STEERING
Steering wheel locked up while operating not allowing me to turn the wheel. Loss of power steering and control. Screen displaying error "Steering assist reduced" when in reality was completely unable to steer. Vehicle still powered and accelerated however no control over steering.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540144August 22, 2023
STRUCTURE:BODY, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Wide gap on left back side of trunk whenever it’s closed shut. Opens and close fine but it’s not properly closed. Water gets in through the gap and gets in the trunk whenever it rains or I go to the car wash
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540124August 22, 2023
STEERING
Car lost power steering without warning
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540086August 22, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While using cruise control on a highway traveling between 65 and 75 MPH the brakes slammed on when there was absolutely no traffic in front of or beside us, no overhead obstructions, no upcoming corners, nothing at all but straight road ahead. If anyone had been behind us we could easily have been rear-ended. The car had only 1500 miles on it the first time it happened. There were 4 such events in our short 400 mile road trip. Took it directly to Tesla service and have been told there is nothing wrong with the car!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11540002August 22, 2023
STEERING
Steering wheel got jammed while driving on highway. Stopped vehicle on rode side and called for Tesla road side assistance. Tesla towed my vehicle and replaced steering rack. Invoice attached for details
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539782August 21, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On Friday, August 11th. My wife and I were traveling on I-70 Eastbound from Colorado to Kansas. On several occasions during the trip, we experienced phantom braking while using the adaptive cruise control. The car would immediately brake at highway speeds, slowing rapidly when nothing was on the road. Luckily every time this happened there were no cars immediately behind us as it could have easily caused a crash. This happened both while I was driving [XXX] ) and while my wife was driving [XXX] ). At one point in the trip, we turned off the emergency braking feature and the phantom braking still occurred while using the adaptive cruise control. In all this happened around 10 times or so during the trip. I reported the event to Tesla on Monday, August 14 as neither of us felt safe using the adaptive cruise control after that event. Response from Tesla attached below. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539718August 21, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I was driving west bound on I4 August 12th 2023 at 1236pm at mile marker 45-47. I was in the left hand lane with the cruise control set at 73 mph. all traffic was moving well. there was no car in front of me. there was a car passing me slowly on the right. there was a retaining wall to my left. My car for no reason changed the setting on my cruise control from 73 to 35mph. this caused my husband and I to be thrown forward and I had to jam on the gas to try to regain speed. This was the 4th time this happened and the second time I have reported to Tesla who insists that there is nothing wrong with the car. I am scared if someone is following me closely I will be rear-ended at a high rate of speed. They continue to quote information from the manual and in the invoices insinuating that any incident occurring from this would be my fault. This is a terrifying thing to happen when there is no reason for the car to slow for any reason.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539692August 21, 2023
STEERING
While driving yesterday night, I lost steering control. I stopped the car in the middle of the street and tried again but the steering wheel was very stiff. It took so much effort to change the lane and find a safe place to park. It was a scary moment for myself and my 2 kids. I was about to crash into other cars. A message appeared “ui_a020 - steering assist reduced”.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539674August 20, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES
My Tesla Model 3 Phantom Brakes when using Cruise Control, particularly in the morning when the road is clear, no cars or obstacles in front or behind me. The NHTSA KNOWS THIS IS A PROBLEM AND I HAVE PREVIOUSLY MADE THIS COMPLAINT. I contacted Tesla to no avail. They did nothing. WHY HASN'T THE NHTSA DONE ANYTHING ABOUT THIS ISSUE. THIS IS DANGEROUS AS AN ACCIDENT IS WAITING TO HAPPEN.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539670August 20, 2023
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
I was driving and the power steering stopped functioning. The car had just over 1000 miles and both the lane departure avoidance and steering assistance cut out. Restarting the start would bring it back on temporarily but it would cut out again after a minute or two.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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