Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11539641August 20, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I believe the autopilot and cruise control systems are affected. On 6-8 occasions, the cameras have picked up a non- existent hazard along the road causing the cruise control to disengage, rapidly slowing the car approximately 20 MPH in about 3 seconds. This has occurred on highways and freeways at speeds of 65-75 MPH. If there had been another vehicle traveling close behind, an accident would likely have occurred. I’ve taken the car to the dealer and they are aware of this problem. After the dealer adjusted the cameras the problem persisted. When this problem has occurred, there was no prior warning.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539601August 19, 2023
EXTERIOR LIGHTING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Turn signals shut off after three blinks with no lane change or steering wheel movement. Lane departure / assistance fails to function. Blind spot monitor / alert fails to function. Adaptive cruise control / braking fail to function. Problem first reported to Tesla on 7/6/2023. Telsa installed software update to resolve remotely. Problem recurred 8/6/2023, towed to Tesla 8/7, Tesla replaced side camera assembly. Problem recurred 8/132023, software update installed & resolved. Problem recurred 8/19/2023. Vehicle to be towed to Tesla for further diagnosis / repair.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539308August 18, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
2021 Tesla Model 3 RWD; 21,000 miles I pulled into a parking spot creeping in like I am about to park the car. When I tapped on the break to stop the car, it suddenly accelerated forward. It jerked so quickly forward that the back of my head was pushed into the headrest like a whiplash. Luckily, there was not a car parked in front of me because I generally park away from other cars. I quickly hit the break and the car stopped. I am 100% positive I did not accidentally hit the gas pedal. If I did hit the gas petal, I would not have hit it hard enough to make the car jerk forward and accelerate like it did especially when in a slow creeping speed to come to a stop to park the car. In 36 yrs of driving I have not had one accident. This was quite a scary.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539255August 17, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
My daughter was driving on a freeway at 70MPH and her 2023 Model 3 Tesla that was a week old with 450 miles just stopped on the highway. She was lucky that highway patrol passed by shortly and stopped behind her to push her vehicle fully into the emergency lane. Vehicle also difficult to push because of brake locking system. I can't emphasis enough that the vehicle just stopped on the freeway!!!!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539205August 17, 2023
STEERING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the steering wheel seized, and excessive force was required to steer the vehicle to the left. The "Steering Assist Reduced - Steering Require Increased Effort” message was displayed on the contact's smart phone, but not on the radio home screen. The contact sent a message to Tesla through the app; however, the contact had not yet received a response. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 4,369.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538889August 16, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, SERVICE BRAKES
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that there were no objects or other vehicles nearby when the failure occurred. The vehicle seemed to return to normal functionality, but the failure recurred a second time. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was 7,200.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538847August 16, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While the car was parked in a parking lot, I get two notification stating “Sentry mode has turned off due to a sentry system error.” When I checked out the car, the car has completely failed to do any of the computer related task, leaving only the gear, AC, and Bluetooth was working. None of the cameras, GPS, sensors, brightness mode and many others were completely stuck. This continued until the next day. This happened without prior symptoms or warnings. I would have been in deep trouble if I have been driving at the time of the incident. When I took the car to the shop, tesla didn’t update the status for a week. After a week, Tesla told us that the Turbo A, Autopilot main processor chip failed. This caused the autopilot to go on loop. Therefore the whole motherboard needed to be replaced. This happened to a brand new purchased Tesla 2021 standard range. Which cost me $2404.00.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538768August 15, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
I was at a stop light. The car was stopped. The car suddenly lurched forward. I put my foot on the break but then it lurched forward again, and rear-ended the car in front of me. It appears that the car accelerated by itself. This caused an accident. The accident happened tonight. I have filed a police report and received a traffic citation for following to close. I have saved the dash cam footage of the incident to a computer and have requested that Tesla send me the EDR data. Looking at the car's logs in service mode I can see that the car was throwing several errors from before the accident with codes of "VCFRONT_a059_inputResistanceHigh," and "DIF_a018_hwLVSupplyUV" relating to the front vehicle controller and drive interface. I am attaching this plus photos of the damage.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538758August 15, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The vehicle will randomly brake when cruise control is being used. No obstructions, good weather conditions and flat road.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538756August 15, 2023
STEERING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and making a right turn, the steering wheel became firm with the message “Automatic Steering Unavailable” displayed. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was contacted and provided towing service to tow the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 1,859.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538620August 15, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 75-78 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 13,300.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538565August 15, 2023
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Car accelerated forward unexpectedly while making a turn and hit a telephone pole. Brakes did not engage nor did the forward collision warning sound or engage. Was manually driving. Car is non-driveable and repairs from Tesla are backlogged so we waiting 8+ weeks to get our car back.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538534August 14, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Car brakes hard on cruise control when no other cars are around.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538527August 14, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I enabled the tesla adapter cruise control during my trip in interstate 15. All of sudden, the car stopped to a slow speed for no reason. There was nothing in front of my car at that time. I was able to step on the brake to disable the cruise control and step on the accelerate pedal to resume the speed. Luckily there was no vehicle behind us, otherwise it might have been a rear end collision.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538425August 14, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
During my first highway trip from Dallas to my home in Alpine, TX, I experienced numerous instances where the car would suddenly decelerate as if I had applied the brakes. At first I thought it was because there was a lot of road glare because I was driving late in the day into the west sun, but the next day it happened early in the morning when the sun was behind me and the road was straight, relatively clean with clear markings. The ultimate instance was when I was driving on a newly reopened dark asphalt road with new markings, straight, no glare, sun behind me. Clearly there is a problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538374August 14, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The vehicle was traveling in excess of 75 mph with only the autopilot system enabled. The vehicle brakes engaged by itself enough to squeal the tires and the rear end momentarily broke free from the pavement. I disengaged autopilot and drove for approximately 5 minutes. I reengaged autopilot and approximately 5 minutes later the brakes engaged again. I left autopilot disengaged for the remainder of the trip (~ 4 hrs) There were no other vehicles nearby but the breaking was severe enough that if another vehicle had been behind me, it could have caused a collision. The dealer acknowledges that this unintended breaking does occur on other vehicles. There was no warning that the vehicle would severely brake. The weather was clear with bright sun on route I25 south of Denver.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538329August 14, 2023
STEERING
After charging my car at a charging center, the steering assist reduced message appeared on the screen. Then the power steering gave out and i couldn't turn the steering wheel. I had to get the car towed to a service center.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538228August 13, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was using Tesla autopilot today while driving from corpus christy to Fulshear. Multiple times it slammed the brake on the freeway even if there was no one in front of me at all. This caused lot of panic to all of us specially passenger seat folks. It was extremely scary and could have resulted in long pile up on the highway.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538134August 12, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I am getting less miles than advertised on full charge. Six months ago I was getting 185 miles on full charge now I get 156. The vehicle has a little over 5k miles and 2021. FSD does not work as advertised, fails to turn and it makes sudden turns and stops
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11537917August 11, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, STRUCTURE:BODY, WHEELS
I was pulling into parking lot at REI car suddenly accelerated and jumped pavement and hit a wall.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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