Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11601211July 11, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Horn does not work. Seems to be a regular occurrence in this model. SAFETY ISSUE!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11601015July 10, 2024
AIR BAGS, STEERING, SERVICE BRAKES
The components that failed or malfunctioned include the braking system, steering system, and the airbag deployment mechanism. These critical systems experienced sudden and unexpected failures. Yes, the vehicle and its components are available for inspection upon request. -The sudden brake failure and steering wheel lock resulted in a complete loss of control over the vehicle. The inability to stop or steer the car properly led to it veering over the curb/grass area, posing a severe risk of collision. Additionally, the failure of the airbags to deploy during the impact further compromised my safety. This incident not only endangered my life but also posed a significant threat to the safety of other road users on Highway I676. -At this time, the problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. Further investigation and inspection are necessary to determine the root cause of these critical system failures. -There were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms indicating any issues with the braking system, steering system, or airbags prior to the sudden failure. The malfunction occurred without any prior warning, which exacerbates the concern regarding the vehicle’s safety systems.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11599865July 7, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
The blinker buttons get stuck and stop working temporarily. This happens repeatedly and a lot of people online are reporting the same issue. This prevents the blinkers from being turned on and is dangerous!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11599846July 7, 2024
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On [XXX], I was driving my Tesla model 3 from California to my new home in Idaho as part of my move there. During the day, I had 6 or 7 situations where the car would suddenly go into full regenerative braking, or outright apply the brakes for no apparent reason. Most of these events took place of freeways at freeways speeds, or on highways (not freeways) at the local speed limit. Every situation was when I had supervised self drive or traffic aware cruise control enabled. These situations were extremely startling and in my opinion potentially dangerous. I don't want to imagine what might have happened if one of these "phantom braking" events had occurred with a heavy 18 wheeler behind me in traffic. 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
#11598091July 1, 2024
AIR BAGS, SEAT BELTS, SEATS
Passenger SRS system fault. Initial error is due to a fault with the occupancy sensor. Presumably disabling or degrading seatbelt pre accident tensioning and proper airbag deployment. Also causes repeated & distracting beeps throughout drive.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11598032July 1, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, an alert chimed for several seconds before the infotainment screen went blank. The contact stated that the vehicle lost motive power, the A/C became inoperable, the windows failed to roll down, and the doors failed to open as needed. The contact attempted to reboot the vehicle, but the vehicle failed to respond immediately. The contact was very concerned about her and her grandson's safety while the vehicle was inoperable. The contact and her grandson were unable to exit the vehicle immediately in hot weather. Moments later, the vehicle inadvertently rebooted, and the contact was able to drive to the residence, where she and her grandson exited through the front driver's door. Upon checking the Tesla app, four error codes were displayed: VCFRONT_a592, VCFRONT_a191, DI_a174, and DI_a183. The dealer was made aware of the failure, and the vehicle was diagnosed through the Tesla App. The dealer determined that the high-voltage controller and relay needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,725.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11597611June 29, 2024
SEAT BELTS
The Driver side seatbelt isn’t clicking and locking into place. Making the vehicle completely unsafe to drive.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11597512June 28, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Opening the car door of the Tesla, my fingernail got caught between the handle and the handle frame and was completely ripped off.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11597362June 27, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The new Tesla 3 Highland has eliminated the driving wheel stalks and in order to signal a turn, one has to press on one of two side-by-side areas of the steering wheel. After many years of pushing the stalks to indicate a turn, it's not easy to determine which part of the wheel to press to signal a turn or lane change. I have to look at the wheel to do this, which is clearly a safety issue. Better to have Tesla reprogram the wheel to have a left turn signal on the left side of the wheel and the right of the steering wheel to signal a right turn. The windshield wiper area of the wheel an be move to the left side and the right turn signal can go in its place . I assume that it's all computerized and after the coding done, Tesla can send out new decals to indicate the change on the wheel.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11597350June 27, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
1. Blinker button trim/keycaps occasionally become physically stuck in the default (unpressed, open) position. Clicking the buttons at an angle sometimes remediates the issue but not consistently. As a result, the blinkers are physically inaccessible for lane changes. 2. The blinker buttons occasionally signal the incorrect way when depressed. For example, clicking the left signal results in a right-sided signal. Seems to also be a physical issue. These defects can be a hazard to other drivers because of improper use of blinker signals. Component has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer. Malfunctions have been occuring since receiving the vehicle and occurs seemingly at random.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11597267June 27, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
i was driving after dark on a country highway with my wife. She was choosing music while I was driving. An oncoming car went by and afterwards I flipped to high beams... at the exact same moment she tapped to play a song on the display. Turns out the skip/play songs menu is exactly where the headlight adjust menu pops up when you switch from high to low beams. This caused her to turn the headlights off on the car while we were travelling at highway speeds. This causes an obvious significant safety risk because of a poorly thought-out UI design and could cause a crash very easily. I am including two photos of the UI problem one with music playing, and the second popup for headlight control when the light beam is changed from low-beams to high-beams.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11597099June 26, 2024
VISIBILITY/WIPER, POWER TRAIN
1) Driving at highway speed on a highway, the windshield wipers stopped and would not restart in the middle of a pouring rainstorm. We could barely see, but we pulled to the roadside and stopped the car. We put the car in park. Once we put the car in drive again, the wipers would work again. We took the car to the Tesla service center and they replaced the wiper module. 2) When stopped at a stoplight the car would not drive forward when the light turned green. The car would not go again until I put it in park and then back into drive. When exiting a parking lot and pulling out into traffic, making a right turn, the car just stopped and would not go. The car would not go forward in drive and would not go backward in reverse, it just sat there. I put the car in park. Then I put the car in drive again and it went forward as usual. I took the car to the Tesla service center and here is their report: "Repair Notes: Technician verified customer concern through review of vehicle alerts at customer timestamp and tow. Technician performed a very exhaustive circuit integrity check on the vehicle communication network and found no faults. Technician then investigated closer at the customer timestamp and found the vehicle Car Computer restarted itself due to an over memory condition upon wake, resulting in the experienced symptom. This is a know firmware characteristic that Tesla Engineering is aware of and actively working on a permanent fix to be released in future firmware. Technician also removed and replaced the faulty wiper motor.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11596894June 26, 2024
STEERING
Steering wheel buttons fail to activate turn signals no matter how hard they are pressed intermittently. Occurrences happens around 15% of the times when changing lanes or requiring signaling leading to increased danger due to failure of turn signals. Manifacturer has replaced steering wheel and problem still exists with no resolution. When presented to service center subsequently, I am instead recommended to correct fixing hand location and posture, which does not rectify the issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11596590June 25, 2024
STRUCTURE:BODY, STEERING
Today is June 25,2024 I took delivery of my 2024 Tesla model 3 long range on May 26,2024. At time of delivery I visually observed crease in metal of rear right door and damage to paint after Tesla over polished the vehicle with electric equipment. Tesla representatives created a due bill for this repair but decided to do smaller repair by buffing & polishing door panel (and not address the physical crease damage observed on right rear door). Over past 28 days the left and right turn signal buttons located on steering wheel have frequently been inoperable while I drive vehicle. Unfortunately turn signals have failed to activate on multiple occasions while I was driving on highway and trying to change out of far left fast lane. Tesla Burbank service center was notified prior to my 1st scheduled service appointment on June 5,2024 that I experienced times while driving where left and right turn signal buttons didn’t activate after being pushed. Tesla elected not to do anything to resolve customer stated problem during the June 5,2024 service appointment. From June 5,2024-June 25,2024 I have sent 6 messages to Tesla Burbank service center with date and time stamp when turn signal buttons on steering wheel didn’t activate. Tesla Burbank service center feels that this car continues to be safe to drive. As vehicle owner it is my opinion that Turn signals not operating properly creates condition that is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if the vehicle is driven; Defective turn signal buttons are in vehicle owner opinion a Significant impairment of the motor vehicle Tesla should proceed to immediately recall 2024 Tesla model 3 vehicles to correct the operation of turn signal buttons.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11596434June 25, 2024
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Making a 90 degree right turn at an intersection traveling approximately 15 mph, my steering wheel suddenly got very stiff and unresponsive. This caused me to travel into the oncoming lane of traffic before wrestling the very stiff steering wheel back under control. This condition persisted for the rest of my drive home, accompanied by “Steering assist reduced” and “lane assist keep unavailable” error messages. This incident luckily did not result in an accident but easily could have if it happened at the wrong moment.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11596070June 24, 2024
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, AIR BAGS, SEATS
On 5/28/24, while pulling up the driveway, the car suddenly accelerated and it’s so fast that we couldn’t react. The car crashed into the garage, knocked down one wall along with the main electrical panel. It stopped because it got stuck on 10 in foundation’s of garage structure. The collision mitigation feature did not get triggered and didn’t give any alert or helped to stop the car from crashing into the garage. Airbags on both driver and passenger sides did not deploy. Prior to this accident, the car already had issue with the driver’s profiles and the seat just moved back and stuck at the easy entry mode. The car became inoperable because the driver’s seat can’t be moved forward to a position where I could reach the gas and brake pedal. I contacted Tesla service and was told to delete the driver’s profile and create new one , power off the screen, power cycled the car. I’ve done all of that but the problem kept happening on and off. The car was scheduled to be looked at by Tesla on 6-20-24 but the accident happened on 5-28-24. We’d like to find out the root cause of the accident whether the car has any malfunction that could’ve triggered the sudden unintended acceleration. We’ve reported the accident to both Tesla and my insurance company. Tesla confirmed that the data was downloaded and being reviewed and there is no available information to be shared with me at this time
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11595793June 21, 2024
SEATS
ISSUE BACK OF FRONT SEATS COLLAPSED BACKWARDS DURING A REAR END COLLISION. CAR TOTALED. On December 4. 2023 we were rear ended while stopped at red. The van that hit us was doing 40 MPH, when it hit the Tesla we were driving. The two front seat backs collapsed backwards. As the driver and because of the seat collapsing backwards I suffered a fractured BACK and have spent the last six plus months in a cervical thoracic brace which we are still in.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
2
Deaths:
0
#11595575June 20, 2024
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Ever since Tesla rolled out an update for everyone to beta test FSD, the adaptive cruise control has been changing speeds when near interstate type exits and entrances. I've had it change from 75 down to 40 mph which is dangerous in traffic. This change in speed some times is just a drop to the next 5mph increment, such as from 73 to 70. Sometimes it is more from 73 to 65 at the same place/exit. It is not consistent. The only thing consistent is it's near exits even when not in an exit lane or nearest lane to the exit. This "Feature" needs to be removed as it is unpredictable which makes it dangerous. Owners manual [XXX] Cruising Near or On Exits 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
#11594373June 14, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
after heavy rain and some driving the Horn was not audible. wrong way driver almost hit me and the horn was useless to alert them
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11594292June 13, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
This car has a new, unique design for activating turn signals. The right and left turn signals are buttons on the steering wheel. The buttons need to be pushed to activate the left or right turn indicators for the car. But the buttons do not work all the time. I thought it was a finger placement issue, but have confirmed it is not that. Instead, the buttons simply become stuck and cannot be depressed. This is very dangerous when I cannot signal to change lanes on the road or freeway, or signal to indicate when I will make turns. An Internet search has revealed this is a common problem for this vehicle model, according to various message boards.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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