Tesla Model 3 Complaints (2023)

417 consumer complaints on file.

#11504395January 30, 2023
AIR BAGS, BACK OVER PREVENTION: AUTOMATIC SYSTEM BRAKING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at 50 MPH another vehicle suddenly entered the lane that the contact was driving on, causing the contact to strike the other vehicle. No air bags deploy, and the brake assist feature failed to activate. There were no reported injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and filed a case. The failure mileage was 8,728.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11504317January 29, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
While exiting a hospital parking deck, after driving for approximately 15 to 20 seconds, the car began to accelerate to an uncontrollable rate of speed on its own. The Tesla crashed into a parked car which was then pushed into two other parked cars. The Tesla and at least the first car hit are totaled. There was no sign of the emergency braking system engaging. Injuries from the airbag deploying were sustained. The driver has a fear to drive again as the car seemed to have a mind of it's own. The Tesla is being held at the insurance company's tow yard. There has been no feedback from the dealer. No inspections have been conducted on the car. There were no indications there was a problem with the vehicle previous to the crash. It is unknown if any warning alert systems activated during the incident.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
2
Deaths:
0
#11502899January 20, 2023
ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
After backing out of a parking place I could not switch into "drive". The car froze and had to be put into "tow mode" to be pushed aside and later taken to a dealer. Before being collected the car was partially blocking a car park, but there was no other safety risk. Warnings appeared when the event occurred, but not prior to. The rear drive unit was replaced under warranty.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502089January 17, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
This model has misleading user manual about park assist chime button, park assist front camera on button. Apparently they have removed the ultrasonic sensor and did not enable any user interface to do with Park assist in the control menu. This is misleading safety feature and total lie to the customer. Please flag this as a safety flag so the user will be aware of it. There is no option for the user to enable the front camera for whatever the little useful it can offer. They need to immediately send us the software update to view any camera at will.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501877January 15, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER
I was driving in rainy weather and my windshield wipers were set to 'Auto' mode. The wipers were functioning correctly until I clicked on a menu item in the car operating system. The operating system became unresponsive to any touches and wipers stopped working at this moment which dropped my visibility to almost 0. I was fortunately not driving on highway when the incident occurred. The operating system rebooted after roughly 20 seconds and the wipers started working again after the reboot completed.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11501767January 14, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
sudden, abrupt braking on multiple occasions when passing a specific location along NJ Garden State Parkway (near exit 89) while driving on auto pilot.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11498639December 23, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Driving west on 1-10 west of TLH vehicle suddenly decelerate if if there was slowed or stopped traffic ahead. I was alone on road.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497390December 14, 2022
POWER TRAIN, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I was driving a turn on a major intersection Stirling and I-95 Holly wood Florida to the on ramp to enter I-95 southbound when my car began shaking violently during the turn and completely shut down. The car was dead and I could not go forward or reverse. The center information panel was still lit up but the car would not move in any direction. I was blocking two lanes of the major intersection for about an hour till 2 Road Rangers arrived and dragged my car off the road. If I had made it around the turn and this catastrophic shut down occurred when I was on I-95 I could have experience severe injury or loss of life if I was struck by traffic on the highway. The car was brand new with 108 miles on it at the time. I purchased the car on 11/20/22 and the shutdown occurred on 11/23/22 after only 3 days of driving it. This Tesla Model 3 was very unsafe and the cause of what happened to me should be investigated so other people do not get injured or lose their life.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497310December 13, 2022
SEATS
My Tesla Model 3 was delivered with the rear attachment bolts missing for both front seat rails. The rear seat rail end will lift up at least an inch when the seat is pushed gently from behind.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11496930December 11, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
I took deliver of the Model 3 Performance in late October 2022 and have experienced phantom braking at least a dozen times over the last few months on the highway/interstate when using cruise control and Tesla’s standard autopilot, which keeps the vehicle centered in the lane. The phantom braking has occurred both in times with just the cruise control enabled and also when both cruise and autopilot have been enabled. The vehicle has slowed from 70 to 60 and even 50 miles per hour very quickly when there was no object nearby that would cause a collision. This is both frightening and upsetting, as such sudden braking could cause an accident, especially with any car following me from behind. I am fearful to use the cruise or autopilot as a result of this defect.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11496554December 8, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking on two separate occasions upon approach of an overpass. The contact also stated that an audible alert tone was coming from the vehicle during the failures. Neither the Service Center nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 865.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11495944December 4, 2022
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Car accelerated by itself. Approximately 4:30pm december 3. I just exited freeway and pulled my foot off the pedal and it started to decelerate then there was a chime sound and the car suddenly shot forward. I slammed the brakes as quick as i could. Luckily no one was around. The driving conditions were terrible, it was raining hard and cold. I also just cancelled autopilot by signalling right before exiting. This happened just after updating to a new update 2022.40.4.2
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11495408November 29, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was pulling into a park spot , coming to a stop and the car within seconds accelerated into a building. There was no warning at all. Also, after the collision a warning popped on the screen saying that the emergency break was disabled. This was the first time seeing this alert, and I did not disable anything. I picked up the car on 11/28.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11494781November 24, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
While moving car to DRIVE mode, Cruise Control was activated accidentally, which resulted in car moving on its own from a stopped position in garage. By the time it was learnt what has happened, the car rear ended another parked car. Luckily no human was in front of the car and thus grave body injury was avoided. The car speed might have been less than 20mph. The front collision avoidance warning was not there and neither did Emergency brakes got deployed.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11494121November 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model-3. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking and abruptly stopped. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that there were no vehicles or objects around the vehicle at the time of the failure. The contact stated that she depressed the accelerator pedal and was able to continue driving. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the forward Collison Avoidance camera might need to be recalibrated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 500.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11493392November 13, 2022
ENGINE, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES
Picked up car from the dealership same day and had only 40 miles total on odometer. The car was running smooth. I was driving with my daughter in the passenger seat (12 yrs old) and got 2 error codes and my car went limp in the carpool lane. Basically went into neutral. Deceleration from 75mph .I had to avoid cars next to me to get to the shoulder and was driving at most 30-40 mph hoping a car would not slam into my rear. By the grace of God I made it to the shoulder safely. “Acceleration and Top Speed Reduced” and “Automatic Emergency Braking is Disabled” were the two errors. I’d never been so stressed. That was highly dangerous and I’ve been reading online of several other Tesla owners suffering the same fate. Please don’t wait until someone gets injured or killed before making Tesla recall their cars. I’ve been hearing its the Rear Drive Inverter (Motor) that is faulty according to others online. The service center has not diagnosed the problem with my car yet but I think that is the same issue. I feel that Tesla is negligent and should be penalized for allowing these cars to be driven off the lot by unsuspecting customers.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11493312November 12, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While traveling on the interstate at 75+ mph, which the cruise control engaged, the vehicle emergency braked 2 times during on one trip. The first felt like a fluke, speed was reduced by 10ish miles per hour. The second time was terrifying. I was traveling approximately 77 mph on the interstate and out of no where my vehicle slowed down significantly. I was too scared of getting hit from behind to look at the speedometer to know how much it actually breaked but it felt like it dropped down to 30 mph out of nowhere. Luckily I was not on a busy stretch of interstate, the car behind me had enough time to slow down and there was no one else around. My husband and I were scared out of our minds, wondering why and how this happened. He immediately google and that is when we learned of 'phantom breaking" I have owned this car for less than a week and now I am scared to use cruise control. I don't even have the self driving or advanced auto pilot. Thank god no one was hurt. This is more than a safety issue, this could be life and death. I read that this particular issue has been reported more often lately. I reported the problem to Tesla but urge you to conduct an investigation that gets this matter resolved, not just for Tesla drivers but for the safety of everyone on the road.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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