Tesla Model 3 Complaints (2021)

674 consumer complaints on file.

#11472737July 7, 2022
STEERING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, SERVICE BRAKES
This "self driving" Model 3, with FL License Plate [XXX], attempted to merge onto I95 south from an on-ramp, and very nearly caused a major accident. The vehicle had a bumper sticker on the back that said something like "please be patient, I am a self driving vehicle." The vehicle was merging from a left side on-ramp, at a VERY LOW SPEED, and crossed two lanes of interstate traffic, very erratically accelerating, then braking, then accelerating again, and then braking. My vehicle was directly in its path, and I had to brake hard, and take to the shoulder to avoid the collision. If this vehicle's trips are logged, it needs to be investigated. If it weren't for the humans paying attention, the actions of the Tesla car/driver would have caused a major accident, and most likely bodily injury or death. 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
#11472465July 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - Cruise Control randomly slams on its brakes, no warning at all. No, it is not available upon request. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? - Cruise Control (Autopilot), puts my safety at risk because it can injure you if you are not anticipating the brakes being slammed, and it can put others at risk because if they aren’t following at a safe distance or not expecting the car to slam on its brakes, it can lead to an accident. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? - No. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? - No. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? - No.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11471714June 30, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Car brakes while using adaptive speed control. In one incident the car was traveling at 71 miles per hour and braked to 25 mph. In other situations the car braked by at least 5 mph, on some situations this happened while speed control was engaged and I was traveling at 50 mph or less. In all these situations, there was not another vehicle in front of me that posed an immediate threat of collision. The adaptive self dimming headlights do not work properly while driving at night. Lights do not always dim for approaching vehicles or when approaching another vehicle from behind. On some occasions the bright lights engage when approaching other vehicles OR dim when not approaching another vehicle. Other times the light repeatedly switch from bright to dim when following other vehicles. I reported these issues to TESLA. The response was that their engineers are aware of the problenms and it is related to a firmware update and that will be coming. I worry about being struck from behind when the brake suddenly engages. I also worry that the headlight situation can cause a crash by blinding drivers.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11471563June 29, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH with the self-driving feature activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that there were no other vehicles nearby in the lane. Additionally, the contact was unaware of any shadows or anything else in the lane. The contact stated that the vehicle slowed down and then resumed a higher speed. The contact stated that he disengaged the self-driving feature and manually drove the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that he attempted to notify the manufacturer thru the vehicle App but was unable to leave a full detailed report. The approximate failure mileage was 10,445.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11470806June 24, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On June 18 and 23, 2022, I was driving I-5 in Washington State with adaptive cruise control engaged when, abruptly and without warning, the vehicle decelerated. I overcame the first instance by depressing the accelerator; the vehicle self-corrected in less than a second in the second instance. In both cases, there were no vehicles in the immediate vicinity to present a possible hazard. The concern is for vehicles following closely during an incident that might not react quickly enough to avoid a rear end collision. The vehicle has not been inspected by another party and no attempt has been made to reproduce the condition for another entity.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11470800June 24, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
For no reason, the car applied significant braking while in Autopilot. There were no cars in front of me, no obstacles in the way and it was a clear, dry day. This is not the first time this has happened but it was the most significant.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11469904June 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The car will phantom brake suddenly and sometimes hard while the adaptive cruise is on. I have reported to Tesla and they say there’s nothing they have to fix right now. This is extremely dangerous and Tesla needs to focus on a fix.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11469391June 15, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
During a recent road trip to another state, Auto Pilot was engaged and the emergency braking system forced the car quickly to a stop on many occasions. To the human eye, there should have been no reason for the brakes to engage. Luckily no one collided with us, but the Auto Pilot system is not to be trusted. The incidents mostly occurred on two-lane roads, however, noticeable hesitation was evident many times during freeway cruising. Tesla repair will not review my case because I don’t have a specific time(s) of incident and they will not tell me how to properly log this information into the car’s software when an incident does occur. I feel helpless and am very nervous to take this car on a trip.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468788June 11, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I had 2 phantom braking incidents one one trip today. The situation was similar- a car broken down on the shoulder. In both cases i slowed down and moved a bit left to give them room. I had cruise control on but as I braked, it came off. In both cases, once I passed the cars, the Tesla brakes hard. In one case I was almost rear ended by the guy behind me. In both cases, i was in full control of the car and was slowing down and giving way. The phantom braking occurred as I was abreast or past the hazard - in other words, too unnecessary and too late to help anyway. It scared the heck out of me - twice. The car is unsafe at any speed
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468695June 10, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On a trip to Northern California, I used the "traffic-aware cruise control", and there were several episodes of sudden hard braking for NO REASON. With no vehicle ahead for 20 car-lengths, no curves, no vehicles moving into our lane from the side, we had no clue to why this jarring experience occurred. I thought it might have been caused by gentle inclines in the road ahead, but there were plenty of these that did NOT cause this violent slam of the brakes. So, I dismissed that explanation. The final time it occurred, there was no incline, no impediments of any kind. Just a clear, flat lane ahead and no vehicle to the right, plus an unusually wide shoulder to the left. Not even a center divider wall or K-rail. The car is now scheduled to be taken to Tesla on June 29, but having obtained the appointment through the app, I have no way of knowing if I must leave the car overnight, if I can get a loaner, or even if they'll call me when it's done, assuming they can fix it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468412June 9, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was driving on the freeway, North on I-5 here in Washington State, approximately 60 to 65 mph, when in autopilot the car phantom braked for no reason. The breaking was very hard, and occurred in the passing lane; this could’ve easily caused an accident but luckily did not.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468321June 8, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While driving at 70 mph with adaptive cruise control engaged I experienced several instances of "phantom braking." The car braked hard all by itself with no driver input. This happened several times on June 2, 2022 and again on June 6, 2022.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468292June 8, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When I am driving and using the cruise control (Tesla calls this Traffic Aware Cruise Control), the car will randomly brake while I am driving, sometimes very abruptly and hard, even though there is no obstacle, the road is clear, there is no weather, no danger, etc. There is no way to disable this "feature" if I do not like it so that I can use cruise control normally, the only solution is to drive it manually and not use cruise control. If somebody is behind me they almost run into me. I will provide a date below when this occured as requested, but it occurs EVERY SINGLE TIME I DRIVE THE CAR. Need to have an option to just have normal Cruise Control without the "Traffic Aware" portion. This is a REAL issue. I love my Tesla but I absolutely HATE this dangerous "feature" that DOES NOT WORK properly.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467923June 7, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
When on Autopilot (Traffic-aware cruise control), the vehicle will brake suddenly and severely when cresting a hill that the cameras in the car cannot see over, if there is no other traffic in front of the car for the Autopilot cameras to reference against. This is most notable and disturbing on inter-city freeways in the western U.S. such as eastern Oregon or Nevada, where the freeways are rolling. This behavior (braking when cresting a hill with no vehicles visible in front of the car) is quite repeatable. The vehicle is a 2021 Tesla Model 3 with "Tesla Vision," i.e. cameras only with no radar. It is not possible to turn off the "traffic aware" element of Tesla's cruise control. If the Tesla interface had a toggle to turn off "traffic aware" so that it had conventional cruise control (i.e. the vehicle will simply hold the chosen speed regardless of surroundings), that would be helpful and in many ways safer. Ideally, though, they would reprogram the Traffic Aware Cruise Control so that it can handle cresting a hill.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467860June 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The car will randomly brake on the highway when its in auto drive with no need to brake immediately.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467739June 6, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL:SOFTWARE
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle applied the brakes independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated he experience the failure three times while using the cruise control feature that same day. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 7,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467738June 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When applying Cruise Control on the model 3, the Tesla will apply phantom braking in various situations. The car will brake on its own without any human interaction. This has occurred on the highway with no other cars nearby that should cause such braking.. This phantom braking has caused me to not use cruise control at all in my car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467718June 6, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When passing below an overpass the car will rapidly brake from 80-60 MPH or 65-45 MPH without warning. I have to take over and speed up to avoid someone hitting me from behind. I believe the issue happens because the car for a second thinks you are driving on the overpass which has a much slower speed (25-40 MPH). Therefore, it brakes hard to match the speed of the overpass. When it is enough of a distance away, it goes back to the normal highway speed. This issue has happened many times since I bought the car and has not been resolved after many updates.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467604June 5, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While driving on highway, I have autopilot on, and out of nowhere the vehicle will engage emergency braking.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467586June 5, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES
On at least 4 occasions, I have been driving at freeway speeds of 70mph with cruise control engaged - typically while driving on I-35 between Duluth and Minneapolis in Minnesota - and the vehicle has applied the brakes very hard for no known reason, without human input to the brake pedal. The most recent occurrence was on May 27th, 2022.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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