Tesla Model 3 Complaints (2022)

773 consumer complaints on file.

#11457470March 20, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Using adaptive cruise control the car will often brake for no reason. This has caused me to not trust a system I was promised and paid for and I can't use any form of cruise control as there is no option for standard cruise control on the model 3 Multiple times during a trip the ACC will lightly apply the brakes when there is no objects in front of the car. About once per week of heavy use of ACC the car will slam on the brakes unexpected and for no reason. This has caused me to be honked at and almost rear ended on multiple occasions. I no longer use the system because of this. My ask is for the NHTSA to recall the model 3 and force Tesla to install radar on affected Model 3's. Vision only is a terrible system and Tesla greatly downplayed the pitfalls of it when I was purchasing the vehicle
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457467March 20, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While using auto-pilot, the vehicle suddenly applied brakes without apparent reason. E.g. while crossing an intersection and another vehicle crossing the same intersection in opposite direction, Another occasion was when climbing a steep slope on a two lane road. Yet another was on a four lane highway. I was in the right lane and another vehicle was in the left lane and ahead of me.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457452March 19, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While driving with cruise control set to 90 mph, my vehicle rapidly decelerated to 70 mph — with no other vehicles around. The vehicle suddenly braked for no reason at all, multiple times. Autopilot was not engaged and I was steering the vehicle myself. This while driving West on HWY 76 in Colorado a clear sunny day around mile marker 141, near Proctor, CO. The middle of nowhere. I have a 50 second video I would be happy to share but no video upload option.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457434March 19, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
No one around me on the interstate with my cruise control on. With no cars near me or any recognizable object to detect, the car phantom broke for me without warning. Nearly caused an accident for the car behind me.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457374March 19, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
While I generally love the car during the 6 weeks i’ve owned it, I am concerned about the fact that occasionally, while traveling at freeway speeds with cruise control engaged, the car will slow dramatically as if I had jammed on the brakes. The rapid deceleration has occurred at least once a week during my time with the car. This week, while traveling from North Carolina to New Jersey, the car “braked” from 70mph to about 40mph four times. This happens suddenly, no warning. As frustrating and annoying as this is, it is also dangerous given the high number of brain-dead tailgaters that populate the highways.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457350March 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving with cruise control on the vehicle will automatically brake for no reason. I was just on a road trip and had this happen multiple times while going 80mph. If someone was behind me it could have caused a accident and someone could get seriously hurt or possibly die. I scheduled service at the dealership and it sounds like this is a well known problem that does not have a fix. I could see this issue causing some bad crashes. I put 3/5 as the incident date, but this happens almost on a daily basis.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457347March 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Tesla "Phantom Breaking" - Traveling at freeway speeds using cruise control, the car applied panic breaking without warning. There were no obstacles anywhere near the car. If I had not applied 100% throttle immediately I would have been rear-ended at high speed. The problem occurred with no obvious input and without warning. I am not able to reproduce it. I have not reported it to Tesla because the problem is well known yet Tesla has not publicly acknowledged it. There was a audible alert that sounded at the moment the breaking occurred, not before. The on-board camera system did not record the event. The car is new, Nov. 2021 delivery, I have driven it less than 1000 miles and this was the 4th, and most violent, "Phantom Breaking" event. I now consider the cruise control too dangerous to use. Because all of the other driver assist features depend on adaptive cruise control, they are now also useless.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457312March 18, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
With cruise control on the vehicle abruptly applied breaking system without driving involvement and quickly reduced speed from 85 to 60 before driver could engage accelerator to prevent chance of being rear ended. I have a video file if needed.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457284March 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Using the Autopilot system on a recent road trip, I experienced numerous incidents of “phantom braking”. I previously owned a 2018 Tesla Model 3 with witch I made the same 500 mile RT journey several times without ever experiencing this phenomenon. There were vehicles following mine in a few of these of these incidents which created a serious concern about a rear-end collision. I immediately reported the issue to Tesla service who confirmed the problem via remote diagnostics but did not offer any solution other than to wait for future software updates. The incidents occurred without prior warning in the form of messages or alerts of any kind.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457104March 17, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
We just purchased this vehicle new one week ago. Several times while using cruise control on Highway 101 in Mason County, WA we have experienced severe "phantom breaking". There is no reason for the sudden breaking and seems to be quite random and dangerous.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457020March 16, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When Adaptive Cruise Control or Autopilot is active the vehicle will brake suddenly, often with no apparent reason. On flat roads, highways, clear weather and even no traffic from time to time it will randomly regen brake for no reason. The only time this occurs and is duplicated regularly is when driving on a single lane highway. Whenever a 18 wheeler is passing on the opposite lane the vehicle always regen brake suddenly, regardless of the position of the passing 18 wheeler even when it's apparent that the passing 18 wheeler is staying in its lane. Sometimes if the 18 wheeler has a wide load the regen braking is much more aggressive and the forward collision will give a warning. These instances can be overridden by pressing down on the accelerator and that will override the automatic regen braking. The problem with that temporary fix is that when I know it's going to happen I'm prepared but when the times it happens randomly I might as well just never use adaptive cruise control or autopilot.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457004March 16, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I have a 1 month old Tesla Model 3 that when i use the cruise control every time i go past a truck on a 2 lane highway, my car will initiate emergency breaking. This has caused cars to almost rear end me. I took the car to Tesla to be serviced, and the issue didn't get any better. I have videos of this happening if you need them
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456977March 16, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
When driving with Traffic Aware Cruise Control or Autopilot enabled, dangerous automatic braking occurs when the car senses conditions that do not warrant automatic braking. This unnecessary automatic braking occurs randomly when encountering overhead roadway signs, parked vehicles safely on the shoulder, oncoming vehicles fully in their lane on 2 lane highways, cross traffic that is far enough ahead of the vehicle that it is not a threat, and for no obvious reason at all. These automatic braking events are violent and slam on the brakes when they occur and create a danger from rear end collisions from other drivers since they are unexpected and occur for no obvious reason. Tesla service states that the Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autopilot systems are Beta systems and thus require driver monitoring to maintain control of the car when using the systems and nothing can be done until improved software is developed and implemented. Driver intervention for unexpected violent braking is difficult because the events are unexpected and create driver shock which slows a reaction to slam on the accelerator pedal to stop the inadvertent automatic panic braking. In my vehicle, I find that the Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autopilot systems are essentially unusable as they pose too great a risk of a rear end collision.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456826March 15, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH with the Cruise Control activated, the phantom braking system engaged inadvertently, and the vehicle almost came to a complete stop. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal and was able to continue to drive the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring daily while driving. The manufacturer was notified of the failure an informed the contact that they were working on the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 150. The VIN was not available.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456811March 15, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Vehicle's adaptive cruise control is ON. Auto-steer is OFF. Vehicle rapidly phantom breaks under these observed conditions: 1. As the vehicle is passing a semi-truck with the semi in the lane immediately to the right. The camera shows the semi clearly in the lane to the right. The semi is not veering over into my lane. The cruise control seems to think (incorrectly) that the semi is in danger of coming into my lane. The vehicle rapidly slows by +/- 5 mph, which made a couple of folks following me irritated as my car is slowing and brake lights are coming on for no reason. I can decrease this reaction by the vehicle by steering the vehicle to far left side of my lane when passing the semi, but even then, it would still sometimes phantom brake. This happened about 15-20 times during a 2000 mile trip. This reaction by the vehicle, is decreasing safety, not increasing it. 2. Same condition with the adaptive cruise control on (auto steering off), passing a semi that is in the lane immediately to the right, but this time the car rapidly slows itself when I am about 5 car lengths back of the truck. This is an unsafe problem and needs to be fixed asap. If fixing it is going to take time, then Tesla should be required to turn off the adaptive function with cruise control so only speed control is functioning.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456677March 14, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was using "Autopilot" on a 4 lane divided highway. There were no other vehicles on my side of the road, nor on the other side. There were no close objects, vegetation or buildings. I was going 65mph (the limit for the road) when the car suddenly, without any warning braked very hard and the speed fell to 47mph in a a second or two. I quickly cancelled Autopilot and regained control. This has happened more than 20 times during in 3 weeks of driving this Model 3 Long Range AWD. It has occurred with the speed set at 45, 55, 60 and 65. In the media, this is referred to as "phantom braking"
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456627March 14, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Using auto pilot on highway car would apply hard breaking for no apparent reason. Several times this nearly caused crash as cars that were behind me has to swerve to miss hitting us. This happed at least half a dozen times. Most of the breaking was quick and abrupt, but at least twice they were abrupt but took the car from 75 to 20 on the interstate.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456554March 14, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Multiples times while the car was using cruise control we have had it unexpectedly and aggressively brake. This seems to happen when a car is coming towards us in the opposite lane. We have only had the car for 4 days. It is to the point we do not use the cruise control. If someone would have been behind us we would have gotten in an accident. We have also had the forward collision warning go off while not in cruise control.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456481March 13, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Driving on a 4-lane limited access road while using adaptive cruise control (Tesla calls it "Autopilot", my car suddenly reduced speed dramatically. There were no other cars nearby, nor was there any kind of obvious obstruction. I was able to turn off Autopilot and resume speed, but I worry what might have happened if there had been another vehicle behind me.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456393March 12, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The adaptive cruise control system (Autopilot) brakes even when there's no obstacle on the road, or if there's a truck on the opposite lane. This also triggered the forward collision warning system. If there was a vehicle behind me, this would've caused a crash
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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