Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11647988March 12, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Tesla cars use loudspeaker that mimics the car horn when used. In rainy conditions this speaker becomes very muted and the horn is barely heard even when right next to the vehicle. When reaching out to Tesla they say this is a normal occurrence and the will sound normal again once the speaker dries out. This shouldn’t be normalized and poses safety concerns in rainy conditions.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11647943March 12, 2025
STEERING, SERVICE BRAKES, AIR BAGS
I was involved in an accident due to what I believe was a malfunction in my Tesla’s steering system. While driving, the car unexpectedly turned the wheel to the left on its own and collided with a parked car. Despite my efforts to regain control by turning the wheel to the right and applying the brakes, the vehicle did not respond, and I was unable to prevent the crash. Given the lack of control and failure of the braking system, I strongly believe there was a serious issue with the car that led to the accident.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11647910March 12, 2025
SEAT BELTS, AIR BAGS
FRONT LEFTSAFTEY RESTRAINT SYSTEM FAULT/SERVICE IS REQUIRED TESLA WANT TO CHARGE $351 TO START FOR THE SERVICE
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11647863March 12, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
See attached document for complaint
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11647496March 10, 2025
STEERING, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Sometime I have power steering and sometime I don’t have power steering assist sometime came back and was driving and car just took my wheel to left itself on [XXX] 2 times on same spot was coming out of highway didn’t have no cruise or self driving On all was off 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
#11646889March 6, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Phantom braking occurred three times with this vehicle, all three times, the car abruptly stopped while driving for no reason: 10/30/2024 at 8:03am 2/10/25 at 7:47am 3/6/25 at 5:55pm
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11646628March 5, 2025
AIR BAGS, SERVICE BRAKES, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
I sent following to Tesla I had an accident at around 6:30 PM on Sunday, March 2nd with my Tesla Model 3 and asking to see if you can conduct a diagnostic check into this incident. I was coming home at that time with the Tesla and about 100 yards from my house, I experienced a sudden acceleration with the car going from about 20mph to, I think, over 40 mph and crashed into the garage area of my house. Around the time I started experiencing that unwanted acceleration, I heard a whining sound. As it started that sudden acceleration, I checked below to make sure my right foot was pressing on the brake pedal and it was. Since I have the regenerative braking with my tesla, the car should have decelerated but, instead, it sped up. I continued to press the brake pedal but I could not mitigate my car’s continual acceleration. It eventually crashed through the lowered garage door and went through the right side of the garage wall about half way out and came to the stop. I was driving myself and not engaged in self-driving feature. I like to see if the Tesla has any resources available to retrace last few seconds and be able to glean more information of why that sudden acceleration might have happened. The car is still located in my garage but currently the car is disabled and powered off. The car’s power was on and it automatically turned on emergency light for about 30 minutes after the accident before it eventually powering off. I am also curious to know why none of the airbags were deployed in this accident. I have many photos available of the accident. The fire department and police came and assisted. I do not know if this matters but the couple of nights before the car had one of those over the air updates by Tesla and also about couple of minutes before the accident I drove through about a minute of hard rain in otherwise light rainy drive. I also wonder why auto-braking did not engage against the house.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11646557March 5, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING, ENGINE
Tesla has told me the AP4 computer has failed in my car which has resulted in them having to replace it. This issue impacts: emergency braking, blind spot detection, lane keep/centering, assisting with parking, automatic high beams and wipers, cruise control/ adaptive cruise control, Vehicles built in GPS to be stuck at one location every time, has made my touchscreen not automatically brighten or dim, my auto dimming mirrors be too dim in most driving conditions, constantly fail to install system improvements and safety updates, and because my vehicle keeps trying to do this, it has caused increased battery drain as well. This has increased the safety risk of my vehicle tremendously... Tesla has not seemed to publicly acknowledge the issue yet either.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11646236March 4, 2025
SUSPENSION
Needs whole suspensions system fixed and is only 4 years old. Was told by the service center employee that other customers with the same year and model have had the same issue. Suspension has been noticeably affected for the past year (uneven tire wear so I had to get new tires and a bumpier ride), but just took it in today and had it officially diagnosed.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11645905March 3, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING:SOFTWARE
The contact owns a 2025 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving with the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving and attempting to parallel park into a parking space when it made a sudden left turn and crashed into a curb. The contact took over manually and depressed the brake pedal in order to avoid the entire vehicle driving over the curb. The contact mentioned that the Full Self-Driving software was the most updated version and it did not detect the curb causing the crash. The front passenger side bumper was damaged and scratches underneath the vehicle. No injuries were sustained. No air bags deployed. A police report was not filed. The Tesla Software did not detect the crash. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and referred the contact to take the vehicle to the dealer. The failure mileage was 19,000.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11645788March 2, 2025
VISIBILITY/WIPER
The defrost function on the computer went crazy and cracked the windshield in the morning, covered in snow. - It’s hard to see out of, and Tesla said it’s not covered even though it’s only 6 months old and to just drive it. - No, they want $1600 to look at it. I can’t get them to agree to look at it, but don’t give up. - no the defrost was slow and low, as winter is with no issues. So it snowed a lot in KC, MO. I keep my heat at 60 degrees and the fan on low. I unlocked my car with my phone to get some stuff out, but I started clearing off the back door stairs first to make a path. But only 10 minutes after unlocking it, I heard a loud pop. I thought it was electric, so I unplugged it and got in to leave and immediately was shocked to see and hear the heater on so high I didn’t know it went to that level. It had to have been 100 degrees in the car then before I even sat down… I saw the HUGE CRACK across the windshield from the bottom right passenger side, perfectly in the corner of the glass, going all the way to eye level in front of the driver. Diagonally, corner to corner. There isn’t a scratch or speck on this car. I hand wash it every week when it’s not freezing out. I keep the left scroll wheel programmed to control the fan speed, so I pushed it to lower the leaf blower setting it was on to find out it was still set to 60 and fan speed 2. I had to go up and down a few times to get it to go down to normal. I took a video and photos, and Tesla said repeatedly it’s going to cost $1600, even though I just bought it 6 months ago.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11645642February 28, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
As I was approaching a green light with stopped vehicles the car caught glare from the car ahead of me thinking it was stopping when it was turning. This caused aggressive breaking mid turn and caused a spike in my insurance as well as decrease in my safety score. I reported this as a bug to the car but they never get checked for fixed.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11645455February 27, 2025
STEERING, SUSPENSION
Complaint: I took delivery of my new Tesla Model 3 on [XXX], and noticed it pulls hard to the right from day one. The steering shakes constantly, feels unstable, and loses traction—sliding sideways and lurching above 40 mph. It’s dangerous on highways; I’ve nearly lost control multiple times. Service wait times delayed my first visit over a month. Service History: Tesla Service, Dedham, MA, three visits: [XXX]: Techs confirmed pulling, performed alignment—issue unchanged. [XXX]: Pulling replicated, alignment redone—no fix. [XXX]: Supervisor test-drove, claimed no issues, said “normal operation,” and refused further action. Third-Party Input: On [XXX], Electrified Garage (Amesbury, MA), a Tesla/EV specialist, replicated the pulling, shaking, and instability. They suspect a suspension or steering defect (e.g., rack/control arm) and urged Tesla review, citing warranty coverage and parts limits. They called it a safety risk. Current State: The car’s unusable—shaking intensifies above 40 mph, slides unpredictably, and steering resists. I’ve stopped highway driving after near-misses. Tesla’s “normal” ignores this danger. Available for inspection on request. 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
#11645163February 26, 2025
STEERING
I was driving over an overpass on to the free way. It was about 11am. The steering wheel locked in a turning position, driving the car off the overpass. I was able to yank the wheel and get it back straight. The auto pilot was not on, the cruise control was not on. I drove it straight to the service center, i though i should call so i put the car in curise control to pull out my phone but decided against it and turned it off at 11:15. Now the service center says they can not duplicate it they are telling me nothing is wrong. This has never happened before. I have never had any issues with my car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644385February 23, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Turn indicator not working. I was in a highway and when I pressed turn indicator button, nothing happened. Multiple presses with varying pressure had no effect
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644114February 21, 2025
LANE DEPARTURE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
See attached document for complaint.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644012February 20, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VISIBILITY/WIPER
Turn signals on steering wheel don’t work sometimes. They also get stuck causing no signal to turn on.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11643931February 20, 2025
VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that after having a software update completed on the vehicle, while the defroster was activated, the windshield failed to clear up as needed. The contact stated that the heater also failed to operate as needed. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The contact learned of a recall for the failure however, the contact was unable to confirm if the VIN was previously included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the next repair was not covered under the recall. The failure mileage was 83,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11643742February 19, 2025
AIR BAGS
UNKNOWN Moving collision resulted in insurance company describing damage as a total loss. It was inspected by an auto collision expert; his description, photos and estimate were forwarded to a claims specialist at the insurance company. The side of my head hit the window on the driver's side, but no airbags inflated. I feel this was a risk to my overall safety. There were no warning messages.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11643728February 19, 2025
VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM
* The AC/Heat Pump Compressor and Supermanifold has failed at 64k miles. Vehicle is undrivable and parked at this time. * AC/Heat Pump Compressor and Supermanifold prevents the windshield from being cleared/defrosted/defogged, causing visibility issues and a danger to myself and others. * Vehicle remotely diagnosed and quote received totalling $3047.52 to repair the issue. * Components have not been removed from the vehicle yet. * There were no warnings prior to the failure of the AC/Heat Pump Compressor and Supermanifold.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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