Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11497864December 17, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
At some point in 2021 Tesla released a software update that causes the vehicle to ignore the ambient temperature sensor for the first 15 minutes of a drive. Tesla explained to me that this was to avoid errant readings in hot environments with lots of reflected heat from pavement. I’ve reported the following safety issue to them several times through the winters of 2021 and now 2022, to no avail despite numerous software updates since. In cold environments where a vehicle is leaving a warm and potentially higher humidity environment such as a garage to a very cold and dry environment - just as the car begins using the sensor data the windshield will immediately fog up causing a major safety issue. This occurs with the hvac on auto and requires a shift of 30+ degrees, which is not an uncommon occurrence in cold environments. 50 degree garage to 17 degree outside for example.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497783December 16, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that the adaptive cruise control was activated during the failure. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 14,169.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11497495December 14, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:PROPULSION SYSTEM:INVERTER
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently made a sudden stop and then lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, and the contact was informed that the inverter failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 9,000.
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
#11497011December 12, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Suffering from phantom braking even when all safety options turned off. This occurs even when just using standard cruise control. Very dangerous to the point do not feel safe using cruise control.
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
#11496845December 10, 2022
ENGINE, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Tesla model 3 year 2022, making too much noise while driving noise.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11496844December 10, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, SEATS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving the car suddenly the car applied sudden breaks & moved opposite road. luckily no traffic opp side otherwise we are having the same day as last day.
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
#11496527December 8, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
while driving on north on I79 with auto cruise / steering on, the car tried to stop by itself at a speed of 70mph....almost causing the cars behind me to re-end me...this is the 4th time the car has had a phantom brake issue at speed...very scary and very dangerous
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11496152December 5, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact leased a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated upon starting the vehicle, the center display failed to operate as designed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle; however, while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle stopped abruptly in the middle of the road. A message indicating that the trunk was opened was displayed. There was also a question displayed whether the contact wished to continue driving. The contact tapped the option YES however, the touch pad center display failed to respond. The contact exited the vehicle and attempted to close the trunk several times; however, the trunk reopened independently. The contact was able to close the trunk after eight attempts. The contact was able to continue driving to her residence. The contact stated that upon parking the vehicle, the trunk reopened independently. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and assisted the contact with towing the vehicle to the local Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that an unknown software had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer declined to provide additional information. The failure mileage was approximately 15,460.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11496124December 5, 2022
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
I believe that Tesla's autosteer and Full self driving features are improperly designed. I will speak to them as if they were one and the same. I noticed that you have a check box for Lane Keeping Assistance above, but there is no checkbox for coercive auto steering, which is Tesla's product. The only ability it offers as far as steering the car is to forcibly disengage the autosteering feature. This is not assistance and this is the problem. A properly designed Lane Keeping Assistance feature continuously monitors driver steering action, lane position, and traffic conditions. If the Lane Keeping Assistance system finds itself 'alone' with little or no measurable input from the driver, action is called for. With the Tesla, the feature has an embarrassingly stupid 'driver attention check' which, until recently, could be easily defeated by the simple addition of a weight to one side of the steering wheel or the other. In a misguided attempt to correct this ridiculously poor design, they have recently made matters much worse. Now they distract the driver's attention from driving by forcing the playing of some sort of 'patty cake' type game, which does prove alertness of the driver, but detracts from the real and necessary work of circumventing the actual threats encountered in everyday driving. In short, a proper Lane Keeping Assistance feature should not be totally ignorant of the driver's subtle driving moves (it's an excellent feature as long as autosteering isn't engaged) and should honor requests to move into different parts of the lane long before disengaging, and no attention measuring system should come at the expense of driver awareness of actual issues. I have tried through email and phone to convince Tesla that something needs to be done, but have received no response from them.
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
#11495849December 2, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The cabin heater stopped working. I received an error code "VCFRONT_a447" recommending to take the vehicle in for service. This issue is a problem in sub-zero climates where the windshield will not defrost before and during driving. I have found 67 other cases from reddit and tesla motors club describing the same issue, on new or <2 years old cars. My components have not been inspected. I tried a full hard reboot of the software and no fix. Tesla service estimates $1,792 repair. Replacing a Supermanifold ($450.37) & A/C compressor ($1273.53) +tax =$1792. I am out of warranty by milage, car is 1.5 years old. 60,200 miles.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11495717December 1, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VISIBILITY/WIPER
I'm getting a notification that says " cabin climate control system requires service cabin heating/cooling limited or unavailable". As a result of this failure the defroster is not working properly. The windshield defroster will only blow cold air very slowly. This causes the windshield to fog up very quickly in cold temperatures. I cannot see out of the windshield properly.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11495695December 1, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
During cruise control on straight highways with no other cars nearby, the car would brake for no reason. Very scary.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11495692December 1, 2022
VISIBILITY
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that within the first week of purchasing the vehicle, he noticed that the front driver's side window would independently lower upon opening the front driver's side door. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure occurred with the rear driver's side window and the front and rear passenger's side windows. The contact stated that the windows would lower when opening the doors and would roll up when closing the doors. The contact later received recall notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility), however, the parts were not available. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 200.
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
#11495260November 29, 2022
VISIBILITY
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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