Tesla Model 3 Complaints

2,178 consumer complaints on file.

#11468221June 8, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced phantom braking while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated. The contact had not taken the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 4,235.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468201June 8, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
My concern first started with the cruise control suddenly shuts off. My biggest concern when the cruise control suddenly shut off and braked. When this happened we were traveling on Interstate 80. 4 lane highway 2 lanes each direction. Cruise control set at 80 mph. Approaching an 18 wheel truck moved to the fast lane. Half way past the 18 wheel truck cruise control suddenly shuts off and the car brakes. Traffic was light so lucky I wasn't rear ended. Notified Tesla they sent me a over the air software update. Not satisfied made appointment to bring into their service department. Was told their system doesn't go back to the incident and it happens again file a bug report. Not feeling safe with a car suddenly brakes.
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
#11467841June 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The car unexpectedly brakes (without driver applying brakes) while in "traffic aware cruise control." This happens 2 to 5 times per 30 miles every time we drive the car on a highway, and has been happening regularly since we bought it about six months ago. Sometimes it's a brief stutter, but many other times it makes a hard brake, short of a full stop, but enough of a sudden deceleration that it poses a safety hazard for vehicles following the car. Sometimes the braking seems to be due to an oncoming large truck in the next lane, but other times it happens when there is no oncoming traffic. The braking is especially bad at night. We live in a rural area with only two-lane highways. The highways are not especially curvy. Sometimes it seems to brake for land formations such as distant mesas. Tesla service checked the vehicle's cameras remotely 2/2/22 but found nothing wrong. They recommended a reboot, which I did, but the problem continues to this day.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467812June 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
We were driving on I35 in Missouri traveling north and only had the adaptive cruise control on, and the car slowed down for no reason multiple times when no cars were in frown of us, or on either side of us. A few times, the car slowed from 70 to 60 or 65, but there was one occurence the car was attempting to slow all the way down to maybe full stop. We took control in each instance and avoided any further issues
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467796June 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 76 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 400.
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
#11467701June 6, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Vehicle brakes hard when there is no reason too do so while using traffic aware cruise control or Autopilot. Issue known as "phantom braking" to the general public. Brakes applied hard enough to lock tires and nearly lose control of the vehicle. Tesla needs to fix the issue and they need to implement a non aware cruise control option for when the system fails due to covered cameras or issues like this.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467631June 5, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Over the course of 2 days on a road trip, the vehicle automatically engaged braking on its own 4 times. The first time was while using autopilot and traveling around 70 miles per hour. The brakes engaged so hard that the tires started to slights squeal before I was able to disengage. There were no cars behind us or we would most likely have caused an accident. Nearly the same thing happened then next day except I was using adaptive cruise control. This time there was a truck about 100 yards behind me that had been only a few car lengths behind me a bit earlier. If they were closer again, they most likely would have hit us. I know I was using cruise control one more that that happened, but I am not sure if I was using Cruise control or adaptive braking on the other time.
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
#11467596June 5, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On an interstate highway trip of approximately 200 miles, travelling at 70 mph with cruise control engaged, I encountered 5 episodes of phantom braking. With no obstacles or other vehicles in front of me, the car abruptly and without warning slowed down until I pressed the accelerator, at which time it resumed speed. In one instance I was being followed by a semi-trailer truck which had to change lanes as an avoidance maneuver. I should point out that there was one other episode of sudden braking, but this time there was in fact an obstacle, a large wheeled container of some kind, in my lane, which I was able to avoid. In this case I was very happy to have the emergency braking feature. I have not as yet found a way to report this directly to Tesla. They are notoriously difficult to communicate with. A brief online search reveals that this has been a common problem for some time which the NHTSA is currently investigating.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467593June 5, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On 4 June 2022, at 5:03pm (CDT), while traveling northbound on Hwy 175 in Dallas, Texas and approximately 1-mile from the I-45 interchange I was traveling in the left lane with the Tesla Autopilot ON and speed set to 70 mph with a posted speed limit of 65 mph. There was very light traffic. When unexpectedly and suddenly the car began braking for no apparent reason. Since traffic was light I momentarily allowed the car to continue to brake arbitrarily in order to observe what it would do since I had also experienced this same phenomenon in our other Tesla that we own. The car continued its braking action unabated and within seconds had slowed to approximately 55mph and was continuing to brake on the highway for no apparent reason. Since traffic was now approaching me from behind at a high-rate of speed in order to avoid an accident I took over the accelerator and accelerated back to the appropriate highway speed.
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
#11467576June 4, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Driving on interstate with autopilot on. I was cresting a bridge overpass when the car suddenly braked on its own even though no other cars or obstacles were in either lane.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467568June 4, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On multiple occasions, my vehicle has experienced the same “phantom braking” problem other Teslas have. This has happened when cruise control (autopilot) was enabled. No cars or obstacles were directly in front of my vehicle and the immediate breaking was unnecessary
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467552June 4, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
My car while in auto pilot will sometimes randomly on highways at highway speed, slam on the brakes. It’s dangerous because you will be doing 75+ mph and the car will just slam on the brakes and you have to take over control quickly to keep up speed. It has happened to me on I-25 in Colorado and I worry sometimes that I could get rear ended. It doesn’t happen all the time just randomly.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467540June 4, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Was driving at highway speeds with adaptive cruise control on. The speed was set around 75mph. Came around a turn and was going downhill when all of a sudden the car slammed on the brakes to 55mph or less. My husband began to manually hit the gas pedal to bring the car back up to the proper speed but there was no response from the vehicle. The car all of a sudden corrected itself back to the proper highway speed. Luckily there was no one behind or in front of us.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

← Back to Tesla Model 3