Tesla Model 3 Complaints (2023)

429 consumer complaints on file.

#11533985July 24, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Since purchasing this vehicle in May 2023 I have had four (4) instances of the vehicle automatically braking (phantom braking) while traveling at a higher speed on the interstate using cruise control (Autopilot). This has occurred during both daylight and nighttime driving. At the time it occurred, only once was there a vehicle in front of me, but far enough away that the auto braking should not have activated.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533083July 18, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While I was driving along a freeway using autopilot cruise control, the car suddenly slammed its brakes even if there was no cars in front of us. I thought it was just a fluke but it happened at least twice if not thrice during that trip. There was at least an approximate of 3 miles gap between us and the car in front, so practically no cars in front. Had there any vehicles behind us, it would for sure rear ended us.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11533054July 18, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle stopped suddenly without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 5,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11532892July 18, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving, both while using Adaptive Cruise Control and while using "Autopilot" (automatic lane centering), the car has severely emergency braked with no input from me. The conditions were bright sunlight, with mirages on the roadway in front of the car. I believe the car cannot tell the difference between these mirages and actual obstacles. The emergency braking is severe enough to potentially cause an accident, with speed rapidly dropping from 70 mph to 45mph. This is a serious defect that needs addressed ASAP.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11532334July 14, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I have had this car for 6 months. Three times within the past month sudden braking (phantom braking) occurred while driving on the high way with cruise control engaged. The car slowed from 70miles/hour to 35-40 miles/hour without warning on a clear day on a clear road. Then the car picked up speed. The cars in the front and the rear were far away to cause any incident. This happens in a random fashion and cannot be reproduced.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11532257July 14, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
My Tesla Model 3 has had 3 phantom braking episodes since I bought the car new in June 2023. All 3 episodes were when the cruise control was on. Without any warning, the car will violently slow from 70mph to about 25mph in a very short time. My guess, less than 2 seconds. The tires loose grip on the road surface and the car will come to a stop. In all 3 instances, I needed to apply the accelerator to get the car moving again. During all 3 phantom braking episodes, there were no vehicles behind me that could of rear ended me. If so, the vehicle(s) behind me would have no doubt rear ended me. All 3 instances occurred on clear warm days close to Yermo CA on Interstate 15. I reported this phantom brake issue with the local Tesla location and they reviewed my cars software and said nothing was wrong. The system is working as intended. Once my Tesla Model 3 phantom breaking started, I have researched the issue online and noted a tremendous amount of complaints and reports to your agency. This phantom braking needs to be fixed and until then disclosed when a customer buys a Model 3.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11531955July 13, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
When driving in highway using autopilot, the car suddenly slammed on the brakes. This made no sense at all as there were no cars in front of it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11531224July 9, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Rear Drive Unit Inverter failed and left me stranded on a busy highway on the shoulder. Waited an hour for tow truck to arrive. Car had about 3000 miles on it. Car was fixed under warranty but shouldn't be having an issue with a car that is relatively new. Searching through forums, I have encountered a lot of people having the same issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11531187July 9, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Phantom braking occurred 3 times over the span of several minutes while driving at highway speeds. The first two incidents occurred while utilizing Autosteer. The third time occurred while only using cruise control.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11531185July 9, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Scenario 1: Driving mid day in hot weather in desert highway with rolling hills and cruise control activated. Upon cresting a ridge with mirages the car slams on the brakes until the mirage dissipates. Also as another car approaches and its reflection is bounced back from the mirage in the road surface the car slams on the brake until the reflection shifts or the mirage dissipates. Scenario two: Driving on freeway mid day in warm weather and brightly illuminated freeway and approaching dark shadows under an overpass. The car slams on the brakes until closer to the overpass. 20-40 mph deceleration noted. The specific freeway section had a slight descending roadway leading into the shadow and then ascended on the other side so that a continuing road surface was not immediately visible beyond the shadow.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11531094July 8, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
We have experienced several episodes of the car suddenly breaking for no reason when using cruise control. The speed is very quickly reduced a good 15 mph without warning.this is not only very alarming as drivers/passengers but it is incredibly dangerous. If there was a car following closely behind us, they would have hit us.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11531062July 8, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On July 6th, at 6:42pm, while driving 70 MPH on California Highway 152, on a clear day (88 degrees F), with no traffic around our car, the car slammed on the brakes, taking the speed from 70 MPH to 46 MPH in a period of 5 seconds (with most braking in the first couple seconds). I was using the cars' built-in Autopilot system. The car did the same thing about 2 minutes earlier, so we happened to have been recording a video of the cars operation when it happened this second time. The car did the same exact behavior on June 29th at 10:30am, on the same highway but different location. It was also a sunny day, and there were (thank goodness) no cars near us when it happened. That time, it braked so hard it triggered the ABS system.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11530994July 7, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was driving on a divided highway in the right hand lane out of two lanes. To the right was a grassy berm. To the left of the road was a grassy median. I was driving with the adaptive cruise control enabled and set to about 70MPH. Full self driving was not enabled. There were no vehicles or other obstacles visible ahead or to the sides, no vehicles following. Without any reason I could perceive, the vehicle abruptly decelerated rapidly. I pressed my foot on the accelerator pedal and the car stopped decelerating and resumed normal operation at roughly 40MPH. If another vehicle had been following me, the unexpected rapid deceleration could have resulted in a collision. This vehicle is a rental car owned by Hertz, and I have not had the vehicle inspected or diagnosed by any dealer, service center, the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives. The Alert log in the vehicle computer showed at 6:16pm, code EPBL_a180: Emergency brake applied (see attachment).
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11530530July 5, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
Tesla has serious safety issues automatic emergency, braking Blindspot warning, Lane, departure warning, and other basic safety features which are very common in the cars these days. I purchased Tesla for my teenage child. In past three months we have encountered multiple instances where Tesla was not able to perform as promised this morning I was driving tesla loaner Vehicle when I was heading to pick up my car and someone drifted into my lane without warning and Tesla did not apply emergency brakes or generated any warning signals. I have notified Tesla service about the incident and past incidents to tesla service representative. Tesla representative at Costa Mesa office opened the service request to get the software diagnosis completed so that they can get to the bottom of it, but [XXX] from Irvine office called me and he is in denial that it is a car issue and blame it on me that it is between the car and the car owners manual, I have requested an escalation from Tesla service Center. In the meantime, I am filing this complaint so that NHTSA can start their investigation before. It is too late and some life is lost because of irresponsible behavior by Tesla and send in selling the features which do not work I have Lexus RX 350, 2017 model and all these features work seamlessly in the car , I am shocked Tesla is falsifying and and selling inaccurate features to the consumers which cannot be discovered until it is too late. Please start investigation investigation ASAP. Thank you. 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
#11530051July 3, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Multiple times the car while on cruise control has slammed on brakes due to seemingly nothing. It's without warning our alert and it is extremely violent. It happens at least once every week.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11530026July 2, 2023
STEERING
I took delivery of the Tesla Performance Model 3 on June 15th, 2023. Two weeks later, the car is giving me issues. Today while driving and making a left turn, the steering wheel locked up while showing an error code UI_a020 stating steering assist is disabled. This vehicle has only been driven 575 miles. Vehicle steering gets locked, and once you get out and get back in, the car code disappears; however after driving a mile or 2 code reappears, and the steering gets very stiff, making it almost impossible to turn in either direction. Very unsafe and unreliable to drive on highways at high speeds. Please investigate this matter, as I am not the only one with this issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11529926July 1, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While in cruise control vehicle will brake hard as if it detects something in front but there’s really a clear road.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11529517June 29, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Tesla's traffic aware cruise control (adaptive cruise) frequently brakes hard for no reason (aka "phantom braking"). This behavior occurs multiple times per week during my daily commute on a two lane highway. It happens at different locations, different times of the day, and with or without other vehicles around. "Autopilot" is disabled so there is no auto steering or lane centering. Unnecessary hard braking will significantly increase the chances of a collision with other vehicles, especially with higher levels of traffic. This problem is a well known issue with "vision only" Teslas with no radar and has been documented by many other owners. This issue has been occuring since the vehicle was new and is a system design issue, not a specific part failure. There are no warnings or other messages. There is currently no way to disable adaptive cruise control and use basic fixed-speed cruise control.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11529369June 28, 2023
ENGINE
Within one day of taking ownership of a new 2023 tesla model 3, the car suddenly stopped running, slowing rapidly to a crawl on the highway, causing a potential hazardous situation. Error code DI_a137 appeared onscreen, and a message that the vehicle was not drivable. After several minutes on the shoulder, the car behaved normally. I cancelled my trip and attempted to return home. The fault recurred, forcing me to pull off the road again. After several minutes the car allowed me to return home. There was never any prior warning. Tesla roadservice picked up the car and today notified me repairs have been made. Tesla Lynwood WA confirmed the intermittent high voltage inverter problem. The rear motor inverter was replaced. I have heard of many such failures in the U.S. and a recall in China for this engine failure problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11529143June 27, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Vehicle automatically applies the breaks while using the cruise control. Braking occurs randomly and very suddenly at highway speeds with no warning. The car slowed rapidly to about 25 mph. This has occurred twice in the last 6 weeks in two different locations. Fortunately, there were no vehicles following at a close distance. If there had been, the sudden application of the brakes would almost certainly have resulted in a rear-end collision with the car that was following us.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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