2019 Tesla Model 3 Complaint Log

Tesla wants >$750 to "fix" a bug it sold in the car, & won't turn off the beep that happens every 5 minutes of driving, telling us that their sensor is defective. They want us to pay to tear the seat apart so they can replace the entire sensor. This error is happening in most of their vehicles (at least 2019 Model 3's). It's probably a Malfunctioning Occupant Weight Sensor (which determines if someone is in the seat and dictates whether the airbag should deploy). This fault triggers the painful loud beep/warning every 5 minutes of driving, & may disable the airbag in a collision. Tesla's systems rely heavily on software, & it may be a glitch or bug, but they say they can't fix it w/o making us pay to take out the seats. Or it may be Wiring and Connection Issues. (We have just 35,000 miles on this vehicle.)

An error has displayed on the screen stating: "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault RCM_a056 Service is Required" and reaching out to the local Tesla service center, I discovered the prescribed repair costs $1600. After searching online for other owner's experience with the error, I discovered that this is a common issue caused by a wire connection to the seat control model coming loose due to a poorly tensioned connector. Those other owners have reported that Tesla knows about this issue in their manufacturing and is refusing to fix the issue or issue a recall even though it is a safety issue.

FRONT PASSANGER SAFETY RESTRAINT SYSTEM FAULT

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while charging the vehicle at a supercharging station, the vehicle shut off once the battery charge reached 250 miles. The contact attempted to move the vehicle to another charging station, and the vehicle failed to shift to drive(D). Due to the failure, the vehicle was towed to a Tesla Service Center where the contact was informed that the pyro fuse used to regulate the battery voltage had failed to operate as needed. The contact was also informed that the pyro fuse inside the vehicle was an aftermarket part; therefore, the contact would be responsible for the repair of the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired and remained in the possession of the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 85,000.

My back glass on my Tesla model 3 started to crack very bad there is no sign of any impact to the glass Tesla even stated it’s a stress crack and stated many teslas have this problem and continued to tell me even though it is a defect and a safety concern that the back glass can shatter and injury passengers in vehicle I would be responsible for paying to replace a defective back glass.

"Steering assist reduced" Error code UI_a020 Losing steering power mid-drive due to faulty power steering rack Many others have had this issue happen to their Tesla Model 3 and Ys, i would like to know if this is covered under a recall as my car is out of warranty for this type of safety repair happening very prematurely for a car

Tesla has combined cruise control with their Auto Pilot feature. Now there is no human override to what speed limit to use, Tesla determines the speed to used based on certain criteria. This puts the driver at risk who may want to lower or increase the speed limit based on certain conditions Tesla may not be able to detect. For me it was a 9 PM run to the store thru an area that had temporary road construction and known to be a speed trap zone.

Car repeatedly shows a warning for "Front passenger safety restraint system fault." The error goes away after a few minutes usually, but comes up frequently - about 1/2 of all drives. Error came up in 2021 and Tesla fixed it under warranty in about 2 minutes, tech said it's a sensor under the seat and a frequent error. Called Tesla about it in May 2024 and they said it's a safety hazard and we need to replace the entire front seat and seatbelt, estimated at $1,500 and multi-day repair. Warranty expired last year which may explain difference in recommended repair. Friends with same car have been experiencing the same warning and there are many reports of it online.

[XXX] the vehicle provided an amber triangle alert that power steering may not be fully available. On [XXX], the vehicle lost power to the steering wheel and the car steering locked in a straight ahead position. Fortunately the car was traveling at low-speed in a parking to and came to a halt in the parking lot. However, the steering was locked. After several re-boot attempts the failure mode light was extinguished and the car could be driven home. It was brought to Tesla to service on [XXX]. Tesla reported "water ingress damage" to the steering unit, rack and electronics. Tesla charged me >$5,000 and implied the water ingress was my fault. The car is a southern California vehicle resident that has never been immersed in water, has only experienced periodic rain (CA 92865) and is driven on average 8,000 miles a year. It has never been out of State. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Driver-side Airbags deployed for no reason. While my husband was driving, the Tesla screen showed that the crash had been detected, so airbags were deployed, and he was asked to call 911. However, no collision occurred. Attaching photos of the towed car. Police came and didn’t make a report since no collision was present. After the tow truck towed the car, and a couple of hours later, we went to pick up our belongings; we couldn’t access the trunk, the car was fully dead. However, the charge was 71% before the deployment of the airbag.

Customer concern confirmed there is a creaking noise coming from the front of the car while turning, I performed a visual inspection and found that both RF lower control arm bushings are torn and the LF frontward lower control arm bushing are torn but this is not the cause of the noise the cause of the noise is the upper control arms I took the load off of the upper control arms and the noise went away I also had someone turn the wheels while I looked for the cause of the noise and found that the noise is coming from the upper control arms, recommend replacing upper and lower control arms to fix all safety concerns.

I was driving my Model 3 when this alert occurred: ALERTS DRIVABILITY - VEHICLE MAY NOT RESTART/SERVICE IS REQUIRED ADDITIONALLY THE SCREEN STATED PULL OVER THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY SAFELY. I was in the middle of the road driving so it became dangerous. I could not steer the vehicle and the brakes were barely working. I could not immediately stop because I was in the middle of traffic. I pulled right over as soon as I could and shut down the vehicle. I believe this is a defect. When I spoke to Tesla repair personnel I was told they know about this and it is happening when the Model 3 reaches 40K. How can they not address this - why would someone wait until someone is in a serious accident? I called to set up an appointment for this emergency and was told I cannot get an appointment for 1 month and I should not drive my car. When an electric vehicle just shuts down you cannot control the vehicle - this is very very dangerous.

Occupant sensor and wiring harness in the front seat becomes "pinched" under the seat when my son sits in the seat. Error code comes up on the dashboard.

Received a system fault for seat belt SRS airbag safety restraint system for front left passenger. code RCM_a021_pretenLapFrontLeft Causes the pretensioner and restraint system to not function as designed. Has not been in an accident and verified problem was persistent with hard system reset and software update. Did not do modification or touch the seat belt components at all during ownership period. Worried that the pretensioner and SRS airbags will not go off if involved in a crash. First appeared last year intermittently and then starting June 1st, 2024 The airbag lamp is on inside the warning panel of screen.

The front wheels suspension are squeezing. For a relatively new and low mileage car I don’t think this should be happening. I understand there’s been a lot of complaints about this issue. We believe it should be recalled. Thank you!

I have a known safety issue with my Tesla model 3. There is a fault in the clips, requiring a filter clip to allow the safety restraint system to work appropriately. Tesla admits this is a known manufacturer fault but still charges 400$ to correct it.

I had the control arms replaced and now the steering assist/ steering gear assembly has stopped working. The vehicle is undrivable and it only has 29K miles. This happened while driving and I had to go straight through an intersection as I could not steer the car.

The car is just out of warranty and has been driven about 62,000KM. The suspension and both frond and back control arms started to squeak badly during low speed driven, turning, back-in etc.

Steering wheel lost power (in city driving) it took the driver and the passenger turning the wheel to wrestle the car to the side of the road. Turned off the car’s power after coming to a stop. The car would not start. Took 6 resets to power up the car and return it to “normal.” This is the second time the car had the steering lock up and the car not start. The first time was after shopping. The car was parked at the time. Took 4 resets to return the car to “normal.”

I bought a used 2019 Tesla model 3 and just got a system warning that says “Front passenger safety restraint system fault”. I was researching this and it seems to be a common enough issue that a recall should be issued for it. If the seat belt system fails, someone could be very seriously injured if they’re in an accident

Tesla model 3 frequently displays front passenger safety restraint system fault message. This message is hard to take seriously as it comes and goes. It is rather confusing as the message full disappears if full self driving is enabled or subscribed. While I got the message on the display consistently from Jan to March 2024 I did not get the message during moth of April as I had free trial full self driving enabled. Now the full self driving grinders ended, the message is back. I am paying tesla to troubleshoot and fix. I believe this issue should looked by NHTSA and possible issue a recall.

Starting on May 6, 2024, my vehicle display showed an error message stating "Front passenger safety restraint system fault - Service is required." I alerted Tesla of this error through my phone app and set an appointment to have this fixed. I then received an estimate of $1400 which consisted of replacement of the passenger airbag ($1000) as well as an additional sensor that Tesla is indicating went bad ($400). I have never been in an accident with this vehicle so I can't understand why the airbag would be to be replaced, unless it was defective. I questioned this with Tesla and was told that none of the safety systems are covered anymore since the vehicle is now our of warranty. My wife drives my daughter to school daily and I'm more concerned that a car I spent $40k + on will not protect her in the event of a crash. Why would an un-used airbag need to be replaced at the owner's expense? Why isn't Tesla covering a defect in their restraint systems?

Tesla Model 3 battery pack coolant connector design flaw. It is made by plastic and covered with very thin cheap plastic cover which can very easily create impact and break the battery pack connector when any small objects hit front wheels(both side) while driving that leads the following safety and hazard issues to driver and passengers. 1. When there is hit in the coolant connector while driving the coolant start leaking which put safety of car,driver,passengers and others in very high risk 2. When it happens the dashboard shows the car is running reduced power and not giving enough info to take immediate action 3. This issue can be easily reproducible just driving the car in freeway where the road has debris or due to work zone 4. This issue reported to Geico Insurance 5. There is no warning before it first appears 6. It leads to change the entire battery pack which cost ~ $20,000 7. Since this is very critical component it should be well protected which is not the case currently

The car has a feature which adjust the seats for easy entry and for a driver based on driver profile. This results in the drivers seat to automatically adjust per profile. It seems overtime this damages a cable or connection under the seat, resulting in a fault in the sensor which recognizes a driver being present in the seat in case of emergency, ie determines if it should deploy airbag. Right now our car is showing this error and it’s only present when the seat adjust for my partner who is a shorter driver. Tesla has stated previously that this would be around $250 to repair, could only do it in person at the repair center. Online I’ve seen reports of onsite techs making the repair in less that 5 minutes with no or minimal charge for a replacement sensor or cable.

The upper control arm on the driver's side of my Tesla Model 3 has started making a loud squeaking noise. After researching, I discovered that many owners have experienced this issue. Tesla Service Centers acknowledge it as a known defect but refuse to issue a recall, only addressing it upon customer request. Since my vehicle is out of warranty, they have quoted me over $500 for the repair. This defect poses a significant safety risk if the upper control arm fails. Please look into this matter. Thank you!

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at 55 MPH, the steering wheel seized and made it difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering rack needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.

I received an error. - RCM_a056 "front passenger safety restraint system fault" So I scheduled service to review what happened. According to Tesla, and my service center - this is a known and common issue. The issue is a failure of the seat occupancy sensor. This requires replacement of: seat harness assembly, seat belt reminder sensor box clip and the first row occupancy sensor. However, the major issue (and what should be a class action lawsuit) is that Tesla created a new sensor - that now works, however, requires the replacement of the PASSENGER AIRBAG. Tesla's solution to this widely known issue (according to my service center) was to create a sensor that is not compatible with the current airbag system. This cost is astronomical. If the sensor alone could be replaced, this could be around a $400 fix, but because the airbag is an extra (approximate) $1,000. Total cost of repair is $1,329.34, not including the required $100 remote diagnostic fee.

February 2024 my car gives me a pop up warning on screen that “ steering ability may be reduced”. A few minutes later I could barely steer the car as if steering was partially locked up to maybe 90%. Tesla service dept. said the car “ reset” and it was ok to drive. Today April 16 2024 the same thing happened while driving. This is very dangerous. This is a software issue Tesla needs to resolve. The contact stated the vehicle is in the repair shop again regarding the same issue.

Front passenger restraint system fault. Tesla service informed that the airbags may not deploy and they need to be replaced.

Continental 235/40/r19 This is what I sent to Consumer Affair website: My personal experience reflects exactly the same as the poor rating of this brand. Tire has separation at 32k miles on the Tesla 3. I first noticed a thumb thumb sound. I ignored but it got worse then the vibration inside cabin started to occur. I pulled the tire off and inspected. My God i have a tire separation with steel wire sticking out and a big hump. I got mad after i found out that Tesla wants nothing to do with it (heck they don't even a have no. to call for an expensive car, shame on you Tesla) and Continental does not have a warranty. Spending time searching for another tire to buy i find out it is expensive for EV tire. I was frustrated and angry that i have to deal with a defective tire with no warranty from Tesla and Continental for low miles (plenty of thread left on tire). I decided to call Continental. The experience was horrible with them hung up on me and a run around. They told me to take to Discount tire to have it inspect. Dt agreed tire is defective and expect me to pay $250 with pro rate covered by Continental. I already found the same tire for $225 so i tell D.t take a hike. I called Continental back and [XXX] broke loose. I got a lot of run around, hung up with the rep. then manager and they won't do the tire pro rate more than 30%. I got fed up with lot of cussing I went back to D.Tire and settled with another Continental tire that is cheaper. I was pushing my luck driving with the tire that will blow anytime. The [XXX] Tesla does not have a spare tire on an expensive car (shame on you Tesla). I had no choice to replace a tire out of my pocket of $150 for the same brand as that is the only one with similar thread pattern very reluctantly as I had NO other choice or take a risk driving and NO spare tire. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000 (Electrical System); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local Tesla Service Center was contacted and informed the contact that the recall repair could not be performed on the vehicle due to the hardware of the vehicle. The dealer informed the contact that the recall repair required hardware 3.0; however, the vehicle hardware was 2.5. The dealer charged a fee to update the hardware. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and made the same assessment. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool shows no open recall.

Front control arms have zero to very little grease, this causing components to friction and cause loud squeaking sound. Tesla is charing nearly $300 to change out the control arms which are the same as what's currently in my vehicle. This incident will occur again and Tesla will benefit from it.

Car giving message 'front passenger safety system error'. Scheduled service with Tesla and was given a qoute of $2500. I checked online and found that this is a common problem where seats have been replaced, some harness under seat is issue and in some cases airbags were replaced. Seems to be a common safety issue which is manufacturing defect and should be recalled with no cost fix. Given it is a safety issue, I cannot drive with a passenger on front seat.

The steering wheel needs extra power to steer at low speeds. It acts as if the power steering has no power

"front left safety restraint system fault/service is required" this is the error message, and i am being charged over $300 for a faulty seat wiring harness being replaced out of warranty for a massive safety issue

I started to notice a noise that kind of sounded like rusty hinge on door every time I turned the steering wheel. It did not matter whether it was left or right. I took the car into the dealer because I was concern it could be something serious. The Tesla service center said my upper and lower control arms were "torn" and needed to be replaced. I find this hard to believe that control arms are failing only after 35, 000 miles on the car. The car is not even 5 years old yet. I am not abusive with this car and even so this should not be happening. I have many other vehicles over the years with hundreds of thousands of miles on them and never had issues with control arms.

Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault requiring replacement of airbag and passenger seat sonsor retrofit. If not replaced a danger of airbag failure to deploy. Problem confirmed with dealer and inspected by manufacturer. Warning light appeared to bring car in for repair

With the latest update of V12.3 FSD, the full self driving cannot predict the obstacles clearly, resulting in am incorrect left turn manuever, running over a central divider curb, and damaging tires. Not sure, what could have happened, if a human was standing there instead!

UNKNOWN The seatbelt just wouldn't latch any more.

Power steering and regenerative braking was intermittently work. Steering fully locked up while driving 70 m/hr on a freeway when I was on my way to service appointment. Very scary!! Service detected full steering rack replacement. When they took off the cable connectors water came pouring out. Water ingress caused corrosion to the body harness connector where it connects to the steering rack module. This seems to be an issue on online forums. Clearly this is a design flaw. How is water getting in and destroying all the electrical? Very unsafe and how is this issue going to be fixed so water doesn’t continue to get in

Heard rattling in the front of the car over a period of weeks. Finally checked and saw a bolt that secures the front wheel hinge to the body frame was very loose. Then I tried turning the wheel (while stationary) to test the front steering. After a few times, the bolt came completely loose and hanging, as in one of the pictures included. After the bolt came completely loose and hanging, the affected wheel is completely unaligned. Since the bolt is hanging, I simply removed it, as shown in one of the attached pictures.

Vehicles cabin heater High Current Failure after software update. Software Version: 2023.44.30.14 Vehicles cabin heater was functioning properly the morning of the software update. Over-the-air update was made and an electrical smell filled the cabin after update and heater no longer functioned. Alert codes indicate Resistive Heater Fault. I reported issue to Tesla and the repair cost is $1,055.80 and not covered. I have checked Tesla message boards and this update has caused other similar malfunctions.

Power steering reduces, steering rack required replacement

The car's main screen displayed an error message, "front passenger safety restraint fault. service required." According to on line user groups this same safety system fault has occurred in many Tesla Model 3 cars. In my case, Tesla replaced the occupancy sensor harness in the seat and replaced the passenger side air bag, for a total price of $1800. Replacing the air bag was by far the most expensive part of the repair, but it wasn't defective, it was merely incompatible with the new sensor. With a repair this expensive, many car owners will be tempted to forego the entire repair, since the warning doesn't prevent the car's operation. Tesla should recall all Model 3s and repair the problem, otherwise many drivers will be tempted to drive with a defective sensor system.

The rear view camera has not functioned properly for several months. We did have the rear harness recall work completed, but the camera was working fine at that time and stopped working in Nov sometime after a software update. This is VERY similar to 24V-035, except that is on 2023 year models only. Why is that campaign limited to 2023 only? There are a lot of complaints on the internet about this issue, and in some cases Tesla charging $3500 to replace a computer in the car. We also have the full automatic driving, same as in the 2023 models recalled. This issue seems to be related to this update, or one about that time period: [XXX]. [XXX] [XXX] I have tried all the wizardry and voodoo mentioned across the web and no results. The rear camera DOES work in live vire mode and in the service mode camera preview - so I know it works. It just does not work while driving/in reverse. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

After owning my new car for less than 5 years I started intermittently receiving a "Safety restraint system fault" error. It seemed to most frequently occur when the driver's seat was raised. When lowering the seat the error would often go away. Checking the service menu's notifications there was RCM_a021 code. I researched online and found the following thread which exactly described my problem: [XXX] I opened up the connector and one wire was cut. I restripped and soldered it and the error went away. I consider this a safety issue since through normal use of different seat positions (including the easy entry option) the wire bends and gets cut, which causes the seat belt safety features to stop working. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Thursday, 2/29/23 I was driving through a busy intersection. The car in front of me was slowing and I too slowed by gently easing the brake. This slow down was not unusual for steadily moving traffic. As my foot was resting on the brake, I felt the car pull the brake down below my foot hard, forcing my vehicle to abruptly stop and due to the force, my body was pushed into the steering wheel. No injury or accidents resulted however, if a car had been driving behind me, I would have been rear-ended. If my toddler had been with me, his car seat would have protected him but this would have been the greatest force ever placed on him. The car did not provide warning that the emergency brake would be activated. I am not aware of a publicly-notified defect at this time. I have scheduled the most soon appointment available with a Tesla service center in order to audit my software system with hope this glitch will be resolved.

The back window cracked with no impact. Even though this is a known issue with Tesla Model 3s, Tesla charged me $1400 for the replacement window because it was four months after warranty expiration. Six weeks after the new window installation, the glass cracked again. Both times the back window cracked at the car body joint which suggests a structural issue. This time Tesla claimed it was impact damage and again refused to pay for repair.

FORCED DISCONNET: Autopilot and Full Self Driving suddenly decelerated to 15 mph with no sign or road work signs. The curve onto Old Madison Pike means following traffic can not see the car suddenly creeping in the turn lane. The problem is reproducible. The problem has been reported to Tesla using their voice reporting system. There were no warnings. It has been going on since August 2022.

I was driving on the road at night a few days ago and there was a car that was pulled over on the side of the road with hazard lights flashing. The Tesla slowed down and applied the brakes very hard. The Tesla also applied the brakes for no reason. It was on adaptive cruise control, and all of a sudden it would hit the brakes really hard and I would have to take it off the adaptive cruise control because I did not want to get into an accident. The system automatically applied the brakes in both cases which I would call it, “The “phantom braking”. The car had done this before but not to this extent on adaptive cruise control. This only happened when it was on cruise control. I have been very hesitant on putting it on adaptive cruise control because it acts up at times.