2021 Tesla Model 3 Complaint Log

My car is braking hard while I'm on the highway. It's happened on this trip 7 times already. In one of braking, My wife almost got rear ended

Electrical system rebooted in the middle of driving: screen went off couldn't signal i swayed to the side and waited till the screen came back on after 3 minutes.

This is a report of the accident I was in on July 15, 2023 at 3:00 PM. I was going south on two lane Hwy 160 a couple south miles of Hwy 12 when I pulled out onto a wide, long pullout. When I decided to get back on the highway, I looked back to see a long line of cars coming. My Tesla’s Full Self Driving has Auto Lane Change which switches lanes for you when safe. I figured I would use Auto Lane Change to merge onto the road when safe. I already had the Tesla Navigation on. I turned on the Full Self Drive and my blinker, thinking that it would be a while before the Tesla decided it was safe to merge onto the road. However, the car started moving toward the road almost immediately. I realized that there couldn’t have been a break in traffic already. I turned in disbelief. Just then the left side of the was smashed. I looked ahead to see a SUV swerving back and forth down the road trying to regain control. Then the blur of another car. The SUV was sailing through the air, then it was sliding on its roof. I rushed to the SUV feeling like there was a good chance that people were really hurt or dead. I couldn’t see inside because of the airbags.The driver’s door wouldn’t open. I rushed around the back of the car and saw a dog getting out of the front passenger door followed by a man. The man helped his wife out. Thankfully, they were not hurt. While waiting for the tow truck, one of the fishermen who were hanging around for some reason asked me for my ID. I asked why. He said his car was in the accident and pointed across the highway to over a 15 foot embankment and to about 500 hundred yards away where I saw his car. He said that his car had been parked and was hit by the SUV. With the stress and adrenaline of the accident and because there was only my car and the SUV on the side of the road, I realized that this was the car I had seen in a blur during the whirlwind accident.

Constant phantom breaking

When vehicle is in cruise control or autopilot the car will suddenly brake without warning. It will do this numerous times and could cause an accident if a vehicle is following close behind.

My car has a Homelink that will automatically open the garage door when approaching the door. Unfortunately, if the garage door is already open, this will unexpectedly close the door with no warning. This has resulted in damage to the trunk lid of another can that was parked in the garage with the trunk open. It is a dangerous situation for the door to close when others near the door are not warned or something in the path of the closing door. The Homelink does show the status of the door (open or closed) so it would be easy to not close the door if it was already open. When the Homelink is used to remotely close the door, it has a delay and will flash the lights before the door is closed to warn people who are in the way. This is an easy fix and I hope something can be done. Other Tesla owners have had the same problem.

Multiple phantom breaking events while driving at highway speed. Luckily there were no cars behind us, otherwise there could have been a collision. Caused driver and passenger whiplash and items in car to be forcibly displaced. There were no advance warning. Tried to report to manufacturer but they seem to be closed for the holiday, will try again to report after holiday.

Car “Phantom brakes” constantly when going over a hill when it does not have vision. The braking is aggressive at freeway speeds and poses a risk for rear end collisions or road rage incidents if people think they are being brake checked.

Ul_a022_ApeFusesEtc Audience [service-fix, factory) Description Driver Assistance ECU (APE) is not fused or not locked or missing credentials Set Condition Driver Assistance ECU is not fused or not locked or missing credentials Clear Condition Driver Assistance ECU is fused, locked and has proper credentials Potential Impact Driver Assistance ECU is in an unsecured state (unfused)

When driving the Tesla model 3 in cruise control, It will without warning apply the brakes. I have to then accelerate and then take it out of cruise control. The issue has happened about a dozen times and only happens while in cruise control. It happened most recently today but has happened in previous days.

While getting a routine tire change, my mechanic alerted me to the fact that nuts were missing from the rear suspension on both sides. On one of them, the bolt had nearly slid out as a result, and could have been very dangerous as it did so. The tires had been rotated at this shop prior to this, and they had not noticed it. So the nuts must have loosened enough to fall out between 21,496 miles on 2/15/2023 and 26,278 miles on 6/16/2023. We never noticed anything out of the ordinary with regards to noise, vibration, or handling.

1:Brake fail when trying to stop the car after the accident. The car is available for inspection at Arrow towing service Oklahoma City. 2: After the car accident the car keep going can't stop got Tee boned and my passenger broke his legs and ankles, elbow. 3: No, the problem has not be discussed with the dealer or manufacturer yet. 4: No one, including police, insurance have been inspect it. 5: No warning lamp or any kind of warning.

The incident first happend (and has been happening ever since) on I-8, I-10, I-20 east bound 2 days ago. Driving on EB I-8 with speed limits 75MPH, engaged Tesla's well touted onboard Enhanced Auto Pilot (EAP) with Auto Steer control. There was no one ahead of us for over a mile. The weather was clear and sunny, time of incident around noon. Max speed was set to 75 on EAP. All of a sudden, we felt a jerky motion, and realized the EAP has activated brakes, dropping speed from set 75 to about 50mph. No visual or audible alarms, the EAP did not disengage. The driver took over to speed up to avoid being rear ended by vehicles coming behind us. It happened several times more during our trip and then we decided to manually drive. We have video documentation available.

When trying to seat belt on, under normal conditions, seat belt fails to engage. The belt is stuck in full locked mode. Issue happens intermittently. Failure of seat belt forces no occupancy of front passenger seat, as the only alternative would be to not wear a belt. This raises the following concern: 1. Will the belt fail to work properly in case of a crash event? 2. Will the belt disengage when normal driving. TESLA did NOT replace the belt under warranty and out of concern for my passengers, I replaced it under my own cost

On May 22, 2023 driving south on I-580 through Reno with the Tesla adaptive cruise control, there's a 55mph construction zone. As a result, I use the right scroll wheel to adjust the speed from 65 to 55mph. The scroll wheel didn't work. As a result, I turned off the cruise control with the right steering wheel stalk. At the same time, I noticed the vehicle speed indicator on the upper left of the CRT display was malfunctioning; both failing to respond to changes in the car's speed, and then indicating erroneous speeds (at one point indicating 34mph when I was going around 60mph. These issues continued. I took the exit on Double R Blvd to turn right. As I got into the right lane on the freeway to exit I attempted to turn off the cruise control and it didn't work. Approaching the exit, I then applied the brake. The regenerative braking function did not apply. As a result, it felt like the cruise control didn't turn off. However, I braked to a stop at the intersection in the right lane with no issues. When the traffic cleared, I attempted to turn right and proceed east on Double R Blvd. The car didn't move. Using the right stalk, I tried shifting into drive, reverse, and back. All this time, the drive (D) and reverse (R) indications on the CRT did not show. I let off the brake and the car inched forward. I turned right immediately into the Maverick gas station entrance to get off RR. The CRT display now showed the back-up camera displays (a normal indication of the car being in reverse). I cautiously let off the brake and applied the accelerator pedal to see if I backed up, but the car was in drive and proceeded normally. I continued to drive and the CRT screen went completely black. I soon realized the car's computer was rebooting with the faint Tesla logo on the black screen. Within a mile or so, everything came back on the screen and worked normally. I then reached my destination. When I returned to the car, it was as if nothing had happened.

This same event has happened to me approximately 3-4 times since owning the vehicle. It occurs randomly without warning. The vehicle screen will randomly and suddenly freeze up and render itself inoperable. Eventually, the screen will reset itself or I will have to manually force a reset. After about 5-10 minutes, the screen will reset and the problem goes away. During the 5-10 minutes of the screen not operating, I cannot see or change any of the vehicles controls; loss of HVAC control, cannot turn on windshield wipers, cannot see vehicle speed, don't know if turn signals are on/off (also lose audible sounds when turn signals are on) are the major safety related losses; you essentially lose all control over the vehicle settings/controls. Vehicle continues to drive as normal, and all functions are restored after reset is complete.

I bought my Tesla model 3 in October 2021. I no longer can view my backup camera or side camera when signaling and reversing. gps doesn’t work. Warning collision doesn’t detect. No warning lamps or messages. I schedule a service and they might think it’s a failed mcu. It’s no longer under warranty since I put 79000 miles on it. Car isn’t even two years old and if mcu failed. I think it should be replace for free if it less than two years, miles shouldn’t count.

Was using cruise control on a road trip, traveling through Arizona and the car jolted to stop three different times without advance notice or anything in the road. It was like slamming on the brakes. I was afraid to use it anymore, so now it’s like having a vehicle without cruise control feature. There were cars all around. We are fortunate no one hit us. This needs to be addressed. Googled and discovered it is called “phantom braking.” Hoping this serious safety issue will be fixed and no one gets hurt or dies because of it. Thank you

I was driving my car on the highway I275 approximatley 5 miles North of St Petersburg Florida. When without reason the car spun to the left very quickly, I did not have any steering control at that moment. If the car had hyro plained it would not have spun out of control so quickly. The road was slightly wet as there was a drizzle but not to any extent to allow the car to spin out of control due to heavy water. My vehicle hit the highway guard rail and was badly damaged.

Using cruise control or auto pilot and then the car randomly brakes.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at 70 - 75 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. No warning lights were illuminated. 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 31,043.

Intro: This is a well known problem with Tesla cars. It's referred to as "phantom braking" in the Facebook Tesla groups and is wide spread. Using only cameras since around 2021 for adaptive cruise control, the car will "slam on the brakes" even though the road is completely clear ahead. This can easily cause an accident if there is a car following you. It has occurred several times since I bought the car Jan 2022. - malfunction component adaptive cruise control. yes available for inspection - a rear end collision could occur when the car's brakes are activated so hard that the car decelerates from 70 to 20 in seconds - the problem is well documented - no, no inspection by any entity. Tesla knows the problems exists - no, no warning of any kind

While on Autopilot, the car suddenly phantom brakes when there is no risk of any collision ahead. This has happened multiple times on high speed highways. Within 1 hour, this happened 5 times and caused near-collisions with the car following my car.

I was driving to school which is about an hour away from my home. I was in the carpool lane when all of a sudden I got a notice that the top speed of the vehicle was reduced to 35 MPH second later it said it was in low power mode. The screen starting flashing red and it began to shake and shut down. I had seconds to get into the shoulder of the freeway and the car and the car lost all power. This was an unprovoked incident and I feel that if put me in grave danger. In order for the car to start driving I had to exit and enter it again while on the freeway. I was thankfully able to pull into the shoulder because I was in the carpool lane but had I not been I would have had to do this in full traffic.

While using the autopilot or cruise control feature The vehicle slams on the brakes without driver intervention. I found this appears to be a common problem called “ Phantom Braking” I opened ticket with the local Tesla facility but they required an accurate time storm of the incident to be able to troubleshoot the issue. This is a major safety issue and I request it be investigated as soon as possible. I read some news reports that Tesla Phantom Braking has caused major accidents and I don’t want to be in one.

there were 2 phantom braking incidents today traveling between pasadena and berkeley onhighway 5. it was getting cloudy. the first incident occurred just after i passed under an overpass, and thought it might have been due to the lighting. the braking was mild . there were other cars passing me on the left. i had the cruise control set to around 74mph. i probably slowed to 65mph the second phantom braking incident was about an hour later, and it was HARD. fortunately the cars behind me were far enough away. the cruise control was also set around 74mph. interestingly, no audio alerts were issued with either incident. normally, when driving without cruise control, the car will issue audio alerts (loud, urgent beeping) if a car gets too close. in both of my cases, there were no cars in front of me as i was in the slow lane.

There is a recent recall for suspension related issues with this model. Recently there is a suspension related knocking sound coming from front drivers side area that seems suspension related. I am unable to schedule appt for inspection/ repairs due to another unrelated scheduled service. Tesla requires scheduling through the Tesla application and does not allow scheduling for service when another appointment is pending. I have no way to contact them directly. They have not responded to my concern through customer service app.

My full self driving computer has crashed for the 3rd time since owning the vehicle which controls all of the cars safety features.. Tesla says they won’t do anything because the car is past the warranty by 9,000 miles.. so I’m basically stuck with a 1980’s Tesla.

The rear seat doesn’t detect kids under 50lbs. Putting the seat in car seat mode only disables the seatbelt alert and doesn’t keep the rear fans on. You can turn them on manually, but the car forgets that they should stay on if you precondition the cabin from the mobile app. Meaning that my child cooks in the back seat due to lack of rear cabin conditioning unless I remember to turn it back on in a buried menu every time.

The car will apply the brakes suddenly when in control when there is no obstacle to be avoided.

During the time we have owned this car, it exhibits random and sudden deceleration events when operating AutoPilot (adaptive cruise control) on highways and freeways. The events are not explainable by presence of any notable present or potential hazard. The risk presented to and by surrounding (following) vehicles is so significant that it renders this function unusable. Saturday, April 1, was the last time this occurred before we decided we could no longer safely use this function, instead going to full manual control of the throttle and brake for all highway driving.

Tesla has not downloaded the software to remedy NHTSA Recall No: 22V-702

When driving on the highway on autopilot (not full self driving or enhanced auto pilot), the vehicle will experience “phantom braking” where it will suddenly brake with full regenerative braking force without any perceivable reason/cause. I have noticed this event occurs every time at the same location as it is on my commute to work. I’ll be on the highway with my speed set to around the speed limit of 65mph in autopilot mode, and when approaching the merge of a specific on-ramp, the car’s set speed will suddenly change from 65 to 55 and then the full power of regenerative braking is applied until I manually disengage them. There can be no vehicles around me or any logical reason for it to brake, and it will do so anyways. This is a safety concern as a vehicle following behind me may not anticipate a random and hard braking event for no apparent reason or cause to do so. The car acts if the speed limit decreases, which it doesn’t, and then its reaction is to brake very very hard and abruptly. If I don’t manually disengage the brakes, I’m not sure if it would come to a complete stop on the highway or just brake until a certain speed is reached. This phantom braking event has occurred in other areas as well, but I have noticed it always happens at this one specific location every day. There are no speed limit signs/changes in the area.

My car no longer makes any sound when driving in parking lots or alley lanes to warn pedestrians or bicycle riders of my approach. This needs to be addressed for the safety of myself and others.

My model 3 on crusing speeds on high ways, automatically applies brakes and makes sudden,abrupt, jolted slowing down which causes extreme pressure on persons body

The car suddenly braked hard when there were no obstacles or other reason. If someone was behind me I would have been hit.

Car put on brakes unexpectedly during use of adaptive cruise control (autopilot). This phantom braking happens often at highway speed. Bug reports have been sent from vehicle to Tesla

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving out of a parking space, the steering wheel seized. The message "Front Motor Disabled. Continue Driving" was displayed. The manufacturer was contacted and provided remote assistance, but the failure persisted. The contact stated that the vehicle regained power steering functionality after an hour. The contact stated that the failure recurred while driving out of a parking space on another occasion. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla Service Center however, the failure could not be duplicated; however, the circuit board was replaced. The contact stated that the failure recurred while pulling out of a parking space on a third occasion. The vehicle was towed to a second Tesla service center, Tesla Sales (750 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA 94087) who informed the contact that an unknown software update was needed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

While driving on the interstate I was using Autopilot (cruise control). I started into a slight curve when the vehicle suddenly emergency braked. The roadway was clear and thankfully no vehicle was following close behind me. Also there was no warning alarms, just a sudden, aggressive braking. This has happened several times before but the first time with no alarms beforehand.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH as he was exiting a highway and slowing for a traffic signal at the bottom of the off-ramp his brakes failed to engage. The contact stated the brake pedal was stiff and he had attempted to use full leg force to depress the brake pedal. The contact's vehicle ran the traffic signal and the contact stated he hit the right front end of a vehicle that was across traffic from him. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the crash stopped his vehicle and the other vehicle. The contact said that the air bags had been deployed and that the left front end of his vehicle was crushed into the left wheel well. The contact stated that the other vehicle received only light damage to the right end of the bumper due to it being higher than his vehicle. The contact stated that the police were on the scene and filed a report. The other vehicle was able to drive away, and the contact's vehicle was towed to an impound lot. The contact stated that his insurance provider declared the contact's vehicle a total loss. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that prior to the crash he had attempted to engage his cruise control while on the highway and it would not work. The contact stated that when he engaged the cruise control the windshield wipers would activate and he stopped attempting to use cruise control. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 18,000.

I was driving Tesla on the freeway using adaptive cruise control at 65 miles per hour and the car suddenly brake and the sped jumped from 65 to 20 in seconds. It was scary. There was no one in front of nothing in the road to cause that to happen. It did say on the screen something about visibility. I had to take control of the car after. It has happened several times before. When I spoke with Tesla they said it’s a safety feature and it only happens when you pass certain cities. I find that hardly true

I was driving with the Autopilot on, traveling about 65 mph on the freeway when the automatic emergency braking system kicked in for no reason. There was absolutely nothing in front of the car when it aggressively braked, very suddenly. I was very lucky no one was behind me. I have not reported this directly to Tesla, no one has inspected or confirmed this event.

The heat pump failed in 12/2022. The defroster would not work and heating was an issue. I encountered 2 dangerous situations in snowstorms where I could not see out the window and the heating was inconsistent and difficult to control.This was fixed by Tesla. The heat pump failed again (less than a month later). I was told today that there was an ice buildup in the coils possibly due to car wash (?). This problem, I am afraid, is going to continue.

Tesla software release 2022.44.25 My Tesla autopilot continues to exhibit phantom braking while in traffic aware cruise control and autopilot. The vehicle will suddenly slow down either gently or harshly. This behavior was observed after Tesla released software that disabled the cars radar. Since then, multiple updates have remedied the issue but 2022.44.25 has introduced phantom braking again. No accidents have occurred but luckily I live in a remote area of Arizona and can take control of the car as it phantom brakes. After Tesla working in autopilot for years, I think it’s time for additional validation to start happening on autopilot and traffic aware cruise control. I’m also of the belief that normal cruise control should be banned. Thanks!

While charging Model 3 the amperage went from 32amps and was capped at 16amps. This is a wide spread issue with Tesla’s model 3 Power conversion system (PCS). There is 3 controllers in the PCS system. When all 3 are working correctly it will charge at 48amps. If one stops it will drop to 32 amps or drop to 16 amps if two fail or not even charge if 3 fail. This is a known issue and and costly repair as Tesla refuses to fix these under the battery warranty.

On 1-14-2023, while driving westbound on I-64, around sunset (5:20ish pm) in a straight portion of the highway, the vehicle suddenly braked for no reason. There was nothing in the road and no cross traffic. There was an all white semi in the right lane that I was approaching in the passing lane. I immediately disengaged the cruise and continued my trip with no further incidents.

Autopilot failed. Driver had head, neck injuries , and the passenger had head, neck, and knee injuries. CRASH REPORT: Date - 1/14/23; Time - 10:30 am. NCIC Number - 9565; Officer's Name: Garduno #22857

The only cruise control feature available on this car is the adaptive cruise control. This car continues to make sudden unsafe braking maneuvers for no reason. It seems to get confused by steep hills, bridges, shadows, and other factors. You can be on a highway going 70mph and it will slam the brakes, terrifying passengers and potentially causing you to get rear ended. This has been ongoing since the purchase of the car 1 year ago.

Vehicle's turn signal is not hardware based, but instead relies on the software registering signal use. The turn signal can be "fully" pressed, and "partially" pressed, and the behavior is supposed to be: Full press: Blinks until you manually disengage 1/2 press: Blinks 3 times, then automatically disengages. Anything "between" a full press and a half-press, ie beyond the level which is supposed to trigger a 3-time blink, but not "bottoming out" the signal, regularly fails to trigger the signal at all. This leads to scenarios in which the driver "thinks" they have signaled, and creates unsafe situations for surrounding vehicles.

On multiple occasions, the car will suddenly decelerate while using adaptive cruise control on the highway. Malfunctioning component: adaptive cruise control. Safety: rear end collision if another vehicle was following too closely. Manufacturer is fully aware of the problem.