NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2024 Tesla Model 3. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026
The turn signal often fails to operate. It features haptic feedback instead of a physical button. This design is impractical, potentially dangerous, and unwise for use in vehicles.
Cruising at 75 and speed dropped to 55. There are at least 3 FSD/beta features in the driver set cruise control, did Tesla get approval to add those features to the cruise control?
Cruising at 75 the speed suddenly drops to 55, the worst I had was changed from 75 to 40. This is Dangerous and needs to be changed. It drops speeds every day and before I can correct it the car usually drops a minimum of 5mph. If allowed I will start to report this every day until it is corrected as it is a huge safety issue for other drivers and potentially a deadly crash or road rage incident.
The front camera that is known as Tesla vision consistently stays fogged up. This creates an issue when using auto-pilot that makes the car beep loudly and disengage auto-pilot putting others at risk if the car disengages and the driver is not quick enough to respond to the the disengagement. After several months of this and the problem does not go away after following Teslas advice per their user manual of pre conditioning the car and de fogging the windshield for a long period of time, I have scheduled a service appointment. The vehicle I own has not been inspected by Tesla, nor a third party service at the moment. There is no warning when the system will deactivate and I have had it happen several times on corners which is very concerning and scary when in the vehicle.
See attached document for complaint.
Entire screen froze. FSD stopped working completely. The system GPS stopped working, auto wipers stopped working, auto park, anything related to the cameras stopped working. After trying multiple resets, it didn't help. It luckily started working again in the morning. Others have reported this issue to Tesla and all over Reddit. News articles are starting to come out about it now. The entire motherboard dying is a massive safety issue, especially if there are any safety systems linked to it (like auto wipers, speedometer, ABS or AEB, FSD, etc.). Tesla refused to replace my computer after I showed them the issue. [XXX] 552(B)(6) INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The left turn signal button will occasionally not work. Apparently this is a known issue but I have received nothing from Tesla about a fix. I took the car to Tesla Service today (currently there now) and they are telling me they will look for the problem. They gave me the same model demo car to take for a couple of hours and the same thing happened twice in a row to make lane changes on the freeway then never happened again. There are several YouTube videos about the problem. [XXX] being one. This problem makes this not only unsafe but also I could get a ticket for not signaling a turn. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Using cruise control to go with the flow of traffic the vehicle will slow down for any random flashing lights far away or vehicle in next lane causing all vehicles to slow down unnecessarily. FSD and beta programming does not belong in driver set cruise control.
Have to swerve the vehicle back and forth to get the alarm to shut off.
The button turn signal will not function about 10% of the time making it very dangerous for me when I do need to signal. People attribute this problem to resting your thumb over the button for an extended period of time and the steering wheel no longer registering the input. I believe that this is a tremendously dangerous design flaw. Tesla should return to the stalk turn signals.
Screen cracked without any direct cause. Manufacturer defect. Manufacturer will not cover under warranty.
While driving at highway speeds, the driver initiated what was to be a standard lane change from right to left to accommodate traffic merging onto the highway into the right-hand lane. About halfway through the lane change, the vehicle automatically and unexpectedly braked hard, locking the wheels. This led to high stress and back/neck pain. If traffic had not been light at the time, the vehicle would likely have been rear-ended. The vehicle was operating in traffic-aware cruise control during this event.
About two weeks ago with driver set cruise control, the phantom braking was so severe that it took me down from 75 to around 15 if I remember correctly. The braking was so severe and at the same time self steered to the edge of the road along the guard rail that my body was unable to move quicker to correct the vehicle. Your system gets jolted violently without notice which takes a couple seconds to recover from and I decided to report this one after watching the San Francisco video. Fortunately, the two vehicles behind me were far enough away. This is absolutely not OK, I have had several severe braking incidents and each time it not only takes about 2-3 seconds to correct but also created back pain.
While using Traffic Aware Cruise Control the vehicle would rapidly decelerate with no warnings of potential collision and with no actual emergency situation existing on the road. In a single trip that spanned both day and night there were three rapid declaration events occurring both when light or dark outside. Vehicle display wouldn't show any messages as to the reason for declaration.
The push button turn signals occasionally do not work. The buttons are completely unable to be pushed and activated. This issue occurs several times a day when attempting lane changes, left and right turns. I am unable to duplicate the issue on-command, but it occurs often enough and in situations where it is very dangerous, particularly in traffic when a turn signal is necessary and it will not activate. When I took the car in for servicing the issue, the technician confirmed that this is a known issue. They replace the entire turn signal and steering wheel assembly. But it did not solve the issue as the issue continues. There are no warning lamps, messages, etc. It simply does not work sometimes and randomly.
The buttons on the steering wheel stick and do not work. These include the turn signals and also bright lights and windshield wipers. They stick on my car, and I am renting a 2024 model 3 that they stick on as well. It’s not possible to signal a turn or wipe the windshield when this happens, which is a safety issue.
Rear Display (1875931-00-D) glass breaking without any impact. Tesla Service Center refused to honor warranty repair.
Since delivery of my new Tesla Model 3, the haptic turn signal buttons intermittently fail to register inputs despite repeated presses. This issue began immediately and occurs without any warning lamps or error messages. I am requesting the NHTSA to investigate this matter promptly due to the significant safety risks posed by the malfunctioning turn signal system in the Tesla Model 3. The inability to reliably signal turns and lane changes endangers not only us but also other road users. **Safety Risk:** • At highway speeds, I was unable to signal lane changes, leading to dangerous situations where other drivers were unaware of my intentions. • In one critical incident, I needed to make an emergency lane change to avoid road obstacles but could not activate the turn signal, nearly resulting in a collision due to surrounding drivers not being alerted. • Driving in high-traffic areas like Austin increases the hazard, as the lack of signaling can lead to rear-end collisions or sideswipes from drivers unaware of merging or turning maneuvers. **Reproduction and Inspection:** First Service Attempt: Reported the issue to Tesla; they replaced the steering wheel after months of waiting. The malfunction persisted, with turn signals failing again on the drive home. Second Service Attempt: Tesla service center acknowledged the problem but stated there is no mechanical failure they can address. They informed me it's a design flaw with the haptic buttons not consistently recognizing presses and that no fix is available. The problem has been reproduced and observed by Tesla technicians but remains unresolved. **No Alternative Signaling Method:** Tesla's design eliminates traditional turn signal stalks, relying solely on these haptic buttons. When they fail, there's no alternative method to signal, exacerbating the safety risk. Numerous reports from other Tesla owners indicate the same problem, suggesting a widespread safety defect that warrants immediate attention.
Driver set cruise control has FSD imbedded that causes the vehicle to slow down drastically on its own. The car has brake tested several following vehicles so far. I’ve seen this before many times of other Teslas but thought it was the driver and now I know it was not. This causes a chain reaction of braking and smoking tires. I am positive this has created accidents but the ones involved have no idea how it started many vehicles ahead. The lane keep assist pillar cameras do not work in the dark, this has taken me by surprise already. The phantom braking on highways is awful, it is so bad that I am afraid to drive in the winter. The torque of the wheel sensor is not safe, when auto steer disables it can take you by surprise causing you to swerve into on coming traffic. The car accused me of using a cheat device one time so I decided to try it and surprisingly I found that it is actually much safer than using my body weight. These are extremely unsafe for busy traffic and slippery roads. I have videos showing it and will get more.
The car looses power while Driving on roads and freeways. This has happened to me 3 times in less than a month. And after every power loss I tow the vehicle to the dealer the Tesla dealer says it’s fixed but this problem has happened 3 times start Oct 11th 2024 then on the 26th and today October 28th. The vehicle turns on drives then alerts to a problem with audible alarms followed by all indicator warning lights saying there’s a problem along with the brake pulsing when applying the brake almost like ABS is working but no need for it. The car is completely powerless no power steering but the center console works. Please help and pressure Tesla for a recall on this issue
I’m reporting an ongoing issue with the turn signal button on my 2024 Model 3, purchased a few weeks ago. From day one, the button has intermittently failed to activate. Initially, we thought we were not pressing it correctly, but after continued issues, it’s clear this is a malfunction. Last night, while driving on a busy road, the right turn signal failed repeatedly, forcing me to miss a highway ramp. This is not only frustrating but dangerous. I’ve since discovered similar complaints from other owners, which raises serious safety concerns.
While merging into heavy highway traffic, turn signal failed to turn on when button was pressed. This made me have to merge without a turn signal on putting me at a higher risk of a collision and surprising the drivers behind me. Immediately after the merge was complete I attempted to troubleshoot the button and found that it was stuck in the up state, flicking it multiple times made it possible to press the button again. Later that day experimentation showed that the button was prone to sticking if pushed at an angle but would work correctly as long as a deliberate and vertical press is applied. Specifically pushing the button with force pushing the button outwards relative to the steering wheel would cause the button to shift to the outward edge and get stuck on the plastic housing rendering the button impossible to depress. This angle is typical as the persons thumb would naturaly slide outwards when interacting with the button. The vehicle has not been inspected by any third parties (including manufacturer), but a video was recorded reproducing the malfunction and demonstrating how pushing the buttons inward resolves the issue. No warnings about the button no longer being operation were displayed. On a somewhat related note, its nearly impossible to signal that one is exiting a roundabout with the buttons as they change location before being pressed (steering angle) and depending on angle change meaning (upper button means right or left turn for example).
Lane change turn signal/indicator buttons stop working. Multiple times go to change lanes and the indicators have disabled themselves. There are no stalk based turn signals/indicators on the 2024 Tesla 3, only steering wheel indicator touch buttons. Searching on internet says the buttons can disable themselves on Tesla 3 if you rest your fingers near the indicator buttons. This is a huge problem if anticipating a turn or lane change. When you are ready to legitimately use them they are often disabled causing panic and causing you to look down to understand the issue, while at speed while on highway. Feature should be disabled entirely or at least optionally disabled.. or stalks available as retrofit. Super dangerous not being able to indicate when desired. Thousands of these cars on road with same issue. While also a bad design that the signal buttons rotate with steering wheel in general, (eg. almost impossible to indicate and exit while in a traffic circle, or indicate immediate left then right turn, as the buttons are no longer at 9/3 as they would when driving straight, but now some random angle away from hands that have had to re-grip during a tight turn) the buttons disabling themselves for a perhaps 5 second period on a whim is crazy dangerous and main reason to raise this safety issue. This seemingly affects all 2024 Tesla Model 3.
Steering wheel has buttons for turn signals (they removed stalks in 2024 model 3). I’ve had several dangerous incidents where the turn signal buttons have failed to activate. This caused me to panic and nearly get into an accident on several occasions. I brought in for service and they said this is a KNOWN problem with 2024 model 3. What a joke! They told me to bring it back in once I can replicate it 3 times again. Apparently we are lab rats.
The turn signals buttons for the refreshed Tesla Model 3 (Highland) get stuck, preventing drivers from activating either the left or right signal. This malfunction poses a significant safety hazard as it compromises communication with other drivers on the road. There is no indication or symptom prior to the issue appearing.
See attached document for complaint
Turn signal buttons on steering wheel are getting stuck and causes them to be inoperable.
This model vehicle does not have traditional turn signal stalks, it has buttons on the steering wheel to engage the left and right turn signals. Intermittently, these buttons become completely unable to be pressed, and as a result you are unable to signal turns to other drivers. This is a serious safety issue, especially in some circumstances where turn signals are critical to a given situation. Tesla Service denied any attempt to fix this issue, citing that I was not pressing the buttons hard enough. I have driven this vehicle daily for months and understand how hard to press a button. No amount of force will allow the button to press when this occurs. I provided five videos of this to Tesla Service. Online, many other owners are reporting the same issue. I have a personal friend with a 2024 Model 3 with the same issue, and Telsa Service also turned him away and threatened to charge him a fee if he reported it again and they were unable to reproduce. Here is an example of a forum of drivers reporting the same. It does appear this issue happens when a driver accidentally rests their finger on the buttons for a period of time before using them. Seems like a software issue blocking the function of the buttons - which are likely capacitive. https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaModel3/comments/1esjzlr/turn_signal_issue_on_new_2024_tesla_model_3/
The rear motor failed on my car. It has less than 4,000 miles on it. It is already being worked on. The car barely gave me 10 seconds before it lost power, locked up and wouldn’t move. Yes. They told me the rear motor failed and needed to be replaced. Tesla inspected it themselves and confirmed the issue. Yes, they appeared 10 seconds before it died, I had no other warnings prior to that. This was extremely dangerous as I barely had time to get to a safe place.
On several occasions, the turn signal indicator buttons on the steering wheel failed to activate the signal. The button appeared to be jammed, it was not possible to feel the "detent" when pressed. This puts myself and others at risk due to the inability to properly signal when preparing to make a turn which has to then be aborted. I've found the button can only be "unstuck" by clicking the opposite turn signal indicator one or more times (this act can also be confusing to surrounding drivers). This happens randomly. Vehicle was brought to service center however they were not able to replicate the concern.
I am writing to express my concern regarding recent design changes implemented by Tesla Motors in their Model 3, Model S, and Model X vehicles. Tesla has removed traditional turn signal and shifting stalks from the steering wheel and replaced them with buttons. While innovation in automotive design is crucial for progress, I believe these changes have significant implications for vehicle safety and warrant thorough investigation. The traditional design of turn signal and shifting stalks has been in place for decades and has become a standardized control method universally understood by drivers. This familiarity contributes greatly to safe driving practices and allows drivers to operate their vehicles instinctively. Tesla's decision to replace these tried-and-true controls with buttons on the steering wheel is a substantial departure from this standard and may impact the muscle memory and reflexes that many drivers rely on in critical moments. Moreover, the ergonomic and cognitive effects of this new control layout have not been publicly detailed by Tesla, raising questions about whether sufficient research and testing were conducted to ensure that these changes do not negatively impact the safe operation of the vehicle. The consequences of such changes, especially in situations that require rapid response, could potentially lead to confusion, delayed reaction times, or even accidents. Given these concerns, I respectfully request that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducts an investigation into the safety implications of these design changes. Such an investigation would determine whether the removal of traditional turn signal and shifting stalks meets the safety standards necessary to prevent accidents and whether adequate testing and validation were performed prior to these changes being implemented.
Turn signals on steering wheel don’t work sometimes. They also get stuck causing no signal to turn on.
Specifically when in somewhat cool and cold temperatures the Front Drive Unit is emitting abnormal high pitched sound that is intermittent at times and that is causing a distraction while driving and is very bothersome. Tesla acknowledged they hear it but nothing is being done about. Front Drive Unit should be replaced.
Left and turn signal buttons randomly do not work especially after disengaging FSD. Sometimes I have to re-engage FSD for the buttons to work. This can be dangerous when I'm trying to make a turn and cars behind me could be going really fast or not pay attention. I believe this is a software or firmware issue and not the steering wheel itself. No warning messages. I did report to Tesla warranty.
There is a a very dangerous software issue with new Tesla models where there is a 1-2 second lag between when cruise control is disengaged and when it actually disengages. Especially, at high speeds this is dangerous because the car can continue maintaining acceleration for several hundred feet against driver controls. I’ve had to slam on the breaks several times because of this. This is not a glitch, and this is not unique to my tesla. It’s a known issue reported by the community that needs Tesla’s attention.
On certain occasions, it is necessary to reboot the computer in the vehicle. This causes the entire screen to go blank for about 2 minutes. During the reboot, HVAC, the speedometer, and other functions are unavailable. I am unsure if safety feature and ADAS features are available during the reboot. My complaint is that Tesla allows the reboot to occur while the vehicle is in motion. For safety reasons, I believe that rebooting the computer should be allowed only when the vehicle is in Park.
Tesla Model 3 2024 does not have stalks to enable turn signals. Instead, it has buttons on the steering wheel. Sometimes these buttons stop working, so I'm unable to enable the turn signal, which puts me and others at risk. After a few minutes, the turn signal buttons work again. This happens randomly. It has occurred three times in the first 30 days of owning the car.
Blinkers fail to activate intermittently.
Turn signal buttons on steering wheels. Place finger over turn signal toggle area continuously without pressing on the steering wheel for less than a minute or longer, unable to engage the turn signal after when pressing. Able to reliably and repeatedly replicate the event. Could be a hazard if unable to signal turn direction when needed.
My wife and I recently purchased a new 2024 model 3 Tesla with the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving feature. We chose this vehicle because my wife has a long daily commute and we wanted to make the drive easier for her. We test drove a similar model in early August. When we were testing the Full Self-Driving feature, the car failed to safely exit the freeway three times in our short test drive, causing my wife to have to take over. Both times, the car seemed to become confused by traffic cones as it prepared to exit the freeway, causing it to either miss the exit or to change lanes rapidly and unexpectedly, nearly colliding with other vehicles. When we reported this to the employees at the Tesla dealership, we were told that the car needed a software update to address the issue. It is now a month later and we received our vehicle a couple of weeks ago. I have not heard of the release of any software update addressing the issue we experienced. Given that this is the exact feature that prompted us to purchase the car and our intention was to make things safer for my wife, not the other way around, I would very much like to find out when this will be addressed. There are many drivers who currently use the Full Self-Driving feature and I am concerned that it is extremely unsafe.
Turn signal button on the steering wheel gets stuck occasionally (it is like a mouse button, and when this happens it cannot “click”). This effectively disables the turn signal and I am thus unable to indicate.
The right turn signal button was disabled while highway driving. I tried pressing the top/bottom/left/right and center of the turn signal button and could not engage the right turn signal to indicate a lane change. Google search suggests this is a common issue for this model/year.
This vehicle lacks a stalk for turning signals. Instead, there are two buttons on the steering wheel that are used to activate the turning signals. When the steering wheel is far from its regular position (i.e. with the front wheels pointed straight ahead), it is difficult to quickly figure out where the buttons are and which is which. This is dangerous in avoidance maneuvers. It also makes using the signals difficult in other situations, such as roundabouts. I believe that this lack of a stalk will eventually lead to accidents as users will occasionally have to change lanes or turn without signaling because they can't quickly activate a turning signal.
The turn signal buttons on the wheel frequently fail to turn on the turn signals when pressed. It always seems like when I most need to use them, they fail. I already had the wheel replaced by tesla and was told "this is just how they are" To be clear, when I press the turn signal button on my steering wheel, it will feel like the button will not depress, the turn signal will not turn on, and attempting to lift my finger and place it in other locations to try to press the button will not enable the turn signal. Pushing extremely hard does not work either. It seems like I need to press the opposite direction turn signal button or randomly wait sometimes for it to resolve itself and for the turn signal buttons to work again
Twice, could not disengage Adaptive Cruise Control using right scroll wheel. Multiple times, haptic turn signals malfunctioning
The right turn signal button has become stuck for a few seconds at random times and on multiple occasions. While driving on the freeway, I pushed the button to turn the turn signal on, but the button won't push down. I keep trying to push the button, but it is stuck for a few seconds. I either have to change lanes without a signal or wait until the button works again. It is unsafe because I look down at the steering wheel to see why it isn't working. There is no warning for it.
The right scroll wheel used to turn on/off adaptive cruise and lane centering doesn't register inputs every time the button is pressed in. This makes turning the system on and off unpredictable and dangerous.
Turn signal button frequently gets stuck and will not activate. This prevents driver from being able to properly signal when changing lanes and causes very dangerous situations, particularly when trying to exit the highway. My vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, but this issue is very common across owners' forums. No warning signs or messages prior to failure.
On July/30/2024 at around 6:15pm EST I got inside my vehicle to drive it and the steering wheel was extremely hard and difficult to move. A message popped on my screen saying "Steering assist reduced" error UI_A020. This made it completely impossible to drive my vehicle and ended up having to call a tow truck to take it to the dealership. If this incident had occured while I was driving I consider it lethal to my safety since I was unable to steer the vehicle. Called Tesla on the phone, they tried to reset the error but unfortunately they couldn't and suggested calling a tow truck instead. On July/31/2024 Tesla reached out to me saying the car had been fixed and it was a firmware bug resulting in the issue (fin report attached)
Turn signals are not reliable. They get stuck from time to time and I've already had a couple of close calls