The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while parked, the valet could not drive the vehicle out of the parking garage because the steering wheel was firm. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 33,359.
2019 Tesla Model 3 complaints
Owner reports filed with NHTSA about this vehicle, newest first and reproduced as filed. They are unverified accounts: one proves nothing, and a pattern across many is the thing worth reading. Back to the full 2019 record →
I was at a toll booth paying for tow. All of a sudden the car accelerated forward by itself, ramming into the toll bar. At that time, my arm was still sticking out the window while interacting with the toll terminal. This incident is something that needs to be looked at. It certainly looks like this is a result of the accident avoidance feature. Not sure why it activated either. But I am 99.9% sure that I did not accidentally press the gas pedal because I had to slam on the brakes to stop. Currently contacting Tesla to see if they can get the log to prove whether I accidentally press the pedal or not. In addition to this, there were reports of inverter spikes causing acceleration issues. Please look into the linkage of these incidents. As an electrical engineer myself, this is very alarming.
Loud squeaking noise inside cabin while driving started immediately after warranty expires and software update. Steering shakes with bumps. Almost felt like something is falling apart. Tesla service said known problem and since out of warranty customer will be charged. Wonder why all problems started immediately after warranty expires. Pls investigate if this part ( control arms and suspension) cause any safety issues. Also, software updates should be investigated as well.
Recently I have been receiving warnings from my Tesla after hitting a pothole or bump in the road. ABS is disabled, power steering is disabled, power brake assist is disabled, forward collision warning and driver assistance features are all disabled. Upon a service visit to Tesla, they found that a fault within the ABS sensor circuit triggers these faults until the car is parked and shuts off to complete a reset cycle. Tesla claimed that this ABS cable was improperly placed and has caused damage to the sensor cable.
I have a 2019 Model 3 and yesterday, while making a left turn and applying pressure to the brake, receiving feedback from the brake, my car lurched forward for about half a second. I thought I may have been rear ended, but no one was behind me. This has happened on the freeway before as well. I'll be accelerating at a totally even place and BAM, I'll jolt forward out of nowhere. On the rare occasions that I use the car's "autopilot" feature, I will also encounter phantom braking, but that's easily avoided by not using the feature, which I haven't since first encountering the problem. I haven't suffered any damages from this, but if my car is able to do this, that's extremely alarming. What if this tripped while I was parking?
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while approaching a stop, the vehicle failed to stop as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the generator braking was able to stop the vehicle. The contact stated while driving to the residence, there was a spraying sound coming from the vehicle while braking. The contact became aware of fluid leaking from the brake when the vehicle was parked. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the contact was informed that the front and rear driver’s and passenger’s side brake lines had ruptured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 58,000.
Traveling west in I8 between Gila Bend and San Diego I experienced over 20 automatic hard braking events while using TACC. The road was clear, there were no vehicles in front of me within 400 yards. It appeared to be correlated with heat mirages on the road surface ahead though some may have been caused by differences in asphalt color in sections. The hard braking occurred at highway speeds of 70-75mph and dropped my speed rapidly, if a car or truck had been following me closely it could have result in an accident. The remedy is to press the accelerator to resume speed. Training drivers to hit the accelerator in response to phantom braking events is also dangerous as the automatic braking might be overridden automatically by a driver when there really is an event that calls for emergency braking. When the false positives out number to true positives by 100's to 1 it trains drivers to automatically respond to hard emergency braking by mashing the accelerator.
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle made an abnormally loud sound. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that the front suspension lateral link was fractured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V235000 (Suspension)however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.
The issue pertains to a persistent warning message that displays "front passenger safety restraint system fault" with associated error code "rcm_a056". This warning suggests a potential malfunction in the safety restraint system, which could pose a significant risk to the passenger in the event of an accident. Tesla Service quoted $1180 for the repair including replacing the front passenger airbag and retrofitting SBR in the OCS passenger seat. This issue appears commonly reported among social groups.
I have a warning sign stating my air bag system on the passenger side is not working. Many drivers have reported this as an issue. Due to the fact that the car is no longer under warranty I am concerned if I get I to an accident and the air bags don’t deploy, my loved ones are in grave danger if they are in the passenger seat.
I own this Tesla model 3 for approximately 4 years. I was driving this car on US interstate highway 10 east, on July 8, 2023. Cruise control and Navigation on Auto pilot was on. A very serious Phantom breaking took place at around 10:52 am, about couple of miles before exit number 400 on I-10. It was clear a day, there was no car in front of me or on my left lane. I was on right lane. auto pilot suddenly reduced my speed from 72 miles per hours to 39 miles per hour in about 2 to 3 seconds. Due to this, a 16-wheel truck behind my car has to swerve to avoid hitting my car from behind and running over me. My wife was in passenger seat. If the 16 wheeler driver would not have taken evasive action, we will have at least two potential deaths.
Frequent phantom braking. If someone is following closely they may rear end us.
Left and right lateral links were blown. Increases the chance of a vehicle crash. Tesla has identified the issue in my vehicle and replaced both parts. There were no symptoms, the technician found it by inspecting the suspension due to an unrelated noise reported by me, the customer. There have been multiple recalls in the past for the Model 3 and Model Y manufactured in 2018 and 2019. Tesla has not issued any recalls for my vehicle. Now that my vehicle is off warranty, I was charged $803.50 plus taxes to replace both parts that should have been part of a larger recall. I suspect this is a recurring issue that Tesla is not addressing. The chances of having a similar issue on one side is already low. In this case, it is on both sides, which reinforces my suspicion.
My vehicle, a 2019 Tesla Model 3, which is equipped with Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta software, often fails to detect pedestrians and other objects in its path and react appropriately to them. It is highly concerning that this software is being trialled on public roads and pedestrians put at risk. I recently saw a video showing pedestrians being put at risk by someone testing FSD, which even put children in harms way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9JGviyMkzM&feature=youtu.be This software is highly dangerous and needs to be banned and people experimenting on public roads should not be allowed.
I recently updated my 2019 Tesla Model 3's software to version 2023.7.15. Ever since I did so I have been getting random, unexplained, and unnecessary decelerations in both adaptive cruise control mode and while driving using the vehicle's autopilot (not FSD). While this is annoying at least it is also unsafe as I could easily be rear-ended for no reason when this happens. It has happened every time I drive the vehicle and usually more than once per drive.
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V00D000 (Electrical System, Visibility, Back Over Prevention) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. 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. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
Driving on a clear, sunny day in Arizona on interstate 8 at highway speed with the Tesla AutoPilot engaged. There were no vehicles in front of me and no obstructions in the road when the car did heavy braking (aka phantom braking) for no known reason. I immediately had to override the braking with pressing on the accelerator. This occurred multiple times on the same road. If a vehicle had been traveling behind me when this happened, it would be highly likely that a collision would occur because of the random nature of the extreme braking. I did not use the adaptive cruise feature the rest of the trip in fear that a collision would occur. No warning messages were/are present. The Model 3 I drive is equipped with sensors on the front bumper that (I believe) Tesla has deactivated to use vision-only instead. I drove for years using the non-vision (sensor) method without experiencing phantom braking, so this experience is new to me.
At 2401-2499 AL-36, Hartselle, AL 35640, 34.447019, -86.811335, traveling West, the car suddenly slows to 25 mph from the normal 55-60 mph. This sudden slow down startles the driver, passengers, and following traffic which rapidly approaches the rear. The problem is reproducible. Yes, the vehicle has been reported to Tesla using their voice reporting system. There are no warnings prior to the failure. It has happened ever since the road work replacing a bridge completed two years ago. BTW, Google Map Pro still shows the construction barriers at that location.
Unintended acceleration during public street and highway while approaching a stop to make a right turn on November of 2022 in Orange County California onto a highway I let go of the pedal ready to press the brake and while turning it made a unnecessary acceleration to speed up making steering difficult, another incident where I believe in February 2023 as I was driving in the right lane a truck made a sudden stop and the accident avoidance never deployed nor warn me and the acceleration maneuver my steering pedal as I felt it degrease on the brake and increase on the acceleration pedal this was very traumatic and scary knowing I might have bodily injuries or even death also while setting the speed limit I notice while using the regenerative braking the brake pedal would vibrate very aggressively also while using the back up cam and side views it would glitch a lot after a bug update I feel this is very concerning for me and my kids and a lot of reviews and even attorneys or aware of the situation most of all it's a safety issue for California
Multiple extreme braking so much where today actually hurt my neck it stopped so abruptly up a hill miscalculating that a walker was about to be hit by my car, the man was nowhere near being hit and the auto braking skid to a halt whipping my head forward and my sweatshirt choked my Adams Apple area. It was extremely abrupt, scared me, the walker and nearly caused a rear end collision with the car behind me. This has happened a lot in the past 3 months yet I’ve had the car for over 4 years so I am assuming something is wrong with the software updates - it’s super scary not to have control of your own car. Also, I can opt out of auto braking on my car yet that’s not what I’m reporting, I’m reporting the fact that it’s phantom braking miscalculating street situations and causing dangers to me, my passengers and others like I’ve described above. Also noticed recently, when I hit the gas, it’s often the car doesn’t “go” it pauses and then may go with similar miscalculation of street situations like pedestrians on a adjacent sidewalk or motorcycles in between cars yet literally the Tesla won’t let me move…this isn’t safe.
On 10/17/2021 my son was killed along with his passenger in this Tesla. The car was thought to be going over 100 miles an hour on a city road Coconut Point Road in Estero Florida. The car was thought to have hit a tree with the rear tire and was sent flying through the air and hit another tree and split in half. My son knew this road well as it was close to his home and drove it on his way home from work. I feel strongly that this was an acceleration issue!! He has driven this car for 2 years, so knew the car well.
The passenger occupancy sensor and airbag failed and needed to be replaced. The system alerted me to the failure. Tesla does not cover this as a manufacturing issue. $1300 for repairs on parts that are designed for safety Tesla is not responsible for the quality of parts used to assemble the vehicle. Per Tesla safety related issues are only covered for 5 years or 60,000 miles. There must be a higher standard for safety.
On my 2019 Tesla Model 3, the following warning appeared:" "Front left safety restraint system fault" This warning appeared in May 2023 and the local Tesla service center wants $700 to repair it - when this is clearly a driver safety issue and should be fixed at no charge. The vehicle has about 27,000 miles and is just out of warranty.
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while utilizing the ADAS features including the Adaptive Cruise Control, the vehicle unexpectedly braked. The contact stated that on another occasion while the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. Due to the failure, the vehicle abruptly stopped and caused the contacts wife’s seat belt to retract very tight. The contact stated that he disengaged the features including the Adaptive Cruise Control to operate the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it remained. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.
There is one spot on HWY 29 near me in Lake County CA where the car while driving on autopilot always sees an obstacle ahead and warns of an immediate collision. There is however, nothing in the road it is just the road dips down (a bit like a helter skelter) and the car does not recognize it. It is replicable and happens every time that highway is driven.
My wife was dropping my kid in the school drop off line. The speed was probably about 5 mph. The Tesla suddenly went into a sudden spontaneous acceleration. When my wife tried to brake, the brakes did not work. There was no forward collision warning beeping sound that went off, which is supposed to. It hit the vehicle in front and finally hit a fence. so, both the accelerator and brake malfunctioned. The car will go to a body shop tomorrow. Since it was a school drop off zone, safety of a lot of people were put at risk. It was very hard to get Tesla on the phone. so, we went into a Tesla service center and a complaint was filed. They will be reviewing the data but I dont know how long it will take. A software update had been applied a week back. 2 hours after the accident, a software update screen popped up
I live in a very rural area with very little traffic on two-lane country roads. When my cruise control is active, my Tesla sometimes brakes for no reason. A couple of days ago it violently braked from 70 mph to 50 mph for absolutely no reason. On that particular trip of 30 miles or so it "phantom braked" four times. I have had this car for almost 4 years and this problem appears to be getting worse.
The right camera and coax cable have gone bad. The coax cable is corroded and have water inside the camera. This is affect the car to use cruise control and the auto steer function.
On Saturday, May 6th I was driving with a passenger to the airport for Uber. She was in the rear right seat. We were on a 3-4 lane highway and I had Tesla FSD engaged. Out of nowhere, the car breaked in such an extreme manner as to send us thrusting forward in our seats. It was mid afternoon and we were beyond lucky that there was no traffic around us at the time. I felt terrified. If there was traffic, it easily could have been a deadly situation. There was no warning and I had to disengage the FSD function by further pushing on the breaks. I was reported to Uber for a safety issue, understandably, by the passenger. I have not contacted Tesla service or an independent service to look at the issue but plan to today. I saw there was a safety recall for vehicles from 2019. I would like a refund/recall if possible. I do not feel safe using FSD.
While driving in Cruise Control at the Speed Limit at 65 mph with both hands on the wheel and my foot near the brake (on the 395 Freeway in CA on 5/5/23) and no vehicles in front of me, the car suddenly braked hard (the brake pedal fell to the floor under my foot without my foot making any contact with the pedal) and stopped, thus causing the driver/passenger and all contents to shift forward violently. Luckily, there was no one behind the car, no loss of control of the car, no collisions, and no injuries of the driver/passenger as we were both wearing our seat belts. There was a large 16-wheel truck approaching from about 100 feet away on the other side of the road that passed by without any adverse events. It was the second time that this phantom braking had happened on that same road this year. That other time was in Feb 2023.
The car will not allow me to use the cruise control, or put the car into auto-steer. Tesla says it do to a coax cable that is damaged or gone bad. Additionally the day a camera repeater also needs to be replace. The car has only 62,000 miles and is 4 year old. Which is out of Warranty.
False warning while passing a parked vehicle that I have video of
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the Autonomous Self Driving or Adaptive Cruise Control feature activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking, causing the vehicle to abruptly stop in the middle of the roadway. The contact stated that the failure had occurred on several occasions without any other vehicles or objects nearby. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 28,000.
At just 10 days over 4 years of ownership, which is out of warranty, and at about 44,360 miles, I noticed noise when going over small bumps, moving from stop to go and while turning the steering wheel. It appears that the upper control arm, a recall on about 3000 Tesla Model 3 and Y, was the culprit. I contacted the service center and right away, over the Tesla Mobile App, the knew it was the control arm going bad. They said it was safe to drive, however, it is a bit scary to hear the squeaking and noises when driving and turning the steering wheel, especially at highway speeds. The problem was fixed by Tesla's service center, however, because I was 10 days or so out of my 4 year/50,000 miles warranty, I was charged about $190 for the repair. I feel that since this is a know issue and has happened to many other non-recalled vehicles by Tesla, this would/should be a know defect and safety concern that should have been repaired under warranty.
While driving, the AEB randomly and repeatedly activates while there are no obstacles in my path. It will slow on the interstate from 70 mph to 30 mph.
In the Tesla Model 3 vehicle's newest software update, there are text blurbs over 15 words that show up when autopilot is engaged. While I was trying to read this text blurb, the autopilot was attempting to change lanes. I had to prevent this while attempting to read the text blurb. This is because the car was making a dangerous maneuver and had not realized that the cars in the next lane over it was switching to was fully coming to a full stop. The car did not realize this and assumed that the next lane was faster, so it sped up. I turned off autopilot, re-corrected the steering, and re-engaged autopilot. The car continued its previous behavior, turned on the turn signal and went towards the next lane while keeping me busy trying to speed-read 15+ words in half a second. Keep in mind, that this is an issue easily preventable with the removal of the text blurbs. This was a distraction to me, the driver, while the car's automated system assumed it was making the right decision. This put the safety of the passengers in my vehicle at risk and the safety of others, behind me, at risk. As in the incident description above, I replicated the issue once. The dealer (Tesla) has remained silent since my report to them. The vehicle or component has not to my knowledge. There were no warning signals, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the distraction.
Drivers side rear door is stuck shut. After some research, there is no manual release. This is a significant safety issue and needs to be resolved for all cars that lack the release. I shouldn’t have to visit a service center to open a door. I will refrain from having rear passengers in the car as this is a blatant safety risk.
In autopilot or cruise control, this vehicle will brake unexpectedly with no vehicle or obstacle in front of it. This has happened primarily on highways, and it has happened between 10 and 15 times, such that now the driver cannot trust either autopilot or cruise control because if someone is following close behind, it could cause a wreck. We reported it to the dealer in Wexford PA prior to a service appointment, and they have not been forthcoming with a solution. We do not believe they inspected the system. There was no warning that this failure was about to occur. Below I report the date of the last 3 occurrences.
On long, straight interstate highway roads where speed limit is 80mph in GOOD to EXCELLENT weather and visibility conditions the vehicle on average would apply emergency braking at least 10x per 1,000 miles when no hazard or obstruction was present. This was often caused by asphalt color changes, slight hills, or shimmer in the distance…all of which are normal conditions for average driving. If vehicle was being followed closely by another car it had potential to cause high speed collision and injury or death.
Driving on US 395 near Mojave, CA, with cruise control enabled, the car braked suddenly twice within a 20 minute period. There were no other cars on the road but there was still a "phantom brake" that came out of nowhere.
The lane keeping assistance will send the car jerking left or right without reason or warning. (I’m not sure if the car is reacting to a shadow on the road or for some other reason.). This has occurred a number of times with an abrupt and violent movement. The last time this occurred was at around 6:50pm on Wednesday April 5, 2023 while driving westbound approaching the northernmost Palm Beach Island bridge. The car made a violent and completely unnecessary shift out of the lane and I had to make a forceful corrective steering response that scared both myself and my passenger.
The contact's girlfriend owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 73 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000.
In 2020 my driver side headlight assembly stopped working then in 2023 my passenger side headlight assembly stopped working. This includes the day time running light as well as headlight and turn signal in each assembly. No warning was displayed. This can cause confusion for other drivers and pedestrians through the inability to indicate my location or intention of travel. The first time this happened, the service center explained it was a component issue and the assembly was replaced by them. No warnings were shown from the vehicle.
On several occasions the autopilot mode braked unnecessarily. In one instance causing the big rig behind me to honk. Recently it braked hard when there were no cars around on the freeway. On a third time it braked as a car in a neighboring lane was close to crossing the lane but did not.
Went on a long trip over the last 2 weeks that involved >2000 miles of highway driving. Wanted to use the Adaptive Cruise Control but couldn't because of frequent sudden braking for no apparent reason. The last time that it happened was on I84 with no cars in sight in either direction, no large signs in sight, and no changes in pavement color in sight. We were traveling at 80mph with Adaptive Cruise Control engaged (Self Driving was NOT engaged) and the car suddenly braked to less than 50mph before I could intervene to regain speed control. We couldn't use Adaptive Cruise Control for the rest of the trip because we decided that it was too dangerous.
The rear view camera of my car it’s failing intermittently some days work some days don’t. So I found that there is a recall related to this specific issue. NHTSA Recall Number 21V-00D then I scheduled a service with Tesla indicating that I’m sending the car for them to honor the recall. They accepted and scheduled the service appointment through the app at $0 cost because obviously it’s their responsibility. Well for my surprise when I arrive to the Tesla Service Center in Coral Gables Florida, the person in charge refused to honor the recall saying that the car it’s not in warranty and that they don’t perform services on recalls even though I was showing them that the recall it’s on my VIN number at the NHTSA website. Now I’m worried that I may cause an accident because the car may malfunction due to this safety issue with the rear camera. Find attached screenshots of the conversations I had with them where they are basically refusing to properly perform the service for this recall that includes the full inspection of the coaxial cable to see if it’s too damaged and the replacement of the part.
The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated that the message “Vehicle Hold Disabled” and vehicle shutting down and pull over safely. The contact was able to pull on the side of road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was contacted, and the manufacturer had the vehicle towed to the dealer. The failure mileage was 34,148.
My vehicle is giving me a warning saying "Front left safety restraint fault - Service is required". This is a 2018 Tesla Model 3 that Tesla says is a repair and not a recall. But if my seatbelts don't work, this seems like it should be a safety recall.
Car in park in busy parking lot. Car reset itself to factory settings, profiles gone, everything at factory default. Put car in reverse, rear-view cameras pop on as expected, but as I'm in motion in reverse the cameras freeze and a dialog box pops up with details on "what's new in V11", preventing rear visibility.
Link - Lateral - Lower - Front - LH (Remove & Replace) LOWER LATERAL LINK -FRONT(1044341-00-D)
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NHTSA publishes every complaint as the owner wrote it and investigates only a fraction. Spelling, capitalisation and judgement are the filer’s own. What carries weight is repetition: the same component failing the same way across many filings, and whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Full record for the 2019 Tesla Model 3 → · Every Model 3 year → · How the figures are calculated →