2023 Tesla Model 3 complaints

Steering is very jerky/choppy - vehicle is hard to keep straight while driving on freeway.

Lost power steering while driving. Luckily this occurred while I was going less than 5mph and near a parking lot, so was able to muscle the steering to a safe place. Received a warning from the car that “steering assist is reduced” randomly. Luckily we were going slowly and able to find a safe place to park, so my wife and kids were safe. Could barely turn the wheel enough to park safely. Once restarted a few hours later power steering worked again. Car has now been in a manufacturers shop for a week to try and figure out the issue.

Tesla Model 3 Policy #: [XXX] Claim Number: [XXX] I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to report an incident involving my Tesla Model 3 (Blue) and to initiate the process for an insurance claim. The incident occurred on [XXX], at approximately 2:15 PM. My fiancée was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the incident. Incident Details: - Date: [XXX] - Time: Approximately [XXX] - Vehicle: Tesla Model 3 (Blue) Location: The incident took place on the freeway merge from [XXX], where it merges onto [XXX]. Heading home. Circumstances: My fiancée was operating the vehicle in Autopilot mode while maintaining her hands securely on the steering wheel. As she approached the freeway merge from ramp [XXX], heading onto [XXX], she experienced an unexpected jolt. Despite her continuous control of the steering wheel, the Autopilot system seemed to be accelerating without her input. Simultaneously, my fiancée felt a sudden tire malfunction, which resulted in a significant loss of control over the vehicle. Despite her best efforts to maintain the car's position within the lane, the Tesla Model 3 veered off the freeway and entered the adjacent Ravine area. Impact and Airbags: Upon entering the Ravine area, the vehicle experienced a collision. multiple plants/highbrush/uneven terrain as well as having to maneuver around 2 large palm trees which resulted damage to side mirror. Notably, none of the vehicle's airbags were deployed during the incident, and there were no sensor alerts,

While on a cross country trip and while on the highway using the Tesla auto pilot and/or adaptive cruise control, we experienced numerous phantom braking incidents. Several while driving during the day with no other vehicles around and several while passing semi trucks in the other lane. At night the same thing occurred and on one occasion, with no other vehicles around, suddenly braked from 70 mph to near stop. Had we been on a wet or icy surface, there is the possibility of control issue.

Vehicle heat pump system has had multiple failures leading to windshield fog leading to low/no visibility. Service center unable to get vehicle in in timely manner stating 3-4 weeks before it can be serviced.

After 1.5 months of ownership (I purchased the car end of May 2023) the steering wheel appeared tilted to the right, and car pulling to the wright when driving. I have taken the car to Tesla service centers for 4 separate service appointments. They have conducted numerous alignments, adjustments, replaced front lateral links, retorquing but this has not resolved the issue. The car still pulls to the right. The car currently has 3000 miles. There were no incidents or car accidents.

Multiple times, the vehicle braked on its own while traveling eastbound on the Interstate 8 freeway between Yuma, AZ & Gila Bend, AZ. This was when no other vehicle or obstruction was on the freeway within a mile of the vehicle. The braking was very jarring, and if another vehicle was behind us it could have easily caused a high speed rear-end collision.

The Driver Assistance System fails. Specifically, the cruse control, parking assistance, blind spot monitor, display of other objects, lane identification, stop sign or traffic light recognition and other safety features fail repeatedly.

While on our first road trip in this vehicle, we engaged Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). After about 30 minutes, the vehicle suddenly (within 1-2 seconds), and without warning, decelerated from 75 mph to under 50 mph. After re-engaging ACC, exactly the same thing happened again 5 minutes or so later. Thereafter, we did not use ACC, and the car ran fine. This was a safety hazard because if someone had been following us when these incidents happened, it could have resulted in a rear-end collision. We have not yet taken our vehicle to a service center. Since there was no resulting accident, we have not reported this to any authority. Clearly, however, our Tesla Model 3 has a safety problem.

While driving with cruse controll, auto pilot, or adaptive cruise control my vehicle brakes suddenly without warning and without any reason or danger. This has happened many times. Today on the I8 traveling from Yuma az to Surpirse AZ the car braked around 15-20 times with out reason. I held the tesla car symbol on the screen to report the problem.

When cruise control is engaged, the vehicle suddenly decelerates, (at times dropping speed by more than 20 mph in less than 2 seconds). This occurs as often as 5-10 times in a single 60mi trip, and occurs at least once per trip on this same route (divided highway, sometimes with hills, often with no other cars ahead of or around the vehicle, speed 60-70mph) These events are unsafe because unexpected braking is a hazard for following cars and my passengers. My job as a driver is to be as predictable as possible, but when I use the cruise control the car behaves unpredictability Problem reported to dealer, confirmed by remote diagnostic, and car was serviced but the problem got worse. There are no warning lamps or error messages displayed in conjunction with these sudden braking events. First appeared when the car reached 2000miles on odometer

While driving on a two lane highway I experience daily ghost braking incidents. While doing 75, in both cruise and autopilot mode, the car will slam on the brakes when approaching a semi in the right lane. Today it even swerved to the right without the semi moving out of its lane. I also experience panic braking if a car crosses the lanes in front of me even if it is 500m away and the crossing car even left the road before braking occurs.

When on a recent trip from Salt Lake City to Denver Via I 15 to hwy 6 and on I 70 When it was in cruse control and also auto pilot the car would on it's own brake. Some of the time it would brake very harshly others it would not be so violet ,but would certainly be some thing that could cause a very bad accident. The only solution Tesla service would offer was to go on a test drive to see it happen. This could take posably many miles, and then said they did not have a solution.

Vehicle suddenly brakes while in autopilot with no road obstructions. This has happened to me several times and I'm concerned that if someone is following me too close this may cause a collision.

I parked the vehicle. When I returned to it and was about to drive, the steering wheel became too stiff and I had to apply extreme manual force to turn. The code UI_a020 appeared and the message “Steering assistance reduced. Steering may required increased effort.” It happened twice on the same day. I had to stop driving the car.

The cruise control was set at 70 MPH. The car braked itself and tried to stop itself even though I had no cars or objects in front of me. I had to apply the accelerator to get it to out of stopping itself. It happened twice in a short amount of time on that morning. The car is available for inspection. This is a safety issue as it could have caused an accident if I had someone too close behind me while driving on freeway I-75. I have not had the car inspected as this just happened yesterday 09/22/2023 and today is 09/23/2023. There was no warning prior to this happening and no issues with the car. Again this happened on 09/22/2023 for the first time. Thank You.

Power steering stopped working when the car starts up, Cannot steer the wheel at all in PDNR. Basically cannot steer the car at all and it is not drivable.

The wipers come on for no reason and there is no way to turn them off. Since the wiper blades are running on a dry windshield the visibility decreases considerably after it runs for some time

I received an error message while driving that the steering assist was turned off, and I was unable to the car. This has happened twice in the last week.

The power steering failed while I was backing out of a parking space. I was unable to turn the wheel and almost ran into another car. I was able to use all my strength to turn the wheel and took it to the dealership Tesla said "there was a fault within the steering rack that caused the power steering to go out, therefore we had to replace this part" There was no warning messages about the problem before, during or after the steering went out. If this were to happen to anyone that did not have significant strength, it could have caused a major accident. If it went out while I was driving on any other road, I would have been in an accident for sure.

Cruise control set to 82mph on interstate with no cars nearby. Car slams on brakes on multiple different cruise control sessions. Dangerous for other cars that could be driving behind me and could cause me to lose control of the vehicle.

I was driving on I-35 from Kansas City to Des Moines on 9-11-23, and three times the car experienced phantom braking (i.e. the car suddenly braked for no apparent reason) while the adaptive cruise control was activated. During these instances the car would suddenly brake and slow down and on one occasion I had to accelerate immediately to avoid possibly being rear ended. On all occasions there were no obstacles on the road or cars within 1/4 of a mile ahead of me.

On 09/11/2023 at approx. 6AM CST, my wife went to a nearby Walmart store for groceries. As she was parking the car in the parking space, the car started to accelerate by itself and went around the parking lot in random directions. She couldn't control the steering and brake despite the continuous tries. It was such a traumatic experience, and the car went on to hit couple of other parked cars and the cart return stations in the parking lot. After few seconds of random self-drive in multiple directions of parking lot, it finally came to a halt as it got on a curb that flattened the tires. By God's grace, the car stopped right before entering the main busy road due to flat tires and also no pedestrians at that time. Otherwise, the situation could have been worse as the car was going in an uncontrollable manner. The incident was reported to 911 and they got the car towed to a towing garage. We got the incident report from the police department. They also have the CCTV footage of this incident. We also have the dashcam videos recorded by TESLA and pictures taken after the incident. I will provide any supporting documentation you might need to understand this incident and address the issue. We are trying to come out of the trauma from this incident and would like to bring this issue to the attention of all concerned parties for next steps.

It happened in a parking lot around 8:20 pm on 09.13.23. When I slowly moved to parking space car suddenly accelerated, jumped over raised pavement for pedestrian walking, hit parked car on the other side of walking path, continue going with uncontrollable high speed across the parking, then car slowed down and I finally parked. Woman who witnessed accident and called the police told the police officer that she saw brake lights of my car were on. Two women from the car I hit showed me the markings from my tires on pavement. My husband who arrived to the place of accident by this time took pictures of these marks and next morning we return back to take another pictures and video. My car's odometer reading was less than 100 miles. We are having problem of uploading our pictures. We can supply to you our pictures and video if you need them.

While driving late at night at highway speeds (interstate Hwy), the car applied the brakes suddenly and without cause, with no cars in the proximity of my vehicle. The car was set in cruise control mode (adaptive.) It appeared that the vehicle may have picked up a reflection from the highway striping. This occurred two times during a single trip of approximately 200 miles.

Steering wheel froze while attempting to turn across opposing traffic into shopping center nearly resulting in an accident. Was able to forcefully turn into a parking lot and turn off the car. Steering notification came on. After ten minutes car seemed to resume back to normal. This caused insurmountable anxiety and I was unable to return to work. Car was towed to service center and estimated repair will take 2-3 days. This was a brand new car I bought for safety yet the safety of me and my children were jeopardized!

On 09/08/2023 while the vehicle was engaged in Autopilot/Traffic Aware Cruise Control and at highway speeds, the vehicle suddenly braked with no visible / reasonable cue from the surroundings. Minutes later, it suddenly braked again suddenly and without any visible cause but with more force. After this, I stopped using this feature of the vehicle for the remainder of our trip. A similar event occurred around Apil 2023 and when I reported this to the Tesla Service Center they replaced both the right side and left side repeater cameras (faulty). The first incident of this nature occurred around a week after taking ownership in late October: Again at highway speeds, the vehicle suddenly and abruptly braked without cause. The Service Center was notified but they found no issue with the car. This type of behavior places myself and my family at risk of being rear ended with the abrupt nature of this kind of braking (sudden, abrupt and with no cause). It also places the vehicles that happen to be following me at risk with this sudden braking behavior - the braking is not gradual. After I reported the most recent incident, the service center did not find any faults with the hardware and said that "these behaviors are a limitation of software in the system."

Power steering is intermittently and unpredictably failing. The issue has occurred approximately 10 times in total and has occurred both while exiting parking spots and while driving on the road. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request and has been given to Tesla Service Center for review. The service representative was not able to reproduce the issue and the vehicle was returned. Especially while driving, loss of power steering could force me into an accident, as I'm not able to control the vehicle in a reliable manner. When the issue occurs, I receive an error that says "steering assist reduced, steering may require increased effort."

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model-3. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently drifted into the left and right lanes. The contact then stated that while attempting to make a left or right turn, there was a clicking sound in the steering wheel. The contact also stated that the steering wheel failed to align with the front wheels. As a result, the vehicle failed to drive straightforward. the contact was concerned for his safety while operating the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering rack failed and need to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,387.

Loss of power steering. Car started normally, but with no warning from the car, the steering wheel could be turned only with extreme effort. I tried to make a circle around the house, but barely avoided hitting other parked cars and called Tesla service.

The car does phantom braking on the highway when using cruise control. It is usually caused by a truck in the neighboring lane applying it's brakes, but not entering my lane.

I just purchased this new 2023 Tesla Model 3. I am not reporting a failed or malfunctioning component but I have a safety concern. After taking delivery I noticed that there are no emergency door latch releases on the rear seats like there are on the front seats. This could make exiting the back seats very difficult or even impossible in the event of an emergency with loss of power to the vehicle. I cannot believe that this feature was omitted. I worry that people will die because they will not be able to escape a burning vehicle quickly enough. This seems like the door could be easily modified to correct this issue and make this vehicle much safer.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while their spouse was parking the vehicle and pressing the parking button, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The vehicle jumped the curb, crashing into two different vehicles to eventually be stopped after crashing into a tree. The air bags did not deploy. There was damage to the other vehicles and to the tree. The driver received injuries to their neck and back. Medical attention was not needed. A police report was filed. The vehicle had been towed. The vehicle was taken to a certified mechanic who had not diagnosed or repaired the vehicle as of yet. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 500.

I picked up a new Tesla Model 3 on July 29, 2023. On July 31, I received a steering reduced alert as I was backing out of my driveway and could not move the steering wheel. After I did a hard power off, the alert went away. I called Tesla service, and was told that this was not a typical issue but to schedule a service appointment and cancel if the issue did not recur before the next available date (Aug. 23). Two days later, on Aug. 3, I saw news articles about an NHTSA investigation into the same steering issue in 2023 Model 3s. I called Tesla service again, and now was told that they could not say that my car was safe to drive, and that there was no "official" response from the Company. I was directed to emergency assistance, which told me that the car was safe to drive at least to the Milford, CT service center, and noted that had I waited until Aug. 23, the alert would have been deleted from the system. I brought the car to the service center on Aug. 4. I was told that my steering rack needed to be replaced, and they gave me a loaner because the repair would take a few days. Soon after I drove back home (which is 30 min. away), I received notice saying that the service was complete. The service center did not give a coherent explanation for why they did not replace the steering rack and the correction codes did not line up. I told Tesla that I wanted to return the car, including bc it seemed like Tesla was trying not to perform an expensive repair they had listed themselv

1. When vehicle is on autopilot mode. Vehicle will all a sudden brake by itself with no reason as to why, no cars in front of me intermitly. Mostly happens when driving at highway speeds and when approaching a overpass. 2. Could be crash from the rear. 3. Have not notified Tesla. 4. No inspections have been performed 5. No warnings and no beeping either just brakes by itself intermitly.

Lots of power steering. Unable to move vehicle…extremely unsafe.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to drive straight. While releasing the steering wheel, the vehicle would either veer to the left or the right. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer five times, where it was diagnosed that the vehicle was out of specification. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was concerned about a possible crash due to the failure. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided for over thirty days. The failure mileage was approximately 12.

The vehicle slowed down at a very rapid rate when in cruise control for no reason. There were no other vehicles or obstructions anywhere near the vehicle. This happened 3 times. I reported these events to Tesla and they said it was a known issue called ghosting and there was nothing to repair. A rapid deceleration of the vehicle for no reason and with no warning is a safety issue that should be addressed immediately. Iv'e used cruise control on many other vehicles and have never had a problem.

We were driving on cruise control on 7/24/23 between the hours of 6AM - 8AM on a completely open highway with no cars near and no objects in the road. Our car braked on its own when we were driving 74-77MPH bringing the car to an almost complete stop. The same thing occurred on 7/22/23 between the hours of 9AM - 2PM. It was extremely scary and an obvious malfunction/ defect of the car. We both have back pain now from the sudden stop.

The steering feels extremely stiff and jerky

The car makes unintended braking when there is no vehicle in front. The car made a sudden brake from 75 mph to near 0 mph such that the driver felt that the vehicle almost flipped.

Steering wheel could not turn after after parked and tried to drive again. Car could only go straight forward or backward. Also tried to restart the whole car computer, problem still persisted. The car screen displayed error message UI_a020 Steering assist reduced, Steering may require increased effort.

I was coming to a stop due to a train passing by. As I got closer to the other vehicles that were waiting for the train, I let go of the acceleration and then the vehicle on its own launched forward rear ending the car in front of me.

I was on a road trip in South Dakota through I-90 and the vehicle stopped in middle of the road caused by phantom braking while running by its autopilot (7 times total). In multiple instances, there were vehicles not far behind. This is really scary as in any moment we could have been in a fatal accident on the 80mph road. Tesla needs to fix this ASAP. Not acceptable at all from a vehicle that costs this much.

While driving westbound on US Rt 50 in Nevada with AutoSteer Beta engaged, car repeatedly decelerated rapidly with no audible or visual warning presented. This "phantom braking" could easily put vehicles traveling behind mine at risk of a collision. I have been able to reliable reproduce this in certain conditions - when a mirage is present on the roadway ahead and there are no cars immediately in front, the visual object detection system is apparently thrown off by the refraction of light and incorrectly detects cars, pedestrians, or motorcycles where none exist. As I see it, there are two major problems in play here - one is that the camera-based object detection system is easily confused by the presence of mirages on the road surface ahead and there are no other sensors in other portions of the EM spectrum (IR LIDAR or RADAR) to confirm the presence of visually detected objects. The second is the lack of audible driver warning before deceleration takes place. The only indication that occurs is the energy use indicator (a thin line at the top left of the screen) shows energy use transition to regeneration. Together, these constitute a serious safety hazard for anyone operating these vehicles and those following behind them.

Steering wheel locked up while operating not allowing me to turn the wheel. Loss of power steering and control. Screen displaying error "Steering assist reduced" when in reality was completely unable to steer. Vehicle still powered and accelerated however no control over steering.

Steering wheel got jammed while driving on highway. Stopped vehicle on rode side and called for Tesla road side assistance. Tesla towed my vehicle and replaced steering rack. Invoice attached for details

While using cruise control on a highway traveling between 65 and 75 MPH the brakes slammed on when there was absolutely no traffic in front of or beside us, no overhead obstructions, no upcoming corners, nothing at all but straight road ahead. If anyone had been behind us we could easily have been rear-ended. The car had only 1500 miles on it the first time it happened. There were 4 such events in our short 400 mile road trip. Took it directly to Tesla service and have been told there is nothing wrong with the car!

Car lost power steering without warning

While driving yesterday night, I lost steering control. I stopped the car in the middle of the street and tried again but the steering wheel was very stiff. It took so much effort to change the lane and find a safe place to park. It was a scary moment for myself and my 2 kids. I was about to crash into other cars. A message appeared “ui_a020 - steering assist reduced”.