2017 TESLA Model 3 Problems & Complaints

Hello. I am following up with the previous safety report I submitted for my vehicle. I just received an updated repair estimate citing the parts that will need replaced (pdf attached). I also confirmed with the service advisor that the functionality of the safety restraint system may be impacted by this issue, however, Tesla still wants to charge drivers $1,300 for this repair.

There is a warning on my car saying “front passenger safety restraint system fault”. The Tesla service center says the fix requires an air bag replacement and to replace the seat sensor. Does this not impact the safety of the passenger? This is the second model 3 I’ve owned that continuously has this fault. I feel like this model should be recalled since it is such a widespread issue. I dealt with this warning light for 2-3 years because Tesla wants to charge >$1,000 for the replacement of these parts. I’m definitely not the only one. There are plenty of complaints online and most people never get it fixed if the vehicle is out of warranty. On the other hand, some people try to fix the problem themselves which could create a worse problem for the safety restraints system.

My car has been having this issue since it was purchased in 2018. An alert appears on the screen which says, "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault/Service is Required." I had the car serviced four times by Tesla under warranty. It has now appeared a fifth time and Tesla says the airbags need to be replaced for over $1,600. The prior repairs included replacing wiring harnesses and occupancy sensor.

I purchased a new 2017 Tesla model 3 in late 2017, drove it 135k miles and suddenly had issues with the battery cooling fan staying on all the time and the interior cooling not working. The Tesla service center found the condenser completely blocked with road debris. This was possible because of a design flaw in the condenser being horizontal and receiving unfiltered air directly scooped from the vent below the grill of the car. This design flaw is present in all model 3 and model Y as I can see but, the amount of debris scooped depends on many factors such as mileage, geography, highway vs local, etc. The result was damage costing $4k to repair and no way of preventing the design flaw from causing another failure in the future.

My rear glass cracked. However, there was no damage to suggest an impact of any sort. I looked carefully and saw there was no damage to suggest this was caused by an impact. I took the car to the Tesla dealership and they also examined the glass and agreed that there was no impact of any sort that would have caused the glass to crack. They then told me that they have seen this on multiple Tesla vehicles and believe it's a manufacturing defect possibly related to the defroster. They refused to cover it under any warranty as I was out of the warranty period.

Within a week of posting a complaint here about phantom braking while in autopilot, my autopilot was disabled. Does the NHTSA share VIN numbers with the manufacturer? Because that sure felt like retaliation by Tesla

SHORTLY AFTER PURCHASING THE CAR IT RECEIVED A SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD CALLED EMERGENCY LANE DEPARTURE AVOIDANCE WHICH IS TESLA'S FANCY NAME FOR A LANE DEPARTURE WARNING SYSTEM. I HAVE TAKEN THE CAR INTO THEIR SERVICE CENTERS 3 TIMES TO HAVE IT REPAIRED BECAUSE IT ONLY WORKS <50% OF THE TIME - NEVER WORKS DURING RAIN, SHADOWS ON THE ROAD, AND VARIOUS OTHER NORMAL ROAD & WEATHER CONDITIONS. EACH TIME I GET THE CAR BACK FROM THE SERVICE CENTERS I'M INFORMED THAT THAT SYSTEM IS WORKING NORMALLY. IN LATE JUNE OF 2020 I PURCHASED THEIR BASIC AUTO-PILOT SOFTWARE SYSTEM FOR $2,170 WHICH IS A COMBINATION OF BOTH LANE KEEPING ASSISTANCE (TESLA'S SELF STEERING) AND ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL (TESLA'S TRAFFIC & ROAD AWARE CRUISE CONTROL). THIS SOFTWARE HAS HAD "GLITCHES" AND MALFUNCTIONS EVER SINCE THE PURCHASE. I CONTACTED MARIE MOORE (ASSISTANT MANAGER AT TESLA'S BELLEVUE, WA) ABOUT THE ISSUES AND I WAS TOLD THAT THIS SOFTWARE WAS A "SELF LEANING" TYPE AND WOULD IMPROVE WITH USE. THE FIRST ISSUE WAS THE WHILE DRIVING ON THE FREEWAY WITH AUTO-PILOT ENGAGED THE CAR WOULD VEER RIGHT A FEW TO SEVERAL FEET TOWARD MOST ON & OFF RAMPS UN-NERVING MYSELF & PASSENGERS AS WELL AS GETTING CLOSE TRAFFIC UPSET ENOUGH THAT I WOULD GET HONKED AT OR WORSE. IT GRADUALLY GOT BETTER SO THAT IT WOULD ONLY VEER RIGHT SIGNIFICANTLY LESS. HOWEVER ON 4/19 MY CAR RECEIVED A NEW SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD THAT STATED IT WOULD IMPROVE THE AUTO-PILOT & COLD WEATHER PERFORMANCE. I DROVE THE CAR ON A 140 MILE FREEWAY TRIP ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT THE CAR WOULD RADICALLY VEER RIGHT ON ~90% OF ALL ON RAMPS! TWICE IT NEARLY JERKED THE STEERING WHEEL FROM MY GRIP AND ATTEMPTED TO STEER COMPLETELY OFF THE FREEWAY & ONTO THE ON RAMP. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT AT THE LYNNWOOD, WA SERVICE CENTER ON 4/26 AND WAS TOLD ONCE AGAIN THAT THE CAR WAS PERFORMING NORMALLY & THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO; & SAME WITH CRUISE CONTROL ISSUES

The vehicle frequently applies emergency braking when approaching overpasses at night while driving on highways at night at normal speeds. This happens about once per 100 miles or so.

Many phantom braking incidents both on autopilot and in adaptive cruise control mode result in surprising (and frightening) sudden braking for no reason. In high traffic conditions, this could lead to a possible rear-end collision. The adaptive cruise control has become so unstable in the last few months we will not use it. As this is a mature feature that used to work nearly flawlessly this is very frustrating to go backwards with an update.

I received an error about the occupant classification system and a safety restraint fault. These are due to known manufacturing defects. Addressing these concerns was expensive and also required a replacement of the front passenger airbag.

En primer lugar decir que el VIN utilizado es completamente aleatorio. Esta notificación está dirigida para todos los fabricantes de vehículos eléctricos y fabricantes de baterías. Actualmente los diferentes medios de comunicación y redes sociales no paran de reportar incendios en las baterías de los vehículos eléctricos, con el peligro que esto representa para personas y bienes colindantes. Estos incendios están producidos en gran medida por la deformación que sufren las baterías a lo largo de su vida útil, con las cargas y descargas de las baterías, estas empiezan a hincharse, deformarse hasta que llega a un punto donde las celdas que componen la batería entran en cortocircuito produciendo los incendios ya mencionados. Existe un sistema ya patentado para controlar la deformación de las celdas que componen una batería, una vez que el sistema detecta el hinchado o deformación en las celdas que componen una batería, este puede detener la carga, carga por regeneración y impedir el siguiente arranque del vehículo poniéndolo en modo seguro. Adjunto presentación del sistema mencionado en el siguiente enlace: [XXX] Saludos. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

I had just finished Supercharging my vehicle from 50% to 80% and when I entered the car to drive home two warnings showed up 1. Steering assist was reduced and it might be more difficult to drive; and 2. Lane departure avoidance warning was not working. I did a hard reset twice - (foot on the brake while pressing the two steering wheel 'wheels') and began driving the 10-15 minute home. After an incredibly scary and difficult drive down a circular driveway, and great difficulty turning the wheel to make a right turn in one try, I picked the straightest route to my home - stopping one more time to hard reset. Again nothing! Luckily there was no traffic but I had to make 9 ninety degree turns to get there. I got home - taking 4 tries to maneuver the car into my driveway and garage. I left the car in the garage. Tesla service was closed for the weekend so I arranged for a tow on Monday. The next (Sunday) morning I did another reset and this time the steering assist worked, and I have to assume the lane departure avoidance was working as well because I only drove around the block and put it back in the garage. I understand other models of Tesla have been recalled for this very issue and I'm wondering why the Model 3 was not recalled as well since the software is the same is it not? I don't know if there was something wrong with the Supercharger that created the problem.

Back windshield spontaneously cracked from the heat.

Safety Restraint System Fault in front passenger seat alert. Appears to be a common occurrence in Tesla Model 3 cars. Not covered under warranty to due to only 50k mile coverage for safety system, but the failure seems quite common. Required a replacement seat and replacement airbag. Many users reporting the same issue in the car.

Feb 25 around 4pm PT we were driving north on US Hwy 101 using the basic cruise control feature of our Model 3. Based on our settings I believe this would be considered adaptive cruise control, but I'm not sure. Enhanced Auto-Pilot was not in use. On a largely open highway, in particular with no one in front of us, and thankfully, no one close behind us, the car suddenly started to lose speed, not brake, just lose speed. I pressed the right-hand button on the steering wheel and called out "report bug" so there should be an incident record with Tesla I believe. After letting it slow a bit, I pressed the accelerator to resume and it resumed speed ok. I have used the "report bug" several times on this issue so there should be records of other incidents. Feb. 26, around noon. Traveling on Central Expwy at 55, the car suddenly slowed to about 25 in the space of a few seconds before re-accelerating. No visible object to cause this. Thankfully, no one behind me which is why I let it drop speed to see what it would do. Again, this was using CC, not EAP. This first happened on Jan 14, '22 using cc on s-bd US 101. I have video of this, but it's 19MB, so can't upload. I took to Tesla service and they concluded it was moisture obstructing camera view. Made no sense then as you would it expect to occur constantly, not intermittently. Presumably if this was a vacuum issue, they would have checked that. I think the 3 works CC by wire.

My tesla model 3 , parking break do not release. so i can not go front or back!!! i thing they had recall about that long time ago. it happend every month once. you get stuck for 2 hrs or so and then it get atomatically release!!!

The contact owns a 2017 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 contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

Experiencing unexpected braking on freeway while on cruise control. Car brakes for apparently no reason. There is no warning, vehicles in sight, on clear sunny day. Has braked up to 3 times/hr on two different days on road trip. No indicators say that anything is wrong with the car or its cameras. It is jarring and scary for both driver and passenger. Collecting info for Tesla service appt in August. Read info of phantom braking for newer Teslas. We drove this same route in this car in summer of 2019 and didn’t experience phantom braking.

Essentially all of the safety and convenience features repeatedly shut off. Lane departure, autopilot, regenerative braking, VSC, emergency braking, airbags, traction control, automatic vehicle hold, stability control, and a few others stopped working on multiple occasions. This definitely put my life and my family's life at risk. The problems were reproduced and confirmed by the dealer and the vehicle was inspected by the manufacturer. All of the warning lamps and messages only popped up when the failure occurred. Tesla initially "fixed" all of these issues by doing a wheel alignment. Obviously this did not work and eventually a much more extensive repair was done. Also, they provided a loaner with tires so bald they the tread was below the wear bar.

Tesla vehicles have driver profiles to adjust seats automatically when a driver taps the brake pedal after entering the vehicle. A recent software update 2021.44.25.2 took away any on-screen indication of what profile the car is trying to set the seats to. There is no longer an on-screen STOP button, nor does a menu pop up giving a driver a chance to select a different profile. The result is that a driver has no expectation that seats might continue to move past the expected point, and since there's no longer an on-screen STOP button, nor way of getting to it without drilling through menus, a driver's legs could get crushed before the driver realizes that there's a problem. Since a driver expects to see the information on the screen, as was described in the owner's manual when the driver purchased the car, the driver will be focused on that area and could be crushed before realizing how to stop the seats.

On August 9th, 2021 I was traveling on Interstate 40, in NC, at MM 103 at approximately 70 mph. when with no warning the Main Control Unit (MCU) went blank. Adaptive Cruise control, speedometer were not operable or could not be seen. The MCU reset after a brief (5 second) pause. I immediately placed a service request for August 25th with Tesla. Tesla updated the firmware and performed standard maintenance on August 25th. See attached screenshots. On October 26th, at approximately 505 in the afternoon, I was traveling on I-40, in NC, at 70 mph when again the MCU went out but did not reset itself and remaind blank for the remainder of my trip, approximately 20 minutes. During this time adaptive cruise control, speedometer, turn signals, wipers and lane assit features were inoperable. I was able to complete my travel that afternoon in the car. On October 28th, I placed a service request for November 9th, with Tesla and shared the video I had of the incident. Tesla investigation into the incident indicated "We have concluded the investigation and found the crash (MCU) to be related to a current firmware bug that is known by our engineering team. We do not yet have a timeline when it will be fixed." This indiactes that Tesla knew of the issue with the firmware and has not resolved it. On Nov 2nd, 2021, Tesla cancled my November 9th, request for service due to software issue. I immediately reopened the claim, requesting the MCU be replaced and the newest version of software and driver safety features be installed I have not heard from Tesla about a resolution.

The Autopilot system on my vehicle malfunctioned, leading to the vehicle colliding into a stationary road barrier at highway speeds. The vehicle sustained severe damage as a result of the collision and was no longer operable.

THIS IS A COMPLAINT ABOUT A MODEL 3 WITH A WHOMPY WHEEL. HTTPS://WWW.IAAI.COM/VEHICLEDETAILS/39345671?TENANT=US&ROWNUMBER=0 MORE IMPORTANTLY IT IS A COMPLAINT ABOUT THE CULTURE AT TESLA WHICH ALLOWS SUBSTANDARD COMPONENTS TO BE FITTED TO ALL MODELS OF TESLAS AND THE COMPANY'S REFUSAL TO COMPLY WITH NORMAL STANDARDS OF QUALITY CONTROL. THIS IS YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE. THE BACK WHEEL HAS GONE WHOMPY BECAUSE A SUSPENSION COMPONENT SNAPPED. THE CAR CONTINUED TO DRIVE UNTIL THE TIRE WAS COMPLETELY WORN THROUGH. RATHER THAN INVESTIGATE THE PROBLEM TESLA PAYS OFF THE OWNER AND MAKES THEM SIGN AN NDA. EVERY PURCHASER OF A TESLA SIGNS AN AGREEMENT COMFITING THEM TO ARBITRATION RATHER THAN ALLOWING A COURT ACTION WHICH WOULD REVEAL THE TRUTH OF WHAT HAPPENED. NHTSA RELIES UPON SELF REGULATION BY RESPECTABLE AUTOMAKERS. TESLA IS NOT A RESPECTABLE COMPANY. QUITE THE OPPOSITE. THANK YOU KEEF