2018 Tesla Model 3 problems
Owners have filed 1,686 complaints about the 2018 Tesla Model 3 with NHTSA. Forward collision avoidance accounts for 16.8% of them — the clear leader, ahead of suspension at 10.5%.
Complaints1,686
Crashes202
Fires7
Injuries69
Deaths0
What owners report breaking
Forward collision avoidance 16.8% · 284
Suspension 10.5% · 177
Unknown or other 10.1% · 171
Electrical system 10.0% · 168
Air bags 8.3% · 140
Seat belts 6.0% · 101
Vehicle speed control 5.3% · 89
Service brakes 5.2% · 87
Severity
Of those complaints, 202 describe a crash, 7 describe a fire and 69 report an injury.
Reading the numbers
Across the 8 model years of the Tesla Model 3 in this data, 2018 draws the most complaints of any of them.
Filings have fallen off, 561 in the last three years against 892 in the three before. The issues here may already have been addressed.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 17,000 miles.
In owners' own words
Traffic aware cruise control (TACC) frequently and sometimes violently brakes when there are no obstacles. This potentially puts the safety of myself, passengers, and other drivers at risk during these events. This events occur without warning. Since the purchase of my vehicle in 2018 the events have gotten worse through software updates. I would expect improvements through subsequent updates not a regression. Forward collision avoidance
While driving on a four-lane Interstate Highway and using the adaptive cruise control, the car suddenly decelerated with no obvious cause. We were well behind the car in front of us -- the cruise control was set to 7 car lengths. I pressed the accelerator as soon as I could to resume speed. Fortunately, there was no vehicle close behind us, but a vehicle closely tailgating might have crashed into us. Forward collision avoidance
While driving a Tesla Model 3 on an interstate highway at a speed of about 75 MPH with Full Self Driving engaged, the car aggressively applied the brakes for no apparent reason. This action could cause injury to passengers in the vehicle or an accident involving another vehicle that is following too closely. No information about the reason this occurred was presented. Tesla is aware of this issue. Forward collision avoidance
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…
Other Tesla Model 3 years
2019 1,050 complaints · 21.9% forward collision avoidance 2020 767 complaints · 28.0% forward collision avoidance 2021 1,225 complaints · 48.0% forward collision avoidance 2022 1,496 complaints · 52.6% forward collision avoidance 2023 726 complaints · 32.4% forward collision avoidance 2024 329 complaints · 18.8% forward collision avoidance