Tesla problems by model
Owners have filed 22,392 complaints with NHTSA about the 5 Tesla models with enough data to profile here, covering 33 model years from 2013 through 2026. The Model 3 draws the most at 7,488, 33.4% of the make's total.
Complaint volume tracks how many cars a make sold as much as how they held up, and NHTSA complaints are unverified owner reports rather than confirmed defects. Nothing on this page compares Tesla against another manufacturer. Use it to find the model, then the model year, then read what owners of that year actually filed.
Every Tesla model
| Model | Model years | Complaints | Most-reported year | Top system that year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model 3 | 8 2018–2025 | 7,488 | 2018 1,686 | Forward collision avoidance (16.8%) |
| Model Y | 7 2020–2026 | 7,353 | 2021 1,985 | Forward collision avoidance (42.3%) |
| Model S | 10 2013–2023 | 5,030 | 2015 1,057 | Electrical system (25.3%) |
| Model X | 7 2016–2023 | 2,263 | 2016 684 | Suspension (21.9%) |
| Cybertruck | 1 2024–2024 | 258 | 2024 258 | Electrical system (20.5%) |
Model years shown are those with at least 100 complaints on file, the gate every page on this site has to clear.
Reading the numbers
Across every Tesla model year on the site, forward collision avoidance is the system named most often — 5,733 complaints, 36.4% of those filed under a named system. Individual model years diverge from that sharply, which is the reason to read the year rather than the badge.
The three most-reported Tesla models — Model 3, Model Y and Model S — account for 88.7% of the make's complaint volume. That is a concentrated picture: most of what gets reported about Tesla here comes from three nameplates. Bear in mind that a nameplate selling in the millions will out-file a niche one whatever its record.
Of the 22,392 complaints, 2,963 describe a crash, 209 describe a fire and 474 report a death.
Most-reported Tesla model years
The single heaviest model year of each Tesla nameplate, 2013–2026. Heaviest is not worst — read it alongside the model page.