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What 26 owners told NHTSA about the 2017 Tesla Model 3 Bev

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (26)Crash / fire / injury (2)Driver assistance (8)Airbags (7)Seat belts (6)Seats (6)Lane Departure (4)Speed control (4)Visibility & wipers (4)Brakes (3)Electrical system (2)Backup camera & sensors (1)

2 of 26 complaints match · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Dec 27, 2021Seats1 injury

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.

NHTSA ODI 11445122

Jun 17, 2021Lane DepartureDriver assistanceCrash

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.

NHTSA ODI 11421345

Working with the data? Download all 26 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2017 Tesla Model 3 Bev verdict →