What 982 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Tesla Model 3 (all Variants)

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that upon reversing out of a parking lot, an abnormal clunking sound was coming from the vehicle while turning to the right. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact continued driving and the steering wheel became loose, and an unknown object detached from the vehicle upon entering her driveway. Due to the failure, the contact decided to have the vehicle towed; upon arrival, the tow truck driver discovered that a bolt had fallen out of the vehicle. Once the vehicle arrived at the service center, the mechanic replaced a lower front lateral link and half shaft assembly. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V235000 (Suspension); which she linked to the failure. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was 70,950.

NHTSA ODI 11520597

Seat moves back and forth during acceleration and deceleration. Previous owner said he was told by Tesla that it is within “spec”

NHTSA ODI 11520175

Tesla Vehicle safety concern. Safety May 1, 2023 on Rt 95 south from Washington DC to Richmond VA (near Richmond VA) at about 10:45 pm. (Please note the clock time on the vehicle is incorrect—it is about 5 minutes slower and sets to a time I hr. earlier than the current eastern time). Vehicle: 2018 Model 3 VIN [XXX] The computer system failed in the middle of highway. The computer screen where all system functionality is monitored went bank except for a Tesla icon. Losing control of vehicle including turn signals in the middle of the highway was dangerous and a safety concern. For fear of being stranded on the road I carefully drove the vehicle to home in Yorktown Va. It was scary! Much of the settings on computer and navigation info was lost. This is a vehicle defect I need to report. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ODI 11520191

I received a message on the cars screen Steering alignment service recommended On the drivers side 2 bolts fell out at low speed which we picked up behind the vehicle. Using a jack one of the bolts was reinstalled to allow it to be driven onto a tow truck. I researched and found you had a recall on 2018 model 3 for bolts coming loose. It appears my vin was not part of this recall . I feel it should have been obviously as they must have worked themselves loose to fall out. I discussed this with Tesla service and they are quoting me $2500 for repairs because my vin was not included in the recall.

NHTSA ODI 11519905

This is an issue regarding the full self driving software. My car continues to run red lights at which it is already stopped. The light is solid red to the naked eye, and the camera definitely does not show the normal steady blink of a malfunctioning signal. The pitch forward in the video is me slamming on the brakes as the car tries to run the light (about 28 seconds in). I have previously reported this to Tesla on 12/28/21, 8/25/22, 9/21/22, 11/21/22, and 4/24/23. It has happened many more times than that, as I usually don't see a point in reporting the same bug multiple times on the same software version. As far as I know, nothing is being done about this and I have received no acknowledgement of the problem. The fsdbeta@tesla.com autoreply states that they forward this information to the correct department. This is, in my opinion, many orders of magnitude more serious than the previous Tesla recall regarding waiting too long at stop signs as this will cause a crash for an inattentive driver. https://youtu.be/ZvJASdlEEPU

NHTSA ODI 11519543

My wife was driving and the left front suspension became disconnected. It appears some type of connection bolt came loose. The car became undriveable and unable to steal properly.

NHTSA ODI 11519315

Multiple "phantom braking" events in which the car, on a clear day & no cars around, would suddenly slam on the brakes and try to stop. No messages were displayed on the screen. Tesla Service seems uninterested as it is a "software" issue. I tried a full reset of the car with no improvement.

NHTSA ODI 11519063

Side airbags did not deploy in a major side impact.

NHTSA ODI 11518914

I purchased this car used 12/05/2022. The seatbelt /driverside, doesn't catch on sudden stops, lurching me forward. I've almost hit the steering wheel with my face and head. Tesla says they are not responsible for replacing seatbelt. I have to pay for it. I don't know previous owners knew about this issue prior to selling it , but according to tesla, this issue doesn't fall with in their purview. Also the sealed control arm bushings on steering are squealing & after squeaking 10,000 miles of my driving this car and purchase. That too isn't covered.

NHTSA ODI 11518957

Car speed control malfunctioned. There was a sudden acceleration when car was below 10 miles in the parking lot. The driver lost control on braking and car keep accelerating even no force was applied to pedal. Dribe had to steer out of parking lot and crash through a wood en fence on next door neighbor. Car still keep going thru front yard of two houses cross the street and eventually hit a concrete barrier on front porch of the house. Several parts breakoff underneath the car , fluid leaked and all wheels are severely damage. Severy damage to front body side of the of the car and battery system , has occurred . There was near miss body injury to pedestrians in the area and neighbor hood. No physical injury was reported at the time of accident. but driver reported psychologycal distress. Currently CAR is towed away per Instruction from Insurance company for evaluation. Police report CASE# 23021162 NORTH bRUNSWICK pd 710 hermann road North Brunswick, NJ 08902

NHTSA ODI 11518603

I was experiencing intermittent Bluetooth connection issues along with vehicle not powering off and the gear shifting to park when moving the vehicle at (very) low speed without the seatbelt buckled. I noticed the Bluetooth connection problem after a bad software installation in Jan 2023, however the other two issues have been noticed since at least 2020. When I took the car for a second time, Tesla diagnosed the problem as a faulty seat occupancy sensor (SOS). Tesla told me that the driver side seat SOS is “sticky” that the car didn’t consistently know there was a driver in the car when I sit on the seats (which explained why the car would put itself in park when driven at low speed (<3mph) without seatbelt on, and why the engine kept running even after I stepped out of the car when the car wasn’t locked ( like, when the car is parked in the house’s garage). Further research on the web (https://www.carproblemzoo.com/tesla/model3/2018/seats-problems.php ) shows that other teslas had faulty seat occupancy sensors at both driver side and passenger side. Faulty sensors may lead to improper, or failed, airbag deployment. This is a safety issue that Tesla had known and should have performed a recall and fixed, or the very least sent a billeting to its service centers so that they would check the seat sensor when someone’s complaining about any of the three symptoms I had. When I took the car to Tesla in Feb 2023 their (mis)diagnosis was that I had too many wires plugged into USB ports and that’s why the Bluetooth didn’t connect. I didn’t complain about the vehicle going to park by itself - as I thought it was a “safety feature”. I didn’t care to report the motor running after exiting, as I thought it was the battery mgmt system running to cool the battery!

NHTSA ODI 11518703

On April 21st 2023, by pure chance I happened to notice that, after plugging in my Model 3 to recharge at a local charger, the charging rate was lower than normal: instead of its full 32A charge, the rate was only 16A. I kept getting a notification of an issue with charging, Error: PCS_a019 "Charging slowed - Poor Grid power quality possible, unplug and retry / try different charging location" I've attempted several charging stations and all the same outcome. I've done research on this issue online and others are having the same issue. Tesla did cover a few from what I read as "battery warranty" that I've reach but most are denied as it wouldn't be part of the "battery warranty". I've reached out to Tesla and was informed my warranty was expired almost 28 days on March 23rd 2023 as it was April 21st when I made the service appointment. The cost to repair was $1,987.58 and NOT covered by the battery warranty. I've asked if Tesla would waive the fee as my car was just out of warranty and has a mileage of 30,193. It was declined as she "informed" management at the Burbank, CA repair location. I'm very sadden by this issue as Tesla advertises the electric car is "low maintenance" compared to the average gas vehicle, this is false advertisement. Other manufacture do cover this part under their battery warranty. The vehicle isn't operable if not repair to charge at a normal faster speed. I'm now considering to sell my vehicle once repaired and give people my honest opinion about my experience with Tesla. I hope there's a recall for this issue so other don't have to go through this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11518740

I drive a 2018 Tesla, Model 3 mid range rear wheel drive vehicle. On Saturday, April 22, at approximately 5:10 pm, while driving on east bound on interstate 264 in Norfolk, Virginia, my car suddendly began swerving wildly from left to right. It nearly missed the median on the left and then swerved into the lane next to me on the right. It repeated this about 6 times before it allowed me to regain control of my car. I attempted with my best efforts to counter turn the steering wheel to no avail. During this time, I tried to control the vehicle, although the car's software was in control. It was frightening. If I had been on a two lane road, this could have resulted in a fatal head on collision. If there had been a pedestrian / bicyclist on the road the car that decided to drive itself could have struck a vulnerable person fatally. When I called Tesla service to report the incident, they did a quick review of the cars data and said there was some issues reported from the cars cameras. I asked for the root cause and for some reassurance that this would not happen again. I was told that sometimes the auto pilot cameras have issues and I may need to reboot the system to correct it. I was told that I should restart the software periodically as a preventive measure. I checked the owners manual, and found no mention of restarting the software regularly as preventive maintenance. Regardless of a reboot issue, a fatality could have occurred in a split moment, this dangerous event should never happen, amd a system should be in place to prevent this type of vehicle terror to never happen again. Thanks again!

NHTSA ODI 11518559

On a trip today from Pasco wa to Spokane WA (us395) there autopilot and full self driving would randomly phantom brake for no obvious reason. It happened every 5 minutes or so in both directions. Scary and dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11518479

the Power Conversion System (PCS), 1 of the 3 module fails, therefore, it limits the AC charge current to 32A out of the max of 48A the car was never pullged into a 48A AC charging connector, therefore, the PCS module likely to be defective

NHTSA ODI 11517926

Computer failure. The car became unsafe to drive because the screen went completely black and could not be reset. The rear view mirrors would not unfold, the car’s cooling system wouldn’t work, there was no way to see the speedometer or the amount of charge the vehicle had and the vehicle would not charge.

NHTSA ODI 11516901

Recommended Software update is not available. Tesla App has stopped working for the past 2 months.

NHTSA ODI 11516432

My 2018 Tesla Model 3 Long Range abruptly parks itself when a seatbelt is not used. The car does not wake up when sitting into the driver seat and the likely culprit is the driver side occupant sensor. To wake up the car one must press the brake or tap on the screen multiple times. If the sensor is faulty this means the airbags on the driver side will not deploy due to the car thinking there is no occupant. Tesla wants to charge customers $1300 for a replacement seat, which is unfair as it compromises the cars air bags and safety system. The car is drive able even when the sensor is not working. I am scared that if an accident were to occur the airbags will not deploy.

NHTSA ODI 11516577

Power conversion system failure. Only charges 32/48 amps at destination chargers. Unsure how long this has been a problem because I just upgraded my power panel to be able to charge at 48 amps. Being told $1800 to get car to charge at expected amp limit. 90k miles on car.

NHTSA ODI 11516601

The Tesla was parked and locked unoccupied with all security features enabled. When I returned to the car the front driver's side was completely crumpled with the bodywork torn , like it was reveresed in to. I was gone about 30 minutes. The car gave no notification on the app, the car alarm didn't activate and the sentry mode did not record the incident. All the things they say the car will do. I called Tesla and was told it works 99% of the time ,(but clearly when you need safety and security it doesn't) they stated that if the car gets hit a certain way it can cause the system to shut down /reboot ,so that none of these systems work... Seems wrong that this can be allowed to be the case that not only all the systems fail, that when they do fail there's no backup or way for the car to know something is wrong. That if there is a unexpected forced reboot it doesn't tell you or acknowledge something is wrong in any way . They seem to think that this is ok . I have reported to them and they really didn't seem to care , just said the statement above about it working 99% of the time..However all the things they say the car can do ,and several reasons you think you are buying the car for with it's increased safety and security, apparently don't work at all. Now I have a 4 figure out of pocket to get the car repaired because I have no way to find the person who hit my car because the none of the cars security or safety warnings worked.

NHTSA ODI 11516334

The front left control arm (lateral link) of my Model 3's front wheel just came completely off (bolts unscrewed) without any incident. It fell to the ground and preventing my car from steering properly and was dragging on the ground. The car couldn't drive properly and needed to be towed to the Tesla service center. This could have easily caused a fatal accident by causing the car to suddenly not be able to steer and drive properly. I had the vehicle towed to the Tesla service center and the engineers did not know how or why the bolts were unscrewed and came out. The Tesla service center forced me to pay out of pocket since my vehicle had 70K miles and was out of warranty. They refused to accept it as a manufacturing safety defect.

NHTSA ODI 11516017

The main bolt that holds together the wheel and body on the driver side fell off while driving, resulting in wheel falling off and car not able to operate safety. The bolt is marked with kxv109. This caused damage to the entire subframe assembly. This could have been a very terrible accident if I was driving at a higher speed. On October 27, 2022 I noticed an odd sound from my steering wheel which I reported to Tesla and had my car in for service and was told that nothing was wrong and everything worked as expected, so I continued to drive my car. My car’s wheel fell off on January 20, 2023, the bolt that held the wheel to the body completely broke off and fell on the ground.

NHTSA ODI 11516064

My Tesla Model 3 without any warning stopped working suddenly. I could not put the car in drive and there were error messages about climate control and electrical system. I had to get the car towed to the service center as it was blocking my other car in the driveway. The service center in Sunnyvale, CA diagnosed the problem to be a faulty PTC heater and has charged me over $1100 to replace it. I beileve it is quite absurd to have a fault in the HVAC system render the whole vehicle completely immobile and useless. This seems like a serious design flaw and it could lead to serious health or safety concerns.

NHTSA ODI 11515708

The side blind spot cameras are blinded at night by the turn signal lights when flashing, making them very unsafe. Difficult to view due to the orange light flashing, blinding both left and right cameras.

NHTSA ODI 11515772

I am driving on the new FSD beta that Tesla just released to comply with NHTSA's previous recall, version 2022.45.13. Despite the claim that this release has addressed these issues, I experienced these today while driving around my town on city streets and on the open highway: As I approached the stop sign at the end of the exit ramp off the highway to my neighborhood street, the car blew right past the stop sign just like it wasn't there. It did this before the current update as well. While this is improved over previous versions, it still doesn't slow down in advance of a new lower speed limit sign to ensure it's moving at that posted new slower speed by the time it reaches that sign, as it should. As you know, it's illegal, e.g., to continue driving at 45 mph after you've passed a 35 mph sign. But with this latest update, even though the car can "see" the new lower speed limit sign ahead, the car only begins to slow down once you've passed this new lower speed limit sign and then goes about 200 ft before it actually reaches the lower speed. This is still illegal in every state and is a danger to drivers and others. Please make Tesla fix both of these problems fully.

NHTSA ODI 11514920