What 592 owners told NHTSA about the 2019 Tesla Model 3 Bev

The Tesla was hit on the passenger side by a Honda civic that ran a red light traveling more than 25 mph The Tesla spun 180 degrees after impact. No airbags deployed. Immediately after impact the Tesla turned on hazard lights. However the vehicle would not come to a stop after pressing on the brakes. After impact the vehicle was coasting backwards at probably less than 5-6 mph. It would not respond to brake presses. Oddly the vehicle had regen braking enabled which should have brought it to a stop, but it didn’t. The vehicle kept coasting backwards as if it was in neutral for about 20 meters until it hit a curb and stopped. BRAKES WOULD NOT WORK!!!

NHTSA ODI 11734115

Brakes failed to stop the car. The car sat at Tesla service center for one month with no action from Tesla.My wife rear ended another car. The air bags deployed. No one was injuryed and the other was not damaged. Both people could have been seriously hurt or killed. Car was finally towed to Classic Collision November 24 by State Farm Insurance for repair. Estimate to be repaired January 8, 2026.

NHTSA ODI 11706446

The vehicle’s front suspension began making loud squeaking noises and felt unstable while driving, especially when turning or going over uneven surfaces. At times, the vehicle does not make a proper turn and almost feels like it loses grip, which is extremely unsafe. I brought the vehicle to a Tesla service center. After inspection, Tesla provided a service estimate and documentation confirming the failure of the front lower lateral links — the exact part and condition described in NHTSA Safety Recalls 21V835000 and 23V235000, which cover defective front suspension lateral link fasteners on this vehicle make, model, and year. Despite the clear match, Tesla did not recognize the repair as recall-related and categorized it as a customer-pay service. This raises concern that some affected vehicles are being excluded from proper recall coverage, despite experiencing the same safety defects. There were no warning lights or alerts prior to the failure. The issue was confirmed by Tesla and the part is available for inspection upon request.

NHTSA ODI 11677252

[XXX]- [XXX]am. Trying to park in YMCA located in camp hill PA. Took soft right turn to park. Car accelerated instead of recognizing break, which I applied when I see it accelerating. Then I left break so it can take emergency break that didn’t happened it keep going and cross over the parking curb about six Torah inch high and went in a ditch. I did not hurt but car front damaged. Tesla was informed and they have the log of the time but told they don’t see any issue. My insurance is paying all the expenses. This was the third incident where car did not tool emergency break itself or recognized the break. I did reported last incident to Tesla. It only happened three times in last six years. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11671507

Phantom braking (as it's referred to by experts) happened to me twice on the highway using Traffic-Aware-Cruise-Control. Very scary. I was on cruise control going 60 mph when suddenly my car braked suddenly and inappropriately, losing at least 20 mph in a split second before I was able to slam on the accelerator and prevent an accident (rear-end collision). This happened TWICE in the course of 5 minutes on the same highway! There was no obstruction in the road, no cars moving into my lane, nothing but normal road conditions, when it occurred. From my research, this is a huge problem with Tesla vehicles that thousands of individuals are loudly complaining about online and now in court cases in the country. I see there are thousands of reports to your organization about this, but it says you have only complaints from 2021 and later years. However, I have a 2019 and it's happening to me. And it's happening to every single model year out there, just from researching and talking to Tesla owners. This is a major safety hazard, plain and simple. I was inches of being in a rear-end collision, and drivers behind me are extremely upset and vengeful on the road after an incident like this (understandably!). Because of this I fear for my safety and well-being on the road using Tesla's cruise control features. Very disappointing. Above for the ADAS option, I wasn't able to select 2 options, but "automatic emergency braking" is also applicable here as that is what happened. Somehow Teslas are falsely activating emergency braking during cruise control!

NHTSA ODI 11658874

The brake lines have completely failed on my 2019 Tesla Model 3 due to rust / corrosion in the drivers side front wheel well. Fortunately failure was caught before an accident occurred. Had I not caught this failure, at highway speed this could have resulted in a very bad accident putting me and my family in danger. After the failure occurred the vehicle indicated it had low brake fluid and that it should be taken to a Tesla service center. I had two different Tesla service centers review the brake line failure, and inspect the remaining brake lines. Both service centers denied that the brake lines were covered under warranty. After connecting the second service center with a Tesla shop in the New England region the Tesla service center agreed to cover replacement under good will. While this is a positive outcome the failure of the brake lines has also identified massive corrosion issues on the battery, subframes, and bolts holding critical components together. I've been informed that removal of the sub-frames and battery may result in the battery being deemed faulty. This is due to corrosion found at the edges of the battery which may result in failure of the required battery pressure test. If the battery is faulty it will need to be replaced and is also not considered under warranty. The estimate for replacement is $23k which would mechanically total this vehicle. Battery corrosion is another safety issue, since the battery is designed to be sealed removing moisture from being able to penetrate the battery cells. Corrosion both on the battery pack and battery cells could contribute to failure of the battery pack while driving.

NHTSA ODI 11658771

When cruise control or self-driving systems are engaged, there have been numerous times when the automatic emergency braking system mistakenly slowed the car suddenly. At 70+ mph, this is incredibly dangerous. The AEBS apparently sees shadows as dangers. Fortunately, there has never been an instance when another vehicle has been close behind.

NHTSA ODI 11643341

It brakes at highway speeds of 70 without reasons on cruise control and FSD. Happened three times on highway 46. It can be very bad if there was a car behind me. This happened to me through all these years since 2019.

NHTSA ODI 11624913

The brakes of my car did not work on July 2023. I stepped on the brakes and the car did not stop. It accelerated. I almost crashed into another car as the car kept on going. The car beeped when getting close to another car & slowed. I had to maneuver the car to the side of the road to avoid a collision. It did not stop until the length of 2 cars. My husband checked my tesla car and saw there was an alert that the brakes did not work, however, he was unable to take a picture of the message and it did not re-appear. When I scheduled a Tesla service, at first it was a mobile service & they said it had to be checked at a service center. At the service center, I was told that nothing was wrong with my cars brakes and I was charged a $240 diagnostic fee. They state that they "test drove [the] vehicle and was unable to replicate customers concern. Using customers provided times stamp of 7/13/23 between 5:45 PM and 6 PM verified no brake related alerts where present. Technician inspected from and rear brakes, front and rear brake pad thickness was at 8MM. Customers stated about a recall related to loos brake caliper bolts, as of now there is no documentation available to service of any steps to take. For piece of mind technician torqued front caliper bolts to knuckled to 94NM and rear caliper bolts to knuckle to 83NM. Advise customer to monitor condition as it was a one time occurrence." - Component that failed were the brakes & the automatic emergency braking as it did not turn on quickly. - My safety was put at risk as I almost got into a car accident. - The Tesla Service Center at Buena Park "drove the vehicle and was unable to replicate" my concerns. - The vehicle was inspected by Tesla, but not by the police, insurance, representative or others. - There was a warning message that showed up when my husband went back to see if there were any messages and it stated that the brakes did not work. Of note, I do not recall seeing any messages before or during the incident.

NHTSA ODI 11601644

I was driving my Model 3 when this alert occurred: ALERTS DRIVABILITY - VEHICLE MAY NOT RESTART/SERVICE IS REQUIRED ADDITIONALLY THE SCREEN STATED PULL OVER THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY SAFELY. I was in the middle of the road driving so it became dangerous. I could not steer the vehicle and the brakes were barely working. I could not immediately stop because I was in the middle of traffic. I pulled right over as soon as I could and shut down the vehicle. I believe this is a defect. When I spoke to Tesla repair personnel I was told they know about this and it is happening when the Model 3 reaches 40K. How can they not address this - why would someone wait until someone is in a serious accident? I called to set up an appointment for this emergency and was told I cannot get an appointment for 1 month and I should not drive my car. When an electric vehicle just shuts down you cannot control the vehicle - this is very very dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11593448

The following recalls have been pending on my vehicle: 23V-838; TC2023-657, 24V-051 Tesla is unable to push over-the-air (OTA) updates to my vehicle to remedy these recalls due to an issue with the onboard computer being unable to receive updates. This issue arose when Tesla pushed a software/firmware update to my vehicle which effectively "bricked" the Advanced Drive System portion of the computer. In other words, I am unable to safely receive an update to resolve the issues (solved by the recall) because Tesla's failed software update damaged the onboard computer.

NHTSA ODI 11584617

Thursday, 2/29/23 I was driving through a busy intersection. The car in front of me was slowing and I too slowed by gently easing the brake. This slow down was not unusual for steadily moving traffic. As my foot was resting on the brake, I felt the car pull the brake down below my foot hard, forcing my vehicle to abruptly stop and due to the force, my body was pushed into the steering wheel. No injury or accidents resulted however, if a car had been driving behind me, I would have been rear-ended. If my toddler had been with me, his car seat would have protected him but this would have been the greatest force ever placed on him. The car did not provide warning that the emergency brake would be activated. I am not aware of a publicly-notified defect at this time. I have scheduled the most soon appointment available with a Tesla service center in order to audit my software system with hope this glitch will be resolved.

NHTSA ODI 11575679

I was driving on the road at night a few days ago and there was a car that was pulled over on the side of the road with hazard lights flashing. The Tesla slowed down and applied the brakes very hard. The Tesla also applied the brakes for no reason. It was on adaptive cruise control, and all of a sudden it would hit the brakes really hard and I would have to take it off the adaptive cruise control because I did not want to get into an accident. The system automatically applied the brakes in both cases which I would call it, “The “phantom braking”. The car had done this before but not to this extent on adaptive cruise control. This only happened when it was on cruise control. I have been very hesitant on putting it on adaptive cruise control because it acts up at times.

NHTSA ODI 11573734

Suspension lateral links attached to subframe became loose causing the lateral links to separate from the sub-frame. Wheel alignment shifted causing instability, which adversely impacted vehicle controllability and nearly caused a collision while driving. Problem was inspected, reproduced, and confirmed by the dealer/manufacturer/service center. Before the failure occurred, the primary symptoms were abnormal noises from steering/suspension area. Service center attempted to address these noises by inspecting and retightening the bolts, but unfortunately, this action did not resolve the issues and, eventually lead to a failure of the suspension system. It should be noted that parking brake functions and vehicle hold feature may have been affected by this failure. This incident may be associated with with the following recalls, NHTSA Recall: 23V-235 or Manufacturer Recall: SB-23-31-001. However, my VIN does not appear to be included.

NHTSA ODI 11553170

The vehicle is supposed to automatically slow down (regen) when you let off the accelerator. Recently the car continues to coast or stay the same speed. The battery is not close to being full (will not regen). I will apply the brake and let go and the car will continue to move forward. It is dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11552283

The vehicle will randomly start emergency braking for no reason once so ever when using teslas full self driving. This is extremely dangerous as it can happen at any moment while the autopilot feature is in use. In my most recent instance autopilot was set to 70 mph, and with no vehicles are traffic control devices present what is known as “phantom braking” started to occur. Which requires me to quickly reassume control of the vehicle and bring it back up to speed.

NHTSA ODI 11551403

The car is plagued by "phantom braking." It occurs when I am on the freeway - the car suddenly brakes and/or decelerates. (Sometimes it is a sudden braking and sometimes the cruise control just turns off.) This is very unsafe - I am fortunate that it has occurred when there is no car close behind me. I feel it happen and put my foot on the accelerator as soon as I can. It's happened as many as 3-4 times during a long (@500 miles) drive, and other times only once. It occurs in various kinds of weather and I have never been able to figure out why it happens. It has happened when there are no cars in front of or next to my car. I believe this problem has been reported many times before. I do not know what system or part is responsible for this. I have had the car since 2019 and this has been happening as long as I can remember. I have never received any kind of a warning or signal that the car would brake. NOTE: B/c the problem is ongoing, I did not put in an approximate date below.

NHTSA ODI 11544976

The NHTSA is forcing Tesla and other self-driving cars to come to a complete 0 mph stop at stop signs and according to Elon, only 0.5% of all drivers in their fleet actually do this and that seems inline with the general public also doesn't come to a 100% stop at every stop sign and as a result I got rear-ended because in a completely wide-open intersection the driver behind me thought I was going to do a rolling stop but didn't. The point of the NHTSA is to keep drivers safe and driving like a safe driver and not a robot that follows 100% of all road rules makes an unpredictable driver therefore an unsafe driver. The NHTSA has allowed car manufacturers like Volvo set max cruise control to 125 mph!!!! That breaks the speed limit on 99.999% of all roads in America but you've allowed it for years because everyone goes above the speed limit and that's ok with the NHTSA. Letting self driving cars slow to 1 or 2 mph before proceeding in an intersection where no other cars or people are present aligns with what over 99% of all drivers do so that would make them a predictable driver and therefore a safe driver. Not saying allow them to blow through intersections at 3+ mph but not come to a 100% stop, seriously no one does that!!

NHTSA ODI 11541458

Recently I have been receiving warnings from my Tesla after hitting a pothole or bump in the road. ABS is disabled, power steering is disabled, power brake assist is disabled, forward collision warning and driver assistance features are all disabled. Upon a service visit to Tesla, they found that a fault within the ABS sensor circuit triggers these faults until the car is parked and shuts off to complete a reset cycle. Tesla claimed that this ABS cable was improperly placed and has caused damage to the sensor cable.

NHTSA ODI 11535800

I have a 2019 Model 3 and yesterday, while making a left turn and applying pressure to the brake, receiving feedback from the brake, my car lurched forward for about half a second. I thought I may have been rear ended, but no one was behind me. This has happened on the freeway before as well. I'll be accelerating at a totally even place and BAM, I'll jolt forward out of nowhere. On the rare occasions that I use the car's "autopilot" feature, I will also encounter phantom braking, but that's easily avoided by not using the feature, which I haven't since first encountering the problem. I haven't suffered any damages from this, but if my car is able to do this, that's extremely alarming. What if this tripped while I was parking?

NHTSA ODI 11534870

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while approaching a stop, the vehicle failed to stop as needed. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the generator braking was able to stop the vehicle. The contact stated while driving to the residence, there was a spraying sound coming from the vehicle while braking. The contact became aware of fluid leaking from the brake when the vehicle was parked. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and the contact was informed that the front and rear driver’s and passenger’s side brake lines had ruptured and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was 58,000.

NHTSA ODI 11533292

Unintended acceleration during public street and highway while approaching a stop to make a right turn on November of 2022 in Orange County California onto a highway I let go of the pedal ready to press the brake and while turning it made a unnecessary acceleration to speed up making steering difficult, another incident where I believe in February 2023 as I was driving in the right lane a truck made a sudden stop and the accident avoidance never deployed nor warn me and the acceleration maneuver my steering pedal as I felt it degrease on the brake and increase on the acceleration pedal this was very traumatic and scary knowing I might have bodily injuries or even death also while setting the speed limit I notice while using the regenerative braking the brake pedal would vibrate very aggressively also while using the back up cam and side views it would glitch a lot after a bug update I feel this is very concerning for me and my kids and a lot of reviews and even attorneys or aware of the situation most of all it's a safety issue for California

NHTSA ODI 11524965

Multiple extreme braking so much where today actually hurt my neck it stopped so abruptly up a hill miscalculating that a walker was about to be hit by my car, the man was nowhere near being hit and the auto braking skid to a halt whipping my head forward and my sweatshirt choked my Adams Apple area. It was extremely abrupt, scared me, the walker and nearly caused a rear end collision with the car behind me. This has happened a lot in the past 3 months yet I’ve had the car for over 4 years so I am assuming something is wrong with the software updates - it’s super scary not to have control of your own car. Also, I can opt out of auto braking on my car yet that’s not what I’m reporting, I’m reporting the fact that it’s phantom braking miscalculating street situations and causing dangers to me, my passengers and others like I’ve described above. Also noticed recently, when I hit the gas, it’s often the car doesn’t “go” it pauses and then may go with similar miscalculation of street situations like pedestrians on a adjacent sidewalk or motorcycles in between cars yet literally the Tesla won’t let me move…this isn’t safe.

NHTSA ODI 11524916

On 10/17/2021 my son was killed along with his passenger in this Tesla. The car was thought to be going over 100 miles an hour on a city road Coconut Point Road in Estero Florida. The car was thought to have hit a tree with the rear tire and was sent flying through the air and hit another tree and split in half. My son knew this road well as it was close to his home and drove it on his way home from work. I feel strongly that this was an acceleration issue!! He has driven this car for 2 years, so knew the car well.

NHTSA ODI 11524321

My wife was dropping my kid in the school drop off line. The speed was probably about 5 mph. The Tesla suddenly went into a sudden spontaneous acceleration. When my wife tried to brake, the brakes did not work. There was no forward collision warning beeping sound that went off, which is supposed to. It hit the vehicle in front and finally hit a fence. so, both the accelerator and brake malfunctioned. The car will go to a body shop tomorrow. Since it was a school drop off zone, safety of a lot of people were put at risk. It was very hard to get Tesla on the phone. so, we went into a Tesla service center and a complaint was filed. They will be reviewing the data but I dont know how long it will take. A software update had been applied a week back. 2 hours after the accident, a software update screen popped up

NHTSA ODI 11522124