Home · 2021 Tesla Model 3 Bev · Complaints

What 650 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 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 (650)Crash / fire / injury (51)Driver assistance (404)Brakes (124)Speed control (123)Electrical system (76)Lane Departure (30)Visibility & wipers (30)Steering (26)Transmission & drivetrain (17)Body & structure (15)Seat belts (15)

30 of 650 complaints match · Visibility & wipers · clear filters · page 2 of 2

Jan 12, 2022Visibility & wipers

The heat stops working at cold conditions. Many other users have reported this problem, after going into service I was told there is a sensor that is out in the open behind the bumper that when exposed to snow and rain can freeze and causes heat to stop working. I have experienced this myself when going on a trip back home from upstate NY to NC , I had no heat with temps outside being at 3 degrees F , not only was the car extremely cold causing me and my wife to get sick , but you can not use the defrost because there is no heat. So there is absolutely no visibility since there’s frost on all windows that you cant do anything about.

NHTSA ODI 11447214

Dec 28, 2021Visibility & wipers

Tesla in the December 2021 V11 software update as made the car's common control user interface unsafe. Critical controls, such as defrost and climate control, as well as many others (like trip, tire pressure, heated seats, windshield wipers) , are now only accessible by hunting through menus - - all which require the driver to turn their eyes off the road for longer periods of time than the previous user interface. Font sizes have also been made much smaller which will cause readability issues. This is a road hazard and needs to be addressed, and there is no option available to downgrade to the safer user interface. Please require Tesla to perform an over the air recall for this UI to correct these safety issues.

NHTSA ODI 11445298

Dec 26, 2021Visibility & wipers

Tesla pushed out a new user interface over Christmas. The new interface buries the wiper controls and defrost controls under sub-menus and you can no longer quickly access them while driving. It takes multiple clicks and requires you removing your eyes from the road for a long time. Furthermore, there is no way to revert back to their old interface.

NHTSA ODI 11444969

Dec 7, 2021Visibility & wipers

Windshield has highly visible internal reflections resulting in vertical ghosting in high contrast situations such as headlights brake lights and even on sunny days service center said it was within acceptable tolerance but it greatly diminishes the clarity of vision through the windshield. Haven't seen anything like it in the four other cars manufactured across two decades that I've driven regularly. Dangerous design or manufacturing defect.

NHTSA ODI 11442963

Feb 20, 2021Electrical systemVisibility & wipers

HEAT NO LONGER WORKS IN THE CAR'S CLIMATE CONTROL. THIS APPARENTLY IS TIED TO FAULTY HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE SENSORS THAT MUST WORK PROPERLY FOR THE HEATING SYSTEM TO WORK, AND TESLA SERVICE CENTERS ARE AWARE OF THIS YET ARE NOT PROACTIVELY REPLACING THEM. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE IN COLD CLIMATES SINCE THE WINDSHIELD DEFROST NO LONGER WORKS, AND THE CAR IS UNSAFE TO DRIVE OVERALL IN COLD TEMPERATURES WITHOUT FUNCTIONAL HEAT. THIS ISSUE APPEARS TO BE RESTRICTED TO THE 2020/2021 MODEL 3/YS WITH THE HEAT PUMP THAT REQUIRE THESE SENSORS TO FUNCTION PROPERLY. ANOTHER SYMPTOM IS THE CLIMATE SCREEN DISPLAYS AN ERROR MESSAGE OF "CLIMATE KEEPER IS UNAVAILABLE DUE TO A SYSTEM FAULT."

NHTSA ODI 11397138

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Working with the data? Download all 650 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 2021 Tesla Model 3 Bev verdict →