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)

9 of 650 complaints match · Electrical system · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

May 28, 2025Electrical systemSpeed controlCrash

Attempting to park. Slowly inching forward while turning left. Vehicle accelerated. (Sudden Unintended Acceleration: SUA) Vehicle jumped a curb, bounced off a tree, dropped off the curb before comping to a stop. Internet search shows other similar reports; attributed, by Tesla, as pedal misapplication. This was not "pedal misapplication". I am not looking for anything. But NHTSA should increment occurance counter by 1. Tesla has a problem. Electrical or Mechanical...do not know. They have also lost me as a customer. The car will be sold. I have video...mp4

NHTSA ODI 11663381

Dec 3, 2024SteeringElectrical systemBrakesCrash1 injury

UNKNOWN

NHTSA ODI 11628595

Jun 6, 2024Transmission & drivetrainElectrical systemSpeed controlCrash

The vehicle, a 2021 Tesla Model 3, had an episode of sudden unintended acceleration. I was almost stationary waiting to make a left when the car accelerated by itself, left the road, crossed a grass field at high speed and crashed into bushes. The vehicle was not on auto pilot, it resulted in damage of almost $ 20.000 as estimated by insurance. The vehicle is available for inspection, it will be checked by Tesla service after the damage is fixed. There were no previous warnings, this is the first incident of this kind. It is not clear what component malfunctioned, probably some electric/electronic device in charge of acceleration. It was obviously a very dangerous event that could have jeopardized my safety and/or some others.

NHTSA ODI 11592876

Mar 7, 2024Electrical systemSeat belts1 injury

UNKNOWN

NHTSA ODI 11575945

Nov 27, 2023Electrical systemFire

Car was charging in garage overnight when an interior dash electrical fire started. Fire burnt dash and smoke damaged the interior or car. Fire smoldered itself out, and car was considered a total loss. Collision center that picked up vehicle stated that they believed the fire started from an electrical charging fault at the harness in the dash.

NHTSA ODI 11556904

May 17, 2023Electrical systemBrakesCrash

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH as he was exiting a highway and slowing for a traffic signal at the bottom of the off-ramp his brakes failed to engage. The contact stated the brake pedal was stiff and he had attempted to use full leg force to depress the brake pedal. The contact's vehicle ran the traffic signal and the contact stated he hit the right front end of a vehicle that was across traffic from him. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated that the crash stopped his vehicle and the other vehicle. The contact said that the air bags had been deployed and that the left front end of his vehicle was crushed into the left wheel well. The contact stated that the other vehicle received only light damage to the right end of the bumper due to it being higher than his vehicle. The contact stated that the police were on the scene and filed a report. The other vehicle was able to drive away, and the contact's vehicle was towed to an impound lot. The contact stated that his insurance provider declared the contact's vehicle a total loss. The vehicle had not been diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that prior to the crash he had attempted to engage his cruise control while on the highway and it would not work. The contact stated that when he engaged the cruise control the windshield wipers would activate and he stopped attempting to use cruise control. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 18,000.

NHTSA ODI 11522497

Jul 2, 2021Electrical systemSpeed controlEngineCrash1 injury

After parking and leaving the car, I realize later the dashboard did not shut down. The dashboard was still illuminated, and I was also able to hear the sound from a tuned FM radio. I re-open and closed both the driver and the passenger doors in an attempt to shutoff the dashboard. Since I did not get the expected result, I decided to get back into the car. I sat down in the driver chair to investigate the problem when the car was instantly activated and switched to a sudden and uncontrolled acceleration. It crashed into a facing wall after a run of about 30 feet.

NHTSA ODI 11423241

Jul 2, 2021Electrical systemSpeed controlEngineCrash1 injury

see description on file report Nb:11423241

NHTSA ODI 11423248

May 16, 2021Electrical systemFuel systemCrash

At around 5:30pm on 5/16/2021 We were entering our garage when our tesla accelerated on its own into our garage extremely quickly and nearly brought the garage down.

NHTSA ODI 11417368

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 →