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What 175 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Tesla Model S 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 (175)Crash / fire / injury (15)Driver assistance (47)Steering (29)Electrical system (25)Suspension (16)Brakes (15)Speed control (14)Body & structure (9)Lane Departure (9)Tires (9)Wheels (9)

1 of 175 complaints match · Electrical system · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Dec 11, 2021Electrical systemDriver assistanceCrash

This was a Autodrive malfunction event on a brand new Tesla Model S. I was in standstill traffic when my car, which had been engaged in Autodrive, lurched forward and suddenly accelerated at a high rate of speed into the car in front of us, without any driver prompts. The problem was immediately reported to Tesla who has been delaying in providing the data logs and engineering analysis for over two months. Tesla did what they called a "safety inspection" after the crash and says the car is fine. They have refused to try and replicate the malfunction because they maintain the car is fine. Luckily, no one was injured, and there was only property damage to my car and the car in front of me, but there is something wrong with the software, the cameras, and/or the front end sensors and their calibration for the car to have done that.

NHTSA ODI 11443479

Working with the data? Download all 175 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 20, 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 S Bev verdict →