What 412 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Tesla Model 3 Bev

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while parking, the vehicle suddenly accelerated, jumped the curb, and crashed into a building. There were no warning lights illuminated. The driver noticed smoke coming from the vehicle. The passenger's front seat occupant sustained injuries to her hand. The passenger rear seat occupant sustained injuries to her neck, and medical attention was provided. The air bags deployed. There were no reported fires. A police report was filed. A person in the building sustained unknown injuries, The vehicle was towed to a tow lot. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000. The vehicle was deemed a total loss by the insurance company.

NHTSA ODI 11534811

While traveling on the interstate using cruise control, my vehicle abruptly started to break which caused the vehicle behind me to brake as well. I did not touch the brake, accelerator, or the cruise control itself during this incident. And there were no cars in front of me or to the right of my position (I was in the far left lane).

NHTSA ODI 11534358

While I was driving along a freeway using autopilot cruise control, the car suddenly slammed its brakes even if there was no cars in front of us. I thought it was just a fluke but it happened at least twice if not thrice during that trip. There was at least an approximate of 3 miles gap between us and the car in front, so practically no cars in front. Had there any vehicles behind us, it would for sure rear ended us.

NHTSA ODI 11533083

We have experienced several episodes of the car suddenly breaking for no reason when using cruise control. The speed is very quickly reduced a good 15 mph without warning.this is not only very alarming as drivers/passengers but it is incredibly dangerous. If there was a car following closely behind us, they would have hit us.

NHTSA ODI 11531094

2023 TESLA MODEL 3 -The attached letters are for a Defect Petition. January 8, 2021, NHTSA denied a defect petition alleging 232 complaints of sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) in Tesla vehicles. Petitioner has sent updates which include a detail abstract with design details, along with 3 Defect Petition to Recall docs.

NHTSA ODI 11528471

Car unexpectedly brakes while using the cruise control. This can occur multiple times on a long drive without warning and for no apparent reason.

NHTSA ODI 11527687

While driving on 15 freeway between Riverside CA to Las Vegas NV, I put the car in cruise control. While near Barstow, the car hard brakes dropping speed quickly. Luckily no other car was near. I changed lanes to pull on the side as I wasn’t sure what was happened, as it actually felt like the car had locked up. I did take the car out of cruise control and that seemed to fix the problem. I’ve used cruise control before and the adaptive braking has been manageable, this was extreme. On 4 June 2023.

NHTSA ODI 11526945

When adaptive cruise control is engaged, the vehicle harshly brakes. This occurs very randomly and is abrupt. The operator needs to quickly take control and accelerate as the speed is reduced significantly. One incident, the speed was 80 mph and it reduced to less than 60.

NHTSA ODI 11526136

While in cruise control, the car suddenly reduced its speed; there is no obstacle in the path of the cat that would warrant such an action. This deceleration is sudden and violent and when it happens is dangerous for following drivers.

NHTSA ODI 11524171

When driving and using “autopilot” or just cruise control, the vehicle will randomly brake. Sometimes it brakes lightly, but sometimes it will violently slow the vehicle down, without warning. There is no obstacle in front of the vehicle. If another vehicle is behind the car when the car randomly brakes, this can potentially cause a rear-end event or potentially cause the car that is behind to swerve to avoid an accident. I submitted a service request to Tesla, but Tesla responded by stating that there was no malfunctions that needed to be addressed. They described various scenarios in which the computer would determine a need to brake.

NHTSA ODI 11522697

While crossing the rump and side walk to garage the car, as usual slowly proceed to enter the Garage but immediately the car went into extremely fast speed by itself and hit the side of the Garage, damaged the Garage wall, The garage opener, the cabinet, then hit the water softener and our other car in the front. It also smashed the bike against the wall , damaged the side wall cause a bulge to outside of the structure. The garage frame and right side of the Garage door fell on top of the car almost killed our daughter who was at the front passenger seat. The car brake did not stop the car, the alarm did not go off, the air bags did no inflate.

NHTSA ODI 11522184

At random times the vehicle will slam on the brakes although there is nothing in front of it. It has happened with vehicles behind me and I have averted multiple crashes by luck I suppose.

NHTSA ODI 11516113

While exiting a hospital parking deck, after driving for approximately 15 to 20 seconds, the car began to accelerate to an uncontrollable rate of speed on its own. The Tesla crashed into a parked car which was then pushed into two other parked cars. The Tesla and at least the first car hit are totaled. There was no sign of the emergency braking system engaging. Injuries from the airbag deploying were sustained. The driver has a fear to drive again as the car seemed to have a mind of it's own. The Tesla is being held at the insurance company's tow yard. There has been no feedback from the dealer. No inspections have been conducted on the car. There were no indications there was a problem with the vehicle previous to the crash. It is unknown if any warning alert systems activated during the incident.

NHTSA ODI 11504317

Driving west on 1-10 west of TLH vehicle suddenly decelerate if if there was slowed or stopped traffic ahead. I was alone on road.

NHTSA ODI 11498639

Picked up car from the dealership same day and had only 40 miles total on odometer. The car was running smooth. I was driving with my daughter in the passenger seat (12 yrs old) and got 2 error codes and my car went limp in the carpool lane. Basically went into neutral. Deceleration from 75mph .I had to avoid cars next to me to get to the shoulder and was driving at most 30-40 mph hoping a car would not slam into my rear. By the grace of God I made it to the shoulder safely. “Acceleration and Top Speed Reduced” and “Automatic Emergency Braking is Disabled” were the two errors. I’d never been so stressed. That was highly dangerous and I’ve been reading online of several other Tesla owners suffering the same fate. Please don’t wait until someone gets injured or killed before making Tesla recall their cars. I’ve been hearing its the Rear Drive Inverter (Motor) that is faulty according to others online. The service center has not diagnosed the problem with my car yet but I think that is the same issue. I feel that Tesla is negligent and should be penalized for allowing these cars to be driven off the lot by unsuspecting customers.

NHTSA ODI 11493392

While traveling on the interstate at 75+ mph, which the cruise control engaged, the vehicle emergency braked 2 times during on one trip. The first felt like a fluke, speed was reduced by 10ish miles per hour. The second time was terrifying. I was traveling approximately 77 mph on the interstate and out of no where my vehicle slowed down significantly. I was too scared of getting hit from behind to look at the speedometer to know how much it actually breaked but it felt like it dropped down to 30 mph out of nowhere. Luckily I was not on a busy stretch of interstate, the car behind me had enough time to slow down and there was no one else around. My husband and I were scared out of our minds, wondering why and how this happened. He immediately google and that is when we learned of 'phantom breaking" I have owned this car for less than a week and now I am scared to use cruise control. I don't even have the self driving or advanced auto pilot. Thank god no one was hurt. This is more than a safety issue, this could be life and death. I read that this particular issue has been reported more often lately. I reported the problem to Tesla but urge you to conduct an investigation that gets this matter resolved, not just for Tesla drivers but for the safety of everyone on the road.

NHTSA ODI 11493312