Complaint volume
983 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2018 Tesla Model 3 Complaints
983 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2018 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
983 Total complaints
100 Crash reports
4 Fire reports
34 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are suspension, unknown or other, forward collision avoidance. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 100 crash reports, 4 fire reports, 34 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 219 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 25,782 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to suspension, unknown or other, forward collision avoidance?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2018 Tesla Model 3?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2018 Tesla Model 3
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2018 Tesla Model 3 complaints?
100 Crash
4 Fire
34 Injury
0 Fatality
63 Towed
19 Medical attention
What are the most common 2018 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
SUSPENSION 116
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 82
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 73
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 49
AIR BAGS 42
SEAT BELTS 39
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 34
STRUCTURE 27
STEERING 26
AIR BAGS,SEATS 20
983 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | regularly when autopilot or cruise control are engaged, the emergency braking will abruptly slow the vehicle when no object is on the road, highway, or interstate. This creates an unsafe environment when vehicles behind you are not following at a safe distance. We have had several instances a month where the vehicle will slow from 75 to 30 in a few seconds and require human intervention to speed up. This issue has been ongoing since we received the vehicle almost 30,000 miles ago. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving down the freeway with Autopilot engaged and the autopilot started hard braking in the middle of the road going 70mph. No accidents occurred but it was a very dangerous situation | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SUSPENSION | I've heard a loud crack while driving, in a curve. The car felt strange when steering, with noises and strange feeling while driving. I was close to home, so decided to just as park and notify Tesla. While I was parking, I've noticed the wheel touched the car on a sharp curve. I've decided to no longer drive it, scheduled a Tesla service center appointment (3 weeks later). We didn't drive the car any longer. On the day of service, I've called a tow truck. As the tow driver was pulling my car into the tow, a large bolt felt from under my car; and steering at this point was impossible (tire would touch the car). The service center replaced both sides LATERAL LINK and bolts. I've looked up this part, and found the recall 21V83500, SB-21-31-003 - which stated a situation very close to mine. My car was 2018, which was out of the recall range; but it is very likely the same issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving my vehicle, no matter if I am on the interstate, country roads, side roads the vehicle will brake for unknown reasons. It will go from 65mph to 35mph, or 55mph to 45mph, etc. This happens whether in cruise control, auto drive or manual drive. It also will brake behind trash trucks with their flashing lights on, intersection flashing lights or warning flashing lights on the side of the road. It has also done it at night with oncoming vehicles. This is a daily occurrence. I have contacted Tesla service center on a few occasions and I am always told it is a computer issue, there is nothing that can be done. This is an extreme SAFETY issue and can cause a rear-end accident or another type of accident. I can not believe this issue has been going on for years and Tesla can not come up with a solution. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | STEERING,SUSPENSION,WHEELS | Vehicle developed a loud squeak coming from driver’s side front wheel well that sounded like a something vibrating or rubbing a spring at ~54300 miles. Reported issue to Tesla via the Tesla app. Tesla’s recommended solution is to replace both the right and left Upper Control Arm. Further research found that this is a widespread problem reported by Tesla owners on the web. Indeed when I was at the Tesla Service Center the women in line in front of me was bring in her vehicle for the same problem. The upper control arms include a ball joint that needs to be lubricated. This vehicle’s upper control arms DO NOT have a built in means to lubricate that joint like a Zerk fitting. The vehicle is available for inspection. The safety issue here is a defective and/or poorly designed part which if left un-lubricated would likely experience water intrusion, corrosion and possible catastrophic failure – maybe breaking at speed. Our vehicle has lost lubricant at the ball joint given the noise and is likely susceptible to/experiencing water intrusion. Also found “SB-20-31-006 Service Bulletin Reseal Front Upper Control Arm Ball Joints”, but this curiously does not include our vehicles VIN. My suspicion is our Upper Control Arm has a different part number than the Upper Control Arm in SB-20-31-006 but is likely a very similar part. My concern is part number whack-a-mole is taking place. Tesla did not even have to inspect the car to know what the problem was. No other parties have inspected the part and no warnings, alerts, messages or other symptoms have occurred except for the horrible noise. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while reversing, the Back Over Prevention camera became inoperable nearly causing the vehicle to crash into the garage. The dealer and the manufacturer were contacted and stated that the contact had to pay for the diagnostic test even if the VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V00D000 (Electrical System, Visibility, Back Over Prevention. The failure mileage was 90,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 90,000 |
| Aug 2022 | AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS | In 2021 the vehicle reported – “Front passenger safety restraint system fault/Contact Tesla Service”. Tesla performed OCS rework installing an Occupant Classification System (OCS) Filter Module (part SERVICE KIT – OCS REWORK (1479982-00-C)). In 2022 the vehicle reported “RCM_a056 Front passenger safety restraint system fault service required”. Tesla’s proposed correction is to replace seat (part 1ST ROW SEAT ASSEMBLY – RIGHT HAND – PUR BLACK (7654324-91-C)). The safety risk may be serious and alert RCM_a056 is being reported by other owners on the web so the problem is not isolated. My understanding is the Occupant Classification System (OCS) Filter Module is part of the airbag system and weighs occupants in the front seat. The OCS Filter is used to determine if the front seat is occupied and possibly classify occupants by weight to determine if and/or by how much airbags should be deployed. The safety of a person in the front passenger seat maybe at risk because of this faulty OCS which could result in airbags failing or deploying dangerously based on erroneous OCS inputs. The problem was identified by two faults reported by the vehicle, the first OCS failure was confirmed by a Tesla Mobile Technician and the component was replaced (part SERVICE KIT – OCS REWORK (1479982-00-C)). The Tech said the seat heater was causing interference with the OCS’s unshielded wires. The second fault the vehicle reported was also confirmed by a Mobile Service Technician who said the replacement OCS filter module “can’t be calibrated”. Please note that this is the second failure of the same component. Tesla has the OCS Module replaced in March of 2021. No other parties have inspected any of the OCS Filter Modules. I will make an effort to retain the seat being replaced. Only two fault with “RCM_a056” code and “Front passenger safety restraint system fault” text were reported by the vehicle. There were no other symptoms related to this faulty module. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SUSPENSION | The car has had numerous ball joints fail over its service life. None were covered under warranty (at least the first set should have been). Tesla doesn't consider this safety critical, and for the latest round, made me wait over a month for parts to arrive. I don't know how severe the problem actually is and whether its dangerous or not, but they never even bothered to inspect it. This is clearly a design flaw since these keep failing, and the control arms have to be replaced as well since its apparently one assembly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The horn has failed. It started failing around 40,000 miles, and has completely died now at 147000. I am aware of many other horns that have died on MY 2018 vehicles, and apparently they don't consider it a big deal. They're replacing it (which I have to pay for), and apparently they charge everyone for it. If these really are failing like crazy, these should be a safety recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SUSPENSION | 2018 Tesla Model 3 LR RWD with approximately 56,000 miles. A loud squeaking/creaking noise started on front driver side when turning at low speeds. This progressed to higher speeds. I inspected the car and found that the noise is coming from the upper control arm ball joint. It seems this is a common issue for this vehicle according to online research. This is a potential safety issue as this seems to be a premature failure of the part. Basic vehicle warranty recently ended. Tesla plans on replacing the upper control arm and charging me full price for parts and labor. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This defect is regarding Tesla’s FSD (beta). In the FSD mode, the car switched lanes without noticing the presence of a vehicle in the destination lane and caused a non-fatal accident. I was driving on O’Shaughnessy blvd in San Francisco around 8:50 AM. The weather was clear, and traffic was moderate. I had turned on FSD and entered my destination address. I stayed below the posted speed limit as I was new to FSD and wanted to stay extra alert. At this point, O’Shaughnessy is a single lane on each side. The lane gets wider as it nears a major intersection (Portola Drive). And then it splits into two lanes. Finally, the right lane becomes the right-turn-only lane. Per the route, the car was supposed to take a right turn at the intersection. When the lane split into two, the vehicle remained on the left for about 30 feet. Then it rapidly began to shift to the right lane by giving a signal. However, the vehicle behind me had moved into the right lane by this time. My car did not notice the vehicle as it tried to move to the right lane. It hit the other vehicle. This shift to the right lane was so rapid that I could not react to the impending collision fast enough. The other vehicle’s left-hand front fender hit my passenger door. Even as the vehicle collided, Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system failed to notice the presence of the other car. It did not give an alarm. My Tesla had all available safety warning options on. Since there was no injury, we did not file a police complaint. We notified insurance companies. This is a severe safety defect where the vehicle fails to detect the presence of another car in the lane. Not only did it proceed to change the lane, but its ADAS also did not warn of this obvious safety situation. There was no visibility issue, and vehicles traveled below the speed limit. The FSD is a safety hazard because it fails to notice a normal vehicle and switches lane. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SUSPENSION | The ball joint and control arms in the front start squeaking just after warranty ends at 50k miles. Eventually this could lead to it locking up and causing an accident. This needs to be a covered recall, since all 2018 tesla model 3 cars experience this. When researching I found out how much of a problem this is and itvwill cost over 1000 dollars to fix. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | I was driving in rain with lane keeping assistance enabled. As the car followed a curve, my tires began to hydroplane and the front end began to lose directional control and drift to the right of my direction of motion. I overrode assisted steering and attempted to keep the front end aligned with the rear so as to avoid a spin. At this moment, I felt the adaptive cruise control add torque to the rear wheels which pushed the rear tires out from behind and aggravating the planing, and defeating my effort to keep the car aligned. I suppose I then fully disabled the cruise control, but the car had already rotated too far to recover directional control, and it spun 180 degrees (front wheels trailing the rear wheels.) This continued briefly until turning tail first up an earth embankment before coming to rest. There were no cars immediately near me at the time or it might have resulted in a multi-car collision in a hydroplane zone, with a good chance of multiple serious injuries. The vehicle was inspected by the insurance adjuster and repaired. The car is available to examine. There were no indications of a system failure and Tesla did not concede to any. I contacted Tesla service and requested to examine the control system data to assess if the adaptive cruise control had contributed to the loss of control. After providing a Tesla agent with the time of the event he asked for, he reached back to me and stated that they were able to archive the data from the time of the accident. However, since I had claimed that the design might have contributed to the crash, Tesla had prohibited him sharing that data with me and custody of the data had been taken over by Tesla legal department. He added that for me to see the data, I would have to obtain it through Tesla Legal. I emailed Tesla Legal with my request on 5-25-22. I have received no response. Tesla claims the car has electronic traction control. I think this accident demonstrates flaws that can make situations worse. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | With NO WARNING, and while on AutoPilot-Full Self Drive, our Tesla TOTALLY HARD AND LONG BRAKED out of nowhere, THRUSTING our necks forward for four seconds until I could disengage the brake, then SLAMMING our heads to the headrest. I have a CERVICAL SPRAIN, WHIPLASH, and a CONCUSSION! I was driving 65mph. I’ve been to the ER, to a chiropractor, and to physical therapy since this incident Sunday, July 31, 2022 at 6:37-6:38pm. On the 405 South. I’ve reported it to Tesla Service who said it was escalated to the Fremont location Engineers to review which takes 2-3 months! I have INJURIES! Phantom braking is usually unwarranted and terrifying but has not HURT ME until this time. I was almost HIT by the car behind us! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The rear back up camera on my vehicle is experiencing intermittent delays in showing a picture. Although there is an open recall on my vehicle that was issued back in December of 2021, Tesla has still not contacted me to advise when my vehicle can be brought into compliance with the recall. When I proactively contacted them earlier today, they stated that they still do not have the part(s) necessary to complete the recall. It seems odd that a vehicle manufacturer can fail--for approximately 8 months and counting--to address an open NHTSA recall without any communication to customers (or their regulator) as to when, exactly, they expect to remedy the issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking that causes the vehicle to suddenly apply the brakes for no reason. Issue occurs at least once each time I use the Autopilot. Occurs on interstates as well as highways. In my 6 hour drive today it happened 5 times. Each time the vehicle decreases in speed by 15-30mph. This is extremely dangerous for vehicles following behind and for the passengers who are suddenly jolted. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have the issue recorded on video. The computer display totally froze for several minutes while driving on the highway. The turn signals would not work while the computer was frozen and the system needed to reboot after several minutes before the turn signals would start working again. I was in autopilot at the time of this happening. Video documentation can be provided. Here is a link to the video of the safety issue on Google Photos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMUiX6JR5ppOGGqTCRlWxH1Hiv7hLr2Gm9G5wjjIfYFKz4-Lg7D-_nfAzTTalFX3Q?key=anRJQWo3TGNiM0F1cEJOczZOZ3RTRnRQMm1WOFpB | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V00D000 (Electrical System, Visibility, Back Over Prevention) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was not made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have noticed unwarranted braking while using cruise control. I have been able to confirm at least some of it is due reconstruction of the highway. At certain places the car thinks I am on an exit ramp with a 45mph limit when I am actually on the main highway. It then suddenly slows the car until I correct it using the accelerator. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | After purchasing the Autopilot feature on February 9th, 2022, on our first trip next day (Feb 10th), we experienced phantom braking with adaptive cruise control turned on, barely avoiding a hit from the rear by a truck in Toledo, OH. Later, during same trip, we experienced phantom braking with both ACC and Autopilot features turned on, and stopped using them out of safety concerns. After a new occurrence, while on cruise control on June 4th, I informed Tesla service in Clarkston, MI, but no repair, deletion of Autopilot and reimbursement was possible as I requested. We never had similar issues form November 2nd 2018 to February 9th 2022 (44.159 miles) , before purchasing and installing Autopilot. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My Tesla 3 suddenly braked while driving on the road from about 40 mph to 10 mph. There was nothing obstructing my car from the front or sides. It was a scary experience. My neck was jolted forward and the seatbelt pressed very tightly against my chest. I immediately scheduled for service with Tesla. I then got a call from them and was told I should be okay to drive my car until my scheduled appointment a week from now! How is this not an emergency?! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Constant phantom breaking while using cruise control, autopilot or FSD. A reoccurring problem that happens more and more often. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car brakes by it and accelerates by it. Some time it says I am not holding the steering wheel and it cancels the autopilot in the middle of the long distance driving. The defective cabin camera does not see the hand position at all and randomly keeps on distracting from the front road view to the screen which is not in the same line as the road. Too many errors of auto pilot are very frustrating and distracting. The Tesla’s team tries to repair something and keeps on blaming their own departments not to fix things correctly. I have tried many times to make an appointment thru their app which is very buggy and it’s like one way communication. I have multiple recalls on my car but they don’t have time or parts to fix it. They will not allow making any weekend or within 20 mile radius service center. Once they do any repair their technician drops the ball and do not want to fix the original problem correctly. The full self driving is ridiculous I have not been able to complete even 10 miles trip without taking over in few minutes. This FSD software/hardware needs to be more accurate as soon as possible so that there is no harm done to the driver and passenger to the Tesla and other cars. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE | When the vehicle's directional is activated, the side camera on the activated side of the directional is activated and displays the blindspot area on the car's center screen. I.e. you want to change lanes and you activate the left directional to signal moving into the left lane, the left side camera activates and displays on the screen what is in the left lane. This is a very handy feature, unfortunately at night the "blinking" of the directional completely blinds the camera. It also completely saturates the center screen with a orange/red light when the directional is blinking. Tesla has fixed this problem with newer vehicles, they have an updated side camera that has a partition in the camera to block the light coming from the directional. Tesla will not replace the earlier side cameras. I was advised by Tesla service to shut off the camera at night. I find this solution to be completely unacceptable as I am accustomed to using the blind spot feature. This is a software/hardware incompatibility/defect and I believe there should be a recall in regards to this issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 1) Ongoing issue with car braking suddenly when no other cars are ahead of it. 2) When in auto-pilot, the car brakes late when carrying speed. This has happened when the car is less than 1 car length behind the car ahead of it forcing me to disengage and brake hard to avoid a collision. In one incident, I had to swerve the car and drive onto shoulder of the highway to avoid a collision. 3) On 7-16 the the undercarriage cover detached from car while driving on highway. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |