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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While on auto assist car engages in phantom braking | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Autopilot hard breaks whip lash randomly beeps saying take over when going through an intersection or next to a semi. Phantom breaking | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While vehicle was engaged in autopilot and adaptive cruise control on the freeway in traffic it has intermittently accelerated toward the vehicle in front requiring the driver to abruptly manually press on brakes to disengage the adaptive cruise control in order to avoid colliding into the vehicle in front. It has also suddenly braked on the freeway when there was no object in front requiring the vehicles behind to abruptly slow in order to avoid collision to rear of the vehicle. This has happened multiple times over years. I did report it once to the manufacturer who could not explain or reproduce it. There were not warning messages or lights to demonstrate failure of the system. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SEAT BELTS,SEATS | Every time a passenger sits on the front passenger seat, an alert " passenger seat restraint system fault" comes on. First time it was repaired under warranty back in 2009 and now the same issue has come back Feb/ March2022. The car is no longer under warranty and Tesla said this repair will the responsibility of the car owner. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VISIBILITY | The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the HVAC system became inoperable. The contact stated that the cold weather had frozen the windows and the contact was unable to properly see out of the windows and windshield. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but was not yet repaired. The manufacture was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 51,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 51,000 |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My 2018 Tesla Model 3 failed to engage its automatic emergency braking system - resulting in a collision due to the vehicle in front of me suddenly braking. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | The auto cruise control brakes hard suddenly for no reason !! This puts the car in danger from vehicles behind me as the very unexpected slow down. Also, the blind spot warning has no audible and the car in next lane is too close beforeit turns red on the scree. It's not safe to turn your viewing to the screen from the road to change lanes. I drive the old fashioned way to be safe by looking over my shoulder before changing lanes. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | The vehicle looses power on the freeway and will continue to slow down despite repeatedly depressing the accelerator and holding it down. The vehicle has been brought in to Tesla and no fix has been found to this date. No warning lights go on and sounds are heard to alert to any problem. I have video of this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Sudden Unintended Acceleration: While pulling forward onto our driveway (with incline) at a very slow speed, the car suddenly accelerated and brake was not working. Automatic emergency braking also failed. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,LANE DEPARTURE | My blindspot warning cameras display gets completely washed out at night, (unable to view alongside my vehicle) whenever the directional blinker lights. This causes me to loose view of anything alongside my car. This only happens during darkness. This has been corrected in newer versions of the camera, but Tesla refuses to repair this under warranty. I was instructed to have the cameras replaced at my cost or to disable the feature. They refuse to fix this under warranty. I have included the complete correspondence with Tesla after requesting service. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My Model 3 regularly brakes at highway speeds for no reason it does this in daylight but more frequently at night also - it appears more common in the rain - where reflections off the wet pavement seems to appear as solid objects to the cruise control i have stopped using the cruise control now - it is frightening to have the car suddenly slam on the brakes at highway speeds | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The horn has failed and been replaced twice in three years. The problem is the placement and design which leads to water getting in and causing corrosion. The first time this happened in late 2019, I had no warning that it was failing or not working until I needed to use it to alert another driver of a potential incident. Now in 2022, I heard the horn had a different tone to it when someone pulled out in front of me. I made an appointment to have it repaired again. Once again, there was corrosion on the horn. I believe this is a safety concern as the horn allows any vehicle to alert other drivers or pedestrians of what could be a bad situation. The Tesla service center did not seem too concerned with this issue and recommended that the horn be used after parking the car when it is driven in the rain. I think there must be a design flaw if a three year old vehicle is on its third horn already. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | STEERING | Started hearing noises in left wheel well and notifications of stability control disabled and alignment issues. We scheduled an appointment, but were told it was safe to drive. As I was picking up my son, the left wheel locked up and the car had to be towed to Tesla Service Center. Problem is exactly as the recall issues for the 2019 Model 3 and Y recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My car is equipped with forward-facing radar, but ever since Tesla turned it off in favor of "Tesla Vision" my Autopilot/TACC experience has been greatly worsened. The car suddenly (and very unsettlingly) slams on the brakes on the highway or city traffic (I have FSD Beta) for anything from shadows, to hills/inclines, to curves, or minor harmless debris (shopping bags) in the road. This has not yet caused an accident but has almost come close. Other issues: - FSD Beta, when engaged, forces the computer to have control over the high-beams and windshield wipers. The car obsessively flashes the high beams whenever possible, including on well-lit city streets. On multiple occasions this has triggered road rage in surrounding drivers because they think I'm flashing my brights at them for no reason. There is no reason to engage the brights in a well-lit urban environment. - Forward Collision Warning has become completely unreliable and routinely warns for cars that are not in my lane or in front of my car directly. This makes me more likely to just ignore the warning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I needed to back up slightly to make room to get our of a parallel parking position. I pressed the brake and put the car into reverse, pressed the accelerator slightly to back up. I then pressed the brake again and put the car into Drive. I then pressed the accelerator slightly to drive off, but the car suddenly accelerated in an uncontrolled manner. I was able to slam on the brakes to prevent an accident. This is not the first time that this type of unintended acceleration has occurred in this vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The rear view camera fails intermittently due to this recall. I was scheduled to replace the harness causing the problem, but appointment was cancelled. No new appointment is available or scheduled by Tesla. Having this issue for the last few months is a safety hazard when backing up the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER | Tesla forced my car to update to v11 software. This software interface is dangerous. It hides the climate control and wiper control off the home screen and requires drivers to dig though menus to do things that were previously doable with one touch, such as enabling the defogger, defroster, wipers, or heated seats. This creates an unnecessary distraction for drivers. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While on adaptive cruise control, my car breaks on highway for no reason. Looks like it happens at certain parts of highways. I noticed this at at least 3 highways and it breaks unexpectedly causing the vehicles behind me to almost crash into me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the backup camera malfunctioned and the screen displayed completely black or completely white causing a visibility hazard to the driver while reversing the vehicle. The vehicle was previously serviced under the NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V00D000 (Electrical System, Visibility, Back Over Prevention) however, the failure recurred. The contact stated that the replacement parts were not available. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 35,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 35,000 |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | regularly experience phantom breaking and unwarranted early collision warnings | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car has repeatedly (but not often) initiated emergency braking while traveling on a freeway. It has done this in literally the same place on California highway 85 several times, and occasionally on other freeways. It has always been a clear, sunny day, and it seems to occur when the vehicle travels from deep shade into bright sun (i.e. as when going under an overpass). The road was straight with no vehicle directly ahead for several hundred feet. I have reported this to Tesla via the app. and through the service departments. I have included date and time as well as location on some occasions. The only comment I have received was that the logs showed no problems, and no further action was taken by Tesla. When the severe braking occurred, an alarm went off in the car (a beeping sound). At least once a following car nearly collided with me. I was probably traveling in the range of 68-73 MPH. I do not have dates or mileage information, but Tesla may based on the occurrences I reported. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | "PHANTOM BRAKING" when cruise control is on, usually when on the freeway. Sometimes it occurs next to other vehicles, sometimes there are no cars around. On a 600 mile trip it will often occur at least once and most of the time 2-3 times. If it was slippery, the sudden braking could cause loss of traction. If someone was too close behind me they could rear-end me. No one has inspected the issue. Has been occurring since I've owned the car. No warnings. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While traveling from San Diego, CA to Louisiana on the self-drive mode the car abruptly stopped in traffic 3 times (while this was at night there was no concern for an accident). On the return trip back home it did it 1 more time in the daylight hours, but this time there was an 18 wheeler behind me. We were doing the speed limit at the time, which was 75mph and it slammed on the brakes making me go from 75 mph to 60 in seconds. I was able to take control of the vehicle and get it back to highway speed before there was an accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Everyday while I am driving on the highway, when the car is in cruise control, multiple times it decreases the speed drastically for no reason. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Since we purchased this car 3 years ago, when driving with the cruise control, it has in appropriately applied the brakes. This is a ongoing problem. This is a frequent occurrence (once or twice during 100 mile drives) mostly on 4 lane high ways. The most common situation where this happens is on a uphill rise in the highway and a overpass at the top of the hill. It can be a slight application of brake or a very strong application which is very dangerous with a large truck or close following car behind you. I only use cruise control to rest my foot on long rides and turn it off when approaching a over pass. There are other times it is turned on when a truck passes on the other lane or a car entering the high way from an entrance ramp that the white lines are worn out. We only use the cruise control with great care. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |