Complaint volume
592 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
2019 Tesla Model 3 Complaints
592 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2019 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
592 Total complaints
58 Crash reports
5 Fire reports
19 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 forward collision avoidance, suspension, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 58 crash reports, 5 fire reports, 19 injury reports, and 3 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 134 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 21,753 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, suspension, unknown or other?
- 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 2019 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.
2019 Tesla Model 3
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2019 Tesla Model 3 complaints?
58 Crash
5 Fire
19 Injury
3 Fatality
47 Towed
15 Medical attention
What are the most common 2019 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 64
SUSPENSION 53
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 35
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 26
LANE DEPARTURE 26
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 24
AIR BAGS 20
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 18
AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS 17
STEERING 17
592 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2022 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Tesla software update 2022.24.6 is an update that forces the vehicle to use Tesla Vision for Autopilot adaptive cruise control. The driver does not have the option to disable auto high beam features and the software is not accurate enough to prevent flashing and high beaming of other drivers. This hazard has occurred at least 5 times within two days of receiving the update. A hazard is created in two different ways: - blinding approaching vehicles, including turning on high beams when approaching vehicle is in direct area of glare - flashing high beams when following other vehicles at a close distance, distracting and blinding the lead vehicle While this problem has not been verified by a dealer, auto high beams while using Autopilot cannot be disabled and many other drivers are reporting similar issues in online forums. There is no warning or way to adjust the feature. This will likely lead to a collision because approaching drivers cannot see through glare. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Sep 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Pursant to NHTSA Recall 21V-00D, I received notice of recall on my Tesla Model 3 in a letter dated 2/15/2022. I have not received any further communication regarding a repair in the the 7 months since, which in my estimation is beyond a reasonable time to address a recall notification. I am thereby submitting a NHTSA complaint that Tesla has failed to remedy this defect within a reasonable time, as outlined in the recall notice. Please advise any additional steps I may need to take to register or advance my complaint. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car is on cruise control on a two lane highway, posted speed 55 mph. It has ghost emergency stops on cruise control not auto pilot . My car doesn’t have it. It renders a simple feature unusable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have experience phantom braking on my Model 3 many times when I used FSD(full self drive) on the freeway. The car just randomly slows down / decelerates abruptly even if there are no obstacles or other cars in front. This results in a serious situation when the vehicle behind may ram into you causing a fatal accident. I have always reported this issue using voice control REPORT BUG and got acknowledgement saying THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK. But I have never heard from Tesla that they have fixed or are fixing it. This issue is happening almost every time I used FSD on freeway even today (Aug 30, 2022) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | The “auto-defogger” came on when the windshield was not fogged up and started to fog up the windshield instead of de-fogging it. It remained on the rest of the day and the only way I could figure out to get my window to stop fogging up was to turn off AC entirely. If I turned it back on, it immediately started “auto-defogging” which just kept fogging up my windshield. It was a dangerous situation trying to drive while the car was fogging up it’s own windshield. I contacted Tesla to look into it and they would not look at it under warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. The vehicle made a turn left and found itself in a lane that was coned off. Traffic was queuing in the adjacent lane. The vehicle edged forward into the closed lane and waited to join the lane to the right. Even though other drivers were giving way, the vehicle failed to move. The driver took manual control in order to complete the manoeuvre. There is Go_Pro video here - https://vimeo.com/738880343/09033b5c2a | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. The vehicle stopped short of a STOP sign at a junction then slowly moved to the middle of the junction, failing to make a right turn. After manual re-routing the vehicle brakes for no reason other than a pedestrian is close by. The vehicle then fails to make a left turn successfully, cutting the corner. There is Go_Pro video here.. https://vimeo.com/738680260/7c4eeba7e2 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. Cruising at 30+ mph the vehicle was late to slow down ahead of a left turn junction. The vehicle then cut across the junction as it was moving too fast to make the turn correctly. There is Go_Pro footage of the incident here... https://vimeo.com/738674524/5db5854102 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. The vehicle approached a busy intersection to turn left. Although drivers were giving way to the vehicle, it failed to complete the turn in a timely manner. The vehicle edged forward and then rapidly made the turn at 12mph . The driver had to take over as the FSD made the turn too sharply and too close to a bollard. There is Go_Pro video here https://vimeo.com/738682868/d5b572a69d | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. After successfully crossing a junction the vehicle accelerated too quickly on a narrow residential road with another vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. The vehicle was travelling at 27 mph when it was forced to brake hard. There is Go_Pro footage of the incident here... https://vimeo.com/738677992/0a3c3d4713 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Yesterday I had the most frightening driving experience of my entire life. It was raining heavily and I was going about 35 mph on the local road in my model 3 standard, 3 years old. Suddenly I lost all traction and was slipping side to side +/-90 degrees from the direction of traffic. I immediately took my foot off the accelerator and tried to slow down but didn’t brake. I swung 180 degrees each way about 5 times. Luckily no one hit me but I was taking up all lanes as I careened all over the road. I can’t believe how easily the model 3 loses traction in the rain. This is unacceptable. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. At 25 mph the vehicle veered across two solid white lines and into the cycle lane. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here. https://vimeo.com/736112946/2d0d7a4ed3 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. At 10mph the vehicle attempted to change lanes whilst there was another vehicle in the other lane. If the driver had not intervened there may have been a collision or the other vehicle would have to brake hard to avoid contact. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here. https://vimeo.com/736107290/2a01155c84 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. At approx 20 mph the vehicle entered a stretch of road works with temporary signage and cones. The vehicle performed an emergency stop for no reason to the frustration of other road users. The driver had to take control of the vehicle. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here. https://vimeo.com/736110202/bcedc1c516 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. The vehicle was navigating through roadworks with temporary signage and cones in place. This seemed to interfere with the FSD with the vehicle moving left to right in an erratic manner and accelerating to 28mph whilst still in the roadworks zone. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here https://vimeo.com/736104870/581215a7e7 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. The vehicle failed to recognise a speed limit change approaching a sharp left turn. The vehicle took the turn too fast at 29mph veered into the oncoming lane. The quick reactions of the driver, who took control averted a collision. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here https://vimeo.com/736115753/289c3413e9 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. On a section of road with tight, blind turns, the vehicle accelerated from 23mph to 27 mph into the approach to a turn. In making the turn the vehicle crossed the median into the oncoming lane. There is a Go-Pro video of the incident here https://vimeo.com/735805944/eab3a31083 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. On a section of road with a 15 mph limit the vehicle was travelling at 39 mph. It then attempted to take a corner at 25 mph veering into the oncoming lane. Vimeo Link - https://vimeo.com/735797650/15baa75187 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. At 45 mph and without indicating etc, the vehicle swapped lanes from left to right on a dual lane highway. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here. https://vimeo.com/735819637/601febb81d | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. Cruising at 35 mph on a broad residential street, the vehicle failed to recognise road markings and signage indicating that the vehicle was entering a “slow school” zone. There is Go_Pro video of the incident here https://vimeo.com/735823359/7795c10089 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. On a wide residential road, with a speed limit of 30 mph, the vehicle accelerated to 44 mph. The display on the vehicle incorrectly says the limit is 65 before the driver had to manually adjust the maximum speed. There is Go-Pro Video of the incident here https://vimeo.com/735815741/e651f8ab92 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The rear windshield cracked with no impact, an interior stress crack on the bottom passenger corner formed. Researching this issue, I found many complaints with model 3 owners who have had this same issue with 2018 and 2019 model 3s. This seems to be a design flaw and quality issue with the glass Tesla uses. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on the freeway tonight at about 11:45 pm with no one nearby and no shadows or debris in the road, the car on autopilot slammed on the brakes, taking the car from 68MPH to below 45MPH in less than a second, which could have resulted in a rear end collision had someone been behind the car. The car has done this many times in the past but this time was unusual in that three beeps occurred right as the car slammed on the brakes. I saved the video and will see if the video shows the incident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. While FSD Beta was engaged, the road transitioned from being single lane and one-way only to two lanes and with traffic travelling in both directions. As we travelled over an intersection, the Tesla ignored this change in its surroundings and proceeded to travel in the wrong lane, towards oncoming traffic. Its failure to read road markings could have seriously endangered the driver and other road users. A link to the clip of the incident can be found below: https://vimeo.com/733967979/01bc3c3795 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | My friend was driving the vehicle (a 2019 Tesla Model 3) while it was engaged in Full Self-Driving Beta 10.12.2 mode. While FSD Beta was engaged, the driver approached an intersection, the FSD stopped correctly to yield to oncoming traffic on a one-way street. The vehicle was travelling across the intersection according to its navigation. There was also a cyclist ahead of the Tesla at the intersection. As the cyclist entered the intersection, the Tesla followed and attempted to travel around the cyclist to complete the manoeuvre and continue travelling straight ahead. However, the Tesla then deviated from its course and instead travelled left at the intersection, travelling the wrong way on one-way street, causing the driver to perform an emergency stop and reverse out of the dangerous situation. The Tesla appeared to panic at the presence of the cyclist when attempting to travel around it, and then headed directly into oncoming traffic while travelling the wrong way up the one-way street. A link to the clip of the incident can be found below: https://vimeo.com/733972674/ce244b3a69 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |