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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2024 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | My back glass on my Tesla model 3 started to crack very bad there is no sign of any impact to the glass Tesla even stated it’s a stress crack and stated many teslas have this problem and continued to tell me even though it is a defect and a safety concern that the back glass can shatter and injury passengers in vehicle I would be responsible for paying to replace a defective back glass. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | STEERING,SUSPENSION,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Customer concern confirmed there is a creaking noise coming from the front of the car while turning, I performed a visual inspection and found that both RF lower control arm bushings are torn and the LF frontward lower control arm bushing are torn but this is not the cause of the noise the cause of the noise is the upper control arms I took the load off of the upper control arms and the noise went away I also had someone turn the wheels while I looked for the cause of the noise and found that the noise is coming from the upper control arms, recommend replacing upper and lower control arms to fix all safety concerns. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | STEERING | [XXX] the vehicle provided an amber triangle alert that power steering may not be fully available. On [XXX], the vehicle lost power to the steering wheel and the car steering locked in a straight ahead position. Fortunately the car was traveling at low-speed in a parking to and came to a halt in the parking lot. However, the steering was locked. After several re-boot attempts the failure mode light was extinguished and the car could be driven home. It was brought to Tesla to service on [XXX]. Tesla reported "water ingress damage" to the steering unit, rack and electronics. Tesla charged me >$5,000 and implied the water ingress was my fault. The car is a southern California vehicle resident that has never been immersed in water, has only experienced periodic rain (CA 92865) and is driven on average 8,000 miles a year. It has never been out of State. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | SEATS | "front left safety restraint system fault/service is required" this is the error message, and i am being charged over $300 for a faulty seat wiring harness being replaced out of warranty for a massive safety issue | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla has combined cruise control with their Auto Pilot feature. Now there is no human override to what speed limit to use, Tesla determines the speed to used based on certain criteria. This puts the driver at risk who may want to lower or increase the speed limit based on certain conditions Tesla may not be able to detect. For me it was a 9 PM run to the store thru an area that had temporary road construction and known to be a speed trap zone. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | STEERING | "Steering assist reduced" Error code UI_a020 Losing steering power mid-drive due to faulty power steering rack Many others have had this issue happen to their Tesla Model 3 and Ys, i would like to know if this is covered under a recall as my car is out of warranty for this type of safety repair happening very prematurely for a car | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS | Car repeatedly shows a warning for "Front passenger safety restraint system fault." The error goes away after a few minutes usually, but comes up frequently - about 1/2 of all drives. Error came up in 2021 and Tesla fixed it under warranty in about 2 minutes, tech said it's a sensor under the seat and a frequent error. Called Tesla about it in May 2024 and they said it's a safety hazard and we need to replace the entire front seat and seatbelt, estimated at $1,500 and multi-day repair. Warranty expired last year which may explain difference in recommended repair. Friends with same car have been experiencing the same warning and there are many reports of it online. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | AIR BAGS | Driver-side Airbags deployed for no reason. While my husband was driving, the Tesla screen showed that the crash had been detected, so airbags were deployed, and he was asked to call 911. However, no collision occurred. Attaching photos of the towed car. Police came and didn’t make a report since no collision was present. After the tow truck towed the car, and a couple of hours later, we went to pick up our belongings; we couldn’t access the trunk, the car was fully dead. However, the charge was 71% before the deployment of the airbag. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | STEERING | I had the control arms replaced and now the steering assist/ steering gear assembly has stopped working. The vehicle is undrivable and it only has 29K miles. This happened while driving and I had to go straight through an intersection as I could not steer the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | I was driving my Model 3 when this alert occurred: ALERTS DRIVABILITY - VEHICLE MAY NOT RESTART/SERVICE IS REQUIRED ADDITIONALLY THE SCREEN STATED PULL OVER THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY SAFELY. I was in the middle of the road driving so it became dangerous. I could not steer the vehicle and the brakes were barely working. I could not immediately stop because I was in the middle of traffic. I pulled right over as soon as I could and shut down the vehicle. I believe this is a defect. When I spoke to Tesla repair personnel I was told they know about this and it is happening when the Model 3 reaches 40K. How can they not address this - why would someone wait until someone is in a serious accident? I called to set up an appointment for this emergency and was told I cannot get an appointment for 1 month and I should not drive my car. When an electric vehicle just shuts down you cannot control the vehicle - this is very very dangerous. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | AIR BAGS | Occupant sensor and wiring harness in the front seat becomes "pinched" under the seat when my son sits in the seat. Error code comes up on the dashboard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS | Received a system fault for seat belt SRS airbag safety restraint system for front left passenger. code RCM_a021_pretenLapFrontLeft Causes the pretensioner and restraint system to not function as designed. Has not been in an accident and verified problem was persistent with hard system reset and software update. Did not do modification or touch the seat belt components at all during ownership period. Worried that the pretensioner and SRS airbags will not go off if involved in a crash. First appeared last year intermittently and then starting June 1st, 2024 The airbag lamp is on inside the warning panel of screen. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2024 | SUSPENSION | The upper control arm on the driver's side of my Tesla Model 3 has started making a loud squeaking noise. After researching, I discovered that many owners have experienced this issue. Tesla Service Centers acknowledge it as a known defect but refuse to issue a recall, only addressing it upon customer request. Since my vehicle is out of warranty, they have quoted me over $500 for the repair. This defect poses a significant safety risk if the upper control arm fails. Please look into this matter. Thank you! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | STEERING | The steering wheel needs extra power to steer at low speeds. It acts as if the power steering has no power | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS | Car giving message 'front passenger safety system error'. Scheduled service with Tesla and was given a qoute of $2500. I checked online and found that this is a common problem where seats have been replaced, some harness under seat is issue and in some cases airbags were replaced. Seems to be a common safety issue which is manufacturing defect and should be recalled with no cost fix. Given it is a safety issue, I cannot drive with a passenger on front seat. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS | I have a known safety issue with my Tesla model 3. There is a fault in the clips, requiring a filter clip to allow the safety restraint system to work appropriately. Tesla admits this is a known manufacturer fault but still charges 400$ to correct it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,SEATS | The car has a feature which adjust the seats for easy entry and for a driver based on driver profile. This results in the drivers seat to automatically adjust per profile. It seems overtime this damages a cable or connection under the seat, resulting in a fault in the sensor which recognizes a driver being present in the seat in case of emergency, ie determines if it should deploy airbag. Right now our car is showing this error and it’s only present when the seat adjust for my partner who is a shorter driver. Tesla has stated previously that this would be around $250 to repair, could only do it in person at the repair center. Online I’ve seen reports of onsite techs making the repair in less that 5 minutes with no or minimal charge for a replacement sensor or cable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | SUSPENSION | The car is just out of warranty and has been driven about 62,000KM. The suspension and both frond and back control arms started to squeak badly during low speed driven, turning, back-in etc. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | AIR BAGS | Front passenger restraint system fault. Tesla service informed that the airbags may not deploy and they need to be replaced. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | SEAT BELTS,SEATS | Tesla model 3 frequently displays front passenger safety restraint system fault message. This message is hard to take seriously as it comes and goes. It is rather confusing as the message full disappears if full self driving is enabled or subscribed. While I got the message on the display consistently from Jan to March 2024 I did not get the message during moth of April as I had free trial full self driving enabled. Now the full self driving grinders ended, the message is back. I am paying tesla to troubleshoot and fix. I believe this issue should looked by NHTSA and possible issue a recall. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | STEERING,POWER TRAIN | Steering wheel lost power (in city driving) it took the driver and the passenger turning the wheel to wrestle the car to the side of the road. Turned off the car’s power after coming to a stop. The car would not start. Took 6 resets to power up the car and return it to “normal.” This is the second time the car had the steering lock up and the car not start. The first time was after shopping. The car was parked at the time. Took 4 resets to return the car to “normal.” | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | AIR BAGS | Starting on May 6, 2024, my vehicle display showed an error message stating "Front passenger safety restraint system fault - Service is required." I alerted Tesla of this error through my phone app and set an appointment to have this fixed. I then received an estimate of $1400 which consisted of replacement of the passenger airbag ($1000) as well as an additional sensor that Tesla is indicating went bad ($400). I have never been in an accident with this vehicle so I can't understand why the airbag would be to be replaced, unless it was defective. I questioned this with Tesla and was told that none of the safety systems are covered anymore since the vehicle is now our of warranty. My wife drives my daughter to school daily and I'm more concerned that a car I spent $40k + on will not protect her in the event of a crash. Why would an un-used airbag need to be replaced at the owner's expense? Why isn't Tesla covering a defect in their restraint systems? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | AIR BAGS | I received an error. - RCM_a056 "front passenger safety restraint system fault" So I scheduled service to review what happened. According to Tesla, and my service center - this is a known and common issue. The issue is a failure of the seat occupancy sensor. This requires replacement of: seat harness assembly, seat belt reminder sensor box clip and the first row occupancy sensor. However, the major issue (and what should be a class action lawsuit) is that Tesla created a new sensor - that now works, however, requires the replacement of the PASSENGER AIRBAG. Tesla's solution to this widely known issue (according to my service center) was to create a sensor that is not compatible with the current airbag system. This cost is astronomical. If the sensor alone could be replaced, this could be around a $400 fix, but because the airbag is an extra (approximate) $1,000. Total cost of repair is $1,329.34, not including the required $100 remote diagnostic fee. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | SEAT BELTS | I bought a used 2019 Tesla model 3 and just got a system warning that says “Front passenger safety restraint system fault”. I was researching this and it seems to be a common enough issue that a recall should be issued for it. If the seat belt system fails, someone could be very seriously injured if they’re in an accident | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2024 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Tesla Model 3 battery pack coolant connector design flaw. It is made by plastic and covered with very thin cheap plastic cover which can very easily create impact and break the battery pack connector when any small objects hit front wheels(both side) while driving that leads the following safety and hazard issues to driver and passengers. 1. When there is hit in the coolant connector while driving the coolant start leaking which put safety of car,driver,passengers and others in very high risk 2. When it happens the dashboard shows the car is running reduced power and not giving enough info to take immediate action 3. This issue can be easily reproducible just driving the car in freeway where the road has debris or due to work zone 4. This issue reported to Geico Insurance 5. There is no warning before it first appears 6. It leads to change the entire battery pack which cost ~ $20,000 7. Since this is very critical component it should be well protected which is not the case currently | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |