Complaint volume
427 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
2020 Tesla Model 3 Complaints
427 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
427 Total complaints
50 Crash reports
2 Fire reports
24 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, unknown or other, vehicle speed control,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 50 crash reports, 2 fire reports, 24 injury reports, and 2 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 73 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 12,664 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, unknown or other, vehicle speed control,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 2020 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.
2020 Tesla Model 3
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Tesla Model 3 complaints?
50 Crash
2 Fire
24 Injury
2 Fatality
35 Towed
24 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 72
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 34
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 24
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 18
SUSPENSION 17
AIR BAGS 14
STEERING 14
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 14
STRUCTURE 13
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 10
427 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The car had unintended acceleration. I was driving and suddenly it sped up really fast and I needed to slam on the brakes. This was on a residential street so it was really dangerous. This happened once before, on a highway. Both times this happened, I was touching the wipers controls. I have no idea if it’s connected or coincidence. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When driving on a longer trip, I have repeated sudden deceleration and sometimes harsh braking when using cruise control. This has also happened in normal daytime hours with no traffic around me on rural interstates. On my last trip, I had to keep my foot on the accelerator to keep the car at a constant speed. It is unnerving to me and very scary for passengers. It has made it impossible to use cruise when I have passengers. Tesla has said there is no hardware issue and have declined to service the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER | Rear windshield developed a stress crack. No incident was involved, it just suddenly appeared. It ran about 1/3 of the rear window. I was concerned the glass would fall in on infant passenger seated in a car seat in the back seat. This appears to be a common glass problem for Tesla. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | The automatic windshield wipers came on and would not shut off. The car was clean, the day was sunny, and the camera lenses were free of dust or anything else that could cover them. While driving along, the wipers started and would not shut off. I went into the main monitor/screen that has the wiper settings but I was not able to activate the wiper/off button, so the wipers kept working. Pressing on that button would not activate it. I was in autopilot at the time, i.e., cruise control + lane keep assistance. I have FSD/full self driving, but have never used it since it is still in beta testing. I’m using Tesla software # 2023.7.10 I checked the various Tesla websites, and you can turn off the wipers only if you disable the ADAS features. After I turned off the ADAS, I was able to activate the wiper/off button. But this is a terrible situation, the ADAS needs to be activated, but if I activate, it wipers will begin working whenever they feel like it, regardless of the weather outside. This is clearly a software problem with the Tesla ADASN needs to be corrected. I don’t want to be driving along with auto pilot on, and then the wipers will simply turn on. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated to correct this dangerous situation. There are countless hundreds of complaints like this on the various Tesla websites about spontaneously functioning wipers when the weather is bright and sunny. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The main computer failed right after the warranty expires at 51,721 miles. My computer just failed and I have not done a single thing to damage the main computer. I was upgrading to 2023.12.5 and the computer just crapped out. I’ve been driving around with a blacked out screen and no access to backup camera, A/C, and unable to tell my speed, or when the turning signal is on. I tried to explain to the service center that this is not my fault for the computer failing and that they need to take care of the service free of charge. The car is still drivable and I have been fighting with Tesla support and the service center people to get them to understand that I am not liable for their defective equipment. It seems the only way they are willing to take responsibility is after a recall is issued. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Hard Phantom braking incident when using cruise control with no vehicles ahead or next to me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | AIR BAGS,SEATS | I have an alert that says "Front passenger safety restraint system fault". I took the car in to Tesla Service in late April. Was told it would be about $270 to replace the sensor in the seat that detects it someone is sitting in it. They told me that when the parts people went in, that wasn't the issue and that to fix the sensor they thought it was they would have to tear the whole seat apart and that takes too long so instead I need to buy a whole new seat at the cost of $3000. I didn't have time to deal with it further at that point and the seat was back ordered anyway. I asked if the issue would affect the operation of the airbags or seat belts thus causing a safety concern and was told that it would not. That the car was still safe. I took the car back without repair. I have since noticed that when a passenger is in the seat, the symbol that states that the airbag is not engaged is still on. So it would appear that the airbag is not working properly. I called Tesla today to inquire and ask for clarification if this is a safety concern and if the airbag is not working. They told me a manager would call me back. They said there is not a Tesla wide recall- even though it would appear that this issue is causing the airbag not to work. From research online it seems like other customers have experienced the same or similar issues. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield wipers routinely start "auto-wiping", even while turned off. I've reported this to Tesla many times and nothing is done. Plenty of evidence online that others have this same problem. I live in Phoenix, Arizona so when I say my windshield is dry, I mean it's DRY. Leaving out how distracting it is to have your wipers refusing to quit wiping, it's also wearing out the wiper blades so they're not efficient when actually needed. I've already replaced them once a year ago with, maybe 10,000 miles on vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When using “Auto Pilot” (Teslas adaptive cruise control) the vehicle experiences violent phantom braking. The system slams on the brakes in some cases going from 65 to 20 MPH almost instantly. This happens on a fairly regular basis and is a massive safety issue. We have nearly been rear ended on several occasions. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When using cruise control from Las Vegas to Reno Nevada and also going back the car will brake extremely hard over 80 times one way which almost caused alone 4 major accidents with stopping abruptly for no reason causing the cars behind you to almost rear end you. This is tremendously dangerous and it s happening so often you can even use the cruise control. This does happen on other trips as well such as Las Vegas to Phoenix. When it slams the brakes randomly all your items get thrown to the front as well. This needs fixed before someone gets killed | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving 25-35 MPH, all four windows slightly went down independently, wiggled and made clicking sounds. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the sound had become unbearable. Additionally, the contact stated that the front driver's side and passenger's side doors and the rear driver's side door failed to close securely. The door chime reminder engaged. The contact also stated the vehicle would shift into park (P) and would jerk when attempting to drive due to the failure. The contact stated that the doors required to be slammed in order to close securely. Additionally, the contact stated that the vehicle shifted into park (P) and stopped abruptly while driving. The contact stated that the failure also occurred while driving downhill and while at a traffic light. The vehicle was taken to a Tesla Service Center several times, and the windows and doors were readjusted; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the Tesla Service Center, where the window trim panel and the door trim panel were readjusted; however, the failure increased. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 14,000 |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on a highway using the adaptive cruise control. Several times the car braked for no reason at all. There were no cars in front of us, it was phantom breaking for no apparent reason. It was a long road trip of 12 hours over 2 days and I stopped using cruise control when anyone is behind me out of fear of causing an accident. The issue happened at least 15 times over the 2 days. It is a safety issue in my opinion, as other cars following you may rear end you when the car brakes hard for no reason. I've owned the car for a while, and it seems to have gotten much worse than it was before. There are no warnings before it does the phantom breaking. I have not had it inspected by anyone else. I believe it is a software issue that needs to be fixed by Tesla, as there are no error messages, and all my cameras appear to be functional. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving in FSD, autosteer, traffic aware cruise control, and with all turned off, I have experienced 5-10 episodes of “phantom braking” on the highway at high speeds over the past 48 hours. I have driven in 4 states total so far; in sunny, cloudy, straight road ahead conditions, sometimes with cars around and sometimes on totally empty stretches of road. The first episode took my car from 80mph to 60mph extremely suddenly, with no warning, lurching me and the things in my car forward. I was shocked as I was unfamiliar with this issue. Luckily the car behind me at the time was about 1/8 mile away. However, this could have very easily caused someone to rear end me. This repeated over and over all day yesterday, sometimes the braking less severe than others. Now if using cruise control I need to hold my foot over the accelerator instead of the brake, which feels wrong and also unsafe, but it’s terrifying and I disengage cruise control if anyone gets too close behind me to be safe. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving from Reno to Las Vegas on hwy 95. I was using the cruise control and the car repeatedly slammed on the breaks when there was nothing on the road to cause it. Breaking was applied dropping the speed from 5 miles an hour up to 35 miles per hour. The excessive breaking could have caused a crash if a semi was behind me. Every time it happened I noticed a phantom object showing up on the very limit of the traffic display screen. If there was any other vehicle picked up by the sensors the cruise control never malfunctioned. It braked at least 10 times during the trip. I talked to 10 other Tesla drivers and 9 told me they were having the same issue. The one driver that did not never used his cruise control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Recall 21V-00D is well over a year old and Tesla has not remedied it in a timely manner. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | AIR BAGS | I was T boned at an intersection by a red light runner. My car got hit on the driver side and front to back where the initial impact occurred by the left front wheel. None of the airbags deployed. My speed was probably around 30 miles and the other cars speed I don’t know. The other car was a 2021 Toyota suv. I don’t recall what model but all of the airbags deployed in the Toyota. I got thrown against the driver door and sustained an injury to my left rib cage. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2020 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 unavailable. The local dealer was contacted, and it was confirmed that the part was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | I got a "power reduced dir_a126" error code that limited my speed to 55 mph. This is dangerous on the highway as 55 mph is significantly under 70 mph and cars were almost rear ending me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | April 10 & 11. Drive from Minneapolis to Washington D.C. Several phantom braking incidents—two severe. If someone would have been behind me on the Ohio Turnpike, there would have been a major crash. This issue first cropped up on my vehicle in late fall of 2020. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO FORCE TESLA (really MUSK) to install radar sensors or LiDAR? Is there a class action lawsuit that has been started? I have a car I cannot trust to use cruise control. I do not use, or ever want, lane assist or FSD. I just want a reliable and SAFE cruise control system. I get nowhere with Tesla on this. At this point, Tesla should buy back my car—and likely thousands of others or retrofit. I know that others have been injured and no doubt someone is going to get killed…something must be done…this is major SAFETY issue. Thanks. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER | Left headlight blinker and windshield wiper not working. Happened twice once in 2022 and now. Repaired once in 2022 and when happens is dangerous because can’t signal and can’t use wipers in the rain | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was on a 3000 mile road trip over multiple interstates (including I-35, I-90, and I-80), and while the adaptive cruise control was engaged, the car would abruptly and aggressively brake when no other cars or obstacles were in the area. This would often be a 30mph deceleration before I could disengage cruise control and take over. This happened repeatedly, in multiple states, and in different weather conditions. At times, it was happening every 10 minutes. The system would sometimes, but not usually, make an alarm noise. This problem has become noticeably worse in later software updates. No accidents occurred because I would not use cruise control if other cars were in the area, and I eventually stopped using it altogether due to how frequently it was braking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle suddenly braked while traveling 70mph on freeway with traffic aware cruise control engaged. This incident happened 3 times during the same 40 mile trip. No other vehicles were within 50 feet of the vehicle in either direction. A rear end collision could have happened if another vehicle were behind me. No warning sounds occurred or warning indication on the computer screen. I purchased this vehicle used from Tesla 3 days ago. Tesla service has not been notified of issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Since recent software update The adaptive cruise control now randomly applies the brakes while driving on a straight road with no obstacles or vehicles in front. Today driving i80 through navada This happen about 5 times within a few minutes of engaging cruise control. This is a new issue I’d not seen until now. I’d had maybe 2 or 3 incidences of phantom Braking over the last couple of years. Today I had it happen multiple times through the day. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Since recently updating the software I now get a lot of phantom braking when employing adaptive cruise control. This hardly happened in the past. Recently it’s happening every time I engage cruise control Today we drove from San Francisco to Utah on the i80 The car randomly braked 5 times Each time the road was flat, straight with no traffic in front or obstacles or road cones. After engaging cruise control the car would randomly brake aggressively with a few minutes. I would turn off cruise control then try again a few minutes later. The same throng would happen Speeds ranged from 65-75 mph | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Emergency braking is activated on highway when no obstacle is visible on clear sunny days. This has occurred over the last year but has become more frequent over time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |