Complaint volume
650 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
2021 Tesla Model 3 Complaints
650 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
650 Total complaints
45 Crash reports
5 Fire reports
16 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, service brakes,forward collision avoidance, 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 45 crash reports, 5 fire reports, 16 injury reports, and 5 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 42 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 18,076 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, service brakes,forward collision avoidance, 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 2021 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.
2021 Tesla Model 3
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Tesla Model 3 complaints?
45 Crash
5 Fire
16 Injury
5 Fatality
38 Towed
18 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 199
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 57
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 53
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 41
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 33
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 21
VISIBILITY/WIPER 12
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 11
SERVICE BRAKES 10
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 10
650 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla software release 2022.44.25 My Tesla autopilot continues to exhibit phantom braking while in traffic aware cruise control and autopilot. The vehicle will suddenly slow down either gently or harshly. This behavior was observed after Tesla released software that disabled the cars radar. Since then, multiple updates have remedied the issue but 2022.44.25 has introduced phantom braking again. No accidents have occurred but luckily I live in a remote area of Arizona and can take control of the car as it phantom brakes. After Tesla working in autopilot for years, I think it’s time for additional validation to start happening on autopilot and traffic aware cruise control. I’m also of the belief that normal cruise control should be banned. Thanks! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER | The heat pump failed in 12/2022. The defroster would not work and heating was an issue. I encountered 2 dangerous situations in snowstorms where I could not see out the window and the heating was inconsistent and difficult to control.This was fixed by Tesla. The heat pump failed again (less than a month later). I was told today that there was an ice buildup in the coils possibly due to car wash (?). This problem, I am afraid, is going to continue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using the base level of "autopilot," remaining in a lane and maintaining speed, the car will randomly slam on the brakes even when there are no vehicles or objects in front of it. The first incident occurred while driving late at night on an interstate. There were no vehicles in front of the car, but it rapidly reduced speed from 75mph to 30mph, before immediately speeding up again. The camera based "autopilot" is essentially useless and I have decided not to use it when driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | While charging Model 3 the amperage went from 32amps and was capped at 16amps. This is a wide spread issue with Tesla’s model 3 Power conversion system (PCS). There is 3 controllers in the PCS system. When all 3 are working correctly it will charge at 48amps. If one stops it will drop to 32 amps or drop to 16 amps if two fail or not even charge if 3 fail. This is a known issue and and costly repair as Tesla refuses to fix these under the battery warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Autopilot failed. Driver had head, neck injuries , and the passenger had head, neck, and knee injuries. CRASH REPORT: Date - 1/14/23; Time - 10:30 am. NCIC Number - 9565; Officer's Name: Garduno #22857 | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Twice in October 2022 (18th and 20th), my vehicle decelerated suddenly during cruise control with no impediments in the road (i.e., phantom breaking). The breaking on the 20th was akin to slamming on the breaks, and both occurred at freeway speeds. I did *not purchase Tesla's self-driving feature. The vehicle also on the 18th tried to steer around an object that did not exist in the road while I turned onto a freeway on-ramp. I reported all three incidents at that time to Tesla for servicing of the vehicle. It is unknown whether any "repair" was actually done to eliminate phantom breaking (I no longer use Tesla's cruise control in similar traffic conditions which were at the time crowded outside of the carpool lane I was using). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On 1-14-2023, while driving westbound on I-64, around sunset (5:20ish pm) in a straight portion of the highway, the vehicle suddenly braked for no reason. There was nothing in the road and no cross traffic. There was an all white semi in the right lane that I was approaching in the passing lane. I immediately disengaged the cruise and continued my trip with no further incidents. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The only cruise control feature available on this car is the adaptive cruise control. This car continues to make sudden unsafe braking maneuvers for no reason. It seems to get confused by steep hills, bridges, shadows, and other factors. You can be on a highway going 70mph and it will slam the brakes, terrifying passengers and potentially causing you to get rear ended. This has been ongoing since the purchase of the car 1 year ago. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on an otherwise unobstructed road, with no nearby obstacles on a Rural South Dakota Interstate, the vehicle suddenly slammed on breaks in an unsafe fashion, forcing the vehicle behind us to swerve to evade our car. We were told by Tesla service that sometimes, "road shimmering" can cause this behavior, and there is no remedy available. In response to this, I gunned the accelerator to try and remedy the issue, hitting unsafe speeds before being able to fully return control to the vehicle. This was NOT while using the vehicle's autopilot system for FSD (which was available on the car), but adaptive cruise control, though the same issue happens with FSD regularly. This is not the first instance of this happening (I have stopped using cruise control and FSD on the vehicle since), but the first time it seriously endangered myself and another driver. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Trip from Piedmont, California to Salt Lake City, Utah, I experienced three (x3) phantom breaking incidents at over 80 mph on interstate 1-80. The car without warning dramatically de-accelerated from approximately 85mph to 65mph or 60mph without warning and suddenly. Dog was riding in back and thrown into front dashboard on one occasion. Visited Tesla dealership on State St in Salt Lake City Utah upon destination arrival and manager/head at front desk laughed indicents off saying, "we've heard of such incidents just wait for the software update." Horrible. Beyond dangerous. I can report that in all three incidents there were no cars in front or behind me and the phenonenon occurred totally unexpectedly. Reported it also to Tesla repair shop in Berkeley, California, and intake group had zero sympathy and said, "it's a known software glitch." | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Vehicle's turn signal is not hardware based, but instead relies on the software registering signal use. The turn signal can be "fully" pressed, and "partially" pressed, and the behavior is supposed to be: Full press: Blinks until you manually disengage 1/2 press: Blinks 3 times, then automatically disengages. Anything "between" a full press and a half-press, ie beyond the level which is supposed to trigger a 3-time blink, but not "bottoming out" the signal, regularly fails to trigger the signal at all. This leads to scenarios in which the driver "thinks" they have signaled, and creates unsafe situations for surrounding vehicles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On multiple occasions, the car will suddenly decelerate while using adaptive cruise control on the highway. Malfunctioning component: adaptive cruise control. Safety: rear end collision if another vehicle was following too closely. Manufacturer is fully aware of the problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | SUSPENSION | The wheel control arm bolts that hold the wheel onto the vehicle slowly unscrewed until they fell out (x2 bolts per wheel). It is available for inspection upon request. If a disconnected fully inflated tire is sucked under the car at high speeds, it may potentially flip the vehicle, badly rupture the battery pack or the wheel may jettison from the vehicle onto surrounding vehicles. It is unknown what kind of damage or after-effect would take place if the battery were severely damaged by an inflated tire and rim. The problem was observed, documented and repaired by Tesla. The effects of the problem were only observed at 1 MPH. A recall of this specific issue was listed for other Model 3 2021 vehicles, but our vin # was not included in this recall, while it should have been. Tesla has inspected the vehicle one time and claim the vehicle is now safe to drive. Insurance would not participate in any claims regarding this type of incident because nobody was hurt. We did not receive any warning prior to failure, not even a wobble, shimmy, clunk or precursor of any kind. The car appeared to be perfectly solid and then suddenly the wheel came off. The car did not crash into anything other than the ground when the wheel disconnected. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was going 80mph on the interstate coming back from Little Rock to Tulsa. The time was 4am in the morning with little or no traffic on the road. I was using only the cruise control with adaption turned on. The car all of a sudden without any warning almost came to a complete stop on the interstate. I later asked what caused this and was told it is phatom braking but this was VERY dangerous, if someone had been behind me they probably would have been messed up. I merely accelerated to make sure I was at least keeping the minimum speed limit. Please advise. Shawn | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER | The supermanifold failed, causing the front defroster to not work properly, resulting in loss of visibility in freezing temperatures. This is a common problem with 2021/2022 model 3/model y with the new heat pump that was supposed to be fixed with a software update, but was not. I now have a $3900 repair bill on a 1 year old car with 56,000 miles. The warranty expired at 50,000 miles. The failure was not a result of negligence. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Adding our vehicle to the list of those affected by what seems to be commonly known as "Phantom Braking". The most recent occurrence was on Interstate 25 southbound in northern Colorado when the "Autopilot" (Adaptive Cruise Control) suddenly braked and reduced our speed from 75 to 51 mph, with no vehicles or other obstructions visible. We were almost rear-ended by a car following us, however. I want to point out that this was only the worst example of several episodes that occurred that day, and on earlier dates as well. We no longer use Autopilot, which makes long trips much less comfortable. I also want to mention that our vehicle does NOT have Tesla's "Full Self Driving" (FSD) installed, so my hands were on the wheel at all times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On certain sections of highway unsuccessfully attempted to activate auto-steer (two down clicks) multiple times in a row. Did this multiple times in a row but was unsuccessful to activate auto-steer. Instead a supposed "easter egg" (which activates with 4 down clicks) very loudly plays loud jarring music (called "rainbow road")...this is NOT FUCKING FUNNY--I nearly ran my car off the road and into oncoming traffic. Giant 2000 pound hunks of metal going at 60 mph should NOT FUCKING COME with special surprises. This is incredibly dangerous and jarring to drivers. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V235000 (Electrical System, Forward Collison Avoidance) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. 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. Parts distribution disconnect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | Driving south on the 5 freeway right northing on Oceanside the vehicle shut down at freeway speed. I had to coast of the to the first Oceanside. Fortunately it was late at night and there were no cars in the immediate vicinity. In addition to this the vehicle has had multiple episode of phantom breaking. I do not feel safe driving the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | SUSPENSION,STRUCTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Random "phantom braking" while using autopilot or cruise control. Causes the car to slam on brakes and has lost control once almost causing me to go off the road. Also, has brake-checked many cars that follow behind me while I'm using autopilot or cruise due to the phantom braking. Also Tesla Repair center in Chicago replaced my front bumper with a discolored front bumper that had the same issue of peeling on the inner edges of the bumper as the prior front bumper. When I brought up the issue to Tesla they said that was a manufacturing process issue due to the molding process of the bumpers and that is how they all are. If that is the case why change the bumper? Could have just told me that's how all the cars are and saved a lot of my time. Also, have had many repairs from Tesla that don't seem to end. These cars arent being produced in a consistent manner. What was promised during the purchase of the car doesn't seem to hold up. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | At some point in 2021 Tesla released a software update that causes the vehicle to ignore the ambient temperature sensor for the first 15 minutes of a drive. Tesla explained to me that this was to avoid errant readings in hot environments with lots of reflected heat from pavement. I’ve reported the following safety issue to them several times through the winters of 2021 and now 2022, to no avail despite numerous software updates since. In cold environments where a vehicle is leaving a warm and potentially higher humidity environment such as a garage to a very cold and dry environment - just as the car begins using the sensor data the windshield will immediately fog up causing a major safety issue. This occurs with the hvac on auto and requires a shift of 30+ degrees, which is not an uncommon occurrence in cold environments. 50 degree garage to 17 degree outside for example. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that the adaptive cruise control was activated during the failure. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 14,169. | Crash: No Fire: No | 14,169 |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently made a sudden stop and then lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, and the contact was informed that the inverter failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 9,000. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 9,000 |
| Dec 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE | I believe that Tesla's autosteer and Full self driving features are improperly designed. I will speak to them as if they were one and the same. I noticed that you have a check box for Lane Keeping Assistance above, but there is no checkbox for coercive auto steering, which is Tesla's product. The only ability it offers as far as steering the car is to forcibly disengage the autosteering feature. This is not assistance and this is the problem. A properly designed Lane Keeping Assistance feature continuously monitors driver steering action, lane position, and traffic conditions. If the Lane Keeping Assistance system finds itself 'alone' with little or no measurable input from the driver, action is called for. With the Tesla, the feature has an embarrassingly stupid 'driver attention check' which, until recently, could be easily defeated by the simple addition of a weight to one side of the steering wheel or the other. In a misguided attempt to correct this ridiculously poor design, they have recently made matters much worse. Now they distract the driver's attention from driving by forcing the playing of some sort of 'patty cake' type game, which does prove alertness of the driver, but detracts from the real and necessary work of circumventing the actual threats encountered in everyday driving. In short, a proper Lane Keeping Assistance feature should not be totally ignorant of the driver's subtle driving moves (it's an excellent feature as long as autosteering isn't engaged) and should honor requests to move into different parts of the lane long before disengaging, and no attention measuring system should come at the expense of driver awareness of actual issues. I have tried through email and phone to convince Tesla that something needs to be done, but have received no response from them. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact leased a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated upon starting the vehicle, the center display failed to operate as designed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle; however, while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle stopped abruptly in the middle of the road. A message indicating that the trunk was opened was displayed. There was also a question displayed whether the contact wished to continue driving. The contact tapped the option YES however, the touch pad center display failed to respond. The contact exited the vehicle and attempted to close the trunk several times; however, the trunk reopened independently. The contact was able to close the trunk after eight attempts. The contact was able to continue driving to her residence. The contact stated that upon parking the vehicle, the trunk reopened independently. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and assisted the contact with towing the vehicle to the local Tesla Service Center where it was diagnosed that an unknown software had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer declined to provide additional information. The failure mileage was approximately 15,460. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 15,460 |