Complaint volume
640 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
640 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
640 Total complaints
43 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 43 crash reports, 5 fire reports, 16 injury reports, and 3 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?
43 Crash
5 Fire
16 Injury
3 Fatality
37 Towed
18 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 198
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 57
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 53
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 40
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 32
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 18
VISIBILITY/WIPER 12
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 11
SERVICE BRAKES 10
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 10
640 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on highway, I have autopilot on, and out of nowhere the vehicle will engage emergency braking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was in auto pilot (cruise control). The car was going at 78 mph. The brakes suddenly engaged for no reason. Slowing the car to 60 mph very quickly. It basically felt like I slammed on the brakes. This happened 3 times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Since purchasing my vehicle a year ago, it had has occasionally engaged the emergency braking system in situations where other cars have not been a threat or directly in front of me. This week, the system engaged when I was driving up an incline on the highway with no vehicles around me. Very disconcerting and DANGEROUS. As a result I deactivated the system. This is a flaw. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On multiple occasions, my vehicle has experienced the same “phantom braking” problem other Teslas have. This has happened when cruise control (autopilot) was enabled. No cars or obstacles were directly in front of my vehicle and the immediate breaking was unnecessary | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The autopilot used for automatic cruise control regularly brakes for unexplained reasons when there is no immediate threat. This is not only scary but it could cause an accident if other cars were right behind me. There is one part of highway 470 in Highlands Ranch, CO, where it happens every time, like autopilot is expecting the speed limit to drop so it slows way down for me, but the speed limit hasn’t changed. Other times it just happens randomly. It will happen at least once usually every hour I use autopilot. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on the highway, , this car continues to phantom brake at high speeds which is dangerous. Both adaptive cruise control and “autopilot” experience this. It can be an overpass, cloud, or when the car sees it’s shadow. The phantom braking is a serious safety issue and makes me not want to use the feature. Tesla needs to improve this ASAP. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using cruise control on the highway, I was rounding a slight bend in the road and the automatic braking system actuated, immediately slamming on the brakes and scrubbing off significant speed. Luckily I was close to the accelerator pedal and was able to quickly react by applying throttle, but had there been another vehicle following closely, there could have been a collision. There were no visible objects in or around the road to cause an emergency braking event. I have not used the cruise control feature since this occurrence, but it had happened twice before with similar circumstances. Reference "phantom braking" phenomenon well documented by many other operators. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I’ve experienced the “phantom braking” most recently on may 29th, on highway. No cars around or anything that should have trigged it. I was in autosteer mode when it happened both times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My car has on several occasions while using cruise control feature engaged, braked unexpectedly at highway speeds when nothing was in front of the car. My Tesla does not have Full Self Driving capabilities, it has also done this emergency braking with Autopilot engaged. It's happened so many times while the Autopilot is engaged, that I never use Autopilot anymore. I have twice nearly been rear ended, (with only cruise control engaged) by a car following me when this auto-braking happened in highway traffic, forcing me to have to immediately hit the accelerator pedal in response, to avoid being hit from behind after the brakes auto engaged. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle will engage breaks when there is no obstacle or while on a straight road when placed in cruise control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When Autopilot is engaged the vehicle will sometimes rapidly slow down unexpectedly. There is no visual or audio warning to accompany the slow down to indicate what the vehicle detected to cause this. It is a rare occurrence but could potentially cause an accident in heavy traffic. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This happens to me all the time. Especially on interstates such as I-4 in Florida. The car will suddenly brake with no warning, slowing down dramatically. For example, if driving at 80 mph the car will suddenly for no reason slam on the brakes to 50mph, almost having other cars behind me rear end me. This issue has never been dealt with by Tesla and Tesla claims it's a normal problem to have. I've never had any other car with adaptive cruise control do this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car brakes heavily and suddenly for no reason while using cruise control. Seems to be on 2 way roads when semi-truck is passing by in opposite lane. Has happened multiple times on different days under different conditions. Concerned about being rear-ended. I have not had this inspected and no crash has occurred. I stopped using cruise control on this vehicle due to safety concerns. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving at night, using adaptive cruise control, about 70 MPH, no other vehicles near by, multi lane highway, when pavement changed from black tarmac to lighter concrete surface, the Tesla braked hard automatically. I accelerated and disengaged the cruise control. No loss of control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving with cruise and steering control, car will emergency brake like something is in front of the car. Many call it "phantom" braking. One time on a 2 lane highway the car braked hard for no reason, it happened on the way to Vegas and a large group of bikers were behind us. Very scary at highway speeds. We let the bikers pass. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car, when using its "traffic aware cruise control" exhibits extreme sudden breaking for no reason (phantom braking). On Thursday, I was on a major interstate in the middle of the day, perfectly marked lanes, no gradient changes, no weather or visibility issues, with absolutely nothing in front of me. The car would suddenly brake aggressively for no reason, sometimes hard enough to hurt my neck. If another car had been following me, I would have been immediately rear ended. Too add insult to injury, Tesla charges for the full self driving function which fully navigates the car on highways, and even though it is so dysfunctional that it is dangerous, they will not refund it after I reported this behavior. Tesla FSD and traffic aware cruise control, in it's current state, is a danger to the public. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The Tesla Autopilot system in my Model 3 repeatedly malfunctions by way of "phantom braking".The latest incident I was luckily able to capture on camera. In this incident, my vehicle is driving down a Nevada highway in the heat, with no oncoming vehicles and a vehicle in my lane well over a mile away and increasing (they had just passed me a few minutes prior). With the speed set to 74mph (driving 73 at the time) the vehicle proceeds to apply heavy brakes, and slows to 56mph for no reason (no vehicles behind, thankfully). My safety and the safety of other motorists is put at risk with these events as the unexpected braking not only whips around the passengers of MY vehicle, but also puts at risk any vehicles that may be behind me, expecting me to maintain my current velocity. The problem has not been reproduced by a dealer as far as I am aware, but the service department of my local Tesla dealer has confirmed the issue is caused by the "Tesla Vision" camera-only system. They (service team) claim that there is no issue with the system, and that it is behaving as expected. They do not view this as a malfunction, and merely view it as the system being extra cautious, which is simply lazy. This component has not yet been inspected by any entity mentioned above. There were no symptoms of this issue prior to it occurring, however this did occur repeatedly over the course of my trip to/from Las Vegas. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Sudden unexpected deceleration. There was no car or obstacle in my lane and my car hit the brakes. It seems to have gotten worse with the latest firmware update. It seems like when a shiny object is on a mailbox near the side of the road the car hits the brakes. The truck behind me could have hit me and got very angry and sped around me. This is going to cause an accident if not fixed. It's happened multiple times now. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE | Side camera glare at night when signaling | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | FIRERELATED,STEERING | The contact's son owned a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that his son was involved in a fatal collision while driving at an undisclosed speed with the autopilot activated. The contact was informed by his son's friend, who was a passenger in the vehicle, that the autopilot malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to inadvertently drive off the road, hit a tree, and then catch fire. An unknown bright orange light was seen on the windshield right before the failure occurred. The contact's son's friend was able to exit the vehicle, but the contact's son was unconscious and was not able to exit the vehicle. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire. A fire department report was filed. The contact's son's friend received medical attention for burns and bruises on his legs. The contact's son's autopsy report stated that his son died as a result of intense thermal heat and smoke inhalation. The vehicle was towed and remained with the Highway Patrol. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. | Crash: Yes Fire: Yes Injuries: 1 Fatalities: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| May 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Referred to as "Phantom Braking," the vehicle decelerates dramatically when in "Autopilot" mode. This happens at seemingly random times and locations. It happens in the day or night, open or populated roads, multi-lane highways or single lane. The deceleration is so sudden that passengers in the car are thrown forward. One instance the car decelerated from about 75 MPH to 45 MPH in a matter of about 2 seconds. Thankfully no one was behind me. Others worry that if someone is following too closely, they could rear-end the Tesla... I don't think a vehicle would have to follow all that closely for this to cause an accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY/WIPER | https://youtube.com/channel/UCNkrwnR_lAKd4neLwYAbugA My YouTube channel has 13 videos about Tesla safety concerns. They are the only videos on my channel. The minutes long clips show what happens when the mainframe screen goes black, dies out or powers down while driving. Listed from memory are the following concerns associated with the Tesla ‘Black Screen of Death’: 1. No energy/distance shown 2. Glove box is inaccessible 3. Front trunk ‘Frunk’ cannot be opened 4. Proof of signalling is gone 5. Proof of low vs high beam is gone 6. Changing of wiper speed is gone 7. Access to heating/Air-Con is gone 8. Back up camera is obsolete 9. Cameras used when signalling are missing 10. Speedometer is not visible 11. Odometer is missing (have never found it on screen when running anyways!) 12 Air pressure indication is gone 13 GPS is obsolete From memory that is all I have to add. Imagine everything that was/is available to the driver in every other cars dashboard and then take those parts away sporadically for minutes at a time and you’ll have an understanding of how precarious driving my Tesla can be. As an Uber driver I had the opportunity to speak with a corporate agent who was my passenger. She said Tesla is aware of this issue. Having spoken with a Tesla rep at a Tesla garage I was given the same advice found on Internet forums: “Find a place to park, park, press the steering volume & station finder buttons for 10 seconds until display starts up” This very rarely works, and is impossible, even dangerous in many situations. I’ve learned to drive with this continually faltering equipment, and I know every Tesla driver I’ve spoken with must do the same to varying degrees. While all Tesla drivers experience this, none are as repetitive as mine and none seem as proactive to inform government agency of this. Next week, May 26, I have an appt with a Tesla garage that will look into this when I bring my car in. Please view my videos. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a Tesla Unavailable. The contact stated while driving 10 MPH in the parking lot he notice an unexpected increase in the amount of acceleration. The contact pulled over in the parking lot and turned the vehicle off then restarted and safely drove off. There was no warning light. The contact did not take the vehicle to a dealer or an independent mechanic. the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The mileage was 36,000 | Crash: No Fire: No | 36,000 |
| May 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla Autopilot will disengage and brake when driving under a bridge or a freeway sign. Tesla detects the overhead object as an object on the road and logs a forward collision warning. This issue has been reported to Tesla and after multiple service appointments, tesla has failed to fix the issue. Tesla logs forward collision warnings and determines safety score for insurance price, having multiple false forward collision warning reduced the score and increases the premium which in return benefits tesla financially. I have video evidence for an instance that I have provided to tesla to look into and the issue is still not fixed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | It has happened before, but on a 4 hour highway trip yesterday, the vehicle engaged in 3 incidents of sudden phantom braking. Twice the road was completely empty with no other vehicles around me. The third time the shadow of a truck in another lane may have triggered the event. Each time we were traveling over 65 miles per hour. For the last hour+ of the trip, I disengaged the autopilot (adaptive cruise control) feature and drove completely manually. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |