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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 |
| Apr 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | We were driving on the freeway at 69 mph and suddenly with no warning the center console main screen froze. All electronic functions of the car stopped and the car was stuck at 69 mph. Speedometer And turn signals did not work. We managed to get to the side of the road (mechanical brakes and steering were unaffected). The car could not be put in Park so a manual reboot was not possible. The car rebooted itself (screen went black and then came back online) after about 10 minutes or so and then the car functioned normally. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car, driving on cruise control at 75mph did an expected and very sharp braking and slowed down to 55 mph. There were no upcoming alerts or indicators of this to happen. The braking was sudden and definitely not expected by drivers behind. This incident was reported to Tesla service team. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while her son was driving 70 MPH on autopilot, the vehicle independently decelerated to 45 MPH. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to continue driving to his destination. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,900. | Crash: No Fire: No | 8,900 |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 60-70 MPH with the adaptive cruise control engaged, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact then accelerated and continued driving. The contact was unsure whether there was a warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving alongside other vehicles. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 900. | Crash: No Fire: No | 900 |
| Apr 2022 | POWER TRAIN | While driving, a small warning appeared on the screen, directing us to pull over. Roughly 10-15 seconds later, the car died in the middle of the road. The car was towed to a Tesla service center. The rear motor power inverter was replaced. Incidentally, I saw this news story today: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-recall-for-127785-model-3s-in-china-due-to-rear-motor-inverter-defect-185844.html The way the car failed was very dangerous. My other complaint was that the user experience telling us to pull over was not sufficient. If the problem was that dire, we need much more dramatic audible and visible alerts, as well as an indication of how long we have to go. We could have pulled off into a safer spot if we knew we only had a few seconds. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving, typically on two lane roads with oncoming traffic, the vehicle will suddenly break hard for no visible reason. Often it is the case that the vehicle breaks so hard that things in the car fly forward and the seatbelts lock up causing people to grunt at the force and scream. This happens while using full self driving or just regular cruise control. There is no warning and people behind my vehicle have a high likelihood a rear ending me since there is no visible or obvious cars for my breaking. Also it would appear that I am brake checking the person behind me, causing them to become angry with me through no fault of my own, but it is understandable based on the reaction of my vehicle. When this happens I typically report the issue directly to Tesla using their voice feature to report issues. The command is typically “bug report phantom braking.” | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at 5 MPH, the front driver's seat continuously changed positions independently and her foot could no longer reach the one-pedal driving. The contact veered to the side of the road and parked the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle was designed with a feature that allowed both her husband and her to save their front driver's seat profile on the center display, based on their physical characteristics. The contact stated that her husband was 6 ft. 2 inches tall and she was 5 ft. 5 inches tall. The contact stated that the failure occurred as the front driver's seat moved from her seat profile to her husband's seat profile. Additionally, the contact stated that the center display was displaying a message stating it was looking for a charging station while the vehicle was fully charged. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 2,100. The consumer stated Tesla diagnosed the problem as phantom touchscreen issue and replaced the screen on April 29, 2022. | Crash: No Fire: No | 2,100 |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My Tesla has continued from the time of purchase has Fantom braked when no vehicles are even around. Putting it on basic Cruise control or adaptive control makes no difference. Slamming on the brakes at any time is not safe with all the tailgaters that drive today. Who’s liability is it when your car brakes for no reason a you are rear ended ? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The cars cruise control system is unusable due to random and unpredictable Phantom breaking. This is a safety risk due to the potential collisions it can cause as a result of slamming on the brakes. We have had multiple close calls with this system. It specifically has issues on two lane highways. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on the highway or freeway, the vehicle suddenly slowed dramatically as if the brakes had been heavily applied. It did this three times over the course of two days, always while the car was set on cruise control (not auto pilot). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Brakes were automatically engaged and speed dramatically reduced on an otherwise deserted, two-line highway. Speed was reduced from 68mph to 30mph in a few seconds multiple times in the span of two hours. Adaptive cruise control was active at the time. This would put myself and any vehicles behind me in danger, so I disabled the feature for the remainder of the drive. The behavior has been reproduced multiple times since then, in various conditions. No warning lamps or other messages appeared at the time. I reported the problem to the manufacturer and schedule a service appointment. The manufacturer canceled this appointment, stating, "Our technicians will be unable to change this behavior." | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | The passenger side headlight has stopped functioning on repeated occasions, both the high and low beams stop functioning simultaneously each time. I have been on long distance road trips now each time that this has occurred. Tesla service techs insist that it's software related in both instances and provide a software update. This alleviates the problem temporarily. I am currently insisting that they replace the unit completely, as these are not standard headlights that a consumer is able to purchase and replace at a parts retailer or any auto service center. Today, I got another service update, no replacement yet. The inherent danger in this practice is the amount of days and weeks required to schedule a service appointment, while operating the vehicle with one headlight and a complete inability to source an alternative resolution. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I'm reporting a "phantom braking" incident that occurred while driving approximately 75 mph in the left lane of Interstate 10 just west of Casa Grande, AZ. (This section of the road had two westbound lanes.) "Traffic-aware cruise control" was set at approximately 75 mph. The Tesla slammed on the brakes for no reason (no vehicles were in front of me.) This was terrifying - luckily the vehicle that was directly behind me noticed and reduced their speed while I quickly pushed down on the accelerator. A collision was thus avoided. However, this could have been deadly for both my vehicle, the vehicle behind me, and so on. There was absolutely no reason for the car to apply the brakes - there were no obstructions in the road. My passenger can confirm the situation. I have had "phantom braking" occur with this Tesla including slowing down almost to a stop when a semi truck is in the coming lane of a two-lane road. The "traffic-aware cruise control" is inconsistent in its performance and travelling at high speeds, incredibly dangerous. We could not operate this function during the rest of our travels on the interstate due to this issue and limited operation of "Traffic aware cruise control" to 55 mph & under roads when there was no traffic behind us. I've been reading up on the Tesla "phantom braking" phenomenon and am really disappointed in this very unsafe safety feature which I didn't know about before purchasing my Tesla. My Model 3 is newer and has "Tesla Vision" instead of radar like older Model 3's. I think "Tesla Vision" is messed up and needs more work. This "automatic braking" could have caused a serious collision. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | The model 3 no longer turns on the headlights automatically when the windshield wipers are on. It requires the operator to search through menus to turn the lights on manually. This is required even if the headlights are in automatic mode. Voice Command doesn't turn the headlights on either. I believe it is dangerous to be diverting eyes to a menu screen to turn the headlights on while driving in the rain. In addition, failure to turn on the headlights in my state is a moving violation. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | There is serious issue with automatic emergency braking. My Tesla Model 3 2021 applied automatic emergency braking while on auto steer or cruising on single lane highway as well as on 4 lane freeways without anything ahead which required to brake. Fortunately, we were not being followed or tail gated closely. The speed reduced from 65 mph to 30mph suddenly on a freeway. This has happened to me 3 times. twice on single lane highway and once on 4 lane freeway. Tesla's cruising and self driving is worthless if I can't use them. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |