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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | I was driving on a divide highway at 70 mph in the HOV lane with cruise control activated, not auto steering, when the car abruptly slowed down. No car was visible in front of me. If someone was following closely behind me an accident could have occurred. I reported this to Tesla. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This vehicle's basic "autopilot" and adaptive cruise control is dangerous. The vehicle is unable to pass a truck on the highway while either system is active without slamming on the brakes. This is major safety hazard on the highway as following cars do not expect any vehicle to slam on the brakes at highway speeds. Further, using the cruise control on two lane road is also dangerous. Any large vehicle in the opposite oncoming lane will cause the vehicle to slam on its brakes. These systems are essentially unusable and are very dangerous to use. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on interstate 8 from Tucson to San Diego. In a matter of 2 hours my Tesla activated the brakes on its own 5 times, sometimes in a rapid series of 2 to 3 times, causing me to lurch while going 75 mph so I immediately disengaged the adaptive cruise control. I was on a 2 lane divided highway with no cars in front of me, see picture attached. Since taking possession of my new 2021 model 3 in November 2021, it has happened about 11 times. I just had my wife research it. I will not be using this feature. A semi truck behind me almost swerved off the road because of my braking. This is unacceptable that Elon Musk is not recalling vehicles. His arrogance is going to kill people for this clear safety issue. Please take over and do the recall. They sold me this car knowing this was an hazard since June 2021. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | No specific incident, but potentially dangerous. Several of the font sizes used on the Touchscreen, but especially the ones displaying the time, the temperature, and the miles remaining on the charge, are very difficult, if not impossible, to read if you need reading glasses. This is especially true for seniors. In order to get that information, you need to either pull out and put on your reading glasses or move your face to the right and closer to the screen, both potentially dangerous if you’re moving, especially at high speeds. This problem has been complained about repeatedly online for several years, but so far no response from Tesla. I don’t think it would be difficult or expensive either to give owners the option to increase font size or to make a one time increase of, say, 30% or 60%. The change would make driving a lot safer for those of us are on the wrong end of 60. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Was driving and automatic braking system engaged when there was no impeding incident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking occurs often when using traffic aware cruise control. I have not been able to determine a pattern, as the malfunction is not consistent. It can occur on a 2-lane road (with lines) as well as on a 6-line divided highway. I can tell the difference between phantom braking and the vehicle adjusting speed for an upcoming curve, as normal adjustment occurs in the same spot each time. Phantom braking is unpredictable, and may not occur in a location that it previously had. There are days it never happens, or sometimes once a day, or has occurred 5 times in an approx 6 mile trip. During a phantom braking event, the car unexpectedly applies the brakes hard. I react by pressing the accelerator, which usually results in a speed greater than the speed limit. I use the bug report feature each time it occurs, so Tesla would be able to view each event. As I'm sure you can tell from the VIN, this is a camera-only Tesla system. I do not have full self driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | on 3/9, the car lost heat (no heat at all, blowing cold air) and it was giving error message that the climate was unavailable. It created a driving hassle since the windshield was frosted. I took the car in to the Tesla service center on 3/10. They returned the car to me on 3/16, mentioning they replace the heat pump. on 3/17, the car starts giving error message saying the climate control is unavailable. I told the car in back to the same Tesla service center in Springfield NJ. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | TIRES | Pirelli PZero 235/35/R20 tires on the entire car, was driving when front left tire blew out after 4500 miles, had the car towed back to Tesla dealer and tire replaced. Now after 2 months, rear left tire has bubble on the sidewall after only 5400 miles with no indication of previous damage. I believe this to be a defective tire and an immense safety hazard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We just took our first road trip from Minneapolis to Denver in our 2021 Model 3 and experienced about 14 phantom braking events in about 900 miles. Two happened at night and the rest in broad daylight with perfect visibility on the Interstate. There was nothing I saw in or by the road that would explain any camera confusion. In all but two events, there were no other cars within 100 yards. In the first 200 miles we had 2 minor braking events and one severe one (hard breaking that required steady accelerator pressure to regain and maintain speed). There were no events in the next 300 miles. Then we had a moderate event which I immediately corrected. The next event was the most severe -- rapid deceleration followed by acceleration then deceleration, then a few seconds of speed fluctuation before I took full control (I purposely allowed this event to play out without intervention since there was no one around us and I wanted to see if it would correct itself--it didn't). Unfortunately, my wife hurt her neck in this one which resulted in neck pain and headaches for the rest of the day. Our dogs were in the back seat and were tossed around but OK. I then pulled over and rebooted the car. Within 5 minutes we had another moderate event. I pulled over again, cleaned the windshield, and reset/recalibrated the cameras. We understood this might take up to 100 miles, but in our case it only took about 5 miles. We tried the autopilot again and had a minor event within minutes and another minor event a few minutes later, and then a third a few minutes after that. I thought maybe the cameras didn't properly recalibrate since the process was so fast, so I pulled over and recalibrated again. As before, recal was done in a few miles. At this point my foot was hovering over the accelerator so I was able to intervene quickly to mitigate the severity. Over the next 20 miles there were 5 more events--a mixture of minor and moderate. We gave up and drove the last 100 miles manually. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking, the vehicle will stop unexpectedly while using adaptive cruise control even if there are no vehicles or objects on the road for miles. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |