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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking while cruise control engaged. I do not have Full Self Driving, was only using the basic cruise. Appears to be worse when approaching large semi trucks, but has also happened numerous times when absolutely nothing is around (no cars, animals). No warning provided. Example: car will go from 75mph to 60mph in 1 second, then “recover” and go back to 75mph. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Adaptive cruise control engaged. Traveling over the crest of a hill after dark, the brakes automatically applied hard when an oncoming vehicle approaches uphill. This has occurred on several occasions. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | phantom braking | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I am experiencing phantom breaking on our Model 3. While traveling last weekend on Interstate 5, as well as on CA 101 - the vehicle frequently slowed abruptly while driving at highway speeds. This occurred both with other vehicles around, and with no vehicles present - also while driving at times in clear daylight and while approaching shadows from surrounding objects such as trees or highway overpasses. It rendered the adaptive cruise control non-useable on a 5hr drive home due to the sudden and abrupt slowing of the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving on autopilot at 60 MPH, the vehicle applied the brake independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated he had experienced the failure multiple times. 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 2,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 2,000 |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Was driving on clear roads, there was a driver ahead of me but they were over 100 yards away, the vehicle behind me swerved to make sure they didn't get hit by my car's auto-braking safety feature. the vehicle was on autopilot using adaptive cruise control and just randomly used the safety feature without any warning or indication that there was any object on the freeway. The Incident had occurred in the morning on the 405s freeway. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Three times so far in a week, the car has had extreme hard breaking on the freeway. These were done in full self drive mode. Absolutely terrifying and so unsafe for my family to have this happen. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This complaint was prompted by reading recent news reports of 'phantom braking' with our model vehicle. Previous to these reports, I did not have an awareness of NHTSA and their reporting mechanism. Driving on a highway, adaptive cruise control application. Sudden braking applied without my foot touching brake pedal. It was a sunny day, without any obvious need for braking. I was able to apply acceleration which terminated the braking cycle. No harm done, however if there was a car behind me there could have been a significant car accident at high speeds (>70 mph). This 'phantom braking' also occurred late 2021, also at highway speeds, on at least two occasion on the same trip cycle, in similar driving conditions (clear, dry). Nothing has been inspected. No indicators or warning lamps or messages applicable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE | This defect affects the lane departure warning system of my vehicle. In certain situations, the lane departure warning system incorrectly activates when the vehicle is turning (vs. leaving a lane). On one occasion, the system activated while turning from my driveway onto the adjacent roadway. On another occasion, the system activated while leaving a parking spot. On both occasions, the vehicle was traveling less than 5 MPH and was not departing from a lane. When the lane departure warning activates, a loud noise is triggered, along with an alert on the center display. A driver's natural response in this scenario is to slow down mid-turn, potentially resulting in unsafe conditions for both driver and nearby motorists. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I currently drive a 2021 Tesla model 3. When I drive this car down two lane highways my cruise control is almost un usable not to mention auto pilot. Almost every time a larger vehicle, something like a Semi truck comes from the other direction in the opposite lane my car slams the brakes. At night time it’s even worse when headlights are in the distance my car slams the brakes and when the headlights are closer it slams the brakes again. It also has random phantom breaking. I tried the service department and the told me it was a software issue and there was nothing they could do. The technician told me it would improve if I purchased FSD. I don’t believe it, if basic cruise control doesn’t work how is FSD going to work. I don’t know who to contact or even what to do about this issue, the service department refuses to even look at my car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car will brake seemingly for no reason while on Autopilot. The environment does not change at all, yet the car will randomly brake very hard as if someone was in front of me and slammed the brakes. It also happens very commonly, more common than tolerable. No warning beeps or chimes or any indication of anything event. I'm not sure if this is inspectable, I have brought the car to service a few times under warranty for unrelated issues. This problem is pretty much widespread across Tesla's autopilot system. This has happened many times, but the most dangerous one by far was on I-75 and slammed the brakes from 85 to 45-35 in a matter of seconds. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | At highway speeds while using cruise control I experienced several times what is now being called phantom braking. I have ceased using the cruise control as this is a scary problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When driving on one way road and a vehicle is travel inbound. The vehicle will stop extremely hard without any notice of anyone or anything in front of me. Even when travel on a open highway the vehicle will sometime stop extremely hard and freak out like something is in front of me when their is nothing. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car was on FSD jerked right toward a semi truck then jerked left toward the posts in the median as it was accelerating and FSD would not turn off. Was trying to control the car but it kept pushing and accelerating causing us to crash in to the median posts. Normally FSD would turn off if it was unsure but this day it would not. Plus other times it would phantom brake if we were on 2 lane road and met on oncoming large truck. We also had other times of phantom braking going over a hill. We have reported this to Tesla but no response yet. We owned this car 11 days when our wreck happened. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | With the Autopilot engaged on the freeway I have had several of these phantom braking experiences but last night I was lucky to avoid a accident with the car following me.. This happened at 74 miles per hour with the autopilot engaged the brakes slow me down to 60 miles per hour before I could disengage the autopilot. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On several occasions while driving in the highway with AutoPilot engaged for adaptive cruise control, the car has suddenly applied the brakes very hard when there were no hazards in my lane. This has occurred on curves in the road when oncoming traffic was detected in the other lane and also when there has been a vehicle stopped on the shoulder. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on an open 2 lane highway between Lecanto and Gainesville, car slammed on the brakes while in autopilot. There were no obstructions or other reason to stop. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car has twice gone into emergency braking mode on the interstate for no good reason. One incident was as the car was approaching a dark shadow area under an overpass, and the other was in a construction zone and I have no idea what triggered it. In both cases if someone had been following closely I may have been in trouble. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My 2021 Tesla model 3 has a issue of what is called Phantom Braking. On 2 lane undivided highways and on all types of roads the car will randomly slam on the brakes to what I assume is to prevent hitting a obstacle that doesn’t exist. The car will apply the brakes extremely fast and drop roughly 20 MPH or more in just a few seconds. I am unable to use cruise control on 2 lane highways because it slams on the brakes it seems like anytime it sees a dip in the road or a mailbox on the side of the road it triggers the emergency braking system. I feel lucky that no one has been behind me while these events have happened. It happens almost every time I drive the car. I have contacted Tesla about this issue and they say everything is fine and they would rather have a lot of false positives than to miss a actual event. I feel like it is a very unsafe feature and needs to be addressed because other manufacturers have this down with hardly any issues. This has been happening on the car since it was new and has not improved the car has 7500 miles on it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving my car and had it on autopilot. The road was empty and all of a sudden the car decided to apply brakes when nothing was infront of it. I was able to take control instantly to prevent a sudden stop however I was lucky there were no cars behind me | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car suddenly brakes, also known as Phantom Braking, when in Cruise Control. It does it mostly on 2 lane roads, but it has done it driving on wide open freeways too. It's bad. Makes me feel very unsafe. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Similar to the reporting of others, I wanted to confirm that we had a problem with our Tesla 3 auto-pilot feature erroneously triggering emergency braking by misinterpreting oncoming traffic. This happened twice in a similar situation. While driving on a single-lane highway in auto-pilot, the car abruptly braked when a semi-truck passed in the opposite lane. This sudden deceleration could have lead to a rear-end collision but fortunately the driver behind had left enough breaking space. The same thing occurred again on the same road - also with a semi-truck in the opposing lane. This time, vigilant that the auto-pilot might be malfunctioning, the sudden breaking was quickly overcome by pressing the accelerator. There is no doubt on our end that the current version of the auto-pilot will trigger emergency braking mistakenly based on misinterpreting opposing traffic. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When in Autopilot mode, the car will sporadically brake without any obstacles in front of it. This has occurred to me about half a dozen times. Always on the highway. Initially it would happen in the daytime near overpasses or when entering shade from a sunny area. Twice it occurred to me at night, on a well lit interstate in an urban area. This is often referred to as Phantom Breaking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The Tesla model 3 has unexpectedly braked very hard with no traffic ahead of my vehicle. So fast and hard that seat belts had to restrain passengers. This has happened several times while the Autopilot is engaged. This usually is on a 2 lane road and there is traffic on the opposite side of the road. I have noticed if a semi-tractor trailer is approaching on the opposite side it happens 100 % of the time. The auto also steers hard to the right. This is very scary and a vehicles behind the Tesla have no warning either. I have almost been hit twice from behind. Makes a lot of angry drivers behind me. I have not used the feature in a month. I called Tesla and they said this was NORMAL. It never happened until a recent software update and then it started doing this all the time. Please help | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on the highway without any cars in front of ours, three times the vehicle slammed on the emergency braking system and attempted to stop the car causing cars behind us to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting ours. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |