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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle decelerated, and the brakes activated erroneously. The accelerator pedal was depressed, and the vehicle returned to normal driving operation. The contact stated that the failure recurred several times. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 8,000 |
| Dec 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Constant “phantom braking” when using autopilot on the freeway and other roads. When the pavement changes color, the car slams on the brakes in the middle of the freeway. When a truck is in the opposing lane, the car slams on the brakes. When a truck is merging into a lane to my right on the freeway, the car slams on the brakes. This is extremely unsafe and frightening. This software is garbage and worse than my 6 year old Subaru. Tesla needs to address this, and I hope they’re eventually forced to. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We continue to have issues with Tesla's autopilot feature. The Model 3 with autopilot activated or just with the adaptive cruise control activated, will "phantom" brake for zero reason. Today, 12/14/2021, it happened three times within 90 minutes. All three times there was no reason for the car to make emergency actions. Once I had a truck with a trailer behind me, forcing them to brake hard to avoid hitting the rear of the car. I submitted a service request to Tesla and this is what they told me: Incidents like the one you are describing where the vehicle slowdowns for apparently no reason are generally caused by a few reason such as: Map data inaccuracy, Speed limit data inaccuracies, the vehicle reacting to an upcoming event, GPS position inaccuracies, and predicative driving anomalies. In all of these situations the computer is trying to make the safest determination of what to do with the information that it being fed. To us as drivers, it would seem like a bad decision, but the computer uses our input following these events to get better at predicting how it should respond. Anytime you intervene with an autopilot behavior decision you are helping the system as whole get better. There are no faults with any of the hardware in the vehicle and at this time these behaviors are a limitation of software in the system. Our engineering team is working to improve auto pilot with every firmware update and we hope to see improvements in future updates. I'm sorry you feel that was Justin. Future firmware updates will improve functionality. You always have the options of not using your AutoPilot until they do. Thank you | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | On a daily basis while using the Adaptive Cruise Control or Tesla Autopilot, I will experience multiple erroneous automatic braking events. The car generally slams the brakes on when it is cresting a hill, attempting to pass a semi truck, or when sun angles produce large shadows in the road. The automatic braking events are sometimes very aggressive and can be extremely dangerous, especially if someone is following behind you in high speed traffic. My wife has requested that I don’t use cruise control or autopilot while she’s in the car, as we experienced an unwarranted, aggressive automatic braking episode which caused great pressure against her pregnant belly on a previous road trip. Additionally, the cameras on my vehicle will often produce warning/error messages stating “X camera is blocked or blinded” for absolutely no reason other than headlights from oncoming traffic shining into my lane. I am unsure if this contributes to the automatic braking issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield has highly visible internal reflections resulting in vertical ghosting in high contrast situations such as headlights brake lights and even on sunny days service center said it was within acceptable tolerance but it greatly diminishes the clarity of vision through the windshield. Haven't seen anything like it in the four other cars manufactured across two decades that I've driven regularly. Dangerous design or manufacturing defect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Front right headlight on a brand new car no longer functions, safety was put at risk by the fact that it is illegal to drive on 1 working light in the dark and rain; and this happened thankfully before leaving home on a dark morning so it was detectable and actionable. Problem was confirmed by remote diagnostic from dealer. No warnings or messages before failure which was confirmed by Tesla representative on the phone. They have not inspected the component and will not return calls / have not responded to service scheduling for 3 days. There is no service possible when they have a monopoly on their supply chain and will not schedule service. My car is unsafe to drive and is basically a lemon at this point until they fix it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My Tesla Model 3 is brand new and delivered in 2021, the vehicle has had no recalls or issues report by the manufacture and is running the latest software updates provided by Tesla, which as of this date is: 2021.36.8 I have driven the car since delivery a total of 5,596 miles, which includes a cross country road trip from CA to FL. During this trip I used "Autopilot" a feature which is touted as safe, however after my experience and reading and hearing other users reports I believe this is not the case. I had numerous cases of "phantom braking" which is where the vehicle believes there is an object that it will collide with and it slams the brakes on, usually dropping around ~20 MPH extremely rapidly. Many of these events occurred in lower light scenarios (night time) and almost all of them occurred when I had no vehicles in any direction for over half a mile, which means that there should have been no indicators flagging an emergency braking event. Here are some other reports, including a well known publisher CNET: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/reviews/2021-tesla-model-y-review/ The Model Y and 3 share a lot of common design and technical elements, including their lack of a forward radar system, which is think is likely why this issue is occurring for these vehicles and not for the Model S and X. Here is a full user report: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxvh60zBl70&t=1s I am writing this report in order to add myself to a growing list of Tesla customers that have not been listened to about this issue, it is a massive safety issue and should likely trigger a full investigation, this issue can easily be replicated with and 2020-2021 Model 3 and/or Y. And likely should trigger an immediate call for either a software patch, disabling of the feature, and/or recall of all affected vehicles, either to retrofit a radar system, or to fix the camera system. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving normally, with cruise control (not auto steering) engaged vehicle will spontaneously and dangerously apply emergency breaking. This happens regularly to the point I won’t use it. It’s going to cause accidents, especially when slippery conditions exist. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | ADAS systems detect oncoming traffic from the opposing lane on single lane roads and sounds forward collision alarm. If using adaptive cruise control or Autopilot, vehicle will rapidly decelerate. This poses a risk to the occupants and vehicles behind from unexpected changes in speed, which could cause a rear-end accident. The issue can be repeated in the scenario described above. Forward Collision Warning alarm goes off when it sees a oncoming vehicle far off in the distance. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle will randomly have phantom braking and braking events when using adaptive cruise control. It happens more often when a vehicle has recently passed and it 150+ feet in front of the vehicle. This poses a safety risk for vehicles behind as the car will randomly slow down. The adaptive function becomes unusable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla cars are having an issue with phantom breaking which is causing the car to slow down or even slam on the brakes for zero reason. Since I have zero control of how close someone follows me, this is a huge safety issue and makes me fear for my life every time it happens. I drove 60 miles today on two lane roads and this happened at least 6 times. Seems to happen more on two lane roads that aren't flat, but I've had it happen other times too. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My new Tesla 3 deployed automatic emergency braking seven (7) times in a 5 hour period. The Tesla Autopilot was turned off due to reports of phantom braking like this from many other drivers in a Tesla online forum. Regardless, the car slammed on the brakes when there were no obstructions or cars in front of me. I almost suffered a rear end collision during one of these phantom emergency braking events, where the car suddenly braked from 70MPH to less than 40MPH. The malfunctioning component is likely the Tesla software that works with the forward-facing cameras which are installed as part of the Full Self Driving feature. While I did not pay the $10,000 for FSD, this system still operates for automated braking and lane departure. I have requested Tesla inspect the car, which has 482 miles on it, but am filing with you anyway due to the similarity between this experience today and the dozens of other complaints I have read about on the Tesla Owners forum called TOO. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Terrible phantom braking. On a road trip, flat straight open roads, little to no traffic in front of me, and consistent full on hard braking from 75mph down to 35mph in a split second. Multiple times and so consistent I had to stop using the cruise control completely. This never happened like this in my day to day city driving. But as is, the cruise control is nerve wracking and dangerous. Thankfully no cars behind me because it could very easily cause a serious and deadly accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Recurrent, frequent, and unpredictable sudden braking while vehicle is being driven in TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control). These event, or "phantom brakes", occur when there is no visible obstruction ahead of the car (i.e. crossing vehicle or object), nor any environmental explanation (sun glare, heavy rain, etc.). Events occur in all conditions, including daytime, clear sky, with or without traffic. Frequently the collision warning will sound during these events. Given the episodes occur during highway driving, the unexpected hard braking is a set-up for being rear ended by cars behind me. These events are most common on 2 lane divided highways, and can occur as frequently as every 2-5 minutes. Brought in for evaluation at Tesla service center, and they refused to acknowledge any problem, stating the car is "operating as designed." This was based on the fact that they did not reproduce symptoms on their test drive. Although I had logged >20 of these events for them to review on the automated records, it was not clear this was done. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | On a recent trip, we started experiencing extreme issues with our car's cruise control and autopilot features. Specifically, when in cruise control or auto pilot, the car would randomly disengage the cruise control or auto pilot and start braking. Taking the car out of cruise control or auto pilot, restarting the car, etc did not fix the problem. We noticed the problem was much worse at night and when we were traveling on a two lane highway. We would be in cruise control/auto pilot and often when another vehicle would approach us from the opposite direction the vehicle would suddenly brake. While this happened more often at night, it continued to happen at any point during the day and when we were on many different roads/interstates. This seems extremely unsafe to have our vehicle hard braking randomly when we are traveling at high speeds (60mph+). We scheduled a service appointment with Tesla and were told that this is a software issue and we would have to wait for an update. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Whenever TACC (cruise control) is engaged and the car is on a two lane highway with no divider, it will aggressively brake and trigger the collision warning system when a semi-truck passes going the opposite direction. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using autopilot feature on interstate highway the vehicle independently applied braking while traveling at 70 mph although no other vehicle nor any other physical object was observed. Also while using the same feature and traveling on a two lane highway at 55 mph the car independently applied braking when an large truck approached in the opposite on-coming lane. This exact event happened a second time when another large truck while traveling the same two lane highway. Autopilot was no longer used. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The “traffic aware cruise control” feature is flawed to the point of being unusable add dangerous. My Model 3 (leased in late September 2021) exhibits very frequent “phantom braking” problems when TACC is active. Some are mild, the car applying the brakes and slowing down despite the absence of nearby cars or hazards. Some are dramatic, the car slamming on its brakes and sounding an alarm — again, with no hazards. I have a service appointment scheduled for Dec 3 but I’m not optimistic. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | For the past week, my car phantom braked with no obvious danger from a parked car. It just happens on a city road, not a freeway. Ithappened about 4 times | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | TRAFFIC AWARE CRUISE CONTROL WHILE CRUISE CONTROL IS OPERATING, DRIVING AT 70 MPH OR HIGHER, FOR NO APPARENT REASON, NO VEHICLES AHEAD OF ME, THE CAR BRAKES SUDDENLY. THIS HAPPENED AT LEAST SIX TIMES ON A 1000 MILE TRIP. IF A CAR HAD BEEN FOLLOWING TOO CLOSELY, MY SUDDEN BRAKING COULD HAVE CAUSED AN ACCIDENT. I HAVE NOT FIGURED OUT HOW TO CONTACT TESLA ABOUT THIS. NO ONE HAS INSPECTED MY CAR. THERE WERE NO WARNING SIGNS. AFTER I GOT HOME, I GOOGLED THE PROBLEM AND SAW THAT OTHERS HAD EXPERIENCED IT TOO. I'M WRITING IN THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL TELL TESLA TO FIX THE PROBLEM, OR AT LEAST TO OFFER THEIR CUSTOMERS PLAIN CRUISE CONTROL WITHOUT THE TRAFFIC AWARE FEATURE. THIS HAPPENED EVERY TIME I WAS ON THE INTERSTATE FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE HOURS, MOST RECENTLY ON OCTOBER 31, 2021. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Traffic Aware Cruise Control in the 2021 Model 3 is down right dangerous. Constant random braking for no reason at all. Happens multiple times if I use TACC on 2 lane roads. Happens nearly every time I use TACC on a 4 lane road. If I have traffic behind me I cannot use TACC at all for fear I would be rear ended. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | "Traffic Aware Cruise Control" (aka Autopilot) applied full braking and sounded collision warning when no collision was imminent. Had traffic been following closely, a rear-end collision could have occurred. Several other similar "ghost braking" incidents have occurred but this was the worst and most dangerous. Vehicle has not yet been taken to a repair facility. Vehicle has not needed inspection by law enforcement nor insurance company. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on C-470 westbound going 70 MPH with the car on Autopilot, the car braked hard dropping the speed to 40 MPH. If a car would have been behind me, they would have hit the back of my car. This issue is happening frequently, from neighborhood side streets, city streets, and on the interstate highway. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Starting in June 2021, Tesla removed the radar sensing on their vehicles and switched to a vision-only (camera) system for adaptive cruise control and "auto pilot" operation. On my 2021 Model 3 Performance, I can not use either system without constant "phantom braking" events. Sometimes it will only gently pulse the brake pedal, but often it is very hard braking along with a beep and message on-screen saying I need to take immediate control of the car. This happens daily and is not hard to reproduce. If there is a car behind you, it can be quite dangerous. Even if they don't rear end you, often it will cause them to think you're doing a "brake check" and can lead to road rage incidents. My previous car (a 2018 Model 3 RWD) had a radar sensor and experienced mild (not hard) phantom braking roughly 2~3 times over an 18 month period. I still have access to that car and recently tested it for comparison. Even on the same software revisions, the old car drove flawlessly on ACC and Autopilot modes. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have been experiencing very frequent adaptive cruise control breaking for no reason. It is getting worse with every software update. It seems like the car is very scared of oncoming traffic and will hit the breaks or slow down for no reason. Sometimes there will be no traffic at all and it happens. If a car is following closely I’m afraid I will be hit. I wish I could turn off adaptive cruise control but there is no option. This is a serious safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |