Complaint volume
741 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
2022 Tesla Model 3 Complaints
741 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2022 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
741 Total complaints
51 Crash reports
3 Fire reports
26 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, vehicle speed control,forward collision avoidance, service brakes,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 51 crash reports, 3 fire reports, 26 injury reports, and 1 fatality report. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 55 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 13,827 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, vehicle speed control,forward collision avoidance, service brakes,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 2022 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.
2022 Tesla Model 3
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2022 Tesla Model 3 complaints?
51 Crash
3 Fire
26 Injury
1 Fatality
32 Towed
21 Medical attention
What are the most common 2022 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 261
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 75
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 72
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 48
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 34
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 14
UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 14
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 14
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 12
SERVICE BRAKES 11
741 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While traveling on a two lane highway while using Traffic Assist Cruise Control I have had several collision alarms and emergency braking situations that were severe enough to cause my unprepared wife to say that she could have gotten whiplash. Luckily there was no one following us closely enough to cause a rear end collision. I have notified Tesla and they said that since it is actually in beta that the system is working properly. With the software capabilities that Tesla has I feel that they should provide a workable basic cruise control that can be used. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle applies 100% braking sporadically when traveling at highway speeds on cruise control, causing loss of control and risk to vehicles behind it. It seems that the vehicle’s forward sensors mistakenly interpret an imminent collision and apply full braking force, without any potential collision risk present. This happens in all scenarios, single to multiple lane highways, dense traffic to no traffic. This is commonly referred to as “phantom braking”. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | Phantom braking is real. The car slams on brakes randomly while in cruise control. So much so that I will not use cruise control when another car is behind me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Autopilot and Traffic Aware Cruise Control systems are basically unusable on two lane highways. Almost every vehicle that passes on the opposite side of the road triggers an alarm, disengages Autopilot/TACC, and results in an abrupt, jarring deceleration. This occurred 10 times in a 160 mile trip, but would have happened many more times if I had not given up trying to use either system. Holding my foot on the accelerator for such a long drive was inconvenient, and the repeated sudden slow downs resulted in a strained, tired neck. It seems unethical for a $60,000 vehicle to lack basic cruise control capabilities. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On multiple occasions, my car has slammed on the brakes while using adaptive cruise control when nothing is in front of my car. It’s concerning because drivers behind me have almost rear-ended me and have gotten road rage at me because they think that I am brake checking them. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car brakes SEVERELY on two lane highways when passing another car. Mainly occurs when passing semi trucks. It is going to get someone rear ended if this is not fixed. The cruise control is not usable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When driving with cruise control on the car will suddenly apply brakes if it detects a car coming at me from the opposite lane. This is a safety hazard as the cars behind me would have no idea I would be stopping and poses a serious rear end threat. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Every once in a while (once per 100-200 miles) I experience "phantom braking" when using Adaptive Cruise Control with Autosteering (not sure if Autosteering matters – I always use ACC with Autosteering together, so hard to tell). That is when ACC decides to quickly reduce speed significantly for no apparent reason (no cars or other obstacles in front). It could be dangerous as it could lead the car behind me to crash into me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The vehicle is having a very serious problem with phantom braking whenever the cruise control is engaged. The problem occurs randomly regardless of road conditions or traffic conditions. While driving at any speed with cruise control engaged the car with randomly brake hard and sound an alert. The road has always been clear of obstructions and debris. It will also engage braking abruptly when a large truck or bus is coming towards me in the opposite lane on a two lane road. At first I thought it was an anomaly. But now after 3400 miles of ownership I fear for my safety while driving because of the conduction. To the point that I have stopped using the cruise control and auto pilot because of the issue. Considering that autopilot was one of the main reasons for me to purchase the vehicle, it seems like I have been missled and sold a vehicle that is unsafe for public roads. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Sunday, January 2nd, on the way back from Vegas back to Sacramento, on the highway with Lane assist driving, the car suddenly braked going from 70+ miles to almost a complete halt. I was able to steer it into the oncoming lane to avoid the pick up truck from hitting us from behind. The braking system again slowed the car down significantly a few more times on this trip and wee have not used this feature since. Car was bought on December 26th and we are fairly new owners of a Tesla. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When i drive on highway, it out blue slam brake several time i am not sure what trigger it. it was out blue from 70 mph to 50-60mph. i don't see anything around car to trigger phantom braking or brake. also on one lane highway, when semi truck or some car/trucks pass by me it slam really hard few time from 60 mph to 30 mph instant, some car almost hit my rear because of instant slam brake. I had to brake quick to undo it. it happen on cruise control only, also happen during auto pilot. the road was fine, other vechile wasn't going toward me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My vehicle brakes suddenly when auto pilot is actuated for no reason. Often times, this is a very abrupt brake. This happens many times every time driven | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On a recent road trip while driving on highway 70 in CO and UT at speeds of around 70mph with Autopilot or Cruise Control engaged, the car phantom braked multiple times in response to nonexistent hazards on the road. Fortunately there were no cars nearby in both instances, as I am positive we would have gotten rear-ended in both situations (the car braked to around 40mph). These were both really scary scenarios and undermined my trust in those systems in the car, I have been hesitant to use them since | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking, almost caused a car to rear end me. This was on a straight two lane road a tractor trailer was coming the other way. This has also happened on a right hand curve with smaller auto where the software thinks I'm going to run into the car even though I'm turning right into the curve. Very dangerous. Same thing happens with the forward collision warning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The autopilot feature which keeps the car in it's lane and speeds up or brakes the vehicle based on its surroundings is not functioning properly. It slams on the brakes whenever a semi-truck or large vehicle is driving in the opposite lane on a two-lane road. Especially if there is a bend in the road. It thinks that a forward collision is going to take place. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When the ADAS is active, during normal driving on a two-lane highway, where there is never any question of an obstruction in front of the car, the car unexpectedly and violently brakes; often the collision warning alarm sounds. This usually happens when the car meets traffic in the oncoming lane, but sometimes there's nothing else at all on the road. This is a new car (since January) and it has happened ever since I first used the ADAS. For example, last night, on a trip of about 50 miles it happened at least thirty times, nearly every time I met an oncoming vehicle of any size. Service personnel tell me this is normal behavior and they cannot do anything about it! The system is supposed to have switches to turn off the collision warming and braking so that it can be used as a normal cruise control, but setting the switches to off has no effect. This behavior is not only extremely annoying but also distracting for the driver and potentially hazardous when an inattentive driver is following closely. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on an undivided highway at night using either traffic aware cruise control or autosteer, about every minute the car would aggressively decelerate up to 15mph. Every time a car would pass in the other direction, the deceleration would be abrupt and would slow to ~10mph below the speed limit. This occurred at least 3 times within a ~7 minute window. The road was straight, unlit, with a 50mph speed limit, and was sufficiently wide to safely pass oncoming cars. Random deceleration with no oncoming cars would be less severe but frequent. I contacted Tesla about this and they confirmed these occurrences but stated it was in response to a curve in the road or a vehicle being detected. They claimed the system performed appropriately. Despite being alert, these decelerations are startling in the absence of visible explanation to the driver. If I was being tailgated, a rear end collision would have been highly probable. I owned a 2018 Tesla Model 3 and have driven the same road at night and never experienced this. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car on a day basis exhibits random braking incidents when utilizing traffic aware cruise control (TACC). These have happened since the car was new (now has over 2,500mi) and can range from mild to severe. All of them happen without an obstacle ahead. Some times it seems the vehicle reacts to shadows from trees or larger structures, other times there's no obvious reason behind the reaction. The braking happens both on interstate highways as well as county two and four lane roads, and isn't related to elevation change or curves (happens straight and level). Several of these instances have been close to causing accidents due to traffic behind me getting caught off guard, which is usually followed by some sort of road-rage-like reaction. I no longer use the system when there's any traffic behind me due to the fear of getting rear-ended. I have recalibrated the cameras 3 times to no avail. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on two lane road with oncoming semi truck traffic causes adaptive cruise control to abruptly apply brakes. As this has happened numerous times, I called Tesla who advised me to not use adaptive cruise control. I do most of my driving on two lane roads over long distances to shop or see a doctor, etc. Not having ANY cruise control is better than causing an accident, but why cant Tesla program a simple non-adaptive cruise control? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On 1/24/22: 9:11 am eastbound Redden Road east of Bridgeville, DE. This is flat terrain with mostly open fields on east side of the road. On a straight Regular 2 lane road, center yellow strips and white edging. West bound truck triggered braking and swerve to left. 9:14 Another truck and same circumstances further east and same result. Turned off steering assist and cruise control. 10:42 westbound on Redden Road roughly same area. Truck eastbound. Slight braking 150 yards in front of me then brakes slammed on while passing each other. Braking reduced speed by 10 mph or more and swerve to right. Hard braking and a swerve to the right for no reason. Anyone behind me would have hit me. Basically I have to make sure road behind me is completely clear before turning cruise control or auto steer on! Anyone within 5 car lengths would hit me. Not safe. Can they remotely download these events from the car? TESLA VIRTUAL DIAGNOSTICS Reviewed the logs and confirmed the phantom braking and confirmed it was due to not having a forward facing radar. System overly sensitive to err on the side of caution. They hope to fix it eventually via software updates. In my opinion, it isn't safe and should be de activated and money refunded. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking in city and highway with no obstacle in vehicle path. Sudden and strong emergency braking enough to cause a rear end collision if being followed. Very scarry in one 700 mile road trip we had 11 such occurrences . Thank you for your help. Mike | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Dangerous or phantom braking of vehicle on two lane road at highway speed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Last night I plugged in the car (2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range) as I normally do and, via the Tesla app, scheduled the car cabin to be heated and the battery to be pre-conditioned by a specified time. When I entered the car at that time, the cabin had not heated up - the message on the display screen stated that the cabin heater was not functioning properly and that I should seek service. The temperature here in northern Wisconsin at the time of this incident was -13 F. Since I had planned to take a long trip across Michigan's Upper Peninsula this morning where there are few charging opportunities, and since I cannot assume that the battery pre-conditioned (which extends the range of the vehicle), if I had not aborted my trip I feel I could have been in a life-threatening situation due to extreme cold. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I took delivery of my Tesla Model 3 in mid December and have have driven approximately 2,000 miles, almost all highway commute miles. I have had horrible experiences with the Autopilot cruise control slamming on the brakes for no apparent reason. Nothing in front of the vehicle, sometimes nothing around the vehicle at all. Behavior is sometimes a quick deceleration of 10 mph or so; however, in some cases FULL brake is applied, coupled with an audible collision warming. Again, these things are happening with NOTHING present in front of my vehicle, and sometimes with nothing around me at all. During my daily commutes, I experience, on average, 5 to 10 instances of this unsafe slowing/stopping procedure. In one instance, the vehicle decelerated from 64mph down to 37mph, for no reason, with a line of other vehicles following me. We narrowly avoided a multi-vehicle collision, caused by a completely unnecessary braking application. Needless to say, as the line of cars passed me, each of the other drivers were very unhappy with me, probably assuming I had “brake checked” them, considering there was no one in front of me and no reason to quickly decelerate from 64mph to 37mph. Had they been following closer or not paying attention we surely would have all be involved in a collision. I reported the issue to Tesla and was told “the vehicle detected a ghost object…This is currently a normal characteristic of autopilot…” There is no other “normal” cruise control feature on the vehicle, it’s either use Autopilot and risk being involved in a collision, or drive the vehicle myself (which defeats the purpose of purchasing the vehicle for commute reasons). Very unhappy that Tesla did not offer to even look into my issue, considering it’s not an occasional problem, it occurs several times per commute trip, | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | @ 1:36pm, while driving on US State Route 50, in IL, I had adaptative cruise control engaged, but autosteer unengaged. While a semi-truck was passing in the opposite incoming lane, the forward collision warning system falsely activated with warning chimes, and applied full braking. There is another vehicle that was following me, which had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid an accident. This was reported to Tesla Motors for which they responded that the vehicle log shows no hardware errors, and a software bug report need to be created when this happens. This happens daily, more than six to eight times a day, and is very dangerous. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |