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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The heating system gave out on my 2022 TESLA Model 3 on the coldest day we've had here so far. -5F - Gave an error code on the screen VCFRONT_a447 - with message - Cabin climate control system requires service cabin heating / cooling limited or unavailable. - The problem has occurred to many people who have complained online in the facebook owners groups that I am a member of. Surprisingly the system is working again after it had some time to thaw out. It appears to be a design flaw with this heat pump system which should include a recall of sorts so that TESLA can retrofit some sort of heating or thawing element onto the valves that are icing over and preventing the HVAC system from working properly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | As widely reported by Tesla owners, I have also experienced issues with the TACC - traffic aware cruise control - feature of this vehicle. I have owned it for almost 2 weeks and in that time on both highways and city streets the 'cruise control' feature has initiated braking for no reason. The system is supposed to be 'traffic' aware however in these instances there was no vehicle in front of me in any position to cause a braking event. This type of erratic behavior could easily cause an accident (being rear ended). This is happening when the 'autopilot' feature is not engaged, but rather just using the only available cruise control feature the vehicle provides: TACC. It seems as though the software is interpreting shadows, changes in painted line/lane markings, or other environmental stimuli as 'traffic' and reacting, but that's just a guess. All I know is that it is very annoying at a minimum and potentially quite dangerous! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Traffic-aware cruise control unexpectedly decelerated and/or activated collision warnings and automatic braking approximately 20 times during a 300 mile, 5 hour drive. All incidents occurred on undivided highways and state roads. This unexpected braking reduces speed by 10 to 30 miles per hour on 60 mile per hour roads. This braking issue greatly increases risk of accident, specifically if another vehicle was following too closely. Braking events occur sporadically, usually attributed to large vehicles driving well within the opposite lane. Some events happened for no reason. Occurrence of unexpected braking is higher at night. This vehicle has been inspected by Tesla in the past due to this same issue and the cruise control and autopilot system was confirmed by technicians to by working properly. The ability to disable adaptive cruise control to standard “dumb” cruise control may solve this issue. This issue instills no confidence in Tesla’s so-called “full self-driving computer” and has me avoiding using these features for my safety, as well as other drivers’ safety. This vehicle is available for inspection upon request. Dashcam video is available on request. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The cruise control and 'autopilot' features will panic brake when oncoming traffic passes car. It is more common on two lane highways. There are no overrides and the issue occurs in all modes of cruise control. Through research on forums, this is an issue with all Tesla vehicles model year 2017+ The car brakes hard, enough to lock passenger seatbelts. Sudden hard braking with no reason can cause a rear end collision or loss of traction in inclement weather. I have notified the manufacturer of the issue, their suggestion is to recalibrate the cameras and reset the on board computer. Neither has solved the issue No warning lamps, no symptoms. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on a two lane road with no other cars in front of or behind me the car would randomly brake at different levels and in the most recent incidence slammed on the brakes. This issue is noted by many other drives online as Phantom Braking and Tesla will not repair it as they claim it is a software related issue but not deemed as dangerous or a real issue to be concerned with. Tesla will not service the vehicle and closed my tickets without further response. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | VERY AGGRESSIVE phantom braking on two lane highways and at night with oncoming headlights. Car will reduce speed by 30mph or more in seconds. This is a new car, a month old. Tesla says cruise is part of autopilot, but we turn autopilot off and just use cruise and it still does it very often. It is extremely unsafe. The internet is full of similar complaints. We need NHSTB to pressure Tesla to fix this. It is a major safety hazard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Three incidents within 5 minutes of what Tesla owners call "phantom braking" whenever the car has cruise control on. For no predictable reason and no warning the car brakes suddenly and forcefully - could be shadows, reflected lights, oncoming traffic, who knows. It is a scary phenomenon and caused me to get in very dangerous situations - almost got rear ended at 60 mph. This is after owning the car for only 10 days. Called Tesla and they had no answer except to say that the car "will learn." | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Using the cruise control frequently results in the autopilot system abruptly applying the brakes, risking a rear-end collision. This happens even when no car is in the lane in front of me. The cruise control is integrated with the autopilot system, which apparently is mistaking oncoming traffic with a car in my lane. The cruise control is integrated with autopilot and its traffic-awareness feature. The cruise control cannot be disconnected from autopilot, and the following distance feature cannot be turned off as with other makes of cars. I reported the issue to Tesla service and was told other drivers have reported the issue, yet the issue has not been brought to the attention of all Model 3 owners. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car brakes randomly when using traffic aware cruise control. Dozens of events every hour of driving, some of which caused the car to brake to the point of losing traction. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When on adaptive cruise control, random and sometimes severe automatic braking incidents occur when no obstacles exist in front of the car. It is as if the car is getting confused as towards what is ahead, and frequently applies the brakes as if it was going to crash into something. This is always unexpected, and requires driver intervention to correct/override. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | **Im well aware that Tesla's AutoPilot system is not autonomous** There is no 'dumb' cruise control option on Tesla Vehicles, only Traffic-aware-cruise-control (TACC). TACC is unusable, and quite frankly dangerous, on any single-lane divided road. Anytime a large vehicle, such as a semi or box truck, passes by in the opposite lane, my car abruptly and aggressively brakes while TACC is engaged. This poses a danger to myself and others behind me. Im filing this complaint in hopes that it will coerce Tesla to address this issue faster. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on freeway at 75mph the car for unknown reasons applied braking and steering and brought the car down to 45mph before I could disengage the autopilot function. This has happened multiple times with just cruise control and both cruise control/steering. All instances happened for unknown reasons, sometimes on a 2 lane highway or multiple lane freeway with nobody around except behind me. I had a very difficult time controlling the car when this happens and the vehicle behind me had to slam on their brakes and swerve around me. This is a very scary and extremely dangerous issue. Issue has been reported to Tesla and awaiting fix. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On at least five occasions since purchasing this car new on 12/07/21, the car, while on Autopilot (non-FSD), has suddenly and unexpectedly braked on clear roads. On each occasion, there were no vehicles in front of me nor any objects visible on or near the roadway. On two occasions, a car following me nearly collided with my car. All the incidents occurred AFTER camera calibration was completed. The car has 143 miles at this writing. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using TACC on a 2 lane road the system mistook a vehicle approaching in the opposing lane as a threat and braked hard. This could have easily caused a collision had someone been following closely. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle would independently brake with the Forward Collision Avoidance warning chime being audible. The contact stated that the failure would occur when oncoming large vehicles or as another vehicle in the opposite lane would drive past the vehicle. The contact called a service center where an appointment was made; however, the contact received an email that informed him that the appointment was cancelled. The contact was informed that an internal diagnostic was performed and that no defect was discovered. He was informed that over time the vehicle would adapt and improve its performance over time. The contact stated that the failure had persisted, and no improvement had been made. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 16. When travelling at 62mph with cruise control engaged, if a semi is oncoming in the other lane, the car will brake suddenly and slow by 30 plus mph in seconds. | Crash: No Fire: No | 16 |
| Dec 2021 | LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Forward collision avoidance system triggered 4 separate times in a 70 minute/60 mile drive on a stretch of highway and rural roads. The highway consists of 40 miles of divided and undivided highway, with up to 2 lanes per side. Occasionally, the undivided section has center turning lanes. Junctions and turnoffs are common. 3 incidents of forward collision detection automatic braking were triggered by semi trucks in the oncoming lanes on 1 lane per side undivided highway. The vehicle automatically applied the brakes, taking the vehicle from roughly 60mph to 30mph quickly during each instance. The trucks were not particularly close, nor were they appearing to leave their lane into mine. The 4th automatic braking incident occurred seemingly randomly on a rural, undivided 1 lane per side state road. All of these had the potential to cause an accident if I were being closely followed. All incidents occurred using the Autopilot cruise control feature. The auto steer lane keeping feature was activated for at least 1 of the 1st 3 events, but I do not recall which. In all of these instances, the vehicle did not perform any other evasive maneuvers. The 1st, 2nd, and 4th incidents were completely unexpected. The 3rd occurred during a particularly narrow, curvy section of undivided highway, which we were actively anticipating. Due to a configuration issue, the onboard dashcam was not functioning during these events and no video of these events was recorded. This vehicle is expected to go into the service center late December for this and other trim quality issues. Customer service indicated interest in these events and advised me to file bug reports when these occur. For issues with lane keeping, the autopilot auto steer feature regularly under-steered during most curves (narrow canyon driving) and often strayed closer to the lanes to the left of me than I would under my control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |