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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla vehicles autopilot. I know you already have a situation with Tesla over the basic Autopilot. My safety report is about red lights and stop signs. Tesla reserves this feature for their FSD package. While basic and enhanced AP cannot identify red lights or stop signs. For the basic AP, I suggest that Tesla be required to include red light and stop sign identification in their basic autopilot system. While geo-locking AP is a current temporary solution, it is not the correct solution IMO. The correct solution I believe is to force Tesla to include red light and stop sign identifying in the basic and enhanced AP software. In addition to including red light and stop sign identification in their forward emergency braking safety system. Imagine how many intersection related collisions can be prevented if you make the vehicle capable of stopping. Especially when the driver could be having a medical emergency and cannot stop their car. Two ways. Option 1: Vehicle stops at red light for the driver, everyone is safe. Option 2: vehicle runs the red light, not using autopilot, vehicle T bones someone in the intersection. I highly suggest a pro-active approach that promotes a safe environment on the road rather than a punishing approach that promotes human drivers to continue as they are. After 40,000 miles of Autopilot, I can confirm that it’s a better driver overall than any human. Humans will eventually make mistakes, software will do the same thing repeatedly. The only reason software makes a mistake is because it wasn’t designed to be used in an application, so basically it’s still human error. I suggest to require the software to take over in more ways to prevent human error from happening more often. The less humans need to do, the less chance you have of collisions. Summary: Basic AP should have red light and stop sign ID to stop. And forward collision stopping should also have red lights and stop sign identification. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES | If you are on a hill and if the Tesla detects both pedals are pressed. The car will drop into neutral on its own and free roll. The Tesla “one pedal stop and hold” will fail to maintain a stop and hold state if it detects both pedals are pressed. I was on an uphill driveway and I accidentally bumped my brake pedal when I went to press my accelerator pedal. (Big feet). My car free rolled backwards until I let off the accelerator and hit the brake. Luckily nobody was behind me. I moved a good 8 feet backwards during the situation. I tested this on my own in my slanted driveway at home and this problem can be easily reproduced. It happens when the car thinks both pedals are pressed and the brake isn’t fully pressed, it causes the electric motor to disengage causing the vehicle to free roll in neutral, and if “one pedal stop and hold is enabled”, it causes the brake to let go and the vehicle no longer stays stopped. This free rolling downhill. Case 1: stop and hold, in reverse or drive. Both pedals detected pressed, vehicle switches to neutral and free rolls downhill. Case 2: vehicle moving slowly uphill Via accelerator pedal pressed, but the brake is detected as pressed. And the the vehicle falls into neutral and starts free rolling downhill. The safety risk is when the vehicle free rolls downhill when both pedals are detected pressed. The safety risk can happen when the driver accidentally lightly presses both pedals. Or if there is an electrical fault where the vehicle may think both pedals are pressed. Vehicle risks free rolling downhill into other vehicles, buildings, or people Before the driver can realize what has happened and hits the brakes. A software patch will need to be implemented to correct this fault condition. It should be changed to the following: Case 1: if vehicle is in stop and hold mode, the vehicle should remain in stop and hold mode. Case 2: if vehicle is moving. The vehicle should engage stop and hold mode and stop. Thanks. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | For several months now, my Tesla Model 3 has exhibited a persistent issue with the turn signal blinkers. The turn signals operate visually as intended but fail to produce an audible clicking sound. Despite being advised by Tesla support that this issue is slated for resolution in a future software update, the problem persists, causing concern over the safety implications associated with the lack of auditory indicator. The absence of the audible turn signal notification may compromise overall road safety, especially for individuals who rely on both visual and auditory cues while driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This happens at 2 particular exits on a 65mph highway. One time the car slows down by 10mph and the other spot it will swerve over almost to the lane next to me and slow down. Just dangerous when someone is tailgating me (thats reality of driving these days) as they will not have time to react and more than likely hit me. It happened once and someone behind me started honking and flashing their lights at me. I have done a bug report for the times it "phantom braked" | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Please help Phantom braking is getting worse | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SEAT BELTS | The rear middle seatbelt in my Telsa Model 3 is stuck. Somehow it got stuck behind the middle seat after the seat was put down to put long items in the trunk. Tesla mobile service sent a tech to my house but he alleged intentional misuse - as if me or my family intentionally were playing with a seatbelt and wrapping it around a seat. Furthermore, even if we were to assume intentional misuse was correct I have 2 questions: 1 - why is the top of the seat belt (where the seat belt comes out of the seat) unable to be pulled to create any slack? 2 - why does Telsa need to replace a part if the seatbelt, or seatbelt mechanisms, are not defective? After searching online this seems to be a somewhat common problem with Tesla - especially the Model 3, at least as early as 2021 - both on reddit and Tesla Motor Club forum - this seems to be a recurring problem. How does one know it cannot get stuck while driving or while someone is buckled in and cannot be released or have any slack? This is a major safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STEERING,POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | This car has demonstrated repeated incidents of moving/driving backwards when it is set in Drive/Forward via the steering wheel control. This was first reported to Tesla in December of 22. Their service center responded that they could not identify a cause or propose a repair. They commented that it was an engineering and/or software problem. I provided them with multiple date/time stamps. videos of the car performing this way. In the interim the car has demonstrated ghost braking at high speed on an empty freeway. A complaint regarding this concern was provided to NTSA and I have not had a response. The car has subsequently repeatedly moved backward when in Drive. I also have videos of these occurrences. I returned the car to the service center for these behaviors and was told that there was nothing that could be done. The service center said that I "canceled" my request for servicing, and noted that in the Tesla service files. I did not cancel my appointment. They refused to examine and service the car. We recently experienced the car steering wheel locking and inableing the wheel to be turned right, during a 3 point parking exit. I took the car in and was told that the problem was a "firmware" update problem. The problem of driving in reverse when the car is placed in Drive has repeated itself in the past 3 weeks, and I again have videos of this occurrence. This in particular is a dangerous action as it can result in a collision or injury to persons. It is a servo-motor and control problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | It was a raining day. When I turned 90 degree to my right into the parking lot from local road, I hit the brake and the car slowed down for turning. FSD or autopilot were off for sure. Then I felt the car was moving down suddenly and made a big noise due to the a slightly slope down when I turned. I saw a parking slot right in front of me. I hit the accelerator a fraction of second to prevent the car to stop. In a fraction of second, the car accelerated like crazy. I immediately hit the brake very hard (95% of my force on brake). I have 30 years of driving experience. I knew that I hit the brake tightly, but the car still kept accelerate like crazy. I could forever remember the feel and moment of my foot was in the brake. Even after the accident, I went to test the Tesla car. I could feel the difference of brake and accelerator since the accelerator is much easier to push down and I needed to push much deeper in the right of my right foot for accelerator. And the brake is hard, and close to my foot. I thought the car would stop like what I had been driving this car for one year and about 20,000 miles. However, the car was stopping at all, but keeping accelerating for 2 seconds. No warning lights and AEB were on at working. The car hit the short of concrete wall and steel fence and then dropped and hit the tree in right front of me. Finally the car dropped into the short cliff. The airbags were off and warning lights were on. My son and me could use the manual door opener to go out. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES | on Nov 26, 2023. I parked the car in driveway. After sometime started car to go someplace. The car could not move front or back and gave metal rubbing sound. Called tesla road side and arrange a tow truck. Car was towed to tesla service center in Springfield, New Jersey. On Nov 27, Tesla informed me on app to pick the car. I picked the car back on Nov 28. 2023. Tesla service informed by that they could not replicate the issue of brake jamming. They did some tests and told me that car is fine and safe to drive. At the time of pickup the technician told be that it could be software issue. (instances of brake switch mismatch) Want to inform that this is brake jamming issue and can stop the car any where. No clear or satisfactory explanation given be Tesla. I continue to drive the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | My tesla stopped on me in the middle of the interstate because the car thought it was not charged. Tesla assured me that the vehicle was fixed. A few weeks later the car started telling me again that it thinks it is not charged. Tesla is not providing no solution on what the problem is. This vehicle is a major highway hazard because it can stop suddenly with no warning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving both during the day and at nighttime on the freeway with cruise control, the car abruptly brakes itself. No car was in front of me in any of these incidents. I have owned the car for a year and it has happened at least once a month. (I drive a lot for work.) The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and others' safety was put at risk because when traveling at high rates of speed on busy freeways with multiple lanes, it is easy for something like that to cause a multi-car accident. I live in a major metropolitan area and the freeways are up to 5 lanes across going one way. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by anyone. The vehicle or component has not been inspected. there were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. It first appeared within the first month of ownership. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,LANE DEPARTURE | Over several occasions, this Model 3 Tesla has engaged the brakes heavily while using the autopilot, lane-assist function. This has always happened while going highway speeds. The braking is very abrupt and without any apparent reason (nothing in the front or beside the car). I do not recall this occurring unless the autopilot function is enabled. I am able to disengage the system and take control, but it's an alarming and unsafe glitch in the software. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was traveling on Interstate 40 in Arizona in a 75 mph zone with my cruise control set at 77 mph. Suddenly and without warning the car’s emergency braking system activate despite nothing being in the roadway in front of me and no cars ahead at all. I had to take evasive measures to avoid being hit from behind by a semi truck. Approximately 10 seconds later I began receiving error messages for several systems including emergency braking, traction control, steering alignment, lane departure, stability control, cruise control, vehicle hold, and regenerative braking. In addition, other systems were not working, such as an alert tone for when traffic lights turn green would activate indicating the driver should go even if there was a car in front that has not moved. The car is currently at Tesla being evaluated, however I really don’t think these cars should be trusted. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | There has been several false forward coalition alarms each month so far with no reason when I’m even driving in an easy and not a crowd street or highway. The alarm is so loud that everybody in the car panics including me and it dangerously interrupts my driving. This has caused me suddenly hit the brake several times which also may cause panic the drivers around me or at my back and put the or us in danger. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | There was a forward collision warning I got with a parked car when going less than 20 mph when the road was curving. The car is defective and I shouldn’t have gotten a forward collision warning which causes distraction from the loud and sudden noise it emits. It also negatively impacts my Tesla insurance safety score which is a scam. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated there was wiring that was loosened from the ground unit. The camera was making an abnormal crackling sound when it was hot. The contact stated that the screen was pink or blank at times. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer six times, where it was diagnosed that the wiring was loosened. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 500 |
| Oct 2023 | POWER TRAIN,SERVICE BRAKES,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | While driving on 4 lane Pkwy at 45 mph then slowing down to move into left turning lane, my model 3 gave warning of "parking brake failure" and stopped working at the same time. This means it slowed down to a stop on its own. I was "manually driving" the vehicle when this occurred. Luckily for me I was able to be in a "slower" left turn lane and I knew where the emergency blinker button was located and turned them on. The vehicle didn't even go into coast mode to allow me to move over to side of road. It just decided to stop where it was at. After reading about Tesla's stopping on their own in traffic and people crashing into them I knew this is a serious problem. Weather was clear, my car and its cameras were clean. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | STEERING,WHEELS,SERVICE BRAKES | On October 20th, 2023 around 3:00 pm I was driving eastbound on the highway 69 in Michigan. A friend of mine was seated on the front passenger side (no more other passenger). Autopilot was not installed on the car and the driver had both hands on the steering wheel. I was driving on the most left lane at speed about 75 mph. At about Exit#131, Suddenly, I felt the steering wheel turned right a little by itself and the car slowly drifted to the right a little, then the steering wheel quickly turned to left by itself and the car quick turned to the left. I tried to control the steering wheel but couldn't. The car zig-zagged forward and hit the center guardrail at about 45 degree angle. The car was pushed away from the guardrail and stopped in the middle lane. After the crush, the left side of the car tilted to the ground. The left side airbag was deployed and my head hit on the airbag (not injured). The bottom of the drivers side was steaming. At this point I thought the car was going to explode or catch a fire since EV's are known for doing that. My friend and I exited the car immediately and we called the police. No other car was involved and no people get injured. The wheel axle on the front left side collapsed and the wheel fell down on the ground but the tire did not blow up. There were severe damages on the left side of the vehicle: the lamp, the mirror, doors and charging port. The accident report can be retrieved at www.flinttownshippolice.org, report # [XXX]. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | Tesla cars have a feature that when turn signals are used associated cameras also turn on and display image for blind spots of lane attempting to enter cameras have quite a delay in displaying image. When going in reverse cameras can also have a delay in displaying image there was a prior recall but issue still happens | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | STEERING | No problems prior to today. 22500 miles on vehicle. Delivered Nov 2021. Got in car to drive to work today, and power steering would not work. Error message on the car display stated there was a power steering failure. Put the car in park, waited about a minute, and tried again, and it worked. I see that there is a NHTSA investigation looking into this, so I wanted to let you know about it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | Phantom braking continues. This time the vehicle was traveling on an Interstate highway at 70mph, until the phantom braking occured, which caused the speed to drop immediately (within a few seconds) to less than 30mph. This safety problem was extremely prevalent when the car was within its first six months of use. It has improved, but has not gone away completely. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | On 10/9/23 and prior on 9/17/22 while driving the windshield wiper blades will activate while there is no rain or water on windshield It will go on for several minutes which impairs visibility through the front windshield making it difficult to drive | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have been forced to stop using cruise control on my Tesla Model 3. Over the past few years, the car will repeatedly slam on the brakes for no good reason when I am driving on the highway. I understand this behavior is known as "phantom braking." The car will suddenly and unexpectedly drop speed by 10-20 mph on the highway. I am so worried that someone will rear-end my vehicle that I cannot use cruise control anymore. For some unexplained reason, the Tesla Model 3 does not currently have a "dumb" cruise control that I could use instead. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | STEERING,LANE DEPARTURE | Louisiana 425 North. Inside lane. Yellow line remained solid on my left. There wer no striped lines for the car to follow to continue straight as we approached on Full self driving. At highway speed the car veered into the turn lane. I immediately took control and prevented encountering the embankment. Dangerous situation. Tesla did what it was supposed to do. Louisiana highway engineers not so much. I have never encountered this in any of the other six states I have driven in. Tesla FSD will always stay in the lane if there are striped lines for it to follow on the outside of the lane,eg, when passing exit ramps. Thanks | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Oct 2023 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | I was manually driving my Tesla Model 3 on the interstate when without warning the car stopped in the middle of the interstate. The entire car locked up and I was unable to turn the wheel or even get it back into gear. I even tried to put on the hazards but the car just completely died. When the vehicle stopped it was at 60% charge on the battery. I sat in panic thinking I was going to get rear ended by the highway traffic. I called for police to come out and cut off traffic. They also had a tow truck company come and tow the vehicle to a local Tesla service center. This was a very dangerous incident because the normally on the interstate vehicles travel at high speeds. I was fortunate that it was rush hour traffic so cars were moving slower than usual and the car behind me was not following closely on my bumper. Tesla indicated that the failure I experience is not normal and that it was just a matter of bad luck that my car stopped like this suddenly. According to them a controller stopped reading in the car so it just shut the car down, but they are not completely sure this was the main problem or if there is another system issue in the vehicle. As well they have not communicated what would cause the computer system to think a controller is missing. Tesla trespassed and delivered the vehicle to my property essentially experimenting with my safety and of others if they identified the issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |