Complaint volume
402 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
2023 Tesla Model 3 Complaints
402 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2023 Tesla Model 3, grouped by component category.
402 Total complaints
66 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
33 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, steering, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 66 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 33 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 39 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 14,505 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, steering, unknown or other?
- 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 2023 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.
2023 Tesla Model 3
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2023 Tesla Model 3 complaints?
66 Crash
0 Fire
33 Injury
0 Fatality
53 Towed
25 Medical attention
What are the most common 2023 Tesla Model 3 complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 74
STEERING 49
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 27
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 20
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 20
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 14
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 11
STRUCTURE 9
VISIBILITY/WIPER 9
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 8
402 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | While crossing the rump and side walk to garage the car, as usual slowly proceed to enter the Garage but immediately the car went into extremely fast speed by itself and hit the side of the Garage, damaged the Garage wall, The garage opener, the cabinet, then hit the water softener and our other car in the front. It also smashed the bike against the wall , damaged the side wall cause a bulge to outside of the structure. The garage frame and right side of the Garage door fell on top of the car almost killed our daughter who was at the front passenger seat. The car brake did not stop the car, the alarm did not go off, the air bags did no inflate. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| May 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking. Traveling highway 5 Southbound between Red Bluff, CA and WIliams, CA at 70 mph, the vehicle suddenly and firmly applied brakes as if attempting to avoid a collision with an obstacle closely ahead. The braking force was enough to activate the seatbelt restraint. There was no traffic for at least a 1/4 mile ahead and behind and no obstacle. I managed to flip the ACC lever up to disable it during the braking but felt that I was losing control of the vehicle. After ACC was disabled normal operation ensued. Speculation: The incident occurred mid-May and the area is agricultural and therefore teeming with bugs that collect on the front of the car. The forward camera may have been hit by a bug and the visual recognition system may have mistaken the bug for a large obstacle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla 3 2023 is making hard breaks on auto pilot even though there is no objects. It’s happened over 30 times in last 7 days. It’s scary bcz other cars Coming behind can leads to life threatening accidents. Pls help | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact rented a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while testing the collision avoidance system the vehicle was moving at 2 mph and the brake pedal was not depressed the collision avoidance system did not activate. The vehicle collided with another vehicle. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 30. The VIN was not available. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | 30 |
| May 2023 | STEERING,LANE DEPARTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car steering felt stuck and slid off the road which resulted in crashing into a tree. Tesla features did not help stay in the lane or break in an emergency. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| May 2023 | STEERING | Power steering failure. Vehicle became extremely difficult to turn while moving. Was unable to turn wheel while stopped. Restarted car and power steering came back online and failed again. Restarted a second time and power steering worked for the remainder of the drive. I am currently working with Tesla service to inspect and fix any issues. Safety concern, yes. was not able to make gradual turns while driving. Dealer/service center confirmation: not yet, car is being towed to service center today 5/5/23 inspection: no, car will be inspected by Tesla service center soon Warning: yes internal car system gave me a warning that power steering was not function and that steering may require extra effort. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | STEERING,SUSPENSION | During a road trip, autopilot started pulling to the left and right because the autopilot was struggling to center the car in the lane. Driving without autopilot showed that the car was pulling to one side. A wheel alignment by Firestone showed alignment specs consistent with a strike, however the car was not actually struck during the trip. The rims and wheel look intact and brand new, without cracks or bubbles. A visit to the Tesla service center showed that the right hand rear control arm has an enlarged hole, indicating abnormal wear and tear on the suspension elements for a 4-month car with 7,000 miles. The car's steering wheel still feels loose even though the car drives straight. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | STEERING,SUSPENSION | This is an addition to my earlier complaint, NHTSA tracking number # 11520382. To reiterate, in this issue the suspension components failed even though the rim and wheel were pristine, and the sidewall did NOT have bubbles even a week after steering issues were observed. I will submit pictures of the failed suspension components following my service center visit next week. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Hello, I have experienced 2 times the same issue with this new car model. I was driving on a interstate with 2 lanes, no cars in front of me and fortunately no cars behind, I was in autopilot mode and emergency brake system got engaged for no reasons apparently (Phantom braking) and I had to take over immediately. It was scary and I was lucky that no car was behind as it could have created definitely a worse scenario. The first time I was entering a bridge and the color of the asphalt was a bit different from the main road that might have triggered this phantom braking. The second time I entered in a driving area in the shade, here the phantom braking might have been triggered by a sudden change in the sun light. Regards. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | STEERING | The steering wheel was received misaligned from the factory. When the steering wheel is held straight the vehicle veers to the left. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The vehicle gives false forward collision warnings which increases my insurance premium. This happened multiple times in the last month. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 2023 TESLA MODEL 3. CONSUMER WRITES IN REGARD TO SEVERAL ISSUES WITH THEIR VEHICLE RANGING FROM MINOR TO DANGEROUS. THE CONSUMER STATED UPON THE FIRST DAY OF POSSESSING THE VEHICLE, RUBBER AROUND THE WINDOWS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. IT WAS REPLACED AND A MONTH LATER THE PHONE WAS NOT CONNECTING TO THE BLUETOOTH IN THE VEHICLE, NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM STATES VEHICLE IS ON THE RIGHT WHEN THE NAVIGATIONAL SYSTEM WAS NOT ENGAGED, GLOVE BOX WILL NOT OPEN, WINDOW WILL GO DOWN WITHOUT NOTICE, THE APP TO LOCK AND UNLOCK VEHICLE MALFUNCTIONS, WINDOWS SQUEAKING WHEN EXITING THE VEHICLE, SELF LOCKING DEVICE WORKS SPORADICALLY, AND VIDEO RECORDING DEVICE STOP WORKING. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car phantom brakes 50% of the time when I use Enhanced Autopilot Feature on the highway | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Automatic emergency braking. Phantom braking without any real incident | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | At random times the vehicle will slam on the brakes although there is nothing in front of it. It has happened with vehicles behind me and I have averted multiple crashes by luck I suppose. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | SUSPENSION,POWER TRAIN,STRUCTURE | I picked up my Tesla Model 3 Performance less than a month ago and from day 1 it has been having vibrations from 40mph all the way up to 80-85 mph. I haven't driven it faster than that due to safety concern. I took it to Tesla and they said they needed to balance the wheels (why wasn't that done on a brand new car already?) Anyways, I take the car back and I was still having the same issue. Tesla has now booked another service and said that my Wheels might have been bent by me! The audacity! I gave them a piece of my mind so they will not charge me for service and will inspect my vehicle soon. Meanwhile I have driven the car 2500 miles and the vibrations have not gone away. I know this problem exists in Model S Plaids as well as with some other Model 3 Performance owners as I reached out on the forums. Tesla has given up and accepted that they cannot repair these issues. Lets see what happens with my car. I plan on taking them to the court for lemon law | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | WHEELS | On 3/11/23, around noon time, I drove on I-280 N bound, just past Edgewood Road. It was nice weather, no wind, nothing extra loaded in the car, smooth clean road surface. All of a sudden I saw black pieces flying at my left side of the car through the window, I heard some noise and the car started unbalanced. I pulled the car slowly to the shoulder ... It was a left rear tire blowout! This car was only for 4 months, and drove ~2700 miles. NO warning sign beforehand and no damage on the tire, the rim and the tire cover after carefully examining the Tesla Test Center at 680 El. Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA. Attached are four photos taken on 3/11/23. New tire was replaced on 3/14/23 at SC site, CA. It was charged $441.67 (receipt is not included here) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on the HOV lane (going between 65-70 miles mph) with the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist on when the car suddenly slammed on it’s brakes to stop. There was a slight hump in the highway, but no car or object in front of me in the lane. Thank goodness there were no cars behind me or they could have easily rear ended me. It was extremely scary and now I’m too scared to use these driver assist features moving forward. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was on Interstate I5 on March 16th with car cruising on Tesla Auto Pilot Assist. The road was completely clear with nothing ahead of behind me for atleast half a mile. All of a sudden I experienced Sudden Breaking (Phantom Breaking) and broke hard to about 30 MPH before resuming. I was fortunate that there was nothing behind me otherwise I would have been rear ended. The only thing I could see was there as a dip in the roadway and some shadows were falling across the highway. Tesla has no radars and I suspect the camera was fooled by the lighting. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | - The adaptive cruise control malfunctioned, It sharply braked while no cars in front or arround me was braking.Conditions were clear, no rain/no snow, in the daytime. The windshield was clean, the road was clean as well (on the asphalt with road markers clearly visible). - My safety and the safety of others was put at risk, the braking was realy sharp nothing could have helped me or other users of the road predict that it was going to happen. Someone behind had to slam the brakes to avoid a collision with me. - Nothing was inspected - No warning or symptoms were visible then nor now. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I bought a new Tesla Model 3 in December of 2022. In mid March 2023 we had our first road trip in this vehicle. I had at least 4 major phantom braking incidences while traveling an average of 75 mph on I-80 with the cruise control on. Two were experienced while traveling eastbound in Nebraska and two were while traveling westbound a week later in Wyoming. Each experiece was separated in time by at least two hours. The last one scared me and my wife so much that she won't ride in the Tesla on the freeway until it is fixed. We also had several minor phantom braking experiences which did not alarm us. What happened is that the car slammed on the brakes while going 75 and reduced the speed to about 55 in seconds. It was over before I could react. The tires did not skid and fortunately no one was following us. I fear that if someone was tailgating me that they would have rear ended our car. I had experienced a couple of phantom braking events in Utah in previous months but they weren't severe enough for me to report it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While traveling with cruise control enabled and not using autopilot, about every 50 miles or so I will encounter a situation where there is no one in front of me and the car with begin rapidly decelerating. I have had several drivers behind me hit their horns in a panic while trying not to hit my car. I am very worried that this issue will cause me to be rear-ended by another driver. This issue is occuring at both highway speeds exceeding 65mph as well as speeds speeds as low as 50 mph. It has happened on multi-lane highways with no other cars around as well as on single lane local roads. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | SEATS | Brand new Tesla Model 3 delivered a week ago. Passenger seat, front inside mounting bolt is not tight. Corner of the seat rail can move up/down 1/8-1/4". Can't tell how well attached it is. Potential safety concern. Passenger side back seat cushion also exhibits up/down movement 1/8-1/4" but likely not a safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | TIRES | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3 equipped with Pirelli Tires, Tire line: P Zero, Tire Size: 235/35/R20, DOT Number: (Not available). The contact stated while driving 65 MPH an hour after purchasing the vehicle brand new, the rear passenger's side tire experienced a blowout, and the rim was severely damaged. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla Service Center, where the rear passenger's side wheel and tire were replaced; however, the rear driver's side tire experienced a blowout a week later. The vehicle was towed to the Tesla Service Center. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that he would be charged for the repair. The tire was not replaced. The tire and vehicle failure mileage was approximately 80. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 80 |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I experienced unnecessary emergency braking while driving from Chicago to Madison on I-90. I was driving at 75 mph on adaptive cruise control with auto steer on. I suddendly I experience hard braking for no reason. I observed my set speed limit changed to 45 mph. However, I instantaneously took over and pressed accelarator. I experienced the same 2 more times during the same trip. It's created a very dangerous situation. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |