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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on interstate using Tesla model 3 autopilot about 75 mph. Road narrowing from 3 to 2 lanes and I was in the merging lane approaching entry to 2 lane road. Cars were to my right, visible, but safely distant. Suddenly, unexpectedly the car started breaking, creating alarm for me, but was able to re-engage the accelerator and safely merged into 2 lane highway. If a car was closely following me, which was not the case, could have resulted in rear end crash. Had used autopilot frequently before this episode and never had this problem, and subsequently autopilot seems to be working properly. Occurred 3/11/2023. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | A large portion of the plastic accelerator pedal broke | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | STRUCTURE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The undercarriage shield of my car disconnected and started dragging while I was driving in the rain. I did not collide into anything or hit a bump. I inspected my wheel well to discover a set of screws that were bunched up and not installed during manufacturing. I had to pull the shield from under my car so that I can continue to drive the vehicle. the shield is connected to the forward warning and pedestrian warning collision system which became inoperative. The faulty manufacturing that caused the shield to disconnect caused a dangerous condition while operating. After I removed it, a second dangerous condition was created since all of the safety senors were disconnected. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We were driving down the road, emergency braking enabled came on and car came to a complete abrupt start 10ft from railroad tracks and would not do anything. Could not reset it. Nothing. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while at a red light with the autonomous self-driving feature activated, the vehicle in front made a right turn while the light was still red, and the vehicle inadvertently accelerated. The contact depressed the brake pedal to stop the vehicle. The failure occurred without warning. Neither the Service Center nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was 3,400. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,400 |
| Feb 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This model doesn't have parking assist, so every time I park there is a danger of collision. All modern cars have parking assist. Tesla promised in Nov 2022 that software update enabling parking assist will be available within "next couple of weeks". 3 months passd since then and there is still no parking asist. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Multiple times on the highway the car would slam the brakes for no reason in autopilot mode reducing the speed significantly. In all cases it reduced the speed from around 70 mph to 40 mph. The road was clear with no vehicles in front. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | SUSPENSION,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My Tesla Model 3 was delivered on 14 December 2022. I first drove it on 16 December 2022 and that day I had an accident. I was about to park my car and I was already on the designated parking slot when the car made a sudden Un- commanded acceleration. I first hit the handicap sign, but the car did not stop and apparently the collision avoidance safety feature did not work. The continue to accelerate and I hit a restaurant establishment. The police came and I reported the incident to my insurance (Geico). The police (Mr. McClure) gave me the case number 2238293. Geico is taking care of the repair which would cost over $10K and the property damage, which added up to 10K. I went to the Tesla service center in Carlsbad and Mr. Hyuma said that I can request for the log. I guess it is the EDR. They gave me a link to request for the EDR but the start date is 23 January 2023 way after the accident date of 16 December 2022. I have not received any log or EDR from Tesla to date. I am uploading the pictures of the car before the repair. Please help me find out what exactly happened and why the car suddenly accelerated without pressing the gas pedal. I am a retired US Navy (20 years) and I bought a Tesla to save money because i have solar in my house. I have a fixed income and cannot afford to spend money on the EDR. I believe that here is a defect on the Tesla Model 3 that I bought and I will appreciate all the help you can provide. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle experienced phantom braking and the vehicle stopped abruptly. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to accelerate to avoid getting rear ended. The dealer was contacted and admitted knowledge of the failure; however, there was no remedy for the failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 2,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 2,000 |
| Feb 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Wiper blades activate for no reason while driving the vehicle in auto pilot. There is no ryme or reason as to when this happens, it just happens randomly at random times for unknown reasons. The most recent incident happened today, but this has been going on since I took ownership of this brand new car in December of 2022. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? When there is salt on the road and there is no moisture hitting the windshield, all this does with the salt is smears your windshield making it very difficult to see out of the windshield. The only way to clear the windshield is to activate the windshield washer fluid. This wouldn't be necessary had the wipers just stayed off in the first place. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? The dealer tells me the wipers are working as designed, but can't explain to me why they turn on when there is no moisture hitting the windshield. They can't explain to me why it is happening to my car and not other similar vehicles of the same make/model. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? The dealer has looked into this and says it's working as designed. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No warning lights are or were present during any of these incidents. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | AIR BAGS,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at 50 MPH another vehicle suddenly entered the lane that the contact was driving on, causing the contact to strike the other vehicle. No air bags deploy, and the brake assist feature failed to activate. There were no reported injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and filed a case. The failure mileage was 8,728. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | 8,728 |
| Jan 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While exiting a hospital parking deck, after driving for approximately 15 to 20 seconds, the car began to accelerate to an uncontrollable rate of speed on its own. The Tesla crashed into a parked car which was then pushed into two other parked cars. The Tesla and at least the first car hit are totaled. There was no sign of the emergency braking system engaging. Injuries from the airbag deploying were sustained. The driver has a fear to drive again as the car seemed to have a mind of it's own. The Tesla is being held at the insurance company's tow yard. There has been no feedback from the dealer. No inspections have been conducted on the car. There were no indications there was a problem with the vehicle previous to the crash. It is unknown if any warning alert systems activated during the incident. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | After backing out of a parking place I could not switch into "drive". The car froze and had to be put into "tow mode" to be pushed aside and later taken to a dealer. Before being collected the car was partially blocking a car park, but there was no other safety risk. Warnings appeared when the event occurred, but not prior to. The rear drive unit was replaced under warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,BACK OVER PREVENTION | This model has misleading user manual about park assist chime button, park assist front camera on button. Apparently they have removed the ultrasonic sensor and did not enable any user interface to do with Park assist in the control menu. This is misleading safety feature and total lie to the customer. Please flag this as a safety flag so the user will be aware of it. There is no option for the user to enable the front camera for whatever the little useful it can offer. They need to immediately send us the software update to view any camera at will. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | I was driving in rainy weather and my windshield wipers were set to 'Auto' mode. The wipers were functioning correctly until I clicked on a menu item in the car operating system. The operating system became unresponsive to any touches and wipers stopped working at this moment which dropped my visibility to almost 0. I was fortunately not driving on highway when the incident occurred. The operating system rebooted after roughly 20 seconds and the wipers started working again after the reboot completed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | sudden, abrupt braking on multiple occasions when passing a specific location along NJ Garden State Parkway (near exit 89) while driving on auto pilot. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving west on 1-10 west of TLH vehicle suddenly decelerate if if there was slowed or stopped traffic ahead. I was alone on road. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was driving a turn on a major intersection Stirling and I-95 Holly wood Florida to the on ramp to enter I-95 southbound when my car began shaking violently during the turn and completely shut down. The car was dead and I could not go forward or reverse. The center information panel was still lit up but the car would not move in any direction. I was blocking two lanes of the major intersection for about an hour till 2 Road Rangers arrived and dragged my car off the road. If I had made it around the turn and this catastrophic shut down occurred when I was on I-95 I could have experience severe injury or loss of life if I was struck by traffic on the highway. The car was brand new with 108 miles on it at the time. I purchased the car on 11/20/22 and the shutdown occurred on 11/23/22 after only 3 days of driving it. This Tesla Model 3 was very unsafe and the cause of what happened to me should be investigated so other people do not get injured or lose their life. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | SEATS | My Tesla Model 3 was delivered with the rear attachment bolts missing for both front seat rails. The rear seat rail end will lift up at least an inch when the seat is pushed gently from behind. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | I took deliver of the Model 3 Performance in late October 2022 and have experienced phantom braking at least a dozen times over the last few months on the highway/interstate when using cruise control and Tesla’s standard autopilot, which keeps the vehicle centered in the lane. The phantom braking has occurred both in times with just the cruise control enabled and also when both cruise and autopilot have been enabled. The vehicle has slowed from 70 to 60 and even 50 miles per hour very quickly when there was no object nearby that would cause a collision. This is both frightening and upsetting, as such sudden braking could cause an accident, especially with any car following me from behind. I am fearful to use the cruise or autopilot as a result of this defect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking on two separate occasions upon approach of an overpass. The contact also stated that an audible alert tone was coming from the vehicle during the failures. Neither the Service Center nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 865. | Crash: No Fire: No | 865 |
| Dec 2022 | FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | Car accelerated by itself. Approximately 4:30pm december 3. I just exited freeway and pulled my foot off the pedal and it started to decelerate then there was a chime sound and the car suddenly shot forward. I slammed the brakes as quick as i could. Luckily no one was around. The driving conditions were terrible, it was raining hard and cold. I also just cancelled autopilot by signalling right before exiting. This happened just after updating to a new update 2022.40.4.2 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was pulling into a park spot , coming to a stop and the car within seconds accelerated into a building. There was no warning at all. Also, after the collision a warning popped on the screen saying that the emergency break was disabled. This was the first time seeing this alert, and I did not disable anything. I picked up the car on 11/28. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While moving car to DRIVE mode, Cruise Control was activated accidentally, which resulted in car moving on its own from a stopped position in garage. By the time it was learnt what has happened, the car rear ended another parked car. Luckily no human was in front of the car and thus grave body injury was avoided. The car speed might have been less than 20mph. The front collision avoidance warning was not there and neither did Emergency brakes got deployed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Nov 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model-3. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking and abruptly stopped. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that there were no vehicles or objects around the vehicle at the time of the failure. The contact stated that she depressed the accelerator pedal and was able to continue driving. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the forward Collison Avoidance camera might need to be recalibrated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 500 |