2023 Tesla Model 3 Complaint Log

1. Power steering diminished as I was driving. As the steering wheel was turned their was a "clicking feel" , more than a vibration. I drove slowly and safely returned home. The message on the screen was "steering assist reduced" steering may require increased effort. 2. I did fear for my safety and the safety of others on the road because I did not have full normal control of the steering wheel. I slowed speed to 20mph and carefully made my way home. 3. Yes, they determined my steering rack needed to be replaced. 4. Tesla service inspected the steering rack and determined it needed to be replaced. 5. The message displayed on my Tesla screen was "Steering assist reduced, steering may require increased effort".

When I was trying to park my Tesla Model 3 car it suddenly accelerated and hit a parked car in front of me. I took the car to the repair shop and told them the situation. My reason for the accident didn’t make sense to them so I stated that I may have pressed accelerator instead of brakes but I know that I didn’t press the accelerator. My car has been at the repair shop since 10/14/2023. So, far no one from the Tesla Motors, Inc. came to investigate the claim. Even if they repair the car, I don’t feel comfortable driving the car due to the fact that unintended acceleration may repeat itself.

Vehicle heat pump system has had multiple failures leading to windshield fog leading to low/no visibility. Service center unable to get vehicle in in timely manner stating 3-4 weeks before it can be serviced.

Lost power steering while driving. Luckily this occurred while I was going less than 5mph and near a parking lot, so was able to muscle the steering to a safe place. Received a warning from the car that “steering assist is reduced” randomly. Luckily we were going slowly and able to find a safe place to park, so my wife and kids were safe. Could barely turn the wheel enough to park safely. Once restarted a few hours later power steering worked again. Car has now been in a manufacturers shop for a week to try and figure out the issue.

Multiple times, the vehicle braked on its own while traveling eastbound on the Interstate 8 freeway between Yuma, AZ & Gila Bend, AZ. This was when no other vehicle or obstruction was on the freeway within a mile of the vehicle. The braking was very jarring, and if another vehicle was behind us it could have easily caused a high speed rear-end collision.

While on a cross country trip and while on the highway using the Tesla auto pilot and/or adaptive cruise control, we experienced numerous phantom braking incidents. Several while driving during the day with no other vehicles around and several while passing semi trucks in the other lane. At night the same thing occurred and on one occasion, with no other vehicles around, suddenly braked from 70 mph to near stop. Had we been on a wet or icy surface, there is the possibility of control issue.

As I was approaching my off ramp (which has a very tight turn), my automatic brakes failed which caused me to slam onto the brakes, and skid into one of the off ramp signs. All 3 of my children were in the back, the back driver side window shattered, I lost my driver side mirror, and there was damage done to the back door and wheel well (all on the driver's side). Although the damage looked minimal, no one was willing to work on the vehicle and I was strongly encouraged by my insurance company to claim it as a total loss. Granted, I had this vehicle for approximately 2 months, and had put at least $4,000 into it.

The Tesla model 3 rear bumper came off completely while driving in rain when I drove into a very light puddle. Having a rear bumper detaching completely off could be a serious hazard for someone that driving a motorcycle on the road it could result in a deadly accident. this problem has been addressed to Tesla and they do not have a service bulletin or a recall for 2023 model only 2018 model through 2021 models. The vehicle has been inspected by Tesla. No warning signs where indicated when the rear bumper detached completely while driving

While on our first road trip in this vehicle, we engaged Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). After about 30 minutes, the vehicle suddenly (within 1-2 seconds), and without warning, decelerated from 75 mph to under 50 mph. After re-engaging ACC, exactly the same thing happened again 5 minutes or so later. Thereafter, we did not use ACC, and the car ran fine. This was a safety hazard because if someone had been following us when these incidents happened, it could have resulted in a rear-end collision. We have not yet taken our vehicle to a service center. Since there was no resulting accident, we have not reported this to any authority. Clearly, however, our Tesla Model 3 has a safety problem.

While driving with cruse controll, auto pilot, or adaptive cruise control my vehicle brakes suddenly without warning and without any reason or danger. This has happened many times. Today on the I8 traveling from Yuma az to Surpirse AZ the car braked around 15-20 times with out reason. I held the tesla car symbol on the screen to report the problem.

While driving on a two lane highway I experience daily ghost braking incidents. While doing 75, in both cruise and autopilot mode, the car will slam on the brakes when approaching a semi in the right lane. Today it even swerved to the right without the semi moving out of its lane. I also experience panic braking if a car crosses the lanes in front of me even if it is 500m away and the crossing car even left the road before braking occurs.

When cruise control is engaged, the vehicle suddenly decelerates, (at times dropping speed by more than 20 mph in less than 2 seconds). This occurs as often as 5-10 times in a single 60mi trip, and occurs at least once per trip on this same route (divided highway, sometimes with hills, often with no other cars ahead of or around the vehicle, speed 60-70mph) These events are unsafe because unexpected braking is a hazard for following cars and my passengers. My job as a driver is to be as predictable as possible, but when I use the cruise control the car behaves unpredictability Problem reported to dealer, confirmed by remote diagnostic, and car was serviced but the problem got worse. There are no warning lamps or error messages displayed in conjunction with these sudden braking events. First appeared when the car reached 2000miles on odometer

I parked the vehicle. When I returned to it and was about to drive, the steering wheel became too stiff and I had to apply extreme manual force to turn. The code UI_a020 appeared and the message “Steering assistance reduced. Steering may required increased effort.” It happened twice on the same day. I had to stop driving the car.

Vehicle suddenly brakes while in autopilot with no road obstructions. This has happened to me several times and I'm concerned that if someone is following me too close this may cause a collision.

The cruise control was set at 70 MPH. The car braked itself and tried to stop itself even though I had no cars or objects in front of me. I had to apply the accelerator to get it to out of stopping itself. It happened twice in a short amount of time on that morning. The car is available for inspection. This is a safety issue as it could have caused an accident if I had someone too close behind me while driving on freeway I-75. I have not had the car inspected as this just happened yesterday 09/22/2023 and today is 09/23/2023. There was no warning prior to this happening and no issues with the car. Again this happened on 09/22/2023 for the first time. Thank You.

Tesla Model 3 Policy #: [XXX] Claim Number: [XXX] I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to report an incident involving my Tesla Model 3 (Blue) and to initiate the process for an insurance claim. The incident occurred on [XXX], at approximately 2:15 PM. My fiancée was the driver of the vehicle at the time of the incident. Incident Details: - Date: [XXX] - Time: Approximately [XXX] - Vehicle: Tesla Model 3 (Blue) Location: The incident took place on the freeway merge from [XXX], where it merges onto [XXX]. Heading home. Circumstances: My fiancée was operating the vehicle in Autopilot mode while maintaining her hands securely on the steering wheel. As she approached the freeway merge from ramp [XXX], heading onto [XXX], she experienced an unexpected jolt. Despite her continuous control of the steering wheel, the Autopilot system seemed to be accelerating without her input. Simultaneously, my fiancée felt a sudden tire malfunction, which resulted in a significant loss of control over the vehicle. Despite her best efforts to maintain the car's position within the lane, the Tesla Model 3 veered off the freeway and entered the adjacent Ravine area. Impact and Airbags: Upon entering the Ravine area, the vehicle experienced a collision. multiple plants/highbrush/uneven terrain as well as having to maneuver around 2 large palm trees which resulted damage to side mirror. Notably, none of the vehicle's airbags were deployed during the incident, and there were no sensor alerts, except for the tire pressure warning light. Also there wasn't any record of dashcam recording when we checked the car. We are seriously concerned that the airbags did not deploy , attached are photos concerning the damage. I would like to emphasize that my fiancée was diligently following safety guidelines and had her hands on the steering wheel while using Autopilot. This incident occurred suddenly and unexpectedly. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

I received an error message while driving that the steering assist was turned off, and I was unable to the car. This has happened twice in the last week.

Cruise control set to 82mph on interstate with no cars nearby. Car slams on brakes on multiple different cruise control sessions. Dangerous for other cars that could be driving behind me and could cause me to lose control of the vehicle.

The power steering failed while I was backing out of a parking space. I was unable to turn the wheel and almost ran into another car. I was able to use all my strength to turn the wheel and took it to the dealership Tesla said "there was a fault within the steering rack that caused the power steering to go out, therefore we had to replace this part" There was no warning messages about the problem before, during or after the steering went out. If this were to happen to anyone that did not have significant strength, it could have caused a major accident. If it went out while I was driving on any other road, I would have been in an accident for sure.

Power steering stopped working when the car starts up, Cannot steer the wheel at all in PDNR. Basically cannot steer the car at all and it is not drivable.

When on a recent trip from Salt Lake City to Denver Via I 15 to hwy 6 and on I 70 When it was in cruse control and also auto pilot the car would on it's own brake. Some of the time it would brake very harshly others it would not be so violet ,but would certainly be some thing that could cause a very bad accident. The only solution Tesla service would offer was to go on a test drive to see it happen. This could take posably many miles, and then said they did not have a solution.

Steering wheel froze while attempting to turn across opposing traffic into shopping center nearly resulting in an accident. Was able to forcefully turn into a parking lot and turn off the car. Steering notification came on. After ten minutes car seemed to resume back to normal. This caused insurmountable anxiety and I was unable to return to work. Car was towed to service center and estimated repair will take 2-3 days. This was a brand new car I bought for safety yet the safety of me and my children were jeopardized!

Power steering is intermittently and unpredictably failing. The issue has occurred approximately 10 times in total and has occurred both while exiting parking spots and while driving on the road. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request and has been given to Tesla Service Center for review. The service representative was not able to reproduce the issue and the vehicle was returned. Especially while driving, loss of power steering could force me into an accident, as I'm not able to control the vehicle in a reliable manner. When the issue occurs, I receive an error that says "steering assist reduced, steering may require increased effort."

Loss of power steering. Car started normally, but with no warning from the car, the steering wheel could be turned only with extreme effort. I tried to make a circle around the house, but barely avoided hitting other parked cars and called Tesla service.

While driving late at night at highway speeds (interstate Hwy), the car applied the brakes suddenly and without cause, with no cars in the proximity of my vehicle. The car was set in cruise control mode (adaptive.) It appeared that the vehicle may have picked up a reflection from the highway striping. This occurred two times during a single trip of approximately 200 miles.

It happened in a parking lot around 8:20 pm on 09.13.23. When I slowly moved to parking space car suddenly accelerated, jumped over raised pavement for pedestrian walking, hit parked car on the other side of walking path, continue going with uncontrollable high speed across the parking, then car slowed down and I finally parked. Woman who witnessed accident and called the police told the police officer that she saw brake lights of my car were on. Two women from the car I hit showed me the markings from my tires on pavement. My husband who arrived to the place of accident by this time took pictures of these marks and next morning we return back to take another pictures and video. My car's odometer reading was less than 100 miles. We are having problem of uploading our pictures. We can supply to you our pictures and video if you need them.

On 09/11/2023 at approx. 6AM CST, my wife went to a nearby Walmart store for groceries. As she was parking the car in the parking space, the car started to accelerate by itself and went around the parking lot in random directions. She couldn't control the steering and brake despite the continuous tries. It was such a traumatic experience, and the car went on to hit couple of other parked cars and the cart return stations in the parking lot. After few seconds of random self-drive in multiple directions of parking lot, it finally came to a halt as it got on a curb that flattened the tires. By God's grace, the car stopped right before entering the main busy road due to flat tires and also no pedestrians at that time. Otherwise, the situation could have been worse as the car was going in an uncontrollable manner. The incident was reported to 911 and they got the car towed to a towing garage. We got the incident report from the police department. They also have the CCTV footage of this incident. We also have the dashcam videos recorded by TESLA and pictures taken after the incident. I will provide any supporting documentation you might need to understand this incident and address the issue. We are trying to come out of the trauma from this incident and would like to bring this issue to the attention of all concerned parties for next steps.

I was driving on I-35 from Kansas City to Des Moines on 9-11-23, and three times the car experienced phantom braking (i.e. the car suddenly braked for no apparent reason) while the adaptive cruise control was activated. During these instances the car would suddenly brake and slow down and on one occasion I had to accelerate immediately to avoid possibly being rear ended. On all occasions there were no obstacles on the road or cars within 1/4 of a mile ahead of me.

1. When vehicle is on autopilot mode. Vehicle will all a sudden brake by itself with no reason as to why, no cars in front of me intermitly. Mostly happens when driving at highway speeds and when approaching a overpass. 2. Could be crash from the rear. 3. Have not notified Tesla. 4. No inspections have been performed 5. No warnings and no beeping either just brakes by itself intermitly.

The car does phantom braking on the highway when using cruise control. It is usually caused by a truck in the neighboring lane applying it's brakes, but not entering my lane.

On 09/08/2023 while the vehicle was engaged in Autopilot/Traffic Aware Cruise Control and at highway speeds, the vehicle suddenly braked with no visible / reasonable cue from the surroundings. Minutes later, it suddenly braked again suddenly and without any visible cause but with more force. After this, I stopped using this feature of the vehicle for the remainder of our trip. A similar event occurred around Apil 2023 and when I reported this to the Tesla Service Center they replaced both the right side and left side repeater cameras (faulty). The first incident of this nature occurred around a week after taking ownership in late October: Again at highway speeds, the vehicle suddenly and abruptly braked without cause. The Service Center was notified but they found no issue with the car. This type of behavior places myself and my family at risk of being rear ended with the abrupt nature of this kind of braking (sudden, abrupt and with no cause). It also places the vehicles that happen to be following me at risk with this sudden braking behavior - the braking is not gradual. After I reported the most recent incident, the service center did not find any faults with the hardware and said that "these behaviors are a limitation of software in the system."

We picked up a brand new car and as soon as we drove it off the lot, we noticed that the steering was pulling hard to the right as if the steering wheel were too loose, especially at high speeds on the highway. There were never any alerts or warnings about this issue in the car. But if we took our hands off the wheel, it would have driven off the road fairly quickly. We immediately reported it to Tesla since it was a new car and dropped it off for servicing. They realigned the car, but again after driving it it was still noticeably pulling to the right. We brought it in again and they did another realignment that ended up not making a difference. We brought in a 3rd time and they manually realigned it and tightened some bolts and said that should fix it, and again the problem persisted. So the 4th time we brought it in, we said this is on the verge of lemon-status, so they ended up replacing the whole steering rack and that ended up fixing the issue finally. Luckily they didn't charge us given it was under warranty and reported immediately. But given the recent news on your investigation into related steering issues, we wanted to flag this. Tesla clearly has quality control issues and didn't address the issue until we pressed them after 3 visits to the shop.

Lots of power steering. Unable to move vehicle…extremely unsafe.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while their spouse was parking the vehicle and pressing the parking button, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The vehicle jumped the curb, crashing into two different vehicles to eventually be stopped after crashing into a tree. The air bags did not deploy. There was damage to the other vehicles and to the tree. The driver received injuries to their neck and back. Medical attention was not needed. A police report was filed. The vehicle had been towed. The vehicle was taken to a certified mechanic who had not diagnosed or repaired the vehicle as of yet. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 500.

The steering feels extremely stiff and jerky

The wipers come on for no reason and there is no way to turn them off. Since the wiper blades are running on a dry windshield the visibility decreases considerably after it runs for some time

Ever since I purchased my 2023 Tesla model 3 I have periodically experienced a phenomenon widely referred to on the web as "phantom braking". Google it (though you probably already know about it). When it makes the biggest impression on me is when I am driving at over 50 MPH on an open highway and the car suddenly slows down, to the extent that it feels like someone is applying the brakes. Every time it happened in recent memory there were no cars in front of me for hundreds if not thousands of feet, which is why it's surprising because there has never been an apparent reason for the sudden deceleration. Instinctively, I look in the rear view mirror to see if anyone is behind me because if someone were relatively close behind me such a sudden slow down could, IMO, cause an accident - or at least alarm the other driver enough to slam on their brakes. Having read about phantom braking I believe that Tesla removed the traditional LIDAR (or equivalent) technology used by other car makers for adaptive speed control or a similar feature, and instead relies solely on cameras to make judgements. This decision, IMO, has led to a dangerous weakness in the reliability of Tesla's cruise control.

Steering wheel could not turn after after parked and tried to drive again. Car could only go straight forward or backward. Also tried to restart the whole car computer, problem still persisted. The car screen displayed error message UI_a020 Steering assist reduced, Steering may require increased effort.

The vehicle slowed down at a very rapid rate when in cruise control for no reason. There were no other vehicles or obstructions anywhere near the vehicle. This happened 3 times. I reported these events to Tesla and they said it was a known issue called ghosting and there was nothing to repair. A rapid deceleration of the vehicle for no reason and with no warning is a safety issue that should be addressed immediately. Iv'e used cruise control on many other vehicles and have never had a problem.

While driving with the Adaptive Cruise Control enabled, on California highway 5 on Aug 28, 2023, the vehicle applied the brakes very aggressively and suddenly, shy of making a complete stop, without any object or shadow requiring it to do so - known as the "Phantom Breaking". It was so dangerous that if it was a weekend with many cars behind me, I would've been violently rear-ended and perhaps not lived to report this incident. This happened twice in two hours, to the point that I have never engaged the cruise system again. The Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system (which is part of the Auto Pilot system) on this vehicle is dangerous and should be avoided. I wish the vehicle had the [old fashioned] non-adaptive cruise control but it doesn't. Answering the questions: Nothing failed but the ACC clearly malfunctioned since there was no object, shadow, road animal, change in asphalt color, etc. to cause it to abruptly break. It was a clear sunny day. Any accident at such highway speed could've been deadly to multiple drivers on the road. When I informed the dealer, they "verbally" acknowledged and informed me of the term "Phantom Breaking" that they had heard of the problem being reported by others but nothing to worry about and they didn't inspect the vehicle. There we no warning lamps, messages or symptoms prior to the problem. Again, this issue happened twice within a two hour period and I have not used the ACC system again. My spouse was with me in the car in both cases and witnessed the scary situation.

I was coming to a stop due to a train passing by. As I got closer to the other vehicles that were waiting for the train, I let go of the acceleration and then the vehicle on its own launched forward rear ending the car in front of me.

I just purchased this new 2023 Tesla Model 3. I am not reporting a failed or malfunctioning component but I have a safety concern. After taking delivery I noticed that there are no emergency door latch releases on the rear seats like there are on the front seats. This could make exiting the back seats very difficult or even impossible in the event of an emergency with loss of power to the vehicle. I cannot believe that this feature was omitted. I worry that people will die because they will not be able to escape a burning vehicle quickly enough. This seems like the door could be easily modified to correct this issue and make this vehicle much safer.

Car lost power steering without warning

When using Cruise control the car will brake suddenly even when there is no obstacle in front. This happens often. The phantom braking can be dangerous if someone is following at freeway speeds and not expecting the car ahead to brake. Also, when using cruise control the windshield wipers are automatically placed on auto. The windshield wipers will then go on and off as the sunlight changes, when no precipitation is evident. We often have to pause cruise control because the windshield wipers will not stop.

I was driving and the power steering stopped functioning. The car had just over 1000 miles and both the lane departure avoidance and steering assistance cut out. Restarting the start would bring it back on temporarily but it would cut out again after a minute or two.

While driving yesterday night, I lost steering control. I stopped the car in the middle of the street and tried again but the steering wheel was very stiff. It took so much effort to change the lane and find a safe place to park. It was a scary moment for myself and my 2 kids. I was about to crash into other cars. A message appeared “ui_a020 - steering assist reduced”.

While using cruise control on a highway traveling between 65 and 75 MPH the brakes slammed on when there was absolutely no traffic in front of or beside us, no overhead obstructions, no upcoming corners, nothing at all but straight road ahead. If anyone had been behind us we could easily have been rear-ended. The car had only 1500 miles on it the first time it happened. There were 4 such events in our short 400 mile road trip. Took it directly to Tesla service and have been told there is nothing wrong with the car!

The car makes unintended braking when there is no vehicle in front. The car made a sudden brake from 75 mph to near 0 mph such that the driver felt that the vehicle almost flipped.

Steering wheel got jammed while driving on highway. Stopped vehicle on rode side and called for Tesla road side assistance. Tesla towed my vehicle and replaced steering rack. Invoice attached for details

My daughter was driving on a freeway at 70MPH and her 2023 Model 3 Tesla that was a week old with 450 miles just stopped on the highway. She was lucky that highway patrol passed by shortly and stopped behind her to push her vehicle fully into the emergency lane. Vehicle also difficult to push because of brake locking system. I can't emphasis enough that the vehicle just stopped on the freeway!!!!