2019 Tesla Model 3 other reported problems

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Tesla rolled out FSD 14 Lite to hardware, including to my vehicle and it’s become extremely unsafe.The past several days the vehicle will suddenly slow down/break causing people to almost crash into me, make sudden and indecisive lane changes, and constantly rocking the steering wheel left and right. I hope someone takes this seriously and has Tesla revert back to the old software or make changes before someone is killed.

NHTSA complaint #11753390 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Poorly sealed front monitoring cameras. I know it’s poorly sealed on many Tesla vehicles and my own. Allowing fluid and dust to enter to block camera view and use.

NHTSA complaint #11724364 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Chrome peeling on the underside of multiple door handles has created razor sharp edges that slice fingers open. Online it appears to happen with Tesla 2018-2020 models.

NHTSA complaint #11721882 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

I am reporting a safety defect involving a welded rear subframe component. The welded section snapped under normal driving conditions, and this is a safety-critical structural suspension component. There was no collision, misuse, or accident prior to this failure. The vehicle is currently not safe to drive due to the compromised rear suspension structure. I have included photos showing the snapped weld and overall rear subframe area. This appears to be a premature structural defect, not normal wear. I am requesting that this failure be documented and reviewed as a potential safety defect. Additional Notes: This component is part of the rear suspension and is expected to last the life of the vehicle. The failure created a serious safety hazard, and I am not driving the vehicle. I have scheduled a service appointment, but I am filing this complaint to ensure the defect is officially reported.

NHTSA complaint #11708550 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Tesla remotely disabled Supercharging access on my vehicle without any warning, safety errors, or mechanical problems. The vehicle charged normally for months, including recent Supercharging sessions, and still operates safely. Tesla stated Supercharging was disabled due to a “salvage” title and now demands a $1,900-$2,400 “inspection” to restore access, with no diagnostic evidence of any issue. This appears to be a remote software lockout of a critical charging feature without a safety justification. It limits safe operation and access to public charging infrastructure. I request NHTSA investigate this policy as an unfair and potentially unsafe manufacturer action.

NHTSA complaint #11698332 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Tesla has just informed me about a safety concern on the 2019 M3 They explained that despite of the car not giving me a notification, it is showing on their end that my car has an airbag safety concern and by law they have to tell me. So I asked why this recall is not being addressed and fixed by Tesla. They told me that is my choice and if I choose to be safe I have to pay. This is not acceptable. Recalls that fail the nhtsa standards need to be accounted and addressed by the manufacturer. Please assist I find interesting that I didn’t receive a notification but they have and we all know that notifications can be manipulated by Tesla.

NHTSA complaint #11664271 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

RCM_a021 Front Left safety pretensioner becomes loose after moving seats, tesla refuses to fix this safety issue because there is no recall for this, regardless of how many people complain about this issue being a common problem in 2018-2020 model 3 Tesla

NHTSA complaint #11659205 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Upper control arm unit is defective on most model 3's. This has been reported by thousands of Tesla owners. After 50,000 miles the upper control arm will fail due to being assembled incorrectly, which causes a hard time driving the car and causing a strange sound in the suspension which can cause a risk in driving and increase the likelihood of an accident.

NHTSA complaint #11620828 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

I have been an owner and fan of Tesla’s FSD for 5 and 1/2 years. Even though Tesla has repeatedly missed Elon’s promised delivery dates, I’ve remained an advocate. I am a Sr. Enterprise Architect and have a Masters in Software Engineering. I know how difficult a problem like an AI-based FSD is to solve, so I’ve been cutting Elon some slack on his constant over-promising and under-delivering. My daughter goes to school over 800 miles from home, and I’ve used FSD to do over 90% of the driving taking her to and from school, and it’s done pretty darn well, but the latest two versions I’ve received over the last few weeks have been so bad, they are dangerous in my opinion. Issues like panic braking for no visible reason, and today my car made an unexpected lane change across two lanes, cutting off a rapidly moving truck in the fast lane, all requiring me to take control. I now have interventions every few minutes, sometimes only a few minutes from engagement. With Tesla’s focus on “Robotaxi Day,” I am concerned that the demo may be more smoke and mirrors, because the latest version of FSD on my car is nowhere near ready for prime time. Can Tesla fix this? I’m sure they can, but this software version was definitely rushed out too soon, probably because Elon put heavy pressure prior to their big Robotaxi event. My wife has a Model Y with FSD behaving the same way, so it is not isolated to just my car. If Robotaxi Day is a smash success, they are either running a hardware or software version my 2 cars do not have, or they demoed in a very controlled environment. But here’s another issue. We’ve all been promised a working FSD. If Tesla found that level 3 hardware cannot deliver, and if Elon has to eat crow and embrace LIDAR, for example, there will be a class action against Tesla from owners stuck with an FSD technology that is not safe and doesn’t deliver on Elon’s promises. I doubt Tesla will upgrade all of us to hardware that works. Then what? My FSD is v12.5.4.1.

NHTSA complaint #11618812 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The component is a software update by Tesla, the change is in the climate control screen, the problem is that the recirculating air icon was large and easy to change status while driving but is now microscopic and not able to safely check status or touch to change the air recirculation. There is no way to revert or customize the size or placement of this control

NHTSA complaint #11611618 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Customer concern confirmed there is a creaking noise coming from the front of the car while turning, I performed a visual inspection and found that both RF lower control arm bushings are torn and the LF frontward lower control arm bushing are torn but this is not the cause of the noise the cause of the noise is the upper control arms I took the load off of the upper control arms and the noise went away I also had someone turn the wheels while I looked for the cause of the noise and found that the noise is coming from the upper control arms, recommend replacing upper and lower control arms to fix all safety concerns.

NHTSA complaint #11595503 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Power steering and regenerative braking was intermittently work. Steering fully locked up while driving 70 m/hr on a freeway when I was on my way to service appointment. Very scary!! Service detected full steering rack replacement. When they took off the cable connectors water came pouring out. Water ingress caused corrosion to the body harness connector where it connects to the steering rack module. This seems to be an issue on online forums. Clearly this is a design flaw. How is water getting in and destroying all the electrical? Very unsafe and how is this issue going to be fixed so water doesn’t continue to get in

NHTSA complaint #11578363 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The back window cracked with no impact. Even though this is a known issue with Tesla Model 3s, Tesla charged me $1400 for the replacement window because it was four months after warranty expiration. Six weeks after the new window installation, the glass cracked again. Both times the back window cracked at the car body joint which suggests a structural issue. This time Tesla claimed it was impact damage and again refused to pay for repair.

NHTSA complaint #11576990 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Error comes up replace auxiliary battery low voltage. And then it says vehicle may not start. I was told by the dealer where I bought the car that their a recall and I wanted to see if my vehicle is qualified. Which the dealer said it is. I can't drive my car and I do ride share with it please can you help me.

NHTSA complaint #11570668 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Climate control unavailable. Unable to heat cabin. Ran test and received a PTC heater faulty. Vehicle is over 50K miles and no longer under warranty. Through research online. Many heating issues become available. Software and numerous PTC failures especially older vehicles that had similar issues with 30K, 40K, and 50K miles.

NHTSA complaint #11563122 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Heating suddenly stopped working after 3 years.

NHTSA complaint #11562864 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Repeat error messages of "Front safety restraint" on the screen followed by passenger window not rolling down. This has happened in June 2023, October 2023 and December 2023. The tesla windows need to roll down half inch for the doors to be closed. Because the windows get locked, i cannot close the doors. Because the doors are not closed i cannot drive the car. the other connected problem is that the passenger side mirror is folded and cannot be unfolded. Every time we log a service ticket with Tesla, they do not give an explanation on the problem and just mention it as a software problem. in July 2023 when the safety restraint problem was fixed, it was invoiced as seat repair.

NHTSA complaint #11560255 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Brake lines are bubbled and do not pass inspection. Tesla claims this is my fault as I live on an unpaved road. My mechanic has seen the same problem in another 2019 tesla and there are few of these cars in Central VT

NHTSA complaint #11554340 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The vehicle will randomly start emergency braking for no reason once so ever when using teslas full self driving. This is extremely dangerous as it can happen at any moment while the autopilot feature is in use. In my most recent instance autopilot was set to 70 mph, and with no vehicles are traffic control devices present what is known as “phantom braking” started to occur. Which requires me to quickly reassume control of the vehicle and bring it back up to speed.

NHTSA complaint #11551403 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Unintended acceleration during public street and highway while approaching a stop to make a right turn on November of 2022 in Orange County California onto a highway I let go of the pedal ready to press the brake and while turning it made a unnecessary acceleration to speed up making steering difficult, another incident where I believe in February 2023 as I was driving in the right lane a truck made a sudden stop and the accident avoidance never deployed nor warn me and the acceleration maneuver my steering pedal as I felt it degrease on the brake and increase on the acceleration pedal this was very traumatic and scary knowing I might have bodily injuries or even death also while setting the speed limit I notice while using the regenerative braking the brake pedal would vibrate very aggressively also while using the back up cam and side views it would glitch a lot after a bug update I feel this is very concerning for me and my kids and a lot of reviews and even attorneys or aware of the situation most of all it's a safety issue for California

NHTSA complaint #11524965 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The passenger occupancy sensor and airbag failed and needed to be replaced. The system alerted me to the failure. Tesla does not cover this as a manufacturing issue. $1300 for repairs on parts that are designed for safety Tesla is not responsible for the quality of parts used to assemble the vehicle. Per Tesla safety related issues are only covered for 5 years or 60,000 miles. There must be a higher standard for safety.

NHTSA complaint #11524324 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

On Saturday, May 6th I was driving with a passenger to the airport for Uber. She was in the rear right seat. We were on a 3-4 lane highway and I had Tesla FSD engaged. Out of nowhere, the car breaked in such an extreme manner as to send us thrusting forward in our seats. It was mid afternoon and we were beyond lucky that there was no traffic around us at the time. I felt terrified. If there was traffic, it easily could have been a deadly situation. There was no warning and I had to disengage the FSD function by further pushing on the breaks. I was reported to Uber for a safety issue, understandably, by the passenger. I have not contacted Tesla service or an independent service to look at the issue but plan to today. I saw there was a safety recall for vehicles from 2019. I would like a refund/recall if possible. I do not feel safe using FSD.

NHTSA complaint #11520882 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

In the Tesla Model 3 vehicle's newest software update, there are text blurbs over 15 words that show up when autopilot is engaged. While I was trying to read this text blurb, the autopilot was attempting to change lanes. I had to prevent this while attempting to read the text blurb. This is because the car was making a dangerous maneuver and had not realized that the cars in the next lane over it was switching to was fully coming to a full stop. The car did not realize this and assumed that the next lane was faster, so it sped up. I turned off autopilot, re-corrected the steering, and re-engaged autopilot. The car continued its previous behavior, turned on the turn signal and went towards the next lane while keeping me busy trying to speed-read 15+ words in half a second. Keep in mind, that this is an issue easily preventable with the removal of the text blurbs. This was a distraction to me, the driver, while the car's automated system assumed it was making the right decision. This put the safety of the passengers in my vehicle at risk and the safety of others, behind me, at risk. As in the incident description above, I replicated the issue once. The dealer (Tesla) has remained silent since my report to them. The vehicle or component has not to my knowledge. There were no warning signals, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the distraction.

NHTSA complaint #11518332 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Drivers side rear door is stuck shut. After some research, there is no manual release. This is a significant safety issue and needs to be resolved for all cars that lack the release. I shouldn’t have to visit a service center to open a door. I will refrain from having rear passengers in the car as this is a blatant safety risk.

NHTSA complaint #11516915 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The lane keeping assistance will send the car jerking left or right without reason or warning. (I’m not sure if the car is reacting to a shadow on the road or for some other reason.). This has occurred a number of times with an abrupt and violent movement. The last time this occurred was at around 6:50pm on Wednesday April 5, 2023 while driving westbound approaching the northernmost Palm Beach Island bridge. The car made a violent and completely unnecessary shift out of the lane and I had to make a forceful corrective steering response that scared both myself and my passenger.

NHTSA complaint #11515905 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Car in park in busy parking lot. Car reset itself to factory settings, profiles gone, everything at factory default. Put car in reverse, rear-view cameras pop on as expected, but as I'm in motion in reverse the cameras freeze and a dialog box pops up with details on "what's new in V11", preventing rear visibility.

NHTSA complaint #11510800 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

A couple things that concern me. One- My vehicle is showing an open recall since I purchased it. I reached out to Tesla and they advised it most like has been addressed by the software updates. I would prefer a more direct answer versus stating it “most likely” has been addressed. Two- My Model 3 was advertised on Tesla’s website with a range of 310. I get an equivalent of 120 miles of range. This is less than half. I have reached out to Tesla within days of purchasing the car and was told they completed an over the air diagnosis and nothing is wrong with my battery. They advised the cold weather can play a major role. Which I totally understand, however I can’t imagine losing over 50% of range. This has also not been completely addressed.

NHTSA complaint #11507723 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

This morning, I was driving using FSD beta and the car swerved and veered almost directly into the curb, head-on. I was able to capture the data using the car's built-in dashcam and saved it, though I can't upload it to this site. I was able to slam on the brakes at the last minute and luckily no one else was around as it could have easily injured someone else and/or damaged my vehicle.

NHTSA complaint #11501971 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.