Table 1 shows one common other fuel system related problems of the 2018 Tesla Model 3.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Other Fuel System problems |
Tesla failed to properly diagnose a high-voltage battery isolation fault in my 2018 Model 3. Despite safety-critical bms_a027 and bms_a142 faults indicating multiple isolation failures, they skipped required insulation resistance testing, falsely blamed sand in a connector, and charged me $174. 95. After the issue returned, they reversed course, replaced an internal battery contactor, and reduced the $1,173 estimate to $356—admitting fault without owning it. Days later, a diagnostic showed dangerously low isolation resistance (380k?, far below Tesla's 1,000k? safety threshold), yet they took no further action. On July 12, the car again went into limp mode. Tesla’s repeated failure to follow safety protocols, diagnose accurately, and honor warranty obligations has left me with a vehicle in an unsafe state and no corporate accountability. I've contacted their resolutions team three times (7/2, 7/7, 7/10) with zero response.
Power conversion system (pcs) failed doesn’t allow car to charge. Car has only 33k miles on it.
I was at a stoplight behind a Toyota tacoma. I must have stopped around 8 feet behind it. I was not using fsd and I was not one-pedal driving. My foot was on the brake. I must have been at a complete stop for approximately 10 seconds when my Model 3 suddenly accelerated full throttle on its own and rear ended the tacoma, directly hitting its trailer hitch, causing my car's driver-side airbags to deploy. When it happened, the light was still red and my foot was still on the brake. I never touched the accelerator. Luckily I was driving alone. After the inital contact, my car sort of bounced off of his hitch then slowly lurched forward before it stopped. After that, it was immobile, leaving me stuck in traffic until it was towed away.
1. Ptc heater, old part is available for inspection 2. Ptc heater failed while driving, experienced loss of power and slow loss of secondary electrical systems (the 12v battery was not able to recharge itself with the ptc heater not functioning). When attempting to restart car after pulling into a parking lot, the entire car died (12v battery was drained so it couldn't start up) and had to get towed to Tesla service center. Ptc heater is critical for car to operate as it is closely linked to 12v battery. Additionally, without ptc heater car cannot defog windshield, resulting in potentially poor visibility. 3. Dealer replaced the defective part (ptc heater) and had to replace 12v battery as well. Was not covered under warranty and I had to pay the cost out of pocket. 4. Inspected by manufacturer and replaced. 5. Got warning signs about reduced power available, and secondary electrical features were limited.
1. The power conversion system (pcs), still in the vehicle and not available for inspection 2. 2 of the 3 controllers have failed, resulting in limited ac charging (16a out of 48a max). The pcs helps regulate ac and DC electricity and connects the 12v batter to the hv battery. If it fails, it could lead to dangerous situations since the electricity from the hv battery wouldn't be as controlled. I'm worried that if the final controller fails while driving it could lead to a loss of power. 3. Problem throws an error code when charging that the dealer has verified, they will not replace it unless I pay for the part+labor which is roughly $1,800. 4. Vehicle inspected by dealer, they will only fix if I pay for replacement part. 5. Car has warning message when charging.
Salt lake city Tesla service center 801-401-4135 I purchased a 2018 Tesla Model 3 long range awd, VIN 5yj3e1eb7jf070614. The car’s battery and motor drive train units are still within the warranty. On February 7, 2023, the car’s power conversion system (pcs) stopped working spontaneously, without any physical damage caused by the owner. The pcs is required to charge the car. A broken pcs rendered my car essentially unchargeable, thus undriveable, and unusable. The pcs is a critical component required for normal car function. Without a functioning pcs, you have a broken car. This is a safety issue because you can be stranded in the middle of nowhere without the ability to charge and safely extract yourself from inclement weather and environmental exposure. On March 17th, I transported the car all the way from pocatello, the 169 miles to the nearest Tesla service center in salt lake city, ut, at my own expense. On March 19th, the car was diagnosed, and repaired. On March 20th, before paying for the repair, I spoke to the Tesla service center manager because I felt this component failure should have been covered under the warranty because it represents a failure of a critical component. This is a safety risk, as I mentioned above. He expressed sympathy with my situation and said that broken pcs was a known issue in early Tesla Model 3’s. After doing some research, this is indeed the case, with many online complaints about a broken pcs in Tesla Model 3’s. He said he hoped Tesla would some day reconsider, and that a retroactive reimbursement was in the realm of possibility, as has been done in the past for various component failures in Tesla vehicles. Overall, my grievance with Tesla is that a broken pcs is a critical failure of a component required to have a functioning, chargeable car, and it is a component with a known high rate of failure in Tesla Model 3’s. This should be covered by the battery and drive train warranty.
The power conversion system (pcs) failed during driving, disabling the rear motor and regenerative braking. This severely affected the driving characteristics of the vehicle, including top speed, braking profile and handling.
My Tesla Model 3 without any warning stopped working suddenly. I could not put the car in drive and there were error messages about climate control and electrical system. I had to get the car towed to the service center as it was blocking my other car in the driveway. The service center in sunnyvale, CA diagnosed the problem to be a faulty ptc heater and has charged me over $1100 to replace it. I beileve it is quite absurd to have a fault in the hvac system render the whole vehicle completely immobile and useless. This seems like a serious design flaw and it could lead to serious health or safety concerns.
On December 27, 2022, in light evening street traffic, my car accelerated briefly without the accelerator pedal being applied. I took my foot off the accelerator pedal to decelerate for an upcoming red light. While my foot was off the pedal, the car accelerated and lurched forward. The car was towed to the Tesla sacramento service center. The technician incorrectly cited the "creep mode" as being involved. The car was in motion when it unexpectedly accelerated. "creep mode" only engages when the car is close to or fully stopped. Tesla technician was unable to determine an accurate reason for the unexpected acceleration.
I reported charging problems over the last several months to Tesla. You can only report problems via the app. They do not provide a phone number. They tried to fix my charging issue three times and each time said it was fixed. It was not and today I almost ran out of battery on the interstate because it would not charge. Today, after waiting an hour for their roadside service to respond they came and towed it. This is the fourth attempt to fix it.
Originally received notification of dtc "bms_a035 - vehicle may not restart. " vehicle was serviced and the rear motor drive unit was replaced. Was not given the oppertunity to inspect the serviced components upon request. Within 48 hours of service, "bms_a027: power limited, ok to drive," & bms_a170 - (DE)acceleration warning & top speed warning. " my concern is related to a potential cascading problem, which cannot be diagnosed, and which will lead to failure of the propulsion system or an unexpected discharge issue / thermal event from an electrical issue while the vehicle is in use and/or parked.
The power conversion system is failing, this makes charging the car difficult. The charge rate is reduced and charging fails without warning. There is no warning from the vehicle that the part is failing but instead says the power grid is the issue. The issue started while the car was still under warranty, but falsely claimed the problem was with the evse or the wiring to the evse. Had the failure been properly reported rather than being misleading, the vehicle could have been repaired under warranty,.
I needed to back up slightly to make room to get our of a parallel parking position. I pressed the brake and put the car into reverse, pressed the accelerator slightly to back up. I then pressed the brake again and put the car into drive. I then pressed the accelerator slightly to drive off, but the car suddenly accelerated in an uncontrolled manner. I was able to slam on the brakes to prevent an accident. This is not the first time that this type of unintended acceleration has occurred in this vehicle.
The vehicle looses power on the freeway and will continue to slow down despite repeatedly depressing the accelerator and holding it down. The vehicle has been brought in to Tesla and no fix has been found to this date. No warning lights go on and sounds are heard to alert to any problem. I have video of this.
For a growing number of Model 3 owners, components in the hv battery service panel are breaking down, yet Tesla refuses to cover the repair under its battery and drive unit warranty. Specifically, the "power conversion system" (pcs) in that panel is failing, and reducing an ac charge from 48a to 32a to 16a to… zero. If an owner drives to a location to charge from a level 1 or level 2 charger, and the pcs has failed, that owner will be stranded, unable to operate the vehicle. I have submitted a request for mediation to the american arbitration association (case no. 01-22-0001-9026), but I deem it important to not only address the problem in my vehicle, but all the others experiencing this same breakdown. I am thus reporting it to NHTSA, as I purport that a recall is in order. I will attach a more detailed description of my dispute with Tesla, as well as my original purchase agreement with an agreement to arbitrate, and a copy of Tesla's most recent warranties.
Pcs charger (onboard) is failing on numerous early build Model 3 cars (2017-2019). Telsa is claiming that this is not included in battery warranty, however Tesla's own service manual shows this part specifically in the hv battery system. I still have the fault pcs charger in the car, it is limited to 32amps but several forums and webpages state its only a matter of time before I am limited to 16amps the car is unable to charge at a reasonable recovery rate in which you can even use the vehicle for it's intended purchase. Tesla has acknowledge it's failure but is unable to produce actual number of failed units. The warning lamp had been displaying "dirty electrical grid" for quite some time until I was able to search the internet for the exact issue.
My car was parked and was charging in our garage when it suddenly shut off. I got into the car to get something, but noticed the car's computer screen did not light up. I tried to open the glove box and it also would not open. When I tried to open the car door button, it also would not open the door while I was still inside. I got out of the car using the manual car handle and realized the charger would not unplug from the car either. I was very scared that the car was going to burn because the battery was charging at the time and everything suddenly happened. In addition, the backseat doors do not have a manual car handle to open the door. In an event of an emergency and the power shuts off, how are passengers sitting in the backseat going to escape from the vehicle??? the cause was due to a 12v battery malfunction.
Unintended acceleration resulting in a crash with a tree. My car was total. The car was was statioanary waiting to put air in my tire.
This is a complaint about a burned out Tesla Model 3. I have used the VIN of a random wrecked Tesla because the VIN of the car in question is unrecognisable due to fire. . Read more...
On 04/13/2019 the car abrupt stopped in the middle of the road while I drove it along northbond santa rita road in pleasanton CA. . Cars coming from behind had to make urgent braking or lane change to avoid hitting us. My young child was crying in horror, and we have no way to get ourself to safety with the car totally unable to move. We called 911, and local police was dispatch to help other card avoiding hitting us, while we waiting for tow truck to arrive. The car was unresponsive for about 20 minutes, with the display showing messages: "unable to drive, pull over to safety. Car shutting down". The car resumed operational after about 20 minutes, without any noticeable change. I drove the car to nearest service center (pleasanton CA). After a few days, I was contact by the service center stating the car can be picked up, while nothing was done to fix the issue. Their official invoice states: "this is currently scheduled to be fixed in 2019. 20, but the customer can continue driving. If it happens again (seems unlikely), they can just get out of the car and get back in to resume operation. ". I pointed to Tesla service representative that their recommended solution is unacceptable - just like what happened to us already - it would be illegal and unsafe to exit the vehicle if it stops in the middle of highway, with no chance to pull over even to the curb. The Tesla representative brought an engineer to help "explain" the information, when he mentioned that this issue is a known characteristic related to use of cruise control. And the engineer said he would personally be ok to drive the car without using cruise control. I asked if that means the cruise control is not safe, they said it would be my own judgment. I think this is a significant safety hazard Tesla is intentionally ignoring and need thorough investigation.
When driving with the driver assist auto pilot active it's possible to disengage auto pilot but traffic aware cruise control (tacc) remains active. When auto pilot is active the auto pilot system has control of the car including navigation, maintaining the lane, and speed. Speed can be set by the car or driver. In some cases disengaging auto pilot disables tacc , in other cased tacc remains active. A driver may be caught off-guard when the car continues forward at the set speed after disengaging auto pilot. This difference in behavior can surprise a driver and that puts every other driver in the area at risk. Ways to disengage auto pilot : 1) press up on the right-side stalk (also used to engage tacc & auto pilot) on the steering column behind the steering wheel. When pressing up on the stalk auto pilot and tacc are both disabled. 2) step on the brake pedal. Pressing the brake pedal disables both auto pilot and tacc. 3) turn the steering wheel, for example to avoid a road hazard or a vehicle in the car's path. Turning the steering wheel only disables auto pilot functions, tacc remains active. The car continues to move forward at the speed auto pilot was using. The three disengagement methods have similar, but different outcomes. The result is a driver by moving the steering wheel can disengage auto pilot while cruise control remains active. This problem is compounded when considering Tesla's forward collision warning and avoidance has issues with stationary vehicles like those stopped at off ramp traffic lights or in traffic jams (this will be covered in another report). Since cruise control remains active when auto pilot is disengaged by turning the steering wheel is as designed there are no warnings or alerts. Several time I've had to swerve or slam the brakes to avoid contact with other cars and trucks after taking control with the steering wheel while auto pilot was active. This happened several times, date listed in additional details is near first time.
The vehicle was parked. But wouldn't move to gear (drive or reverse). It was giving the message "cannot maintain vehicle power". Had I lost the power while driving, it would have been a clear safety issue.
Power conversion system was defective when car brand new and replaced under 50k mile warranty. Now out of 50k mile warranty and power conversion system is failing again. Manufacturer service center says this item is customer pay and is just a defective item that is out of warranty for the 1-year replacement warranty, and refuses to cover this repair under the battery warranty where the power conversion system is located. Service center states there is nothing the customer did wrong or could do to cause this problem, acknowleges it is a defective part, and insists it is customer pay with no indication of an updated part. What happens when the power conversion system fails is the car is stranded and cannot recharge or operate its safety systems. This should be a recall item if it was updated to a newer part correcting defective design. The manufacturer should replace this high voltage and core functionality of the vehicle under its battery warranty where the part is located. It would be highly dangerous for the vehicle owner to replace this part and requires specialist tools to diagnose and replace or repair.