Body problems of the 2018 Tesla Model 3 - part 1

Hello, I have a Tesla Model 3 that I bought back in 2018 . On [xxx] when I sliced my finger while opening the door, because the chrome coating on the door handle started peeling. The cut was very deep ( see attached pictures). I contacted Tesla for resolution and they said that the car is not under warranty and I have to pay $340 for each handle to replace them. Apparently the peeling chrome happened to many other Tesla 3 owners and the company is aware of it and they told me that it might be caused by the car washing detergent (?!!) I think it was a defective design and the peeling chrome coating is a major health hazard. The child cand slice their fingers and if person has a bleeding issues and cut themselves while on the road it can be bad. I think it should be treated as a recall for bad design and should be fixed for free. I lost couple of days of work since I work in the operating room and my finger was severely cut. I will wait for your response, thank you, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I took my car in to Tesla to have the tires replaced, during the service appointment my frunk was opened and closed by the technicians. Within ten miles of leaving the dealership my hood/frunk flew open and broke my windshield and frunk hood.

The 2018 Tesla Model 3 has no manual release for rear passenger doors. Rear doors often fail to open due to door panel alignment or actuator for door. Doors will feel like they are opening but will be stuck. Passenger will be unable to exit the rear of the vehicle incase of fire, power loss or due to an accident with no ability to exit the rear of the vehicle.

There are 2 separate issues with our door handles. The first issue is that they are slow to retract, and in the cold, the often remain in an open position. This has happened numerous times over this winter when my child gets in her car booster. The second issue relates to the method in which Tesla adhered the chrome to the handles. There is a small seam on the bottom of the handle that peals off, this results in a very sharp metallic layer on the handle. I have now sliced my hand twice on this handle. (I’ve scheduled Tesla to replace this handle. Unfortunately this is coming at a cost to me as the consumer.

The rear bumper fell off on 2/1/2024 on the exit 27 off ramp of the 405 north bound for lakewood blvd toward long beach airport when driving in the rain through a puddle of water. It’s a serious safety hazard for the Model 3 and the cars behind. This is a widely reported known design flaw, but Tesla refused to cover the repair cost.

The driver's side rear door handle is defective. The chrome wrap around the door handle is I believe aluminum that does not adhere properly to the plastic handle, resulting in the wrap coming loose and have caused cuts to the fingers of unaware passengers. Tesla has requested $350 to fix what is an obvious safety hazard. Others are discussing this online: [xxx] [xxx] the online reports always call out that it's the same door - rear driver's side - indicating to me an installation flaw. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Vehicle will randomly lock various doors and not allow them to be opened from the outside unless they are first opened from the inside and then the car will allow the extrnal handle to be used to open the door. This has happened on the passenger side front and rear and on the driver side rear door.

Car speed control malfunctioned. There was a sudden acceleration when car was below 10 miles in the parking lot. The driver lost control on braking and car keep accelerating even no force was applied to pedal. Dribe had to steer out of parking lot and crash through a wood en fence on next door neighbor. Car still keep going thru front yard of two houses cross the street and eventually hit a concrete barrier on front porch of the house. Several parts breakoff underneath the car , fluid leaked and all wheels are severely damage. Severy damage to front body side of the of the car and battery system , has occurred . There was near miss body injury to pedestrians in the area and neighbor hood. No physical injury was reported at the time of accident. But driver reported psychologycal distress. Currently car is towed away per instruction from insurance company for evaluation. Police report case# 23021162 north brunswick pd 710 hermann road north brunswick, NJ 08902.

Auto was in reverse and moved backwards while rear rt side door was open causing damage to another auto parked alongside. Shouldn't the auto not move in gear when a door is open and unlatched ? the auto can move forward or back with any door that remains open. I thought this would be a safety issue.

Read passenger subframe bolt fell out while driving. The subframe of my vehicle and the mounting plate had a 3 inch gap between it. It made the rear end shake and loose control at speed. Tesla refused to give me torque specs twice. I was able to find service manual online and re-torque it. There was no locktite on the bolt. There was no warning, just a metal clanking noise and then the vehicle became dangerous to drive.

Rear left exterior door handle. Peeling chrome plating on the under side of handle creates a sharp ragged edge that cuts fingers. The ragged edge also prevents the handle from retracting completely into the door, which may affect secure closure of the door. Reported to Tesla, who declined to cover the repair and sent me an estimate of $270 for parts and labor to replace the door handle.

I was driving the car about 35-40 mph when I heard a popping sound. The steering immediately locked up and the car was undrivable and unsteerable. I looked around car and the body of the car was resting on top of the front right passenger side tire. A bolt was found underneath the car. There were no vehicle system warnings, I did not hit anything, nor has the car been in any accidents. The car could not even be put into neutral or moved out of the 4 lane road. I contacted police and tow truck who said swing arm had failed. I had four children in the car who could have been seriously or fatally injured. Tesla has been contacted but said it isnt their problem or a manufacturing problem although there is lots of reports on internet and they have issued a recall for this very problem on other models. I am very concerned about this safety issue that needs to be addressed since it is potentially very dangerous.

The front undercarriage/ aero tray on my Model 3 started to tear apart after driving in the rain on the freeway. This is a part of the existing sb-19-12-001 Tesla service bulletin. While driving on the freeway on a rainy day in los angeles, I heard the undercarriage tray start dragging on the freeway. Did not hit or run over any objects to cause the tray to rip. Contacted Tesla and showed Tesla several photos along with the service bulletin affecting 2017-2018 Model 3’s which my Model 3 is a August 2018 build and Tesla did not want to honor the service bulletin and they wanted to charge me $441 for replacing both front and back aero trays. This needs to be reported that Tesla service centers are not honoring service bulletins about defective parts. This can be a safety issue, if the part we’re to rip off and hit another car and cause an accident, it can be avoided if Tesla honors the service bulletin.

My vehicle, was parked and pulled out of the parking lot on a doing a complete left steering turn, couple of nuts&bolts carrying the vehicle control arm fell to the ground and the entire control arm disengaged out of the shafts. This could have been very fatal, if my family or me were riding the car. Tesla was trying to tell me that saying that, this is caused due to a high impact etc, not doing wheel alignment etc. And they want to charge me $3561+ to fix this shaft to put back the nuts and bolts that fell off from the car.

Rear under carriage shield gets pulled off under normal driving conditions and rips off the bumper cover and rear wheel wells.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that the vehicle had begun swaying while driving approximately 60 mph. Additionally, the contact noticed a creaking noise coming from underneath the vehicle. The contact pulled into a parking lot and the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact noticed that the control arm had detached. The vehicle was towed to the dealer but was not yet diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer and dealer were informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 33,000.

The steering system failed. I'm not sure about the availability for inspection. My safety was put at risk when my car collided with another car. I had just pulled out of my driveway and turned to go down the street a short distance from a stop sign where I would turn left. From a video taken by one of the car's cameras, the car went to the left side of the street and started toward the intersection where the car hit another vehicle. I have driven to the intersection numerous times. There is no way that I would have pulled toward the left side of the street. I believe that something in the steering system malfunctioned. This put me and other drivers on the road at risk. I don't know if the the problem has reproduced. There was a policeman at the site, but he would not inspect the vehicle for a malfunction. My insurance company must have inspected the car as they called today to inform me that the car is totaled. The failure happened so quickly, that I had no warning.

The 12v auxiliary battery failed around 6:45pm pst on Aug. 8, 2021, causing the car to be unresponsive - Tesla acknowledged this. There was no warning prior to the battery failure. The driver (my wife) was trapped in the car because the electronic door latch would not open and the windows would not retract. My wife was panicked, crying and kicking at the window. I had to break the window to get her out. Tesla replaced the 12v battery as an item under warranty. They believe that I/we should have know about the manual door release to avoid breaking the window. This manual release is unmarked and inconspicuous. Tesla claims that the manual door release is described in the car's user manual; however, the car's user manual is electronic (no hard copy provided) and was not accessible because the car was unresponsive. The user manual can only be accessed from the car's display screen. There is no telephone number to call a Tesla representative and no way to access the user manual via the iphone application. I had no choice but to break the window. Tesla is aware that their 12v batteries are failing prematurely and are not doing anything to prevent drivers from being trapped inside vehicles. The tow truck driver said he picked up four Tesla cars on Aug 9th for the same battery issue. I spoke to multiple other Tesla owners and none were aware of the manual door release. This includes one of my neighbors who received his Tesla a few months ago. It was not explained during the delivery process. The driver must rely on an electronic user's manual that can only be accessed when the car is operational. The faulty battery creates a condition that renders the car non-operational, so the contents of the user manual are irrelevant. Furthermore, the unmarked door release is an insufficient safety feature. Airplanes, buses, trains all have emergency exits marked. Apparently Tesla chose not to do this. Tesla created an unsafe situation where people can be trapped.

On may 28, 2021 I took my Tesla Model 3 in to have the undercarriage replaced after it came into contact with water and started to separate from the car. Tesla replaced both the front and rear aero shield panels under warranty. I was told this should not happen again as this part is an upgraded version from the original part. Seven days later, the same issue occurred where the part began to separate from the vehicle. This is a potential safety hazard for other drivers if it is not observed to be separating, it can fall off completely and become a flying object or road debris causing an accident for others.

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.

I was in bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway about to change lanes. I was on totally manual operation. The car suddenly accelerated and hit a car and continued with my foot on the brake to hit another car. There was no collision damage warning or avoidance automatically stopping the car.

Our car caught fire sitting in the driveway of my house. This happened around 4am in jan9, security footage from neighbors has been handed over to fd and Tesla engineering team. The last trip was 10 hours prior to parking the car. We are lucky it was not in the garage or charging, the damage could have been more than a few broken windows, as soon as we saw the fire we called the fd, they put out the fire within 15 minutes.

Vehicle was in motion, driving at a slower speed driving on a city road through a minimal amount of standing water when the the bumper cover forcibly ripped off after tearing brackets and the undercarriage and wheel-well panels.

Fiber panel extending from rear bumper under vehicle forward to the battery pack deforms after becoming wet and rips apart. This panel can come out from under the car while driving at high speed and cause driver behind to swerve to avoid the large panel and have an accident. Water accumulates in panel from rain and puddles and lowers it into the wind stream and then it becomes ripped and can be torn loose.

Vehicle undercarriage panel aero shield falls off in heavy rain.

My Tesla when on autopilot on a freeway running less than 5 mph due to traffic was right behind a big truck and the car never stopped and bumped into the truck. An attempt to brake manually was done but the autopilot wouldnt deactivate and give us back the control to stop the car. I have a video from my front cam with the incident. I was lucky my car was not driving at a higher speed if the same incdent could happen as like may others who got killed.

On January 10, 2020 approximately 09:30 am, when in a parking garage I stopped the car and went to put it into reverse to back into a stall when the car accelerated forward impacting a pillar when I looked down the car was in neutral and the hazard lights were on. I contacted my insurance and it was deemed 'at fault' repairs to be determined.

Front windshield has propagating crack starting on upper right side of window extending down and to the drivers side. Finding that it is common with the Tesla vehicles on the internet search. Feel defect in or glass is too thin and can't take the flexing of the frame of the car. Crack started while driving without any outside assault.

Driving on highway 10 lake city to jacksonville FL, suddenly heavy rain caused car to skid driving in autopilot mode at 70mph , the road changed from asphalt to concrete and car could not handle that change , car went into hydroplan/skid mode with 15 snake lapses before I could bring it to rest on shoulder , we were lucky to have survived as a semi truck was just 20 seconds behind us. The car even after halting accerelated on its own causing another small burst of skidding. . To add to the woes - the auomated wipers on this car are too slow , sudden rain pour on windshield cause lack of visibility and to turn the wipers to full mode , it takes 3-4 swipes on cars computer , which during crucial moments is a very bad design and can cause unitended accidents.

My Tesla didn't stop when I applied the brakes, I had a clear distance space between my car and the car I rear ended, any other car would have stopped when you apply the brakes but I think I felt like my car accelerated even I applied the brakes and never stopped. I would sincerely want you to investigate further my case as it could be dangerous for other cars outside when the car behaves this way. I did let Tesla know about what happened and they are yet to get back to me with the details of their findings!.

The car accelerated suddenly on autopilot causing the car skid and fall into a ditch oat 80 mph in utah. The damage was to the body but the accident could have been worse as it almost went into the other lane.

Aeb system does not function at low speeds reliably. Car was traveling at 12mph and car was stopped in front of my car. Car made no alerts or no attempt to stop the vehicle from a rear end collision which ultimately resulted in damage to my front end. I never know when the system will or wont work and have no confidence in it.

Parking car with foot on brake,when the car lunged foreword into parked cars, damaging my car and two other cars parked in front of me.

I was involved in a car crash with the autopilot activated. The autopilot has a flaw where it cannot detect when a large vehicle like an 18 wheeler or cement truck in merging into the lane. It sees a large gap and while the front part of the vehicle is slowly snaking into the lane it starts to accelerate. I hit the side of a cement truck and had 8k in damages. I reached out to Tesla without any response.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. While driving 25 mph in the rain, the contact heard an abnormal noise. The contact pulled over and noticed that the rear bumper and rear wheel hubcap on the passenger side had fallen off. The contact called the manufacturer who stated that the failure was due to an act of god and they would charge for towing the vehicle to a certified collision center. The contact called her insurance company and the vehicle had been at the certified collision center for over a week. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer reiterated that an outside influence caused the parts to fall off and they would not pay for the repairs. The contact wanted the manufacturer to cover the costs with the initial warranty since the vehicle was just purchased in July of 2018. The contact suspected that the parts being used were of inferior quality. The dealer was not contacted. The failure mileage was unknown.