64 problems related to seats have been reported for the 2018 Tesla Model 3. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2018 Tesla Model 3 based on all problems reported for the 2018 Model 3.
Driving a 2018 Tesla Model 3, driver seat shows message "front left safety restraint system issue. Service is required". This occurs when the driver is in the seat with the seat belt fastened and the vehicle is in motion. This issue refers to the possible seat belt, seats and/or air bags failure. This is a threat for drivers as these are the front line of defence in case of any collisions or accidents. This issue has been reported by multiple Tesla car drivers and their posts are available on online forums. Message appears on the Tesla screen driven. Tesla does not cover this out of warranty. My appeal to nhsta is this is hazardous to drivers and cars should be recalled and repairs should be covered.
This message has been intermittent and looking online has happened a lot for this model. The front passenger restraint system is critical for passenger safety, this should be a recall. Concern: customer states:alerts - seats - front passenger safety restraint system issue/service is required detected August 16, 2025.
A sensor for the driver side safety restraint system was displayed from the vehicles screen. Potentially loose wires under the seat when manufactured.
Rcm_a021 front left safety restraint system fault error.
Vehicle is displaying an error message "front passenger safety restraint system fault" and "front passenger safety restraint system fault. Service is required. " this has the result of "the restraint system may not function as designed. " according to an internet search, this is a very common fault, caused by "interference" and necessitates an occupancy sensor, wiring harness and airbag module exchange.
Tesla is aware of a common regarding an occupancy sensor in the passenger seat of their vehicles that impacts functionality of airbags and the restraint system. The error code is rcm_a056. A simple search of the code will show a myriad of ongoing issues with their vehicles.
Concern: I see the error message on my screen like restraint system fault require service. When I contacted Tesla for sevice repair I got an estimate which includes following fixes for a charge of 1,804. 02. They are not covering for this saying the car is out of warranty. Seems like Tesla is aware of this issue and impacting many other Tesla's for 1) first row seat harness assembly - right hand(1489060- 03-g) 2) first row - seat belt reminder sensor box clip(1130363-00-b) 3)correction: replace front passenger airbag and update vehicle configuration - remove and replace.
Got warning about front drivers safety restraint failure on screen. Airbag warning began to display on the side showing if an accident occurred, they would not deploy. Talked with Tesla representatives and was told this is a known issue but would not be covered. Seems to be faulty wiring from chair moving over time based on what I was able to read. Error code was rcm_a021.
Rcm_a021 front left safety restraint system fault rcm_a056 front passenger safety restraint system fault I have been noticing this error on my Tesla Model 3. Also, I researched on it and found out numerous people are having same problem. So, since it’s safety related issue there should be recall to fix it.
I randomly received an alert indicating “front passenger safety restraint system fault” on my Tesla’s display. When I look this up, it indicates that the airbag may not deploy correctly in the event of an accident due to a seat sensor malfunction. When I contacted the service center, they quoted me at $1500 to repair this critical safety issue (involves replacing the seat sensor and reconfiguring airbags so that they will properly deploy). I believe this should be a recall and not something customers have to pay out of pocket to drive their car safely.
Occupant classification system (OCS) for front passenger seat kept alerting while driving both with and without any person or object in the seat. I contacted Tesla service center and they stated that the occupant classification system (OCS) and the front passenger airbag require replacement, otherwise the front passenger airbags will not function properly in a collision. I asked if this was a recall or covered by warranty, and they said no.
I started getting this alert on my screen a few weeks ago: rcm_a056 "front passenger safety restraint system fault" service required. Tesla says the warranty only covered this issue up to 60,000 miles and I'm at 61,000. They are quoting like $2,000 to fix. They say they have to change something in the seat (sensor) and change the air bag since new sensor is not compatible with old airbag. Looked up issue and it seems to be common happening at before and after warranty for a lot of people. I see different quotes from $500 to $2000 (mine was the highest). This should be a safety recall. I do not suspect too many people getting this fixed on their own their due to the expense.
Getting a "front left safety restraint fault" warning when moving the driver seat. . . Is a known issue in Tesla forums where the seat wiring harness is not secured properly and either a wire is crimped by the seat mechanicals or a wiring harness is pulled loose. . .
Received an alert about front seat safety restraint system fault. Decided to see what was needed for the fix and address my other trunk harness recall. Received invoice stating the airbag needed to be replaced along with $1900 quote. Knowing this info, if this doesn’t get fix the safety of my passengers are at risk so now I definitely can’t have any passengers. Not sure how I should be responsible for a safety seat airbag sensor defect.
Started receiving error rcm_a056 front passenger safety restraint system fault. The vehicle shows that the passenger airbags are disabled after the alert is issued. I am working under the assumption that all passenger airbags (front, side, overhead) are currently disabled at all times. This puts my family at risk if there were to be a collision. Tesla seems to know exactly what the problem is because the estimate came back shortly with a list of fixes required at a cost of $1,768. 35 to 1) correction: install an occupant classification system (OCS) filter module, 2) correction: retrofit sbr in OCS equipped front passenger seat - remove and replace, and 3) correction: replace front passenger airbag and update vehicle configuration - remove and replace. Quick internet search shows this is a systemic problem with a bad part (Tesla forums and search your own databases for the past year or so. . . These are the people who know to report this to you, there are probably a lot of others). I'm 6 months out of warranty for a sensor that should not have wear and tear. Furthermore a retrofit demonstrates that they are replacing a known problem part. Additionally, there is no rational reason to replace a perfectly good airbag. Replacing the airbag because it is incompatible with a retrofit sensor should be free. Retrofitting a sensor that has a known problem should not be a cost to the consumer for a part that is not subject to wear and tear. Adding a filter to a sensor line shows that the sensor is not an appropriate part or the filter should have been added to start with in original manufacturing. Note Tesla has a procedure already out to address the problem sb-23-20-002 which shows they already know it is a problem that needs to be addressed when the sensor failure shows up. Recommend and request an investigation into whether there is a lower cost fix for what seems like a known problem or require a recall to repair to a safe state.
My 2018 Model 3 started giving me the error "rcm_a056_passengerfrontocs" today. This is caused by a faulty passenger occupancy weight sensor. This has been an ongoing issue in these models evidenced by sb-23-20-002 being revised 6 times. Tesla has resisted fixing this safety issue because the air bag also needs to be replaced to maintain compatibility with the redesigned occupant classification system (OCS) weight sensor evidenced in Tesla sb-23-20-001. Tesla has redesigned the known bad sensor part no. Part 1121234-70-b with an updated part no. 099592-00-f which is only compatible with an updated airbag. The OCS weight sensor was defective from the point of manufacture. The rcm_a056 error only appeared after applying the latest firmware update that addresses NHTSA recall 24v-376. The firmware update made the firmware more sensitive to analog sensor readings which revealed the originally defective OCS weight sensor triggering the error message. Nearly half of the recent NHTSA complaints for this model involve this exact issue. This OCS hardware sensor was always defective and poses an ongoing safety concern. The defective system never should have been approved as it did not function as intended originally. The NHTSA must issue a new recall that covers the defective hardware instead of just the software as in NHTSA recall 24v-376. Without corrected hardware the OCS system will not work as intended which is allowing the airbags to prevent injury and death in the event of collision. Https://static. Nhtsa. Gov/odi/rcl/2024/rclrpt-24v376-9242. . Read more...
Front passenger safety restraint system fault. From invoice: Tesla to replace front passenger airbag and update vehicle configuration passenger airbag error malfunction!!! passenger airbag harness malfunction!!! correction: retrofit sbr in OCS equipped front passenger seat - remove and replace seatbelt issue!!! first row seat harness assembly - right hand first row - seat belt reminder sensor box clip first row occupancy sensor giving an error and now they are charging me to fix this defect in my Tesla Model 3.
Keep getting a safety restraint system fault error displayed and the estimate is more than $2000. This error just came out of the blue and I am not sure if the vehicle is safe to operate.
The car issued me a "front left safety restraint system fault" saying service is required. The code it flashed was rcm_a021. I am able to get the code to go away by adjusting the seat, however, if I shift my weight or I hit a bump in the road, the warning will appear once again. This leads me to believe that there is a component in the seat that is defective. I took vehicle to the Tesla service center where they found a "broken wire in the pretensioner connector" and they replaced the wiring harness. Upon doing investigation it appears that there are multiple components that are used to determine the firing intensity of the airbags should they go off. If either are damaged the airbags will not fire correctly. Some of these components can be easily damaged due to the seats constant back/forth motion if the easy entry mode is enabled on the car. As the car was outside the warranty period, Tesla refused to cover the costs for repair even though there was a TSB (technical service bulletin) already out on this same issue (reference sb-21-17-005). Total cost for repair including parts, labor and tax was $631. 10.
The buttons in the interior seem to be degrading much quicker than it should be. The window levers become lose and can break off. This is a safety hazard as in not able to raise the window if it allows to lower it. One has to park in order to raise windows in the mobile application. The plastics are breaking too quickly. There is also an issue with levers for the seat adjusting. Also, when canceling service requests in their application, Tesla deletes or hides them without an ability to see what was written to show proof later of their faults.
Passenger airbag and seat are faulty. Received error message on my car “front passenger safety restraint system faulty”. Tesla is wanting to replace the airbag and passenger seat and seat belt and it will cost few thousands dollars.
A defect in manufacturing causes the seat sensor (in this case: passenger) connection to fail. The connection has no retaining clip and falls out. This disables the airbag deployment calculations. Error code: rcm_a056 telsa wants to replace seat and calibrate airbag at consumer's cost, quoted ~$1500 I've pushed the connector back in several times over the past few years, one day it's going to hurt someone.
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.
Front passenger seat restraint safety system fault. My car only has 40,000 miles is out of warranty. $2200+ estimate from Tesla. This safety issue happens often according to Tesla owner sites.
Experienced safety restraint system failure on all four seats. Had them all fixed for ~$2,000. Front passenger restraint failed again next month. Know. Issue among the message boards online. Investigation into number of these repairs is likely merited.
While driving normally, an error warning was received that stated "front left safety restraint system error" and the icon for an airbag fault would come in simultaneously. This error would disappear and reappear, sometimes up to 10 times per minute, creating a driver distraction due to the loud error chime. The error code identified for the fault when checked on the Tesla service screen corresponded to pretensioner wire harness. The pretensioner harness connects the seat sensors for driver weight and positioning to the car's airbag control system, which then classifies passengers and ensures that the airbags fire correctly in the event of a collision. For example, if a smaller female driver was operating the car but was incorrectly classified as male, the airbag could fire with excessive force and cause injury. The set of symptoms occurs commonly in Tesla Model 3s and are caused by the wear over time of a poorly designed wiring harness, which chafes as the seat is moved forward and backward until it breaks. This is a known problem by Tesla and they have a specific service bulletin designed to address it, which I have attached below. When taken in to address the issue, Tesla performed the procedure in the attached bulletin and identified a damaged harness, which was subsequently replaced. I retained the damaged harness for inspection. The invoice for this service is attached. No other defects were identified that could have caused the issue. This is a safety related issue occurring due to a manufacturing related defect and should be a mandatory recall with complimentary repair.
Front passenger OCS errors - Tesla work quote (via Tesla service bulletin, not recall) is to replace the OCS system & front airbag - totaling $1,200 for the repair. This is extremely common error code for Tesla's "front passenger safety restraint system fault".
I purchased the car new in 2018. About two years into owning there would be a random notification about an "rcm_a036 : passenger safety restraint system fault". I reported and was told that the seat occupancy sensor was responding to noise from my cell phone. I stopped putting the cell phone on the seat, it kept happening with increasing frequency in 2021 and 2022 and I reported it two more times and was told to keep charging cables away from the seat, and then in 2021, they added a noise filter. I was told repeatedly that the fault was caused by noise and was not a real issue. The alert occurred with increasing occurrence and today I took it in and Tesla charged $1533. 16 to replace the airbag and the occupancy sensor. I thought it was unsafe for Tesla to tell me the issue is a noise-related issue when it was related to the airbag and to tell me that the issue was not actually a real fault when both the OCS sensor and the airbag needed to be replaced. I think it's absurd to have a car 6 years old with 66,530 miles have to have an airbag replaced. I thought Tesla's comments about noise were disingenuous attempts to put off the repair until after the car was out of warranty.
I'm getting an error for "safety restraint system fault" on my Tesla Model 3. When I booked a service appointment it turns out they are wanting to charge $1,955. 11 for replacing the occupant classification system (OCS) of the front passenger, updating the front passenger airbag, and installing a OCS filter module. This seems to be safety related and should be part of a recall. I have seen similar reports from other drivers on reddit.
Get an error message - front passenger safety restraint system fault. - this is front passenger safety issue - this can put the front passenger to serious risk to injury or death - this message does not go away & Tesla acknowledges they need to fix it - its not been inspected by police or insurance reps - yes there is a warning message as noted above Tesla is failing to admit its their fault. They are giving me a quote of $2300 to fix this issue which I believe is a safety issue that Tesla did not manufacture properly leading to this issue. Please see the attached quote from Tesla - they need to "update front passenger airbag to maintain compatibility with front passenger seat" and many other related fixes to get rid of this issue. Tesla should be recalling vehicles for this safety issue!.
Front passenger safety restraint system fault message due to workers not torquing the seat belts into place correctly or properly verifying specs during build.
My bluetooth has not been connecting in my car. To preface this, my car was in twice this year alone, with a near $3000 bill, to replace the mcu, on a car with only 26k miles. Now this bluetooth connection issue is still a problem. After opening a service ticket with Tesla, I am told for an additional $180, I would need to replace my seat sensor. This means my seat (while I am driving) does not recognize that someone is on it and driving. My concern is the manufacturer remedy does not replace failed parts with improved design and that this has the potential to cause other safety issues if occupant detection compromised by faulty sensors. What if I am in an accident and the airbags don't deploy?.
There is an ongoing issue with Tesla's seat sensors that give an error screen while driving. Tesla seems to be systematically charging a standard $1. 5k repair to replace a $100 sensor harness, but they're charging so much because they claim an airbag replacement is required (for an extra $1. 2k) as part of the new sensor/wire harness installation. From a quick google search, it seems this is a pretty widespread issue that many Model 3/y owners are encountering as their car ages-- with many noting that they were able to self-service the issue with buying the required harness and replacing it themselves. I wanted to bring awareness that to this issue and Tesla's poor and systematic way of overcharging customers to fix a widespread defect in their car seat design.
We intermittantly received alerts on the screen showing "front safety restraint system fault (service is required). " after many hours of research, we found that other owners also have the same issue and they found that a wire from a electrical connector that connected to the seatbelt pretentension was broken from the seat being moved up and down.
My car went out of warranty for seat related issues in December of this past year 2023. I don't even have 26k miles on my car therefore not a heavy driver. This week I experienced an error rcm_a021, front left safety restraint system fault, which I've researched has affected many others and appears to clearly be a safety flaw. The service team mentioned this isn't covered. My airbag light doesn't go off and is constantly on, my seats no longer save the seat setting (which occurred a couple of months ago but I didn't think about it). This is a safety hazard should I get into an accident. There were no previous warning issues prior to this warning error which occurred this week. According to Tesla, if the airbag light remains lit, schedule a service appointment immediately and do not drive. The service team mentioned the seat harness is faulty remotely and according to what they can see. I have not had them look visually yet though. They do not cover the repair for this as it's out of warranty. There's even a bulletin posted on this issue/repair by NHTSA therefore is known problem. Https://static. Nhtsa. Gov/odi/tsbs/2019/mc-10169819-9999. Pdf I'm unable to upload any files.