Table 1 shows one common power train related problems of the 2022 Tesla Model 3.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Power Train problems |
If you are on a hill and you accidently press both the brake an accelerator, the car will fall to neutral and free roll. In whatever direction is downhill. I have big feet. Happened again to me, I bumped the brake pedal (but not enough to apply the brakes to stop) when attempting to pull forwards slowly and my car beeped with the "both pedals detected pressed" alert. And then it free rolled backwards (because I was on an uphill). This will cause an accident because the car is not supposed to free roll backwards when in drive, this is a safety problem. It has been 4 years now, and no action has been taken to adress this software defect. A normal gas car does not do this. If you bump the brake in a normal gas car, it does not free roll in any direction. This is a Tesla software problem that Tesla needs to promptly fix ASAP!!!!!.
The following will happen in drive or reverse. Causing the vehicle to enter a free roll condition. If the vehicle detects both pedals are pressed. The vehicle will then disengage the motors and the brakes. And it will free roll. The vehicle does not successfully maintain stop and hold in this case. I was stopped at a red light and on an uphill. When the light turned green, I bumped the brake pedal when I went to accelerate forward in drive. My car rolled backwards downhill as a result. My instinct was to press the accelerator to try and go forward before I thought to hit the brake. My car rolled about 1. 5 car lengths backwards. Luckily nobody was behind me. This is a safety issue that has existed for the 3 years that I have owned this car. Not once has this been corrected in a software update. This is a serious safety problem and I’m surprised nobody has free rolled into a pedestrian or vehicle because of it. Or if they have, maybe they don’t know that it was caused due to this vehicle behavior. The software needs fixed to prevent free rolling in drive or reverse. Normal gas cars don’t suddenly fall to neutral and free roll all over the place if you bump both pedals. Like wow.
Vehicle suddenly and violently lost power to its front drive units while driving steady on neighborhood street at low speed, <25 mph. Vehicle shuddered to a stop, then put itself in park, rendering it immovable in the middle of the street. Vehicle indicated a critical failure on its screen. Vehicle towed to Tesla service center. Vehicle had front drive unit inverter and pyro fuse replaced. No prior indication or errors before the failure.
The deemed to be totaled/flooded from driving through a rainstorm on 03/09/2024. Luckily the car did not shut off until about 3 hours later of being parked where the rain completely turned off the car. The car was taken to a dealership service center but deemed unable to fix due to the liquid reaching the electrical wires. Tesla insurance has been notified of this incident and as of 2 months later, deemed to take any action besides totaling the car. There has been issues in my service records for this car where water was leaking in and the parts were replaced free of charge but not to this manner. There was no warning or lamps regarding liquid being in the car or anything. Cannot get in touch with anyone at Tesla or Tesla insurance except for Tesla emergency roadside where they were unable to assist or reach anyone from Tesla / Tesla insurance in this manner.
Accelerating with no input braking unsuccessful resulting in running a stop sign across two-way traffic. Vehicle stopped after approx. 100 meters after running the stop sign. I have discussed with Tesla service to run a diagnostic report (not completed at this time). No warnings or error messages. Vehicle resumed normal functional control after. Tested accelerating and braking at the same time gives error message did not present during the incident.
This car has demonstrated repeated incidents of moving/driving backwards when it is set in drive/forward via the steering wheel control. This was first reported to Tesla in December of 22. Their service center responded that they could not identify a cause or propose a repair. They commented that it was an engineering and/or software problem. I provided them with multiple date/time stamps. Videos of the car performing this way. In the interim the car has demonstrated ghost braking at high speed on an empty freeway. A complaint regarding this concern was provided to ntsa and I have not had a response. The car has subsequently repeatedly moved backward when in drive. I also have videos of these occurrences. I returned the car to the service center for these behaviors and was told that there was nothing that could be done. The service center said that I "canceled" my request for servicing, and noted that in the Tesla service files. I did not cancel my appointment. They refused to examine and service the car. We recently experienced the car steering wheel locking and inableing the wheel to be turned right, during a 3 point parking exit. I took the car in and was told that the problem was a "firmware" update problem. The problem of driving in reverse when the car is placed in drive has repeated itself in the past 3 weeks, and I again have videos of this occurrence. This in particular is a dangerous action as it can result in a collision or injury to persons. It is a servo-motor and control problem.
While driving on 4 lane pkwy at 45 mph then slowing down to move into left turning lane, my Model 3 gave warning of "parking brake failure" and stopped working at the same time. This means it slowed down to a stop on its own. I was "manually driving" the vehicle when this occurred. Luckily for me I was able to be in a "slower" left turn lane and I knew where the emergency blinker button was located and turned them on. The vehicle didn't even go into coast mode to allow me to move over to side of road. It just decided to stop where it was at. After reading about Tesla's stopping on their own in traffic and people crashing into them I knew this is a serious problem. Weather was clear, my car and its cameras were clean.
I was manually driving my Tesla Model 3 on the interstate when without warning the car stopped in the middle of the interstate. The entire car locked up and I was unable to turn the wheel or even get it back into gear. I even tried to put on the hazards but the car just completely died. When the vehicle stopped it was at 60% charge on the battery. I sat in panic thinking I was going to get rear ended by the highway traffic. I called for police to come out and cut off traffic. They also had a tow truck company come and tow the vehicle to a local Tesla service center. This was a very dangerous incident because the normally on the interstate vehicles travel at high speeds. I was fortunate that it was rush hour traffic so cars were moving slower than usual and the car behind me was not following closely on my bumper. Tesla indicated that the failure I experience is not normal and that it was just a matter of bad luck that my car stopped like this suddenly. According to them a controller stopped reading in the car so it just shut the car down, but they are not completely sure this was the main problem or if there is another system issue in the vehicle. As well they have not communicated what would cause the computer system to think a controller is missing. Tesla trespassed and delivered the vehicle to my property essentially experimenting with my safety and of others if they identified the issue.
On 3/16/23 at 3:30 pm, my car came to a complete and sudden stop on the highway and would not move. The only warning was a slight lurch the car made a few second prior to shutting down. The car would not restart or go out of park. I sat on the highway waiting to be hit from behind. I was on a bridge with no shoulder. Eventually the IL police arrive to block the lane behind me and use their truck to push me off of the bridge to where I could pull onto the shoulder. The trooper noted that they have had other calls of Tesla stopping in the middle of the highway and locking up. Currently the vehicle is in the Tesla service department and they have provided no diagnosis yet.
Tesla Model 3 dual motor-with autopilot addition to purchase vehicle has repeatedly demonstrated aberrant behavior when in “autopilot” mode. During freeway driving the vehicle has “missensed” lane spacing and unexpectedly attempted to diverge or swerve, exit or turn out of or off of the lane we have been driving in. This has occurred when an offramp or change in the lane definition occurs and is not “regular”. Such as a lane that for some reason is not marked with a normally defined width, or a break in the lines that define the lane. During freeway driving this vehicle has suddenly and for no apparent reason, drastically reduced its set speed during autopilot driving. We were driving in relatively straight, clear and unobstructed lanes on open highway with no traffic obstacles. On multiple occasions our vehicle has accelerated backwards when set in drive. This has occurred when we are backing up to make a 3 point exit up our driveway. After backing up, stopping with our foot on the break, and setting the car in drive, it repeatedly moved backwards. We had to reset the power, on multiple occasions, physically get out and push car forward in neutral to avoid backing into our garage. This concern was reported with video examples to Tesla repair center. We took the car there, they examined it and did not find out why it was doing this. Since it was examined, the car has repeated this behavior. I have not yet reported the repeated incident, as I have 0 confidence that they will solve this concern. I could not upload videos that I have of the car behaving this way.
The seat weight sensors are failing in my 2022 Tesla Model 3 long range. I have been noticing this issue for several months now. I have owned the car since new (February 15, 2022) with 7 miles on the odometer. When I open the drivers door, the car powers up, screen turns on and hvac system activates. When I close the drivers door while sitting in the drivers seat with the car in park and seat belt unfastened, the screen switches off and the hvac system switches off. Only if I move around in the seat or depress the brake pedal does the screen power up and the hvac system activate. I went to the Tesla service facility and they informed me that they are “seeing more seat sensors failing on newer cars” and “not sure how many are failing”. Based on what they observed with my car and my description of the issues they said my seat weight sensor is failing. Also, if I put the car in reverse with the seatbelt unfastened to move the car back a few feet in my garage, the car will sometimes automatically shift to park and display a caution message that “shifted to park to prevent roll away”. The service center informed me that they are replacing failed sensors with the exact same part. 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.
My brand new Model 3 stopped in the far left lane of the highway in camp pendleton this October 7th. There was 139 miles in range left (40% battery), and it clearly was not out of charge. It was towed to Tesla santa monica service center, and the battery slowly drained in the 5 days before it was looked at. Once the Tesla service center looked at the car for the first time on the night of October 11th, the battery had dropped to 5%, and the service center tried to give it back to me after a simple charge. They would not listen to me when I told them it was charged when it stopped on the highway, and something else was wrong. They closed the case and told me to pick up the car. I refused to pick up the car and left it in their service lot. I made a few social media videos on October 13th about this. Tesla saw the videos, and re-looked at my car and found the rear drive unit had to be replaced. If I had not made this video, Tesla never would have found the faulty rear drive unit, and I would have been forced to take back my lemon car. In summary, Tesla tried to give me back an unsafe car after accusing me of causing the breakdown by not charging it. But the rear drive inverter needed to be replaced.
This vehicle has regenerative braking. It used to have an option to reduce the regenerative braking but software updates removed it. During recent snow and ice, when letting off the accelerator pedal the regenerative braking kicks in and causes the vehicle to become unstable. If regenerative braking had a low setting this could prevent the vehicle from becoming unstable on snow and ice every time the accelerator pedal is let go. It is very un-nerving driving like this.