Table 1 shows one common steering related problems of the 2026 Tesla Model 3.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Steering problems |
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving 65 mph, the steering wheel independently turned to the left and the right. The brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle failed to stop as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle was shaking and uncontrollable. The contact depressed the brake pedal down, unbuckled, the seat belt and opened the door and the vehicle came to a stop. The police was contacted and arrived on the scene. The police removed the vehicle from the roadway onto the shoulder of the road. The contact was advised to tow the vehicle to the dealer. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, but the diagnostic test report was not provided to the contact. The contact was informed that the information was reported to the engineers. The contact was advised to contact the NHTSA hotline to report the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 450.
Car was in self-driving and struck a piece of concrete. The car was in hands free and was being monitored by me, the driver. This obstruction was in the left side of the lane, about 2" tall, a foot wide and 6" across. I thought the car would see it and miss it but I was wrong, it clipped the concrete, punctured the tires side wall and damaged the tire rim. Tesls'a position was that I shouldn't have trusted the car abilities to avoid the obstruction. This is a basic for collision avoidance, and this system should not be allowed to run in self-drive without hands on the wheel unless the car is capable of avoidance of obstructions large enough to disable the car. This car is dangerous if it can operate at freeway speeds, hands free, and not have the ability to avoid obstructions that could cause it to be out of control.
I was using the self driving feature and all of a sudden the steering wheel went haywire and was spinning. The car was swerving very aggressively in between lanes. Putting my foot on the brake and hands on the wheel did not do anything.
On August 26, 2026, at approximately 8:56 am, I entered a public parking garage in washington, DC. Full self-driving (supervised) was engaged and controlling the vehicle during a reversing maneuver. I remained attentive to the vehicle's surroundings, including pedestrians and surrounding traffic. While reversing under fsd (supervised), the vehicle's right rear corner collided with the corner of a stationary structural pillar in the parking garage. I did not command the vehicle to steer into the pillar. Upon becoming aware of the impact, I immediately applied the brake. There were no injuries. The collision resulted in damage to the right rear area of the vehicle. After the incident, I photographed and recorded the scene and vehicle damage and saved the available Tesla dashcam footage. I also requested the vehicle data from Tesla. I am reporting this incident because the vehicle collided with a stationary structure while fsd (supervised) was engaged and controlling the reversing maneuver. I do not know the specific technical cause of the incident. The vehicle and available recorded data can be made available for inspection upon request.
Firstly, we were driving in the center lane on I-84w (three lanes), with full self driving (fsd) at 55 mph. The car veered left on it owns (under fsd) into the center median with the front driver side of the vehicle struck the metal beam guardrail causing both air bags to deploy on the driver and left rear passenger sides. The car continued to move forward in the next 4-6 seconds under fsd (approximately 10-20 feet range) and then came to a complete stop with flashing warning screen asking driver to take over the steering wheel immediately.
I purchased my car on 3/23/26. Since delivery I have noticed that the car bounces at low speeds 20-30mph and the steering wheel vibrates at highway speeds 65 - 80mph. I have had the car to Tesla service center 6 times since March. They have replaced all 4 tires, found and replaced a bent wheel (rim) on the passenger side. Then this last visit they replaced the passenger right wheel hub. They claim that when comparing it to the 1 other car available to road test my car was the same even though it still has the wheel vibration at highway speeds. They claim it falls within specs and is safe. I do not feel this is acceptable because they dont know what else to do. Now if I want them to check the car they say I must pay for any diagnosis and repairs if needed because they say they fixed the car. I do not feel safe driving at highway speeds as I am not sure what may happen which could endanger myself or passengers.
On February 5, 2026, at 12:21 pm pst, my 2026 Tesla Model 3 (hardware 4) collided with a 5-inch wooden pillar while using the autopark feature. The system failed to provide any audio chimes or visual warnings prior to the impact. I officially requested the driving logs from Tesla to investigate the cause of this failure, but Tesla refused to provide any logs or data. Furthermore, Tesla service center technicians insisted there were no hardware defects, effectively confirming that the collision was caused by a software/algorithmic failure of the Tesla vision system to detect a stationary vertical object. Despite Tesla’s claim that the vehicle is "operating as designed," the system's inability to recognize common infrastructure and its failure to warn the driver constitutes a severe safety risk. This defect must be investigated to ensure the safety of the hardware 4 autonomous platform, as the lack of proximity alerts could lead to far more serious accidents involving pedestrians or other obstacles.