Tesla Model 3 owners have reported 69 other fuel system related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common other fuel system problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's other fuel system (69 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Other Fuel System problems |
My 2022 Tesla Model 3 experienced a heat pump compressor failure at approximately 89,457 miles. Tesla service center diagnosed an internal failure in the heat pump system. The heat pump system controls cabin heating, windshield defrosting, and thermal management for the vehicle. When the system failed, the vehicle lost heating and proper defrost capability. This can impair windshield visibility during cold or foggy conditions, creating a potential safety hazard while driving. Tesla quoted approximately $3,000 to repair the compressor and declined warranty assistance despite the system being critical to safe vehicle operation.
The vehicle is undriveable due to a high?voltage enable safety lockout triggered by ecu identity/mac mismatch after a software/update window; local service instructed me to ‘safely disregard’ active safety alerts contrary to vehicle telemetry, creating a safety risk. Chronology (key timestamps) • Jan 28, 2026 — low?voltage undervoltage precondition recorded (dif_a018). • Feb 2nd, 2026 — low?voltage undervoltage precondition recorded (dif_a018). • Feb 03, 2026 08:46 — identity/mac invalidation alerts (cp_a089 / cp_a077); hv?enable blocked cascade. • Feb 24, 2026 — service app: estimate approval prompt; supervisor instruction to ‘safely disregard’ active hv alerts captured via screenshot. • Feb 27, 2026 — persistent handshake stall (cp_a066, state b1) despite ‘successful’ software job and new firmware update to patch the 2026. 2 tree branch software. Vehicle remains grounded. Safety concern vehicle telemetry states hv contactors are blocked to protect the vehicle; service staff advised to disregard active alerts. Inconsistent guidance risks unsafe operation. I grounded the vehicle pending engineering review. Troubleshooting and a/b tests my home evses successfully charge a different Tesla (model y). The subject VIN charges at DC fast charging (supercharger) and once on a third?party evse, but fails on my two home evses thereafter. This localizes the issue to vehicle?side ac charge path/charge?port logic rather than the evse. Request oem to provide cp waveform under load + toolbox logs. Please log this safety?related defect; aggregate with similar complaints, and, if appropriate, open an investigation into identity/integrity faults causing hv?enable lockouts and conflicting service guidance.
Screen is black and no app access. No power to accelerate.
After the high voltage battery contactor recall service, my 2025 Tesla Model 3 performance suffered a sudden 13% drop in range (from 303mi to 264mi at 100% charge). An official Tesla battery health test confirms the battery health is at 92% in less than a year of ownership. This degradation happened immediately following the recall procedure, indicating a hardware or software defect caused by the service.
I have been very cautious on charging my Tesla Model 3 and have followed all of the manufacturer's recommendations. The hv battery recently failed at 105,050 miles. South korea has noted a battery reliability issue for this year car and model, so I am reporting this to you so if a recall is needed, you can track this. I believe my battery is a panasonic nca.
Component: battery and charging system summary: 2023 Tesla Model 3 long range lost 15% battery capacity (345?300 miles) in 2 months at 9,816 miles. Comparison vehicle shows this is a defect, not normal wear. Description: vehicle: 2023 Tesla Model 3 long range, VIN: [insert VIN], 9,816 miles defect: between September 2025 and November 2025, displayed range at 100% charge dropped from 345 miles to 300 miles—a 15% loss in just 2 months. Evidence this is a defect: I own a second 2023 Model 3 (base model) with 66,680 miles that only dropped from 272?260 miles (4. 4% loss). The long range with 7x fewer miles has 3x more degradation, indicating a battery pack defect. Service refusal: Tesla service ran “range analysis” but refuses to test battery capacity or check for dead cells. Only provided scripted responses about epa vs real-world driving, which doesn’t explain why my high-mileage vehicle has healthier batteries. Safety concern: rapid cell degradation may indicate failing cells, thermal management defect, or fire risk. Unpredictable range loss creates stranding risk. Request: investigate 2023 Model 3 lr battery packs for systemic defects. Require Tesla to perform cell-level diagnostics and replace defective packs. Documentation available upon request.
Tesla suddenly lost power without any warning or a chance to move to safer area. Had to call 911. Incident around 5pm oct 23rd 2025 at intersection of e pennsylvania Ave and wallace rd, dowingtown, PA.
I pulled up to a red light in a protected left turn lane. My car is set to use regenerative braking and hold/not roll once stopped. I felt my car roll forward a bit, which shouldn't happen when these settings are on. I quickly checked my rearview mirror, assuming someone had hit me from behind to cause me to roll forward. No one was behind me. I hit my brake and the car suddenly accelerated at full throttle speed, I would guess, into the intersection, despite the light being red for me. I quickly glanced down at my foot to confirm that it was on the brake pedal and it definitely was. I continued to repeatedly push the brake pedal down to no avail. I was steering and tried to navigate my way through 4 lanes of moving traffic because they had a green light. I hit the front end of a car, which didn't slow my car at all. I went on to hit another car's front end, which didn't slow my car at all either. My car then charged out of control to hit the curb on the opposite side of the street facing traffic. Hitting the curb stopped my car finally. I noticed that the airbags on the right side of my car were deployed. Components that failed/malfunctioned: brakes, fuel/propulsion system, speed control, automatic emergency braking, collision warning/avoidance, traffic signal detection Tesla insurance has deemed the car a total loss. I also reported the malfunction to their vehicle support but haven't gotten the report or the data report from the car that I requested yet. I was told that the report would be complete by 8/7/25. The car was placed on a hold for the investigation, so it should be available for inspection. I do have the dashcam videos and photos of my car, if needed. This incident was terrifying because I had zero control of my vehicle due to the sudden unintended acceleration (sua). I see on the internet that sua is a problem with Tesla that has been reported repeatedly. It is a miracle that no one was hurt or killed. Tesla needs to address this immediately!.
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.
En primer lugar decir que el VIN utilizado ES completamente aleatorio. Esta notificación está dirigida para todos los fabricantes DE vehículos eléctricos y fabricantes DE baterías. Actualmente los diferentes medios DE comunicación y redes sociales no paran DE reportar incendios en las baterías DE los vehículos eléctricos, con el peligro que esto representa para personas y bienes colindantes. Estos incendios están producidos en gran medida por la deformación que sufren las baterías a lo largo DE su vida útil, con las cargas y descargas DE las baterías, estas empiezan a hincharse, deformarse hasta que llega a un punto donde las celdas que componen la batería entran en cortocircuito produciendo los incendios ya mencionados. Existe un sistema ya patentado para controlar la deformación DE las celdas que componen una batería, una vez que el sistema detecta el hinchado o deformación en las celdas que componen una batería, este puede detener la carga, carga por regeneración y impedir el siguiente arranque del vehículo poniéndolo en modo seguro. Adjunto presentación del sistema mencionado en el siguiente enlace: [xxx] saludos. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).
Power conversion system (pcs) failed doesn’t allow car to charge. Car has only 33k miles on it.
I sent following to Tesla I had an accident at around 6:30 pm on Sunday, March 2nd with my Tesla Model 3 and asking to see if you can conduct a diagnostic check into this incident. I was coming home at that time with the Tesla and about 100 yards from my house, I experienced a sudden acceleration with the car going from about 20mph to, I think, over 40 mph and crashed into the garage area of my house. Around the time I started experiencing that unwanted acceleration, I heard a whining sound. As it started that sudden acceleration, I checked below to make sure my right foot was pressing on the brake pedal and it was. Since I have the regenerative braking with my Tesla, the car should have decelerated but, instead, it sped up. I continued to press the brake pedal but I could not mitigate my car’s continual acceleration. It eventually crashed through the lowered garage door and went through the right side of the garage wall about half way out and came to the stop. I was driving myself and not engaged in self-driving feature. I like to see if the Tesla has any resources available to retrace last few seconds and be able to glean more information of why that sudden acceleration might have happened. The car is still located in my garage but currently the car is disabled and powered off. The car’s power was on and it automatically turned on emergency light for about 30 minutes after the accident before it eventually powering off. I am also curious to know why none of the airbags were deployed in this accident. I have many photos available of the accident. The fire department and police came and assisted. I do not know if this matters but the couple of nights before the car had one of those over the air updates by Tesla and also about couple of minutes before the accident I drove through about a minute of hard rain in otherwise light rainy drive. I also wonder why auto-braking did not engage against the house.
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.
The rear motor failed on my car. It has less than 4,000 miles on it. It is already being worked on. The car barely gave me 10 seconds before it lost power, locked up and wouldn’t move. Yes. They told me the rear motor failed and needed to be replaced. Tesla inspected it themselves and confirmed the issue. Yes, they appeared 10 seconds before it died, I had no other warnings prior to that. This was extremely dangerous as I barely had time to get to a safe place.
Specifically when in somewhat cool and cold temperatures the front drive unit is emitting abnormal high pitched sound that is intermittent at times and that is causing a distraction while driving and is very bothersome. Tesla acknowledged they hear it but nothing is being done about. Front drive unit should be replaced.
My 2022 Tesla Model 3 has a major issue that should be widely addressed and because the computer screen has completely turned off although there was never any damage done to the vehicle. The cost to fix this issue is $3,052. 30. I went on a three day vacation and came back to the screen not turning on but the vehicle can still drive, the major issue is that the screen controls all major functions of the vehicle and is a major danger driving the car if you cant see how fast your going, how much battery is left or will basic safety equipment will deploy? how can a vehicle be driven under these basic safety standards and conditions when it’s a faulty manufacturing issue. In addition come to find out that the computer tried to update it’s software with out my consent and causing the computer to fail there fore leaving me in danger situation of driving the vehicle under these conditions and then having me to pay the financial repercussions although I caused no damage to the vehicle.
Tesla has confirmed that the firmware of the high-voltage controller of the Model 3 is known to occasionally go "missing in action", causing regenerative braking to entirely cease to function and the driving performance of the car to drop considerably. This was expected to be resolved in a firmware update, but the problem continues. The service representative advised that they (Tesla employees) are not allowed to refer to the problem as a defect and instead must use the euphemism "firmware characteristic". The impact of the issue occurring while driving is that braking and acceleration are significantly reduced, thus reducing the ability of the driver to respond to unexpected situations and operate the vehicle safely. The impact of the issue occurring while parked is that the vehicle cannot start until such time as the controller resumes responding. The driver has no control over when/if this will happen, and the car may ultimately require towing. We encountered the while-parked case on 2024-07-07 and the while-driving case on 2024-07-27.
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.
I was turning onto a busy street and the car suddenly stopped and would not respond to the gas pedal. A message said "shift into drive". I had been driving for about a mile already and had not touched the shifter. I then tried to shift into drive and it would not change. I tried multiple times. I then opened the driver door, shut the door, pressed the break to put in my pin, and then it would shift into drive. This was very dangerous as it stopped with the car partially in the road. Luckily there were no cars around.
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.
Design defect that caused the cooling system to fail and potentially not cooling the battery system. Per Tesla service center, leaves and debris which are common in everyday use got on top of the radiator, the fan on the back of the radiator sucked the debris and caused the damage to the radiator to leak. The radiator’s design may be inadequate, leading to the issue and caused potential damage to the battery pack or computer as a result of overheating which might leads to fatal accidents.
My wife driving our Tesla Model 3. From her report, the car was accelerating on its own and would not stop despite her pressing on the brake pedal. She was unable to stop at the traffic light and crashed into another car at an intersection.
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.
I turned into a parking lot across a gutter filled with ice from a snow plow and drug a block of ice under the car about 50 feet. When I stopped there was a blue fluid leaking out from under the car. I had the car towed to a collision repair shop. Estimated cost to repair $21,591. 79. Damage seems excessive for a low speed collision.
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.
When driving an alert activates dir_a126 power reduced. Exiting and re-entering vehicle may restore operation. My vehicle speed limit goes to 50 mph and keeps lowering after driving for a few miles to a creep. This alert pop up constantly.
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.
My 2021 Tesla Model 3 shuts/powers down without warning while driving with a battery charge >0%. This unsafe event has occurred twice now! while the battery gauge displayed 10%, I was driving about 60mph when all of these warning messages appeared prompting me to pull over. As soon as these messages displayed, my car lost all propulsion and I was left stranded in the middle of the road. Both times I narrowly avoided being hit by other vehicles traveling at high speeds since my car died in the roadway. The car was towed to Tesla on both occasions, and they weren't concerned about my safety issue in the slightest. Instead, they said the battery just ran out; however my car displayed that I had about 6-10% charge remaining. So, if the battery were completely depleted (like Tesla says), then the meter should have displayed a 0% reading at the time of the breakdowns or, there is something defective with the battery/computer. Tesla service has refused to investigate the cause of the safety issue and, thus, refused to replace the ev battery (even though my car is still under the manufacturer's warranty). Electric vehicles should not die/run out of battery at 10% charge. However, my ev has done so twice! Tesla says that I just ran the car out of battery but has no response when I show them the pictures and video proving that the car died when there was, in fact, a decent amount of charge remaining on the vehicle (please see attached video and pictures). If your phone died at 10%, then you would take it back to the manufacturer and demand that they fix the defective product. However, Tesla refuses to help fix my defective vehicle and just tells me that it is "operating as intended". Evs should not just lose all propulsion mid-drive. This creates an unsafe vehicle for me to drive, for my two young daughters in their car seats, and for other drivers who might hit me. I can provide other Tesla owners who have had a similar experience. Please force Tesla to take action!.
I was driving home from work on a two-lane highway when my car suddenly (and without any warning) lost all driving power and shut down while there was still battery left on the vehicle (roughly 10%). I could no longer maneuver the vehicle due to lack of propulsion, so my car died in the middle of the road. It was towed directly to Tesla service center where diagnostics were supposedly run. Their conclusion was the car died due to insufficient charge (even though there was about 10% battery left at the time of the incident). About a week later, the same exact thing happened! the car lost all power and shut down mid-drive without any warning with about 7% remaining. Both times, I had my home address in the car gps (so it knew the exact distance I was traveling) and it never indicated once that I needed to stop and charge the battery. Again, I had the car towed to the service center where they reached the same "conclusion" that the car died due to simply running out of battery. When I showed them proof (pictures and videos) that the car died with charge left on the battery, they did not investigate the issue further. They simply stuck to their original conclusion and no longer wanted to help remedy my defective battery. I have video and pictures proving that my car dies without warning (on multiple occasions) while there is still charge left on the battery, but Tesla refuses to fix/warranty my car (let alone try to investigate or replicate the issue). They tell me that my car is "operating as intended" and is safe to drive, all the while knowing it is definitely not safe to drive. I'm especially concerned due to the fact that I drive my two daughters in my car. They both are very young and use car seats. What happens in the event that I am driving on the interstate with them in the backseat and my car randomly dies without warning? there would be no way to safely remove them from the vehicle (let along myself) before being involved in a serious high-speed accident.
Car accelerated forward unexpectedly while making a turn and hit a telephone pole. Brakes did not engage nor did the forward collision warning sound or engage. Was manually driving. Car is non-driveable and repairs from Tesla are backlogged so we waiting 8+ weeks to get our car back.
The car has a tendency when I’m on rural highways to suddenly emergency brake when I have the auto pilot on.
12v battery failed without warning. Car was parked. Was unresponsive. Could not unlock the car. Able to open trunk and passenger side door only. Drivers side would not open. Touchscreen black no power to do anything car essentially dead with no warning. There should have been on screen display informing driver of the need to replace 12v battery. There was none. Car needed to be towed. If this has happened while we were in the car we would have been locked in. Tow operator jumped the battery to open hood. Touchscreen restarted but car still unresponsive. Multiple warnings on screen. Tow mode would not work so car needed to be pulled with the rear wheels locked onto tow truck.
While crossing the rump and side walk to garage the car, as usual slowly proceed to enter the garage but immediately the car went into extremely fast speed by itself and hit the side of the garage, damaged the garage wall, the garage opener, the cabinet, then hit the water softener and our other car in the front. It also smashed the bike against the wall , damaged the side wall cause a bulge to outside of the structure. The garage frame and right side of the garage door fell on top of the car almost killed our daughter who was at the front passenger seat. The car brake did not stop the car, the alarm did not go off, the air bags did no inflate.
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.
This happened on 2/18/2023. After I charged my car at a local supercharging station, I drove on the local roads for about 2 miles when the car started shutting down. I could barely steer, and the computer monitor stated that the brakes were turning off, and other parts, like cameras, were losing functionality. I pulled over into the local park. I was frightened that my car was no longer functional and that I could be in grave danger driving again. I tried to call Tesla but no one answered. I had to go through the app. My dad came and we found a youtube video that said to walk out of the car to let it restart. Looks like it happened to another owner. We did that and the car started functioning again. Not sure why it did this after a charge. But it happened again 3 mos later when I was on the freeway. Luckily, I knew what to do from prior experience. But I am mindful of this whenever I supercharge my car. I wait after charging to drive. This shouldn't be the case and Tesla should tell people of this issue. I tried to tell Tesla service when I went in for another repair but they ignored my comments.
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.
The rear drive unit of our Tesla failed on our Tesla Model 3 2020 (2 years at the time of incident). It is no longer available for inspection as it was replaced by Tesla. We had our drive unit fail for our 2020 m3 driving in the middle of what is considered one of the most dangerous freeways in California (110). After all the warnings came online, we had 30 seconds before the entire car stopped. Of the warnings (power reduced, acceleration and top speed reduced, automatic emergency breaking is disabled) there was no indication that the car would shut down. We made it to the exit ramp, but couldn’t make it to the shoulder so we blocked the entire exit. 511 was able to come in and help tow our car to a safer location. We took it to Tesla to be serviced and when asking the service rep if there’s any way we could have seen this coming, she just brushed it off as “it happens” and that there was no way to tell. It took us a while to feel comfortable with that.
Car accelerated by itself. Approximately 4:30pm December 3. I just exited freeway and pulled my foot off the pedal and it started to decelerate then there was a chime sound and the car suddenly shot forward. I slammed the brakes as quick as I could. Luckily no one was around. The driving conditions were terrible, it was raining hard and cold. I also just cancelled autopilot by signalling right before exiting. This happened just after updating to a new update 2022. 40. 4. 2.
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,.
This is a complaint about the unacceptable fire risk that affects all Teslas due to the dangerous battery chemistry and the vulnerability to impact damage that can trigger an instantaneous fire . The VIN of a random Tesla has been used. This problem affects every Tesla. Here is a video of a test conducted by a european testing authority which shows the Tesla igniting almost immediately after a deliberate crash that only caused a minor strike to the underside. . Read more...
Got in vehicle in driveway and upon turning on there was a large thump in rear of vehicle, proceeded by a message to pull over safety indicating rear drive unit failure. Tesla replaced the rear inverter unit. Vehicle only had 3k miles. . Read more...
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.
Vehicle displayed "no capable drive units" error at 106 miles on 10/08/2021. System shut down and stranded me in downtown tampa traffic less than a mile from my home and fewer than five minutes after I started the car. All propulsion was lost and I did not have sufficient warning or time to process the situation and safely handle the vehicle. Tesla tampa service center diagnosed a failed drive unit and took approximately 27 days to repair the vehicle. The service center invoice described the drive unit replacement as a goodwill repair and not a warranty failure. This seemed odd to me as goodwill repairs are generally special accommodations to satisfy customers. I was told there were parts delays. Tesla seems to be managing its supply chain to get these cars turned around to avoid lemon law exposure (my wait was just under one month) and to suppress the number of warranty failures by calling them goodwill repairs. All at the expense of customers. The service center was generally arrogant and noncommunicative in resolving the issue. Happy to gather records and discuss further.
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.
At around 5:30pm on 5/16/2021 we were entering our garage when our Tesla accelerated on its own into our garage extremely quickly and nearly brought the garage down.
The car suddenly powered off while I was driving on a city street. The car remained broken down in the middle of traffic and needed to be towed to the service center. The service report indicates that the drive unit failed.
We had Model 3 with instance of unintended acceleration at the gate of a parking lot. This car was bought in may 2020. On December 6, 2020, she was on the way out of the parking gate and suddenly the car accelerated, hitting the side wall of the gate. The car flew over a two-way street, resulting in a compound fracture of her right hip requiring internal fixation and transfusion. The vehicle was inspected by the police. There were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms prior to failure.
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.
At a drive thru fast food tapped the peddle and the car launched and hit a truck in front of me.
I made a right hand turn from a full stop out of the parking lot into the farthest left lane intending to turn left. There were a line of cars ahead of me. As I was turning into the lane and let my foot of the accelerator pedal the car accelerated rapidly into the back of the vehicle ahead of me. It happened very quickly. It felt as though the vehicle took over on it's own. The car hit the vehicle once and then continued moving and it the vehicle again - so twice in all.
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...
I wish to file a complaint about a Tesla Model 3 in the interest of human safety. This is concerning the issue of battery fires. I believe that this incident has so far gone unreported. Here is a Model 3 in the salvage auction yard that has been almost totally destroyed by fire. . Read more...
While driving through my work place parking lot, my Tesla suddenly stopped and displayed a fault code and requesting immediate return of the car to a Tesla service center. My car would not unlock the doors when I tried to exit, either via the touch screen unlock icon, electric door unlock button, or using my phone app. I ended up using the emergency door open latch to get out of the car to call for assistance. I closed the door behind me but was unable to reenter the car. Tried my key card and my phone app to unlock it but to no avail. The car ended up having to be tow away.
The high voltage battery the new car was purchased with had damage to the 4 jack points that required the battery pack to be replaced. The original battery would charge to the full range purchased, however, the new battery that was installed will not charge to the full amount of range purchased. I brought this up to service before I picked up the car from service. They tried to get it to fully charge multiple times but it would not. I asked to see the battery health report and they declined. If you purchase a new car with x amount of range, when the battery is charged to 100%, it should display the range you paid for. They told me if I was unhappy with the range, I was free to file an arbitration claim. On the way home I almost ran out of battery and could have really used the extra capacity that I purchased.
Immediately prior to downgrade my Tesla Model 3 configuration from standard plus (240 max charge limit) to standard configuration (220 max charge limit), I could charge to 239 charge limit. At the downgrade, in conjunction with a software update, after the synchronization/calibration period took place, my new configuration of standard had a charge limit of only 207/208 at 100% charge, which is an immediate loss of charging limit of 31+. This is a 50% greater drop in charge limit than was agreed. The charge limitation was supposed to be only a 20 miles drop, but it ended up being 31+ drop in charging limit. My battery is and has always been in good health. The method of reduction in charge limitation was originally communicated to be a simple software limit. However, I was later told that the limit in charge level was achieved by actually turning off cells within the battery block. If turning off cells is in fact the method used to limit the charging capacity of the battery, then it is very concerning since not only is it a fraudulent removal of capacity - but a much greater drop in charging capacity than the charge capacity I purchased - but it also leaves me in a situation where I can only charge to 166 miles to maintaining my battery's health condition at the recommended max 80% charge level. At an 80% charge level of the now 207/208 100% maximum charge limit I will only get 166 charge. At 80% of my standard configuration I would have been able to charge to 176. If I had known this artificial and fraudulent reduction in charge limit would have been imposed I would have not downgraded to standard. The charge limit on the non-downgraded standard plus configuration has been increased to 250 from 240. So, today without the downgrade my 80% charge limit would be 200 instead of 166 - a 34 charge increase - or - a 43 increase at 100% charge limit!!.
I was moving forward at ~15 mph over a set of railroad tracks on a city street when both electric motors stopped working bringing us to a halt on the tracks. The car would not switch into neutral to allow it to be pushed off of the tracks nor would it release the brakes until put into tow mode which required 4-5 people to push at that point. There were no steps displayed to get the car into a mode that would allow it to move.
I am making this complaint in the interest of public safety. There has been a Tesla Model 3 crash in russia. . 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.
My vehicle has developed a rapidly worsening battery performance issue. It loses range far faster than expected, shows inconsistent energy usage, and experiences sudden drops in projected mileage even during normal driving. Charging behavior is irregular, and the vehicle’s energy regeneration is inconsistent. There was no crash, fire, or damage. Based on the symptoms, this appears to be a potential battery or propulsion system defect. The issue continues to worsen and affects the safe and reliable operation of the vehicle.