2025 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

The passenger side front fold down visor/mirror failed. It is available for inspection upon request. The safety of myself, the driver, and the front passenger, were put at risk, because the design of the car allows the front passenger headset to be moved forward via the power seat adjustment to a point where it presses against the visor/mirror, and causes the glass in the mirror to shatter. If you never open the visor, you don't know that the glass is shattered. So when we are on the highway, and my passenger folds down the mirror to check her make up, small glass shards fly everywhere, requiring both the driver and passengers full attention on a busy highway. The dealer advised before even looking at the car that the problem would not be covered under warranty, and want to charge $200 for repair. I cancelled the appointment. Independent research shows this is a known issue caused by a design flaw with the passenger front seat being allowed to move into the zone of the visor/mirror. The vehicle has not been inspected due to their refusal to do so at their own cost. There was zero warning from delivery until now via any method whether it be a warning label, screen, or in the manual.

On May 16th, I felt the car vibration very much on the free way. I scheduled service on May 21st. Tesla technician found it was the interior foam detached problem. He said this happened on many cars. I asked for free replacement for two defect tires since the car was only drove one and half year about 17k miles. But he refused it because Tesla only replace it for free if the wear of tire is higher than 4 thread. He said mine is 3 thread and suggested me to buy new tires and replace them. He said Tesla normally would not remove the detached foam for customer any more. I did not agree. Finally, Tesla remove the detached foam and I paid for the service. Because this detached foam issue happens a lot, it is quality issue. Tesla or Michelin should repair and replace it for free.

Since leasing this car in April of 2025, it has been services 8 times totaling over 30 days of down time. The issues occured in order from oldest to newest/current: May of 2025 - Headliner trim falling down, unsuccessfully repaired by mobile technician June of 2025 - Windows stopped working. Center console door stopped shutting. Headliner still falling down. July of 2025 - Front wiring harness melted and took out the AC - the car didn't provide a single warning. The AC just stopped working. Passenger seat replaced for cosmetic defect August of 2025 - Continued issues with AC and turn signal buttons December of 2025 - Steering Wheel Rattle and Clunking, Suspension noises June of 2025 - Suspension still rough and making grinding noises, turn signal buttons still not functioning consistently, front passenger fold down mirror shattered because the passenger seat calibration allows it to slide into the mirror. Tesla has shown zero empathy towards any of these issues. A buyback was requested, but the offer would have left us without a car and with a huge pay off. We asked for help moving into another car, and we are ghosted.

This model lacks a well-tested turn signal lever, replacing it with arrows on the steering wheel. This method of activating turns signals is fundamentally unreliable and consequently dangerous. As an owner of the subject Tesla for just over one year, I find that I regularly fail to achieve correct activation, even with repeated attempts to do so. The steering wheel control may: Not activate at all, even with multiple attempts to activate the signal. I find no consistent patter as to why pressing the arrow or vicinity of the arrow fails to achieve activation. Worse, may activate in the opposite direction to the pending movement. This is the most dangerous situation, misleading other drivers with regard to the intended movement. It’s also not apparent to me that the opposite direction has been activated. The problem is made worse by: Lack of tactile feedback from the controls. The switches do not move perceptibly, nor is there any other feedback, such as a click. The ridge between left and right arrows doesn’t provide sufficient indication of correct or incorrect placement of the thumb on the controls. Pressing on the controls within the vicinity of the arrows may or may not result in activation at all or activate the opposite one. The position of the control varies depending on the steering wheel angle. The control may be very difficult to access, particularly where a sequence of turns in opposite directions must be executed. Specifically, it is essentially impossible to activate for the second movement while making the preceding turn. I understand that Tesla recognizes the problem and owner dissatisfaction in that it offers a retrofit with a conventional and well-tested turn signal lever for $600. Tesla must be compelled to recall these vehicles and retrofit them with a conventional turn signal lever or other effective control at no charge to owners.

Tesla is in a protracted battle with me over fees related to damaged property and illegal self-help repossession procedures. They have been formally notified that any trespass onto my property is not permitted because they said they sent armed repossession agents because of “angry customers” like me. I currently have a complaint for those issues filed with the Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Tesla’s recent attempts to repossess the vehicle were initiated approximately two hours after informing the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office that Tesla had not contacted me in any way, that Tesla was not being factual. Tesla’s response to that was again to not contact me but to send me a form letter stating they intend to disable my vehicle remotely. I am a privacy-minded person, and part of choosing the vehicle was a modicum of privacy guaranteed by Tesla. Tesla publicly says they do not so this, I was told they do not so this in the course of buying the car, and recent news seems to state they say they can’t do it. They have yet to repair a windshield and cabin camera that seem to be damaged. In other words, they intend to disable and lock my car without my permission or knowledge, without verifying the contents of the car. In other words, if there happens to be an occupant at the time they illegally disable the car, they intend to kill them. I’m asking that my contact information be kept private because they have already threatened to use lethal force, make extremely reckless decisions regarding their procedures, and retaliated by initiating this process when I informed a government agency that they lied to them.

The contact owns a 2025 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving on several occasions with Full Self-Driving (FSD) Mode engaged, the vehicle stopped abruptly while approaching a yellow traffic light, nearly causing the head of the driver to strike the windshield on one occasion. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to gradually come to a stop. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 10,100.

On March 14, 2026, at 20:54:21 UTC, while the Autopilot system was engaged, the vehicle malfunctioned by initiating a sudden, unprompted right-hand steering command within 0.3 seconds, resulting in a collision with another vehicle traveling in the adjacent right lane. Telemetry data from the event confirms the system failed to maintain the lane despite the Primary Steering Torque Sensor measuring 0.00 Nm, proving no driver input caused the maneuver. This unintended steering event at cruising speed created an immediate safety risk to myself and the occupants of the other vehicle. To date, the manufacturer (Tesla) has declined to perform a technical or remote diagnostic review, redirecting the case to a collision center instead. No warning lamps, audio chimes, or system messages occurred prior to the failure; the vehicle is currently available for inspection and raw CSV telemetry logs can be provided to investigators upon request.

On April 23, 2025, at approximately 8:15 PM, I activated Tesla's Smart Summon feature to retrieve my vehicle from a parking spot. While operating autonomously under Smart Summon, the vehicle failed to detect a pole in the parking area and drove into it, causing approximately $11,000 in damage to the vehicle. I was not inside or manually controlling the vehicle at the time. The vehicle's autonomous driving software failed to identify and avoid a stationary obstacle.

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.

While driving at highway speeds, using cruise control, the vehicle occasionally brakes for no apparent reason with no vehicles or obstacles in the way. The braking is severe and could potentially cause me to be rear ended. The dealer inspected the vehicle and could not reproduce the problem. There has been no previous warning to the braking.