2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

Multiple "phantom braking" events in which the car, on a clear day & no cars around, would suddenly slam on the brakes and try to stop. No messages were displayed on the screen. Tesla Service seems uninterested as it is a "software" issue. I tried a full reset of the car with no improvement.

I purchased this car used 12/05/2022. The seatbelt /driverside, doesn't catch on sudden stops, lurching me forward. I've almost hit the steering wheel with my face and head. Tesla says they are not responsible for replacing seatbelt. I have to pay for it. I don't know previous owners knew about this issue prior to selling it , but according to tesla, this issue doesn't fall with in their purview. Also the sealed control arm bushings on steering are squealing & after squeaking 10,000 miles of my driving this car and purchase. That too isn't covered.

On April 21st 2023, by pure chance I happened to notice that, after plugging in my Model 3 to recharge at a local charger, the charging rate was lower than normal: instead of its full 32A charge, the rate was only 16A. I kept getting a notification of an issue with charging, Error: PCS_a019 "Charging slowed - Poor Grid power quality possible, unplug and retry / try different charging location" I've attempted several charging stations and all the same outcome. I've done research on this issue online and others are having the same issue. Tesla did cover a few from what I read as "battery warranty" that I've reach but most are denied as it wouldn't be part of the "battery warranty". I've reached out to Tesla and was informed my warranty was expired almost 28 days on March 23rd 2023 as it was April 21st when I made the service appointment. The cost to repair was $1,987.58 and NOT covered by the battery warranty. I've asked if Tesla would waive the fee as my car was just out of warranty and has a mileage of 30,193. It was declined as she "informed" management at the Burbank, CA repair location. I'm very sadden by this issue as Tesla advertises the electric car is "low maintenance" compared to the average gas vehicle, this is false advertisement. Other manufacture do cover this part under their battery warranty. The vehicle isn't operable if not repair to charge at a normal faster speed. I'm now considering to sell my vehicle once repaired and give people my honest opinion about my experience with Tesla. I hope there's a recall for this issue so other don't have to go through this issue.

I was experiencing intermittent Bluetooth connection issues along with vehicle not powering off and the gear shifting to park when moving the vehicle at (very) low speed without the seatbelt buckled. I noticed the Bluetooth connection problem after a bad software installation in Jan 2023, however the other two issues have been noticed since at least 2020. When I took the car for a second time, Tesla diagnosed the problem as a faulty seat occupancy sensor (SOS). Tesla told me that the driver side seat SOS is “sticky” that the car didn’t consistently know there was a driver in the car when I sit on the seats (which explained why the car would put itself in park when driven at low speed (<3mph) without seatbelt on, and why the engine kept running even after I stepped out of the car when the car wasn’t locked ( like, when the car is parked in the house’s garage). Further research on the web (https://www.carproblemzoo.com/tesla/model3/2018/seats-problems.php ) shows that other teslas had faulty seat occupancy sensors at both driver side and passenger side. Faulty sensors may lead to improper, or failed, airbag deployment. This is a safety issue that Tesla had known and should have performed a recall and fixed, or the very least sent a billeting to its service centers so that they would check the seat sensor when someone’s complaining about any of the three symptoms I had. When I took the car to Tesla in Feb 2023 their (mis)diagnosis was that I had too many wires plugged into USB ports and that’s why the Bluetooth didn’t connect. I didn’t complain about the vehicle going to park by itself - as I thought it was a “safety feature”. I didn’t care to report the motor running after exiting, as I thought it was the battery mgmt system running to cool the battery!

Car speed control malfunctioned. There was a sudden acceleration when car was below 10 miles in the parking lot. The driver lost control on braking and car keep accelerating even no force was applied to pedal. Dribe had to steer out of parking lot and crash through a wood en fence on next door neighbor. Car still keep going thru front yard of two houses cross the street and eventually hit a concrete barrier on front porch of the house. Several parts breakoff underneath the car , fluid leaked and all wheels are severely damage. Severy damage to front body side of the of the car and battery system , has occurred . There was near miss body injury to pedestrians in the area and neighbor hood. No physical injury was reported at the time of accident. but driver reported psychologycal distress. Currently CAR is towed away per Instruction from Insurance company for evaluation. Police report CASE# 23021162 NORTH bRUNSWICK pd 710 hermann road North Brunswick, NJ 08902

I drive a 2018 Tesla, Model 3 mid range rear wheel drive vehicle. On Saturday, April 22, at approximately 5:10 pm, while driving on east bound on interstate 264 in Norfolk, Virginia, my car suddendly began swerving wildly from left to right. It nearly missed the median on the left and then swerved into the lane next to me on the right. It repeated this about 6 times before it allowed me to regain control of my car. I attempted with my best efforts to counter turn the steering wheel to no avail. During this time, I tried to control the vehicle, although the car's software was in control. It was frightening. If I had been on a two lane road, this could have resulted in a fatal head on collision. If there had been a pedestrian / bicyclist on the road the car that decided to drive itself could have struck a vulnerable person fatally. When I called Tesla service to report the incident, they did a quick review of the cars data and said there was some issues reported from the cars cameras. I asked for the root cause and for some reassurance that this would not happen again. I was told that sometimes the auto pilot cameras have issues and I may need to reboot the system to correct it. I was told that I should restart the software periodically as a preventive measure. I checked the owners manual, and found no mention of restarting the software regularly as preventive maintenance. Regardless of a reboot issue, a fatality could have occurred in a split moment, this dangerous event should never happen, amd a system should be in place to prevent this type of vehicle terror to never happen again. Thanks again!

On a trip today from Pasco wa to Spokane WA (us395) there autopilot and full self driving would randomly phantom brake for no obvious reason. It happened every 5 minutes or so in both directions. Scary and dangerous.

the Power Conversion System (PCS), 1 of the 3 module fails, therefore, it limits the AC charge current to 32A out of the max of 48A the car was never pullged into a 48A AC charging connector, therefore, the PCS module likely to be defective

Computer failure. The car became unsafe to drive because the screen went completely black and could not be reset. The rear view mirrors would not unfold, the car’s cooling system wouldn’t work, there was no way to see the speedometer or the amount of charge the vehicle had and the vehicle would not charge.

Power conversion system failure. Only charges 32/48 amps at destination chargers. Unsure how long this has been a problem because I just upgraded my power panel to be able to charge at 48 amps. Being told $1800 to get car to charge at expected amp limit. 90k miles on car.