2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

I am getting an error on the screen which states, "Front left safety restraint system fault, service is required". Then while driving the car is not able to detect if the driver is sitting on the seat. The seat belt icon pops up. Tesla has remotely diagnosed the issue and are charging $450 to replace safety restraint wiring. This should be covered under a safety recall. The airbags are disabled.

FSD Beta code version: 2022.44.30.10 seems to have a nasty bug where due to some bad speed limit data for highways, will automatically change the max cruising speed set by me. Hence the car results in abruptly slowing down on the highway. I have filed bug reports via the car as soon as its happened. Locations it has occurred: On I-90 eastbound right after the Framingham on-ramp around the place where the service plaza exit happens. And on Route-2, eastbound between the I-95 offramp to Rt-2 thru Rt-2 exit to Winter Street. Its due to bad navigation data as the speed change happens very predictablely in the same area, regardless of road conditions, car position in lane, or weather conditions. This never happened in the past 4 years. FSD automatically changed max speed from 75 to 61 miles per hr, causing the slow down.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that there was no vehicle or objects around the vehicle at the time the failure occurred. The contact was not using autopilot at the time the failure occurred. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred while driving at 5 MPH with her 12-year-old son sitting in the front passenger’s side seat. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that they were not aware of the failure and the issue would be escalated. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.

Near miss: intervention by Emergency Lane Assist almost caused a collision. Location- southbound Highway 99 near Turlock, CA, around 9 am (sun low and ahead). Construction is underway on the highway. Traffic id two lanes in each direction with narrow lanes and concrete K rails dividing the highway. My vehicle was in the fast lane going around a left hand bend with the temporary concrete divider close to the left side of the car. The barrier is uneven in this area and was relatively jagged rather than smoothly paralleling the highway. As I rounded the bend the emergency lane assist sounded a warning and simultaneously turned the wheel sharply to the right as if to avoid striking the center barrier (I was not on an impact trajectory). At that moment I was slowly passing a semi-trailer the was close to my vehicle in the left hand lane. I was roughly 3/4 of the way back from the from the front of the truck. The sharp right swerve from the Emergency Lane Assist put me onto a collision course with the side of the semi- if I had not reacted quickly to counter-correct I believe I’d have gone into the side of the truck. Autopilot or lane assist was not engaged (I don’t have it) and my hands were on the wheel allowing quick reaction. Lane departure warning was not active (turned off), Emergency Lane Assist was active. I did not try to recreate the issue and it has not been confirmed.

After software update 2022.44.30 PTC heating failed. No warning lights, just failure to keep cabin warm.

While driving a Tesla Model 3 on an interstate highway at a speed of about 75 MPH with Full Self Driving engaged, the car aggressively applied the brakes for no apparent reason. This action could cause injury to passengers in the vehicle or an accident involving another vehicle that is following too closely. No information about the reason this occurred was presented. Tesla is aware of this issue.

Rear left exterior door handle. Peeling chrome plating on the under side of handle creates a sharp ragged edge that cuts fingers. The ragged edge also prevents the handle from retracting completely into the door, which may affect secure closure of the door. Reported to Tesla, who declined to cover the repair and sent me an estimate of $270 for parts and labor to replace the door handle.

Interior camera malfunctions which affects the full self driving package I paid for. As purchased the car was said to be feature complete for full self driving. When the software was available to me two years after purchase the interior camera was finally turned on and it doesn’t work. A cursory internet search shows that this is common. This is a hazard it can malfunction at any time due to defective camera. The service center verified that the camera doesn’t work today 1/27/2023.

Read passenger subframe bolt fell out while driving. The subframe of my vehicle and the mounting plate had a 3 inch gap between it. It made the rear end shake and loose control at speed. Tesla refused to give me torque specs twice. I was able to find service manual online and re-torque it. There was no locktite on the bolt. There was no warning, just a metal clanking noise and then the vehicle became dangerous to drive.

On Saturday the 21st my car had been charging overnight inside my garage using the supplied Tesla charger. As I entered the car to attempt to unlock the charger, I received many system malfunction errors on the screen, stating such that the 12v battery needed to be replaced and some system could not be completed. This definitely seemed odd as I had just replaced the 4 year old battery last July after receiving such an error. Eventually the car released the charging cable, but the car was still inoperable due to the errors. I used the Tesla app to request mobile service for the first available time, which was Tuesday the 24th, and used my wife's car in the meantime. The day of the appointment I attempted to enter the car to move it outside of the garage, but the car had completely died at some point - couldn't open doors, windows, hood or trunk. When the service tech arrived, he too thought it odd to need to replace the 12v battery so soon but continued to attempt it after jumping the car's system through the tow area. After some time, he told me the systems power up but it does not retain a charge for long, indicating a larger issue that needs to be serviced. He advised to have the car towed. I put in another service request for this, and when they arrived, we discovered that the Tow Mode accessible through the car's interface could not be engaged. They were able to skate the car onto the tow bed and transport it to the nearest service center, which I already had to pay for out of pocket ($200). The next day I received a call from the service center stating that the issue appears related to the power conversion module. Unfortunately they claimed that this was also out of pocket due to the car being out of warranty (car has just over 53k miles) and that it would cost $2000 to fix! I decided to do my own research before proceeding and discovered this was a KNOWN ISSUE by Tesla as they posted a TSB about it some time ago!