2021 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

When driving north on Highway 61 between St. Louis, MO and Hannibal, MO and using "autopilot" adaptive cruise control, the vehicle will slam on it's brakes even when nothing is on the road in front of it. It happens multiple times through the duration of this trip. It's absolutely terrifying, and I hope it doesn't ever take effect when vehicles are behind me. It's so scary that I've stopped using cruise control out of fear it will brake check for no reason and cause an accident.

Phantom braking when using cruise control. Car suddenly braking or rapidly decelerating for now discernible reason when traveling at speed on highways, both two-lane and multilane. The problem has occurred many times since first acquired in December 2021.

Emergency braking is applied while using adaptive cruise or autopilot. This happens on two lane undivided roads with larger vehicles approaching on the opposite side. It does not happen with cars or pick ups. For no reason the forward collision warning will sound and emergency braking is applied. If a vehicle is behind my car I would have been rear ended. I have sent error reports over the air to Tesla at the moment. I also brought my car into service and documented this issue. They did recalibrate the forward cameras but no difference was seen. Just out of the blue the car will.reduce speed by 20 mph. In my video the speed went from 46 to 29. The funny thing is it did not slow fir the oversized truck. I have videos if the incidents but I cannot upload them on here.

Since purchasing my Tesla new in 6/21, I've been experiencing random and dangerous "Phantom Braking" where the vehicle will suddenly brake hard on the highway for no reason. On a few occasions, this created a hazard for motorists behind me. This has been occurring in rural and urban settings with the vehicle's cruise control or AutoPilot set. It doesn't matter which system I use, phantom braking is persistent in both. I contacted Tesla service twice on this issue and each time I was informed "no malfunction found with sensors or vehicle operation." I was hopeful that Tesla would release a software update to mitigate this issue (other Tesla owners have voiced this issue on social media and forums), however nothing has been resolved in the 7 months I've owned this vehicle.

Hello, Driving on a snowy road around 20 MPH. Attempted to slow down in a straight line, used the brakes to try and slow vehicle to go into a driveway. Vehicle would not respond to any inputs. The brake pedal seemed frozen, coming off and back on the brake pedal did not change anything. There sounded like an ABS pulsing but it was not working. Post accident pictures showed it looked like the car was dragging one axle like it was locked in the snow. Car ending up grazing a mailbox post and afterword said 'take control'. I believe the car tried to do an automated braking maneuver which did not work. The road was covered in 1-2" of snow and the mailbox would have been a reference point in the distance. When turning the steering wheel away from the object that was hit, the car continued to go straight like the wheels were not attached. The car never veered left or right during this whole event even though i tried to turn.

While driving in cruise control at set at 75mph, the car suddenly started to slow down. (Note, the nearest car ahead of me was at least 15 car lengths away and was not braking, so it should not have affected my speed) When I tried to accelerate, the car continued to de-accelerate. I looked at the screen and it indicated that cruise control was set at 50. When the car reached 50 mph, it stopped de-accelerating and I was able to increase my speed. I tapped the brake to get out of cruise control and continued my trip.

Purchased my Model 3 in August 2021. Autopilot and cruise control features worked flawlessly for the first few months of ownership. In September of 2021 after a software update, the vehicle started to perform unsafe reactions while on autopilot or cruise control. If any large vehicle like a semi-truck or vans were traveling in the opposite direction of travel on any two lane road, cruise control or autopilot will slam on the breaks and activate the forward collision warning tones. Reactions like this from driver assist technology could easily result in a multi-car accident. While commuting on a busy road (10 miles) on cruise control/autopilot, this issue could occur over 10 times on one drive. While making contact with Tesla service in September, a representative said that Tesla's autopilot software team was aware of the issue affecting Model 3's similar to my VIN. The representative ensured that the team was working on a software update to fix this issue. This problem continued until January 13th when I had a service appointment where I stated the same issue. The technician wanted a ride to experience the issue the car had. After getting the issue to reoccur, the technician stated that "he had never seen this problem before." After he fixed an unrelated issue with the car, he reassured me that the issue is know by Tesla and they were working on a software update to resolve the issue. After over three months with this major safety defect, I am reporting this issue to NHTSA.

Dangerously brakes for no apparent reason while using adaptive cruise control. Especially common on two-lane roads. Occurs approximately once every 20 miles of driving. Has caused near accidents on three occasions. Tesla does not take any action. Car has the most recent software update.

My vehicle has a VCFRONT_A447 error code and will not heat up. With temperatures as low as -20 and highs of 25 not only is just the temperature potentially deadly but im unable to defog my windshield without freezing. I feel my car is entirely unsafe to drive.

On a recent road trip (8-9 hours) my car had a number of software tics that had been noticed (music skipping, screen responding slowly, etc.). After 7 hours on the road, while the Autopilot system was engaged my main screen froze on the car. Out of caution, I moved to exit the highway. While exiting, the entire screen in my car turned off, but all car functions were operable (turn signals, braking, accelerating, etc.). Once safely in a parking lot, I tried to do a soft reset with no success. After contacting service they told me the log indicated an issue that required a tow. In the interim I was able to do a power cycle which resolved the issue (but was difficult to perform since the screen was flashing on/off). The service rep recommended driving home but scheduling a follow up service. Subsequently the follow up team has informed me this is a "known software issue which is currently under investigation". Given the impact this software bug has on the primary information screen it seems to be a valid safety concern and should be issued as a recall.