2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

One lovely frigid winter day, my son woke up really ill. We had to take him to the hospital, which is roughly 30 min from our house. In our rush, we didn't grab hardly anything to bring with us. Just a small blanket for him so that we could get out the door. Once we got in the car, we got the lovely "Climate control unavailable due to system fault" error. We have not had heat since. Our son who is only 10 months old had to be driven back and forth in our car. It was only 30 degrees outside, and basically the exact same temp in the car. We had seat heaters, he did not. It was bad. Fast forward, we put in a service request. I started researching the issue and realized this is a widespread issue.We couldn't use our defroster at all either which is a huge issue here in Idaho. We brought the car into the service center the day after Thanksgiving. We mentioned to them that we thought this was a widespread issue and wanted to know what they would do to remedy it. They didn't entertain that at all and seemed to think this was just an isolated event. Our loaner is a 2018 Model S 100D. Super cool!! We haven't driven a Model S before, and we are enjoying it. We picked up the loaner around 5pm the day we dropped off our car at the service center. When I get in the loaner car, I see that it needs an update. I hit the "schedule update" button. I stuck with the recommended 2:30 am update suggestion since I will be asleep anyway. Now it is Saturday. We drove the car to a couple of places that day, and it is doing just fine. Sunday rolls around, and we need to run to the store. Upon getting in the car, it throws the EXACT same error as our model 3. Climate control is unavailable due to system fault. Now not only is our Model 3 in the shop, but our loaner car is having the exact same issue right after it received an update. We are hoping for help. This seems like a huge widespread issue for Tesla owners and Tesla is not taking any accountability.

There is a recall on the trunk of my car: NHTSA recall: 21V-00D It has been a year and Tesla has not contacted me to perform the inspection or repair on my car

Front wiring harness corrodes causing steering control to corrode. This also affects lane keep, braking, and speed control. At least 6 warnings associated with the short circuit

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, he heard a loud popping sound near the front passenger’s side wheel. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the lower front lateral link, assembly left and assembly right link, all four-ball joints and sub frame needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 59,000.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The dealer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

I have been using autopilot on my 30 min commute for the past 4 years with zero major issues. On Sept 20th, 2022 at 5:45pm I was driving on my usual route at 70 mph under autopilot. I tried to disengage with the normal procedure of lifting the right stalk. It did not disengage. I tried moving the steering wheel by changing lanes, and again, it did not disengage. Finally tried to brake, and it did not brake. I was essentially stuck in 70 mph. I then quickly rebooted the car with the 2 scroll bars while driving and after about 1 minute stuck in 70 mph, the system rebooted and I was able to slow down with my brakes. Needless to say, this could have ended horribly if I did not reboot. I called Tesla right away to report it and the rep stated a service adviser will contact me in the morning. I did get a call from Drew at Tesla on Barranca in Irvine the following day and he stated that it sounded like a “unintentional acceleration” issue. He stated it will be escalated to engineering department and someone will call me in a few days. At this point, I am so freaked out driving my Model 3 fearing the brakes can lock up at any time. I wanted to share this with you so maybe others have had similar situations. I just want others to know how to reboot while driving if this ever happens to them (a life and death situation). I loved Tesla, but this situation scares me in so many levels. To this day, Tesla “engineering team” has not responded. I have requested an answer from Tesla 3 times since that day over 3 months ago, and still no explanation as to what happened that night of Sept 20th. I have. It used autopilot since that day (fearing the brake would fail to disengage) and so I have not be able to reproduce the situation. The vehicle still has not been inspected by the manufacturer since reporting the issue. Finally, there were no warning messages prior to the failure. I just wanted a response from the Tesla team, and unfortunately was not able to get one.

Our heater stopped working in very low temperatures . Upon researching, this is a huge problem in cold climates which could be extremely dangerous. Tesla has recalled Tesla cars with heat pumps. This is not just an issue for new models and is an issue in older models as well. It appears this issue may have occurred because of a software update pushed out to fix newer cars Tesla’s with a heat pump. This update is potentially causing the heater in the older Tesla’s without heat pumps to break. Therefore, when the older cars are breaking, in order to stay warm in cold temps Tesla owners are paying $1200+ to fix their heaters due to a pure Tesla issue. We had no warning. Our heat went out. My son was ill with RSV and in fact we were bringing him to the hospital. It was 30 degrees in our car. This is an issue for so many people in even colder climates. Some owners are reporting they are having to drive their Tesla in severely cold weather and survive off of seat heaters. This is incredibly dangerous and I cannot transport my son in my vehicle at the moment. We do have scheduled service, but to our understanding Tesla is taking zero accountability. There are a massive amount of people complaining of this issue on the Tesla forums and local groups. I hope they report as well.

Phantom breaking. I was on cruise control only (not FSD mode) on HWY at 65 mile/hr, and my car breaking suddenly to 45 ml/hr until I took over. No one injured and no accident. There was a car behind of me when it happened, and the car changed line immediately.

Water/liquid entering cabin from behind glovebox. Potentially affecting computer and other electronics. Also could affect the AC system and its intake air filtering. Possibly adding mold growth due to the excess moisture entering from the outside. When it rains, the water will gush through into the front passenger’s feet on occasion. This is possibly from pooling water in the intake within the front trunk. When activating the air conditioning in the car after sitting in the rain, it will spill over into the front passenger’s mat. This issue could additionally damage the floor with rust over time if a weather proof mat is not in place. Tesla Service will charge the customer when out of warranty, even though this is an issue that should not occur in any vehicle. Thank you. P.S. photos of puddling water taken from a video made during the occurrence of the issue

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated THAT while his wife was driving at unknown speed, she heard an abnormal sound and a part detached from the vehicle. There was also an abnormal rubbing sound. The contact pulled over and examined the vehicle and noticed that there was a metal part hanging underneath the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, but the vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that the vehicle was not included TSB-21-31-003. The failure mileage was 56,527.