2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

View complaints related to 2018 TESLA MODEL 3. The complaints found here are submitted by actual consumers with first hand experience. There are more than 1,000 complaints submitted for the 2018 TESLA MODEL 3. You can submit your own complaint to the NHTSA or call the Hotline, Monday-Friday 8am to 8pm at (888) 327-4236, TTY: (800) 424-9153.

  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Seattle, WA

    Driving while on cruise control, the car will phantom brake. That is, it will apply the brakes: - when a vehicle is way way out there in my lane and not a potential problem. - when two vehicle are close on each left and right side lanes, but not in my lane. For instance, when on 3 lane road with all lanes going the same way, vehicles on my left and right sides out in front of me but not in front of me, the car will suddenly apply the brakes. These are just the most common instances. I get lots on incidents of the vehicle unnecessarily applying the brakes when on cruise control.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Scotts Valley, CA

    I saw the reports on all the auto breaking issues with tesla, and i wanted to report for over a year my car does this ALL the time when auto pilot is engaged. I can remember hundreds of times where there is nothing around and all of a sudden the car auto breaks and its hard breaking as though im slamming on the breaks.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Sartell, MN

    Multiple instances of phantom braking and slow down while driving on Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) and/or Autosteer mode of the Autopilot feature. In addition, the lane keeping assistance feature gives phantom warnings even though the car stays in the lane.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Daly City, CA

    Phantom braking, i.e. apparent engagement of brakes on car for no apparent reason during routine driving

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Austin, TX

    When driving on undivided highways, the car will phantom / panic brake due to oncoming cars approaching in the opposite lane. At times, the car phantom brakes for no apparent reason at all as there are no cars nearby. At night, it gets much worse, with the car phantom/panic braking at nearly every oncoming car. My 2018 Model 3 is equipped with radar-assisted Autopilot, but newer Tesla vehicles don't have the radar hardware at all and instead rely on a vision-only system that uses the cameras alone. When I opted into Tesla's Full Self Driving beta, the new software disabled my car's radar and my car became a "vision-only" vehicle, like newer Tesla vehicles. At this point, phantom / panic braking became significantly worse. When radar was used, the braking was rare but still unsettling. With vision-only Autopilot, it's nearly unusable. Even with basic cruise control, phantom / panic brakes happen with the same frequency as if you're using Autopilot. I basically can't use any cruise control or autopilot when driving on undivided highways. On interstates and in-city highways, phantom / panic braking does still happen, but it's less frequent.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - West Mifflin, PA

    The automatic emergency braking system activated when there was no collision imminent. (7:13am, 5/22/22) Neither cruise control nor autopilot was engaged at the time of incident. I was nearly hit from behind by a driver who did not expect me to stop as there was no hazard or other vehicle. Tesla inspected the vehicle and found no fault and claimed that I needed driver education. Also on a subsequent interstate trip with cruise control engaged, the automatic emergency braking system activated unnecessarily. It appears to be related to shadows on the road or pavement changes.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - BOCA RATON, FL

    Twice the car in Autopilot braked for no apparent reason. First time on an Interstate traveling at 65 mph in the center lane. As I was about to pass a truck located in the right lane that was going very slowly with its blinkers on, the Tesla abruptly decelerated from 65 mph to about 40 mph. Thankfully there were no cars behind me because I would have been rear ended. The second incident happened on a road inside my community that winds through a golf course. I put the car on Autopilot at 30 mph speed limit because there is radar hiding every. day. The car suddenly braked for no apparent reason . My hypothesis is there was a sign close to the road warning that golf carts cross here. There were no golf carts or people nearby and perhaps the sign was seen by the Autopilot as an object to stop the car.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Houston, TX

    Multiple episodes of phantom breaking with the car on cruise control on the highway. The car was not on autopilot during the episodes. The car abruptly drops from highway speed with full braking until you can override it with the accelerator. This will cause accidents of someone is close behind you. As a result, I do not use cruise control.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - Santa Barbara, CA

    I intermittently get an on-screen message “automatic emergency braking is disabled.” Adaptive cruise control and auto-steering are disabled and I am unable to engage either one. Randomly the problem will resolve itself with no intervention from me - usually a day or two later. I have taken the car to Tesla service twice and they are unable to resolve the issue. On the last visit the service technician said that it is a firmware issue.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE
  • 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
    - orland park, IL

    Main screen freezes up while driving multiple times per week requiring reset and unable to control safety items such as defroster.

    Source: NHTSA WEB SITE