2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

Rear under carriage shield gets pulled off under normal driving conditions and rips off the bumper cover and rear wheel wells

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that the vehicle had begun swaying while driving approximately 60 MPH. Additionally, the contact noticed a creaking noise coming from underneath the vehicle. The contact pulled into a parking lot and the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact noticed that the control arm had detached. The vehicle was towed to the dealer but was not yet diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer and dealer were informed of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 33,000.

Tesla released V11 software for its cars on December 24, 2021. The following controls were previously directly accessible on the touchscreen: Wipers, Front Defrost, Rear Defrost. These high importance safety controls have now been buried under sub-menus. I was shocked driving my car tonight when my windshield started fogging up and the Front Defrost button was not visible anymore. I could have crashed while searching various UI sub-menus to find it again in a panic.

Tesla changed the entire user interface with their software update to version 11. I believe that this software update will cause vehicle accidents since they removed quick access to critical features and replaced them with entertainment apps. As the driver of the vehicle I do not need quick access to video games / streaming services, and more importantly I should not have to go through several screens to access key functions like the window defrosters. Tesla removed quick access to the defrosters, the wiper controls, the seat heaters and tire pressure. Even the music player now causes driver distraction. This new update is an accident waiting to happen and is geared toward entertainment instead focusing on a safe driving experience. The windows that pop up on the screen even block critical features like wiper blade control. Tesla claims that since they removed the buttons for wipers and defrosters that I could use the voice command but with this new update the voice command feature usually crashes. The new icons for user interface a so small that they cause eye strain and make difficult to see the road after checking the screen. The bottom of the screen is stuck in night mode which also causes eye strain. Since this vehicle has no buttons just a touch screen this drastic change to the user interface is a serious safety hazard. Tesla needs to add an actual physical wiper control switch to their vehicles. The automatic wiper mode is defective because Tesla did not install rain sensors on their vehicles. Also the new software has a serious bug where the vehicle disables the safety systems (all cameras and the lane departure warning system). The vehicle safety systems were disabled on 12/26/21 and 12/30/21. I informed Tesla on both occasions and they saw this software flaw in my vehicle computer files. Please make sure that Tesla fixes their vehicle interface before someone crashes from distracted driving/difficulty using the touch screen interface.

Tesla recently rolled out version 2021.44.25.2 of their vehicle operating system. This update introduced several major user interface changes. Including moving commonly used “virtual buttons” that had been permanently on the main screen, into buried sub-menus. This requires the driver to take their eyes off the road for a significant amount of time. Among the biggest concern is the windshield wiper controls. But also, seat heaters, and trip data.

The steering system failed. I'm not sure about the availability for inspection. My safety was put at risk when my car collided with another car. I had just pulled out of my driveway and turned to go down the street a short distance from a stop sign where I would turn left. From a video taken by one of the car's cameras, the car went to the left side of the street and started toward the intersection where the car hit another vehicle. I have driven to the intersection numerous times. There is no way that I would have pulled toward the left side of the street. I believe that something in the steering system malfunctioned. This put me and other drivers on the road at risk. I don't know if the the problem has reproduced. There was a policeman at the site, but he would not inspect the vehicle for a malfunction. My insurance company must have inspected the car as they called today to inform me that the car is totaled. The failure happened so quickly, that I had no warning.

Latest software update from Tesla buried easily accessible features several layers deep into hard to manage screen menus. e.g windshield wipers. This now requires drivers to take their eyes of the road for many seconds to activate the functions. This can be extremely dangerous.

Recent software update to the vehicle has made the care unsafe to drive. They completely reworked where all car control buttons on the main screen were located. They removed essential car function from the main screen. Specifically, windshield wiper control and defroster control are now buried in submenus. I am having to take my eyes off the road for 2-3 continuous seconds to find commands in these submenus and I can't tell you how unsafe this feels. Car windows/windshield fogs up and I can't find the defroster touchscreen button. Suddenly starts raining and I have to scramble to find windshield wiper touchscreen button. The touchscreen buttons for turning on fog lights and regular car lights are buried. This happened with a version 11 software update within the past few days. Before this - no problems. Please help us.

The v11 software update buries many important buttons that were always up, to find basic functions needed for driving I now need to spend up to 15 seconds digging through multiple menus to say, turn on a defroster or the wipers.

On November 30 at 6pm I was driving north on I-75 in the Tampa area with Navigate on Autopilot activated. I was in the middle lane, it was dark, and there was lots of traffic. My screen asked me to confirm the autopilot request to move to the left lane. I tapped the stalk to confirm. I did not look in the left lane and was not controlling the steering, though my hands were on the wheel. The car immediately turned into the left lane and side swiped a police vehicle. Nobody was injured and the damage to both cars was minor. Previously I had received alerts that my left pillar camera was "blocked", but the alerts went away, so I assumed that there was no problem. When the alerts appeared, auto steer was deactivated, but when the alerts went away auto steer worked again. I do not remember when the first alert appeared, but probably earlier in November 2021. Subsequently, the alerts have appeared and disappeared. I have requested service from Tesla, but the appointment is scheduled for next month. The officer in the police vehicle and two other officers who came to the scene looked at my vehicle and took pictures. I received accident report, Crash Number [XXX] from Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (Case Number[XXX]), but no citation. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).