2019 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

There has been a consistent warning "safety restraint system fault rcm_a021". My initial investigation pin pointed to the harness pinched by the seat. Tesla service center diagnosed and required to replace FIRST ROW SEAT HARNESS ASSEMBLY - LEFT HAND (see attached service estimate). The safety restraint system related issue put every Tesla's driver at risk and thus should be recalled.

Seatbelt pre-tension system fault (RCM_a021). Can be cleared by adjusting seats sometimes, but remains constant at my current seat configuration.

Tesla wants >$750 to "fix" a bug it sold in the car, & won't turn off the beep that happens every 5 minutes of driving, telling us that their sensor is defective. They want us to pay to tear the seat apart so they can replace the entire sensor. This error is happening in most of their vehicles (at least 2019 Model 3's). It's probably a Malfunctioning Occupant Weight Sensor (which determines if someone is in the seat and dictates whether the airbag should deploy). This fault triggers the painful loud beep/warning every 5 minutes of driving, & may disable the airbag in a collision. Tesla's systems rely heavily on software, & it may be a glitch or bug, but they say they can't fix it w/o making us pay to take out the seats. Or it may be Wiring and Connection Issues. (We have just 35,000 miles on this vehicle.)

[XXX]- [XXX]am. Trying to park in YMCA located in camp hill PA. Took soft right turn to park. Car accelerated instead of recognizing break, which I applied when I see it accelerating. Then I left break so it can take emergency break that didn’t happened it keep going and cross over the parking curb about six Torah inch high and went in a ditch. I did not hurt but car front damaged. Tesla was informed and they have the log of the time but told they don’t see any issue. My insurance is paying all the expenses. This was the third incident where car did not tool emergency break itself or recognized the break. I did reported last incident to Tesla. It only happened three times in last six years. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

* The AEB engaged when it shouldn't have. Yes. * Yes * No. * Yes, Tesla remotely told me that the error codes in my service menu had nothing to do with the AEB engaging when it wasn't supposed to. The problem has been reported to Tesla. * None. On [XXX] a car stopped suddenly in front of me and my AEB engaged when it shouldn't have. My car is a Model 3 Performance and it can stop much faster than most cars. The car behind me came inches from hitting me and my dog and myself were thrown violently forward. This is a *MAJOR* safety hazard and could have caused an accident and has caused accidents in other cases. [XXX] This thread has videos of the incident. There was around 20 feet between my car and the car in front of me when the AEB stopped my car. My foot was already on the brake and I was in the process of stopping at a reasonable rate when the AEB suddenly engaged. I could feel the ABS engaging. This happened another time about a month ago. A white box van two cars in front of me slowed down and turned right and the AEB engaged even though there was no need for it. Tesla has the ability to turn off the AEB but you have to do it each time you drive. Please require Tesla to make the AEB on/off choice sticky so you don't have to turn it off each time you drive. Also please make Tesla fix their software or disable AEB on their cars. Recent accident where AEB caused an accident. [XXX] Other incidents where AEB engaged almost causing an accident or caused an accident: [XXX] [XXX] Please do Google searches to find the rest. Thanks! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

We have recently incurred an alert that comes on as it pleases and has no rhyme or reason for popping up with passenger airbag restraint issue. Tesla is wanting to charge us over $900 to fix this issue yet this isn’t an us issue it’s a them issue. They installed a faulty airbag sensor which now requires the replacement of sensor, airbag, and harness as well as a software update. I have seen thousands of complaints online in regards to the same error code. This is something Tesla needs to take ownership for. This isn’t a wear and tear item, these airbags have never been deployed, so why are we being punished! Recall these cars they are a hazard

Tesla has just informed me about a safety concern on the 2019 M3 They explained that despite of the car not giving me a notification, it is showing on their end that my car has an airbag safety concern and by law they have to tell me. So I asked why this recall is not being addressed and fixed by Tesla. They told me that is my choice and if I choose to be safe I have to pay. This is not acceptable. Recalls that fail the nhtsa standards need to be accounted and addressed by the manufacturer. Please assist I find interesting that I didn’t receive a notification but they have and we all know that notifications can be manipulated by Tesla.

For the last few weeks while driving, my car will automatically put itself into FSD with out me authorization. Mean I will we driving and the car will just put itself into FSD. This has happened about 15-20 times over the last 2-3 weeks. Tesla wants to clean the front camera? Which makes no sense and charge me for it. If the front camera was obstructed, like in the case of fog. The car would alert me that it could not due to being obstructed, which isnt the case.

Started getting intermittent RCM_a056 faults stating "front passenger safety restraint system fault". Apparently this can be a safety issue as the airbag may not deploy and seems to be a common issue reported by owners. Tesla is charging owners to fix this safety issue, which in some cases is completely replacing the full seat and airbags. Instead, this should be covered under recall or bulletin fix.

Around February or March of 2025, my Tesla Model 3 (year 2019) began to flag an electronic warning for a passenger occupancy sear sensor and recommended immediate service. The sensor and warning did not stay on and would only appear intermittently. I still decided to service the vehicle and took the car to the manufacturer service center closest to me in May 2025. I was quoted for $500-$600 to repair the sensors. Later the quote was updated to over $1,200 because the new sensor was “not compatible” with the old air bag. It seems like Tesla intentionally or knowing used an updated sensor either because the old sensor was known to have issues or because of refreshed models but then did not ensure they used a part that worked with their existing model cars. This seems like a major safety issue and requires customers to pay twice their expected repair cost in order to ensure basic required safety functions work on a 6 year old car. I clarified with the service advisor that if I did not replace the airbag that they would not deploy in a collision and they affirmed my understanding which forces me to have to replace the airbags on a 6 year old vehicle for no reason other than Tesla’s poor safety planning.