2021 Tesla Model 3
This year drew an ordinary 655 complaints for a Tesla Model 3 — the model's median is 415. What they were about is the unusual part: 39.5% of them mention cruise, against 10.1% across the model's other years.
Generation 1 of the Tesla Model 3, which began in 2017. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 655 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 415 |
| Involving a crash | 45 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 22 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 138 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- cruise — 39.5% of this year's complaints, against 10.1% across the model's other years (3.9×).
- braking — 33.3% of this year's complaints, against 11.7% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: braking, phantom braking, emergency braking, braking system.
- phantom — 26% of this year's complaints, against 10.2% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: phantom, phantom breaking, events, phantom brakes.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
Phantom braking events on most every type of road and drive when using cruise control, not autopilot or other automated systems. Standard cruise control is unusable and is a safety concern with constant warning alerts and automatic emergency braking when other…
While using cruise control on the highway, I was rounding a slight bend in the road and the automatic braking system actuated, immediately slamming on the brakes and scrubbing off significant speed. Luckily I was close to the accelerator pedal and was able to…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 22V037000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 21V834000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 21V835000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 22V045000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 21V387000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 21V846000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
- 22V050000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V063000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 22. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Tesla Model 3 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2021 Tesla Model 3? What happened to yours?
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