2022 Tesla Model 3
This year drew an ordinary 757 complaints for a Tesla Model 3 — the model's median is 415. What they were about is the unusual part: 46.1% 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 | 757 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 415 |
| Involving a crash | 53 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 18 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 131.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- cruise — 46.1% of this year's complaints, against 10.1% across the model's other years (4.5×).
- braking — 40.4% of this year's complaints, against 11.6% across the model's other years (3.5×).
- phantom — 29.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.7% across the model's other years (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: phantom, phantom braking, experienced phantom, phantom breaking.
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
I experienced phantom braking on multiple occasions when using either the cruise control or the autopilot. I experience various levels of braking force, and am unable to discern any pattern. The vehicle exhibits this unexpected braking most days that I engage…
When using cruise control (TACC) with or without using lane centering (Autosteer), my vehicle will often brake suddenly (and harshly) for no reason at all. It's worse on undivided highways (with no median). I've noticed the phantom braking occurs most often wh…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 22V037000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V045000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V050000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V063000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V235000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V263000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 22V296000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 22V702000 VISIBILITY Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 18. 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 2022 Tesla Model 3? What happened to yours?
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