Owners filed 4,295 complaints about the 2015–2025 Tesla Model 3 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 20th-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2018 model year drew the most (1,022), and the single most-reported problem area is automatic emergency braking / collision warning, named in 40% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2018, with 1,022 complaints, led by automatic emergency braking / collision warning (202).
- Spike years: 2018 (2.3× the typical year), 2022 (1.7× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: brakes complaints came at a median of 5k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 22 complaints mention a fire and 435 mention a crash; owners reported 246 injuries and 16 deaths.
Tesla Model 3 complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 26 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (8), Air bags (7), Seats (6) | 50k mi | 1 | 0 |
| 2018 | 1,022 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (202), Suspension (184), Electrical system (168) | 17k mi | 102 | 4 |
| 2019 | 612 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (169), Electrical system (91), Air bags (83) | 10k mi | 58 | 5 |
| 2020 | 451 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (156), Speed control / acceleration (69), Suspension (46) | 4k mi | 54 | 2 |
| 2021 | 662 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (407), Brakes (125), Speed control / acceleration (123) | 10k mi | 45 | 5 |
| 2022 | 765 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (532), Speed control / acceleration (171), Brakes (166) | 5k mi | 53 | 4 |
| 2023 | 424 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (177), Steering (87), Speed control / acceleration (68) | 3k mi | 72 | 1 |
| 2024 | 216 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (48), Electrical system (44), Steering (36) | 14k mi | 25 | 1 |
| 2025 | 117 | Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (30), Steering (25), Electrical system (20) | 10k mi | 25 | 0 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Tesla Model 3 problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 1,729 | 40% | 10k mi | — |
| Speed control / acceleration | 630 | 15% | 5k mi | — |
| Brakes | 557 | 13% | 5k mi | Brake repair cost |
| Electrical system | 555 | 13% | 17k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Steering | 389 | 9% | 9k mi | Power steering repair cost |
| Suspension | 368 | 9% | 10k mi | Shock / strut replacement cost |
| Air bags | 309 | 7% | 20k mi | — |
| Lane departure assist | 295 | 7% | 25k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Tesla models in the index
- Tesla Model Y (3,783)
- Tesla Model S (2,502)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.