Diagsheet

First generation (Highland refresh) · first-year watch

2025 Tesla Model 3, day 695

  • 117complaints since Nov 6, 2024
  • 3recalls
  • 25involved a crash
  • 10,100median miles at failure

Newest report Sep 19, 2026 · checked Oct 2, 2026

Changed since August

  • 4 new complaints in September, mostly about collision avoidance, lane keeping and seats.
  • Nothing filed yet on sticky steering, transmission failure, engine failure or fire.
  • 19th most complaints of the 36 2025 models on this site.
2025 Tesla Model 3
Photo: HJUdall, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

What's been reported

NHTSA's own component codes. One report can cite several.

  • Other
    36
  • Collision avoidance
    35
  • Steering
    25
  • Lane keeping
    24
  • Electrical
    21
  • Speed control
    14
  • Brakes
    12
  • Exterior Lighting
    7

Problems so far

  • Full Self-Driving (FSD) does something unsafe 16 reports
  • Infotainment, screen or backup camera fails 12 reports
  • Brakes grind, pulse or wear early 12 reports
  • Power steering cuts out or goes heavy 8 reports
  • Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking) 8 reports
  • Suspension noise, struts or alignment 5 reports
  • Wheel bearing, tires or wheels 5 reports
  • Adaptive cruise or lane keeping misbehaves 5 reports

Recent reports

“FSD Malfunction, inspection available. Yellow double lines were not recognized around a turn, causing the car to steer towards oncoming traffic. UNKNOWN. Vehicle was declared fully functional by Tesla Dealership. No warnings, vehicle had many symptoms prior to the last event in which I decided to service the vehicle. First critical malfunction May 21, 2025.”

Filed Jun 3, 2025

“I was using full self driving (FSD) and there was no one directly in front of me and thankfully no one behind me when it engaged its emergency brakes and came to an abrupt stop for no reason.”

Filed May 13, 2025

“Steering assist reduced, traction control disabled, stability control disabled. When trying to drive steering heavy and car coasts unless holding brake pedal, which is unusual for a Tesla at it normally auto holds. Traction control and stability control also disabled, unsafe to drive.”

Filed Apr 4, 2025

“Turn indicator not working. I was in a highway and when I pressed turn indicator button, nothing happened. Multiple presses with varying pressure had no effect”

Filed Feb 23, 2025

At a glance

Next to the 2024
The 2025 is too new for a fair per-year comparison. It has 117 complaints so far; the 2024, on sale longer, has 218.
Top problem
No problem dominates. The largest, FSD problems, covers 16 of the 117 complaints (14%), and infotainment is next with 12 (one complaint can fall under more than one problem, so these overlap). Too few of the FSD problems reports give a mileage to say when it starts.
Crash, fire and injury reports
26 of the 117 complaints (22%) report a crash, a fire or an injury. The typical vehicle on this site sits at 6%, so this one runs well above it. Counted separately (one report can carry more than one), 25 reports mention a crash and 9 people were hurt.
Recalls behind the top problems
3 recalls are on file, but no problem here has enough reports to set against them.
When owners filed
Complaints are still climbing. 2025 brought 81, the most of any year so far. So far in 2026, 33 more have come in.

Service bulletins for the 2025 Tesla Model 3

Tesla filed 4 bulletins and other notices with NHTSA that list the 2025 Tesla Model 3. 2 of them deal with a problem owners have reported on this car. Newest first.

Federal rules make a manufacturer send NHTSA a copy of any notice about a defect that goes to more than one dealer or owner. Most of these are service bulletins, the repair instructions manufacturers send to dealers. NHTSA generally leaves safety recall bulletins out of this file, and recalls are listed separately.

Suspension noise, struts or alignment 1 bulletin · 5 complaints

  • Service bulletinSB-25-31-004Jun 24, 2025

    A firmware diagnosis feature is being introduced on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that monitors wheel alignment over time.

Wheel bearing, tires or wheels 1 bulletin · 5 complaints

  • Service bulletinSB-25-34-003Dec 12, 2025

    On certain Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensor battery may drain at an accelerated rate. Identify and replace the affected TPMS sensor.

NHTSA investigations

EA26-002opened Mar 18, 2026
Electrical · model years 2017 to 2026

Fsd collisions in reduced roadway visibility conditions. Open.

NHTSA summary
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is opening this Engineering Analysis to evaluate Tesla’s Full Self Driving Beta and Full Self Driving (Supervised) (collectively, FSD) degradation detection system. The focus of this investigation will be to assess the system’s ability, when encountering reduced roadway visibility conditions, to detect degradation and alert the driver with sufficient time to respond. ODI will evaluate the performance of FSD in degraded roadway conditions and the updates or modifications by Tesla to the degradation detection system, including the timing, purpose, and capabilities of the updates, and Tesla’s assessment of their safety impact. Tesla’s FSD is an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that relies exclusively on vision-based cameras and the related FSD software to detect and respond to the roadway ahead, projecting a path forward based on traffic control devices, vehicles, pedestrians, and the roadway itself. When Tesla began transitioning away from using both cameras and radars to an exclusively camera-based approach, known as Tesla Vision, in mid-2021, it developed and implemented a degradation detection system that it deployed by a software update to existing and new Tesla vehicles. On June 28, 2024, the day after Tesla submitted the SGO report of the November 28, 2023 fatal crash listed in this document, Tesla began developing an update to the degradation detection system. At this time, ODI does not have information on when th
PE25-012opened Oct 7, 2025
Electrical · model years 2017 to 2026

Traffic safety violations while full self driving ("fsd") is engaged. Open.

NHTSA summary
The Office of Defects Investigation (“ODI”) is opening this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety consequences of FSD executing driving maneuvers that constitute traffic safety violations. This investigation concerns versions of FSD that Tesla has labeled as "FSD (Supervised)" and "FSD (Beta)." Tesla characterizes FSD as an SAE Level 2 partial automation system requiring a fully attentive driver who is engaged in the driving task at all times. Level 2 partial automation systems are designed to support and assist the driver in performing certain aspects of the driving task, requiring a driver to supervise and intervene as necessary. The driver remains fully responsible at all times for driving the vehicle, including complying with applicable traffic laws. ODI’s investigation will therefore focus, in particular, on whether certain driving inputs within the control authority of FSD forestall the driver’s supervision when they are unexpectedly performed. ODI has identified a number of incidents in which the inputs to the dynamic driving task commanded by FSD induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws. Although reports of this nature span a variety of behaviors, the reports appear to most commonly involve two types of scenarios. The first type of scenario involves a vehicle operating with FSD proceeding into an intersection in violation of a red traffic signal. The second type of scenario involves FSD commandin
AQ25-002opened Aug 20, 2025
Electrical · model years 2017 to 2026

Compliance with standing general order 2021-01 reporting requirements. Open.

NHTSA summary
The Office of Defects Investigation (“ODI”) has identified numerous incident reports submitted by Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”) in response to Standing General Order 2021-01 (the “SGO”), in which the reported crashes occurred several months or more before the dates of the reports. The majority of these reports involved crashes in which the Standing General Order in place at the time required a report to be submitted within one or five days of Tesla receiving notice of the crash. When the reports were submitted, Tesla submitted them in one of two ways. Many of the reports were submitted as part of a single batch, while others were submitted on a rolling basis. Preliminary engagement between ODI and Tesla on the issue indicates that the timing of the reports was due to an issue with Tesla’s data collection, which, according to Tesla, has now been fixed. NHTSA is opening this Audit Query, a standard process for reviewing compliance with legal requirements, to evaluate the cause of the potential delays in reporting, the scope of any such delays, and the mitigations that Tesla has developed to address them. As part of this review, NHTSA will assess whether any reports of prior incidents remain outstanding and whether the reports that were submitted include all of the required and available data. The SGO reports cited in the Opening Resume, can be found at NHTSA.gov/SGOCrashReporting under the following SGO 2021-01 report IDs: 13781-11020-1 13781-10844-1 13781-10843-1 13781-1
PE24-033opened Jan 6, 2025
Electrical · model years 2017 to 2025

Actually smart summon sessions resulting in low-speed impacts.. Closed apr 3, 2026.

NHTSA summary
On January 6, 2025, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation 24003 (PE24033) to investigate Actually Smart Summon (Summon) sessions resulting in crashes during active sessions. According to Tesla, Summon is a short-distance SAE Level 2 system, controlled by the user from a cell phone within a certain distance and intended for use in parking lots and on private property. ODI analyzed complaint data provided by Tesla as well as complaints submitted to ODI from consumers to identify Summon incidents resulting in crashes. ODI's analysis indicates that almost all Summon reported crashes involved minor property damage claims with no reported incidents involving a vulnerable road user, injury, fatality, or major property damage as indicated by an air bag deployment or vehicle tow away. Out of millions of Summon sessions, a fraction of 1% resulted in an incident. Almost all those incidents took place where, typically early in a Summon session, the system or person using the app failed to fully detect or respond appropriately to vehicle surroundings resulting in minor impacts. Incidents took place when app users did not have a complete 360-degree view of the surroundings in the app to assess situational awareness. This limited the app user’s ability to determine whether an impact was imminent during initial vehicle maneuvers such as reversing in close proximity to an obstacle or a curb. ODI found that the impacts most often occurred with parking gates

Recalls

Whether your car is included depends on its VIN. Check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

25V-690Oct 10, 2025
Electrical System:Propulsion System:Fuses, Relays, Contacts, And Shunts

Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2025 Model 3 and 2026 Model Y vehicles. The battery pack contactors may fail, causing a loss of drive power.

Risk and remedy
Risk: A loss of drive power can increase the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Tesla Service will replace the battery pack contactors, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 9, 2025. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-25-16-005.
25V-002Jan 7, 2025
Back Over Prevention:Software

Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2024-2025 Model 3, Model S, 2023-2025 Model X, and Model Y vehicles. The computer circuit board may short, resulting in the loss of the rearview camera image. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 111, "Rear Visibility."

Risk and remedy
Risk: A rearview camera that does not display an image reduces the driver's rear view, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Tesla released an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge. Tesla will also identify any vehicles that experienced a circuit board failure, or stress that may lead to a circuit board failure, and replace the affected computers, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 7, 2025. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-25-00-001.
24V-935Dec 17, 2024
Tires:Pressure Monitoring And Regulating Systems

Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2024 Cybertruck, 2017-2025 Model 3, and 2020-2025 Model Y vehicles. The tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) warning light may not remain illuminated between drive cycles, failing to warn the driver of low tire pressure. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems."

Risk and remedy
Risk: Driving with improperly inflated tires increases the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Tesla released an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 15, 2025. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-24-00-018.

All 3 recalls on the 2025 Tesla Model 3, with the owner complaints on each recalled system

Guide Seeing this on your own car? How to file a complaint with NHTSA

The log

Complaints by the month NHTSA received them, newest first. Blue bars mark a month with a recall or an investigation.

Sep 2026
4Collision avoidance, Lane keeping
Aug 2026
2Electrical, Brakes
Jul 2026
6Steering, Speed control
Jun 2026
4Electrical, Seats
May 2026
3Collision avoidance
Apr 2026
4Engine, Fuel and propulsion
Mar 2026
6Collision avoidance, Lane keeping investigation EA26002
Feb 2026
2Backup camera
Jan 2026
2Structure, Backup camera
Dec 2025
9Steering, Windshield and wipers
Nov 2025
9Steering, Collision avoidance
Oct 2025
9Collision avoidance, Electrical recall 25V-690: Electrical investigation PE25012
Sep 2025
9Electrical, Speed control
Aug 2025
11Steering, Speed control investigation AQ25002
Jul 2025
3Windshield and wipers
Jun 2025
10Collision avoidance, Lane keeping
May 2025
3Lane keeping, Brakes
Apr 2025
6Steering, Electrical
Mar 2025
3Electrical, Airbags
Feb 2025
3Collision avoidance, Lane keeping
Jan 2025
6Exterior Lighting, Steering recall 25V-002: Backup camera investigation PE24033
Dec 2024
2Electrical recall 24V-935: Tires
Nov 2024
1Electrical, Engine

Questions

What is the most common problem on the 2025 Tesla Model 3?

FSD problems, with 16 of the 117 complaints.

At what mileage do 2025 Tesla Model 3 problems start?

Of the 11 complaints that give a mileage, a quarter came by about 8,000 miles and half by about 10,000.

How many 2025 Tesla Model 3 complaints involve a crash, fire or injury?

26 of them (22%). The typical vehicle on this site is at 6%.

Other model years

201810262019615202045120216642022765202342720242182025117202625