2018 TESLA MODEL 3 — Complaint #1749322
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about AIR BAGS: AIR BAG/RESTRAINT CONTROL MODULE:SOFTWARE filed May 26, 2021
NHTSA complaint #1749322 (ODI reference 11418676) concerns a 2018 TESLA MODEL 3 and was filed on May 26, 2021. The owner reports the failure occurred on May 12, 2021. The vehicle had 58,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Illinois based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as air bags: air bag/restraint control module:software, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same TESLA MODEL 3 cohort independently describe similar air bags: air bag/restraint control module:software failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2018 TESLA MODEL 3 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while entering and starting the vehicle, the front driver side safety retrains fault message was displayed on the screen. The air bag warning light was illuminated on with error code: RCM-A021. The contact reached out to a local dealer who sent out a mobile mechanic to the residence to inspect the vehicle. The contact stated that the front driverâs side wiring harness was defective. The wiring harness was replaced and the vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 58,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1749322 |
| ODI Number | 11418676 |
| Date Filed | May 26, 2021 |
| Failure Date | May 12, 2021 |
| VIN | 5YJ3E1EA3JF |
Similar AIR BAGS: AIR BAG/RESTRAINT CONTROL MODULE:SOFTWARE Complaints for 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.