2018 TESLA MODEL 3 — Complaint #2126189
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL filed September 2, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2126189 (ODI reference 11684449) concerns a 2018 TESLA MODEL 3 and was filed on September 2, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 28, 2025. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as forward collision avoidance: adaptive cruise control, 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: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. 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 forward collision avoidance: adaptive cruise control 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
Main incident: Time: 2025-08-28 ~12:41 PM PST What happened: After searching for a parking space, the driver was preparing to reverse into the spot, the driver pressed up the stalk to shift the gear into reverse, a sound was heard and something showed up on the screen, the vehicle once again started accelerating and running forward suddenly and sharply (3 mph to 28 mph in 3 secs), driver tried to steer the vehicle away from cars and buildings to minimize danger, the car rushed onto a concrete curb, hit one blue Tesla, then hit the side of a concrete utility pole, and ran over a plant and last crashed into the chain-link french before it finally stops Injuries: * Spine pain for one passenger Damages: ** All tires blown out, tire falls off ** Severe damages throughout the vehicle body * One Tesla parked on the parking lot was severely damaged * The utility pole's base box was scraped and deformed * One plant was knocked down Similar case 3 few mins ago: Time: 2025-08-28 ~12:38 PM PST
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2126189 |
| ODI Number | 11684449 |
| Date Filed | September 2, 2025 |
| Failure Date | August 28, 2025 |
| VIN | 5YJ3E1EA3JF |
Similar FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL Complaints for 2018 TESLA MODEL 3
There is no checkbox for Full Self Driving (Supervised): 3 times in the last 4 weeks, my Tesla has become impatient at long red lights and lurches out into the intersection. I am very concerned becaus
Description of the Defect: While driving with Full Self-Driving (FSD) engaged, the vehicle's primary computer shuts down and reboots, causing a sudden loss of all safety features, including Blind Spo
Repeatedly and randomly, with cruise control (not FSD) engaged, the car would brake, sometimes aggressively. The last time, it braked so hard the tires or brakes squealed and the car swerved slightly
Too fast and too close to stop sign to red light or other cars while in Full Self Drive (supervised).I had to disable it to avoid risks of accident.Even using Chilly Mode.
Backup camera recall was not fixed properly or the new parts have same issue. As a result the backup camera was not functioning. When the camera is not functioning the autopilot system drives aggressi
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.