2019 TESLA MODEL 3 — Complaint #2177809
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION filed February 17, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2177809 (ODI reference 11718650) concerns a 2019 TESLA MODEL 3 and was filed on February 17, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 12, 2026. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension, 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 suspension 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 2019 TESLA MODEL 3 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
While driving, the front driver-side suspension collapsed due to a complete detachment of the front lower lateral link. The fastener (bolt) backed out entirely and fell onto the road/under-shield. This matches the failure mode described in NHTSA Recall 21V-835, although Tesla has previously claimed my specific VIN was not included. The failure caused an immediate loss of steering control and structural instability. I am reporting this as a potential 'recall bypass' where the defect exists outside the currently identified recall population
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2177809 |
| ODI Number | 11718650 |
| Date Filed | February 17, 2026 |
| Failure Date | February 12, 2026 |
| VIN | 5YJ3E1EA1KF |
Similar SUSPENSION Complaints for 2019 TESLA MODEL 3
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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.