Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11559885

This page summarizes an official U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration owner complaint. Use the verification links below to confirm the record directly with NHTSA.

Vehicle

2021 TESLA MODEL 3

Manufacturer

Tesla, Inc.

Components

POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

Dates

Incident: 08/15/2023
Filed: 12/13/2023

Owner complaint summary

My 2021 Tesla Model 3 shuts/powers down WITHOUT warning while driving with a battery charge >0%. This unsafe event has occurred twice now! While the battery gauge displayed 10%, I was driving about 60mph when all of these warning messages appeared prompting me to pull over. As soon as these messages displayed, my car lost all propulsion and I was left stranded in the middle of the road. Both times I narrowly avoided being hit by other vehicles traveling at high speeds since my car died in the roadway. The car was towed to Tesla on both occasions, and they weren't concerned about my safety issue in the slightest. Instead, they said the battery just ran out; however my car displayed that I had about 6-10% charge remaining. So, if the battery were completely depleted (like Tesla says), then the meter should have displayed a 0% reading at the time of the breakdowns or, there is something defective with the battery/computer. Tesla service has refused to investigate the cause of the safety issue and, thus, refused to replace the EV battery (even though my car is still under the manufacturer's warranty). Electric vehicles should not die/run out of battery at 10% charge. However, my EV has done so TWICE! Tesla says that I just ran the car out of battery but has no response when I show them the pictures and video proving that the car died when there was, in fact, a decent amount of charge remaining on the vehicle (PLEASE SEE ATTACHED VIDEO AND PICTURES). If your phone died at 10%, then you would take it back to the manufacturer and demand that they fix the defective product. However, Tesla refuses to help fix my defective vehicle and just tells me that it is "operating as intended". EVs should not just lose all propulsion mid-drive. This creates an unsafe vehicle for me to drive, for my two young daughters in their car seats, and for other drivers who might hit me. I can provide other Tesla owners who have had a similar experience. Please force Tesla to take action!

This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11559885). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11559885. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.