Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11628107

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

2024 TESLA MODEL 3

Manufacturer

Tesla, Inc.

Components

EXTERIOR LIGHTING

Dates

Incident: 10/10/2024
Filed: 11/30/2024

Owner complaint summary

While merging into heavy highway traffic, turn signal failed to turn on when button was pressed. This made me have to merge without a turn signal on putting me at a higher risk of a collision and surprising the drivers behind me. Immediately after the merge was complete I attempted to troubleshoot the button and found that it was stuck in the up state, flicking it multiple times made it possible to press the button again. Later that day experimentation showed that the button was prone to sticking if pushed at an angle but would work correctly as long as a deliberate and vertical press is applied. Specifically pushing the button with force pushing the button outwards relative to the steering wheel would cause the button to shift to the outward edge and get stuck on the plastic housing rendering the button impossible to depress. This angle is typical as the persons thumb would naturaly slide outwards when interacting with the button. The vehicle has not been inspected by any third parties (including manufacturer), but a video was recorded reproducing the malfunction and demonstrating how pushing the buttons inward resolves the issue. No warnings about the button no longer being operation were displayed. On a somewhat related note, its nearly impossible to signal that one is exiting a roundabout with the buttons as they change location before being pressed (steering angle) and depending on angle change meaning (upper button means right or left turn for example).

This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11628107). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11628107. 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.