The issue I am having is already documented in this TSB: [XXX] I feel this should be a recall, not just a TSB as it is a safety issue which can cause the seatbelt pre-tensioners to fail. If may fail at the time of a collision with no previous notice and cause the pre-tensioner to not work in the event of a collision. This should be repaired free of cost by Tesla. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
2018 Tesla Model 3 seat belts complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 105, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have been receiving an error message that there is a safety restraint system failure. I reached out for service and have been advised it will cost $195 minimum just for them to tell me if my safety is at risk. I don’t understand how if there is a safety issue regardless of being out of warranty why I should be responsible for their systems failing in a 5 year old car
Vehicle displays alert "Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault." Tesla repaired my vehicle last year for this same alert and now it has returned. Tesla claims the Occupant Classification System and passenger airbag must now be replaced. These critical safety components should not fail only 5 years after I purchased this vehicle. Many other Tesla owners report this same issue indicating it is a safety-related defect.
The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, a message was displayed alerting the driver to a passenger safety restraint fault. After restarting the vehicle, the vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular failure. The air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 21V389000 (Seat Belts) but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was 60,000.
I have had a safety restraint fault on the vehicle once before and Tesla came and replaced something. It never came back. Until I'm a couple thousand miles over the warranty and I "randomly" get another safety restraint fault. I filed the service report for them to tell me it's the seatbelt. I replaced the seatbelt and the error continues. This is a safety issue that needs to be addressed as thousands of people are having the same "fault" codes. This is a known problem teslas have and they are doing nothing to address it. I'm in shock this is allowed to happen
Front passenger safety restraint alert continuously stayed on with and without passenger seated. Took vehicle to solve problem immediately on 9/4/2023. After it was diagnosed, the occupancy sensor was faulting and the concerned technician had to retrofit the sensor system to address the problem. Technician replaced the front AIR BAG AND THE SEAT HARNESS for the new sensor costing approximately $1,300. This was thought to have been covered since it was seat belt/air bag issue but I had pay to have them replaced.
The passenger safety restraint system fault message pops up when driving normally. The diagnostic came up to replace the whole airbag after communicating with service center.
Safety restraint system fault RCM_a094
The middle rear passenger seatbelt became loose and unhinged at the hip. We notified the repair team and was quietly fixed and they told us it is a common thing they have been fixing. If this is true, the bolt could come loose during an accident and cause the seatbelt to not restrain a passenger if not fixed. The file attached says they inspected the seatbelt but “no correction required” even though the technician did in fact reattach the seatbelt.
2018 Tesla Model 3 shows “Front left safety restraint system fault”. My car was not identify as having the recall applied but have the same issue the recall or warranty would resolve. My care is out of warranty and Tesla want to charge estimated $1,500 to resolve this issue. Tesla has this issues with all makes and models and is a safety issue.
The vehicle is reporting a right passenger restraint error message on the screen. Tesla "fixed the sensor" in 2021 under warranty. Now the same issue is present and Tesla says they have to replace the senor again with a newer one which is now no longer compliant with the OCS system or the air bag. They are charging customers $1600 to replace the sensor, OCS and airbag, all of which are safety specific requirements and is a product failure on their part. The error comes and goes at random, and at any speed. As low as 0-5 mph and as much as at 75mph
Tesla is charging me to replace the defective second-row center seatbelt buckle. My car has 47,600 miles today (7/13/23). I've owned several other cars and never had to replace a seatbelt buckle before.
Received an error "Front left safety restraint system fault. Service is required." error on my vehicle yesterday (7/11/2023) which disappears when lifting seat to highest position. As soon as seat is lowered more than 1/2" the error reappears and airbag light is illuminating notifying that the airbag is not enabled. This error is clearly an issue with the safety restraint system on the vehicle but Tesla will not honor fixing this under their Supplemental Restraint System Limited Warranty. The vehicle is within coverage period (<5 years and <60,000 miles). I am being told this SRS Limited warranty covers air bags, seat belt, seat belt buckles, sensors, and modules only. I have not taken the vehicle in for service as the quote I received is too expensive ($601). Please see photos for my conversation with Tesla service as well.
This is for an issue noted on a 2018 Tesla Model 3. On August 2020 the car was serviced for an error message that stated "Front passenger safety restraint system fault/Contact Tesla Service", this went into service for an "OCS REWORK" which was explained to me as some harness under the passenger seat; cost was covered under Limited Warranty. Issue came back on August 2021, same exact one "Front passenger safety restraint system fault/Contact Tesla Service", and went into service again. This time service needed to replace the whole passenger seat, at Out of Warranty cost of $2,059. After explaining the recurring issue, an agreement was reached for a discount; but still ended up paying for theft of the same issue again. Thought appropriate to report this issue, since from the warning, seems like a restraint system problem that can be a bigger issue if not recalled or fixed within warranty.
I am writing to report a safety concern with my Tesla Model 3 vehicle. The issue pertains to a persistent warning message that displays "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault". This warning suggests a potential malfunction in the safety restraint system, which could pose a significant risk to the passenger in the event of an accident. The warning message first appeared in July 2019 and has since been a recurring issue. Last December 2023, I paid out of pocket to get this serviced. The warning disappeared for a few months but reappeared recently. I have scheduled a service appointment with a Tesla service center to diagnose and hopefully rectify the issue. However, I felt it was necessary to report this to the federal safety agency due to the potential safety implications for other Tesla Model 3 owners if this is a widespread issue.
My vehicle recently depicted warnings on my screen showing " Front Left Safety Restraint System Fault" " Service is Required". I also sometimes get a visual warning showing a depiction of an airbag. Now I don't know if anything is wrong, but Tesla is going to charge me $400 to fix this problem. My cars warranty expired in April of this year. My concern is, if this is an airbag problem shouldn't it be coved by a recall? Or does your agency need to receive a large number of complaints to issue a recall? To answer your general questions, the warning messages started one month ago, late May. Beside the warning message, the airbag warning lamp would sometimes appear. I have a service appointment with the Tesla Service Center on July 1, so I should know more then.
Driver seat belt is not locking when I pulled suddenly. It looks that the driver side (front left) seat belt impact locking system is malfunction. Car is only 4 years and 4 months old with 57,000 miles. It is life danger to driver if he hits with an accident. A message came up. Making appointment with Tesla, but I believe that it should be a recall item like rear harness. I have never seen even in 20 years old car the seat belt impact locking system malfunction. It is a poor workmanship of the impact locking system. I would appreciate if you begin an investigation into this and urge Tesla to issue a recall notice to safe drivers and others around.
Driver received alert "front passenger safety restrain system fault." Tesla advised that airbag may not deploy when occupant in passenger seat due to seat pressure sensor malfunction. Added "filter" and issue corrected. Issue has returned and Tesla is asking for $2,000 to replace the entire seat due to pressure sensor not being otherwise accessible. I would like to alert the federal safety agency to this issue since I do not feel as though a safety issue such as this should exist on a 4 year old car and, in addition, the cost of repair should not be left to the consumer to cover. I feel as though a safety recall is warranted. Thank you.
The car started producing a warning that there was an issue with the driver’s side safety harness. Tesla has a warranty described as “Supplemental Restraint System Limited Warranty” which should cover this repair. The Tesla service center would not cover the cost of the repair under the terms of the warranty. I asked for a list of which specific equipment was covered under the terms of this warranty and they would not provide any details.
The rear seatbelt mechanism needed to be replaced due to a computer seatbelt restraint error.
I purchased this car used 12/05/2022. The seatbelt /driverside, doesn't catch on sudden stops, lurching me forward. I've almost hit the steering wheel with my face and head. Tesla says they are not responsible for replacing seatbelt. I have to pay for it. I don't know previous owners knew about this issue prior to selling it , but according to tesla, this issue doesn't fall with in their purview. Also the sealed control arm bushings on steering are squealing & after squeaking 10,000 miles of my driving this car and purchase. That too isn't covered.
Rear passenger side seat belt, when used for the first time since new car purchase in 2019, had an issue where it kept getting stuck and the retractor made a clicking noise majority of the time. This seatbelt is unable to be used as expected due to it getting stuck and not retracting fully and making noise. Reported this issue to Tesla Santa Monica Service center in October 2022, where the service advisor simply showed me how to use seat belt properly and come back later if issue kept happening and "resolved" the issue via "remote education," thus not offering a proper fix.. Issue has persisted, and I have reported it once again to Tesla Santa Monica Service center who tells me they're under new management and will decide whether I will be required to pay out of pocket after a test drive but are otherwise quoting me a diagnostic fee now. A test drive is not needed for this though since it's a seat belt malfunction issue. Reporting this to the federal safety agency because other Teslas have faced seatbelt recalls too.
The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact received notifications of the federal safety agency Campaign Number 21V00D000 (Electrical System, Visibility, Back Over Prevention), 22V702000 (Visibility), and 22V798000 (Seat Belts) however, the parts to do the recall repairs were unavailable. The local Service Center was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced the failure. Parts distribution disconnect.
I am getting an error on the screen which states, "Front left safety restraint system fault, service is required". Then while driving the car is not able to detect if the driver is sitting on the seat. The seat belt icon pops up. Tesla has remotely diagnosed the issue and are charging $450 to replace safety restraint wiring. This should be covered under a safety recall. The airbags are disabled.
I had this rear seat safety harness warning on my screen. There was no physical changes in the equipment, but I had to replace it at my own cost. Seat belt system would need to be a safety recall rather than replaced at owners cost.
For the past year, I have been receiving "Safety restraint system fault" message from Tesla screen in my vehicle. The message does not stay on the screen. It sometimes goes off and then comes back. I have not been able to identify its pattern of occurrence and disappearance. I have informed Tesla service support numerous times since Dec 2021 until now. They did not charge me for the inspection and repair for roughly 3 inspections. Up until around April 2022, their fixes still could not resolve issue, so asked me to go into one of their repair shops. Repair shop charged me $161.45 to fix the problem. Everything seemed okay for couple months. But just last month in Sept 2022, the same warning message started appearing again. I have informed Tesla and Tesla wants to charge me $2200 this time. Would this resolve the issue? I am not sure. And why am I responsible for a safety warning system fault that was not caused by my normal usage of the vehicle? I asked Tesla to give me a reason why they are charging me and any action from owners that has caused this issue to come up again and again. They have not responded. I'm not sure how the law works, but isn't it manufacturer's responsibility to make sure the vehicle is safe to drive on the road? With this warning message coming on and off periodically, and apparently Tesla cannot identify the reason either. How am I supposed to know if and when there is indeed a problem with my safety restraint belt?
Car displayed a vehicle passenger harness safety fault that requested I contact Tesla service for an appointment. Received a repair estimate from Tesla identifying that they need to "install Occupant Classification (OCS) Filter Module" requiring part "Service Kit- OCS Rework (1479982-00-C) and saying the cost to me is $151.25. This isn't listed as a recall item but I don't believe this should be a owner issue to resolve.
In 2021 the vehicle reported – “Front passenger safety restraint system fault/Contact Tesla Service”. Tesla performed OCS rework installing an Occupant Classification System (OCS) Filter Module (part SERVICE KIT – OCS REWORK (1479982-00-C)). In 2022 the vehicle reported “RCM_a056 Front passenger safety restraint system fault service required”. Tesla’s proposed correction is to replace seat (part 1ST ROW SEAT ASSEMBLY – RIGHT HAND – PUR BLACK (7654324-91-C)). The safety risk may be serious and alert RCM_a056 is being reported by other owners on the web so the problem is not isolated. My understanding is the Occupant Classification System (OCS) Filter Module is part of the airbag system and weighs occupants in the front seat. The OCS Filter is used to determine if the front seat is occupied and possibly classify occupants by weight to determine if and/or by how much airbags should be deployed. The safety of a person in the front passenger seat maybe at risk because of this faulty OCS which could result in airbags failing or deploying dangerously based on erroneous OCS inputs. The problem was identified by two faults reported by the vehicle, the first OCS failure was confirmed by a Tesla Mobile Technician and the component was replaced (part SERVICE KIT – OCS REWORK (1479982-00-C)). The Tech said the seat heater was causing interference with the OCS’s unshielded wires. The second fault the vehicle reported was also confirmed by a Mobile Service Technician who said the replacement OCS filter module “can’t be calibrated”. Please note that this is the second failure of the same component. Tesla has the OCS Module replaced in March of 2021. No other parties have inspected any of the OCS Filter Modules. I will make an effort to retain the seat being replaced. Only two fault with “RCM_a056” code and “Front passenger safety restraint system fault” text were reported by the vehicle. There were no other symptoms related to this faulty module.
Since I purchased this car new in Sept 2018, the car has had a "front Left safety restraint system fault". It has been fixed over 3 times and it is going for the 4th time now. The car is going out of warranty this year and I am afraid I will be stuck with the bill if it happens again. Even though all the fixes have been free so far, it is an ongoing problem Also, the known phantom breaking, just add to the numbers. it is more than common. I almost see it coming when going under overpasses because of the shadow. The computer must see it as an object. I have inquired about the lane departure warning and they keep saying it is just a software issue. If it is activated at any point during the drive, then it says that "lane departure warning" is not long available and may be restored on the next drive.
Driver Side Supplemental Restraint system reported an issue and need for service. Service department blames faulty electrical harness under the seat. A search of the web shows this is a common failure, leading me to believe that it is a design or a quality control issue. Tesla declines to repair under warranty because warranty expired 610 miles prior to notification.
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