2019 Tesla Model 3: lane keeping assist jerks the wheel

Filed Jan 17, 2025 · Steering · TX

My 2019 Tesla Model 3 (RWD) began alerting error messages on the primary dashboard screen saying "Steering assist reduced. Steering may require increased effort." and "Lane Departure Avoidance features unavailable", followed by the power steering going out completely. Steering required significant effort, which was dangerous while turning through intersections or navigating parking lots, and almost caused a collision with other cars. The error goes away after parking the car and powering it off and on again, but reappears after driving short distances (anywhere from 5 to 30 miles). With the error on the screen, sometimes the power steering appears to work without increased effort (but with Lane Departure Avoidance unavailable), but other times the power steering is completely disabled. I received no warnings or alerts prior to the error messages and behavior I described above. I scheduled an appointment with Tesla Service (Plano-Lexington Drive-Service 300 Lexington Dr Plano, TX 75075) through the Tesla app, and after it was accepted, the app asked me to approve a repair estimate of almost $3000 to "remove and replace the steering rack". The replacement item is listed as "STEERING GEAR - LEFT HAND DRIVE (1188832-00-B)" with a unit price of 2,260.00. I contacted Tesla Service and asked if they would just do a diagnosis first to inspect the car, and they agreed and reduced the estimate to just a $215 diagnosis. The morning of my appointment (Jan 17th, 2025), Tesla Service sent me another new invoice for $3,176.36 for a complete steering rack replacement. When I arrived at the service center, the tech said they inspected the logs remotely, and found the steering rack was failing and needed a complete replacement, before even looking at the car in person.

Filed Apr 7, 2023 · Driver assistance · FL

The lane keeping assistance will send the car jerking left or right without reason or warning. (I’m not sure if the car is reacting to a shadow on the road or for some other reason.). This has occurred a number of times with an abrupt and violent movement. The last time this occurred was at around 6:50pm on Wednesday April 5, 2023 while driving westbound approaching the northernmost Palm Beach Island bridge. The car made a violent and completely unnecessary shift out of the lane and I had to make a forceful corrective steering response that scared both myself and my passenger.

Filed Dec 21, 2022 · Driver assistance · 66,000 miles · GA · crash · 1 injury

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while his partner was driving at approximately 60 MPH in inclement weather, the lane departure feature malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to hydroplane and crash into the median. No air bags were deployed. The contact's partner sustained a sore neck and back; however, medical attention was not received. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and was not yet deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000.

Filed Nov 29, 2022 · Driver assistance · FL

At night, both left and right side turn signal cameras (repeater cameras) become heavily obscured with glare when using turn signals. This interferes with lane keep assist, blind spot/collision warning, autopilot functions, and the ability for a driver to safely discern the presence of a vehicle in the vehicle’s blind spot. In November 2022 Tesla stated “It is a characteristic of the product… that has been design enhanced in newer vehicle production.” The issue is caused by 3 small holes located on the repeater camera’s printed circuit board (PCB) that allow internal light from the turn signal repeater to shine through the PCB to the camera sensor side, directly obscuring most of the camer sensor. The new “design enhanced” version covers these 3 holes with tape, eliminating the problem. Tesla does not view this as a concern and does not cover this safety issue under warranty. A very large number of owners have filed complaints with Tesla. Some owners had the parts replaced under “good will” while most have been charged for the replacement of the side repeaters as Tesla doesn’t classify this as a defect in “materials or workmanship”. Despite this, Tesla felt compelled to “enhance the design” by eliminating this problem. It’s absurd that Tesla knows about the issue and went as far as correcting it to prevent further problems, but won’t issue a TSB for vehicles effected by this “characteristic” that poses a major safety concern.

Filed Mar 25, 2022 · Driver assistance · FL

While the vehicle’s “autopilot” is engaged with the screen showing the blue lane border lines on the screen, the lane keeping assistance will suddenly and sharply veer out of a straight and clearly painted lane without any warning creating a dangerous reaction from the driver to attempt to correct (and possibly over correct) the abrupt and unexpected departure from the lane.?

Filed Mar 21, 2022 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 30,000 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle the Lane Departure, steering assist, and braking assist warning lights illuminated. During the failure the steering wheel had become difficult to turn in either direction. Additionally, while releasing the brake pedal, the vehicle continued to accelerate instead of decelerating as normal. The vehicle was taken to the local service center who performed unknown repairs however, after retrieving the vehicle the steering failure reoccurred. The vehicle was towed back to the service center. No further information was available. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 30,000.

Filed Jan 16, 2022 · Driver assistance, Electrical · CA

The screen on my Tesla fails routinely (everyday) while driving and then reboots after about 3 minutes. This happens abruptly with no warning. Tesla has told me (verbally) that it was reproduced in their service location in Palo Alto. During this time, I have no idea of my speed or any other vehicle status, such as lane keeping, collision warning, navigation, heating, etc. I have tried to remedy this issue with Tesla service repeatedly over two months, and the interactions have been unsatisfactory. Tesla does not seem to appreciate the potential seriousness of this issue and the risk to ourselves and others. Tesla Service at Sunnyvale, CA, encouraged me to continue driving, even though I pointed out the risk of "driving blind". My family is very wary of this vehicle now.

Filed Sep 15, 2021 · Driver assistance · CA

I was driving on I-80 eastbound at between Dixon, CA and Davis, CA with the Tesla Autopilot engaged (adaptive cruise control and lane assistance, NOT full navigation), hands on the wheel, in the rightmost lane. The autopilot suddenly started drifting to the left and the car partially entered the lane to the left of me before i disengaged autopilot and resumed control of the vehicle. At the same time, the center console display froze and "glitched" and became unresponsive. The car steering, acceleration and braking worked as normal, but turn signals did not work and i couldn't see my speed (the display had frozen). After a few seconds, the display turned off (still unresponsive). I pulled over to the shoulder and put the car into park and the display seemed to automatically reboot (the screen turned back on and displayed the tesla logo). After a minute, the car had completed rebooting and appeared to operate as normal again.

Filed Nov 3, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · NJ

1. Phantom braking while driving on autopilot: mostly on highways, when driving on autopilot, the car suddenly applies brakes for no reason and no obstacle or vehicle in front of the car. This may lead to someone hitting me from behind (rear ending) as that driver would not expect my car to slow down. 2. Homelink system closes garage door randomly: the homelink gives command to garage door to close when it is not supposed to. There were an incident when the car was under the garage door and one incident when the car was backing out. 3. Lane departure alert: on newly marked road, the car did not take any action when the lane was crossed without engaging turn signal. The lane departure alert system should have brought the car back in lane. Tesla's response is that the systems are "beta versions". I can understand a system not working (like lane departure alert). However, phantom, braking and homelink issues are out of drivers' control and there is no corrective action a driver can take. For example, a) "the car does not apply brakes if there is obstacle", driver can apply brake and mitigate the risk. B) "the car applies brakes when the road is clear". Driver cannot help as it will be few seconds before the driver realizes that the car applied brakes for no good reason and then he/she will have to cancel the autopilot system and take control. It may be too late... There were several incidents of phantom braking. There were 4 incidents related to homelink. Date below is the date of latest phantom braking incident.