2020 Tesla Model 3 cruise control problems
69 of the 451 complaints owners filed with NHTSA about the 2020 Tesla Model 3 name the cruise control (NHTSA’s “Vehicle Speed Control” heading — cruise control, adaptive cruise and unintended-acceleration reports). Filed under the same heading: 1 NHTSA investigation. Every figure below is a document in a federal file, linked; none is a failure rate, and none is a verdict on any one car.
What owners filed about the cruise control
Source: NHTSA complaint database18 of the 69 reports a crash · 2 a fire · 10 injuries. Self-reported, unverified.
Filed per year: 2019: 1 · 2020: 14 · 2021: 5 · 2022: 14 · 2023: 26 · 2024: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2026: 3
Half of the 17 owners who gave an odometer reading reported the cruise control problem between 0 and 4,000 miles. A median of reports, not the life of a part.
451 complaints in all about the 2020 Tesla Model 3, 3 filed in 2026. The whole picture, every system →
Counts are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many of these were sold; nothing here is a rate. NHTSA groups complaints coarsely, so “Vehicle Speed Control” means the same area of the vehicle, not one fault.
Across model years: Tesla Model 3 cruise control problems, every year on file →
In owners’ own words
Source: NHTSA complaint databaseFiled with NHTSA by the people who own these cars, about the cruise control. Quoted as written, with anything identifying removed; unverified reports — what was said, not a finding that it was true.
I was parking at a trader joe's when the car suddenly accelerated by itself without giving me any chance to break to avoid colliding with the curb. My car got scratched underneath
Just purchase the auto pilot, when coming to a stop, sometime it pass the white line. While going stright,when signal to change lane to bypass the slow car, it merge into left turn at the stop light. When the vheicle is going around a left corner, it veer to the right and drove on the should lane.
My wife and I live on a two-lane state route in the country. We were headed home from the farmers' market this morning around 10 a.m., headed down a hill with three cars behind US. There was an 18-wheeler headed up the hill. I had the cruise control on and traveling 55 MPH in a straight line with no curves in sight.
I took delivery of my Tesla at the beginning of april 2020 - I have not been out much because of lockdown. On one of my early journeys the car spontaneously accelerated. I was shocked but thought I had inadvertently done something eg cruise control or heavy foot even though I believed it was totally unprompted yesterday I was driving at…
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while his wife coming to a stop sign, the vehicle accelerated independently without warning and crashed into the rear of a pickup truck. The air bags failed to deploy. A police report was filed. There was no injury information provided.
What is on file about the cruise control
Source: NHTSA recalls, investigations and manufacturer communicationsNHTSA investigation
- DP23002 Sudden Unintended Accelerationopened Jun 29, 2023 · open
- The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a petition requesting that ODI reevaluate its decision to deny DP20-001 on the basis that intermittent high electrical current demands on the vehicles' 12VDC systems may have caused some or all of the incidents examined by ODI in DP20-001. The petitioner bases this information on a review of open-source research and the DP20-001 denial. The petiti…
Other systems with a record on the 2020 Tesla Model 3
Source: the same files- automatic emergency braking problems 215 complaints
Common questions
Source: NHTSA complaint database, recalls and manufacturer communicationsAre cruise control problems common on the 2020 Tesla Model 3?
They are documented: NHTSA holds 69 owner complaints naming the cruise control on this model year (15% of everything owners filed about it), and 1 NHTSA investigation is filed under the same heading. Whether it is a problem on one particular car is a diagnosis, not a count, and a count says nothing about how many were sold.
Is there a recall for the cruise control on the 2020 Tesla Model 3?
No recall campaign is filed under this heading for this model year (there are 21 filed under other headings). A bulletin is not a recall: it carries no federal duty to repair for free.
When do cruise control problems show up on the 2020 Tesla Model 3?
Owners who gave an odometer reading reported it at a median of 1,740 miles; half of them between 0 and 4,000. That is when reports cluster, not the life of a part.
What does NHTSA's "Vehicle Speed Control" heading cover?
Cruise control, adaptive cruise and unintended-acceleration reports. Owners choose the heading when they file, so it says which area of the vehicle the complaint is about, not which part failed.