Model 3 reliability so far?

[RayK]

Tesla owner only since July 2018. Driven 7,262 miles since then. Longest drive was a vacation to Los Angeles over three and a half days. During this time the only real reasons why I had to take the car in to the service center was to fix a slow leak (drywall screw) in one of my tires and to clear a TPMS error that essentially came with the car (yellow tire icon was lit from day 1). Nothing that was a side-of-the-road or tow truck incident.

My only complaint about the car that is any way related to reliability is the agonizing wait that occurs sometimes when I walk up to the car and want to get inside. For the first couple of months I used the cardkey. That worked 100%. During the aforementioned LA trip, I activated my phone (Samsung Galaxy J3) as a key. That has not been a 100% success rate. More like 97 or 98%. Those 2-3% failures have come without any perceived changes on my behalf. By "failures" I mean having to wait more than three seconds standing by the driver's door before it unlocks or having to resort to using the cardkey.

I've had a couple of times where the display doesn't activate until maybe a minute after I start the car but I don't consider those to be a reliability issue (yet). And a couple of times where the traffic information doesn't display on the navigation map but it comes back the next time I start the car. Sometimes the radio doesn't start up right away, but it eventually does after a minute or two. No problems with a stuck charging cable. No problems with the drivetrain (battery and/or motor). Windows work fine (but I haven't taken the car up to Tahoe for an overnight freeze). Same with the door handles. I've opened the frunk maybe 10 times without any issues. Brakes are fine. Had an incident a couple of days ago where I felt the ABS working. Headlights are the best I've had on a car since my brother installed some Cibié lights on his 1971 Capri (that I eventually owned). Glass roof panels haven't cracked or chipped. About two weeks ago my wife and I heard a loud crack as I thought something hit the front windshield. No detectable chip anywhere. No water leaks that I've seen or felt in the cabin or trunk. Yes sometimes some water falls into the trunk when I open it but that's not a reliability issue; just a design flaw.

<Ray now goes and firmly raps his knuckles on the wood dining room table>

 

[talkingevs]

Had mine for 6 months and 11,000 miles now. Minor issues only, overall really happy so far:

1) Dash had to be replaced due to bubbling (was present at delivery though)
2) Charging cable got stuck and wouldn't come out. Had to use manual trunk release.
3) Screen keeps turning all the way off when parked and takes about a minute to turn on sometimes.

 

[Robert2on]

I've had mine 7 months and 24k kms (15k miles).

Two significant issues so far:
1) MCU had to be replaced at around 15k kms due to failure. My wife was pretty rattled after it started to pack it in while she was driving at 100 kms/hr
2) Recline on the driver seat no longer works on one side. The left side moves up and down, but the right side does not - very odd problem and have an appointment fix this week

Being a newly designed vehicle, you expect a few issues, as we keep reminding ourselves. We try not to compare it to our 6 year old Lexus Hybrid that it replaced, which only ever needed tires. We love this car otherwise.

 

[smyszko]

I've had my 3 for 6 months now. Other than a couple of one-off issues that corrected themselves and which I'd put down to software, no problems and no SC visits. I have 4 colleagues with 3's and haven't heard of any repairs for any of them either.

 

[HopeToGolf]

7 months and 10K miles into ownership...

One issue - new charging port to make it more flush to the car and reduce the amount of water leaking into the inside of the door.

 

[sperkin]

Firmware hasn't fixed the charge cable issue. I had mine replaced roughly a week or so ago. Mine got stuck at a SuperCharger. It was around upper 50s or in the 60s F so not very cold. Tech said he "hoped" it would be fixed soon via firmware, but it hasn't yet. He's had to replace a ton.

Good to know. My issue happened on firmware 48 right after I updated it. It hasn't happened yet on firmware 50 but it's an easy fix now since there's a manual release. I will schedule a service appointment if it happens again.

 

[ngogas]

Good so far. Knock on wood. Almost 5k.

 

[Sandiegodoug]

1year, 11k
No issues

 

[corduroy]

8K miles, 0 issues, never even rebooted it.

 

[ZipByICE]

10 Months, 9k, no problems.
Most people that are very active on these forums, tend to be highly critical. And rightfully so, they have issues with their cars. On the other hand, those that are happy, usually stay quiet.
My point is that you are not going to get much of a real picture until at least a year from now.
Since you are from Norway, you might be interested in winter performance. We had very cold temperatures around here (-15C) but I had no problems with M3. Mine is rear wheel drive, 18” aero. Some people had problems with windows and door handles freezing. But with some preventive steps, you should be fine.
And lastly, driving 3 is more fun than S, except for long trips. So get yourself a 3 and have fun.

 

[electrictorque]

Had my model 3 for 4 months and just over 3k miles and so far so good.

 

[DR61]

4.5 months, 4K miles. Zero reliability issues.

 

[Krugerrand]

25,000+ miles. 100% reliable to date.

 

[StealthP3D]

LR RWD Model 3 May 2018 - 100% reliable
P3D Model 3 Sept. 2018 - 100% reliable

Really good cars and fun to drive.

 

[mazers]

Owned for a little over a year, 24k miles and not a single issue that I would call major. Had rear glass replaced because of crack, covered under warranty. Tires rotated 3 times. 100% satisfied customer.

 

[srs5694]

Posting this kind of inquiry here is probably the least reliable way of getting a bead on your reliability question. You really want to wait until a third party can look at a large group of owners objectively for an extended period of time. Whether or not you like Consumers Report, their reliability ratings are about the best thing they do, although I don't think they've done anything on reliability of the model 3 yet.

You're absolutely right that trying to get reliable estimates of automobile reliability by polling readers of a Web forum is a pretty bad way to do it. Consumer Reports has released reliability information on the Model 3 (I'm not sure when that was; it may have been after you posted your comment in January). They initially gave it a 3/5 ("average") rating, but as more data came in, they downgraded it to 2/5 ("worse than average"). It hasn't changed since then, and currently sits at 2/5 for both the 2018 and 2019 model years. The worst areas seem to be "body hardware," "paint and trim," and "in-car electronics," which tracks with my subjective impression of the problems people report here and on other Tesla forums. It looks as if reliability went down a bit as the production ramp-up occurred. With any luck it'll go up again, and there are anecdotal reports that the number of delivery-time problems has gone down, so that's a promising sign, but if it reflects real improvements, they haven't yet shown up in CR's data.

FWIW, the Model S has fluctuated between ratings of 2/5 and 3/5 over the years, so the early indications are that the Model 3 will be in the same ballpark. The Model X's reliability has been pretty consistently a dismal 1/5, thanks largely to being over-engineered (complex doors, etc.).

Note also that automotive reliability has increased dramatically over the decades, so even a model with poor reliability today is better than the most reliable model from a while ago. (That said, I haven't checked what's happened in the last five years or so; it's conceivable that improvements have leveled off recently.) CR and others that rate reliability, like JD Powers, compare within model years (although they may publish data in such a way that cross-year comparisons are possible), so an "average" rating of today is better than an "average" rating from 1989, given the improvements over the decades.

 

[North75]

You're absolutely right that trying to get reliable estimates of automobile reliability by polling readers of a Web forum is a pretty bad way to do it. Consumer Reports has released reliability information on the Model 3 (I'm not sure when that was; it may have been after you posted your comment in January). They initially gave it a 3/5 ("average") rating, but as more data came in, they downgraded it to 2/5 ("worse than average"). It hasn't changed since then, and currently sits at 2/5 for both the 2018 and 2019 model years. The worst areas seem to be "body hardware," "paint and trim," and "in-car electronics," which tracks with my subjective impression of the problems people report here and on other Tesla forums. It looks as if reliability went down a bit as the production ramp-up occurred. With any luck it'll go up again, and there are anecdotal reports that the number of delivery-time problems has gone down, so that's a promising sign, but if it reflects real improvements, they haven't yet shown up in CR's data.

FWIW, the Model S has fluctuated between ratings of 2/5 and 3/5 over the years, so the early indications are that the Model 3 will be in the same ballpark. The Model X's reliability has been pretty consistently a dismal 1/5, thanks largely to being over-engineered (complex doors, etc.).

Note also that automotive reliability has increased dramatically over the decades, so even a model with poor reliability today is better than the most reliable model from a while ago. (That said, I haven't checked what's happened in the last five years or so; it's conceivable that improvements have leveled off recently.) CR and others that rate reliability, like JD Powers, compare within model years (although they may publish data in such a way that cross-year comparisons are possible), so an "average" rating of today is better than an "average" rating from 1989, given the improvements over the decades.

I think this is always going to be tough for Tesla with their over the air software update model. People are generally used to cars with generally sorted, but unchangeable software, so having a car that can get a new bug from an update is a big shift.
Tesla seems to treat their software more like a phone. Get it out there even if it might have bugs, because they can always be fixed or improved in a future software update.
I'd be very curious to know how much of the complaints are because of software.

 

[Nocturnal]

August 2018 P car delivery.

Issues - steering module had to be replaced 1 month in
on board charger replaced 3 months in

Both quick repairs. No issues since. 19k miles.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

Assuming they're able to match Toyota's sigma 4 rating... 3 cars out of every 100 will have something defective on delivery. Good luck

35k kms and no major issue (smelly AC resolved via DIY foam clean and filter replacement). Had rear brakes looked at early on and they replaced the wiring hardness. Pre June 2018 build.

 

[TEG]

1+ year, 10K+ miles. 100% reliable for driving.

Along the way, mobile service fixed: stuck frunk latch... & water in one tail light...