2019 Tesla Model 3 Steering Problems

Tesla recently introduced auto parking as part of its FSD technology (Software 2026.20.6.11). Whenever we set the car destination to “home”, the auto parking has been able to gradually maneuver the car and self park in our garage. On 8/11, around 8:30pm, the car made a mistake during the auto parking. During the auto reverse into garage, the car came too close to the side of the garage and the driver side mirror hit the wall and partially broke. The driver was monitoring the car. If the car has kept its angle, it would have made it through correctly. But looks like it miscalculated and in a fraction of a second, the car’s side mirror hit the garage wall. Given the “ park” feature is new, looks like it hasn’t been tested well. It should be recalled until it is fixed and impacted drivers should be compensated for their repairs.

NHTSA ID

11756615

Incident

Aug 11, 2026

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The steering system failed due to corrosion and water ingress affecting both the steering rack and the associated steering wiring harness. These components were replaced by Tesla and are no longer available for inspection. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? The steering system is a safety-critical component. Corrosion and water intrusion created a risk of reduced or sudden loss of steering assist while driving, which could lead to loss of vehicle control and increase the risk of a crash. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Yes. Tesla service confirmed water ingress and corrosion affecting the steering rack and wiring harness and performed a full replacement of both components. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Yes. The vehicle and steering components were inspected by Tesla at a Tesla Service Center, which identified water ingress and corrosion as the cause of failure. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? Yes. The vehicle displayed steering-related warning messages prior to repair, including reduced steering assist alerts, which prompted inspection by Tesla service. The warnings appeared shortly before the repair was performed.

NHTSA ID

11715150

Incident

Jan 5, 2026

After 3 prior repairs 2 of which were recalls of the front suspension, control arms. I was driving when me and my 3 children’s life’s were almost taken. While driving on the expressway immediate loss of control of the car shaking while driving to work, I stopped immediately thank God no cars around next to me to crash into. We called for a ride and walked off the expressway. Immediately car was taken to Tesla where they told me they couldn’t help and come back in a few days. The car was later inspected by Tesla where instantly knew the issue and later the report came back where the lateral links on both sides of the front where completely out of socket, the compliance links bushing completely torn. This is critical failure and breakdown of critical safety components that almost took our life. We had moments before this happened and thank God we made it out before imminent life changing things happened. No warning no alerts in the car at any time.

NHTSA ID

11707311

Incident

Dec 11, 2025

The vehicle’s front suspension began making loud squeaking noises and felt unstable while driving, especially when turning or going over uneven surfaces. At times, the vehicle does not make a proper turn and almost feels like it loses grip, which is extremely unsafe. I brought the vehicle to a Tesla service center. After inspection, Tesla provided a service estimate and documentation confirming the failure of the front lower lateral links — the exact part and condition described in NHTSA Safety Recalls 21V835000 and 23V235000, which cover defective front suspension lateral link fasteners on this vehicle make, model, and year. Despite the clear match, Tesla did not recognize the repair as recall-related and categorized it as a customer-pay service. This raises concern that some affected vehicles are being excluded from proper recall coverage, despite experiencing the same safety defects. There were no warning lights or alerts prior to the failure. The issue was confirmed by Tesla and the part is available for inspection upon request.

NHTSA ID

11677252

Incident

Jul 30, 2025

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.

NHTSA ID

11636516

Incident

Jan 16, 2025

I was driving with food donations from my local shop to deliver them. I was about to turn left to go onto a different street when the car showed a notification that read "Steering Assist Reduced. Steering may require increased effort". It was incredibly hard to turn the steering wheel, left of right. If the car is moving very slowly is becomes increasingly harder to turn it, making it almost impossible to park.

NHTSA ID

11624469

Incident

Nov 8, 2024

steering rack failed due to water intrusion connector integrity failed

NHTSA ID

11617999

Incident

Sep 15, 2024

Driving on the freeway and steering completely locked up. Luckily on a straight away so the car could go to side of road. Restarted the system and it was functional again. Has happened again. Very concern over the safety of these vehicles.

NHTSA ID

11612405

Incident

Aug 24, 2024

Car intermittently gives me a "reduced power steering" error making it impossible to steer and had to stop in the fast lane on the freeway and reset the car just to get the error to to away I could have been killed and Tesla refuses to have a recall on my year and model and I must pay out of pocket for a new steering rack this is not fair that other models is covered for a recall but not a 2019 model 3

NHTSA ID

11610680

Incident

Aug 20, 2024

Customer concern confirmed there is a creaking noise coming from the front of the car while turning, I performed a visual inspection and found that both RF lower control arm bushings are torn and the LF frontward lower control arm bushing are torn but this is not the cause of the noise the cause of the noise is the upper control arms I took the load off of the upper control arms and the noise went away I also had someone turn the wheels while I looked for the cause of the noise and found that the noise is coming from the upper control arms, recommend replacing upper and lower control arms to fix all safety concerns.

NHTSA ID

11595503

Incident

Jun 10, 2024

[XXX] the vehicle provided an amber triangle alert that power steering may not be fully available. On [XXX], the vehicle lost power to the steering wheel and the car steering locked in a straight ahead position. Fortunately the car was traveling at low-speed in a parking to and came to a halt in the parking lot. However, the steering was locked. After several re-boot attempts the failure mode light was extinguished and the car could be driven home. It was brought to Tesla to service on [XXX]. Tesla reported "water ingress damage" to the steering unit, rack and electronics. Tesla charged me >$5,000 and implied the water ingress was my fault. The car is a southern California vehicle resident that has never been immersed in water, has only experienced periodic rain (CA 92865) and is driven on average 8,000 miles a year. It has never been out of State. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11595382

Incident

Jun 16, 2024

"Steering assist reduced" Error code UI_a020 Losing steering power mid-drive due to faulty power steering rack Many others have had this issue happen to their Tesla Model 3 and Ys, i would like to know if this is covered under a recall as my car is out of warranty for this type of safety repair happening very prematurely for a car

NHTSA ID

11595184

Incident

Jun 18, 2024

I had the control arms replaced and now the steering assist/ steering gear assembly has stopped working. The vehicle is undrivable and it only has 29K miles. This happened while driving and I had to go straight through an intersection as I could not steer the car.

NHTSA ID

11593667

Incident

May 21, 2024

I was driving my Model 3 when this alert occurred: ALERTS DRIVABILITY - VEHICLE MAY NOT RESTART/SERVICE IS REQUIRED ADDITIONALLY THE SCREEN STATED PULL OVER THE VEHICLE IMMEDIATELY SAFELY. I was in the middle of the road driving so it became dangerous. I could not steer the vehicle and the brakes were barely working. I could not immediately stop because I was in the middle of traffic. I pulled right over as soon as I could and shut down the vehicle. I believe this is a defect. When I spoke to Tesla repair personnel I was told they know about this and it is happening when the Model 3 reaches 40K. How can they not address this - why would someone wait until someone is in a serious accident? I called to set up an appointment for this emergency and was told I cannot get an appointment for 1 month and I should not drive my car. When an electric vehicle just shuts down you cannot control the vehicle - this is very very dangerous.

NHTSA ID

11593448

Incident

Jun 6, 2024

The steering wheel needs extra power to steer at low speeds. It acts as if the power steering has no power

NHTSA ID

11591450

Incident

Apr 1, 2024

Steering wheel lost power (in city driving) it took the driver and the passenger turning the wheel to wrestle the car to the side of the road. Turned off the car’s power after coming to a stop. The car would not start. Took 6 resets to power up the car and return it to “normal.” This is the second time the car had the steering lock up and the car not start. The first time was after shopping. The car was parked at the time. Took 4 resets to return the car to “normal.”

NHTSA ID

11588181

Incident

May 10, 2024

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at 55 MPH, the steering wheel seized and made it difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering rack needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.

NHTSA ID

11586723

Incident

Apr 19, 2024

Mileage

93,000 mi

The following recalls have been pending on my vehicle: 23V-838; TC2023-657, 24V-051 Tesla is unable to push over-the-air (OTA) updates to my vehicle to remedy these recalls due to an issue with the onboard computer being unable to receive updates. This issue arose when Tesla pushed a software/firmware update to my vehicle which effectively "bricked" the Advanced Drive System portion of the computer. In other words, I am unable to safely receive an update to resolve the issues (solved by the recall) because Tesla's failed software update damaged the onboard computer.

NHTSA ID

11584617

Incident

Oct 12, 2023

February 2024 my car gives me a pop up warning on screen that “ steering ability may be reduced”. A few minutes later I could barely steer the car as if steering was partially locked up to maybe 90%. Tesla service dept. said the car “ reset” and it was ok to drive. Today April 16 2024 the same thing happened while driving. This is very dangerous. This is a software issue Tesla needs to resolve. The contact stated the vehicle is in the repair shop again regarding the same issue.

NHTSA ID

11583420

Incident

Apr 16, 2024

I started to notice a noise that kind of sounded like rusty hinge on door every time I turned the steering wheel. It did not matter whether it was left or right. I took the car into the dealer because I was concern it could be something serious. The Tesla service center said my upper and lower control arms were "torn" and needed to be replaced. I find this hard to believe that control arms are failing only after 35, 000 miles on the car. The car is not even 5 years old yet. I am not abusive with this car and even so this should not be happening. I have many other vehicles over the years with hundreds of thousands of miles on them and never had issues with control arms.

NHTSA ID

11582947

Incident

Mar 22, 2024

Power steering and regenerative braking was intermittently work. Steering fully locked up while driving 70 m/hr on a freeway when I was on my way to service appointment. Very scary!! Service detected full steering rack replacement. When they took off the cable connectors water came pouring out. Water ingress caused corrosion to the body harness connector where it connects to the steering rack module. This seems to be an issue on online forums. Clearly this is a design flaw. How is water getting in and destroying all the electrical? Very unsafe and how is this issue going to be fixed so water doesn’t continue to get in

NHTSA ID

11578363

Incident

Mar 18, 2024

Power steering reduces, steering rack required replacement

NHTSA ID

11577794

Incident

Mar 6, 2024

After driving the car for about 2 minutes a warning message popped up on the screen panel. It was a warning of reduced steering. When I started to turn left onto another street I could barely move the steering wheel. It felt almost completely locked up.

NHTSA ID

11572675

Incident

Feb 7, 2024

FSD causing more Nagging to the steering wheel due to recent recall update, making it much more dangerous to constantly having to move the steering wheel while the car is in motion and can cause the car to serve out of control or into another lane, DANGEROUS RECALL, revert this back

NHTSA ID

11560996

Incident

Dec 18, 2023

The contact owns a 2019 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while turning the steering wheel to the left or the right, there was an abnormal creaking sound. The failure occurred at various speeds and occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed and determined that the creaking sound was coming from the front upper control arm while turning the vehicle and the front lower control arm while in reverse. The dealer also diagnosed that the latter link was torn. The contact was informed that the control arms and suspension nuts and bolts needed to be replaced. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 49,000.

NHTSA ID

11560267

Incident

Feb 15, 2023

Mileage

49,000 mi