FIGURE 1 // WHERE IT WEARSTesla Model 3
Top three failure systems, annotated from 9,911 failed first-time tests. Arrows point to where the defect is found on the car.
Tyres are 72% of everything that fails a Tesla Model 3
67,849 inspections in a single year make the MODEL 3 the best-documented electric car. Tyres cause 72.4% of its failures; tyres take 3.1× the share they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
First-time test findings
The three-year vs five-year picture
AT THREE YEARS OLD14.4%
MODEL 3 failure rate. Petrol cars of the same age fail 8.2%.
AT FIVE YEARS OLD15.3%
MODEL 3 failure rate, against 10.7% for petrol.
At three years old the Tesla Model 3 fails 14.4% of the time, over the 8.2% of a petrol car the same age. By 4 years that reaches 15.3%. Tyres cause 72.4% of its failures.
FIGURE 2 // TYRE SECTION6,845 certificates in 2024
The tyre that wears from the inside
Tyres take 72.4% of the defects that fail this car, 3.1× the share seen on petrol and diesel cars of the same age. The most common item in that group is "Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements", recorded 6,845 times in 2024.
SECTION // TYRES CONCENTRATIONYear 3 crossover
Where the curve bends
The crossover with petrol happens around year 3. From there the MODEL 3's failure rate climbs faster than the petrol fleet, and the defect list explains why.
Source: DVSA MOT defect items, 2024 test year.
What to check
Check tyre age and tread across the full width, inner edge included. Electric cars wear tyres faster; a cheap mismatched set on a used car tells you how it was run. Have the suspension joints, bushes and springs checked on a lift. On this car it is a leading cause of failure and it is not visible from the outside. Check headlamp aim and every lamp before the test. It is the cheapest failure on the list and the easiest to avoid. Ask for the full MOT history by registration on the free DVSA service: advisories are next year's failures.
3 inspection points:
✓ Tyre inner-edge wear and age
✓ Suspension joints and bushes on a lift
✓ Headlamp aim and every lamp
FIGURE 3 // FAILURE RATE BY AGEvs petrol, diesel and all electric cars
Points hidden where fewer than 50 cars of that age were tested. Dashed lines are the same-age petrol and diesel fleets.
Data sheet
- Inspections
- 67,849
- Passed
- 56,938
- Failed
- 9,911
- Passed after repair
- 1,000
- Failure rate
- 14.6% (all EV 12.0%)
- Average age
- 3.7 years
- Best year
- 3 yrs · 14.4%
- Worst year
- 4 yrs · 15.3%
- Top cause
- Tyres 72.4%
TABLE 1 // WHAT FAILS, BY SYSTEMshare of failing defects
| System | This car (mark = petrol/diesel) | Share | vs petrol/diesel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 72.4% | 3.1× more | |
| Suspension | 9.1% | 1.5× less | |
| Brakes | 2.8% | 6.7× less | |
| Visibility | 4.6% | 2.6× less | |
| Lighting | 7.4% | 2.2× less | |
| Steering | 0.1% | 31.0× less | |
| Body | 0.3% | 13.7× less |
TABLE 2 // TOP DEFECTS ON THE CERTIFICATE
- Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements6,845
- A tyre cords visible or damaged4,375
- A tyre seriously damaged3,261
- A suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn1,795
- The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements686
- A tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative503
Wording as printed by the tester, from the DVSA inspection manual.
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Where it holds up
- Suspension fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (9.1% of defects vs 13.6%)
- Brakes fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (2.8% of defects vs 18.7%)
- Visibility fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (4.6% of defects vs 11.9%)
- Lighting fail less often than on petrol and diesel cars (7.4% of defects vs 16.5%)
Where it fails
- Tyres take a bigger share of failures than on petrol and diesel cars of the same age (72.4% vs 23.7%)
- At three years old it fails 14.4% of the time, above the 8.2% of petrol cars the same age
VERSIONS SEEN IN THE TESTSas recorded
- MODEL 3 LONG RANGE AWD35,845
- MODEL 3 STANDARD RANGE +19,583
- MODEL 3 PERFORMANCE AWD10,849
- MODEL 31,465
- MODEL 3 LONG RANGE RWD100
- MODEL 34
- MODEL 3 E2
- MODEL 3 LONG RANGE1
OWNER REPORTS // MATCHED TO RECORDED DEFECTS0 read · 0 matched
No owner discussion has been matched to this car's recorded defects yet. Reports are re-collected every quarter; the figures on this page do not depend on them.
Summaries written by us, never quotes; every entry links to its source. Owner reports have no denominator and never feed the failure rate.
SIMILAR CARS IN THE DATAclosest rate and age, other brands
Mercedes-Benz EQC14.7% fail · 7,232 testsVauxhall Corsa14.7% fail · 8,595 testsMercedes-Benz Vito14.3% fail · 126 testsPeugeot 20813.4% fail · 7,252 tests
OTHER TESLA ELECTRIC CARS
Three things the data shows
- 67,849 inspections in 2024 make this one of the best-documented electric cars in the data.
- Tyres take 3.1× the share of failures they take on petrol and diesel cars of the same age.
- Failure rate rises from 14.4% at 3 years to 15.3% at 4: a gentle ageing curve.
LIMITS // WHAT THE INSPECTION DOES NOT TELL YOU
No battery health, no motor, no charging performance. The test covers brakes, suspension, steering, tyres, lights, visibility and structure. A car with a badly degraded battery passes as long as it stops and steers. Read this page as evidence about the chassis, not the powertrain. Cars are tested from their third year, so the newest model years are missing; every figure carries its sample size for that reason. Full methodology.
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