Consumer Reports: No Recommendation For Tesla Model 3 Due to 'Big Flaws'

Consumer Reports (CR) recently announced that they will not be giving their sought-after recommendation to the Tesla Model 3 after a road test has uncovered “big flaws” in the electric car.

In a recent report, the organization mentioned that the Tesla Model 3 sports “plenty” of features that are worth a thumbs up. However, flaws that they reportedly experienced during a test drive have been hard to overlook.

First and major flaw, CR noted Tesla Model 3’s stopping distance stretched to a 152 feet distance. They commented that it was “far worse than any contemporary car we’ve tested” and added that the Tesla Model 3’s record was 7 feet more compared to the full-sized pickup truck Ford F-150.

The stopping distance is measured through a braking test by going from 60 to 0 mph. Then, the distance covered by the vehicle before it comes to a full stop gives examiners the result. This aspect of the test is important as it can give consumers an idea how their prospect cars would function during emergency situations.

On the other hand, CR said that a Tesla representative explained they have recorded “an average of 133 feet” stopping distance despite the fact that both CR’s and Tesla’s test cars have the same tires.

In Tesla’s defense, the company explained there may have been other factors that affected CR’s recorded stopping distance including “road surface, weather conditions, tire temperature, brake conditioning, outside temperature, and past driving behavior.”

Apart from the underwhelming braking test result, CR testers were also not impressed with Tesla Model 3’s controls and display panel describing it as “difficult to use.”

In this era when almost everyone is using smartphones with full touchscreens, some might be surprised to hear that having the same control panel inside a car (or at least in Tesla Model 3’s case) did not get a positive mark from CR.

The organization commented that placing almost all controls to the AC, windows, mirrors, etc within the center touchscreen requires drivers to do carry out more than one step for very simple adjustments unlike having dedicated buttons for it.

“These types of complex interactions with a touch screen can cause driver distraction because each act forces drivers to take their eyes off the road and a hand off the steering wheel,” CR added.