What is it like to own a 2018 Tesla Model 3 in NYC?
471 are registered in the five boroughs. Here is what they cost to fuel, what owners report to NHTSA, and which recalls are open.
There are 471 2018 Tesla Model 3s actively registered in New York City, most of them in Queens at 163. EPA rates it at 116 to 130 MPGe combined, 260 to 310 miles of range. NHTSA lists 19 safety recall campaigns covering this vehicle and holds 1,678 complaints submitted by owners and drivers.
- Registered in NYC
- 471
- Combined MPGe
- 116 to 130
- Recall campaigns
- 19
- Complaints to NHTSA
- 1,678
Data: NYS DMV August 17, 2026 snapshot, NHTSA and EPA as of August 17, 2026
Will I see myself coming and going?
471 2018 Tesla Model 3s are actively registered in New York City, across 5 of the five boroughs. Queens has the most at 163, and Staten Island the fewest at 41.
| Borough | Registered | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Queens | 163 | 34.6% |
| Brooklyn | 131 | 27.8% |
| Manhattan | 89 | 18.9% |
| The Bronx | 47 | 10.0% |
| Staten Island | 41 | 8.7% |
| All five boroughs | 471 | 100% |
What will fuel cost me?
The 2018 Tesla Model 3 is electric, so EPA rates it in MPGe rather than MPG: 116 to 130 combined across its 4 EPA configurations, with 260 to 310 miles of range. MPGe is a conversion of electricity into a gallon-equivalent, so it compares consumption, not fuel bills.
| Configuration | City | Highway | Combined | Annual fuel cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic (A1), Rear-Wheel Drive | 136 MPGe | 123 MPGe | 130 MPGe | $600 |
| Automatic (A1), All-Wheel Drive | 120 MPGe | 112 MPGe | 116 MPGe | $650 |
| Automatic (A1), All-Wheel Drive | 120 MPGe | 112 MPGe | 116 MPGe | $650 |
| Automatic (A1), Rear-Wheel Drive | 128 MPGe | 117 MPGe | 123 MPGe | $600 |
What goes wrong with it?
Owners and drivers have submitted 1,678 complaints about the 2018 Tesla Model 3 to NHTSA, across 26 component categories. The most reported is forward collision avoidance, with 281. These are reports, not confirmed defects and not a failure rate: a car that sold well collects more of them than a rare one for no reason other than that more people own it.
| Component | Complaints submitted | Latest report |
|---|---|---|
| Forward collision avoidance | 281 | July 31, 2026 |
| Suspension | 175 | August 10, 2026 |
| Unknown or other | 171 | July 1, 2026 |
| Electrical system | 168 | July 1, 2026 |
| Air bags | 140 | August 11, 2026 |
| Seat belts | 101 | June 25, 2026 |
| Vehicle speed control | 89 | October 6, 2025 |
| Service brakes | 86 | February 3, 2026 |
A complaint is somebody telling the federal government that something happened to their car. It has not been investigated, confirmed or agreed to by the manufacturer, and the count says as much about how many of these were sold as about the car itself. If you want to know what a symptom means rather than how often it is reported, the symptoms guide is the page for that.
Is mine affected by a recall?
NHTSA lists 19 safety recall campaigns covering the 2018 Tesla Model 3. A campaign covers a range of vehicles, not every one built, so the only way to know whether yours is included is to check your own VIN against NHTSA's lookup.
| Campaign | Component | Reported |
|---|---|---|
| 26V507000 | Exterior lighting:headlights | August 4, 2026 |
| 24V935000 | Tires:pressure monitoring and regulating systems | December 17, 2024 |
| 24V376000 | Seat belts:front:warning light/devices | May 28, 2024 |
| 24V153000 | Forward collision avoidance: warnings:external/pedestrian alert | February 27, 2024 |
| 24V051000 | Electrical system: instrument cluster/panel | January 30, 2024 |
Who works on Model 3s in Brooklyn?
We do. Nacmias Service Center is at 619 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, family owned since 1977: diagnostics, brakes, suspension, engine and transmission work on the Model 3. If it will not start where it sits, the flatbed that brings it in is ours too.
Registration counts: New York State DMV registration file, five New York City counties, August 17, 2026 snapshot. A registration is a record in a state database, not a car on the road, and the borough is where the registrant receives mail rather than where the car is driven. How we counted.
Fuel economy: EPA and DOE ratings published at FuelEconomy.gov, unaveraged, so each configuration is its own row. Recalls and complaints: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, the agency's own wording, as ingested August 17, 2026. Complaints are reports members of the public filed, not confirmed defects. The NYC registration study is the analysis these counts sit on top of.
234 vehicles in this directory, covering 520,848 registered cars. Data as of August 17, 2026.