Teslas have been manufactured as disposable vehicles as per used car reliability study

Tesla car owners have long complained about various issues with their vehicles as they age, ranging from underengineered suspension and interior assembly quality to expensive out-of-warranty battery replacements.

Older Teslas, however, are now dead last in terms of reliability, according to the 2025 used vehicle study of Consumer Reports. Their studies are based on real reports by vehicle owners on a range of issues, some just annoying, some severe and expensive to fix. While in previous such studies the issues with Tesla cars could be attributed to one-off examples of poor engineering, like the inopportune placement of a battery housing safety valve on Model S units until 2015, the statistics now only include five- to ten-year-old Teslas, made from 2016 to 2021.

Even though the premature Model S battery failure issues were fixed by then, Teslas have still slipped in the used vehicle reliability ranking to the least reliable automaker out of the 26 that were surveyed. Consumer Reports explains this with the fact that the period included the introduction of new models and argues that newer Teslas that are up to three years old are in the golden middle in terms of reliability, especially the Model Y.

The used Tesla car prices have nosedived since their peak in 2022, when soft EV demand, Elon Musk's political activism, or the removal of the federal tax credit still hadn't played out. Now, however, the average price of pre-owned EVs like the Model 3 has fallen below that of gasoline cars, and they are still sitting at lots. As usual, the top places in both new and used car reliability rankings are occupied by Japanese brands like Lexus.

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