Tesla Model Y Complaints

4,325 consumer complaints on file.

#11452687February 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I have owned two Tesla Model Y's, this one from 2021 and a 2022 version as well. Both vehicles have exhibited the type of "phantom braking" that I have now seen described by several other owners. When attempting to use either the full Autopilot system (which includes both adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist), or when using just the adaptive cruise control (without lane keeping), the vehicle would brake suddenly and forcefully. This appears to be in response to a threat perceived by the car, but it would happen on totally clear roads, in great weather, without some of the typical false indicators experienced by "vision" based systems. It's noteworthy that both of my cars used the vision-only system, as this vehicle was one of the first ones that Tesla produced that did not include a radar-based system. I experienced phantom braking so often with this car that I was completely unable to use cruise control. On a ~1,000 mile road trip through Wyoming and South Dakota (with minimal traffic in clear conditions on well-marked roads), I experienced over 100 phantom braking incidents in 4 days of highway driving. After that trip, I never used cruise control again regularly, but I would occasionally attempt to see if it fixed itself, and every time I would turn it on, I would have a phantom braking incident within minutes. I was able to capture a few videos of this behavior that I can send, as well, but I apparently can't do that as part of this form so please let me know how I could provide those, if required. Finally, the dates that I'm entering below are for the first occurrence of the phantom braking that I experience, but between the two vehicles, I have probably had it happen to me 150-200 times now. I have since sold the second Tesla (largely to avoid these issues), but please let me know if I can provide more info. These cars are not safe right now, and I've been looking for a way to remedy that for a while.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452683February 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
While driving my Tesla Model Y with Cruise Control activated, the vehicle would inexplicably brake/decelerate rapidly without any vehicle traffic in front of the car. It would occur at its worst while changing lanes, as I approached another vehicle from behind and attempted to change lanes to overtake. I would either be mostly in the other lane, or had already successfully changed lanes, when the vehicle inexplicably braked/decelerated. It was alarming, frustrating, and infuriating as it seemed clearly unjustified. This occurred while on the interstate, which was extremely dangerous given the speed traveling at as well as the number of vehicles that typically travel on the interstate. I have not used the feature since, and have even attempted to try and disable the feature while still being able to utilize some sort of basic cruise control feature, to no avail.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452673February 18, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
At 55 MPH on clear day, with visible lines the car automatically braked when an on coming truck passed nearby causing near rear end collision. I have two good videos of this if you wish to see actual conditions. Dealer acknowledged problem but said there was no fix and I should turn off automatic braking.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452670February 18, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While traveling on I81, at dusk, on 2/16/2022, the car automatically, with no apparent reason, momentarily applied the brakes, causing the car to veer sharply to the left - this occurred twice on a 20 mile trip - once while passing a semi, once while driving under an overpass - autopilot was with ‘distance speed control’ on - car is new with less than 300 miles (purchased on 2/11) - Because to this, I consider the car to be unsafe to drive with autopilot ‘on’
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452664February 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The Tesla Model Y had a software update at 12:05 am on Feb 13, 2022, which was complete. I drove the car to local YMCA at around 8:15 am on Sunday Feb 13, 2022, for my swim exercise and drove it home at around 9:30 am. I planned to park it by backing up to my driveway so that I can charge it. I positioned my car, with the front facing my neighbor's house. My foot was on brake and my right hand was moving the Drive Stalk towards R for reverse. The car all of the sudden flew forward on its own! It was only stopped after it hit my neighbor's house, making a big hole into her house, and causing severe damages to it outside and inside (smashed furniture and falling glassware), as well as to her landscaping. When this happened, my foot was still on the brake but pushing brake did stop the car. Additionally, hitting a tree also did not stop the car. Only the house and its strong frame stopped the car. The front of the car was totally damaged, including pieces falling out of the car and a big piece under the car falling down. Please come by immediately to take photos and examine damage. I called 911 immediately. The police and emergency trucks came. Since no one seemed to be visibly hurt (I had a whiplash and headache due to impact but was more was scared and shocked), the emergency medical crew left. The police said they are not making a report because the accident happened in private driveway and no crime was involved. I called Liberty Mutual to file a claim and was directed to file it online. I never bought the Tesla autopilot package but the new software update showed autopilot is an included package. This is a problem. I called Tesla customer service and reported this serious software malfunction. Thinking back, software problem caused another safety concern that started on Feb 6, 2022. Not only the right passenger door cannot be opened from outside, it also cannot be opened from inside. Someone could be trapped inside. This is a SAFETY alert!
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11452662February 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I have had over 18 occurrences of phantom braking while on cruise control; rapid deceleration without warning. I reacted by accelerating with the brake pedal. I reported this twice to the service adviser. One response was I needed to return with a date and time when it occurs again. When I did this, they could not find it in the computer record. They explained this occurs because cruise control is part of the self drive software and that is only in beta stage.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452660February 18, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was driving on freeway 101 north in LA and was merging into freeway 405 north. My auto pilot was engage and my car suddenly Decided to apply the breaks and reduce the speed from 65 miles per hour to around 45. This was done while there were no visible vehicles in sight and in front of me. The auto pilot is quite unreliable.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452394February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I saw the article today that other Tesla Model 3 and Model Y drivers were reporting phantom braking. My model Y has been doing this at a specific spot on the 5 Fwy south in the carpool lane in Santa Ana, CA. I now avoid that spot. I thought if it helps to be able to repeat this problem for investigative purposes I can duplicate it at this location. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452490February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
We experienced multiple (4-5) "phantom" braking events while driving cross-country using Adaptive Cruise Control & Lane Keeping Assistance on open Interstate highways during the summer of 2021. There were no vehicles or other obstacles in our driving lane ahead. Sometimes it seemed like it happened when we approached a shady underpass. Other times we couldn't see anything that might have confused the Adaptive Cruise Control. We did not have full Autopilot engaged during any of these times, only Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keeping Assistance.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452531February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While using the Tesla auto pilot in highway conditions the car would suddenly break or slow down as if the car was trying to avoid another car. There were no other cars in the area. This has happened several times but only in auto pilot.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452647February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I’ve been driving my Tesla mostly under autopilot about 90% of the time over the past 4 months. During that time, I’ve experienced about 30 or more phantom braking issues where the automatic braking system will engage when there is no object in front of the car. It’s all happened when autopilot was engaged. It happens during the day, generally on a single lane road, and also at night when on coming traffic lights are blinding. Each time it causes the car to rapidly slow down and causes the car behind me to slam on their brakes, potentially causing an accident. This needs to be fixed since it’s safety risk.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452645February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Several times over the past 6 months the car suddenly slowed down without any reason while driving on autopilot with nothing ahead of it on highway (there was no change of speed limit so that can’t be an explanation). Also known as “phantom breaking”
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452642February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
We are familiar with managing the controls which, in my experience, operate similarly to other vehicles with similar safety and driver-assist features. Unfortunately, in regards to the effectiveness and ease of operation of the TACC, our Tesla is by far the worst of the 5 vehicles with which I'm familiar. The experience of managing TACC with oncoming traffic is frustrating, distracting and sometimes unsafe. Autosteer, because it builds on TACC's systems, is similarly deficient although the features it provides would be extremely welcome when TACC is improved. Nearly every oncoming large truck (including many pickup trucks) caused TACC to brake the car TACC assisted braking was inconsistent. Sometimes an immediate, slight reduction in speed (5-10mph) and other times it was an immediate major reduction in speed, on the order of half-speed within 3 - 5 seconds. It was common to have the car brake from 65 - 35 for no other reason than a large, oncoming truck. After 3 or 4 occurrences of heavy braking, I would turn off TACC and manually maintain speed with the accelerator. This in itself is fatiguing and I would eventually resort to a system in which I would disengage TACC when approached by a truck, usually 200 - 300 yds away and then reengage when traffic was clear Heavy braking was severe enough that, if a there had been a closely following/unaware car, it would have rear-ended our vehicle TACC (and Autosteer) seem "happiest" when following other vehicles and, even on 2 lane highways, phantom braking was much less frequent A standard cruise control (no Traffic Assist except for Following Distance) is not available but would be welcome Summary: On the Interstate Highway system TAAC works reasonably well but could use improvement. On 2 lane highways TACC is more work and less safe than operating the vehicle manually and, as a system designed to reduce driver workload and improve safety, it fails.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452640February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
While driving in Autopilot, the car rapidly decelerated from 55mph to 35mph two times about 30 seconds apart, when two separate semi trucks were approaching me in oncoming lane, not crossing the lane or anything on a two way road. Seems to be well known as "phantom braking", but i just got the car yesterday and have put less than 30 miles on the car and already experienced this phantom braking twice. (Car currently has 60 miles on it) To note i did test drive a 2020 Model Y in December 2020 and did not experience this at all when using Autopilot on that car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452639February 17, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES
I’ve had this vehicle since June 2021 and experienced times when it would automatically brake abruptly, as if I were about to hit the vehicle in front of me. The first couple of times, I thought it was something I had to calibrate within the digital dashboard, but realized that it wasn’t something that could be adjusted — it was just the vehicle’s way of using it’s sensors to prevent me from colliding with the vehicle in front of me. The problem is that I wasn’t ever in danger of hitting anything in front of me. There were even times when I was gradually braking, but the vehicle automatically took over and broke for me. The painful part of it is that when this happened, it was so sharp and abruptly braking that I could feel my head jerk forward. It wasn’t until recently that I learned that this is actually a very big problem experienced by many other Tesla Model Y owners — called “Phantom Braking”. I’ve also had many other issues with the vehicle’s operating system, and have had to bring the vehicle in for Tesla service 5-6 times within a period of 7 months of taking lease of the vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452627February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Anytime we are using the adaptive cruise in our Model Y, we have experienced "phantom braking" issues where the car suddenly brakes for no apparent reason, decreasing cruising speed from 60-70 mph by as much as 20 mph all at once. This mostly occurs on two lane highways and with oncoming vehicles that are larger (truck, etc.). Also sometimes occurs cresting a hill. It happens so often that we do not use the crusie control feature unless we are on an interstate with dividers between oncoming traffic and ourselves. Any rural two-lane highway causes multiple incidences of "phantom braking" every time we use it. Literally happened dozens of times at this point.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452616February 17, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving in autopilot the car will randomly slam on the breaks multiple times at all speeds from 30-60mph even when the road is empty. This can increase if a large bus/truck is on the other side of the road in the opposite direction.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452605February 17, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On almost all my long highway trips (about 4 hours long), if I have traffic aware cruise control (TACC) enabled on my Tesla Model Y, I experience one or more episodes of phantom braking. The first time it occurred I had owned the car for only a few weeks and was not yet accustomed to its fast acceleration. I was driving at about 70mph on a clear day with no one in front of me when the car suddenly braked. My first impulse was to hit the brake to disengage TACC, but I realized that would slow down the car more, increasing the chance I might be rear-ended. So I hit the accelerator and rocketed back up to 80mph before settling back to normal speeds. I was fortunate to be on a straightaway with no one ahead of me. Since then I have experienced phantom braking with TACC enabled under similar circumstances, i.e., with no cars or trucks in front of me and in clear weather in daytime. With more experience, I have noticed that the problem happens more often when I am passing a truck on the highway, especially when doing so around a curve. In past years I have driven numerous rental cars with adaptive cruise control and have never experienced anything like the phantom braking of the Model Y. This is not normal behavior and I hope you can get Tesla to fix it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452604February 17, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The vehicle control system intermittently commands hard braking at highway speed when there are no obstacles or vehicles nearby. This sometimes happens repeatedly over a period of several minutes and sometimes doesn't happen for weeks at a time. The braking and deceleration is so rapid as to result in difficulty controlling the car and potential hazard to cars following behind. After repeated "bug reports" to Tesla, nothing has changed. They issue a software update with a new game, but don't fix the hazardous problems.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11452602February 17, 2022
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH in autopilot mode, a truck in the middle passing lane going in the opposite direction, approached the vehicle, and the vehicle stopped abruptly. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact continued to drive the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred while driving. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 300.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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