Tesla Model Y Complaints (2021)

1,096 consumer complaints on file.

#11509031February 25, 2023
SUSPENSION, STEERING
On today’s day 2/24/23 approximately 13:18 hours. While I driving my 2021 Tesla Model Y ,the rear suspension failed. The steering wheel is not responding and I was unable to turn it or control it. This resulted in the rear tire and rim pointing to the left. This caused the tire to become unseated on the rim. The metal rim hitting the pavement and the angle of the Rim/wheel make me lose control of the vehicle and cross 4 lanes of traffic in a few seconds until I could get the car stopped. There was no prior noise or notice. It was raining lightly. I purchased the Tesla due to its reliability and all the safety features. As I know Tesla had been described as a high safety level with full automation engaged vehicle. However, I feel there is an issue with the suspension manufacturing defects of Tesla model Y which did not activate or warned me to avoid a simple collision. There was also no automatic breaking which occurred to avoid the collision. Luckily, there were no injuries on my accident. In fact, what if the driver had severe injuries, unconsciousness or even fatal during the impact of accident ? What if I was on autopilot? I am very concerned about the fact of Tesla manufacturing system. The dealership said this is common and caused by the rain which is an entirely dumb statement as I'm sure teslas are designed to be driving in all types of weather. I have seen numerous recalls and issues with the rear suspension and I am asking Tesla to take ownership of this issue and fix the problem. I look forward to your response on next steps to remedy this situation and repair my tesla. Thank you
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508476February 22, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
While driving the all functionality was lost and the screen went black
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508305February 21, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
On February 19, 2023, I was driving my 2021 Tesla Model Y on I-5 from LA to Sacramento on a clear afternoon. I was using adaptive cruise control (ACC) set at 78 mph, but not using auto-pilot, in the fast lane with a car following me. My car suddenly braked aggressively without anything in the roadway ahead of me. I then applied the foot brake and veered off onto the gravel left shoulder to avoid having the car behind me hit me. I saw in the rear-view mirror the following car swerve to the right to get around me, entering the slow lane. I believe that when I stepped on the brake, the ACC turned off and the car's automatic braking ceased. I then got back into the fast lane as there were no other cars approaching and resumed my drive. I didn't notice the speed my car had decreased to during the incident before I resumed speed, but I guess it may have been about 40 mph. Phantom braking happened one other time on I-5 on my way to LA from Sacramento two days previously (Feb. 17) also while in ACC, but there were no other cars around me and the automatic braking stopped when I tapped the brakes and I resumed my speed. In the year and a half we have owned the car, we have experienced approximately 10 instances of phantom braking, but fortunately, no accidents.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508107February 19, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I have been driving long distance 418 miles today from Phoenix, AZ through Las Vegas, NV and north. In my 6 hour journey today my breaks were applied randomly by the computer around 20 or more times on autopilot and on cruise control. It is an extreme safety hazard. I want this on record because this is day one of a cross country trip and in case anything happens. The phantom breaking was so frequent in the last hour I could not drive with autopilot on anymore for fear of a car following me would crash into me at highway speeds above 65mph.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507938February 18, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I was in 2 accidents with this car within a span of less than a year all with the same problem. I had not been in any accident over 40 plus years until this car. First incident was at a drive through when creeping up to the next window the car took off hyperaccelerating. I was able to avoid the truck in front of me from back ending her however scraped her tailpipe causing extensive damage to my car. She then hit the car in front of her. Second incident was approaching my home in my 20-30 mph neighborhood and went to go from 20-30 when car accelerated at a fast speed and was unable to control it being it happened so fast. Hit a tree. All the airbags went off. I could have been seriously injured as anyone who had been on bikes or walking .
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507808February 17, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING
The contact's client owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while they were driving approximately 50-55 mph with the vehicle in self-drive mode, the vehicle veered to the left and crashed into a guard rail. There were no warning indicator lights illuminated. There were no reported injuries, air bag deployment, or fire. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an unknown location. The contact called the local dealer but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was unknown.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507506February 15, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Numerous times we have experienced phantom braking when the cruise control is engaged at highway speeds. We think it occurs when you are close to cresting a hill and a vehicle is detected in the distance. The vehicle is quite distant, perhaps 500-1000 ft, but the auto braking system only see a short distance of lane lines (because they are out of sight on the other side of the crest) and interprets the vehicle to be much closer. This generally occurs about once every 100 miles of highway driving. Because of this, we are reluctant to use the cruise control. The date provided below is just the latest occurrence.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506805February 11, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Experienced phantom braking twice today on I 5. Almost crashed or got rear ended. Car was on auto pilot. This needs to be fixed
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505915February 6, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
SYSTEM MALFUNCTION: Emergency braking ("phantom braking") while set to automated driving/adaptive cruise control. OUR SAFETY PUT AT RISK: On a 2,000 mi. road trip from Denver CO to Tucson, AZ and back, the vehicle slammed on the brakes at 75-80 mph speeds over two dozen times. All incidents occurred either driving south on I-25 or west on I-10 going to Tucson, or on I-10 east and I-25 north on our return. By far the most dangerous event occurred when we were driving east on I-10 in SE Arizona on our return to Denver on 29 January. Driving in the right lane at 75 mph on a perfectly clear day with excellent road conditions, the vehicle suddenly slammed on its brakes. Following closely behind us was a semi-tractor-trailer, that also slammed on its brakes, blasted its horn, and very nearly rear-ended us. The truck driver then followed us at very close range for the next ten miles, If we slowed down, the truck slowed down. If we speeded up, the truck speeded up. We disengaged cruise control so we wouldn't involuntarily brake hard once more. Finally, the truck drive honked once more and dropped back as we sped up. In our view, this was an evident case of road rage on the trucker's part that might have ended tragically. REPRODUCTION OF PROBLEM: We have a 2/27/23 appointment with a Tesla service center here in Colorado to check out the automated driving/cruise control/camera and sensing system. However, this problem only arose under quite specific topographical, and road surface/light conditions on I-25 and I-10 in rural areas, so I'm doubtful Tesla service techs would be able to replicate the conditions. WARNINGS: There were no warnings emitted by the vehicle either audibly or visually (on the display screen) prior to any of these incidents.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505748February 6, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving on the highway at 70mph, on two separate occasions while using autopilot and cruise control, the car suddenly braked for no apparent reason. There were no vehicles immediately behind me at the time, however this was terrifying because I was scared that I was going to be rear ended at a high speed. I can no longer trust this safety system due it has happened twice randomly now.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505564February 4, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The car brakes at highway speed with no safety hazards in sight. This phantom braking occurs while on cruise control or when using the accelerator pedal. We don't use auto pilot. It is very upsetting and could cause a rear-ending accident.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505145February 2, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING
I would like to report a safety issue with the Tesla Model Y 2021 about its "phantom braking" behavior in FSD-Beta mode. While driving on I-94 E, I was overtaking a Semi trailer, when suddenly the brakes were deployed and the the speed went from 76 MPH to 63 MPH in the blink of an eye. I was very fortunate that no other car was trailing behind me which would have caused a disastrous accident.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11504929February 1, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Tesla Y Unintended Acceleration! Driving my Tesla I got a phone call that did not show up on screen then 1-3 seconds later my car took control of itself and rapidly accelerated. I had NO control with no steering or brakes. Powerless inside an accelerating vehicle! The car then crashed up on the median through a private community light post and into a tree. The car did not stop until the battery was severed and destroyed by the tree. All airbags went off and all glass shattered. There was no prior warning at all. Insurance adjuster deemed the car a complete total; not worth repair.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11504653January 31, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES
phantom braking
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11504219January 28, 2023
STRUCTURE:BODY
Rear doors are stuck and locked shut, the known defect is on youtube with experts explaining this safety flaw where the door handles get stuck and locked and now TESLA REFUSING TO SERVICE.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11503363January 24, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While driving on cruise control, the car slammed on the brakes out of nowhere. It was terrifying and we were almost hit from behind. There was absolutely no obstruction or any reason for the car to slam on the brakes. We do not feel safe having our young children in the car. We have notified tesla of the issue many times and they refuse to fix it. This car is unsafe and someone, a Tesla driver or members of the public on the road with this car, is going to be killed by the phantom braking . What is the NHTSA waiting for? Please force a recall. Clearly Tesla doesn’t care.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11503026January 22, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I was driving on a large, multi-lane, divided freeway (5 south Interstate just before Anaheim, CA in Orange County, California) and using adaptive cruise control (not autopilot) to maintain my speed in the mid 70s MPH. It was around 9pm PT and there was very light traffic. The next car in front of me was at least 100 feet ahead of me and there weren't any cars on the left or right of me. All of a sudden the car started decelerating really quickly, and by the time I pressed the accelerator to counteract the deceleration, the car was at roughly 60 MPH. There wasn't any indication as to why the car decelerated so suddenly, and there wasn't anything that I could see that might have caused the cruise control to react that way. Thankfully there wasn't a car close behind me - if there had been, it's possible that the trailing car could have hit me and caused an accident at high speeds. I've read online that there are quite a lot of reports of "Phantom braking" from Teslas, and from the descriptions I've read, my experience seems to be exactly the same. I hope that NHTSA and Tesla can work together to get to the bottom of this and prevent these types of scary incidents from ever happening again.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502777January 20, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Heatpump failed which caused a lack of cabin heat and in warmer weather would have caused charging issues due to lack of cooling possibly leaving me stranded. This had a warning on screen about loss of cabin conditioning. This happened over a mountain pass and caused the cabin temp to drop to 25F with two kids in car seats. This could be a really bad situation, luckily we had blankets and such to keep warm for the last few hours of the drive. I believe this was caused by an earlier TSB with sensor replacements and a software change done earlier in the life of my car for heatpump issues. This most likely caused wear on the pump and caused it to fail prematurely just out of warranty. The system was replaced by Tesla at significant cost and confirmed metal shavings in the system from the heatpump. I requested to keep the parts and still have them if further investigation is necessary.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502117January 17, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The driver side window doesn’t roll all the way up when trying to close it automatically with one button push. It goes partially up the side and then will automatically roll down.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11502070January 16, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Autobraking works sometimes and it doesn't many a times consistently. Also, there is a bad smell that keeps coming regularly. Not sure where that is coming from.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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