Tesla Model Y Complaints (2021)

1,096 consumer complaints on file.

#11493561November 14, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was driving on highway when the car in front of me brake hard. Tesla failed to detect imminent crash and did not provide warning AND emergency braking. The vehicle has been recently serviced in tesla service center. There were no other warning lamps / messages / symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11493354November 13, 2022
STEERING, SUSPENSION, WHEELS
Heard loud clicking noises upfront when turning hard out of parking spot.Immediately I Checked front wheels manually on looseness, but could not detect any movement. Decided to drive home (20miles).I was very careful not to steer to hard through curves. Upon turn into my driveway ( hard right turn which I took very slow) ,left front wheel suspension came unhooked and an approx 3” long x 1/2” galvanized bolt fell onto driveway. My 2020Tesla Model Y was stuck at the bottom of driveway. My company mechanic came about an hour later ,jacked up the left side,removed front left wheel : the bolt as pictured below had loosened entirely from its nut and galled off releasing the wheel suspension and allowing the wheel to come loose . We temporarily fixed the bolt and drove the ModelY into our garage ( flat surface) 500 feet further uphill. Upon further inspection we found another bolt separated from its nut on the other side as well (4) other bolts totally loose almost entirely stripped from its counter nut. We found no sign of LOCTITE or similar. The bolt in question is on bottom of lit up spot ( in below picture) Bottom line: steering suspension bolts should not come loose on a vehicle not even 2 years old!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11492788November 8, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When using cruise control, the car will suddenly brake for no reason.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11492671November 7, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
I own a 2021 Tesla Model Y. I took possession of it on August 7, 2021, in Santa Barbara, Ca. Ever since, I have had more than 1000 instances of automatic emergency braking (phantom braking) episodes while using cruise control or autopilot. On January 26, 2022, I had 47 episodes, in just a couple of hours. This is typical. The experiences of severe phantom braking have been terrifying. The car often slams on its brakes for no apparent reason, many times on a four lane highway, or on a freeway with no cars or obstacles around. Recently, I had 10 phantom braking episodes within one mile of highway driving. Multiple times, I worried about getting rear-ended. It has been in for repair five times, and the technicians are animate that a software update is coming very soon (they've been promising that immediately after taking possession of the Tesla). After 15 months and five service center appointments, I expected the problem to be resolved by now. It hasn't. Can you please force Tesla to fix this problem immediately? Please provide a response identifying actions you are taking to resolve this very important safety matter.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11492603November 7, 2022
SEATS
The rails on my driver seat are causing the seat to rock back and forth. Service center is refusing to replace it under warranty.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11492316November 4, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle abruptly decelerated to approximately 35 MPH. The contact indicated that during the incident no other vehicles or objects were nearby to cause the vehicle to suddenly decelerate. Additionally, there were no messages or warning lights displayed or illuminated. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 20,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11492274November 4, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle would independently slow down without incident. Upon investigation, the contact discovered that the failure was referred to as phantom braking. The service center had yet to be notified of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11492201November 3, 2022
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
When activating the Tesla Autopilot, the lights are automatically controlled to activate the bright headlight mode. The vehicle does not permit the user to disable the automatic brights setting while the car is in Autopilot mode. While the Tesla vehicle attempts to turn off the brights when an oncoming vehicle approaches, the Tesla vehicle fails to detect the oncoming vehicle and the brights remain on. This causes the oncoming vehicle to flash their brights back at the Tesla vehicle because the driver of the oncoming vehicle is blinded by the brights of the Tesla vehicle. I have asked Tesla to fix this issue, but they refused to address it and provided a vague suggestion that a future software update will fix the issue. A recent software update has not fixed this issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11491713November 1, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
We were driving 65 miles per hour using cruise control on a flat road with no cars in front or behind us for hundreds of yards on both sides of a two-way highway. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, our Tesla applied the brakes hard as though it was trying to avoid hitting an obstacle on the road. Within a second our speed dropped to about 30mph at which point our Tesla released the brake and accelerated back up to 60 miles and hour before I shut off cruise control.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11491627October 31, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, STEERING
When i was traveling at speed around 70mph on highway. Tesla has applied emergency brakes and locked the steering, which made telsa rotate(spinned) 3 times on its own and stopped.luckily no vehicles were near on either ways. The vehicle was all the way stopped on opposite road and I was able to start after some seconds it stopped and started my driving. No vehicles were near or nothing approached to apply emergency brakes. When contacted telsa they told to schedule service appointment and no help was given.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11491417October 29, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, STEERING, VISIBILITY/WIPER
At night the wipers run when cruise control is engaged even though the windshield is clean and there is no precipitation. This situation also occurs when Autopilot is engaged. I've complained to Tesla's service center about this issue. I have text documentation to attach as evidence. A web search indicates there are many Tesla owners complaining about these issues for years. I've owned the car for 16 months and only in the last 2 months has this problem started. My daughter has the same car and does not have this problem. Years of complaints by other owners indicates this is a major problem why hasn't the NHTSA pressured Tesla Motors to address and repair these issues?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11491379October 28, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On many occasions while driving on a freeway near a feeder road the car automatically breaks by itself. I have come close to being rear ended several times. It appears the vehicle turns this feature on at the beginning of each new trip even after I have turned it off and the consumer must turn it off every time they begin to drive. I have also had instances of going around a bend and the car thinks it sees something, usually the barrier dividing traffic and breaks by itself.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11491176October 27, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I drove from Flagstaff, AZ to Las Vegas, NV on 10/26/2022. I attempted to put my car in AutoPilot (adaptive cruise control) around a dozen times during this 260 mile trip. Every 10-25 miles the car would brake extremely hard forcing the passengers to lunge forward as if the brakes were being slammed. In every case, the car was in the same lane (no lane changes) with nothing but open road ahead. In most cases there wasn't a vehicle in front or to either side of me (only behind me). No corrective messages or indications appeared on the screen to explain this action. The only corrective action I could take was to hit the accelerator to avoid a rear end collision. When I contacted Tesla about the issue, they checked the logs during this trip and found no faults in the system to explain this behavior.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490869October 25, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Experienced phantom braking 6 times. There was no warning Automatic emergency braking system engages when there is no other vehicle around. Also experienced phantom braking with automatic emergency braking system turned off but cruise control was on, 2 times. Tesla shop replaced some type of coolant sensors and recalibrated mirrors but phantom braking still occurring. Technician took vehicle out on highway and did not experience phantom braking, and suggested more monitoring from me using "bug report" on screen to document incidents. Currently I avoid cruise control and automatic emergency braking system because of the potential of being rear-ended with rapid and unplanned slow down. This is a dangerous issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490833October 25, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The vehicle is subject to phantom braking. When I use the adaptive cruise control and am driving in the middle or left lane (i.e. when there is a clear lane to my right), the car will brake when there is no car beside me. Sometimes this occurs when I am passing a large truck on my right. Last weekend, I was driving 68mph on a highway during a bright sunny day. There were no cars on either side of me. The car braked for no reason. I had to step on the accelerator pedal to get back to highways speeds.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490790October 25, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
UNKNOWN This incident happened on 10/16/2022 while on I-95 while the vehicle was engaged in the Auto-Pilot mode on the highway (We do not use this autopilot mode unless we are o the highway for long distance drives and that is very infrequent). The vehicle suddenly swerved around and lost control while on auto pilot. As always my hands were on the wheel and I could undo the auto pilot and take control of the vehicle. Fortunately there were no other vehicles around us and there was no damage! We have filed another claim previously with the NHTSA - 11455695
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490697October 24, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Phantom braking is common when driving on highway with advanced cruise control. On a recent trip from Tucson to San Diego I noted seven events in a 300 mile stretch. There were no cars within 1/2 mile in front of me, or any road debris during any event (I saved dash cam footage each time). There was a car behind me during one particularly violent event. I regularly commute on I-5 between San Diego and Irvine. One event per 70 mile trip is about the average. I’m almost used to it now.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490501October 23, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was returning home with my family at around 7 pm today (10/23/22). The autopilot (basic autopilot) was engaged and the vehicle was moving at 50 mph. Suddenly the car seemed to have engaged the brakes and I felt it almost came to a stop. At that time the red steering wheel alert appeared on the screen with the message to take control immediately. I had not braked nor there was a vehicle or any other object or vehicles in front of me or behind me. No vehicles were on the other lane either. The only thing I can clearly remember was a pickup truck waiting at a stop sign in a street connecting with the road I was on on the opposite side from me. Luckily there were no vehicles directly in front of me or behind me. It would have caused an accident if there was car behind me. All of us really got scared and my children are claiming they will never travel in my Tesla again. The vehicle may be inspected if needed. From what I read about this phenomenon it looks like what I experienced was a “phantom braking” event. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone at this time after the incident.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490483October 23, 2022
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
While driving with cruise control set to 70-74mph, we had several incidents of phantom braking on a recent road trip. From 70mph with no obstacles, trees, structures, or other cars in sight, the car would suddenly brake itself. This happened multiple times, sometimes just a minute or so after the previous time. We were saved from being rear-ended only because the cars behind us were far enough back, but it was terrifying nevertheless. We cannot use cruise control anymore. Tesla must address this totally unacceptable safety issue.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11490476October 23, 2022
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While travelling on TX-130 legally at 85 miles-per-hour with cruise control enabled, the braking system suddenly and without warning self-engaged, greatly reducing the speed of the vehicle. System available for inspection upon request (however I can help). The sudden speed change at such a high speed is alarming to the driver, possibly provoking unneeded corrective action which could destabilize the vehicle. If another vehicle had been following even reasonably closely, a collision was very likely. A collision at such high speed is obviously very dangerous. Manufacturer has not been contacted, but such "phantom braking" is the subject of frequent news articles from various sites. No explanation for the cause of the braking was displayed.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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