Tesla Model Y Complaints (2023)

1,136 consumer complaints on file.

#11539743August 21, 2023
STEERING:ELECTRIC POWER ASSIST SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while attempting to make a left turn, she became aware that electric power steering (EPS) system had failed. The EPS warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer but was not yet diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V204000 (Steering) however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was 2,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539735August 21, 2023
STEERING
Had my vehicle for under 1 month. I was driving on a busy highway and the steering wheel completely seized up. It was unable to respond to turns or even curves in the road. Luckily, I was eventually able to pull over gradually, stop the car and contact roadside assistance. However, this was a very dangerous condition that could have cause multiple fatalities, including my own. Tesla replaced the steering column and sent me away without explaining the cause of the condition.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539271August 18, 2023
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING
While I was driving my car earlier today, my Tesla Model Y experienced an unexpected steering freeze right in the middle of the freeway. This incident occurred while I was accompanied by my 2-year-old son. Initially, I was quite alarmed and attempted to exert force to guide the car towards the slower lane, but unfortunately, the steering remained unresponsive. After trying the brakes a few times and executing forceful maneuvers, I was fortunate that the steering finally began to respond. Thanks to these actions, both my son and I are safe and well today. It's worth considering the safety implications of Tesla vehicles on the road, and some individuals believe that the NHTSA should intervene by imposing fines and addressing the use of the autopilot feature promptly. Thanks Dr. [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
#11539268August 18, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was trying to make right turn from Mcdonald's but suddenly, unintended acceleration, Tesla went into the intersection and hit the other side of car. - The emergency brake did not work and as a result of the accident , there was a severe damages in the front of the Tesla.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539263August 17, 2023
STEERING
Steering assist reduced. Notification on screen alerted me. Could not turn steering wheel to make turn while in a Chick-fil-A drive thru. Needed to park car and shift to drive a couple of times before I could eventually make the turn.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539223August 17, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while attempting to park the vehicle, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly. As a result, the vehicle jumped the curb and crashed into a barrier wall. The air bags did not deploy. No warning lights were illuminated. A Police report was not filed. There was no injury sustained. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,800.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539178August 17, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
I was driving along Hwy 37/151 between San Antonio and Mission, Texas. The trip is long straight and flat highway. During the round trip, my Model Y had 5 episodes of phantom braking. Twice in auto-steer mode and thrice under regular cruise control. In each case there were no cars within meaningful proximity, and no debris or other obstruction that should trigger the brakes. In every case the car was running at 60-80 mph, and the braking ranged from light to near emergency stopping force. The incident that prompted this report was when I was crusing at 80mph when the brakes engaged. Within seconds, my speed dropped by nearly half in what seemed like a couple hundred feet. The car responded to my immediate use of the accelerateor, so I don't know how close to a stop I would've come. Had this happened with a car close dehind me I would have absolutely be struck by it. I know that it is a known problem, but I wanted to add my car to the list of effected vehicles.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11539088August 17, 2023
ENGINE, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
On 2 occasions, my 2023 Tesla Model Y, accelerated more than expected with the slightest pressure to the accelerator pedal. No one was injured and no damage done, however, damage and injury COULD have resulted if this happened at a different place and time. At this time, I have not contacted the dealer as recent Google searches revealed other such complaints having been reported. The outcome was determined to be driver error each time. This, because the vehicle has no way of recording speed at time of accelerator depression. The acceleration was NOT in proportion to the surprise result, instead a "spurt of speed" rather than the slower anticipated speed required when pulling into the garage or into a parking spot. These 2 episodes occurred after a time of, what could be considered, a normal day of driving, parking, stopping and accelerating at intersections, in parking lots and regular street driving.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538911August 16, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I have had at least 7 incidents of phantom braking when using adaptive cruise control. There were no vehicles (or other obstructions) in front of me or vehicles along side me when the cruise control resulted in braking and, in some of the incidents, sharp/rapid deceleration that could have caused a serious accident if another vehicle had been following close behind. This happened on several different dates while on a road trip to Colorado (June 30-July 10) and another date in the following week.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538870August 16, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, VISIBILITY/WIPER
1. Wireless charging extremely slow., connected charging is also slow. 2. Safety Issue (Camera): driving side left camera and blind spot monitoring camera specially sometimes stopped working automatically during driving in the highway or city, it’s pretty dangerous Specially in the highway driving. During my long drive over July 4th weekend between 3-7 July happened several times, it caused auto steer mode forced disengage 3 times. occurrence 8/8 between 12-3 am it happened about 6 times. It happens on and off almost everyday in some part of drive. 3. Safety Issue Phantom Braking, in Auto steer, brakes are suddenly getting applied when even are no objects in the front of car for no reason. Aug 4, it happened about 4 times between 7-9 am.(around 7:30-7:40)Due to this big accident in the highway could have happened with Truck, as Truck was in normal speed 65 mph and due to sudden brake, vehicle speed came down to 35-40 mph, took control and move car out of road avoiding accident. This happened earlier instances as well during driving in the highways. But this time, I avoided death but got injuries. I need this car fixed for good OR a Replacement new car (preferably)OR a refund. Enough, I’m scared of driving this car afterwards, as I’m concerned about security and life risk all the time. Aug 12 braking issues happened on around 6:40 and 7:30 PST. Aug 15 braking issue happened on the highway around 7:45 and 8:15 am pst Hard to get a hold of customer service. they try to avoid Physical Service by Service Center by telling I need to provide exact timestamp and other nonsense remote debug and worst experience with the servicing. I asked for refund, no customer support no way to reach to discuss. 4. Range: Promised range for model Y is 330 m, get only 150-200 max, numbers are bloated and wrong. They tells it’s based on driving pattern and this range is based on 60-65 m/hr drive on a Flat surface, which was not told or advertised in website or during purchas.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538775August 15, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES
While day driving on a 4 lane divided highway during light traffic, we experienced phantom braking several times. We were at the posted 70 mph speed limit while autopilot was engaged. Phantom braking also occurred when cruise control was only engaged. No problem occurred with surrounding traffic. Our car has yet to have a Tesla service center look at our car. No car warnings occurred during these events. These events occurred on July 16th and 24th, 2023 and earlier since we’ve owned this car. Thanks.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538748August 15, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Model Y 2023 displayed Phantom braking 8/12/2023 - Driving from Phoenix to SD. Highway 238. On Auto Pilot, we encountered Phantom Braking (Speed - 65mph) on 4 separate instances and the speed reduced > 25mph. We were lucky that there was no accident.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538665August 15, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Yesterday updated Tesla car SoftWare version with 2023.26.7. Today, I am going to work with AutoPilot mode. Traffic was slowed down and stopped and car should apply the break automatically. However it didn't apply the break or slow down the Vehicle. I forcefully applied the break still car didn't stop fully and collided with in front of the car. I strongly believe, there was a bug in. new software version 2023.26.7
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538246August 13, 2023
STEERING
Last night the steering totally failed right after starting the car. An alert popped up saying “steering assist reduced”. Total loss of power steering and the car is inoperable.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538178August 13, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The car engaged breaks multiple times on an empty freeway while driving on the adaptive cruise control. There were no cars nor any objects on any lane. The breaking was so hard that I almost lost the control of the car. Luckily there were no cars behind. The problem might be sun related as it didn't happen at night
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538104August 12, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
When in cruise control my car experiences phantom or ghost braking seemingly out of nowhere. It violently applies the brakes without any obstacle in sight. This has happened to me many times and always on the freeway in sunny conditions. Tesla needs to address this as it’s a common complaint and has likely led to or will lead to many rear end type accidents. Thank you.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538099August 12, 2023
STEERING
Steering wheel locked up while driving under normal conditions at 45 MPH. I was exiting the highway at this time and was luckily able to come to a complete stop. The car had to be towed to the Tesla service center. This is a brand new 2023 Tesla Y purchased a month ago. The steering wheel has been locking up from time to time; and the steering of the vehicle sometimes feels unwieldy, uncontrollable, and simply undrivable. The issue is very dangerous. I Googled the issue and came across Reddit posts and other Tesla forums where other Tesla drivers have reported the same issue. There are also YouTube videos that discuss the same issue. This seems to be a common enough problem that warrants a total recall. The Tesla service agent acknowledged that the problem seems routine and pervasive, but downplayed the issue. There have been tragic accidents involving Teslas in the news recently (including a mother/daughter who crashed into a tree and both died en route to a doctor’s appointment—and this crash is still under investigation in California). But having experienced this steering issue with my own car, it makes me wonder whether the cause of these accidents is this steering issue. And I wonder if Tesla is covering up some of their data regarding these fatal accidents. This is an urgent issue and should be addressed and investigated thoroughly.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538078August 12, 2023
STEERING
While driving my Tesla model Y, an error message "Power assist reduced" popped up on the computer's screen. I couldn't turn the steering wheel in either direction in a parking lot. This incident happened on 8/11/2023. I reset the car's computer and walked away for 5 minutes and returned. The problem went away. I drove to another place and encountered the same error message while backing up a car into a parking space. I reset the computer system and got out of a car for a few minutes. The error message disappeared and I drove home within 2 mile radius. I have scheduled an appointment on Tuesday 8/15/2023 with Tesla Service Center.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538065August 12, 2023
STEERING
I have had the car 5 months and have had no problems. This week while driving there was a jerk of the steering wheel to the right and a second later I lost all power steering. I could not turn the wheel without using great force. Luckily I was in the far right lane and could pull over. Car behind me almost rear ended me. The warning on the Tesla screen said "steering assist reduced". I called Tesla and they sent a tow truck to get the car. I did try restarting the car and the steering came back for 10 seconds, but again there was a jerk the right of the wheel and then NO power steering again. Was very upsetting to say the least. I have a home in the mountains and had I been driving down a winding mountain road I could see myself having driven into a tree or off the road! The car is in the shop and they are saying they will likely replace the steering column. I see that others have experienced this and wanted to make sure my voice was heard. I will not be surprised if there are MANY more similar incidents with this car. I hope that it does not lead to deaths.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11538050August 12, 2023
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: WARNING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
While driving in the city on under construction road, the car started showing notifications that the steering power will be reduced. 30 sec. later the steering wheel froze and the car was drivable only forward and backwards. This safety system malfunction put me and my family at risk while in active driving mode, luckily there was no much traffic and i was able to reset the car in order to be able to drive it again. Bumpy road shouldn’t cause the system to malfunction and limit the driving capability, especially not while active driving. I wasnt using any cruise control or auto pilot features.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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