Tesla Model Y Complaints (2023)

1,136 consumer complaints on file.

#11508956February 24, 2023
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while his wife was driving in a parking lot, the vehicle independently accelerated as she depressed the brake pedal. The contact's wife crashed into another parked vehicle due to the failure. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The contact's wife experienced mental trauma due to the accident but did not need medical attention. A police report was filed. The contact stated that the vehicle was equipped with a safety feature known as "Sentry Mode", which recorded the movements of the vehicle. The contact stated that the feature recorded the movements except for the failure and the collision. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla service center where it remained in their possession. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but the contact was not provided a case number. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 363.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11508807February 23, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Driving on highway with cruise control activated. No traffic around. Experienced phantom braking taking me from about 80mph to 65mph before I was able to react. Had this happened in traffic there is a good chance i would have been rear ended. No notifications or emergency lights appeared on my dash.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508675February 23, 2023
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
This 2023 model Y has no collision warning. This was not what I expected when I purchased.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508651February 23, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Twice while driving in early afternoon on very bright days in the direction of the sun I've received forward collision alerts for no apparent reason. Due to adrenaline I don't remember if I slammed on my brakes or not, but I hope I did. Given that there was nothing in front of me for a substantial distance sudden braking for the alert would have been like a brake check had another vehicle been tailgating me. Date is for most recent occurrence, first occurrence was a few weeks ago.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508441February 21, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
This “phantom braking” issue MUST be resolved! This happens 2-4 times during a 700 mile trip. THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE. At highway speeds or less with only the cruise control on the car will abruptly slow down as if there was something in front of me but nothing is there. A member of my family no longer wants to drive the car because of this. It’s scary. When it happens, she screams! Fortunately, no one has been behind me close enough to cause an accident. Once we had AEB automatic emergency, braking turned off and it STILL happened! It happens day and night, dusk, and dawn and 40 mph or 80 mph. If you were using cruise control, it can happen at any time.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508055February 19, 2023
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
In auto pilot mode , my Tesla suddenly applied emergency brake and brought my model y from 65 to 10 min in 287 Highway. Luckily they was no car or truck behind me. No car in front of me also.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11508053February 19, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Car did phantom breaking when I was driving with my wife, 2 kids and Niece from NJ to Pittsburgh, PA. I was driving on autopilot and There was no car in front or on side and yet it suddenly applied break and car went doen to appx 40 mph. Luckily the car behind was at distance and they managed their breaking well. I see it as a big risk to me and my family while being on long rides on autopilot.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507920February 17, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
While in Traffic Aware Cruise Control (adaptive cruise control), the vehicle will brake hard suddenly with no objects anywhere near it. This has happened primarily on the freeway and luckily no cars were following close enough behind to cause a collision. This is very concerning as it is occurs in inconsistent situations and is completely unpredictable.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507556February 16, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
On Saturday, February 11, 2023, my wife and I were driving on the highway. I was the driver and I was utilizing the adaptive cruise control set at approximately 75 mph, which is the speed limit. There were no vehicles or objects in the roadway in front of us when all of a sudden, the vehicle automatically braked hard. My wife and I were startled and thrust forward in our seats. I quickly pressed the accelerator and looked in my rear view mirror. I saw a red truck that had been behind me had to veer off into the shoulder of the road to avoid hitting me. Another vehicle was next to him in the passing lane and was also braking. This was very shocking and disturbing that we narrowly avoided a major crash. We had previously experienced this "phantom braking" during a roadtrip a few weeks ago. At that time, we reported the problem to our Tesla dealer and they sent a technician to our house on Feb 3, 2023. The technician told us that we were experiencing this phantom braking and all of the newer Tesla's had this problem. He assured me that the "engineers" were working on it and would have a solution soon. He further told me that there have been no reports of any accidents, injuries or deaths as a result of this phantom braking problem. That was reassuring at the time. With this latest incident, I find it hard to believe there have been no accidents. The only reason we did not have a bad wreck is because of the skill and attention of the driver behind us. We reported this latest incident to our Tesla dealer and were given the following reply: "As mentioned in the previous messages, unwanted slows do happen and are expected. As we develop the system and the firmware, this will get better over time. At this time, we do not have an immediate resolution for you." I have never experienced a safety issue with a vehicle to the caliber of this magnitude. I am shocked this is allowed and acceptable. I am truly worried for our safety.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507271February 14, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Was using the adaptive cruise control in addition to lane keeping assist, collectively known as Autopilot. Was in the left most lane with no cars in front or beside and a car about 5 car lengths behind when max auto regen occurred aka "phantom braking". There were no indications of obstacles in front based on the screen rendering.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11507032February 13, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I was driving highway on 2/13/2023 around 11:12am. Traffic was clear, weather was good, I was using autopilot with Tesla model Y. The car decided to break at highway speeds for no reason. The breaking was very aggressive and I was very scared. There was no accident but something is not right with autopilot of Tesla. The car is new and using latest available software update.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506949February 13, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the vehicle abruptly stopped independently. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,300.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506894February 13, 2023
VISIBILITY/WIPER, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, SERVICE BRAKES
When autopilot is engaged the car slows down without warning and there isn't anything in front of the car. We had close calls with cars behind us when the car applies the brakes for no reason. The wipers would come on for no reason and as long as the autopilot was on it couldn't be turn off. So we had to disengage the autopilot and turn off the wipers and drive another 300 miles without autopilot for our safety.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506860February 12, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
Had Adas engaged for about 180 miles and had phantom braking atleast two times. There was no one in front or on side
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506818February 12, 2023
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
Car braked aggressively and unexpectedly on highway in full traffic with autopilot (lane keeping cruise control) for no reason. Car in front was over 10 car lengths away and not slowing. Almost caused collision with car behind me but I took control immediately and hit accelerator. Night time driving - approximately 530pm on route 64/1 headed west in Raleigh nc. My car is “vision only”. Extremely unsafe.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506745February 11, 2023
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
When driving in Traffic aware cruise control in Highway where the speed was around 70 mph, vehicles system auto applied brake and significantly slowed down speed for a few seconds. Had there been a vehicle following us closely, there would have been an accident. There were no close objects or vehicle in front while this incident happened.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11506532February 9, 2023
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Failure: rear motor disabled. Verified customer concern. Inspected rear drive unit and found inverter had internal issue causing failure. Replaced rear drive unit inverter and verified vehicle now operates as expected. Safety: car speed reduced to 68mph max and the regenerative braking barely worked. All functionality like cruise control/adaptive were restricted Yes - reported to Tesla dealer/service center and had verified and fixed under warranty No warnings prior. Driving down the road I heard a loud clunk and then a warning appeared saying power reduced, rear motor disabled. Ok to drive.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505953February 7, 2023
BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
The back up camera is misaligned and shows the car in the wrong position. The poor rear visibility, combined with the “coming soon“ parking sensors means it’s very dangerous to backup the vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505696February 5, 2023
BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
While backing out of my parking lot space I almost hit a pedestrian emerging from behind a nearby parked car. My user manual, provided at the time of delivery, referred to warning sounds in situations such as these. I notified the Tesla service about this issue and was informed that my vehicle did not include these warnings because Tesla stopped installing the ultra sonic sensors required to activate the warning. Tesla service indicated this would be corrected in a future software release relying on Tesla vision. That initial service call was early January and Tesla has still not provided the updated software nor a target date for the change. The lack of sensors has also resulted in near impact in the front of the car due to the lack of sensors. This is a particular problem for senior drivers.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11505255February 2, 2023
AIR BAGS:SENSOR:OCCUPANT CLASSIFICATION:FRONT PASSENGER
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that the message “Passenger Air Bag Off” would illuminate while his wife was occupying the front passenger’s seat with the seat belt securely buckled. The vehicle was taken to the Tesla Service Center, where an unknown software update was recalibrated. The Tesla Service Center then informed the contact that the front passenger’s side seat needed to be replaced in the event the failure persisted. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred approximately three weeks later. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was operating as designed and the passenger’s side air bag would not activate unless the passenger weighed approximately 130 pounds. However, the contact stated that the Owner’s Manual indicated that the air bag would be activated if the passenger weighed 100 pounds. The contact stated that his wife weighed 126 pounds and was 5ft. 1 inch tall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 15.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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