Tesla Model Y Complaints (2021)

1,061 consumer complaints on file.

#11666886June 14, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I was driving slowly at a parking lot of a supermarket and preparing to park on my right. When I saw a car on my left front backing up, I pressed on the brake pedal immediately and turned the wheel slightly to the right. All of a sudden, the Tesla accelerated on its own with a very strong force and high speed, with the wheel turned sharply on its own toward the right. The Tesla then run through the steel fence of the parking lot, flying past the sidewalk, and finally settled on top of a big rock on the ground (which is placed there to protect the supermarket building). All of these happened so fast with such a strong force and all in an unintended manner. I was not injured and luckily no other persons or vehicles were involved. However, the vehicle was totalled and there were damage of the supermarket property.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11665380June 6, 2025
SUSPENSION
Upper and lower control arms failed, and front suspensions bushings became torn. The car did not present any warning lamps or warning messages. The issue became apparent when a loud creaking/squeaking sound started coming from the front of the vehicle, and could be reproduced by turning the steering wheel, or by accelerating or braking. Control arm and suspension failures have been a frequent issue amongst Tesla owners, and the NHTSA should consider a recall for the design flaw.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11664697June 3, 2025
TIRES
A little background information, on Dec 2023 I installed 4 new Hankook Ion Evo AS (255/45R19) for my Tesla model Y at the Correa Tire shop in Dorado Puerto Rico and the manufacture date on those tires was 4422 and at the time the car had close to 30k miles. On April 2025 one of the tires broke and I replaced it at the same place with the same tire model. Less than a month after the new tire was installed, while riding on the highway at close to 65mph the recently replaced tire completely broke off leaving only the sides and the rest of the tire flew off the car (see pictures attached). This happened suddenly with no previous indication or car notification of any issue with the tire. Fortunately, I was able to stop the car without losing control and apparently the tire did not hit other oncoming cars. This was a very scary situation, which could have resulted on a serous and even fatal accident. When I checked the new tire, or what remained of it, I noticed it had the same manufacturing date (4422) as the tires I had replaced in 2023. The next day I went to the tire shop and explained the incident and they informed I had to buy a new tire while they investigated the situation and if there was any issue with the tire. At that time I also opened a complaint with Hankook US. After waiting various weeks for a response, and expecting reimbursement for the damage tire, I have not received any information from the tire shop and Hankook said they did not receive a claim from the tire shop.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11662697May 23, 2025
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Low beams are too bright and aimed too high, constantly blinding other drivers. Automatic high beams are always turning on and will not automatically turn off when another vehicle is detected.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11662001May 19, 2025
LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:DOORS:LATCH
1. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The 12V battery failed unexpectedly, causing a complete shutdown of the vehicle. The car became fully inoperable—doors, windows, touchscreen, and manual override systems were unresponsive. Yes, the vehicle is available for inspection. 2. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? My young child was inside the car at the time of the failure. Due to the system lockout, I was unable to open the doors or remove them from the vehicle. Emergency responders were called and had to break windows to safely extract my child. This situation posed a serious risk of heat exposure, panic, and injury. 3. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? The failure has been documented and attributed to a dead 12V battery, though Tesla has not formally inspected the vehicle as of this writing. I am working to have it evaluated by a qualified technician to confirm the cause. 4. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or others? The vehicle was not inspected by Tesla at the time of the incident. Emergency responders did assess the situation on site. I plan to notify my insurance provider, and will make the vehicle available for inspection. 5. Were there any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No. There were no alerts, notifications, or warning lights indicating the 12V battery was low or nearing failure. The malfunction occurred without warning.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11661956May 19, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
2nd Tesla loaner is damaged by rodents Chew on Car Wires.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11659635May 7, 2025
STEERING
Steering assistance reduced alert is showing up on vehicle. It is difficult to drive the car. The car has less than 33,000 miles on it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11659090May 5, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Tesla refuses to clear this recall, despite the software having been rolled out via over-the-air updates years ago. I now have to sell my vehicle because I'm unable to import it to Canada.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11658669May 3, 2025
BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
- Computer appears to stop working in colder temperatures (or random). - ALL cameras, including rear view camera (needed for backing up) and side cameras stop working. Error message shown on touch screen saying cameras are not available. - All road sensing information including other cars, lanes markers (everything) disappears from touch screen dashboard and no longer works. There are no longer any warnings for anything. - GPS tracking stops and no longer tracks along with the car. Car becomes a safety hazard due to poor visibility. Especially evident during reverse.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11658497May 2, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
While reversing in this 2021 Tesla Model Y (software v12, 2025.14.1, Full Self-Driving Supervised), the vehicle’s ultrasonic sensors showed a wall directly behind on the display. However, the Tesla Vision camera system did not visually render the wall, and neither Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) nor Obstacle-Aware Acceleration activated. The car reversed under driver input directly into the wall, causing a collision with property damage. The safety defect appears to be that the ultrasonic sensors, although still present and visually displayed, are no longer integrated into the collision avoidance systems after Tesla’s software updates activating Tesla Vision. As a result, the AEB and OAA systems seem to rely only on camera data, ignoring ultrasonic sensor input — leaving a dangerous blind spot in reverse. This problem affects safety because the driver receives no warning that AEB or OAA will not engage based on ultrasonic detection alone. Tesla’s updated owner manuals (2023.12) state that AEB is now designed to work in reverse, but in this case, the system failed. The issue has not yet been inspected by Tesla or a dealer but appears reproducible on vehicles with ultrasonic sensors running Tesla Vision software. This is likely a widespread defect affecting 2020–2022 Tesla Model 3, Y, S, and X vehicles equipped with ultrasonic sensors but updated via software. There were no warning lights or system alerts before the failure. I request NHTSA investigate whether Tesla’s software has disabled or failed to integrate ultrasonic sensor data into rear collision avoidance, creating an undisclosed safety risk for owners.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11655447April 18, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, STEERING, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
The Adaptive cruse control would stop working off an on. also it would give false land departure warnings causing driver to swerve thinking they were going to run into another care
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11654477April 14, 2025
AIR BAGS
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the message "Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault" was displayed on the instrument panel. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The contact was informed that the VIN was not under recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 68,400.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11653724April 9, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
See attached document for complaint.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11653378April 8, 2025
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
The front collision warning is too sensitive and reacts unnecessarily to many events that are not a risk for collision. In addition, the sound of the warning is too loud causing the driver to become unnecessarily startled and may cause possible loss of control of the vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11652393April 2, 2025
BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
Per the Tesla service team, there is a defect in the car computer which causes intermittent signal of the backup camera, failure of automatic emergency braking, and also Autopilot unavailability in a 2021 Tesla Model Y with less than 40k miles on it. This issue only occurred after a software update and affects key safety features such as blind spot warning proximity warnings. The Tesla service team said the only way to solve it was to replace the entire car computer and charged us $2,583 for their own product defect. The car did issue alerts to us saying that Autopilot and automatic emergency braking were unavailable, but did not detect issues with intermittent camera signal.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11650338March 24, 2025
VISIBILITY/WIPER
In 2024 Tesla sent an over-the-air software update to my 2021 Model Y that gave us a month of free "full self driving." We did not ask for this. At the end of the 30 days, our cameras and GPS system failed. The Service Center said they had never seen this before despite many reports online posted by other Teslas owners. Tesla service said it was not fixable and recommended replacing computer at a cost to me of $2500. Now Tesla has posted a safety recall for this exact problem. They admit it was their fault and the recall states Tesla will replace the computer at no cost to the customer. However, they are only willing to fix the 2023-2025 models (those years are still under warranty). I feel that Tesla should fix all the model years that were affected. Tesla has again declined to fix my car. This is the recall website: [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
#11649840March 21, 2025
VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM
The windshield will fog up often due to moisture, which is made worse by activating the mechanism the Tesla model Y has for defogging, and rolling the windows down does little. This put my safety at risk when my visibility was compromised by this while driving on the highway, when I had to navigate and pull into the breakdown lane using teslas cameras. There were no warning lights, and this vehicle part has not yet been inspected. Since this issue has happened on residential streets to me before, I was able to avoid a crash, but I had little to no visibility, and it’s only a matter of time until this does result in a crash.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648401March 14, 2025
SEAT BELTS, SEATS
Continued failure of the OCS system after repair by tesla. This is the system responsible for determining if a passenger is in the passenger seat and without this is a safety issue. As it could affect airbag deployment.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11647726March 11, 2025
TIRES:PRESSURE MONITORING AND REGULATING SYSTEMS
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving on several occasions at various speeds, the TPMS warning light illuminated, with the “TPMS Fault” message was displayed on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed with TMPS failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact associated the failure with an undisclosed recall. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 94,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11646831March 6, 2025
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC, AIR BAGS
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 10 MPH and depressing the brake pedal; however, the vehicle accelerated independently and failed to brake without warning. The contact assured there were no distractions that could have caused the crash. Due to the failure, the contact crashed into another vehicle as the air bags deployed. Despite the air bag deployment, the vehicle continued to accelerate and repeatedly hit the same vehicle. The brake pedal eventually responded after depressing multiple times to the floorboard and the vehicle finally came to a stop. The contact did not sustain any injuries and did not seek medical treatment. The driver of the other vehicle did not report any injuries. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed from the scene to an independent tow yard. The contact mentioned reviewing the Tesla App on the crash however it was not recorded and there was a recording lag. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 39,264
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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