Tesla Model Y Complaints (2026)

327 consumer complaints on file.

#11718057February 15, 2026
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
There is no frunk emergency release button in this version of Juniper Model Y
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11717825February 13, 2026
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, AIR BAGS, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
Rear-end collision. My Tesla impacted the rear of another vehicle at approximately 15–18 mph. No forward collision warning observed. Owner-provided data shows AEB status as SNA. Impact is such that the car is totaled.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11717701February 12, 2026
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS, BACK OVER PREVENTION: REARVIEW SYSTEM BRAKING
At approximately 5:50 PM on Feb 12, 2026, a collision occurred while the vehicle was under the control of "Full Self-Driving (Supervised)." While parked in a commercial lot, I engaged FSD to initiate a route home. A stationary semi-truck was positioned behind my vehicle. Upon engagement, the FSD system failed to detect the presence of the stationary truck. The vehicle initiated a rearward/lateral maneuver at a speed of 1 mph, directly striking the corner of the semi-truck. Safety Failure Details: The collision resulted in significant damage to the right rear quarter panel and associated sensors of my Tesla Model Y. Dashcam footage and system telemetry confirm that FSD was active (Supervised mode) during the entire duration of the maneuver. The system's occupancy network and vision suite failed to identify a large, stationary object within its immediate path of travel at a crawl speed. Request for Investigation: I am reporting a critical failure of the FSD software’s object detection and path planning capabilities. The system commanded a movement into a clear obstruction without issuing any takeover alerts or applying emergency braking, despite the low speed and high visibility of the obstacle.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11717428February 11, 2026
STEERING, LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
I am reporting a safety incident involving my Tesla while Autopilot/Full Self-Driving was engaged. On February 11, 2025 at approximately 9:22 am, on Waccamaw Medical Park Ct Conway, SC 29526, I was driving on a normal city street with the system actively controlling steering and speed. Without any warning or alert, the vehicle suddenly steered to the right toward the curb and struck it. I was very attentive, but the steering movement happened too quickly for me to safely prevent the impact. No forward collision warning, lane departure alert, or disengagement occurred prior to the incident. The impact caused damage to the wheel and tire (see attached photo). This behavior appears to be an incorrect steering decision by the automated driving system after misinterpreting the roadway edge or lane boundary. I am requesting review of the vehicle logs and investigation of the system behavior during this event.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11717150February 10, 2026
SEATS
The passenger side seat heat was on and burnt the leather of passenger side seat.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11716594February 8, 2026
SERVICE BRAKES, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
It was snowing and I was driving slow. About 8:40am, Feb 6th, 2026, I got a "One pedal driving disabled" alert just for a moment, then tried to stop before an intersection because a signal was turning to red. However, break didn't work and I had to enter the intersection under a red signal. Fortunately, there was no car in front of me, also a car coming from the side didn't notice signal changed. No accident, but very very scary. On Dec 6th, I also got an alert "One pedal driving disabled" and even after I released an accelerator pedal, speed didn't slow down. I reached Tesla on Feb 6th, but the service scheduled 4 weeks later. It's not safe to drive at all, thus, I will try to have them to check my vehicle asap.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11716167February 6, 2026
STRUCTURE:BODY
The forward trunk also known as the Frunk does not have the legally required interior release. I have children. I train them how to use a trunk emergency release. This car does not have one for the Forward trunk. This is a serious safety hazard.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11716052February 5, 2026
SUSPENSION, WHEELS
Went for a tire rotation. Service tech noticed the following- THE PASSENGER REAR CONTROL ARM HAD A BOLT THAT WAS BACKING OUT OF IT & THE NUT WAS MISSING. THE BOLT HAD RUBBED THROUGH THE WHEEL WEIGHT ON THE WHEEL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY ON THE RIGHT REAR. Photo is included of the rear control arm bolts for both sides of the car. Only the right rear had a problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11714919February 2, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:ADAS:AUTONOMOUS/SELF DRIVING
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 59 MPH with the Autonomous Self Driving feature activated and attempting to make a right turn, the vehicle failed to decelerate or signal while making the turn. The contact manually made the turn and then continued driving and reengaged the Autonomous Self Driving feature. The failure had occurred twice on the same day. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure through the Mobile App. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,500.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11714093January 28, 2026
SUSPENSION
Front suspension makes knocking and rattling noise - Tesla's solution was to remove structural braces from the car that transmit the noise - the car has not been recertified with the braces removed, I am concerned about adverse safety, especially in small frontal overlap collision.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11713624January 27, 2026
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Vehicle equipped with Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised v 14.2) software exhibits unsafe automated following behavior. The system maintains following distances that are too short at steady speeds, including behind stable lead vehicles with no braking or traffic disturbances. Tesla’s own Safety Score system flags this behavior as “following too closely,” indicating elevated collision risk. However, the driver has no available control to adjust minimum following distance or impose safer headway while using FSD This represents unsafe autonomous tailgating behavior with loss of driver control authority over safe following distance, creating increased risk of rear-end collision and hazardous automated driving conditions. Tesla offers several controls (Sloth, Chill, Standard, Hurry, and MadMax) modes, none of which solve the issue if the driver in front is driving the speed limit. My car under FSD will crowd (or tailgate) the front car regardless of the mode. In one instance, I was following a car under FSD in sloth mode and it made the car in front of me pull over just to get me off their tail.... this is certainly now how I wish to drive, and don't want my car driving this way. Failure mode: automated headway policy dominance, lack of driver override, unsafe autonomous following distance.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11713614January 27, 2026
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Vehicle equipped with Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised v 14.2) software exhibits unsafe automated behavior due to removal of driver speed control. The system infers speed limits and driving speed without allowing the driver to set a safe maximum speed. In residential neighborhoods with children, pedestrians, and shared social spaces, the vehicle drives at model-inferred speeds that are socially and physically unsafe. Driver is unable to impose a lower safe speed limit without disengaging. Tesla removed previous option for driver to adjust speed. In a state park campground, the system failed to detect a posted 15 mph speed limit and inferred a 55 mph limit. The vehicle accelerated to unsafe speeds on narrow, pedestrian-heavy roads, with no driver ability to cap speed while under FSD. This represents a loss of human override authority and unsafe autonomous system behavior, creating pedestrian hazard and safety risk. Failure mode: automated speed inference dominance, map prior misclassification, lack of driver override, unsafe autonomous acceleration in pedestrian environments.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11713351January 26, 2026
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
On full self driving, there is no way to change the follow distance and it follows way too close very often. This generates incidents that the car reports to Tesla insurance and we are penalized for something we can't always control. We also can't change our speed but I'm more concerned about the follow distance on highways. Last incident at 7:46PM on 1/25/2026.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11713177January 25, 2026
SERVICE BRAKES, STEERING, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Any time you drive my vehicle there’s either violent shaking in the brake pedal, steering wheel, tires. When you try to brake it stutters. Using FSD it failed to stop instead almost hit a pedestrian on scooter and reported the time and date to Tesla. It stuttered and thank god I was able to jam in brakes. After 9 service visit the admitted they missed something and wheel alignment was off and tires were cupped. Along with a bracket for suspension. Which has not solved issues. It scary driving this vehicle especially as a single father who has to make long trips in the weekend for hockey
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11713005January 23, 2026
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
There is NO emergency release button and light inside the frunk (front trunk) of my Tesla Model Y Performance 2026.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11712499January 21, 2026
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
My Model Y does not have an emergency release button in the frunk of my car. In the United States, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 401 mandates an interior release mechanism for enclosed trunks to prevent entrapment.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11712285January 20, 2026
STRUCTURE:BODY, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Incident Date: December 11, 2025 Vehicle: 2026 Tesla Model Y Location: DFW Airport, Irving, TX System: Full Self-Driving (Autopilot / FSD) Description: On December 11, 2025, my 2026 Tesla Model Y was operating under Full Self-Driving while exiting an airport when the vehicle struck a gate arm, causing property damage and windshield/body damage. No injuries occurred, but the collision happened while the FSD system was actively controlling the vehicle. Following the collision, I requested the vehicle operational and FSD engagement data from Tesla for the incident timeframe. Tesla provided a CSV dataset; however, the FSD engagement and autonomy decision-layer data were almost entirely missing, despite the vehicle being in motion and presumably under FSD control. On follow-up requests, Tesla stated they are unable to provide additional autonomy data and that “Tesla does not collect all your vehicle data,” despite marketing the system as Full Self-Driving and collecting extensive telemetry. This raises a safety concern because: 1.A collision occurred during FSD operation. 2.Tesla is not providing complete autonomy data for safety assessment. 3.There appears to be no transparency into FSD decision-making, object detection, or control authority at the time of impact. 4.Owners, insurers, and potentially regulators cannot review how FSD behaved during a safety-related event. I am submitting this complaint so NHTSA is aware that: (1) A collision occurred under FSD control, and (2) Tesla refused complete operational autonomy logs for evaluation.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11712177January 20, 2026
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
On January 20, around 9:35 am, Phoenix time, I had the car in self-driving mode for a left-hand turn at the intercession of Camino Real and River Road in Tucson, Arizona. A real-time view shows that it’s a tricky and dangerous left-hand turn. For the past 3 weeks, the car navigated it well, waiting until it was perfectly safe to do so. Today, however, the car moved quickly and unexpectedly into the center of River Road, narrowly escaping a head on collision with a west-bound car, and then paused, squeezed in between west and east-bound lanes when I tapped the brake and took the wheel. Everything happened so quickly. I made the left turn into the east-bound lane, but, looking back, I don’t know how an accident didn’t occur, as traffic was still moving in east-bound lanes rapidly. There must have been enough distance between two cars at just the right time, that nothing hit me.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11712063January 20, 2026
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING
The vehicle repeatedly [XXX] [XXX], and [XXX] displays critical safety alerts indicating failure of the parking brake and automatic vehicle hold systems. Specific error codes documented include: •DI_a246: Automatic vehicle hold disabled (Use brake pedal when stopping) •EPBL_a179: Parking brake functions degraded (Parking brake may not apply or release) •UI_a019: Parking brake functions degraded 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
#11711855January 19, 2026
SEAT BELTS
New vehicle was delivered from the factory with an inoperable seat belt. After removing a trim piece, I found the seatbelt wrapped around several trim clips inside the pillar.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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