Tesla advertises lane keeping assist, emergency lane departure assist etc. What happens is if you trigger this feature too many times during a drive the software disables this safety feature entirely. There are plenty of disclosures about not relying on the features etc. The issue i feel that warrants intervention from your departments is, how can a manufacture completely disable a safety feature just because a driver actually relied on said safety feature.
2020 Tesla Model Y complaints
Owner reports filed with NHTSA about this vehicle, newest first and reproduced as filed. They are unverified accounts: one proves nothing, and a pattern across many is the thing worth reading. Back to the full 2020 record →
Its a known issue affecting many model 3 and model Ys front passenger safety restraint system fault. It's all over the tesla message boards. It just happened to my vehicle.
I was on a self driving mode enabled but it’s been raining for a while and I believe it showed the poor weather condition so FSD is not enabled but autopilot was engaged (but not 100% sure about which mode it was) It was around 2am in the morning and was on 580 southbound from Dublin to SFO. I was on the second to the left lane. It suddenly tried to go diagonally to the first lane. (Not like normal lane change but very abrupt almost like making turn 90 degree left) so I tried to cancel by holding on the steering wheel. And then it went out of control and start rotating until it stopped by hitting the center guard rail on the passenger rear side. The car stopped facing backward on the road (on the center shoulder). Luckily it was late night (around 2am) and there were no car behind luckily. I could have dead if another car hit into my car. Tesla insurance of course didn't admin any of this and told me it was my fault.
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact was driving approximately 3 MPH as she was parking the vehicle, front end first, the vehicle independently accelerated as she removed her foot from the accelerator. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact's vehicle crashed into the vehicle's front end that had already been parked, the vehicle was not occupied. The contact stated that she depressed the brake with force. The contact stated that the force of the crash had moved the other vehicle out of the parking spot and into the lot. The contact's vehicle had a crushed front bumper and the other vehicle also had damage to the front bumper. The contact's vehicle was drivable. There were no injuries and the police were not involved. The contact had not been taken to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle had not been diagnosed and had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.
Phantom breaking
While driving at highway speeds, the car unintentionally went into neutral. The setup: The driver was on the highway with cruise control on. Upon turning cruise control off to prepare for entering an exit ramp, the car also went neutral. We lost power and the regenerative braking that you expect in this car. The center console stated something like “Please shift into drive or reverse”. The cause is that Tesla uses an up movement on the right hand gear stalk to cancel auto pilot, cancel cruise control, and to put the car into neutral. If that up movement is too long, the car will inadvertently go into neutral regardless of car speed. We reported this to Tesla and they suggested all model 3s and Ys do this. Some light searching online showed this happening to others too. This feels dangerous at highway speeds. And the point at which you are turning cruise control off could be a critical phase of driving and feels like a unsafe time for the car to loose power.
This is now the 2nd carseat, same exact brand and model. The headrest is to be positioned in certain spots as the child grows. I raised it to where its needed but the headrest falls. I have watched countless youtube videos and read the instruction manuals how to and the headrest still goes to the lowest sitting position possible. When it happened to the first carseat they sent out backing plates for ME to replace and it did not help. Then sent a new whole headrest piece to replace which didn't help either. I had to slightly put my foot down in order for them to just send a replacement seat. Now this is happening AGAIN with the same modeled seat for my other child. This isn't just 1 seat its happened to it's 2. Paying a ton of money for the best safety seats for our kids and to have an issue with the headrest which is a major part of the body that needs to have safety coverage and properly fastened /following the rules/instructions. The headrest is what's not working properly, it is available for inspection if needed. It puts any child at risk since its not sitting at the height needed can possible hurt the childs head/neck possibly. This specific carseat has NOT been inspected but we did send the other carseat I did have an issue with back to the manufacturer.
While driving with Auto Pilot the car turns off the high beams whenever it sees too many reflectors. Such as on power poles of guard rails. The problem is twice this week I seen deer crossing the road ahead of me and the car turned off the high beaks. Then for a couple seconds I couldn't turn on the high beams manually. When I asked Tesla to look at this problem I was told they are in development. I own this car for three years and I think nothing is being done.
During phone calls, the system would start making sparking noises and stall the calls. While navigation was input parts of the screen would disappear. While backing up, the rear cameras would freeze and stall. The rear camera freezing had caused us to get into an accident, and caused us to have 4 near misses. When I was trying to download the latest software release, the software download froze and never downloaded. I started to drive to the Tesla dealership and as I was doing so, the screen picture of my vehicle disappeared along with the gear shift indicator, the surrounding cameras failed. Then when I put on my turn signal, the sound disappeared. Then eventually the indicator disappeared. The entire screen froze with no information, and then went black while I was driving to the Tesla dealership. The system was black and finally did a reboot after 4 minutes, all while I had no display of my speed. I took it into the dealership, and the checkin girl was concerned about the safety and gave me a loaner. The technician was not really concerned and said it was not able to replicate the issue and said there was no safety issue as you can still drive the car. This is not correct as you do not have the speed indication when your screen freezes or goes black. I sent them pictures as the screen kept doing one thing after the other in a matter on one drive from my home to the dealership in 15 minutes. This is similar to the other recalls that Tesla had to make on the model S and the
While driving at highway speeds (50mph-80mph), on 2 lane or 4 lane highways, in the day or night, in sunny conditions and overcast sky's, while using the cruise control (auto-pilot), the car will suddenly and unexpectedly apply the brakes. It happens between 8 and 10 times on every road trip, each way. Not only is it a shock to me as there is never a visual obstacle that seems to be causing the hard braking, but it is a dangerous safety issue to other motorists too. This has caused cars behind me to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision. Other motorists have mistaken this hard braking as me "Brake-Checking" them and very nearly cause a road-rage incident. I've had the car for about a year and have opened several service appointments with Tesla. Each time they close the case before the service appointment with a version of the reply "this is normal" and "there is nothing to repair". They also claim that the car will learn how the react next time by my reaction to the incident this time. I have reacted the same way (by pushing the accelerator pedal until it regains forward motion) each time this has happened in the 8-10 times on each of the 6-8 road trips I've made in the last year. Clearly, the car isn't learning anything from my reaction to the sudden and unexpected braking. My safety is worth my time to make them take this seriously as they don't seem to be concerned with my safety!
On the last road trip, my car emergently braked for no reason when using cruise control and autopilot causing safety issues for cars behind my vehicle. This happened at least 6 times on my 500-mile round trip. I reached out to Tesla service and was told there is no fix at this time. in my opinion this is a dangerous problem that needs addressing in an urgent manner.
Rear door is stuck and does NOT open, nor will the emergency release in the door, when activated, allow it to open. Poses a significant danger to anyone in the backseat, or if trying to get a child out from the backseat, say in the event of an accident on the opposite side. This must be addressed via a recall asap, or there will be serious consequences eventually.
Vehicle is absolutely destroying tires at an alarming rate (every 10k miles we need new tires). We have had multiple 4 wheel alignments done and verified that the alignment is perfect. Despite this, the front and rear tires wear the inside leading edge down to wire while the outside edge has 80%+ tread remaining. The other issue is the creaking/groaning and premature wear the control arms display. This is a super common issue across all tesla models. This is alarming because the next step after the noise presents itself is total failure of the control arm due to lack of grease which results in the wheel falling off the vehicle. There are no grease fittings on the control arms like the vast majority of other manufacturers vehicles and the bearings and tesla won’t fix this despite knowing it is an issue and having our vehicle multiple times for service for this issue.
The front right passenger strut knuckle axel suspension was separated. We currently have the car at Tesla's service center. Our safety was put at risk when the tire locked up and we had no control of the steering. Driving at a higher speed could have resulted in a major traffic accident, or a fatality. The car is currently being inspected by the manufacturer (Tesla). There was a clicking/knocking noise that we heard one day before the incident. The noise was heard while turning the wheel. It got louder as the day went on.
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light illuminated, indicating that the passenger’s side air bag was disabled. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was out of warranty; however, the manufacturer sent a mechanic to the residence, who replaced the sensor; however, the failure recurred. The mechanic came back a second time and performed a bypass on the sensor; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer informed the contact that the passenger's seat needed to be replaced. The contact related the failure to the code RCM2_A636 (Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault). The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.
Car accelerated on its own, with no pedal pressure. My right foot was on the mat
When reversing, the backup camera does not display realtime video. It will display footage that is paused or behind. The pedestrian warning sound occasionally does not "load" when backing up. This has lead to near miss collisions when reversing and has put pedestrians at risk of not hearing the vehicle in motion, whilst being unable to see realtime footage below the rear tailgate. When the car is left in a parking lot or driveway for several hours, the camera will not "load" completely and leads to this condition. It cannot be reproduced unless the car has been sitting for several hours, as most driving events begin. The vehicle was inspected on 4/25/2023 by the manufacturer and have stated the vehicle is operating as expected. The symptoms cannot be captured by an image, only video.
On several occasions, my car will either i) slam on the brakes when in assisted driving for no reason, ii) start beeping for a lab departure when I have no even made the slightest move to switch lanes, iii) windows will roll back down when I try to roll them up (not sure if that’s related to the FSD issues). I paid an extra $15,000 for FSD and not only does it not work, but it seems to have created unsafe driving conditions in my car.
I enabled Tesla's auto pilot feature while driving on highway. Throughout the drive of ~200 miles, the car had sudden phantom breaks for four times. It was very dangerous situations and could have easily caused serious accidents.
While driving on interstate highways and using autopilot, the car would "phantom brake" unnecessarily in numerous instances. Once it caused a truck to swerve dangerously to the next lane when the car suddenly brake in front of the truck. Mirages and sudden dips on interstate highways seem to be one of the main factors, but other incidents were less obvious what the cause was.
Under clear conditions while traveling on the highway, if adaptive cruise control or self-driving is used, the car will randomly apply its brakes. The car will quickly lose 5-10 miles of speed, and poses a hazard to cars behind us. In the 7-8 times this has happened in the last two months, there has never been an obstacle in our path. Unfortunately, this has rendered cruise control unusable
Driving on a residential street around 20 mph as we approached a stop sign , heard a loud “thump.” It appeared to come from front wheel well area. Worried we hit something we circled back around back around but there was nothing. Car began making a loud noise everyone we turned the wheel. Got the car back home (we were only a few miles away) but it is sitting slightly lower on right side in front and from what I can see it looks like there is a holder for a bolt that is “empty” (i.e. I think a bolt fell off and cause the car to go lower to friend and turning the car toward that side is now noisy and impossible to turn —there is resistance). I see some 2020 Model Y’s had a recall for a suspension issue but when I plug in my VIN it appears it doesn’t apply to my VIN. I think you should investigate whether this recall needs to be expanded. What is described in the suspension recall sounds EXACTLY like what is happening to my car. Thank you. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Nearly Every Single day on my drive home north on AZ hwy 90 my 2020 Tesla Model Y abruptly disengages and breaks from cruise control. it is especially startling when I pass a vehicle and then return to my lane only to have the car dramatically slow. I could be ok if it just disengaged cruise but daily multiple times it breaks on a fast moving highway
Vehicle was on FSD and suddenly excessively braked almost to a stop when driving at 65mph causing occupants and cargo to fly forward and Injured our pet in the rear seat
The drivers side rear door no longer opens. As a parent who drives with 2 children in car seats, this has made getting our kids in and out incredibly time consuming and awkward. Not to mention it just isn't safe at all to have a non operable door. From what I've seen after doing a quick google search, this is a common problem with Model Y AND Model 3 rear doors, which is absolutely unacceptable and needs to be addressed. You can even watch youtube videos of other Tesla drivers experiencing the exact same scenario as my family currently has. The day it happened I drove straight to a Tesla service center to get it taken care of. They told me they were too busy to take my car and that I needed to make an appointment. Their first appointment date at the local center was over 2 weeks out, which is also unacceptable for an issue involving passenger safety. So I set up a mobile service appointment for the following day which the following day Tesla changed to a service center appointment a week and a half out, citing they needed to order parts to fix this, granted no one has seen this door to diagnose what is happening but they already know enough to order parts to fix it, which means that indeed they have a manufacturing flaw that needs to be adressed. If it wasn't for the car seats it would be an acceptable nuisance, but add car seats to the mix and this scenario is a hazard.
Prior to the incident a message appeared in the car indicating that the Lane Departure Avoidance features unavailable - Features may be restored on next drive. TACC was activated on the car. Auto Steer was not activated. The car is equipped with Autopilot only. It was traveling in the furthest left lane. A truck in the center lane attempted to merge into the left lane where our tesla model y was traveling. The car then steered hard left causing the car to be nearly our of control and swerving left and right. We were able to get the car under control, but we nearly were run off the road.
We continue to experience phantom braking when adaptive cruise control is engaged on major highways. On a recent trip, it occurred three times on I-90 eastbound between Madison and Janesville, WI, and again in Indiana. Our car does not have “full self-driving.” Most of these were relatively mild, but one was so violent that objects in the cabin were thrown around. If a vehicle had been following relatively closely, a collision would have been likely. This seems most likely to happen as we approach an overpass.
Tesla has not yet fixed the following defect for my vehicle: Sep 19,2022 Manufacturer Recall Number TBD NHTSA Recall Number22V702 Recall StatusRecall Incomplete
I had a major accident on Sep. 24th 2022 when the car sped the traffic light and was hit by another on coming vehicle. This crash has caused a life changing changes to me & others involved in the accident. The vehicle suddenly sped without my control without stopping on the red light. I also had a major financial & vehicle loss with legal activities still pending. Tesla is not investigating and not taking responsibility of this accident and the nearest dealership is avoiding my claims. My auto insurance Allstate is handling this claim.
~3 times the car slowed down at ~65mph while on cruise control. Thank goodness no one was closely following us!!! DANGEROUS!!! The car lane assist feature which should warn when us when we're veering to closely to another lane or the edge of the freeway only works intermittently.
• Cruise control braked hard unexpectedly and for no reason. I'm describing a specific instance here, but this happens regularly. Specifically, the traffic aware system frequently misinterprets the data it is collecting. In this case, a car in an exit lane, slowing down to take a ramp. I was not in that lane, but there was no painted line between my lane and the exit lane. My car slowed to match the speed of the car on the exit ramp. In other cases, my car has slowed drastically when a car in a slower lane slightly veered into my lane by only a couple inches. There has been no risk of a collision when this happens, but my car suddenly braking then causes a new risk of collision for the cars behind me. • Car rapidly decelerated from 70mph to 35 mph while there was another car behind me. He was caught off guard and had to manually brake hard himself to avoid hitting me • There are numerous independent confirmations of this behavior online, but I do not specifically know of any from an official "independent service center." Tesla denies the existence of the behavior. • There is no real "component" to inspect, this is a software issue • There were no warnings or other indications before it happened.
Have had several issues with phantom braking. When in cruise control or auto drive there are times nothing is in the roadway but the vehicle will brake in middle of hwy. very dangerous
While driving on the highway at 59 mph using Tesla Autopilot functionality the vehicle braked so hard the wheels locked up and skidded without warning. There was no vehicle directly in front but there were two semi trucks on either side and vehicle directly behind me. The vehicle behind had to brake hard not to run into me. I took control of the vehicle and pressed the accelerator to regain speed and avoid an collision.
The autodrive features malfunctioned. The vehicle is "phantom" braking when a human could easily see there was no reason to brake. This is happening with autopilot (lane keep and adaptive cruise control) engage at freeway speeds (60-70mph). This is occurring randomly on a curve, in the day, at night, in a straight road, cars or no cars nearby. The solution being offered is Tesla service will check the tire pressure and they "remote educated" me by providing links to their autopilot description on their website which states that this can happen. These are extremely dangerous situations and these solutions are not sufficient.
The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while pulling out of a parking space, the vehicle rolled back and crashed into a concrete wall. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. Additionally, on October 17, 2021, the contact slightly depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle accelerated abruptly and crashed into another vehicle. A police report was filed. The other driver in the second vehicle required medical attention. No air bags were deployed. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to World Collision at The Mall of Georgia (4641 Harrison Run, Buford, GA 30518), where it was repaired. In addition, on January 9, 2022, the contact was pulling into a parking space when the vehicle unintendedly accelerated from 0 to 60 MPH, crashing into a brick wall. The contact stated that all the air bags were deployed. The contact and the passenger were injured and had to seek medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was totaled. No warning lights were illuminated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000.
The contact stated as he was driving behind a what he assumed was a 2020 Tesla Model Y when the vehicle suddenly stopped and turned to the right. The contact stated that the vehicle was traveling at approximately 40 MPH as it was approaching a toll plaza. The contact was unaware if the rear brake light had been illuminated on the Tesla. The contact stated that he almost t-boned the vehicle as it stopped and blocked the tow gate. The contact stated that he witnessed the vehicle stopping inadvertently several times. The contact was concerned as he read an article about Tesla vehicles suddenly stopping. The contact did not have the year or VIN of the vehicle.
Phantom braking during a drive on highway. Out of no where, the car breaks even when there is no one stopping in front of you. This resulted in car behind panicking and almost rear ending.
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving with the cruise control feature activated, the vehicle abruptly decelerated without warning. The contact stated that the dealer was made aware of the failure however, the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 700.
This occurs driving on Highway 50 between Placerville, CA and Meyers, CA a predominantly 2 lane winding mountain highway bounded by many cliffs and rocks. The only way to properly engage the high beam lights is to activate the automatic high beam system. The lights inappropriately switch to low beams leaving me on a curvy road with insufficient light to see the curves. In some cases I need to hold the high beam flash control which does not allow me to keep both hands on the steering while while navigating that road. The vehicle needs a typical manual high beam control as I think the automatic system does not work safely when the cameras receive light bouncing off the rocks and snow. Virtually all cars have a manual control for this important light. This makes for a very dangerous driving situation.
While driving on highway using cruise control, the vehicle (without the driver's assistance) applied brakes to quickly slow the rate of speed. This occurred three times in the span of ten minutes. The weather was sunny and no other vehicles or objects were in the vicinity of my vehicle. After the third occurrence, I stopped using cruise control for the remainder of the trip.
On a 900 mile drive, in one day, the “speed cruise control” would abruptly brake, as if it were seeing someone in front of us. It did this at a minimum 5 times. Never was there a car closer than 1/4 of a mile in front of us. Once it went from 78mph to 38mph in about 3 seconds, when there was a car about 3 car lengths behind us. On the return 900 mile drive it continued, at a lesser rate. I have reported this to Tesla, and they claim “my” car reports do not show anything out of the ordinary, and these errors are sometimes caused by…and they gave numerous reasons, such as speed limit data inaccuracies, etc. they also have determined that my car does not show any computer faults so there is nothing they can do. Unacceptable
Phantom Braking in Autopilot: Coming back from Mammoth Ca in November 2022 on highway 395 and 14 we experienced sudden braking in cruiscontrol/autopilot numerous times with no cars in front of us while driving. One time there was a car behind us and almost caused an accident. This is a very dangerous situation in which Tesla must fix this issue or refund us money back for the Auto pilot feature. This has happened previously on long trips. We do not use this feature in regular commuting to and from work
1. Forward Collision Warning false alarm is very frequent. Often triggered by pedestrian on nearby sidewalk or parked car on street side. Tesla is using Forward Collision Warning to lower my safety score and raise my insurance premium. 2. Tesla sold me "Full Self Driving" package to me for $8000+taxes for more than two years and still have not delivered the product. It's a faulty system with lots of safety hazards. 3. Window not functioning per the recall notice.
In Tesla’s from model years before 2021, the side “repeater cameras” that are rear facing suffer from a light-leak of the blinker. There are three small holes in the PCB circuit board that allow light from the blinker to leak into the camera at night. Tesla subsequently fixed this problem, first by applying a sticker over the holes in the circuit board, and later by redesigning the part entirely. But this “light leak” problem exists on hundreds of thousands of cars. There are two problems with this: 1) Tesla has now changed their “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” software to a Tesla Vision system that ONLY uses cameras for the autopilot features, including lane keeping and lane changes. They no longer use ultrasonic sensors or forward looking radar, even though it is still installed on these cars. This reliance on vision makes it impossible for the Tesla side facing cameras to see when the blinker is turned on. This can result in unpredictable behavior when changing lanes or turning at night with autopilot engaged, including unpredictable or erratic driving where the car abandons a lane change mid course and swerves back into the lane. 2) Even when autopilot is not engaged, the blind spot monitoring in this car consists of a pop up window on the center screen showing the side view camera when the turn signal is engaged. At night, with the blinker on, the driver sees a bright light flashing intermittently in the side view camera. This is very distracting and potentially haza
The navigation system needs to be updated to enable larger font sizes! This has been a problem reported to Tesla for many years (see Tesla users forum), but they don't address the issue. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE! I cannot read the directions easily while driving. Consequently, I must move my head closer to the screen and spend more time looking at it to understand the next turn. This causes me to stop looking at the road for too long a period of time and almost causes me to have an accident! THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED NOW!
On 9/11/22 at approximately 1:30PM I was driving north on I65 in northern Tennessee just before the Kentucky border. Conditions were heavy rain. Traffic was moving but heavy. I had autopilot engaged. I was traveling approximately 70 mph. Three lanes of traffic. I was in the far left lane. I had my hands on the steering wheel. Without any prior notice, I lost total control of the car. Seemingly all four wheels were autoplaning due to the wet pavement. I had zero control of the car. The car seemed to slow down, drifted into the full shoulder left lane, then rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise and hit the concrete center median. The car then rotated another 90 degrees counterclockwise and came to a full stop all in the left shoulder lane. The front airbags deployed. There were three people in the car. We were not injured and left the vehicle on our own. Miraculously no other vehicles hit our vehicle
During routine highway driving while using the included Autopilot (Adaptive Cruise Control) software, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning abruptly slow and apply breaks. This slowing can occur when traveling at 70mph (the posted speed limit) and attempt to slow to a speed of 45mph. This change causes a great safety hazard in the event of being closely followed or rear ended. This phenomenon is known to tesla and been colloquially termed "phantom breaking". No hazard or other external reason is present to merit a sudden breaking.
At least 5 times in the last month, my Tesla Model Y will suddenly brake when there’s no obstacle in the way. This most often happens at highway speeds, a terrifying scenario. I believe it mostly (or exclusively happens) when I have cruise control on. I notice it happens when there’s a sudden change in the color of the road surface, like going from concrete to asphalt. It also happens when I’m cresting a hill - like it can’t see over the other side of the hill. I have not yet experienced it while having the “stay in the lane” feature, which also sets the maximum speed at 5mph over the speed limit. But it definitely happens when I have cruise control on. I have only had this problem for the past few months, so I wonder if there’s a bug in the most recent software version.
We were driving on a highway and suddenly we got a red steering weel image with a sharp noise and a warning message something about automatic emergency braking disable and we can't use a cruise control feature. I don't feel safe to drive. Tesla can't tell me when it will be fixed.
While on cruise control at @72mph the car has been “phantom” braking. The last time there were flurries, but the first several times there was nothing impeding the car nor were any vehicles within camera range. This is a very unsettling feeling. No, no and no. There have been reports to your site with this regard. tyvm
Reading these
NHTSA publishes every complaint as the owner wrote it and investigates only a fraction. Spelling, capitalisation and judgement are the filer’s own. What carries weight is repetition: the same component failing the same way across many filings, and whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Full record for the 2020 Tesla Model Y → · Every Model Y year → · How the figures are calculated →