This is a general complaint, not specific to this VIN Headlights on many modern cards are becoming increasingly brighter, causing major safety issues in the ability to see facing oncoming traffic. I find myself often blinded by an oncoming vehicle that does not even have its brights on. Is there anything being done to address the issue of manufacturers installing headlights that are a safety issue for oncoming traffic?
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 →
Many times over the past long highway drives while in cruise control, the car will suddenly and violently brake with no obstacles in the way. Thankfully no car has been immediately behind me so far, but I can concerned that this may happen again and I won't be so fortunate. I have a mobile service appointment upcoming but Tesla tells me they need to know the exact date and exact time (to the second) that this occurred which I am unable to tell them. This is frustrating.
I was driving on a clear day with trees shading part of the road when suddenly and unexpectedly the car decelerated abruptly. If another car had been tailgating me I fear it would have rear-ended me.
Now that Tesla had disabled the car's radar in favor or a vision-only ADAS, I started getting many forward collision warnings when using Autopilot on curvey roads, mostly when exiting the curve.
While driving cross-country on interstates, I've experienced multiple sudden braking incidents. Incidents occurred every day of a 3-day journey (so far). All have occurred between 12:00-14:00 local time on sunny days, dry roads, with no cars or other obstructions in front of the car--in some cases, with no cars in sight at all. Safety was not immediately threatened, but if in heavy traffic could have resulted in rear collision. I have submitted a service request to Tesla but will be traveling for the next two weeks so haven't spoken to a service rep directly--therefore no inspection, reproduction, or confirmation by deal or service center yet. No warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms.
Driving 1400 miles Santa Fe-Austin TX-Santa Fe, experienced phantom braking over 15 times. Generally happened while cruising on autopilot at 70-80 mph. Phantom braking occurred with no warning and for no apparent reason. The car suddenly jerked and lost 5-10 mph, and the autopilot went off.
I reported many instances of what is know as "phantom braking" when using Adaptive Cruise Control when we went on our first long drives in the car when we took delivery. They recalibrated the front sensing cameras and that helped. It did not eliminate all events, but ACC was then usable in certain driving situations, i.e., when not in fast congested traffic as in metropolitan traffic. We took a long trip on freeway and two lane highways a month ago, about 3,500 miles, which had a few, non serious events. about a month or so ago, Tesla had a software update that said it was going to install "Tesla Vision", a camera only senor system, elimination the radar sensing our car has. The result was having quite a few more events of PB. One particular one was on a freeway (I8) heading east at 75 mph with no traffic visible neither in front of or behind our car. It slammed on, hard, the brakes and would have brought us to a complete stop had I not applied power. I reported the high number of PB events to Tesla Service, to which they replied, in essence, that ACC is a Beta feature and you just need to pay close attention when using it and it's not perfect. Well, its not close to reliable and is capable of causing major accidents. We avoided several because I always have my foot near the accelerator in case the car decides to stop. Tesla said that they could find no hardware faults in our car, but I suspect it is software, not hardware. I will happily join a class action suit. I will put
I noticed a screeching sound from the rear of the vehicle when brakes were being applied in September 2022. I took the vehicle to a local tire/ brake store where the mechanic informed me that a brake caliper nut is missing and that brake caliper is bent. He strongly advised me against driving the vehicle any further until the nut bolt is replaced. Since they did not have Tesla brand bolt they used a similar bolt from their supply and asked me to have the original bolt replaced by Tesla. I am planning to take the vehicle to the Tesla repair center to have the vehicle inspected. The component that failed is not available for inspection as it is missing from the vehicle however the brake caliper is deformed The brake caliper can apparently cut into the wheel and place the occupants at risk as per an article by CNET available on line The issue was identified by an independent service center which is a national chain The manufacturer has not inspected the vehicle yet There was no warning about the failure other than the abnormal sound on braking
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure would occur before crossing a bridge, or while a dark colored vehicle passed her vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to a Service Center and was informed that there was no fix for the failure. The contact was given tips on how to prevent the failure; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that after an update was made to the vehicle's autopilot feature, the vehicle experienced phantom braking intermittently that activated without the brake pedal being depressed. The contact stated that while his wife was driving on autopilot at 55 MPH, the phantom brake occurred which caused the vehicle to hydroplane. The vehicle initially veered to the left and then to the right, hitting a guardrail. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The guardrail was damaged as a result of the incident. The contact's wife did not notice any warning lights during the failure. His wife did not suffer any injuries during the crash and a police report was not filed. The contact's wife managed to drive the vehicle home after the incident. The service center nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 30 mph the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a stationary dumpster. During the crash, the front driver-side air bag did not deploy and the front driver-side seat belt malfunctioned and failed to secure the driver in place. As a result of the failures, the contact sustained an injured nose and facial bruises after making contact with the steering wheel, a fractured rib, and a right elbow injury along with torso bruises. No police report was taken. The vehicle was towed away. Medical treatment was later provided. The cause of the failures was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the incident. The failure mileage was 22,000.
On 9/15/2022 around 12:15pm right before exit 180 on I40 East at Bermuda Run NC 801 in North Carolina, during moderate to heavy rain, our Tesla Model Y hydroplaned and spun twice doing two full 360 spins from the left most interstate lane and ending up in the right shoulder. Fortunately we made no contact with anyone and nothing was damaged and no one was hurt. We believe the car started to hydroplane causing me to let go the accelerator. This caused the Tesla Regenerative braking to kick in and made matters worse and caused the car to spin. Popular wisdom seems to be to tun off or reduce regenerative braking during rain or slippery conditions. We did not know this. Tesla should do this automatically or provide an option to do this. We think many people may not know this and this could get them to have a similar incident with more tragic results. We were lucky but many others may not have been.
When using the "Tesla Autopilot" feature phantom braking has been more frequent and aggressive following the recent software upgrades. Many times, phantom braking occurs when approaching an intersection or when lane lines intersect. The phantom braking concern was minimal when I first purchased the car. Strange enough it would happen going under an overpass or an elevated crosswalk. With time and software upgrades this concern was resolved but now the phantom braking events are more pronounced and sometime so quick it is difficult to implement corrective action and prevent possible rear end collisions, especially in highway traffic conditions.
While driving from Boston to Raleigh NC, I experienced several instances of the issue known as "Phantom Braking". While driving with the systems Autopilot driver assistance system engaged the car without warning, and without any visible reason (nothing in front of the car that should have caused such a response), did engage the brakes of the car excessively. In each of the situations the car was mostly alone on the he interstate, was driving in clear conditions, and was in daylight. This occurred more then three times oaths trip down and back up to RaleighNC from Boston MA.
The GPS is malfunctioning- showing the car in a random location, direction and speed. All automation needs to be disabled. The car will attempt to make a non-existent turn based on where it thinks it is, or will speed up or will suddenly decelerate because it thinks it is coming up to a cross street or traffic control.
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 3 MPH and in reverse gear, the rearview camera display began to drop frames and was not displaying live action. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had a manufacturer technician go to his work location who diagnosed on a laptop and stated that there were no issues with the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired and the contact stated that the failure was ongoing. The contact stated that he did have a backup crash due to a camera failure. The contact's rear bumper crashed into the front bumper of another vehicle. The damage was minimal, only scuff marks on the contact vehicle and the other vehicle. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.
Rear passenger side door was not able to be opened. Tesla service came out and fixed it. A door panel came loose and got wedged on the body seal. He was able to pry the door open and resecure the body seal. He said it happens frequently on this model car. It is a safety issue as if there was an accident (or other reason) someone needed to quickly get out of the car and that was the exit door they would be trapped. It is possible to kick the door open, but hard in a Tesla Model Y rear seat/door as there is no manual door handle, just an electronic button. It would be very hard for a young or old person to press that button and kick at door, making it impossible for them to escape. Tesla needs to redesign the door panel and add a manual door handle like the front doors have.
A recent software change removed the automatic activation of headlights with wipers. Headlights on with wipers is the law in most states and a common sense practice. However, with the removal of the automatic activation, you are forced to tap into several sub menus on the touchscreen in order to manually activate the head lights, all while driving in less than ideal conditions.
Total failure of HVAC system which could put driver in danger in extreme temperatures.
HVAC "dog mode" failed for the second time after repair. Manufacturer says this is a known issue but no alert sent to owners. Screen indicates rising temp, notification sent to phone of failure. No known timetable for fix but no alerts to owners
With car in cruise control on freeway, sudden and hard application of brakes by vehicle, no human input.
Windshield cracked from midway of windshield to the bottom. I have heard of/seen a significant number of similar cracks on Tesla Model Y.
Vehicle routinely forcefully applies the brakes for no apparent or warranted reason causing vehicles behind to take evasive maneuvers to avoid striking our vehicle. The vehicle on several occasions has also unexpectedly veered out of our lane into another lane, into oncoming traffic or off the road.
My Tesla Y lost one of the rear tires pressure suddenly, without any warning. Tire was totally flat. There is no spare tire and I had to get it towed to workshop around 100 miles away Tesla Road side assistance did not help at all.
While sitting behind a car at a red light, the car suddenly went into autopilot and spontaneously accelerated forward at a high speed, causing a rear end collision and over $7000 damages to my car. The sedan that was rear ended by me incurred damages but I have no idea how much. . This is the second time this car has suddenly unintentionally accelerated forward while at a full stop since 1/22 ( I've owned the car since 7/2020). The first time while sitting at a drive through pharmacy window- thank goodness there wasn't a person in front of me! The second time, as stated above, at a red light at a busy intersection. Once again, thank goodness there was a car in front of me to stop the car, otherwise I might have ended up in cross traffic with potentially fatal results. UN-nerving. In light of the Washing Post article, I believe this safety hazard issue needs to be thoroughly investigated before someone gets killed. I've asked for the car data and am still awaiting a manager from Tesla to contact me to discuss what happened and if there was anything on my end that could have caused these incidents to occur. I rarely used by autopilot but since have completely disabled it.
I was driving in a "train" of vehicles at about 65 mph using "autopilot" when my Tesla model Y slammed on the brakes when the paving changed color. I was almost rear-ended by the unsuspecting car behind me. Emergency braking without a valid reason, or even an observable reason, has occurred several times since we took delivery of then car two years ago, but not as severely. I am reporting this 2021 incident now due to the recent publicity. I urge the NHTSA to clamp down on beta testing of vehicle automation by unsuspecting new owners. Vehicle automated driving on public streets is a threat to public safety.
The automatic braking came one while I was driving 70 mph on Hwy 86 through New York State as we approached 3 of the 5 or 6 overpass bridges. My speed dropped quickly to 50 mph, at which point I hit the accelerator to get back up to highway speed. A similar behavior happened several times on this trip when going though an S-shaped curve. Similar behavior also occurred at slower speed ( 30-40 mph) when a car turn in front of me when the car was about 1 block in front of me and turned safely and cleared my path easily. I would have not braked in this situation.
The welding link on the frunk is broken and while driving the frunk is pressing down while driving the car.
I have noticed when using Adaptive Cruise Control on my Tesla Model Y that it did phantom braking on me. It has only happened to me about 5 to 6 times and it scared the heck out of me.. Don’t know if I was getting close to a Semi truck and it pulled that phantom braking, but there was a time it just did it on its own when there were no cars around. AutoPilot I have no issue. Hope Tesla comes up with a software fix soon to resolve this issue as I love my Tesla and its a great car to drive..
Unexpected activate brakes while in autopilot. rapid deceleration can occur without warning, at random, and often repeatedly in a single drive cycle .
The car keeps phantom braking at highway speeds when there are changes in the color of the road surface or sometimes when overtaking a slower car or truck in the right lane.
When cruise control is on, the vehicle suddenly brakes. I only put cruise control on the freeway and it has happened 4-5 times over the course of last year, as recently as 2 weeks ago. I had to take over operation of the throttle and removed cruise control to make sure it wasn't going to cause any issue in traffic.
Re: VIN-[XXX] My wife was driving the car in this accident. I am reporting it as it happened. When: Oct 29, 2021 at about 2:45 +/- 40 minutes. Where: in the parking lot of a shopping center. In Quail Hills shopping center in Irvine, California. Summary of what happened: a) Unintended and sudden acceleration. The car accelerated suddenly by itself and caused an accident when I was trying to park the car. b) Two more cars were involved and were damaged. My car did not respond to brake and it hit two other cars. c) The car was inspected by repair center and was fixed. Damages were extensive. d) A warning appeared on the screen that said "Automatic braking disabled." during or after the accident. e) We reported the accident to Tesla and requested the EDR/crash data report. They have not provided that. I called several times, sent emails and even went to a Tesla service center. But have no received the report yet. The best way to reach me is via my cell phone:[XXX]. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Phantom Breaking - While utilizing cruise control (not even autonomous driving function) the car will randomly slow down/ apply breaks and decrease speed without warning. This has happened multiple times and there is no warning before hand 1) Looks to be the cruise/ automatic emergency breaking malfunctioning. Yes available 2) Dramatic slow down/ breaking on highways going ~70 MPH with cars behind threatens to lead to an accident 3) I have seen numerous corroborating reports but have not taken my car in yet as it does not seem like a solution has been found 4) No 5) No
My wife who is 130 lbs while driving the passenger airbag turns off, I have told tesla service and they keep saying she needs to sit all the way back in the seat which we have tried and this does not work either, I took it into service to have this fixed and they did not fix it. I continue to send the bug report when it happens, it is oblivious that the sensor is not reading the correct weight. I have been dealing with this for over 5 months
Touch screen in the car does not work. Completely unresponsive. This have I cannot have anything in the car - a/c, use safety features like update auto pilot speed, etc. Issues persists even after vehicle was left idle.
Touchscreen repeatedly freezes. Won’t show gear selection, speed, or any other items. The touchscreen freezes then takes some time to crash to black screen before reboot. Has happened daily since Tesla update. Tesla refuses to provide a fix and continues to tell us to wait for an update. This is unsafe.
We had a crack on the windshield that Safelight tried to fix, but the crack expanded and needed to get a new windshield replaced. It has been 2 months now that we have been waiting on Tesla to get the new part in. In the. meantime, the crack has expanded to over 16 inches and keeps growing. Tesla keeps pushing back the service date claiming that they did not get the windshield in yet. If they do not have windshields, then how are they building new vehicles daily if they have a windshield shortage? The crack in the meantime keeps growing and it is a safety hazard.
Upon driving the vehicle, there is a wavy distortion when viewing out of the windshield from the drivers side that can cause dizziness (amongst other symptoms) to a motion sensitive driver. The distortion itself is at eye level when the seat is adjusted to our drivers, 5'3" and 5'5". In order to reduce (not eliminate) the amount of impairment, the seats need to be adjusted lower or higher than recommended and could cause a different safety issue with the vehicle. This can also be a risk to any riders in the car if the driver of the vehicle suffers any negative effects of motion sickness. Cold sweats, dizziness, light headed-ness, and vomiting are symptoms that I personally experience if this visual experience happens for a duration of time (30-60mins). An appointment with Tesla has been scheduled to troubleshoot at this time, but there is no public statement from Tesla about the infraction. There are, however, a number of drivers of the same vehicle, complain about the same issue on public Tesla forums. Because this is a glass/windshield issue, there are no associated warnings or messages when it occurred.
Driving in auto pilot mode in the three lane highway between Whitestown lebanon . I was going in the middle lane on autopilot .In the far right lane one Truck is merging into the right most lane.so truck is in the right lane and we are in the middle lane , but auto pilot assumed that we are going to crash and it tried to jump to the left lane and the vehicle automatically wobbled for few seconds and then it became stable in the middle lane. Had there Been a car in the left lane it would have been a fatal accident. If they said that it’s an assisted driving rather than auto pilot I would be more cautious. I bought this car due to the promise of autopilot thinking it’s safer it has put my life in risk which could have lead fatal accidents today. Please refrain Tesla from using the it asthe autopilot and putting peoples life’s at risk.please do take necessary actions to prevent this for any fellow drivers.
My Tesla was in auto pilot, not full self drive. I was merging into traffic on an interstate, in the acceleration lane. Even though the car was in auto Drive, I stepped on the accelerator to merge a little faster. The car stopped dead. It coasted to a complete stop responded to no controls. It had to come to a complete stop in traffic traveling at 65 miles an hour before I could get it to start again. Luckily, I was being followed by my husband because I was taking the car to the auto repair for bodywork. He was able to stop behind me and luckily, neither of us were hit.
I had taken my 2020 Tesla Model Y to have the rear tires replaced. The mechanic at the tire shop noticed a nut missing and a bolt about ready to fall out of one of the suspension rods on the driver side rear of the vehicle. The mechanic took a picture before fixing and then checked the rest of the nuts and bolts on the rear suspionsion on both sides of the vehicle. I had begun to notice a considerably shimmy with the rear of the car when going over railroad tracks, dips, and bumps in the road. I also thought it was odd that the rear tires were wearing faster and maybe this had something to do with that if the alignment was out of wack.
The model Y will randomly brake while at freeway speeds. I've seen it go from 80 mph down to 60 mph before I could react. In one instance a semi-truck had to swerve into the left lane to avoid hitting us. The problem has persisted for months and, when reported to Tesla, they denied that it had happened. Consumer received the report from Tesla stating no malfunctions or alerts present. Autopilot and cruise control will adjust vehicle speed for different reasons. Consumer could be override it with the accelerator pedal without canceling driver assistance features.
Four times in the last six weeks (three while driving) the car has lost all power. My screen either freezes or goes completely black so I have no speedometer, the blinkers do not work, I cannot control the windows or open the doors without the manual override. This usually lasts for 3-5 minutes, sometimes longer - and then the computer resets and everything reloads. Tesla is telling me it is a known issue and I have to wait until they figure out the firmware issue and get the next update. They were not at all concerned about the safety of the car and gave me no suggestions on how to continue to drive safely. The date entered below is the most recent occurrence
When activating the turn signal at night, the blind spot warning image will display a glare that obfuscates the view of approaching vehicles.
Phantom braking happens frequently. On March 24, 2022, the phantom braking was out of control. It was very difficult to continue safe driving. I have a video of the screen that shows a person in front of my car. The video is a minute long and shows at least 5 such occurrences. Each time the person occurred on the screen the phantom braking happened when the FSD or cruise control was on. I received contradictory information from Tesla when I requested the service. Finally they said that the issue would be corrected in the future probably via several software updates. How can I drive safely until then??????
At multiple occasions, there has been Phantom Braking occurring when on the freeway even when there is no-one ahead of me. Usually does occur when there is a truck next to me.
Dear NHTSA, Starting with version 2021.44.25 (also known as the "V11 Holiday Update" colloquially), Tesla removed all windshield and rear window defrost controls from the user interface of the Tesla Models Y and 3. While driving during any precipitation or storm conditions, including in the presence of snow and ice, drivers cannot quickly or easily activate any window de-ice or defrost functions without taking their eyes off the road navigating multiple levels deep into the menus on the in-car tablet. Similarly, Tesla removed the seat heater controls, placing them behind menus on the in-car tablet interface. Neither the windshield/rear window de-ice/defrost controls nor the seat heater functions are available to be placed in the limited number of driver-customizable "slots" now available in the bottom center of the display. Therefore, drivers cannot restore these critical controls to the driver-facing controls and are forced to navigate into menus to select them. Please investigate soonest.
While using adaptive cruise control, the car decelerates for no apparent reason. The rapid deceleration of the vehicle could cause the following car to rear end my car. There is no warning when this occurs. I have not reported it to the manufacturer because forums and news show that all owners are impacted. This has happened many times.
Operating the vehicle at highway speed of 70 miles per hour on interstate 80 in Illinois. No visible traffic going in either direction for approximately 1/2 mile in all directions when the automatic braking happened for no apparent reason. Scared my wife and myself (both 74 years old) to death. Threw us both forward. My wife now refuses to drive in this Tesla and wants me to sell it. "Phantom Braking" is not an acceptable phenomenon. If there was a tailgating semi behind us we would both be dead today before people die. This must be fixed!!!
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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.
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