2021 Tesla Model Y complaints

I was driving on highway when the car in front of me brake hard. Tesla failed to detect imminent crash and did not provide warning AND emergency braking. The vehicle has been recently serviced in tesla service center. There were no other warning lamps / messages / symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.

Heard loud clicking noises upfront when turning hard out of parking spot.Immediately I Checked front wheels manually on looseness, but could not detect any movement. Decided to drive home (20miles).I was very careful not to steer to hard through curves. Upon turn into my driveway ( hard right turn which I took very slow) ,left front wheel suspension came unhooked and an approx 3” long x 1/2” galvanized bolt fell onto driveway. My 2020Tesla Model Y was stuck at the bottom of driveway. My company mechanic came about an hour later ,jacked up the left side,removed front left wheel : the bolt as pictured below had loosened entirely from its nut and galled off releasing the wheel suspension and allowing the wheel to come loose . We temporarily fixed the bolt and drove the ModelY into our garage ( flat surface) 500 feet further uphill. Upon further inspection we found another bolt separated from its nut on the other side as well (4) other bolts totally loose almost entirely stripped from its counter nut. We found no sign of LOCTITE or similar. The bolt in question is on bottom of lit up spot ( in below picture) Bottom line: steering suspension bolts should not come loose on a vehicle not even 2 years old!

When using cruise control, the car will suddenly brake for no reason.

The rails on my driver seat are causing the seat to rock back and forth. Service center is refusing to replace it under warranty.

I own a 2021 Tesla Model Y. I took possession of it on August 7, 2021, in Santa Barbara, Ca. Ever since, I have had more than 1000 instances of automatic emergency braking (phantom braking) episodes while using cruise control or autopilot. On January 26, 2022, I had 47 episodes, in just a couple of hours. This is typical. The experiences of severe phantom braking have been terrifying. The car often slams on its brakes for no apparent reason, many times on a four lane highway, or on a freeway with no cars or obstacles around. Recently, I had 10 phantom braking episodes within one mile of highway driving. Multiple times, I worried about getting rear-ended. It has been in for repair five times, and the technicians are animate that a software update is coming very soon (they've been promising that immediately after taking possession of the Tesla). After 15 months and five service center appointments, I expected the problem to be resolved by now. It hasn't. Can you please force Tesla to fix this problem immediately? Please provide a response identifying actions you are taking to resolve this very important safety matter.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at highway speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle would independently slow down without incident. Upon investigation, the contact discovered that the failure was referred to as phantom braking. The service center had yet to be notified of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle abruptly decelerated to approximately 35 MPH. The contact indicated that during the incident no other vehicles or objects were nearby to cause the vehicle to suddenly decelerate. Additionally, there were no messages or warning lights displayed or illuminated. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 20,000.

When activating the Tesla Autopilot, the lights are automatically controlled to activate the bright headlight mode. The vehicle does not permit the user to disable the automatic brights setting while the car is in Autopilot mode. While the Tesla vehicle attempts to turn off the brights when an oncoming vehicle approaches, the Tesla vehicle fails to detect the oncoming vehicle and the brights remain on. This causes the oncoming vehicle to flash their brights back at the Tesla vehicle because the driver of the oncoming vehicle is blinded by the brights of the Tesla vehicle. I have asked Tesla to fix this issue, but they refused to address it and provided a vague suggestion that a future software update will fix the issue. A recent software update has not fixed this issue.

We were driving 65 miles per hour using cruise control on a flat road with no cars in front or behind us for hundreds of yards on both sides of a two-way highway. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, our Tesla applied the brakes hard as though it was trying to avoid hitting an obstacle on the road. Within a second our speed dropped to about 30mph at which point our Tesla released the brake and accelerated back up to 60 miles and hour before I shut off cruise control.

When i was traveling at speed around 70mph on highway. Tesla has applied emergency brakes and locked the steering, which made telsa rotate(spinned) 3 times on its own and stopped.luckily no vehicles were near on either ways. The vehicle was all the way stopped on opposite road and I was able to start after some seconds it stopped and started my driving. No vehicles were near or nothing approached to apply emergency brakes. When contacted telsa they told to schedule service appointment and no help was given.

At night the wipers run when cruise control is engaged even though the windshield is clean and there is no precipitation. This situation also occurs when Autopilot is engaged. I've complained to Tesla's service center about this issue. I have text documentation to attach as evidence. A web search indicates there are many Tesla owners complaining about these issues for years. I've owned the car for 16 months and only in the last 2 months has this problem started. My daughter has the same car and does not have this problem. Years of complaints by other owners indicates this is a major problem why hasn't the NHTSA pressured Tesla Motors to address and repair these issues?

On many occasions while driving on a freeway near a feeder road the car automatically breaks by itself. I have come close to being rear ended several times. It appears the vehicle turns this feature on at the beginning of each new trip even after I have turned it off and the consumer must turn it off every time they begin to drive. I have also had instances of going around a bend and the car thinks it sees something, usually the barrier dividing traffic and breaks by itself.

I drove from Flagstaff, AZ to Las Vegas, NV on 10/26/2022. I attempted to put my car in AutoPilot (adaptive cruise control) around a dozen times during this 260 mile trip. Every 10-25 miles the car would brake extremely hard forcing the passengers to lunge forward as if the brakes were being slammed. In every case, the car was in the same lane (no lane changes) with nothing but open road ahead. In most cases there wasn't a vehicle in front or to either side of me (only behind me). No corrective messages or indications appeared on the screen to explain this action. The only corrective action I could take was to hit the accelerator to avoid a rear end collision. When I contacted Tesla about the issue, they checked the logs during this trip and found no faults in the system to explain this behavior.

UNKNOWN This incident happened on 10/16/2022 while on I-95 while the vehicle was engaged in the Auto-Pilot mode on the highway (We do not use this autopilot mode unless we are o the highway for long distance drives and that is very infrequent). The vehicle suddenly swerved around and lost control while on auto pilot. As always my hands were on the wheel and I could undo the auto pilot and take control of the vehicle. Fortunately there were no other vehicles around us and there was no damage! We have filed another claim previously with the NHTSA - 11455695

The vehicle is subject to phantom braking. When I use the adaptive cruise control and am driving in the middle or left lane (i.e. when there is a clear lane to my right), the car will brake when there is no car beside me. Sometimes this occurs when I am passing a large truck on my right. Last weekend, I was driving 68mph on a highway during a bright sunny day. There were no cars on either side of me. The car braked for no reason. I had to step on the accelerator pedal to get back to highways speeds.

Experienced phantom braking 6 times. There was no warning Automatic emergency braking system engages when there is no other vehicle around. Also experienced phantom braking with automatic emergency braking system turned off but cruise control was on, 2 times. Tesla shop replaced some type of coolant sensors and recalibrated mirrors but phantom braking still occurring. Technician took vehicle out on highway and did not experience phantom braking, and suggested more monitoring from me using "bug report" on screen to document incidents. Currently I avoid cruise control and automatic emergency braking system because of the potential of being rear-ended with rapid and unplanned slow down. This is a dangerous issue.

Phantom braking is common when driving on highway with advanced cruise control. On a recent trip from Tucson to San Diego I noted seven events in a 300 mile stretch. There were no cars within 1/2 mile in front of me, or any road debris during any event (I saved dash cam footage each time). There was a car behind me during one particularly violent event. I regularly commute on I-5 between San Diego and Irvine. One event per 70 mile trip is about the average. I’m almost used to it now.

While travelling on TX-130 legally at 85 miles-per-hour with cruise control enabled, the braking system suddenly and without warning self-engaged, greatly reducing the speed of the vehicle. System available for inspection upon request (however I can help). The sudden speed change at such a high speed is alarming to the driver, possibly provoking unneeded corrective action which could destabilize the vehicle. If another vehicle had been following even reasonably closely, a collision was very likely. A collision at such high speed is obviously very dangerous. Manufacturer has not been contacted, but such "phantom braking" is the subject of frequent news articles from various sites. No explanation for the cause of the braking was displayed.

While driving with cruise control set to 70-74mph, we had several incidents of phantom braking on a recent road trip. From 70mph with no obstacles, trees, structures, or other cars in sight, the car would suddenly brake itself. This happened multiple times, sometimes just a minute or so after the previous time. We were saved from being rear-ended only because the cars behind us were far enough back, but it was terrifying nevertheless. We cannot use cruise control anymore. Tesla must address this totally unacceptable safety issue.

I was returning home with my family at around 7 pm today (10/23/22). The autopilot (basic autopilot) was engaged and the vehicle was moving at 50 mph. Suddenly the car seemed to have engaged the brakes and I felt it almost came to a stop. At that time the red steering wheel alert appeared on the screen with the message to take control immediately. I had not braked nor there was a vehicle or any other object or vehicles in front of me or behind me. No vehicles were on the other lane either. The only thing I can clearly remember was a pickup truck waiting at a stop sign in a street connecting with the road I was on on the opposite side from me. Luckily there were no vehicles directly in front of me or behind me. It would have caused an accident if there was car behind me. All of us really got scared and my children are claiming they will never travel in my Tesla again. The vehicle may be inspected if needed. From what I read about this phenomenon it looks like what I experienced was a “phantom braking” event. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone at this time after the incident.

Windows on certain model year 2021-2022 Model S and Model X vehicles, model year 2017-2022 Model 3 vehicles and model year 2019-2022 Model Y vehicles to correct performance of automatic window reversal systems to comply with regulatory standards

I was going on I-95 North (Palm Beach County) on Autopilot (and I had Full Self Driving enabled in my car). It was raining, and I was at moderate speed, I would say 45-50 mph. The car started spinning uncontrollably. By miracle nodoby hit me, the card corrected after what I believe were 2 spins and continue on the same direction as traffic. I believe, with the nerves of the moment, that about 45 to 60 seconds later, I put auto pilot again, not knowing what hapened. And the car, out of nothing, started spininng again. 3 times, and I hit the opposite wall of the highway. By another miracle, nobody hit me (rush hour, I-95 north, 820am)

My wife and I recently drove cross country in our Tesla Y. Occasionally, we had the forward collision warning go off for no reason. More importantly, when we had the adaptive cruise control on and particularly when the autopilot system on, we experienced episodes of sudden braking when there were no other vehicles or other objects in the vicinity. This happened, on average, once or twice every 30 minutes. It got to the point where we had to keep the cruise control off because it seemed to put us in potentially dangerous situations. My car’s software is and was up to date. I contacted Tesla about this issue. They blew me off. Thanks. Steve Steinberg

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 221V7020000 (Visibility). The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The local dealer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that parts were not yet available. The contact had not experienced a failure. The manufacturer was notified of the issue and informed the contact that there would be a delay in the software update. Parts distribution disconnect.

The "Traffic Aware Cruise Control" and "Auto Steer". Yes, available for inspection. During driving on a long highway trip with these features turned on, the car suddenly braked severely for no reason(no objects or other vehicles were in front of car). This caused a large truck, which was following me to also brake and nearly collided with my car's rear. Repeat experiences like this "phantom braking" occurred. Based on other reports, this is common in other Teslas. No warning alerts in car.

While driving on freeway on a clear day with no other cars in front of me the car suddenly hard brakes such that one could feel the anti locking activating. I was lucky there were no cars behind me or it would have been vary dangerous. There was a car on my right but it was holding its lane and there was no visible reason for emergency braking.

When on cruise control, the vehicle frequently brakes hard at highway speeds, jerking our bodies and forcing cars behind us to brake hard as well. Sometimes this happens when we’re beside a semi truck or a car changes lanes far in front of us, but often there’s nothing. There is no warning prior to the braking.

I started a drive from my house. I entered a destination into the NAV system, it plotted a route. I then proceeded to start my drive. When I tried to backup, the backup cameras did not display any video, I waited over 1 minute and there was still no video. I then proceeded with my drive. The car would not start the cruise control, autopilot or FSD functions. Whenever I tried to engage the systems the car would state that they are unavailable. At this time, I also noticed that the NAV system was not updating the display, it continued to display the same image that showed that I was at home in the driveway. After 15 minutes, I pulled into a parking lot to video the problem. First, I put the car in reverse and recorded that the cameras did not display video for over 30 seconds, I then started to drive and recorded that the navigation display was not updating. The display that usually has the lane markings and displays the other vehicles was also not working, there was no information other than a picture of my car with a totally blank gray area around it. I have contacted Tesla about the problem, but they keep saying that they don't detect any problem with the car. I sent them the video and am waiting to hear back from them.

Phantom braking on 4-lane highway with no other vehicles near.

Vehicle was driving with auto steer enabled at 65 mph on freeway and braked unexpectedly and unnecessarily 3 times within a few minutes. Each time it occurred, I canceled auto steer and re-engaged. At no time were any obstructions or objects visible in front of the vehicle, and at no time did any warning lights or messages appear, the car simply braked without notice. Safety was at risk as cars behind me were traveling closely and were not expecting my car to brake suddenly, although I responded quickly enough to prevent further braking and accelerated out of danger. I have researched "phantom braking" and it seems this incident is exactly what was described in those reports. The car has not been inspected since the incident. I am hesitant to use auto steer since I do not trust that the cameras are adequately detecting what's in front of the vehicle.

Adaptive cruise control has failed many times. Recently had adaptive cruise control set at 75 mph on interstate. With no warning, the car instantly slowed to 55 mph. If a car would have been behind me I would have been rear-ended. Or worse, if someone behind me thought I was intentionally braking hard or "squating" they could become angry and instigate a road rage incident. The car provided zero warning before it braked. The car has not been inspected yet. Yes, the car is available for inspection.

When in autopilor mode (cruise controll) the vehicle ocassionally brakes for no known reason (phantom braking). This usually happens at the crest of hill if there is a guard rail. or if there is a low overpass overhead. I have reported this before (it is an ongoing problem) and discuss with Tesla representatives who reply that the car will "learn" to avoid this behavior. It is an obvious collision danger if someone is following closely. On 09/27/2022 this occured 8-10 times during a 600 mile trip

5YJYGDEE2MF161659 VIN 2021 Tesla Model Y AWD with basis cruise control This last weekend we drove from our home in Arroyo Grande CA to the Mammoth Lakes area. Enroute, we experienced a number of unneeded emergency braking events while on the highways at speed (65-72 mph). While this happened about a dozen time, 5-6 of them were significant slow downs and could have caused us to be rear ended. In none of these events was there any reason for the emergency braking. One happened when another car was approaching from the rear quickly to pass. These events led us to stop using the cruise control entirely for the last 2 hours of our trip home. I have not yet contacted Tesla about this which I will be doing right after I submit this report. Prior to this, the adaptive cruise control had functioned normally with very few unexpected emergency braking events in the last year or so. We did disable the feature of “automatic emergency breaking” but that had no effect at all. This is a serious issue that need to be addressed immediately.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the local dealer for a wheel alignment, and at that time he was informed that the lower control link subframe needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact then stated that while his wife was making a right turn, the front passenger’s side control arm and wheel detached from the vehicle. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The independent mechanic diagnosed the vehicle and stated that the two control arm bolts needed to be replaced. The contact was informed that the vehicle needed to be taken to the dealer. The vehicle was then towed to the local dealer, who confirmed the independent mechanic’s diagnosis; however, the contact referenced NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V835000 (Suspension) as a possible solution to the failure; however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 32,386.

My Tesla model Y has been braking for no apparent reason when using the adaptive cruise control. Sometimes there may be a car coming in the opposite direction, but most times there is no other cars within miles. Several times the braking has been extremely aggressive causing me to have to hit the accelerator hard to avoid somebody behind me running into me. This has happened many times on long,straight, flat roads in the middle of the Arizona desert.

Using normal cruise control in the highway, my car brakes randomly and suddenly. This phantom braking has happened over 10 times in the past two weeks! It's very dangerous.

The vehicle brakes for no apparent reason without any other vehicles in near vicinity, both in adaptive cruse control and autopilot. This has improved with updates, but on a recent trip we experience six phantom breaking events on interstate travel.

Vehicle is experiencing “phantom braking”. Has happened dozens of times. I have contacted Tesla a few times regarding this, and they downplay everything.

While car was on cruise control. The car went off cruise control without intervention or warning and slowed down quite abruptly. This occurred about 4 times in a 4 hour period while going interstate speeds.

Tesla's Traffic-Aware Cruise Control system has malfunctioned on my vehicle several times. It will often brake hard at high speeds despite there being no vehicle or object in front of me.

B pillar cameras have a known water intrusion issue rendering the camera inoperable and compromising the safety features of the vehicle. Tesla refuses to remedy this known design flaw.

Multiple incidences of phantom braking while using cruise control/autopilot (not full self driving) traveling to/from Sacramento, CA and Park City, Utah on August 13th and 19th. This has happened previously while traveling to/from Sacramento, CA and Napa, CA. Unexpected hard braking on the highway at speeds of 55-85 mph) for no apparent reason is a hazard to the driver/passenger as well as any nearby vehicles. It causes undue fright, motion sickness, whiplash, and potential accidents. I contacted Tesla and they evaluated the car remotely and said they found nothing wrong. Yes, the car is available anytime for an inspection. No, the car or components have not been inspected by anyone, except as noted above by Tesla's service department. There were no warning lights/messages. This has been a problem for at least 6 months. It just became more evideent on our trip to/from Utah.

Traveling at 80 MPH using autopilot on an open freeway when suddenly a phantom braking event occurred and slows us down to 50 MPH in 5 seconds. There were no objects on the freeway and the closest car in our lane was at least one mile in front of us.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while her husband was driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle inadvertently slowed down to 30 MPH. The contact disengaged the cruise control and the self-driving feature also disengaged simultaneously. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The Service Center diagnosed the vehicle with a software failure however, there was no current fix. The failure mileage was 10,043.

I was driving my Tesla Model Y using “navigation with autopilot” on 9/4/22, from San Francisco to San Jose. The vehicle suddenly stopped while traveling at high speed after crossing “green” metering light in the ramp from 237 to 880S. The vehicle behind had to make a sudden stop, barely avoiding a rear end collision. This is the 4th time I have experienced this “phantom braking” while traveling at high speed on freeways.

During a drive on 09/06/222 the car had 3 instances of phantom emergency braking while using autopilot. All the times there were no cars around the Tesla, the stop was a hard brake that jerked passengers around as well as shifting cargo. This has happened periodically before but now it is become common on every drive. Two of these instances occurred with in minutes of each other. The other happened later in the drive after stopping to charge. A hard stop like these could cause a serious accident if someone is following to close. These hard brakes could also cause whiplash style injuries, seatbelt abrasions, or bruises to passengers. There were no warnings, messages or sysmptoms prior to the issue.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated on two separate occasions while idled in a parked position and the brake pedal depressed, he shifted into reverse position and the vehicle inadvertently lunged forward approximately 5ft without acceleration. The vehicle then performed as normal. The contact then stated that on a separate occasion while idled in a parked position and the brake pedal depressed, he shifted into drive without the accelerator pedal depressed and the vehicle lunged forward 15 ft without warning. As a result, the contact crashed into a restaurant window. No warning lights was illuminated. No medical attention was required. A police report was filed. The vehicle was currently being towed to the dealer. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000.

During daylight hours when the autopilot is engaged at normal highway speeds - the Tesla brakes engage and quickly slow down the car. It occurs on long straight roads with no traffic. This appears to be a "phantom braking" issue that is causing my car to suddenly brake for no reason. There are never any cars around when this occurs-- just long clear roads. This can be very dangerous. Last known occurrences were on Aug 13 at 8:30a and 10:29a of this year.

I have experience phantom braking on my Model Y many times when I used FSD(full self drive) on the freeway. The car just randomly slows down / decelerates abruptly even if there are no obstacles or other cars in front. This results in a serious situation when the vehicle behind may ram into you causing a fatal accident. I have always reported this issue using voice control REPORT BUG and got acknowledgement saying THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK. But I have never heard from Tesla that they have fixed or are fixing it. This is repeated happening every time I use FSD on freeway even as of last week (week of Aug 21, 2022)/

Frequent, random, phantom braking using cruise control. Informed Tesla with times +/- one minute. Sometimes the braking was very hard and could cause a rear-end collision (at highway speeds). Always occurred with no warning and highly variable conditions (light, or hills, or overpasses, and then apparently nothing). I called Tesla and technician said overpasses were a problem. Vehicle and components have not been checked.