2021 Tesla Model Y Complaint Log

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 80 MPH, the self-driving feature independently activated and the vehicle decelerated to 50 MPH inadvertently within several seconds. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 8,480.

Tesla’s automatic wipers does not always work and it’s a serious safety concerns. I have videos of the automatic wipers not working during a light and heavy rain and it hindered visibilities on the road. Sometimes I traveled for 2 mins without the wiper sweeping water from the windshield. Due to Tesla’s bully tactics, and retributions, please do not share my name or phone number with Tesla, thank you.

Over the course of an eight hour drive on a single lane highway, the vehicle abruptly applied brakes without any warning at full speed multiple (at least 30 times). In some instances, there were vehicles in the opposite lane. In other instances, there were none. In all cases, there were no vehicles in front in the same lane. Weather conditions were clear and dry, with full daylight illumination. This issue is most likely related to the camera-only change made to Tesla vehicles, which are used for TACC and autopilot features.

When Tesla infotainment system needs a restart due to malfunction (which is easy to accomplish by holding the 2 steering wheel buttons for 10 seconds), the car doesn't allow the turning signals to function. All other essential motor functions work normally, it's just the turning signals don't. As a result, there were a couple of times when I needed to restart the screen due to bugs and turn on my signals without success - since I had to turn in a high traffic street. It's great that the car allows the infotainment to be restarted, but I don't believe a safety function such as turning signals should be impacted - there should be a temporary way to keep them working to avoid this safety hazard. I love my car and love what the company is doing, but this one I had to report since I'm concerned this might impact a lot of other drivers and potentially cause injury.

Driving along highway 330 in Iowa, car slowed from 70 mph to 15 for no apparent reason. No cars, animals or obstruction were around

The car suddenly stops as if the traffic ahead is stopped. I noticed it happens when the auto pilot is on. I gave up using the autopilot because I have experienced the sudden break and I have missed having an accident. It kind of feel like the sensors from the sides get the idea that if the side lane is going slow the car has to break suddenly.

All of these incidents occurred with adaptive cruise control engaged, and sometimes with lane keeping engaged. The vehicle frequently brakes, or slows dramatically, when on the freeway and there is no obstacle in the vicinity. Over the last three days I made the drive from Burbank to Anaheim along I-5. Always in the same area, the car would suddenly slow. In two out of the three incidents, the "max speed," which was set to 80, dropped to 45. Simultaneously, the car thought it was in a 55 mph zone (it was a 65 mph zone). In one of the three instances, the max speed was not changed, but the car still slowed dramatically. On the same commute, the car navigation always has me get off on Artesia Blvd, and then get right back on the freeway. The adaptive cruise has a configurable follow distance that the car seems to generally ignore. It's a number from 2 to 6 or so, and it's not clear what it's supposed to be (seconds or car lengths). It's rarely either, although it should represent seconds. When traffic comes to a complete stop, the car waits until it is too close to brake. When traffic begins moving, the car waits too long to start moving, and then accelerates excessively to catch up. Finally, when using the regular adpative cruise and lane keeping, I would signal lane changes and initiate the change. The car disengages steering but maintains cruise. In many cases, while still indicating the lane change, the car's lane departure warning will sound and it will attempt to correct my steering, which I have to physically override. My Nissan Leaf had adaptive cruise control, lane centering, and lane departure avoidance, and it never gave me these issues. Oh also, the Tesla frequently and erroneously warns of forward collision. It's really terrible, and it's due in no small part to the removal of the forward radar sensor.

Cameras did not work with turn signals. WIPERS STOPPED WORKING. Then the screen went blank. I don’t know if the hazard lights worked initially when pressed. This occurred in a rainstorm going over 60mph. We almost were in a wreck due to not being able to see and needing to exit highway immediately. Stopped car. Rebooted. Difficultly opening charging dock 15 minutes later. Have called Tesla in Columbus, Ohio and left message.

I have had 2 seats from Evenflo. One purchased from Target and another replacement that they sent to me as I reported the LATCH connectors were installed backwards/upside down. I cannot attach the base to the anchors without putting them in upside down or twisting the straps. Since this is the second one, I believe it is a manufacturing defect.

Going 40 MPH on CA 210W in left lane. Full Self Driving available on vehicle but no autopilot/lane assist activated at time of incident. Steering wheel locked up completely; I was unable to turn the wheel at all so I ended up drifting across 4 lanes of highway (miraculously didn’t hit anyone) and ended up under a semi. Car airbags did not deploy and system did not detect a collision. Contacted Tesla to ask about the cause of the accident multiple times; never got an answer. They had us pull the USB in glovebox and see if anything is on there but there wasn’t even though dash cam was activated. They “escalated” the ticket to a supervisor and have been ghosted ever since asking for an answer. We scheduled a service appointment to have them check out the vehicle and they canceled it. It is a miracle that I did not die; I have severe PTSD from the incident which has affected my career negatively. I would like Tesla to take accountability for things like this; it’s scary that they don’t and threaten legal action instead.

1. Pulling the car into a parking spot at a low speed (tight parking space for which you had to turn the car at a 90 degree angle, so had to be slow). 2. Applied brakes BUT the brakes didn't work. 3. Car went through very thick hedges and over a ledge (parking collision and emergency brakes didn't work). Follow up: Filed a data request with Tesla and they denied the request.

While driving along on an interstate highway at night, the frame rate for the display system including speedometer and other vehicle information drastically dropped. This resulted in limited situational awareness of what the car was doing. Updates for lane changing, blind spot detection, and lane departure warnings were delayed/lagged as a result of the reduced frame rate. This did not impact how the vehicle drove, or activation of turn signals, and the lower frame rate did not result in any flickering of the display. A display reset was required while driving at highway speeds to regain full situational awareness.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle independently stopped without the brake pedal being depressed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was contacted and scheduled an appointment. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 11,500.

Driving on I95 in Florida. Cruise control engaged at approximately 70 mph. Problem: sudden braking without my stepping on brake pedal. Car started slowing down immediately and veering to the left almost out of lane of traffic. I immediately pressed accelerator and avoided any collision. This happened 3 times to me, always on I95 where I do most driving, always with cruise control engaged.

Please see attached PDF for description of the phantom braking problem with my 2021 Tesla Model Y.

While driving on interstate 25 the adaptive cruise control braked hard for no reason. There wasn’t any hazard and no traffic on clear days on a well marked road. It happened quite often . More than 100 occasions on a 65o mile drive.

I started having issues with my heat pump and described to the service center that on multiple occasions it has malfunctioned or improperly heated the cabin on both negative temperature and 40° days. I mentioned it also makes a weird noise. Because I mentioned a noise they refused to look at it under warranty and will not look at it unless I pay 87.50. They have a known ongoing issue with what pumps for our model and this should be a priority for them to take care of. It seems like incredibly irresponsible business. This has happened on multiple occasions with tesla they refuse to look at many safety concerns unless I pay. There are also numerous other safety issues with my car they refuse to fix.

Driving on highway at 65 mph suddenly drive speed to 30 miles as if emergency brakes were applied.

Since buying the car 6/30/21 the automatic emergency braking has activated >300 times not once was it appropriate. We have had the car back to Tesla Service twice to repair the problem with out any improvement. It is only by luck that we have not had an accident. This is not an effective safety feature and it is increasing the likelihood of an accident. If Tesla cannot fix this it should be forced to deactivating the system

For the last few software updates and for a few months the vehicle will phantom brake and apply aggressive stopping in traffic for no reason when using cruise control, autopilot, or full self driving. Instances have occurred which has nearly caused us to be rear-ended by other vehicles. Additionally the car will turn aggressive when using passing lanes. We have experienced instances where the car will turn into a short right turn lane at highway speeds unexpectedly and then require immediate intervention or the brakes will be applied very hard. These situations are repeatable and occur frequently for no reason.

I was driving northbound on Highway 1 on 3-18-22 from Ventura California to Clayton California where I live. Four times through my trip the car suddenly decelerated and the brakes were applied automatically for no reason whatsoever there was no traffic in front of me there were no obstacles in front of me there were no hazards in front of me, it was open road and for whatever reason the car auto braked which immediately reduced my speed to a dangerous condition. If I had been in traffic I would’ve been rear ended!

Vehicle brakes randomly at highway speeds while utilizing ADAS. Brakes hard and fast without warning.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that the display screen would intermittently fail to operate as needed, without warning. The contact also stated that the power windows failed to operate as needed. The contact had taken the vehicle to the Service Center on multiple occasions for various updates; however, the power window failure persisted after each update. The contact recently received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V702000 (Visibility). The contact stated that the back-up camera was displaying a distorted image while the vehicle was in reverse(R). The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 9,400.

Frequent abrupt and unsafe phantom braking while using cruise control. Mostly due to headlights from semi-trucks coming in opposite direction but occasionally from just a dark patch on the road. On a long road trip from WA to AZ, it made using the speed control feature impossible. The vehicle would lurch hard enough to physically throw you forward in your seat and rapidly slow the car (increasing potential to be rear ended). No warning messages or failure notifications. The problem was reported to Tesla (not to police, insurance, etc because no accident ensued) and the response was in a nutshell “it is working how it should “.

The Tesla’s operating system on the center screen froze. I was unable to view speed. I was also unable to turn on wipers, blinkers, or switch headlight beam setting. The operating system had to be rebooted while driving. This has happened twice. The first time was 2/11/2022, on I40 W in TN. The second time, noted below, was on I65 S in AL.

I was stopping at the parking lot of my church St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Forane Church (508 Elizabeth Ave, Somerset, NJ 08873) to drop my daughter. I applied the break but the vehicle kept moving and hit the gas line of the church. The gasline broke and car front got damaged. There was no auto break and warning of the obstacle.

We were driving on I-8 yesterday from California to Arizona and while using cruise control the car kept phantom braking. It happened multiple times - some times the braking was so hard, it threw us and our children forward in their car seats. It was terrifying and almost caused us to get into multiple accidents. There was absolutely no reason for the car to be braking . We tried to notice a pattern. It almost seemed like the car was afraid of its own shadow in front of us (the setting sun was directly behind us at points). But the phantom braking also happened when there was no shadow and nothing at all around. Absolutely terrifying.

Without warning and with the lowest setting for front impact prevention my cruise control randomly slams on the brakes. This happens basically anytime I use the cruise control, so I just don’t anymore to prevent possible collision. It happens when no cars are around, when cars are in the oncoming lane but not crossing the line. It happens in any situation and it is very frustrating. I put in a service ticket with Tesla, to my understanding there is not currently a fix.

The car suddenly stops responding with the entire system seems to be shut down. I cannot access any controls including lights, brakes and any other safety features. I reached out to tesla regarding this and even sent them a video showing the same. They are not responsive at all and seem to not care about this. The car had sidetracked due to no visibility (Wouldn't consider a crash but almost one)This happened multiple times and is really a big safety concern. We were in the middle of woods when this happened and my wife was alone the other time. I would really appreciate if you expedite this issue and get us a solution. The image below is taken when the lights were on but eventually they were gone.

Pulling into a parking space, at very slow speed, pressed service brake to stop car. The car suddenly accelerated at high speed, hit a tree directly in front of the space, veered off and sprinted across another parking space and a two lane passage, hit a brick pillar, veered into the wall of a restaurant, bounced off the wall and back into the street. All airbags deployed. No one was injured. Car probably totaled.

While using the ADAS the Tesla had several incidents of phantom braking. We would be going 80 and it would slam the brakes on and take us to 50. It did it several times on a drive from Dixon,CA to Flagstaff, AZ. There were no cars near or anything remotely concerning on the road at the time the incidents took place. We called Tesla and reported and they could find no codes or system issues.

Have had problems with 'phantom breaking" while using adaptive cruise control (not full Autopilot). This has happened over a dozen times over the last several firmware updates including latest version 22.4.5.16. For no obvious reason, the car just applied the brakes fairly hard (no skids) while at highway speeds without other vehicles nearby or no shadows visible.

The contact owns a 2021Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle independently and aggressively slowed without driver input. The vehicle then accelerated independently. There was no warning light illuminated. The failure occurred approximately 10 times. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 65,000.

On 3/7/22- 3/15/22 I and my wife took our Tesla Model Y 2021 for an extensive trip from San Diego, CA to Sedona, AZ. Our Tesla does not equipped with Autopilot. On 3/7 while on I-8 E Arizona, our Tesla was on cruise control at HWY speed, it suddendly braked from 75 miles/hr to 60 miles/hr and slowly going back up without any appearance reasons! There was No cars near and around. Afterward, it happened several more times so we stopped using cruise control on the second day of our trips until return home due to safety concerns of getting hit from behind. I took the Tesla to Tesla service for a check of the issue about a week after return San Diego, and the Tesla technician took the car for a test drive and found nothing wrong!

My wife weighs 108lb the manual says the passenger airbag should be on if a person weighs approximately 100lb. About 80% of the time she sits in the passenger seat the seat does not detect she is there and it says the airbag is off. I took this to Tesla to repair and they said the sensor was working as designs. I feel this is a safety issue.

The cruise control of Tesla is majorly defective after taking out the Ladar component as it is entirely dependent on cameras. Sudden or phantom braking has been so bad that sometimes I avoid using it. My most recent episode happened last weekend as I was driving at a two way country highway at 50mph to get to the interstate. I was headed south between 9 to 10am. The sun was on my left (east) and there was a truck approaching on the opposite lane. When the truck passed (I guess it cast a huge shadow as it blocked the sun on my left) the car slammed on the brakes. There was no warning. Luckily there were no cars behind immediately behind me, otherwise we would have been rear ended in a possibly fatal accident.

I am reading about the Tesla braking for no reason & wanted to report my own experiences with this. I have not reported this before to anyone at Tesla, just told my husband. Numerous times (at least 5) over the past year I have owned my Y it has suddenly braked for no reason. It either always or almost always happened when I was going freeway speeds on a turn & there was a vehicle in the lane next to me that I think my Tesla thought I was going to hit. But I wasn't. It was a sudden brake that if I had not been in full control of the car with my feet ready to move so I had to hit the accelerator pedal quickly there could have been a big problem if there was a car behind me. This issue made me stop using the auto pilot on the highway it happened the most on - Hwy 80 between Sacramento & Truckee CA. But it has happened on other freeways too. It makes me very hesitant to use the autopilot unless I am on a straight freeway.

We have noticed an increase in phantom Braking while using cruise control and/or auto pilot. Prior to November it would happen randomly and only on single lane highways. Now it happens every time we try to use cruise control. It is very dangerous as we may be rear ended it stops so fast with nothing in front of us. We have reached out to Tesla more than one time and they just suggest we disengage use if cruise control if we experience this random phantom braking. We have reported this is not rare or random it’s constant and every time we attempt to use this product we paid $10,000.00 for. We are not safe with this braking and Tesla basically says they are working on it.

Often a warning of "Front passenger saftey restrain system fault - Service is required" message comes up. Tesla does not have the parts to do a repair. This has been the case for months.

Phantom breaking at high speeds for no reason

Multiple hard phantom braking events using adaptive cruise control on interstate with no obstacles.

While driving from Tucson to Denver the vehicle suddenly decelerated and/or braked no less than hundreds of times with varying rates--sometimes just a couple miles per hour and other times more than 30 miles per hour. These "phantom braking" events were generally on a divided interstate highway with clear visibility, flat, straight roads without rain/snow & oftentimes without another vehicle within 1/2 mile+. These events even happened 3 times within 3-4 minutes while I was speaking to Tesla roadside service trying to disable all sensors/interventions. More than once a vehicle behind me (at highway speeds) thought I was "brake-checking" them and would cause them to honk and deservedly give me a few finger symbols (road rage). There was no reason for the car to suddenly brake; no cars merging or in front of me other than light vehicle traffic in the opposite direction of the DIVIDED interstate. I asked TESLA several times if there is a way to turn off all the "assistance" and just have it function as a "normal" cruise control without "traffic aware" and other automatic braking features--but the answer was no. I am not exaggerating when I say this happened hundreds of time during my 2 trips. I always turned off the speed control when the roads were curving because I knew it would suddenly brake during a mountain pass curve & upset the vehicle--make it difficult to control, and potentially cause an accident at high speed for NO reason. My risk tolerance is fairly high, I have been driving cars with "Eyesight" and radar speed control and advanced safety features for over 10 years and have never felt less trusting or less safe than I do in my Tesla Model Y. I think Tesla should disable the "safety" feature until they can resolve the issue (perhaps a stop sale order)--I believe it will cause accidents even when someone is fully aware of its sudden, random braking issues. I have many video clips/pics of when the events ocurred as Tesla asked me to record.

the emergency braking failed, by activating when it should not have activated. Caused hard braking which the rear car almost ran into me. Vehicle has not been taken into dealer to be reproduced or confirmed by dealer. Vehicle has not be taken into dealer to be inspected. On vehicle display, there was a pedestrian image causing hard braking, but no actual pedestrian was there.

Car will suddenly brake hard when a pickup truck or semi truck is in the oncoming lane at highway speeds when adaptive cruise is engaged. This happens nearly every time a larger vehicle is in the oncoming lane, mostly only on two lane highways. Will also [XXX] occasionally brake for apparently no reason with adaptive cruise on. Tesla service knows of this problem and claims there is no fix. The hard braking happens every drive multiple times and nearly causes us to get rear ended by following cars. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

On Friday February 25, 2021, while driving on Florida’s Tamiami Trail (41), my Tesla repeatedly experienced extreme phantom braking, even though there were no vehicles in front of us or behind us either in our lane or the oncoming lane. It was a sunny bright morning between 9:30 and 10:00 AM.

This vehicle when on ADAS (aka autopilot) and adaptive cruise control I experience constant "phantom" braking where car will slow down or slam on brakes for seemingly no reason. Most noticeable on a non separated highway phantom braking occurs constantly and is very predictable when large truck is near on the oncoming lane; happens probably 80% of the time. Slamming on the brakes for no reason is alarming and dangerous in my estimation. This system is completely unusable and very unnerving. Ironically I had a 2019 Model 3 with the same features and did this very rarely so this feature is much worse than it was on older vehicles with radar.

Sudden and dramatic application of emergency collision braking for no apparent reason. No objects in the road in the driving path of the vehicle, but the emergency braking system engages. Available for inspection upon request. Having this occur during traffic can result in being rear ended as the braking can be so severely applied. Bodily injury in the form of whiplash is also foreseeable. The problem has not been reproduced by the dealer or service center. The vehicle has not been inspected for these problems. There is a warning chime prior to almost every event. Sometimes it just slows without warning. They first occurred on our first long road trip beyond twenty miles.

i DID NOT HAVE AN ACEDENT, BUT I have a bad control arms on my Tesla Y. I brought my Tesla to Tesla service for repair because I heard creaking noise coming when I turn my steering wheel left and right and Tesla team says that I need replacement for my left and right upper arm controls. But Telsa claim they do not have all parts for repair and they changed only my right upper control arm and order the left one. Also Tesla service claim is safe to drive with bad arm controls, which for me is not acceptable. I did not feel safe and Tesla claim is wrong for me.

Using the Autopilot feature, I experienced the unexpected and phantom breaking several times while driving at highway speeds of usually 70 MPH or greater. This occurred well over 5 times in a single 300 mile trip and each time I disengaged the autopilot to recover from the sudden breaking.

Autopilot or Cruise Control Performance - Several times over the last couple weeks, when I disengage TACC/AP by pushing the stalk up during driving, the car shifts into Neutral instead of staying in Drive and engaging the regenerative braking. I cannot reproduce it on demand, it is intermittent. This causes a collision hazard as o am expecting braking to occur but it does not.