NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2022 Tesla Model Y. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026
Vehicle has phantom braking when auto is in cruise control on a two-lane road. Usually when a semi-truck or other large vehicle is coming towards us, car will sound an alarm and break heavy, reducing speed by 20-30 mph. This is not an issue when on the Inter-state highway. This has been an ongoing problem since we picked up the vehicle in Mid-December of 2021
The car brakes are applied when a truck traveling in opposite lane drives by when the cruise control is engaged. This has also occurred when there was discoloration on the road surface in my travel lane. Fortunately, no auto was following my vehicle or there would have been an accident.
Model Y consistently slams on the brakes while on standard cruise control mode despite there being no cars or hazards around the vehicle. It happens at highway speeds and is very frightening and it’s worrisome that it will one day cause a major accident if someone is ever following too close.
The second row seat is broken. At first, it wouldn’t latch but now It cannot be moved or adjusted. There is an alarm that states that the second row seats are not secured. I have been unable to get it repaired. A quick google search shows hundreds of cases exactly like mine.
The car is experiencing PHANTOM BRAKING. The vehicle incorrectly detects objects and brakes vigorously dropping speed really quickly. If traffic is following we could easily get rear ended. This happened over 10 times in a 100mile journey.
My Tesla has been braking for no reason. This weekend we took a road trip to Sun Valley. Once in a while when cresting a hill my car would go into hard braking. It would also do this when a semi or larger vehicle was coming in the opposite direction on a two lane road. The lane departure system would also become disabled for no apparent reason. The wipers are the worst. They have no concept of automatic, there will be no rain and they will start wiping on high. And sometimes when there is rain they won't even wipe, I have to operate them manually. This is very distracting and makes hard to focus on the road.
While adaptive cruise control is engaged, the system seems to incorrectly interpret a potential head-on collision and brakes hard and usually plays the alarm sound. I've had this car around two months and have found that this usually happens on a two-lane highway while traveling at 50-60 mph and when a box truck or larger is approaching from the opposite direction. It's worst when the sun is bright and casts a shadow of the truck and trailer across my lane. But it occasionally happens at night and when conditions are cloudy. I have to keep my foot over the accelerator pedal and force the car to keep speed, especially if there is a car close behind me. Otherwise, I'm scared I'll cause the tailing car to hit me. It's not as bad if there is a car in front of me. If no cars are in front of me, and cars are behind me, I'll disengage adaptive cruise in order to avoid causing a collision. I have not had Tesla look into this, however, I have seen comments online that others experience this problem as well.
Sudden braking when TACC is engaged happens sporadically
Sudden abrupt braking for no reason when on adaptive cruise control and autopilot very dangerous for drivers behind me
When on auto pilot or even simple cruise control the car often forcibly brakes for no apparent reason. It will sometimes brake when another vehicle is in the other lane or for no reason at all. I have asked the service center about the issue and they claim they have never heard of the problem. This is a very dangerous problem as it could cause a vehicle behind me to rear end me and cause damage or injury. It is terrifying when it happens.
Adaptive Cruise Control was unusable without consistent phantom breaking issues. Brand new car driving home a few hours I encountered phantom breaking on 2 lane and 4 lane highways during the night and during the day. It was so consistent that I basically could not use the cruise control at all as it was unsafe to have the car randomly break when at highway speeds with nothing in front of me and vehicle behind me. There is no way to turn off and leave off the adaptive part that effects the breaking and simply use a set speed cruise control.
Driving on HWY 101 just north of Santa Barbara California with cruise control on, the car suddenly braked dropping from 70 to 40. I pulled onto the shoulder so no one would rear end me. There was nothing in front of me in either lane. Luckily, there was also nothing behind me. This had happened previously but the slowing was far less abrupt and recovered immediately. I sent an email to the person with whom I dealt at the Tesla showroom saying I wanted to report this to Tesla, but have not heard back. Please advise on how I can report this to Tesla.
Phantom breaking several times daily. Now I don’t feel safe using it and I am only able to use the feature when I am sure there is no one behind me. One incentant almost resulted in rear end collision. Car thought something was there and applied break abruptly and person behind was following closely and almost crashed into me. Since then I am not able to trust this feature. A major software flaw for such an expensive car. And a very serious safety concern.
I was driving 75mph on a divided highway. I was in the left lane passing a slower vehicle in the right lane. There was nothing in front of me. A pickup truck was a couple of car lengths behind me passing the vehicle on the right too. As we were passing the vehicle attempted to stop for absolutely no reason whatsoever. My Tesla Model Y essentially slammed on the brakes going 75mph with a vehicle behind me. There was zero reason to do this and was dangerous as I could have been rear ended.
Model Y exhibits "phantom braking" when adaptive cruise control is engaged. This happens every time a large truck is passing in the opposite lane on a two lane road. If another driver is behind our vehicle, they may not be able to stop to avoid a crash. Corrective action is to turn off adaptive cruise control or step on accelerator to override the braking. In addition, the car will also perform "phantom braking" when there is no discernible issue, with no traffic in front of our vehicle or sometimes on a left turn when there is a guard rail on the right.
Adaptive Cruise Control Random hard braking while in use. Vehicles directly behind need to take corrective action to avoid collision. Not an isolated incident. 75% time I use cruise control, I have a random braking event. No / Maybe. It appears to be a common problem. No No
On many occasions the car slams on the brakes when there is no reason. Sometimes there is a car approaching from the other direction but not encroaching in my lane.
While traveling east and west on I-8 between San Diego and Phoenix the 2022 Tesla Model Y would suddenly brake. We could not reliably reproduce when or how the vehicle braked. On some occasions, we were near other vehicles. On other occasions there were no other vehicles or obstacles on or near the car. Others at risk. On the highway the vehicle rapidly decelerated and if there would have been a car behind us, there would have been an accident. After the first two incidents, we kept our foot on the gas pedal to accelerate if we felt a rapid deceleration. Reproducing the problem. We rarely drive the car, and have not had the problem in city driving. We tried to reproduce the problem during that trip, but we're unsuccessful. We have not taken the vehicle to Tesla. Inspection. The vehicle is not been inspected by an insurance company or Tesla. Warnings. We did not see any warning lights or alerts concerning the problem. After the first two incidents, we paid attention to the screen to see if any warnings appeared to help us identify the problem.
When on Traffic-aware cruise control, the vehicle suddenly brakes without warning, instantly reducing its highway speed by 7 to 12 mph. It occurs on the interstate, often while passing large vehicles, and on two-lane roads, usually when meeting large vehicles. Recently, as I was moving in front of a vehicle I had just passed, my car slammed on the brakes, causing the other vehicle to brake sharply to avoid hitting me. We have had the vehicle serviced by Tesla twice with no improvement. The service rep indicated it is a known problem that they have not yet been able to solve (unlike the manufacturers of my prior six vehicles with adaptive cruise control). This is a life-endangering fault and needs to be fixed. It is as dangerous as the rolling-stop issue that prompted a recall.
Coming from a 2017 Tesla Model S and a 2018 Tesla Model 3 to a 2022 Model Y the experience has been jarring. Tesla's driver assistance system, termed "Autopilot" has become almost unusable due to multiple, frequent, incidences of phantom-braking: 1. On a two-way road, when there are trucks in the oncoming lane, my 2022 Tesla Model Y Vision-only (Tesla removed radar) the car will slam its brakes 2. On a divided, limited-access highway, my 2022 Tesla Model Y will randomly slam its brakes. There are all safety issues because it can brake without any warning or logical indication why it should be braking, and cars behind me can very easily crash into me. Tesla did NOT have this issue, or at least not this prevalent, with my 2017 Model S and 2018 Model 3 that included both radar and vision for their driver assistance system.
On January 19th, around 9:35-9:40am, while driving on Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon, the car jerked as if someone rear-ended it and then stopped abruptly in the middle of a busy road. The information screen displayed various error messages regarding battery and drive system. The stop was abrupt and we could have been seriously injured in busy traffic. This was a scary experience. The car had 260 miles range in the battery and no prior warnings/ messages indicating any problem. We called 911 and Tesla roadside assistance for help. San Ramon PD showed up and blocked the lane to avoid someone hitting our car. They had the car towed to the nearest Tesla Service Center in Dublin, CA. While waiting for the tow truck, we attempted to restart the car and computer system two times but the car did not go into "Drive" position to be moved. The service center is diagnosing the problem and have informed us that it could be a problem with the motor or drive terrain or inverter of the car. All these are major and crucial components on the car for safe and normal operation. Failure of any of these is catastrophic and can be fatal on freeway speeds or local roads if someone is following too closely and the car stops abruptly. We usually have kids in the car and this is a scary situation to imagine. This needs to be investigated in more detail by someone to find out how many card suffer this fate and how many accidents/ fatalities have been caused by something like this.
When using traffic aware cruise control or Autopilot, the car will slam on the brakes when it sees a large vehicle, like a semi truck or bus, in the oncoming lane. It happens about 50% of the time when there is a truck in the oncoming lane. Recently, on a drive up highway 88 near Jackson, this happened 8 times over a 40 mile stretch. It doesn’t just slow down— it tries to come to a full stop, snapping my head forward. I nearly lost control several times. I no longer feel safe using cruise control at all, under any circumstances.
I was driving on freeway 101 north in LA and was merging into freeway 405 north. My auto pilot was engage and my car suddenly Decided to apply the breaks and reduce the speed from 65 miles per hour to around 45. This was done while there were no visible vehicles in sight and in front of me. The auto pilot is quite unreliable.
Was driving using Autopilot eastbound on WA State Highway 970 about 10 am on January 15, 2022. The road is a 2 line state highway. We were driving about 55 mph. A semi trailer truck rig approached in the opposite lane headed west. Just before the truck passed by us, without warning, our car began to brake hard. The truck and our car were both well within our respective lanes. It had been wet and there was spray from the truck. I immediately disengaged Autopilot. Fortunately, there was no traffic behind me, so the sudden hard braking did not affect anyone else. I have not taken the vehicle in for any inspection as it was delivered less than a month earlier. Since this appears to be a software issue, I have not had the problem reproduced.
AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING with Adaptive cruise control on. I was driving with adaptive cruise control on, at about 50 mph on a two lane road. the first experience I had was at dusk on a straight road when oncoming traffic with headlights seemed to trigger the braking system changing the speed of the car by about 10 mph repeatedly but not every car or truck. When I entered a curvy road section, it didn't trigger the brakes. The second experience was around noonish on a straight road, a large oncoming truck seemed to trigger the Automatic emergency braking and brought me suddenly to almost a stop from 50 mph. I looked behind me and saw no one close to rear ending me but it was scary to almost stop in the middle of my lane. no confirmation by dealer or service center, no inspection by others, no messages or other symptoms prior to the failure. No chimes or warning when it happened. The first experience appeared January 14, 2022 with approximately 350 miles on the new car. The second experience happened January 19th with approximately 450 miles on the car.
2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range frequently experiences "phantom braking" and false emergency braking. Even without the use of "autopilot," the vehicle will abruptly slow down or even hard brake. No warnings, no messages, nothing. Each time, there is nothing in front of the vehicle, no curves, clear weather, etc. In another scenario, such as driving down a neighborhood street with curves, it thinks you are going to hit a parked car, and slams on the brakes as well. At least here you do get an alert indicating what the car was thinking. Even though it was clearly mistaken. Had it properly accounted for steering position, would have realized there was no danger. This is all extremely dangerous and is just asking for an accident due to being rear-ended. In addition, there have been many complaints about this on the forum for years, and even the latest software updates have not resolved.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autopilot How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Yes. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? It has been confirmed by Tesla. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No warning lamps or lights. The issue appeared a couple of days after I took delivery of my Tesla Model Y. Please read for details below. This car is UNDRIVEABLE due to its Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) System. Tesla does not provide a basic Cruise Control that just conforms to a set speed. A driver is left with no option but to use their TACC or Autopilot both of which are utter garbage. Every couple or so miles my Model Y slows down in the best case scenario or slams the brakes for no apparent reason in the worst case scenario. My car has made me and my passengers sick because of this issue. Not to mention that at multiple occasions while driving on a highway my car has slammed the brakes when there was NOTHING in front of it, almost causing the car coming behind me to almost rear-end us. This is dangerous and stressful for my family and I and for people who drive behind my car. This is a massive safety issue which makes the car un-usable for long drives. Even the most basic car from the 1990s has a cruise control yet Tesla does not provide that option in their cars. So a person has to resort to using the TACC or Autopilot both of which are useless and dangerous because of this phantom braking issue. Please have Tesla provide a fix for this dangerous problem. This makes my car un-usable for long drives. Please help!!
Phantom braking. When car is on autopilot the car suddenly brakes. It’s happening a lot when I’m driving back from work. I drive 72 miles one way to work on Mondays and some Fridays. On one day it did breaks 3 times with no object in sight. Glad I’m not rear ended
I drive on a 2 lane undivided highway/road. When I have cruise control activated I have severe braking occurring when I drive past any larger truck/bus. It has almost caused me to be rear ended on more than one occasion.
Heat stop working in MN where the temperature are in the negative or single digit.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 50 - 60 MPH, the headlights inadvertently turned off for a few seconds. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that the computer data showed the high-beam was turning on and off but not the low-beam. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 440. Consumer stated the incident happened several (4 or 5) times during a 4 mile drive. Each incident’s time ranged from a few seconds to about 30 seconds.
The infotainment/speedometer froze and went black. This caused the loss of the speedometer and turn signal control. The vehicle still accelerated,decelerated, braked and turned correctly but there was no indication of the current speed.
Vehicle was sold to me on 12/23/2021 (winter) in Paramus NJ. Tesla did not notify or otherwise inform me that this Performance Model Y comes with summer tires. A week ago my wife found she had little to no traction on wheels while going to work - she almost had an accident. A friend told me i might have summer tires. Tesla website has no info on this topic. After contact Tesla support they confirmed that this vehicle has summer Tires. I think Tesla is putting drivers in danger by letting them drive off the lot in summer tires during winter months and not informing them of it. Additionally, the summer tires immediately loose warranty when used in temperatures below 40 degrees.
The issue is with the standard self driving. When it is engaged while driving on the freeway it will randomly slams on the breaks. Very dangerous as someone could have rear ended me from behind. This occurs randomly and makes using this feature very dangerous!! I feel they should disengage the self driving until it gets fully tested.
Phantom braking concern with new Tesla model Y. While driving on two lane highway at night between Las Vegas and Phoenix both directions on separate days phantom blacking makes the adaptive cruise control unusable. Almost every time a vehicle is spotted approaching at a distance the car will suddenly hard brake. My concern is being rear ended by someone if they are close behind. This is not with FSD just adaptive cruise.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Answer: AutoPilot / TACC - over the first 800 miles I've used this car for, AutoPilot has not worked correctly in the day or night. There is a hesitation once every 5-10 miles. There is a forward collision warning without reason approximately every 20 miles, day or night. Upon request, the NHTSA may contact me and I will provide off-board videos of the claims within this complaint. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Answer: There is a sudden braking for no apparent reason. There is a good possibility of being rear ended when behind a Vision only Tesla. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? The problem has occurred multiple times over the 700 mile ownership of the car. Tesla’s remote service team insists that “These are known limitations of autopilot in some conditions”. “Reviewing my vehicle it is not reporting any faults, all cameras are reporting calibrated and the pitch angles are within speciation.” A test drive to confirm these settings was offered and accepted. The test drive confirmed Tesla’s opinion that the car was fine. The car has received three software OTA updates since I’ve received the car and I have catalogued similar issues with every update. After having Tesla inspect the car, they returned it to me without confirming any changes. Issues persist after inspection. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? The manufacturer has inspected the car and found no faults. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? There were no warning lights, apart from Forward collision warnings that occurred at the time of use.
On multiple occasions the Tesla Model Y has performed what is deemed "phantom braking" while on the highway, causing my car to frantically slam on the brakes while using cruise control. This happened several times and I am not afraid to use cruise control. It only occurs when I have cruise control or 'autopilot' engaged, and out of nowhere the car will respond like it sees something in the road and either cut cruise control out, which engage regenerative braking, or will just apply the brakes at a rapid rate. Fortunately the majority of the time this occurred at night time without any cars directly behind me, but it has made me worried to use cruise control. The last time this happened was around December 31st and I have not been comfortable using cruise control since then.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH with the cruise control engaged, while another vehicle was approaching on the left, the vehicle started to decelerate independently. The contact stated that an unknown warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving but experienced the failure to the extent of manually braking and stopping the vehicle. The contact scheduled an appointment for the dealer to inspect the vehicle. The contact became aware that the Tesla App detected no failure and canceled the appointment. The contact stated that the Tesla App had canceled appointments on four different occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure by the Tesla App. The failure mileage was approximately 300.
I got hit very hard by a seat. Here is what happened: I was sitting in the right-side-2nd-row seat while trying to figure out how to adjust the left-side-2nd-row seat position in order to accommodate a child seat and look for a missing item. I had not brought in the child seat yet, I was still playing around with the controls to see if I understood how the seats could adjust and move. I couldn't figure out how to fold the seat down. The button at the top of the left-seat did not fold the seat. I thought that the 2nd-row-middle seat back rest might be blocking the folding, so I was able to release the middle-back-rest and folded that down. I crawled over to the left seat and searched around the side and found the button that could be pressed. With only a slight push, the seat released and very quickly came down and whacked me in the head, snapping my neck a bit. The hit was pretty hard, and it came at me very fast. I couldn’t really react. I was pinned briefly. My head hurt a bit, so I had to sit in the house for 2 hours to let the shock settle. On hindsight, I am lucky that the metal rod that connected to the middle seat did not whack me in the skull at that force, since I had exposed it by folding the middle back-rest down. I also think that the spring force might be too excessive, if my kid had triggered that while on the seat, the child might have been seriously injured. I may have been too complacent due to prior experience with other vehicles releasing the seat to fold from the top.
The cruise control system malfunctioned during the very first highway use (within several weeks after receiving the vehicle). While driving at a high speed on the open highway, the car would break hard for no clear reason, even when I was not following closely behind any other car. The nearest car in my lane was least 20 car lengths ahead, if at all. This experience was quite traumatizing to both me and my wife, and made us feel unsafe on the highway. Luckily, I follow the speed limits in our state, which reduces the likelihood of a rear-end collision (all others drive at least 10 MPH faster than the limit and zip past me). However, this "phantom braking" (as others have dubbed it) is very hard and sudden, often dropping the car down from 70 to 50 MPH in seconds, without warning. When I contacted Tesla via the app, they texted me to reset the cameras (do a hard reboot). There has been no follow-up by them. I do not think that this has fixed it, but have not given it a full test on a long trip. I wonder if this has something to do with the removal of the radar guidance system by the manufacturer, as this system was discontinued immediately before my Tesla was built. This experience has been so disturbing that we are seriously considering selling the Tesla and buying another brand of EV. It made our initial 200 mile trip in the car one of the worst driving experiences that I have had in decades. I had to hold the steering wheel with an iron grip out of fear for when the car would next capriciously decide to jam on the brakes. Needless to say, I was physically exhausted and emotionally drained by the time that we reached our destination. To specifically address your questions: the car is available for inspection; it put my and my wife's safety at risk; the "dealer" has not specifically confirmed the problem; nobody has inspected the vehicle; there was no warning prior to the problems.
While on auto pilot, phantom braking at high speeds on highway with no cars nearby. No warning on the monitor when this happens. Long wait at the service center for appointment but this issue has been communicated to Tesla. Car resumes the cruise speed almost immediately after phantom braking. Also communicated to Tesla is that the wipers do not always automatically come on with moisture on windshield when set in auto mode.
I do not have full self driving on my car. However, the cameras installed are active when I use just normal cruise control. Trying to drive between the Minneapolis area to Pipestone, MN on Christmas day the car several times hit the brakes for me unexpectedly while in cruise control. We were on various roads, mostly at night, and with many times no seeable vehicles nearby. Other times it would be a vehicle coming at us in the proper lane next to us. I cannot use cruise control on this car for fear that a car will rear end me.
After taking the vehicle on a road trip through Canada, the vehicle’s heating and cooling system failed. We had been driving for ~15 hours. The error message was VCFRONT_a447 Cabin Climate control system requires service. This is a safety issue for traveling in cold climates as well as eliminating fog on the windshield that would cause a driver to lose visibility. A two button reset did not resolve the issue. A hard reset seemed to, but 15 minutes back onto the road, we saw the same error message again, and the heating no longer was warm. Please take action to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers.
With AutoPilot engaged both during the day and at night, though more frequently at night, and driving on two lane highways, the car automatically brakes sometimes very hard causing your neck to snap forward, whenever it detects oncoming traffic. This is amplified at dusk and at night. There is no warning or time to override this. Making the vehicle dangerous to driver, occupants, or cars travelling behind the Tesla. Tesla claims that this is a known issue, but other brands with similar safety mechanisms do not have this "Phantom Braking' condition.
When I have Autopilot (adaptive cruise) on, the car will often slow down, sometimes quite abruptly, when there is nothing to slow down for. This is often called Phantom Braking. This can easily put me at risk of getting rear-ended from another car. If I'm on ice or snow it can cause the car to slide and loose control. I have read on the internet and forums of many with 2021 or 2022 Model Y's with the same problem - since the radar was removed on these newer cars. I had a 2020 Model Y previously that had the radar, and I never had this problem. I believe their camera only technology is not enough to suffice and they need the redundancy of both radar and cameras.
Passenger side b-pillar camera has condensation inside the glass and does not allow for it to opperate.
Driving on 2 Lane Rd. Using Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC). 45-50 MPH. Vehicle will brake suddenly when a large vehicle cement truck, school bus approaches in opposite lane. It also happens when I am passing a bicyclist on my right side. It also happens intermittently but not as severely when there is nothing around me. This is a very dangerous situation because of the possibility of a rear end collision caused by the sudden braking. It is a reoccurring problem. I have not contacted Tesla as I assume that was a known problem. There was no advance warning of the braking.
The side pillar cameras on the Tesla are not sealed and contain moisture. I live in Minnesota and this moisture will frost over in cold weather, thereby blocking these cameras and disengage autopilot while driving or make it unusable.
Driving on two-lane highway, speed limit 55mph, with Tesla traffic aware cruise control enabled. Multiple instances of the car automatically applying heavy braking when cresting a hill or when a large vehicle oncoming. These incidents occurred when there was no traffic immediately ahead in my traveled lane. Luckily there wasn't a vehicle following me closely or I could've been hit from behind.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving at 65 MPH with the Self-Driving features activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that were no other vehicles or objects nearby. The contact depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle increased in speed and the contact continued to drive the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure had been occurring several times per day while using the Self-Driving feature. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000. The consumer stated the phantom braking was only experienced in auto pilot mode. After notifying tesla updates were made and the problem was resolved.