2020 Tesla Model Y Complaint Log

On several occasions, my car will either i) slam on the brakes when in assisted driving for no reason, ii) start beeping for a lab departure when I have no even made the slightest move to switch lanes, iii) windows will roll back down when I try to roll them up (not sure if that’s related to the FSD issues). I paid an extra $15,000 for FSD and not only does it not work, but it seems to have created unsafe driving conditions in my car.

Driving on a residential street around 20 mph as we approached a stop sign , heard a loud “thump.” It appeared to come from front wheel well area. Worried we hit something we circled back around back around but there was nothing. Car began making a loud noise everyone we turned the wheel. Got the car back home (we were only a few miles away) but it is sitting slightly lower on right side in front and from what I can see it looks like there is a holder for a bolt that is “empty” (i.e. I think a bolt fell off and cause the car to go lower to friend and turning the car toward that side is now noisy and impossible to turn —there is resistance). I see some 2020 Model Y’s had a recall for a suspension issue but when I plug in my VIN it appears it doesn’t apply to my VIN. I think you should investigate whether this recall needs to be expanded. What is described in the suspension recall sounds EXACTLY like what is happening to my car. Thank you. [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Nearly Every Single day on my drive home north on AZ hwy 90 my 2020 Tesla Model Y abruptly disengages and breaks from cruise control. it is especially startling when I pass a vehicle and then return to my lane only to have the car dramatically slow. I could be ok if it just disengaged cruise but daily multiple times it breaks on a fast moving highway

Vehicle was on FSD and suddenly excessively braked almost to a stop when driving at 65mph causing occupants and cargo to fly forward and Injured our pet in the rear seat

The drivers side rear door no longer opens. As a parent who drives with 2 children in car seats, this has made getting our kids in and out incredibly time consuming and awkward. Not to mention it just isn't safe at all to have a non operable door. From what I've seen after doing a quick google search, this is a common problem with Model Y AND Model 3 rear doors, which is absolutely unacceptable and needs to be addressed. You can even watch youtube videos of other Tesla drivers experiencing the exact same scenario as my family currently has. The day it happened I drove straight to a Tesla service center to get it taken care of. They told me they were too busy to take my car and that I needed to make an appointment. Their first appointment date at the local center was over 2 weeks out, which is also unacceptable for an issue involving passenger safety. So I set up a mobile service appointment for the following day which the following day Tesla changed to a service center appointment a week and a half out, citing they needed to order parts to fix this, granted no one has seen this door to diagnose what is happening but they already know enough to order parts to fix it, which means that indeed they have a manufacturing flaw that needs to be adressed. If it wasn't for the car seats it would be an acceptable nuisance, but add car seats to the mix and this scenario is a hazard.

Prior to the incident a message appeared in the car indicating that the Lane Departure Avoidance features unavailable - Features may be restored on next drive. TACC was activated on the car. Auto Steer was not activated. The car is equipped with Autopilot only. It was traveling in the furthest left lane. A truck in the center lane attempted to merge into the left lane where our tesla model y was traveling. The car then steered hard left causing the car to be nearly our of control and swerving left and right. We were able to get the car under control, but we nearly were run off the road.

I was on a self driving mode enabled but it’s been raining for a while and I believe it showed the poor weather condition so FSD is not enabled but autopilot was engaged (but not 100% sure about which mode it was) It was around 2am in the morning and was on 580 southbound from Dublin to SFO. I was on the second to the left lane. It suddenly tried to go diagonally to the first lane. (Not like normal lane change but very abrupt almost like making turn 90 degree left) so I tried to cancel by holding on the steering wheel. And then it went out of control and start rotating until it stopped by hitting the center guard rail on the passenger rear side. The car stopped facing backward on the road (on the center shoulder). Luckily it was late night (around 2am) and there were no car behind luckily. I could have dead if another car hit into my car. Tesla insurance of course didn't admin any of this and told me it was my fault.

When reversing, the backup camera does not display realtime video. It will display footage that is paused or behind. The pedestrian warning sound occasionally does not "load" when backing up. This has lead to near miss collisions when reversing and has put pedestrians at risk of not hearing the vehicle in motion, whilst being unable to see realtime footage below the rear tailgate. When the car is left in a parking lot or driveway for several hours, the camera will not "load" completely and leads to this condition. It cannot be reproduced unless the car has been sitting for several hours, as most driving events begin. The vehicle was inspected on 4/25/2023 by the manufacturer and have stated the vehicle is operating as expected. The symptoms cannot be captured by an image, only video.

Tesla has not yet fixed the following defect for my vehicle: Sep 19,2022 Manufacturer Recall Number TBD NHTSA Recall Number22V702 Recall StatusRecall Incomplete

We continue to experience phantom braking when adaptive cruise control is engaged on major highways. On a recent trip, it occurred three times on I-90 eastbound between Madison and Janesville, WI, and again in Indiana. Our car does not have “full self-driving.” Most of these were relatively mild, but one was so violent that objects in the cabin were thrown around. If a vehicle had been following relatively closely, a collision would have been likely. This seems most likely to happen as we approach an overpass.

Vehicle is absolutely destroying tires at an alarming rate (every 10k miles we need new tires). We have had multiple 4 wheel alignments done and verified that the alignment is perfect. Despite this, the front and rear tires wear the inside leading edge down to wire while the outside edge has 80%+ tread remaining. The other issue is the creaking/groaning and premature wear the control arms display. This is a super common issue across all tesla models. This is alarming because the next step after the noise presents itself is total failure of the control arm due to lack of grease which results in the wheel falling off the vehicle. There are no grease fittings on the control arms like the vast majority of other manufacturers vehicles and the bearings and tesla won’t fix this despite knowing it is an issue and having our vehicle multiple times for service for this issue.

While driving on the highway at 59 mph using Tesla Autopilot functionality the vehicle braked so hard the wheels locked up and skidded without warning. There was no vehicle directly in front but there were two semi trucks on either side and vehicle directly behind me. The vehicle behind had to brake hard not to run into me. I took control of the vehicle and pressed the accelerator to regain speed and avoid an collision.

The autodrive features malfunctioned. The vehicle is "phantom" braking when a human could easily see there was no reason to brake. This is happening with autopilot (lane keep and adaptive cruise control) engage at freeway speeds (60-70mph). This is occurring randomly on a curve, in the day, at night, in a straight road, cars or no cars nearby. The solution being offered is Tesla service will check the tire pressure and they "remote educated" me by providing links to their autopilot description on their website which states that this can happen. These are extremely dangerous situations and these solutions are not sufficient.

Have had several issues with phantom braking. When in cruise control or auto drive there are times nothing is in the roadway but the vehicle will brake in middle of hwy. very dangerous

I am writing to file a complaint against Tesla, Inc. for refusing to repair recurring suspension issues that were supposedly addressed through previous recalls. As an owner of a 2020 Tesla Model Y (VIN: [XXX] ), I have experienced numerous problems related to the vehicle's suspension system, steering, and safety restraints, which I believe pose serious safety risks. My vehicle has undergone multiple repairs at Tesla service centers for issues such as squeaking noises when turning, vehicle shutdowns while driving, steering difficulties, and excessive tire wear. Many of these problems are related to the vehicle's suspension system, which has been the subject of several recalls by Tesla in recent years, including recalls [XXX],[XXX], [XXX], and [XXX]. Despite these recalls supposedly addressing the suspension issues, my vehicle continues to experience problems. Most recently, on [XXX], I brought my vehicle to a Tesla service center for a loud and distinct sound coming from the steering system. The service center diagnosed the issue and recommended repairs to the front half shaft assembly, front damper assembly, and front lower lateral links, with a total estimated cost of $3,670. These issues should be covered under warranty and are directly related to the previous suspension recalls. However, Tesla has refused to cover the repairs under warranty. Furthermore, I have experienced recurring issues with the front passenger safety restraint system, which required a retrofit of the Occupant Classification System (OCS) on two separate occasions. This suggests that the initial repair was ineffective and that the system may have an underlying design flaw. I request that the NHTSA investigate these issues and take appropriate action to ensure Tesla addresses these safety concerns and honors its warranty obligations. I have attached documentation detailing the repair history, invoices, recall notices, and correspondence with Tesla. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the air bag warning light illuminated, indicating that the passenger’s side air bag was disabled. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was out of warranty; however, the manufacturer sent a mechanic to the residence, who replaced the sensor; however, the failure recurred. The mechanic came back a second time and performed a bypass on the sensor; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer informed the contact that the passenger's seat needed to be replaced. The contact related the failure to the code RCM2_A636 (Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault). The failure mileage was approximately 90,000.

Phantom braking during a drive on highway. Out of no where, the car breaks even when there is no one stopping in front of you. This resulted in car behind panicking and almost rear ending.

This occurs driving on Highway 50 between Placerville, CA and Meyers, CA a predominantly 2 lane winding mountain highway bounded by many cliffs and rocks. The only way to properly engage the high beam lights is to activate the automatic high beam system. The lights inappropriately switch to low beams leaving me on a curvy road with insufficient light to see the curves. In some cases I need to hold the high beam flash control which does not allow me to keep both hands on the steering while while navigating that road. The vehicle needs a typical manual high beam control as I think the automatic system does not work safely when the cameras receive light bouncing off the rocks and snow. Virtually all cars have a manual control for this important light. This makes for a very dangerous driving situation.

While driving on highway using cruise control, the vehicle (without the driver's assistance) applied brakes to quickly slow the rate of speed. This occurred three times in the span of ten minutes. The weather was sunny and no other vehicles or objects were in the vicinity of my vehicle. After the third occurrence, I stopped using cruise control for the remainder of the trip.

The contact stated as he was driving behind a what he assumed was a 2020 Tesla Model Y when the vehicle suddenly stopped and turned to the right. The contact stated that the vehicle was traveling at approximately 40 MPH as it was approaching a toll plaza. The contact was unaware if the rear brake light had been illuminated on the Tesla. The contact stated that he almost t-boned the vehicle as it stopped and blocked the tow gate. The contact stated that he witnessed the vehicle stopping inadvertently several times. The contact was concerned as he read an article about Tesla vehicles suddenly stopping. The contact did not have the year or VIN of the vehicle.

1. Forward Collision Warning false alarm is very frequent. Often triggered by pedestrian on nearby sidewalk or parked car on street side. Tesla is using Forward Collision Warning to lower my safety score and raise my insurance premium. 2. Tesla sold me "Full Self Driving" package to me for $8000+taxes for more than two years and still have not delivered the product. It's a faulty system with lots of safety hazards. 3. Window not functioning per the recall notice.

In Tesla’s from model years before 2021, the side “repeater cameras” that are rear facing suffer from a light-leak of the blinker. There are three small holes in the PCB circuit board that allow light from the blinker to leak into the camera at night. Tesla subsequently fixed this problem, first by applying a sticker over the holes in the circuit board, and later by redesigning the part entirely. But this “light leak” problem exists on hundreds of thousands of cars. There are two problems with this: 1) Tesla has now changed their “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” software to a Tesla Vision system that ONLY uses cameras for the autopilot features, including lane keeping and lane changes. They no longer use ultrasonic sensors or forward looking radar, even though it is still installed on these cars. This reliance on vision makes it impossible for the Tesla side facing cameras to see when the blinker is turned on. This can result in unpredictable behavior when changing lanes or turning at night with autopilot engaged, including unpredictable or erratic driving where the car abandons a lane change mid course and swerves back into the lane. 2) Even when autopilot is not engaged, the blind spot monitoring in this car consists of a pop up window on the center screen showing the side view camera when the turn signal is engaged. At night, with the blinker on, the driver sees a bright light flashing intermittently in the side view camera. This is very distracting and potentially hazardous to the driver. Tesla has refused to replace the cameras on my car under warranty because they state the cameras are “neither a defect of materials nor workmanship” and are an “expected condition based on the inherent capability of the camera design”.

On a 900 mile drive, in one day, the “speed cruise control” would abruptly brake, as if it were seeing someone in front of us. It did this at a minimum 5 times. Never was there a car closer than 1/4 of a mile in front of us. Once it went from 78mph to 38mph in about 3 seconds, when there was a car about 3 car lengths behind us. On the return 900 mile drive it continued, at a lesser rate. I have reported this to Tesla, and they claim “my” car reports do not show anything out of the ordinary, and these errors are sometimes caused by…and they gave numerous reasons, such as speed limit data inaccuracies, etc. they also have determined that my car does not show any computer faults so there is nothing they can do. Unacceptable

At least 5 times in the last month, my Tesla Model Y will suddenly brake when there’s no obstacle in the way. This most often happens at highway speeds, a terrifying scenario. I believe it mostly (or exclusively happens) when I have cruise control on. I notice it happens when there’s a sudden change in the color of the road surface, like going from concrete to asphalt. It also happens when I’m cresting a hill - like it can’t see over the other side of the hill. I have not yet experienced it while having the “stay in the lane” feature, which also sets the maximum speed at 5mph over the speed limit. But it definitely happens when I have cruise control on. I have only had this problem for the past few months, so I wonder if there’s a bug in the most recent software version.

During routine highway driving while using the included Autopilot (Adaptive Cruise Control) software, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning abruptly slow and apply breaks. This slowing can occur when traveling at 70mph (the posted speed limit) and attempt to slow to a speed of 45mph. This change causes a great safety hazard in the event of being closely followed or rear ended. This phenomenon is known to tesla and been colloquially termed "phantom breaking". No hazard or other external reason is present to merit a sudden breaking.

Phantom Braking in Autopilot: Coming back from Mammoth Ca in November 2022 on highway 395 and 14 we experienced sudden braking in cruiscontrol/autopilot numerous times with no cars in front of us while driving. One time there was a car behind us and almost caused an accident. This is a very dangerous situation in which Tesla must fix this issue or refund us money back for the Auto pilot feature. This has happened previously on long trips. We do not use this feature in regular commuting to and from work

We were driving on a highway and suddenly we got a red steering weel image with a sharp noise and a warning message something about automatic emergency braking disable and we can't use a cruise control feature. I don't feel safe to drive. Tesla can't tell me when it will be fixed.

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?

While on cruise control at @72mph the car has been “phantom” braking. The last time there were flurries, but the first several times there was nothing impeding the car nor were any vehicles within camera range. This is a very unsettling feeling. No, no and no. There have been reports to your site with this regard. tyvm

The navigation system needs to be updated to enable larger font sizes! This has been a problem reported to Tesla for many years (see Tesla users forum), but they don't address the issue. THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE! I cannot read the directions easily while driving. Consequently, I must move my head closer to the screen and spend more time looking at it to understand the next turn. This causes me to stop looking at the road for too long a period of time and almost causes me to have an accident! THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED NOW!

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.

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.

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.

I had a major accident on Sep. 24th 2022 when the car sped the traffic light and was hit by another on coming vehicle. This crash has caused a life changing changes to me & others involved in the accident. The vehicle suddenly sped without my control without stopping on the red light. I also had a major financial & vehicle loss with legal activities still pending. Tesla is not investigating and not taking responsibility of this accident and the nearest dealership is avoiding my claims. My auto insurance Allstate is handling this claim.

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 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

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 the day the last one happened below.

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.

On 9/11/22 at approximately 1:30PM I was driving north on I65 in northern Tennessee just before the Kentucky border. Conditions were heavy rain. Traffic was moving but heavy. I had autopilot engaged. I was traveling approximately 70 mph. Three lanes of traffic. I was in the far left lane. I had my hands on the steering wheel. Without any prior notice, I lost total control of the car. Seemingly all four wheels were autoplaning due to the wet pavement. I had zero control of the car. The car seemed to slow down, drifted into the full shoulder left lane, then rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise and hit the concrete center median. The car then rotated another 90 degrees counterclockwise and came to a full stop all in the left shoulder lane. The front airbags deployed. There were three people in the car. We were not injured and left the vehicle on our own. Miraculously no other vehicles hit our vehicle

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.

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.

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 with autopilot at 65mph, a vehicle 500 yards in front of me was turning left. My car suddenly braked to avoid it.

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.

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.

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.

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

Total failure of HVAC system which could put driver in danger in extreme temperatures.