There are 5 owner-reported powertrain & transmission complaints for the 2020 Tesla Model Yin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
While driving at highway speeds, the car unintentionally went into neutral. The setup: The driver was on the highway with cruise control on. Upon turning cruise control off to prepare for entering an exit ramp, the car also went neutral. We lost power and the regenerative braking that you expect in this car. The center console stated something like “Please shift into drive or reverse”. The cause is that Tesla uses an up movement on the right hand gear stalk to cancel auto pilot, cancel cruise control, and to put the car into neutral. If that up movement is too long, the car will inadvertently go into neutral regardless of car speed. We reported this to Tesla and they suggested all model 3s and Ys do this. Some light searching online showed this happening to others too. This feels dangerous at highway speeds. And the point at which you are turning cruise control off could be a critical phase of driving and feels like a unsafe time for the car to loose power.
Touchscreen repeatedly freezes. Won’t show gear selection, speed, or any other items. The touchscreen freezes then takes some time to crash to black screen before reboot. Has happened daily since Tesla update. Tesla refuses to provide a fix and continues to tell us to wait for an update. This is unsafe.
Without any warning, the display on my car froze up when my car came to a stop, and I could not accelerate. It seemed to say I was going 15 mph, when in fact I was stopped, and the display was completely unresponsive. Stepping on the accelerator did nothing. I could not use my turn signals, activate my 4-way flashers. No one was injured, since this happened on a quiet residential street, and I was able to wave to other motorists to go around me. After about 3 minutes, my car seemed to have reset, and I was able to drive it normally. I would gladly make my vehicle available for inspection upon request.
AUTOPILOT/CRUISE CONTROL DISENGAGE FUNCTION SHOULD NOT BE ON ACTIVATED BY SELECTING UP/REVERSE ON THE GEAR SELECTOR. CAR INADVERTENTLY WENT INTO R REVERSE WHEN DISENGAGE WAS COMMANDED. NARRATIVE: CAR WAS ON INTERSTATE AT HIGHWAY SPEED WITH NAVIGATE ON AUTOPILOT AND ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL ON. AN ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE EXPRESSWAY AND THE STATE POLICE BEGAN TO SHUT DOWN THE ROAD. THE CAR SUCCESSFULLY AND SAFELY AUTOMATICALLY STOPPED BEHIND TRAFFIC IN FRONT. POLICE BEGAN DIRECTING STOPPED TRAFFIC TO MOVE OFF ROADWAY. I SELECTED "UP" OR DISENGAGE ON THE GEAR SELECTOR AND THE CAR INSTEAD WENT INTO REVERSE. I STEPPED ON ACCELERATOR AND CAR MOVED BACKWARDS WITHOUT WARNING. DISENGAGE AUTOPILOT/ADAS NEEDS TO BE A SEPARATE FUNCTION AND DIFFERENT CONTROL MOTION FROM SELECTING R REVERSE LIKE ON MODEL 3. VERY DANGEROUS.
INCIDENT: CAR SHUTDOWN AND POWER FAILURE WITH LITTLE WARNING. TIME/DATE/PLACE OF INCIDENT: 9/7/2020, APPROXIMATELY 5:20PM IN LIVERMORE, CA. WHILE DRIVING AT A SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 45 MPH EASTBOUND ON W JACK LONDON BLVD (PAST WOLF HOUSE DRIVE), THE CAR'S COMPUTER DISPLAYED AN "UNABLE TO DRIVE" MESSAGE (ERROR CODE DI_A137) AND INSTRUCTED US TO PULL OVER. SINCE WE WERE ON A 2-LANE ROAD WITH NO SHOULDER WE PROCEEDED TO THE NEAREST DRIVEWAY (TURNING LEFT TO A DRIVEWAY AT ~1105 W JACK LONDON BLVD). THE CAR VIBRATED VIOLENTLY THEN SHUTDOWN. THE ESTIMATED TIME BETWEEN THE INITIAL WARNING AND SHUTDOWN WAS ONLY ABOUT 5 TO 10 SECONDS. OTHER ERROR CODES/MESSAGES DISPLAYED WERE "POWER REDUCED" (DIR_A126) AND "VEHICLE SHUTTING DOWN" (DI_A063). WE CALLED TESLA ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE FROM THE VEHICLE AND WERE INSTRUCTED TO POWER CYCLE THE CAR BY HAVING ALL PASSENGERS AND DRIVER EXIT THE CAR, CLOSE ALL DOORS, THEN HAVE THE DRIVER ENTER AND STEP ON THE BRAKE. WE DID THIS AND THE CAR RESTARTED AS NORMAL. WE DROVE HOME FOR ABOUT 45 MINUTES WITHOUT INCIDENT, BUT WE WERE OBVIOUSLY CONCERNED THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN AGAIN, SO WE KEPT TO THE RIGHT LANES WHENEVER POSSIBLE AND LIMITED SPEED. OTHER INFORMATION: ABOUT 20 MINUTES PRIOR TO THIS INCIDENT WE HAD CHARGED THE VEHICLE AT THE LIVERMORE TESLA SUPERCHARGER. IT WAS ALSO A RECORD HOT DAY (111 F). THIS IS A NEW CAR PURCHASED IN JULY 2020 AND AT THE TIME THE ODOMETER WAS APPROXIMATELY 1,300 MILES. THE EARLIEST SERVICE APPOINTMENT I COULD GET IS SCHEDULED FOR 9/17/2020, SO I DO NOT HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL INFO FROM TESLA ON WHY THIS HAPPENED, OR HOW THIS WILL BE REPAIRED. THE SERVICE AGENT MENTIONED A FIRMWARE FAILURE AS A POSSIBLE CAUSE. WE WERE FORTUNATE TO BE ABLE TO GET OFF THE ROAD BEFORE THE CAR COMPLETELY STOPPED BUT IF THIS HAPPENED ON A FREEWAY, WE MAY HAVE BEEN IN A HIGH SPEED CRASH WITH A STALLED CAR.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026