2020 Tesla Model Y Complaints

STEERING — Filed 12/11/2025

A 2018 Ford Explorer, marked police vehicles, was operating with lights and siren when it proceeded through a red traffic light at an intersection. The subject vehicle, 2020 Tesla Model 3, was proceeding through a green traffic light at the intersection and struck the Ford.

STRUCTURE — Filed 09/09/2025

The rear trunk smashed my fingers. I pressed the open button on the rear trunk and heard it unlatch. I stuck my hand under the trunk to try to help it open up. The trunk quickly reached, smashing my fingers. I was able to press the open button again and lift the trunk up. The could break someone’s fingers off completely, especially a small child. A warning is 100% necessary. I thought it was unlatched and would open since I heard it unlatch and it looked as if it was opening, albeit very slowly.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 04/22/2025

On Tuesday, [XXX], around [XXX] returning home and in my driveway when the following happened. Pulling into the left side of the driveway because a utility van was parked on the right side of the driveway with the rear door and driver’s side door opened with no one in the vicinity. There was not enough room to go forward into the garage. I was almost at a complete stop with the intention of getting out of the car to shut the drivers side door. That was when the car sped up at full speed and turned to the right into the van and continued in the right direction into the garage. The car was headed to the right back corner of the garage smashing into paint cans, a freezer, sink and cabinets. I had no control over the car from the time the car sped up and smashed into the back of the garage and it all happened in a matter of a few seconds. The vehicle has been totaled by the insurance company. This incident was recorded in the vehicle’s computer. The police department was called the same day and a police officer came to the house to record the incident. The car was towed to Gerber Collision & Glass, 10491 Corkscrew Commons Dr., Estero, FL 33928, phone (239) 947-6050. The car computer system should have recorded the event. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM — Filed 09/29/2024

The car locked my toddler inside his car seat because the 12v battery died died as soon as we put him in his seat and closed hid door. There was absolutely no warning before that battery had died, indicating that it was low. Because of the way a Model Y is designed, there is no mechanical way to open the door when the 12V battery dies. The toddler is incapable of manually unlocking the door from inside when the electrical button doesn’t work. This is a huge safety issue and can result in death of children if not resolved by Tesla

STEERING — Filed 09/09/2024

While driving on the freeway was unable to steer. It has happens multiple times. Once on the freeway while I was trying to exit, I suddenly couldn’t steer. Another time, I was merging when again I could not move the steering wheel. The third time was when I was in the middle of making a left turn. All these situations were incredibly dangerous.

AIR BAGS,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL — Filed 08/09/2024

The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 60 MPH in rainy weather, the vehicle inadvertently spun in circles, and he lost control of the vehicle. The contact took his foot off the accelerator pedal. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle crashed into an embankment and then spun twice before inadvertently driving into the forest and coming to a complete stop. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed. The contact and his father, who was a passenger, were uninjured. There was no medical attention received. The vehicle was first towed to the tow yard, and then the insurance company had it towed to the salvage yard, where it was deemed totaled. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to contact the local dealer for the computer data. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER — Filed 07/29/2024

In Summon Mode, autonomous driving, our car collided with another stationary parked car

AIR BAGS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 04/10/2024

we were in a head-on collision (not our fault) in April. The police determined the combined speed of the crash impact to be 60-65 miles per hour. The 2020 Tesla Y  did not deploy its airbags. And as far as we can determine, the accident was not automatically recorded by the Tesla as it should have been. Because the airbags did not deploy, I sustained a fracture to my sternum that traverses over to my collarbone. We both have TBIs and other injuries. With that kind of an impact, one would expect an airbag to protect oneself, yet it did not. There were no warning lights/messages/etc from our vehicle. We are asking that you please look into this safety matter. (Especially since you are part of the push to have us own electric cars, they need to be safe for us). I do not know how much longer the Tesla will be available to inspect.

STEERING,WHEELS — Filed 04/20/2024

Tesla Model Y 2022 lost steering control April 20, 2024 Vehicles - Model Y While backing out of indoor parking garage Steering wheel locked up! Before I could hit the brake the car collided with the cement wall in the garage. Causing some damage to right side. I tried a system reset, no luck. Called Tesla they had me go into diag mode and try a few things with no success. They sent a tow trunk and took to car to the Tesla Highland Park then to the Collision center – they could not unlock the steering wheel and called in people from the FTS (Field Technical Support) team to look at it. Very UNSAFE, it could have been much worse. I do not trust the car anymore!

SUSPENSION,STRUCTURE,WHEELS — Filed 04/13/2024

While driving on the freeway the autopilot kept turning on, I would immediately turn the autopilot off. The autopilot came on and turned my steering wheel to the left into the highway barrier, thus causing me to take a corrective action. The weather on the freeway way wet and traffic was moderate. The monitor displayed autopilot, which I turned off many during my trip as I am not comfortable with autopilot . I have an insurance claim as there was extensive damage to my car.

AIR BAGS — Filed 12/20/2023

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH with the Auto Pilot activated, the driver attempted to steer into the left lane to avoid a collision. The vehicle suddenly began to fishtail causing the driver to lose control of the steering and crash into the concrete median. During the crash, the vehicle was destroyed. The air bags did not deploy and the driver sustained a head contusion and later received medical treatment. No police report was taken. The vehicle was towed to the home. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the incident. The contact later received a recall notice for the NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V838000(Electrical System). The contact indicated that the vehicle had experienced that same failure listed in the recall. The failure mileage was 45,000.

AIR BAGS — Filed 09/03/2023

Front Passenger Safety Restraint System Fault​, error message appeared. Tesla is asking for ~$1500 to fix a sensor that would prevent air bag from deploying. Seems like a safety issue that should be addressed. The message appears whenever there is someone/some thing in front passenger seat. Tesla has inspected. I believe it happened after a minor accident in a parking lot, but Tesla and the repair shop can not prove that it did, so insurance will not correlate to the accident.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL — Filed 08/11/2023

The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while reversing at low speed from his driveway, the accelerator pedal inadvertently depressed into the floorboard, resulting in sudden unintended acceleration. The contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to stop immediately. The vehicle struck two other parked vehicles in another driveway before crashing into a residence. The residents were not injured. The contact sustained a fractured neck, and shoulder pain from his seat belt, and head pain from striking the steering wheel. The contact's front passenger sustained a bruised shoulder, and the rear passenger, who was laying down on the rear seats, rolled over during impact and hit the rear seats, sustaining back and leg pain. The contact and his passengers were transported by ambulance to the hospital. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard, where it was deemed totaled by the insurance company. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that after reviewing the event data recorder (EDR), the data showed that the contact had his foot depressed on the accelerator pedal during the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER — Filed 01/20/2024

Unexplained SUDDEN acceleration. At Kroger parking lot. I was at complete stop, then lightly stepped on accelerator to start moving and car suddenly, rapidly accelerated causing me to hit STOP sign. Unexplained acceleration! Fortunately no one was standing in front of the car. Caused some damage to the right, front area of the car.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,LANE DEPARTURE — Filed 01/06/2024

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number 23V838000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact was driving at an undisclosed mph up a driveway with autopilot on, the contact engaged autosteer by veering to the left before the vehicle crashed into the mailbox. There were no injuries and no police report. The lane departure warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the Tesla Collision Center to be diagnosed. The technician stated the following components failed, steering, the land departure warning, and the avoidance warning, however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.  VIN tool confirms parts not available. 

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 10/23/2023

The incident happened on October 23, 2023 at 3:02 PM. The car is being parked between two vehicles and the car triggered automatic emergency breaking, after the emergency breaking there were error on screen about “Automatic Emergency Breaking Unavailable, ABS disabled and Automatic vehicles hold disabled”. After seeing this error on screen the car did sudden uncontrolled acceleration which caused it to crash in to buildings. I have contacted Tesla to investigate this issue, provided error message and vedio recordings of the incident. After two months investigation, I have been told they did not find issue in the car and can’t go any further details to explain error on screen, sudden emergency stop and sudden acceleration on the car. The car has been deemed total by the insurance company. I would like to share my data with you so proper investigation can be done and prevent similar situation in future.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER — Filed 06/20/2023

While I was parking the car at a parking spot for a doctor's appointment, it accelerated by itself and drove over the parking spot front bump and drove a short downhill covered with grass. Then it drove across a street and stopped by hitting an SUV parked. During the whole process, I tried to stop it by braking it, but failed. While it slides down, I gave up controlling the car.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 03/10/2023

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.

VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL — Filed 08/02/2023

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact was driving approximately 3 MPH as she was parking the vehicle, front end first, the vehicle independently accelerated as she removed her foot from the accelerator. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact's vehicle crashed into the vehicle's front end that had already been parked, the vehicle was not occupied. The contact stated that she depressed the brake with force. The contact stated that the force of the crash had moved the other vehicle out of the parking spot and into the lot. The contact's vehicle had a crushed front bumper and the other vehicle also had damage to the front bumper. The contact's vehicle was drivable. There were no injuries and the police were not involved. The contact had not been taken to a local dealer or independent mechanic. The vehicle had not been diagnosed and had not been repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 23,000.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,VISIBILITY/WIPER — Filed 06/17/2023

During phone calls, the system would start making sparking noises and stall the calls. While navigation was input parts of the screen would disappear. While backing up, the rear cameras would freeze and stall. The rear camera freezing had caused us to get into an accident, and caused us to have 4 near misses. When I was trying to download the latest software release, the software download froze and never downloaded. I started to drive to the Tesla dealership and as I was doing so, the screen picture of my vehicle disappeared along with the gear shift indicator, the surrounding cameras failed. Then when I put on my turn signal, the sound disappeared. Then eventually the indicator disappeared. The entire screen froze with no information, and then went black while I was driving to the Tesla dealership. The system was black and finally did a reboot after 4 minutes, all while I had no display of my speed. I took it into the dealership, and the checkin girl was concerned about the safety and gave me a loaner. The technician was not really concerned and said it was not able to replicate the issue and said there was no safety issue as you can still drive the car. This is not correct as you do not have the speed indication when your screen freezes or goes black. I sent them pictures as the screen kept doing one thing after the other in a matter on one drive from my home to the dealership in 15 minutes. This is similar to the other recalls that Tesla had to make on the model S and the Model X and some model Y's. This should have been taken care of under the current recalls for the infotainment system that the other models years were facing as it is giving the same issues on my model.

SERVICE BRAKES — Filed 03/21/2023

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

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 09/24/2022

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.

SERVICE BRAKES — Filed 01/27/2021

The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while pulling out of a parking space, the vehicle rolled back and crashed into a concrete wall. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. Additionally, on October 17, 2021, the contact slightly depressed the accelerator pedal and the vehicle accelerated abruptly and crashed into another vehicle. A police report was filed. The other driver in the second vehicle required medical attention. No air bags were deployed. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to World Collision at The Mall of Georgia (4641 Harrison Run, Buford, GA 30518), where it was repaired. In addition, on January 9, 2022, the contact was pulling into a parking space when the vehicle unintendedly accelerated from 0 to 60 MPH, crashing into a brick wall. The contact stated that all the air bags were deployed. The contact and the passenger were injured and had to seek medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was totaled. No warning lights were illuminated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but offered no assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 7,000.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE — Filed 09/11/2022

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

AIR BAGS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE — Filed 09/05/2022

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.