Complaint volume
270 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Tesla Model Y Complaints
270 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
270 Total complaints
47 Crash reports
0 Fire reports
17 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are forward collision avoidance, unknown or other, suspension. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 47 crash reports, 0 fire reports, 17 injury reports, and 0 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 50 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 16,193 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, unknown or other, suspension?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Tesla Model Y?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Tesla Model Y
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Tesla Model Y complaints?
47 Crash
0 Fire
17 Injury
0 Fatality
25 Towed
13 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Tesla Model Y complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 44
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 17
SUSPENSION 15
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 11
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 11
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 9
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 9
SERVICE BRAKES 7
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 7
STEERING 6
270 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | SUSPENSION | The front right passenger strut knuckle axel suspension was separated. We currently have the car at Tesla's service center. Our safety was put at risk when the tire locked up and we had no control of the steering. Driving at a higher speed could have resulted in a major traffic accident, or a fatality. The car is currently being inspected by the manufacturer (Tesla). There was a clicking/knocking noise that we heard one day before the incident. The noise was heard while turning the wheel. It got louder as the day went on. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | AIR BAGS | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | 90,000 |
| May 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | Car accelerated on its own, with no pedal pressure. My right foot was on the mat | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,BACK OVER PREVENTION | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I enabled Tesla's auto pilot feature while driving on highway. Throughout the drive of ~200 miles, the car had sudden phantom breaks for four times. It was very dangerous situations and could have easily caused serious accidents. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on interstate highways and using autopilot, the car would "phantom brake" unnecessarily in numerous instances. Once it caused a truck to swerve dangerously to the next lane when the car suddenly brake in front of the truck. Mirages and sudden dips on interstate highways seem to be one of the main factors, but other incidents were less obvious what the cause was. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Under clear conditions while traveling on the highway, if adaptive cruise control or self-driving is used, the car will randomly apply its brakes. The car will quickly lose 5-10 miles of speed, and poses a hazard to cars behind us. In the 7-8 times this has happened in the last two months, there has never been an obstacle in our path. Unfortunately, this has rendered cruise control unusable | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2023 | SUSPENSION | 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). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES | 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 | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | Tesla has not yet fixed the following defect for my vehicle: Sep 19,2022 Manufacturer Recall Number TBD NHTSA Recall Number22V702 Recall StatusRecall Incomplete | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | ~3 times the car slowed down at ~65mph while on cruise control. Thank goodness no one was closely following us!!! DANGEROUS!!! The car lane assist feature which should warn when us when we're veering to closely to another lane or the edge of the freeway only works intermittently. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | • Cruise control braked hard unexpectedly and for no reason. I'm describing a specific instance here, but this happens regularly. Specifically, the traffic aware system frequently misinterprets the data it is collecting. In this case, a car in an exit lane, slowing down to take a ramp. I was not in that lane, but there was no painted line between my lane and the exit lane. My car slowed to match the speed of the car on the exit ramp. In other cases, my car has slowed drastically when a car in a slower lane slightly veered into my lane by only a couple inches. There has been no risk of a collision when this happens, but my car suddenly braking then causes a new risk of collision for the cars behind me. • Car rapidly decelerated from 70mph to 35 mph while there was another car behind me. He was caught off guard and had to manually brake hard himself to avoid hitting me • There are numerous independent confirmations of this behavior online, but I do not specifically know of any from an official "independent service center." Tesla denies the existence of the behavior. • There is no real "component" to inspect, this is a software issue • There were no warnings or other indications before it happened. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES | 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. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 3 Towed Medical attention | 7,000 |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving with the cruise control feature activated, the vehicle abruptly decelerated without warning. The contact stated that the dealer was made aware of the failure however, the cause of the failure was not determined. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 700. | Crash: No Fire: No | 700 |
| Dec 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | 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. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |