Complaint volume
1019 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
2021 Tesla Model Y Complaints
1019 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2021 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
1019 Total complaints
85 Crash reports
6 Fire reports
22 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, vehicle speed control,forward collision avoidance, service brakes,forward collision avoidance. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 85 crash reports, 6 fire reports, 22 injury reports, and 4 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 98 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 16,683 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, vehicle speed control,forward collision avoidance, service brakes,forward collision avoidance?
- 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 2021 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.
2021 Tesla Model Y
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2021 Tesla Model Y complaints?
85 Crash
6 Fire
22 Injury
4 Fatality
63 Towed
14 Medical attention
What are the most common 2021 Tesla Model Y complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 280
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 72
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 70
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 64
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 44
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 34
SUSPENSION 30
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 29
STEERING 26
VISIBILITY/WIPER 19
1,019 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On or about 4:30 pm Monday, May 16th there were two instances of unintended braking. Then at approximately 10:30am on 19 May another 6 instances of unintentional braking occurred. I believe this is a serious safety risk and Tesla should be required to correct. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Repeated random automatic braking while using cruise control at highway speeds. Near miss of rear end collision. Tesla service representative just said to live with it and be careful. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | AIR BAGS | Often a warning of "Front passenger saftey restrain system fault - Service is required" message comes up. Tesla does not have the parts to do a repair. This has been the case for months. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While in cruise control, our 2021 Tesla Model Y (WE DO NOT HAVE AUTO PILOT!) applied the brakes HARD dropping between 10-40 mph with no warning. Cruise control stays active. There were no cars anywhere near us, either in front or in the rear. Over thirty (30) Tesla bug reports were recorded on April 25 and April 26, 2022. While we were not SERIOUSLY hurt, had a vehicle actually been behind us, we would have ended up with a vehicle in our back seat and certainly serious injuries. This same thing happened six months ago on our last road trip. Tesla has blown us off saying that this simply cannot occur. Their response is that the computer cannot slow the car without seeing something. Therefore it must have seen something. This is circular reasoning and is meant to blow off the consumer. This is a serious safety issue. The braking on occasion has been violent. This is similar to the reports in other models. Tesla has twice now, within six months, addressed this issue simply by saying "it cannot occur." Seriously?! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When engaged, Autopilot often causes vehicle to suddenly brake for no apparent reason. Online this phenomenon is often referred to as “phantom braking”. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My 2021 Tesla Model Y, when using adaptive cruise control engages in phantom braking on a perfect clear road with no obstacles. On a recent road trip the vehicle braked suddenly at least 10 times while driving at highway speeds on both divided and single lane roads. This is cleariy unsafe especially if there is a car following. Tesla is aware of this problem and has done nothing to resolve it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH with the cruise control activated, the radar detected a hazard ahead on the roadway and deactivated the cruise control, causing the vehicle to experience phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,000 |
| Apr 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Recently while pulling into my children's school, my car has started deciding that the entrance to the parking garage is a large truck stopped diagonally in front of me and slams on the brakes scaring me and causing everything in the car to go flying. Luckily no one has been behind me while this has happened. I am always entering very slowly, maybe 5 mph at the very fastest. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was about to park the car in my garage and stopped midway down my driveway to take a phone call. After the phone call, I changed it from park to to drive by stepping on the brake and lightly stepped on the accelerator to ease it into the garage. It quickly accelerated. I stepped on the brake to stop it but it failed to stop. It crashed into my refrigerator in the garage. A video is available for you to view | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On 3/7/22- 3/15/22 I and my wife took our Tesla Model Y 2021 for an extensive trip from San Diego, CA to Sedona, AZ. Our Tesla does not equipped with Autopilot. On 3/7 while on I-8 E Arizona, our Tesla was on cruise control at HWY speed, it suddendly braked from 75 miles/hr to 60 miles/hr and slowly going back up without any appearance reasons! There was No cars near and around. Afterward, it happened several more times so we stopped using cruise control on the second day of our trips until return home due to safety concerns of getting hit from behind. I took the Tesla to Tesla service for a check of the issue about a week after return San Diego, and the Tesla technician took the car for a test drive and found nothing wrong! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We were driving roughly 80 mph on an open highway. Clear skies. No cruise control/autopilot engaged. Vehicle slammed on the brakes. Threw both occupants rapidly forward in our seats. Lucky no cars behind us. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | During cruise control the vehicle automatically slows down periodically. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES, ELECTRIC,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 80 MPH, the self-driving feature independently activated and the vehicle decelerated to 50 MPH inadvertently within several seconds. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed; however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 8,480. | Crash: No Fire: No | 8,480 |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Occasionally, while the Adaptive Cruise Control (TACC) is engaged, the vehicle will suddenly brake as if there is an obstacle immediately in front of the car, even though there is not one and the road is completely clear. Sometimes this happens randomly on a divided highway, other times it happens on a two-lane highway when a large truck is approaching in the oncoming lane. Sometimes it is a minor deceleration, other times it is aggressive braking. During one particular road trip, on an empty & divided highway, the vehicle braked unnecessarily over 20 times in a 1 hour span. This is an ongoing issue and continues to occur any time TACC is engaged and there is a clear, unobstructed road ahead of the vehicle. This prevents a safety hazard to any vehicle(s) following behind, as well as the occupants of the offending vehicle, because it could directly result in being rear-ended. When I initially reported this problem to Tesla in December of 2021, they refused to acknowledge it, much less attempt to address it. I submitted a second request for service that same month, 3 weeks later, and their response was the same. However, when I submitted a third request this month (April 2022), the dealer finally confirmed that this is indeed an issue. Yes, the vehicle has been inspected by the manufacturer. No warning of any kind accompanies the malfunction, and there are no discernable symptoms. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on full self driving assistance on the highway on the far left lane. I wanted to change lane to exit but notice a car was in my blind spot so I tried to take over the car my tugging the wheel. The car sounded an alarm indicating I was going to crash I think into the left median, so it auto corrected to pull towards the right lane. I didn't want to hit any incoming car so I tried to tug it left. I believe I was fighting with the car to regain control of the car and ended up hitting the left median which ricochet the car all the way to the right hitting the median, where the car came to a stop. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When my Tesla Y is in cruise control, there have been intermittent unexpected slow downs causing the car to abruptly slow down on the highway. On my last road trip it happened about 5 times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving in the adaptive cruise control the vehicle will suddenly go into a hard brake while at highway speeds. This has happened multiple times during both day and night, on roads varying from two lane highways to larger multi lane interstate freeways, and during weather conditions have always been clear. This feature has been typically only been used when traffic is light, as this problem has been documented by countless Tesla Y owners. This issue has been documented and reported to Tesla via the in vehicle reporting feature. When this happens it is a sudden and unexpected action that may cause another vehicle to rear end me, and or possibly loose control during the hard and sudden braking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Tesla’s automatic wipers does not always work and it’s a serious safety concerns. I have videos of the automatic wipers not working during a light and heavy rain and it hindered visibilities on the road. Sometimes I traveled for 2 mins without the wiper sweeping water from the windshield. Due to Tesla’s bully tactics, and retributions, please do not share my name or phone number with Tesla, thank you. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | AIR BAGS | My wife weighs 108lb the manual says the passenger airbag should be on if a person weighs approximately 100lb. About 80% of the time she sits in the passenger seat the seat does not detect she is there and it says the airbag is off. I took this to Tesla to repair and they said the sensor was working as designs. I feel this is a safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on interstate 25 the adaptive cruise control braked hard for no reason. There wasn’t any hazard and no traffic on clear days on a well marked road. It happened quite often . More than 100 occasions on a 65o mile drive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When driving the vehicle primarily on highways and with the Adaptive Cruise Control active, the car randomly reduces the cruise speed by up to 35 mph and then proceeds to slam the brakes. This happens intermittently on open road, 4 lane highways, with and without any traffic nearby. We logged the times that these occurred and took them to our local Tesla service center and they said “This is a software bug that we have to wait for Tesla to fix. There is no way to disable the adaptive nature of the cruise control either.” We informed them that this has been occurring for about 6 months now and they said “You’ll just have to wait until Tesla fixes the code. It gets better every release so eventually it won’t do this anymore” | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | All of these incidents occurred with adaptive cruise control engaged, and sometimes with lane keeping engaged. The vehicle frequently brakes, or slows dramatically, when on the freeway and there is no obstacle in the vicinity. Over the last three days I made the drive from Burbank to Anaheim along I-5. Always in the same area, the car would suddenly slow. In two out of the three incidents, the "max speed," which was set to 80, dropped to 45. Simultaneously, the car thought it was in a 55 mph zone (it was a 65 mph zone). In one of the three instances, the max speed was not changed, but the car still slowed dramatically. On the same commute, the car navigation always has me get off on Artesia Blvd, and then get right back on the freeway. The adaptive cruise has a configurable follow distance that the car seems to generally ignore. It's a number from 2 to 6 or so, and it's not clear what it's supposed to be (seconds or car lengths). It's rarely either, although it should represent seconds. When traffic comes to a complete stop, the car waits until it is too close to brake. When traffic begins moving, the car waits too long to start moving, and then accelerates excessively to catch up. Finally, when using the regular adpative cruise and lane keeping, I would signal lane changes and initiate the change. The car disengages steering but maintains cruise. In many cases, while still indicating the lane change, the car's lane departure warning will sound and it will attempt to correct my steering, which I have to physically override. My Nissan Leaf had adaptive cruise control, lane centering, and lane departure avoidance, and it never gave me these issues. Oh also, the Tesla frequently and erroneously warns of forward collision. It's really terrible, and it's due in no small part to the removal of the forward radar sensor. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Over the course of an eight hour drive on a single lane highway, the vehicle abruptly applied brakes without any warning at full speed multiple (at least 30 times). In some instances, there were vehicles in the opposite lane. In other instances, there were none. In all cases, there were no vehicles in front in the same lane. Weather conditions were clear and dry, with full daylight illumination. This issue is most likely related to the camera-only change made to Tesla vehicles, which are used for TACC and autopilot features. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Frequent abrupt and unsafe phantom braking while using cruise control. Mostly due to headlights from semi-trucks coming in opposite direction but occasionally from just a dark patch on the road. On a long road trip from WA to AZ, it made using the speed control feature impossible. The vehicle would lurch hard enough to physically throw you forward in your seat and rapidly slow the car (increasing potential to be rear ended). No warning messages or failure notifications. The problem was reported to Tesla (not to police, insurance, etc because no accident ensued) and the response was in a nutshell “it is working how it should “. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Apr 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | When Tesla infotainment system needs a restart due to malfunction (which is easy to accomplish by holding the 2 steering wheel buttons for 10 seconds), the car doesn't allow the turning signals to function. All other essential motor functions work normally, it's just the turning signals don't. As a result, there were a couple of times when I needed to restart the screen due to bugs and turn on my signals without success - since I had to turn in a high traffic street. It's great that the car allows the infotainment to be restarted, but I don't believe a safety function such as turning signals should be impacted - there should be a temporary way to keep them working to avoid this safety hazard. I love my car and love what the company is doing, but this one I had to report since I'm concerned this might impact a lot of other drivers and potentially cause injury. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |