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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving along highway 330 in Iowa, car slowed from 70 mph to 15 for no apparent reason. No cars, animals or obstruction were around | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VISIBILITY/WIPER | Cameras did not work with turn signals. WIPERS STOPPED WORKING. Then the screen went blank. I don’t know if the hazard lights worked initially when pressed. This occurred in a rainstorm going over 60mph. We almost were in a wreck due to not being able to see and needing to exit highway immediately. Stopped car. Rebooted. Difficultly opening charging dock 15 minutes later. Have called Tesla in Columbus, Ohio and left message. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE | While driving along on an interstate highway at night, the frame rate for the display system including speedometer and other vehicle information drastically dropped. This resulted in limited situational awareness of what the car was doing. Updates for lane changing, blind spot detection, and lane departure warnings were delayed/lagged as a result of the reduced frame rate. This did not impact how the vehicle drove, or activation of turn signals, and the lower frame rate did not result in any flickering of the display. A display reset was required while driving at highway speeds to regain full situational awareness. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | Tether, Lower Anchor (on car seat or vehicle) | I have had 2 seats from Evenflo. One purchased from Target and another replacement that they sent to me as I reported the LATCH connectors were installed backwards/upside down. I cannot attach the base to the anchors without putting them in upside down or twisting the straps. Since this is the second one, I believe it is a manufacturing defect. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Please see attached PDF for description of the phantom braking problem with my 2021 Tesla Model Y. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We have had issues with the “autopilot” function braking when no obstruction exists. Situations that trigger these unnecessary breaking events generally involve shadows on the roadway, visible disturbances such as reflected sunlight, or other visual circumstances that in some way impact the appearance on the roadway surface. These appearances are generally widespread on county roads and state highways, but are less frequent on the Interstate highways. Due to the severity of these breaking actions we have greatly reduced the use of the “Autopilot” feature, and now only us it sparingly on the interstate when the lighting conditions are good. Due to loss of confidence we use it very infrequently, only once every few weeks at most. These emergency breaking events are greatly unwarranted 95% of the time. In addition, we feel that the unexpected nature of these events and the severity of them have increased our risk of collision. This is due to the unexpected and unintended breaking causing an accident from a vehicle rear ending us on the highway. We have not been in a collision yet. I feel that this feature is not yet ready for release and it should be disabled or rolled back until such a time it can be trusted to not increase the risk of collision for the occupants. To answer the questions specifically: What component or system failed or malfunctioned: Autopilot / automatic emergency breaking. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk?: Uncommanded and unwarranted emergency breaking increases risk for an accident. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center?: No Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer or others: Remote diagnostics performed by manufacture. No problem found. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear?: Other then alerting to the breaking action, no warnings have been displayed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 25 MPH, the vehicle independently stopped without the brake pedal being depressed. There were no warning lights illuminated. The local dealer was contacted and scheduled an appointment. The vehicle was not yet diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 11,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 11,500 |
| Mar 2022 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,VISIBILITY/WIPER | The Tesla’s operating system on the center screen froze. I was unable to view speed. I was also unable to turn on wipers, blinkers, or switch headlight beam setting. The operating system had to be rebooted while driving. This has happened twice. The first time was 2/11/2022, on I40 W in TN. The second time, noted below, was on I65 S in AL. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on the highway from Ohio to Arizona in December and returning to Ohio in February when using the adaptive cruise control, my car would suddenly and without warning brake and felt as if it would stop if I had not pushed the accelerator. I drove a total of 10 days, and it happened on some days two or three times, once happening five times. Luckily when it happened the traffic was light, but if someone had been behind me, I'm sure there would have been a rear end collision. It caused my wife and me to lurch forward from the sudden deceleration, and our seatbelts kept us from hitting our heads. When I got home, I reported it to Tesla by phone and was told that someone would get back to me. On March 24 I received an email, stating that "this behavior is a known limitation" and "Traffic-Aware Cruise Control may react to vehicles or objects that either do not exist or are not in the lane of travel, causing Model Y to slow down unnecessarily or inappropriately." Tesla did not offer to remedy the problem, saying only that "The braking behavior will improve over time with software updates." Tesla suggested that somehow I did something wrong, when it stated: "When using Autopilot features it is the driver’s responsibility to remain aware and be ready to take corrective action at all times." There was no corrective action to take except for the sudden braking of the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was stopping at the parking lot of my church St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Forane Church (508 Elizabeth Ave, Somerset, NJ 08873) to drop my daughter. I applied the break but the vehicle kept moving and hit the gas line of the church. The gasline broke and car front got damaged. There was no auto break and warning of the obstacle. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I started having issues with my heat pump and described to the service center that on multiple occasions it has malfunctioned or improperly heated the cabin on both negative temperature and 40° days. I mentioned it also makes a weird noise. Because I mentioned a noise they refused to look at it under warranty and will not look at it unless I pay 87.50. They have a known ongoing issue with what pumps for our model and this should be a priority for them to take care of. It seems like incredibly irresponsible business. This has happened on multiple occasions with tesla they refuse to look at many safety concerns unless I pay. There are also numerous other safety issues with my car they refuse to fix. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have experienced the now well-documented "phantom braking" problems with my 2021 Tesla model Y. This happens on long trips when I use "Traffic-Aware Cruise Control." The problem seems to occur most often at the crest of a hill, especially if there is a guard rail. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Since buying the car 6/30/21 the automatic emergency braking has activated >300 times not once was it appropriate. We have had the car back to Tesla Service twice to repair the problem with out any improvement. It is only by luck that we have not had an accident. This is not an effective safety feature and it is increasing the likelihood of an accident. If Tesla cannot fix this it should be forced to deactivating the system | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | For the last few software updates and for a few months the vehicle will phantom brake and apply aggressive stopping in traffic for no reason when using cruise control, autopilot, or full self driving. Instances have occurred which has nearly caused us to be rear-ended by other vehicles. Additionally the car will turn aggressive when using passing lanes. We have experienced instances where the car will turn into a short right turn lane at highway speeds unexpectedly and then require immediate intervention or the brakes will be applied very hard. These situations are repeatable and occur frequently for no reason. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We've owned this car since delivered in June 2021. Took a trip from AZ to MO in July 2021. When using cruise control, the system occasionally and severely activated the brakes when passing a large vehicle on a four lane divided highway and in some cases no one else was around on the 4 lane divided highway. Auto braking only happened if on cruise control and did not occur if cruise not activated. I mentioned this to a service tech at one of the charging stations in Rolla, MO who indicated it was a known issue and they were working on it. I didn't report it to Tesla thinking it was being handled, but now I see many others reporting it and you dates indicate cars produced prior to April 2021. I'm assuming ours was produced around that time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving northbound on Highway 1 on 3-18-22 from Ventura California to Clayton California where I live. Four times through my trip the car suddenly decelerated and the brakes were applied automatically for no reason whatsoever there was no traffic in front of me there were no obstacles in front of me there were no hazards in front of me, it was open road and for whatever reason the car auto braked which immediately reduced my speed to a dangerous condition. If I had been in traffic I would’ve been rear ended! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle brakes randomly at highway speeds while utilizing ADAS. Brakes hard and fast without warning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using adaptive cruise control on my Tesla Model Y on a 1974 mile trip to Florida and back the car would emergency brake for no reason. This happened at least 25 times on the trip. I believe this is being referred to "Phantom Breaking". So far I have been lucky and no one has rear ended me but that is a strong possibility. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Have had problems with 'phantom breaking" while using adaptive cruise control (not full Autopilot). This has happened over a dozen times over the last several firmware updates including latest version 22.4.5.16. For no obvious reason, the car just applied the brakes fairly hard (no skids) while at highway speeds without other vehicles nearby or no shadows visible. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | Phantom breaking while using adaptive cruise control. Happened 3 times in past two months. First two times were traveling on a major highway, both on a hilly section at the bottom of a hill, with no other cars nearby. The car apparently thought the hill was something that should cause the breaks to engage. Car went from about 70 to 55 in a few seconds. Very startling. The third time was on a residential road, going about 38-40. There were no cars nearby, and the breaks engaged abruptly. The safety implications are obvious, although luckily there were no cars behind us when the breaks went on. We reported these incidents to Tesla today and asked for a service appointment. A Tesla representative called us and said we had assumed these risks when we bought a Tesla, there was nothing they could do, and it was probably driver error. They did agree to make an “internal report.” We told them we would report this to you. This is our second Tesla. We had a 2018 Model 3 and never had any problem like this. We wanted more storage space and higher seating, so we sold the 3 and bought the Y in July 2021, not understanding that Tesla had changed to an “all camera,” no radar/lidar safety system. Add us to the growing list of evidence that the new system is dangerously faulty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Cabin climate control failure, no heat | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The cruise control of Tesla is majorly defective after taking out the Ladar component as it is entirely dependent on cameras. Sudden or phantom braking has been so bad that sometimes I avoid using it. My most recent episode happened last weekend as I was driving at a two way country highway at 50mph to get to the interstate. I was headed south between 9 to 10am. The sun was on my left (east) and there was a truck approaching on the opposite lane. When the truck passed (I guess it cast a huge shadow as it blocked the sun on my left) the car slammed on the brakes. There was no warning. Luckily there were no cars behind immediately behind me, otherwise we would have been rear ended in a possibly fatal accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Pulling into a parking space, at very slow speed, pressed service brake to stop car. The car suddenly accelerated at high speed, hit a tree directly in front of the space, veered off and sprinted across another parking space and a two lane passage, hit a brick pillar, veered into the wall of a restaurant, bounced off the wall and back into the street. All airbags deployed. No one was injured. Car probably totaled. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Using autopilot on 405 freeway at approximately 60mph. When approaching stopped traffic, I initiated a lane change using the turn signal. Halfway through the lane change the car swerved back into the original lane and slammed on the brakes causing the car behind me to rear end the vehicle. Damage was minor. I reported the incident to tesla on October 17. The original response was to schedule a service appointment. The appointment was later cancelled after I received a message from Tesla legal regarding autopilot. My message to Tesla was deleted from my service history. Tesla autopilot, TACC and FSD are not safe to use on any roads. I have experienced dozens of phantom braking episodes in this car on all types of roads in clear conditions. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We were driving on I-8 yesterday from California to Arizona and while using cruise control the car kept phantom braking. It happened multiple times - some times the braking was so hard, it threw us and our children forward in their car seats. It was terrifying and almost caused us to get into multiple accidents. There was absolutely no reason for the car to be braking . We tried to notice a pattern. It almost seemed like the car was afraid of its own shadow in front of us (the setting sun was directly behind us at points). But the phantom braking also happened when there was no shadow and nothing at all around. Absolutely terrifying. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |