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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would slow down without warning while using the smart cruise control feature. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000 | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,000 |
| Sep 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This 2021 Tesla Model Y struck and killed a motorist who was outside of his disabled vehicle with the hazard flashers functioning on the motorist's vehicle. I represent the wife of the deceased. You are already investigating this accident as part of a larger investigation. See article below. The wife of the deceased, [XXX] , was on the phone with him when he was struck and killed and is a witness who you would likely want to interview as part of your investigation. I also am in possession of the disabled vehicle in an unaltered state and available for your Investigators to inspect. Please contact me on my cell phone at [XXX] . [XXX] Sincerely, [XXX] , Esq. [XXX] , P.C. New York, New York INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: Yes Fire: No Fatalities: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Sep 2021 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Adaptive cruise control is unusable on small 2 lane hwy. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Car would brake hard by itself without any obstacle for miles in front of the car. It also brakes randomly following another car or if it detects traffic on the opposite lane. Car would also brake randomly if there was another vehicle behind which almost caused an accident. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? Problem was acknowledge by Tesla customer support via the issue reporting app. They downloaded my trip data. However I was told that it wasn't a hardware issue but a software issue. They will issue a fix however it has been 4 months with no fix insight. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No I was told there was no issue with hardware. I have no reported this issue with police or insurance since there was no accident. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No warning lamp. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | While leaving a parking lot, the vehicle lurched and felt like anti lock brakes kicked in and the car stopped working. The monitor had multiple alerts including saying to get out and back in the vehicle and it may allow me to resume driving. It did not. The vehicle stopped and just would not allow me to drive, pull over or move the car in any way. The park, neutral, drive options were gone. If I were on a highway I most likely would have caused multiple accidents. Extremely scary and not normal. Seems like other tesla forums call this issue out for numerous other people. Something needs to be done. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owned a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 mph but doesn't recall; the vehicle began shifting from left to right for 5 - 10 seconds when another vehicle approached the passenger side of the contact's vehicle. The contact attempted to disable the autopilot by depressing on the brake pedal and maneuvering the steering wheel however, the vehicle would not allow the contact to control it and it spun around and hit the median wall on the highway. Medical attention was received on the scene for the contact's sister, who was a passenger. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla repair center, where there's an ongoing investigation. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that they would respond within 6-8 weeks after the investigation. The failure mileage was approximately 300. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | 300 |
| Aug 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I was using the smart summon function to reverse my car parked under a parking roof held on pillars. When using the summon, the Tesla wheels rotated before it had reversed enough to be away from the pillar and scratched the side wall against it. Tesla refused to cover it under warranty even though there was no way I could have prevented it because it happened as soon as the car started reversing. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | POWER TRAIN | Backing out of garage, the driver began to smell acid and burnt electronics from the back of car. After driving back home from work the driver inspected the car. The back driver side door reeked of burnt electronics and the entire car had an acid smell. After consulting Tesla, the first Tesla maintenance worker noticed the entire inside of the door had melted and all electronics were fried. He claimed he had never seen this before. The second maintenance worker came with parts and determined the window module had overheated and caught fire. The fire melted many components inside the door. A brand new 2021 Tesla Model Y should not spontaneously catch fire. Especially if it is residing inside the garage of a house. After replacing all the components, Tesla deemed the car safe to drive. Yet, a couple days later they requested we bring the car in so that they could replace the computer that controls the left side of the car to do more research and find the 'root' cause of the fire. There were no warnings for the driver, nor was the driver using that window module. We have not driven the car since as we feel unsafe in the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: Yes | Unknown |
| Aug 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 60-70 mph and merging onto the highway, the vehicle inadvertently swerved into the two other lanes. The display screen (eMMC) crashed. The contact attempted to reboot the system however, the touch screen failed to respond to the touch. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer could not duplicate the failure and informed the contact that everything was fine with the vehicle. The failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to another dealer Tesla (3067 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60618) and after the dealer test drove the vehicle, the mechanic found out that there was a firmware bug that caused the failure. The dealer informed the contact that he needed to wait for the software update in order to resolve the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,500. | Crash: No Fire: No | 8,500 |
| Aug 2021 | STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 65 mph, the steering wheel seized and the brakes failed to engaged. The vehicle went into autocorrect on its own and was swerving then crashed into a semi truck. No medical attention was received on the scene but the contact later seeked medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla approved collision repair center. The dealer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that they will escalate the file over to headquarter to evaluate. The failure mileage was approximately 2,800. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | 2,800 |
| Jul 2021 | LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I purchased the Tesla Full Self-Driving capability via subscription for my 2021 Tesla Model Y on Saturday, July 17, 2021. On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at approximately 12:40pm CT. while activating the Smart Summon feature in a private residential parking lot, the car drove itself into a tree damaging the front of the car resulting in a total cost of $1,799.32. Tesla is refusing to refund me the $200.00 for the Self-Driving subscription after their software malfunctioned. This is a dangerous feature that is available to millions of drivers. Video footage of the incident is here: https://vimeo.com/580859343 This is the description of Smart Summoned directly from Tesla’s website: https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot#usingautopilot Smart Summon is designed to allow your car to drive to you or a location of your choosing, maneuvering around and stopping for objects as necessary. Like Summon, Smart Summon is only intended for use in private parking lots and driveways. You are still responsible for your car and must monitor it and its surroundings at all times and be within your line of sight because it may not detect all obstacles. Be especially careful around quick moving people, bicycles and cars. To use Smart Summon, open your Tesla app, tap Summon and then select the Smart Summon icon. To activate the feature, press and hold the COME TO ME button. Alternatively, tap the target icon, set the target destination of your choice by adjusting the map, and then press and hold the GO TO TARGET button. You can stop your car from driving at any time by releasing the button. Smart Summon works with your Tesla app and your phone’s GPS to operate. You must be within approximately 200 feet of your car to use. Smart Summon requires the latest version of the Tesla mobile app (3.10.0 or later). Please refer to the Owner’s Manual for additional details about this feature. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | There is no mechanical release for the rear doors. If the vehicle loses power you cannot exit through the back doors. In a crash where the Model Y completely loses power, rear seat occupants cannot get out on their own. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | I pulled up next to a parking space in a parking lot and the Tesla auto park feature was offered on the screen after detecting the parking spot. I pressed to auto park and the tesla proceeded to perform the auto park. During the parking the tesla hit the truck parked in front of the tesla while turning into the space and broke the taillight of the truck and scratched the tesla on right front side. I then braked and disable the auto park after the collision. I reported the incident to Tesla and they reported back that they don't see any issues with the sensors at that time and they say I need to take full responsibility. I cannot think of anything that was particularly challenging for this parking spot or surroundings. It seems a bad calculation by the sensors of Tesla or the software and it made a mistake. Given this experience I cannot trust any of Tesla autopilot features now. They have concluded they will not do anything about it. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS | The contact's sister owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while her sister was driving on the highway(speed unknown) with the autopilot engaged, an 18-wheeler drifted into her lane and hit her vehicle. Due to the impact, her sister's vehicle hit another vehicle and bounced back and forth between both vehicles. The vehicle continued to the drive despite the accident and no warning lights illuminated on the instrument panel. The airbags also failed to deploy. A police report was filed. The contact's sister and her mother, the passenger in the vehicle, were taken to the emergency room where they were treated for various body aches and bruising. The whereabouts of the other drivers involved in the accident were unknown. The vehicle was towed to an independent tow yard where it remained in their possession. The dealer nor the manufacturer have yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired or destroyed. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 2 Towed Medical attention | 2,000 |
| Jul 2021 | POWER TRAIN,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | This problem happens repeatedly. It has been reported by multiple Tesla owners but no action has been taken by Tesla. When driving with the cruise control engaged, the car will brake very aggressively. This happens most commonly when there is no other traffic on the road and no debris on the road. It seems the car believes there is something in front of the car for which it needs to stop, even though the road is clear. But if I press on the accelerator the car resumes normal cruise operation. If there is a car behind me I am worried that the car behind me will crash into me. The braking action is VERY aggressive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | WHEELS | An independent tire shop and Tesla both told me my rear passenger wheel is bent. The tire on that wheel has been slowly bleeding air for the last month or so. This vehicle has 9500 miles and is not driven recklessly whatsoever. The wheel is available for inspection - I have swapped it off for another. The vehicle now shakes when driven at highway speeds and is a problem that Tesla and an independent tire store have both been unable to remedy. No warning lamps/lights/signals appear. This shaking suddenly started on 7/5, 2-3 weeks after the tire started bleeding air. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | My car's rear windshield got shattered on its own. It was parked outside more than 16 hours and its windshield broke on its own when no-one was inside the vehicle. When it shattered, we were near car only. This would have been disastrous if someone was sitting in the 3rd seat row, it could have fallen on them or would have impacted driving due to shattering noise. Vehicle inspection is still not completed by manufacturer. There was no other damage to windshield or no stone or any object was hit it. There were other people also around and they saw it got shattered on its own. I would be able to provide videos and photographs of the damage. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2021 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | On 5/5/2021 my wife was driving in the Tesla Y taking her two grandkids to school and was stopped at a traffic light. The car was in Hold mode with a car in front of her and a car behind her. The car does not have Auto Pilot. All of a sudden the car started moving forward in an accelerated mode. My wife did not push the accelerator. The Tesla hit the car in front and then went into reverse and hit the car behind. Substantial damage to all three cars. My wife and my grandkids were terrified and everyone started screaming. My wife couldn’t release her seatbelt because it tightened during the crashes. She had to call for help. This happened at 7:30am. The San Jose police took a report 21-125-0191. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking is a known problem with the Tesla Model Y. My adaptive cruise control has malfunctioned 2 times in 1 week. It's a very dangerous situation. Apply panic braking when the road has very little traffic and no curves. No warning signs at all. I reported the 2 incidents to Tesla. They essentially said that there was nothing they could do. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | AIR BAGS,WHEELS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was changing lanes on the highway and my tire flew off the vehicle. Car lost control and slammed between railing and a large truck multiple times. Airbags did not deploy. Defective vehicle! | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,BACK OVER PREVENTION | I had turned into the Taco Bell address: 5217 Mudd Tavern Rd, Woodford, VA 22580 when the car surged and sped. I was able to avoid a person and the dog. But the car continued to accelerate. I tried to utilize the brake system but it did not engage and continued speeding into the next parking lot address 5217 Mudd Tavern Road, Woodford, VA 22580. The car did not stop for trees and so I had to stop the car by impact with a dumpster in the Best Western Plus parking lot. This happened on June 5th 2021. I have tried to get the video from the hotel but to no avail. The Senior Deputy is [XXX] Spotsylvania county. They have the scene photographs. His email is [XXX]. Phone [XXX] ext 3936. The case file number is [XXX]. Over the last 40 years of driving my records are excellent. I really would like to understand the reason for the crash. I am not getting any assistance in a rapid manner to determine the cause. Since I have driven multiple car type over the years I need to understand why this car caused this. Hoping nobody else has to go through this. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | TIRES | The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y equipped with Continental Pro Contact RX tires, Tire Size 5255/4R/19XL(N/A). While driving at approximately 60 MPH, the contact stated that the front driver side tire popped as the low air pressure warning light appeared on the instrument panel. The contact pulled the vehicle over and had the vehicle towed to an independent tire mechanic. The mechanic could not determine the cause of the tire failure and did not have the proper tire size to replace the defective tire. The tire mechanic was finally able to order the tire from another city and repaired the tire nearly a week after the initial failure. The vehicle manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle had been repaired. The tire failure mileage was approximately 2,000. | Crash: No Fire: No Towed | 2,000 |
| Jun 2021 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,WHEELS,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On June, 4th, 2021 in the morning I went to Markham Park with my 13 year old daughter for the covid vaccine. We arrived and right after the shot on her we stopped our Tesla in a line where we should wait for about 15/20 minutes to see if everything was fine with my daughter. While the car was stopped in the line, I was talking to my daughter and the car started moving in the direction of the car in front of us and it hit the car many time till I turned the steering wheel to go away from there. Everything was very fast and confusing. I`m still trying to understand what happened with the car. The car was out of control and the car never tried to break or stop. I think it has stopped because I pressed the P button. I am so frightened and scared about what happened. My daughter and I, the passengers in the car in front of us and the people in the park could have been seriously injured. I opened a report at Tesla in the same day. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Wiper failure when set to automatic (rain-sensing) when vision system shut down due to poor visibility. A little background: I've been driving for 50+ years, about 1.5M total miles, most of it commuting. I'm a software engineer with 45+ years of experience, mostly in embedded systems. Problem drive: most settings, including headlights and wipers, on auto. Autopilot was on. Drove into a heavy rainstorm, auto wipers worked well, speeding up until they were on high. Traffic speed dropped from 70+ to less than 35 due to rain. Drove into a band of torrential rain. Saw a pop-up on the screen that said something like autopilot turning off due to diminished visibility. Autopilot (speed control) then turned off. THEN THE WIPERS SHUT OFF. Let's see, guy designing vision system: can't figure out anything from camera images, so let's warn user and shut off stuff that relies on the camera. Like autopilot. Wipers? Leave them in the last state? Nah, turn off the enable signal to the auto wiper state, too. Torrential downpour, almost no visibility, and my wipers just shut off. I frantically kept pressing the wiper button on the turn signal stalk to force a couple of swipes and force the wiper pop-up menu, then take my eyes off the road with possibly someone stopping right in front of me (yes, I slowed down) to do hand-eye coordination on the wiper pop-up to hit the manual setting full speed button! Related to Tesla Model S/X recall for touchscreen failure disabling defog/defrost. Proper design requires hard controls (not just touchscreen) for safety-critical items, like lights, wipers, defog/defrost. That's why a hard control for hazard flashers is required. I've spent years designing life-critical medical systems. They all have hazard mitigation matrix sections - analyze possible fault modes, assign chance of happening and severity of impact if they happen, then have a mitigation strategy. This seems to be a system design flaw | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness | Harness will not fully tighten suddenly, car seat available for inspection upon request. Child’s straps are not able to pass the “pinch test” making it a safety issue, if in accident child could slip out of the straps. Car seat has not been inspected at this time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jun 2021 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The same week I purchased my Tesla Model Y, the screen would freeze and the touchscreen would cease to accept input. I took it into the service center twice in the same week and the cause turned out to be a pinched cable harness which was repaired under warranty. However, I would like to submit my feedback that I was unable to operate basic functions of the vehicle including windshield wiper control, mirror adjustments. However, the car remained driveable by shifting the drive stalk. I have also observed the screen would sometimes freeze which needs a reboot. If I’m driving in a heavy rain and this happened , my family’s safety could be compromised by not accessing basic functions required for safe operation of the vehicle. Tesla promptly repaired the issue but if it would happen again, I would not be able to use basic car screen functions where a lot of safety controls reside. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |