Complaint volume
811 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
2022 Tesla Model Y Complaints
811 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2022 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
811 Total complaints
76 Crash reports
8 Fire reports
32 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, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 76 crash reports, 8 fire reports, 32 injury reports, and 3 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 72 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 16,139 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, unknown or other?
- 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 2022 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.
2022 Tesla Model Y
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2022 Tesla Model Y complaints?
76 Crash
8 Fire
32 Injury
3 Fatality
51 Towed
24 Medical attention
What are the most common 2022 Tesla Model Y complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 224
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 66
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 47
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 46
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 35
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 28
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE 21
SERVICE BRAKES 19
SEAT BELTS 17
SUSPENSION 15
811 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When using the autopilot adapative cruise control feature, the car will regularly think there is a reason to slow down suddenly (the "phantom braking" common complaint). I only use the car on trips, and this happens frequently. While on Route 152, this happened multiple times on a stretch of road that is long and flat. There were no other cars around (and fortunately, none behind me). This probably happened 5-6 times during a 50 mile drive. More recently, it happened on Hwy 99 at least twice in about 30 miles of driving. There were more cars behind me so it felt very unsafe. There was no reason to brake however. It has almost gotten to the point where I do not feel comfortable using cruise control because it will suddenly start braking for no reason. I almost have to have more vigilance when cruise control (autopilot) is on than when it is off because the car might unexpectedly start braking. If Tesla cannot get this fixed, then they should probably stop offering this is as a feature in their cars. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The Tesla model 3/Y have two horn buttons on either side of the airbag. I noticed that my left side has never functioned well, so I started searching online. https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/wr4tq0/comment/ikwiy3i/?context=3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvLCRr7-rrg https://www.reddit.com/r/ModelY/comments/m8vq4l/left_horn_button_not_working_service_refused_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ModelY/comments/u87aw9/my_horn_doesnt_work_and_tesla_refuses_to_replace/ Each post represents one complaint with dozens of others also chiming in w/ the same issue. Tesla has an inconsistent and reactive repair policy for something that is clearly widespread. I only found out my horn was broken when someone almost merged into me and I was unable to honk. There needs to be some type of proactive repair/advisory on this issue so owners can see if they have a problem and get it fixed before there are more accidents. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on a highway, after passing a semi I changed to the right lane. I had traffic aware cruise control on. With no one in front of me, the car suddenly braked. I had to step on the accelerator to avoid being rear-ended by the semi. This is 3rd "phantom braking" event in past 2 weeks. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When using the cruise control, the vehicle will suddenly brake losing 20MPH before I can react. It has always happened on the interstates, often with no other vehicles in front of me. On the last 2 day trip the brakes applied themselves at least 6 times. I can no longer use the cruise control as I'm afraid somone behind me will crash into me. Tesla has been no help. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom Braking. The most recent instances of phantom braking occurred on a recent trip to Lake Tahoe. The car phantom braked on the way there on the I-5 on August 5th in the afternoon. I don’t have the exact time, the braking surprised us so much that we didn’t think to enter a “bug report”. The I-5 at that section is a 4 lane divided highway. I think the cause of the phantom braking may have been a bridge that had a slight rise, causing the cameras to think there was oncoming traffic. We had the same issue multiple times on the way home on Tuesday, August 9th. In those instances, we entered bug reports. We also had multiple instances of phantom braking when driving on Route 28 around Lake Tahoe on August 7-9. Route 28 is a 2-lane road with alternating light and shadows from the trees. This may have caused the phantom braking, we entered bug reports in those instances | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | AIR BAGS,SEAT BELTS,SEATS | My Tesla provided an in car warning message on June 28 stating that the “front passenger safety restraint system fault” exists. I immediately created a service request (the same day) and included pictures of the fault message. On July 6th, the Tesla service team stated that the appointment required a service center visit (which is not an option when making the appointment originally) and scheduled the appointment for July 25. On July 25, I took the car into the service center. A day later, Tesla confirmed an issue with the OCS module that required a new front passenger seat be installed. Tesla could not provide a date the new seat would be available and let me drive off with the vehicle. I made a follow up appointment on August 16th. On the day of the appointment, the Tesla service team confirmed that the replacement seat was not yet available and they still did not know when it would be. It has now been almost two months since the original alert and despite my proactive efforts, Tesla cannot tell me when this serious safety issue with my vehicle will be repaired. Tesla is allowing its customers to continue to drive vehicles with critical safety issues without any urgency in the repair. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I have had several incidents with this car. When using either the autopilot feature or just the cruise control. The vehicle randomly brakes very suddenly. It happens frequently when there is nothing in front of us. The two most recent incidents clearly present a huge safety risk. We were driving on the interstate, there was a semi next to us. We were in the left lane going 75 mph. The car suddenly braked for no reason and in a matter of seconds we went from 75 to 55 mph. Had the semi been behind us we would be dead. The other most recent incident was on a four lane highway. There was a truck behind us. We only had cruise control on and again the car suddenly hit the brakes for no reason. The truck behind us had to swerve to get out of the way and avoid hitting us. I have reached out to Tesla and have been told it is a software issue that they are working through. We have had this issue for the entire life of our car so if they are working to update it, they are not doing so quickly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On a trip from Estes Park to Lubbock on Aug 12, 2022, there are at least two times of phantom braking under Autosteer, and at least three times of phantom braking under Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC). A phantom braking usually refers to a very sudden brake without any clear reasons. In our case, for every phantom braking during Autosteer or TACC, we were on highway with a speed limit or a few percent over speed limit, the weather was sunny and very clear, there was no cars in front of us in our (in any in most cases) lane, and road condition seems to be very normal. There is no warning from the car either. We are willing to have Tesla to examine the data of our car on that day for these sudden brakes. There was a rain on Aug 11, and the car was inside rain (in a parking lot of Fern Lake Trailhead) then and used (under city condition) after rain on Aug 11. Such sudden brake without any warning would be dangerous if there is a car behind this car. We did not have any accident (no car was behind us when such braking occurred). Our car is new, and we just found this problem. It is NOT reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. The vehicle is NOT inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. I did not observe anything abnormal and messages from the car before this phantom braking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | AIR BAGS | I have a son 14 who is 99 lbs. It doesn't trigger the passenger airbag for the front seat. According to Tesla the limit is 100 lbs. My son is average height and weight. Why wouldn't a 14 year old kid trigger the Airbag to be on?!? My son has been out of a car seat/booster for 5 years! IMO this is a safety concern and I will have him sit in the back seat, but this seems kind of ridiculous. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On at least 4 occasions, April 4th 2022 and August 6th 2022 to be precise, I was traveling in my Model Y at highway speeds using Full Self Driving when my car suddenly and without warning decelerated and sharply steered out of the lane causing me to have to forcefully intervene to retain control of the car. On the April 4th date there were no cars or traffic around, the incident just happened, on the August 6th incident I was on 495 in fairly heavy traffic and was afraid that I would cause an accident because of the sudden and violent nature of the braking and turning of the car. The other incidents were also at traffic speeds in light traffic. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | My husband took ownership of a brand new Tesla Y on Saturday 18 June from the Tesla Loveland dealership in Colorado. In less than 2 months of receiving the car, the electrical system ‘totally failed and ‘malfunctioned’ 3 times, while driving on busy roads/highways which placed my family’s life and safety at high risk of injury and death from a potential head on collision and crash from vehicles driving behind. The 3rd and most recent ‘malfunction’ occurred on Saturday 6 August at 12.46pm when (with no warning from the car’s warning or emergency system) vibrated aggressively before completely stopping in the middle lane of a busy road. This potentially fatal ‘malfunction of the cars electrical system’ was on one of Boulder’s busiest roads. I had turned onto a busy road (so was traveling at a very low speed) when the car started vibrating very loudly and stopped. There was no safety warning by the car nor any time to drive the car to the side of the road. This ‘malfunction’ and total outage put my life and my children’s lives at risk as we were trapped in a 4-lane carriage way and risked our safety to avoid oncoming traffic to get to safety. My husband called the police who created a safety barrier around the car while a tow truck arrived to tow the car to Tesla in Loveland Colorado. The incident put my family’s life at risk including my two young children (aged 8 and 6) who were passengers in the back seat. The first ‘electrical malfunction’ occurred on Thursday July 14 at 9.30pm when the car’s electrical system totally malfunctioned and stopped on a busy road. The car was towed to Tesla in Loveland. Several days later when Tesla technicians advised the problems were fixed and arranged for a Tesla technician to drive to us, the car malfunctioned and stopped on a busy road while the Tesla driver was in the car. It’s was towed again back to the dealership. This car is a lemon, unroadworthy and poses a death risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Tesla cameras are equipped with internal cameras intended to monitor driver attentiveness while using “Autopilot” features. The internal monitoring can be bypassed by simply covering the camera. This reduces the attentiveness checks and can be a danger as drivers will use autopilot functionality without proper attention on the road. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Multiple times while driving across I-70 through Kansas, my car suddenly broke and slowed down at least 10 mph for no reason. There was nothing in the road. One time it even identified a mile marker as a motorcycle. I was almost rearended when it hard broke three times in a row and threw myself and my children forward forcefully. I realize this is an issue under investigation, but until people like myself continue to complain and wonderful folks like you force Tesla to make changes, it is going to continue to be an issue. It's not safe. Thankfully I WAS in the middle of Kansas every time and there was no one around (except for the above mentioned incident where the van behind me was gracious enough to pass and could clearly tell I was having difficulty with the car). If this happened in a crowded area, I for sure would be in a high speed collision. After it happened on my outbound trip, I tried to make note of it on my trip home: what was around me, what the camera was "seeing" on the screen, etc. I noted already the motorcycle instead of a sign. It also seemed to have real difficulty when I could see a mirage and reflections (as it was over 100 degrees out) but I genuinely don't know if cameras can see mirages or if that is only human eyes. Thanks for your help in pursuing the issue! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We are on a cross country trip on open highway and it randomly applies the breaks hard at times for no apparent reason. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Aug 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I took delivery of a Tesla Y in February 2022. About a half dozen times since, I've been driving on the highway using cruise control/auto pilot and the car will randomly slam on it's brakes, so hard that loose objects in the car are flying to the front. There was no warning prior or any of these incidents. Thankfully I have not had cars directly behind me when this occurred...if there had been someone behind me they would have absolutely hit me. I have not yet contacted Tesla. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | The "advanced autopilot" feature is extremely dangerous in certain conditions especially construction zones, if a bug is on the windshield, while it is raining or night time without street lamps. I purchased this car as a full time rideshare driver for nearly $100,000 after driving the car for less than 1 month the car has terrified myself, my passengers and my pregnant wife and luckily hasn't killed any innocent bystanders, yet. While in autopilot the car will frequently 'phantom brake' when there is literally no vehicles in front of it, quickly reducing speed from 70mph down to 40mph. This most recent time 7/28/2022 I had a garbage truck like vehicle behind me but thank God I have excellent reaction time and canceled the autopilot and smashed the accelerator just in time before causing a pileup on the expressway. The car constantly misreads speed limit and street signs and will confuse the SR46 little sign for a speed limit sign and slam on the brakes from 65mph down to 46mph. Just yesterday the car decided to go in the middle of the two lane highway and slam on the brakes in the middle of the highway, twice, which terrified my wife and I caught on my 3rd party dash cam. I have tried to reach out to 3 Tesla emails and even SpaceX but I receive no response, big surprise. Additionally I'm smarter than the average bear and use a 3rd party GPS miles tracking app on my iPhone called Everlance which when I've cross referenced with my Tesla app about driving range its not even remotely close to their 303 mile range. I am proving a 33% discrepancy between their claim of mileage and what the car is actually achieving on the road. For example I charge at home to the recommended 90% charge of 269 miles, drive 99.1 miles over about 4 hours and get back home with 80 miles range. 269 - 99.1=169.9 miles but with only 80 miles on the battery that's actually less than half what it should be. I paid $6,000 for FSD I never received and have requested a refund without a response. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | As I was pulling into my driveway with the autopilot completely OFF the car started to accelerate hard on its own which could have resulted in an accident had I not been ready for it. Also unrelated to the previous statement; Driving along at 37 mph with the autopilot on, the car slammed on the brakes for no apparent reason nearly resulting in a rear end collision to my car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We have owned the car approximately 2 weeks and have had 3 episodes of inappropriate activation of emergency braking. The first two were minor slowing of the vehicle when traveling on interstate highway when the system was activated by dips in the road. The third involved a parked pickup truck on the shoulder of the outside curve of a road - resulting in aggressive braking of our vehicle. Frightening. Thankfully there was no closely trailing vehicle. We have inactivated the system, notified Tesla, and scheduled a service appointment. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using cruise control (Traffic-Aware Cruise Control) on a recent road trip in our Tesla Model Y, the car unexpectedly and for no apparent reason, abruptly reduced speed. Our car is available for inspection upon request. Our safety and that of others was put at risk as a result of this unexpected reduction in speed while travelling on the highway. An accident could have occurred if cars travelling behind us did not similarly reduce speed to avoid a collision. The problem has occurred on a number of occasions where there was no apparent reason for the car to rapidly reduce speed. It has not been confirmed by a service center. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer or others. It is a known problem with the 2022 Model Ys based on a published inquiry by the NHTSA (ref: https://electrek.co/2022/06/03/tesla-respond-increase-phantom-braking-complaints/). There were no warning lamps or indicators prior to the unexpected braking event. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking occurs very frequently and the dealerships tell me there’s nothing that they can do. We almost got rear ended on a 65 mph highway because of one instance but it happens on a daily basis if using cruise control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while her husband was driving 65 MPH with cruise control activated, the vehicle inadvertently stopped without driver input. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to continue driving to his destination. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted., The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 3,550. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,550 |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On my first long road trip using Tesla's Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC), I experienced Phantom Breaking (PB) issues. Some of these PB's were mild some with very aggressive responses. I was using just the TACC part of Auto Pilot, sometimes with vehicles near me, sometimes not. After 5 or so of these events in 300 miles or so, with one event early on my return trip, I stopped using all of Auto Pilot. The vehicle is new with no other issues. Software package 2022.20.6 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | In accelerating of itself, both my own life and that of a potential bystander were in danger. I had no time to react to the sudden acceleration. This has never happened to me in over fifty years of driving and it was very obviously the result of a car malfunction. In addition, the automatic emergency braking function failed. There were no previous messages, symptoms, or signs. The car has been at the shop for three months. The dealer has failed to give us any feedback as to why the accident happened. All they have said is that they don't have the parts that they need to change. It was only after two and half months that they reached out to me. During one of my visits, one of the dealer's service representatives took me aside to inform me that she could not divulge any information about the causes of the accident, and that my case was a “legal one”. I still don't know what any of this means. In addition to all this, the pen drive located inside the glove compartment of the vehicle only has two days of picture and video information, and the file of the day of the accident is empty, which is extremely suspicious. I suffered burns from the airbag, and my cervical region was affected. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,STRUCTURE | Front trunk (hood) flew open while driving at approximately 40mph. The front trunk lid/hood opened completely and smashed into the windshield, completely blocking driver visibility and breaking the glass. It is unclear as to how the front trunk became unlocked, but in the event it was unlocked while the car was in park, the car should not have been able to shift into gear. Tesla Model Y's Owners Manual states: "If the front trunk is not closed, a message displays on the touchscreen that you cannot shift the vehicle out of Park until the front trunk is securely closed (see Park)." Additionally, the Owners Manual states: "Model Y will not shift out of Park if the front trunk is not securely shut" In the event the trunk was open prior to driving, the car should not have been able to shift out of Park. Or, if the trunk opened while driving, there was a latch or electrical problem. Tesla's representative reviewed the incident log from the vehicle and stated that an ignore button was pressed on screen, once the vehicle indicated that the front trunk was open. Quickly pressing a button while driving to a safe place to pull over is reasonable. But, regardless, there should be some sort of fail over that prevents the hood from flying open in the event the front trunk is accidentally opened, or in the event the trunk randomly opens on its own. Perhaps a secondary latch or disabling the vehicle from driving? The hood flying up, smashing the windshield and completely blocking the drivers' visibility could have caused a severe or potentially fatal collision. Additionally, the incident caused over $4,143.34 in vehicle damage on a car that has just 202 miles on it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jul 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving at highway speed and in adaptive cruise control, my car experienced abrupt deceleration. This happened at least 6 times in the course of a round trip from Austin to El Paso and back. In each instance, there was no nearby obstacle, such as a vehicle or debris or an animal. All driving was done in daylight, and the car wasn’t traveling through an underpass or any other shadow. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |