Complaint volume
827 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
827 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2022 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
Buyer interpretation
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
827 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
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.
Enriched records include 80 crash reports, 8 fire reports, 35 injury reports, and 3 fatality reports. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage is available on 73 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 16,603 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
827 total complaints on record
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We recently purchased this vehicle and was driving down the highway with zero traffic near us in any lane and the Model Y slammed on the brakes for no apparent reason. Luckily no one was behind us. This continues to be a problem with phantom braking for no reason. It’s very dangerous and almost makes the vehicle unable to be driven. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When in Traffic Aware Cruise Control the car would brake suddenly for no apparent reason. I’m not sure whether it is available for inspection upon request. Sudden unexplained braking could be a safety hazard if it occurs when a vehicle is travelling behind. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service station. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others. There were not any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. This problem occurred at least 6 times when travelling on the highway between Lake Charles, LA and San Antonio, TX on 2/27/2022 and 24 times when travelling on the highway between San Antonio, TX and Las Cruces, NM on 2/28/2022. We observed that the frequency of these sudden unexplained braking occurrences increases when the light is filtered through partly sunny/partly cloudy skies. In bright cloudless conditions or in overcast conditions the unexplained braking does not happen. On 3/1/2022 the day after we had 24 occurrences we drove from Las Cruces, NM to Scottsdale, AZ in bright cloudless conditions and we didn’t experience any sudden braking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom Braking occurred four times in under an hour. Sunny conditions, clear lines. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I experienced two incidents of phantom braking while making a round trip from Reno Nevada to Sacramento California on Interstate 80 on March 3, 2022. The first incident (approx. 10:15 AM) occurred west bound and west of Donner summit. My speed was approximately 70 MPH traveling in the right lane. Several big rig trucks were parked on the shoulder. There were no cars directly in front of me and one car slightly ahead in the left lane. Autopilot was engaged. Suddenly the car braked violently and reduced speed to under 40 MPH. I retained control and continued driving. In the second incident (Approx. 1:30 PM) my wife was driving east on I 80 (with autopilot engaged) at approximately 70 MPH. As she attempted to change lanes to allow a car to pass to our left, emergency braking again was violently engaged. The car behind us had to take very quick evasive action to avoid a collision. A high speed collision was extremely narrowly avoided. There were no vehicles for hundreds of yards ahead of us nor any parked along the highway and no obstacles on the highway. At the spot where the braking occurred the highway began to slope upward, possibly creating the illusion of an obstacle.. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed with the cruise control or autopilot activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact to press a button on the steering wheel to submit a bug report. The failure mileage was approximately 100. | Crash: No Fire: No | 100 |
| Mar 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES | I was driving my 2022 Tesla Model Y south on I-95 near the intersection with I-10, going approximately 65 miles per hour in the middle of a clear day. I did not have cruise control, autopilot, anything on-- just driving normal. No warning indicators. All software updates were up to date. I was in the far right lane and, at that section of the road, there is a large distance between the oncoming traffic headed north. There were no oncoming cars anyhow. And the car just suddenly slammed on the breaks. I didn't go into a skid but it was enough to jerk my body forward to where my torso hit the steering wheel. I pressed down on the acceleration as fast as I could. If there would have been a car or truck behind me, I would have been really hurt, especially if there would have been passengers in the back. I was shaking. If anything remotely like that happens again, I will sell the car that same day. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When the ADS is engaged you can not reliably drive the vehicle due to phantom braking events which puts us at risk of being rear ended at highway speeds. Has occurred on numerous dates. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Using autopilot (adaptive cruise control) on a two lane highway. Vehicle slammed on brakes when a semi truck was passing on the other lane. Happened three times on same trip. False braking was not consistent as it happened once as semi passed beside us, once when the other vehicle was at least 100 yards away and once again when another truck was about 25 yards away. Lane in front of us was clear with no traffic in front of us. This did not happen on divided highways. Only on two lane highways at speeds above 55mph. In one occasion braking was so severe that vehicle slowed down from 55mph to about 20mph. A car behind us almost rear ended us. They honked their horn at us as they believed we were "break checking". Not the case. My wife asked to turn feature off and won't use until something is done to fix. The car has not been checked by Tesla. I have an appointment with them. There are no diagnostics indicating fault in the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SEATS | The second row seat is broken. At first, it wouldn’t latch but now It cannot be moved or adjusted. There is an alarm that states that the second row seats are not secured. I have been unable to get it repaired. A quick google search shows hundreds of cases exactly like mine. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Sudden braking events that occurred both during the day and at night - reducing the vehicle from a cruising speed to 55 or less mph within seconds. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On the freeway, the car significantly slows when it perceives a hazard, despite no hazard. It’s the phantom breaking and it reduces the speed suddenly and alarmingly, and it renders the cost and benefit of the vehicle much less valuable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | on 2/25/22 I was driving on a two lane road. Speed limit was 55. I set driving assistance/adaptive cruise (we do not have the option for fully automated driving) and things were fine for 20 minutes. At some point there was a significant slow down despite the fact that there were no cars in my lane ahead of me. I'm not sure if the car detected another car coming from far away in the other lane or why it was that the car significantly slowed down. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | * on rural roads at night, utilizing either cruise control or autopilot is super dangerous. ANY oncoming traffic will cause the vehicle to audible warn, and slam on the brakes. * I was almost rear-ended multiple times by vehicles following closely when the car decided to slam on the brakes. * I can reproduce it, and I have recorded it. * no * no symptoms prior to failure. Occurred on brand new car, started on the very first night driving it in rural environment. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom breaking happening while using auto pilot (cruise control). It is not speed, weather, terrain, or time of day dependant, and seems to be increasing. It is extremely dangerous in highway driving when speed is 55+. Phantom breaking can be anything from light breaking, to heavy jerking breaking. It has happened on multiple dates dince purchasing car at start of month (2/2022). We have put a service request into Tesla. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving along Highway 101 southbound with not so many cars around cruising around 65mph while on autopilot and suddenly the car just braked really hard. The car's velocity dropped to about 15mph in just 1-2 seconds. This is really scary and dangerous and luckily there is no other car behind us or else we could've been rear ended really bad. There was no warning or anything and it was about 2pm when the sun was up and really bright and no clouds at all. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on auto pilot/cruise control mode on a 2-lane local road it suddenly applies brake very hard whenever a truck or trailer is approaching from the opposite lane. At night it suddenly brakes very hard whenever headlights of a car from the opposite lane appears. I accepted delivery on 2/23/2022 and I have had it only 1 day ownership but it has happened every time a truck passes or head lights show up. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Cruise was control set to 70 mph while I was driving on a highway. There were no cars in front of me, there was a van following behind at a safe distance. As I drove up a hill on the highway my car suddenly decelerated. I did not get to see what my speed reduced to, but it was very dramatic, and I would estimate a slow down of 20 mph in a very short distance. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving down the road on Cruise control and car will slam on the brakes and you almost get rear ended every time. Scary to say the least. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The cruise control system malfunctioned during the very first highway use (within several weeks after receiving the vehicle). While driving at a high speed on the open highway, the car would break hard for no clear reason, even when I was not following closely behind any other car. The nearest car in my lane was least 20 car lengths ahead, if at all. This experience was quite traumatizing to both me and my wife, and made us feel unsafe on the highway. Luckily, I follow the speed limits in our state, which reduces the likelihood of a rear-end collision (all others drive at least 10 MPH faster than the limit and zip past me). However, this "phantom braking" (as others have dubbed it) is very hard and sudden, often dropping the car down from 70 to 50 MPH in seconds, without warning. When I contacted Tesla via the app, they texted me to reset the cameras (do a hard reboot). There has been no follow-up by them. I do not think that this has fixed it, but have not given it a full test on a long trip. I wonder if this has something to do with the removal of the radar guidance system by the manufacturer, as this system was discontinued immediately before my Tesla was built. This experience has been so disturbing that we are seriously considering selling the Tesla and buying another brand of EV. It made our initial 200 mile trip in the car one of the worst driving experiences that I have had in decades. I had to hold the steering wheel with an iron grip out of fear for when the car would next capriciously decide to jam on the brakes. Needless to say, I was physically exhausted and emotionally drained by the time that we reached our destination. To specifically address your questions: the car is available for inspection; it put my and my wife's safety at risk; the "dealer" has not specifically confirmed the problem; nobody has inspected the vehicle; there was no warning prior to the problems. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The rear undercarriage body panel was not fully attached. The front bolts were missing causing a scooping of air and scraping of the panel against pavement during higher speeds. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I purchased the vehicle on 2/12/2022. In the first six days of ownership, the vehicle suddenly braked on two occasions while using cruise control. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The vehicle will brake while utilizing the AutoSteer and Cruise Control features. I do not have the Advanced AutoPilot feature enabled on my vehicle. The vehicle will brake suddenly at highway speeds requiring me to take control of the vehicle immediately. This is concerning and May result in an rear end collision. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle has phantom braking when auto is in cruise control on a two-lane road. Usually when a semi-truck or other large vehicle is coming towards us, car will sound an alarm and break heavy, reducing speed by 20-30 mph. This is not an issue when on the Inter-state highway. This has been an ongoing problem since we picked up the vehicle in Mid-December of 2021 | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When driving on a two lane highway (US 131 and US 115) at speeds of 55-70mph in clear weather with adaptive cruise control engaged over a 4 day period and covering ~500 miles, this car starts emergency braking (warning chime and sudden deceleration) EVERY time the car interacts with an oncoming tractor trailer going the opposite direction. It will sometimes do this for multiple, closely following cars coming the opposite direction. It will additionally slow down when overtaking tractor trailers on the expressway (I-75) traveling at speeds of 70-85mpg when passing on the left and rounding gradual curves. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2022 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using adaptive cruise control at highway speeds, the car suddenly engaged the brakes. This occurred both on a multilane highway (with no direct oncoming traffic) as well as on a smaller single lane highway with oncoming traffic in the adjacent lane. When it happened on a multilane highway, there were no cars ahead of me at the time. I was passing a large exit sign located on the side of the road. When it happened on the single lane highway, there was a semi truck headed towards me in the adjacent lane. On the multilane highway, it was fortunate that there was nobody behind me as the brake application was forceful and could have resulted in me being rear-ended. On the single lane highway, it was a terrifying experience because the brakes engaged rapidly as a truck was approaching at highway speeds. The problem has not been confirmed by a dealer, I have an appointment for service pending. It has not been inspected by any party. The collision warning alarms did not go off when during either event, and no other alarms were activated. I turned off the cruise control after the second episode and have not used it since. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |