Complaint volume
1068 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
2023 Tesla Model Y Complaints
1068 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2023 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
1068 Total complaints
137 Crash reports
3 Fire reports
45 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, steering, vehicle speed control,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 137 crash reports, 3 fire reports, 45 injury reports, and 1 fatality report. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 74 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 13,628 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to forward collision avoidance, steering, vehicle speed control,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 2023 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.
2023 Tesla Model Y
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2023 Tesla Model Y complaints?
137 Crash
3 Fire
45 Injury
1 Fatality
92 Towed
34 Medical attention
What are the most common 2023 Tesla Model Y complaint categories?
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 184
STEERING 97
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 65
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 60
SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 54
SUSPENSION 53
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 36
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 34
VISIBILITY/WIPER 32
SEAT BELTS 26
1,068 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | MY SIDE MIROR WILL NOT ADJUST BACK TO NORMAL LEVELS WHERE I CAN SEE VEHICLES ON THE LEFT SIDE. EVERYTIME I BACKUP AND MOVE FORWARD THE LEFT SIDE MIRROR DOES NOT ADJUST BACK TO ORIGINAL POSTION THEREFORE LEAVING ME EFFECTIVELY BLIND AND NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE ONCOMING TRAFFIC FROM THE LEFT MIRROR. I HAVE TRIED TO GET TESLA TO FIX THIS ISSUE. EVERY TIME THEY TELL ME TO TAKE IT IN AND THAT THEY WILL NOT GIVE ME A VEHICLE TO COMEPENSATE FOR MY LOST WORK TIME. THIS IN UNACCEPTABLE. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, the vehicle unexpectedly slows down due to phantom braking. During my recent 800+ mile road trip, this occurred twice without any obstruction in view, causing the car to brake abruptly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This car does not have Full Self Driving, and I do not use Auto Steer. I experience multiple phantom braking events every time I use the "Traffic Aware Cruise Control." Sometimes I can see that the cruise control set speed has been reduced from the speed I set, and I have to cancel and reset it to resume the original speed. Sometimes the cruise control set speed is unchanged, and pushing the accelerator will cause the car to resume the set speed. Yesterday I drove 320 miles and had about 6 of these events. I'm concerned about these events causing an accident from the sudden speed reduction, or getting into a road rage situation because the person behind me thinks I am brake-checking them. Internet research indicates that these complaints are very common during the past few years. If Tesla can't - or doesn't want to - solve the problem, they should at least allow us to choose basic cruise control to avoid this problem. Adaptive cruise control would be more reliable with radar, but Tesla is doing everything it can to make the cars cheaper, and radar was eliminated. Personally, I think trying to do everything with cameras is a fatally flawed approach - especially considering cars travel at night and in varied weather and lighting conditions. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Windshield wipers fail to work properly when in auto mode. Windshield was covered in rain and visibility was reduced to zero. Windshield wipers would not activate to clear the rain. The problem has happened multiple times while raining. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SEATS | On two occasions, once for me, and once for my wife, when adjusting the seatback, the switch stuck and the seatback shoved me forcefully into the steer wheel. Both times while we were driving. This could have easily caused an accident, or, for a heavier person, caused significant injury. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owned a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at 15 MPH and making a right turn, the Auto-Pilot had engaged independently. As a result, the vehicle steered off the road, over the sidewalk, and into a resident's lawn. The vehicle went up the property's pavement stone and crashed into a tree where it came to a stop. A police report was filed and there were no injuries reported. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot. The insurance company deemed the vehicle totaled. The local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The VIN was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V051000 (Electrical System). The failure mileage was approximately 4,400. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | 4,400 |
| Mar 2024 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The falcon braking system kicks in automatically, and the windshield wiper does not turn on automatically as it would in any basic car now a days. The available autopilot/ adaptive cruise control only gives unteliable cruise control. There were times where in the middle of a freeway the cruise control starts braking, luckily there were no vehicle behind us so there were no collisions so far. The price tag on this car and the way it keeps fluctuating is un-acceptable so i ended up paying a lot for the car than the actual value from tesla directly and the basic features like auto wiper and cruise control is a huge disappointment | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | STEERING | I am receiving codes, GTW_w074 Steering Assist reduced, and UL_a020 Steering Assist reduced. In reality, steering is unavailable without extreme effort. This makes the car undrivable. I had the same problem in early February. The car was towed to Tesla for service and repaired. Now one month later the problem has returned. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on a two lane highway at 70 mph, the vehicle has applied the breaks extremely abruptly without reason, three times in the past week. Slamming on the breaks suddenly reduced our speed from 70 to 45 mph before I could return to the speed limit. I came very close to being rear-ended last time. The drivers behind me were angry as well, assuming that I was “break-checking” them. I am extremely concerned for my family’s safety. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car suddenly engaged the automatic emergency braking system when it perceived a glare on the road to be an obstacle. Passenger experienced mild whiplash discomfort from the severity of the braking. No other cars were around so no accident occurred. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 1 Medical attention | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ENGINE | Charging system has become defective over last month. Two weeks ago, gave error that charging cover was open when it wasn't. Couldn't get it to charge for a while. Eventually, it worked. Yesterday, would not charge at all on any charger. Being towed to service center tomorrow. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | SUSPENSION | While backing out with the steering wheel turned the vehicle makes clunky noise as some thing rubbing together very hard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom braking has occurred on 4 different occasions nearly causing a rear end collision during one of them. On all occasions it occurred with no other car in front of us. Tesla Service was contacted through their app for service and we were told this is a known issue and to simply apply pressure to the accelerator. No warning lights or other was given before the incident. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by Tesla or independent service center? | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I am writing to express my serious concerns regarding the recent enforcement that leads to Tesla's Auto Steer being disabled after three warnings, deemed "strikes," within a certain period. This policy, which I understand may have been implemented with safety intentions, paradoxically compromises my safety and potentially that of others. My experience with the system has shown that the warnings are overly sensitive, activating even while I am fully attentive and engaged with the driving process. The result is the Auto Steer feature—a tool I rely on for enhancing my driving safety—being disabled for an entire week after these strikes. This blanket punishment is applied universally across all driver profiles, disregarding individual driving contexts and histories. The logic behind this stringent measure seems counterintuitive. The Auto Steer function, in my experience, significantly increases safety by aiding in maintaining lane integrity, adjusting speed, and managing distance from other vehicles. Disabling it not only diminishes my vehicle's capability but also impacts my confidence in the vehicle's safety features, which I have come to depend on. I urge the NHTSA to reconsider this mandate and recommend adjustments. Possible improvements could include making the warning alerts more prominent to aid drivers in real-time, allowing for a more interactive and educational approach to enhancing driving habits. Alternatively, revisiting the policy to provide drivers with more control and flexibility over the use of Auto Steer could be beneficial, ensuring that it serves its intended purpose of augmenting safety without unwarranted restrictions. The overarching goal should be to enhance safety while also respecting the drivers' ability to utilize technology responsibly. I hope for a revision of this policy that aligns more closely with the practical needs and safety interests of Tesla drivers. Thank you for your attention to this matter. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On [XXX], I was at [XXX] waiting for green light, as soon as the light changed. I hit the drive but the car suddenly lost control and speed up and I couldn’t stop. I try my best not to hit any people or any cars and ended up hitting the board on the right. I never smoke or drink alcohol. never did any drugs, I didn’t hold phone. It was absolutely an uncontrollable incident very unfortunate but totally out my control I wish this never have happened as I have good driving record. Thank you, your honor ! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: Yes Fire: No Towed | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS | (1). Electrical wire related to passenger airbag function is allowed for rodent chewing. I was told by technician that if this wire chewed by rodent or broken, passenger air bag will not function at all when there is an impact or an accident. I'm not really sure whether the driver will be even alerted whenever this wire is broken. This is simply a design fault because such an important wire should not be placed in a vulnerable location where rodent can chew it. I have never come across this in any car in my life so far. (2). If an airbag does not function, a passenger could get hurt or die (3). I asked the service team about the design fault and filled their service visit survey as well, but no one answered me so far. (4). Service technicians inspected the broken electrical wire, repaired it, but there is no guarantee that rodent can not chew it again because repaired wire is at the same place as before. (5). There is no prior warning for me. Service technicians came over to replace the passenger seat. Once they replaced it, the senior technician tried to check all the system using his laptop and it appeared that he noticed a fault on his laptop screen. So, he opened the frunk and found the broken wire. (6). Instead of replacing this part with OEM part he repaired it and even charged me for the cost of repair though my car is under warranty. This is the design fault and this wire can be chewed again and manufacture can keep charging the customers till the life of the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car stops suddenly for no reason while on cruise control | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2024 | STRUCTURE | Water leak passenger floor | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car autopilot system does VERY Hard brakes when coming to stop at red lights ( when there is a car in front of it) very unsafe. Also while driving in the street or freeway, mostly when passing under a bridge, all of a sudden the car pushes brake automatically which is truly dangerous and unsafe. Also when the auto pilot is on it, disengages whenever close to a curb or anything else and you have to take over control very last second to avoid any accidents. This is a safety issues. safety issue. Please fix. I took the car to dealership and both times they say it’s something called phantom braking and that they wouldn’t be able to fix the issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness | After 8 months of use, the harness release button failed completely. This malfunction allowed the harness to loosen with our child in the car seat, while driving on a 3.5 hour road trip. Extremely scary and dangerous situation. NUNA sent a replacement frame and within 2 months the same malfunction has occurred on the replacement frame. After seeing the numerous complaints filed on NHTSA, for the same issues, I am very surprised there has not been an investigation and/or recall. Especially given the prevalence of such a dangerous malfunction. Lastly, I am extremely unimpressed with NUNA costumer service. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness | Complete failure of harness release button, allowing my child to loosen the harness by gently leaning forward. This is a malfunction on a replacement frame (used for less than 2 months), NUNA replaced the original frame (used for 8 months) for the same issue. I have contacted NUNA about current frame issue, haver not heard back from them. Given the poor customer service I received with original frame failure, I do not expect NUNA to resolve this issue for several weeks. Consequently, I am working with retailer I purchased the car seat from to replace it with a different brand, as I no longer trust NUNA with the safety of my child. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla model y automatically and incorrectly brakes and alarms when on two lane road with large truck approaching in other lane. Adaptive cruise control is engaged. This has occurred multiple times. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On a trip to and from New York to Canada between February [XXX], the car came to a sudden stop on the interstate when there were NO VEHICLES OR OTHER OBSTRUCTIONS IN FRONT OF THE CAR. However there WERE several vehicles behind me on 2 of these occasions and I was extremely concerned that I was going to be hit from behind. It was just like the events described here - [XXX] . Why isn’t NHTSA doing anything about this? There is no way to use cruise control without this technology which is extremely DANGEROUS. We would NEVER have bought the car had we known about this. Who wants a car where they can’t use the cruise control without fearing the safety of themselves and those behind them??!! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES,VISIBILITY/WIPER | I have been trying more than 4 times with TESLA to get this open recall fixed but failed. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2024 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Auto setting on windshield wiper does not activate wipers. It happens in a downpour and moderate rain. Other times it activates in a sunny day or with minimal water on window. When it fails, I have to manually turn on wiper which requires taking my eyes off the road to look at the screen to set the speed. This is very dangerous at one of the worst times when I need my eyes on the wet road and traffic. Tesla has refused to look at the sensors and claims there is no issue. I have contacted them twice about this and gotten a “it’s a firmware issue. We’ll send an update soon.”The problem has persisted for several months. I have attached screen shots of the messages from Tesla. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |