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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The vehicle’ Full Self driving control malfunctioned two times. This vehicle delivered to me on Aug 31, 2023. The recent full self driving malfunctioned on Dec, 16th, 2023. The vehicle was on self driving mode and about to get into a near fatal crash. I had immediately intervened and avoided the crash. This caused damaged to front passenger side tire and wheel apart from mental trauma to myself and for my family . I contacted Tesla asap and informed about the incident. Tesla responded back two days after and asked me to pay for tire and wheel replacement which caused by Tesla’s fault. Earlier, for the same kind of incident, i visited Tesla’s service center so that they can fix the faulty full self drive system. The Tesla service center kept my vehicle for ten days and took no action to fix the issues. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING,VISIBILITY/WIPER | The backup camera failed to display any image, even with a vehicle restart by pushing the 2 buttons on the steering wheel to force a vehicle restart. I cannot see the back of the vehicle without the camera as the rearview window is so up high that it creates blind spots that I cannot see to safely get in or out of a parking spot and this creates a huge safety risk. Warnings that displayed was emergency braking unavailable and park assist unavailable. Also, the headlights on this vehicle is too bright that other drivers are flashing their high beam at me believing that I had the high beam on when I only have the low beam on. This creates a safety risk as the lights blind other drivers on the road and the same make and model of the vehicle can also create visibility problems when traveling in the opposite direction as it can also blind me. Those matrix headlight that can dim certain areas and not blind other drivers should be standard and enabled by default on all vehicles, including this one. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | My driver side tail light has water leaking into it, I reached out to Tesla to have it repaired. Tesla informed me that the amount of water in my taillight is considered acceptable, and that they will not swap it out. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STEERING,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | We bought a 2023 Model Y from the Mesa Tesla on 12/17/23. The staff rushed orientation (we are first-time EV owners) saying they were so busy that we could only get 15-30 minutes max for a complex vehicle. They told us calibration is normal and to reboot the Y if anything happens and showed us how. Once we drove off the lot the A/C went out and we got calibration prompts saying Pull Over. We pulled over less than 0.5 miles out and the A/C came on. Because of the bullying at the dealer we we afraid to go back and decided to go home. Again the calibration prompts came on and Pull Over. My wife was driving with my daughter and my in-law's and I was behind her in another car with our son. She suddenly started slowing down on the road because the vehicle would not let her accelerate. I pulled over to the side but she could not. I went to her and rebooted the Y, per Tesla's directions, and the car went dark and locked me and my in-law's inside in moving traffic (my wife had exited with my daughter). We had to call Gilbert police to direct traffic around us (had many angry drivers until Gilbert police came not understanding why a Y with a paper license tag was stopped in the road) and a tow truck for help. Two other drivers did stop to help too. I found the manual release but my in-law's could not. The tow truck driver had to climb (we had previouly rolled the windows down with the A/C issue) from the front seats to the back to get my in-law's out and paid $140.00 to have our new Y towed back to the dealer. For one week the story keeps changing - there is a coolant leak, no coolant leak but bad sensor, now the PCS is bad. I do not understand how the government can sanction such vehicles. We saved for a long time to purchase what was a dream vehicle for my wife and our famil'ys life was endangered within minutes. We are terrified of this vehicle and being around others like it on the road. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STRUCTURE,LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while parked and the truck was opened, the truck closed on the child's head inadvertently. The contact stated that on another occasion while parked and the trunk was opened, the trunk closed inadvertently on her right middle, and ring fingers without sensing that an object was in the trunk's way. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. | Crash: No Fire: No Injuries: 2 | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Received the new OTA recall update. The driver monitoring is now too sensitive and I cannot check the cross traffic when approaching intersections without receiving alerts to pay attention to the road. The car then requires me to apply varying amounts of turning force to the steering wheel, which sometimes can cause accidental disengagement, which also disengages TACC and auto braking. This is dangerous. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | LANE DEPARTURE | The updated autpilot nag requires too much steering whel torque often to the point of diengaging the steer assist making the car jerk sideways. This I believe makes the interaction less safe. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Tesla software updates aren't transparent on the changes to the cars behavior they will cause. They hide behind the vague terms "minor fixes" with no way to find out what that means. They are changing how the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist feature work without specifying it. The only way to find out if something changed is to re-read the whole manual every time there is an update and look for changes. The erratic behaviors these updates are causing are mostly unpredictable braking. The unpredictable braking would be predictable if it were disclosed what the updates are actually doing. I believe they are slowly moving enhanced autopilot features to regular auto pilot without disclosing it. The car will now early and aggressively slow down before a turn if navigation is turned on. Also it will randomly slow down if traffic in the other lane is going slower than the speed limit. There is one thing my car hasn't done before that isn't disclosed in the manual. When driving past semis on the interstate the autopilot feature will cause the car to nearly drive on the road line opposite of the semi. Their unwillingness to have full transparency of what the updates are doing is making the cars unsafe an will cause an accident in my opinion. There have been several updates that have been especially bad about adding new functionality without disclosing it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Upon use and observation, the latest recall OTA update has caused the opposite effect that NHTSA was attempting to address. By making this update, it has caused the autopilot/lane keeping feature too easy to disengage with the steering wheel weight based presence notification/reminder. This can lead to an mis-input by the driver, causing an accident or collision. Please work to ensure that this is addressed or taken back for further evaluation | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SEATS | Driver seat started to move forward while driving. I had to think quick and pull he powerseat button back to stop the seat from moving forward. I stopped to pull over and readjusted the seat. While driving home the seat again started to move forward, I had to fight with the powerseat buttons to make sure I didn't get pushed too far forward and also not accidentally pull myself back too far that I couldn't reach the pedals. I couldn't even get out of car because the seat would not stop moving forward. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | to [XXX] , bcc: [XXX] Sun, Nov 26, 6:33 PM [XXX] , I'm writing to you since I can't find any other Tesla email address that might help me. Please forward this email to the appropriate person if you can't help me, but copy me on any email forwarding. Recently, I just completed a long, 4 week driving trip to California and back to Durango, CO in my new Tesla Model Y during which I used FSD, which I purchased in September 2023. During this trip, about 5-6 times my 15" screen showed a pair of RED HANDS and warned me to keep my hand on the steering wheel, EVEN THOUGH MY HANDS WERE ON THE WHEEL. On one occasion in UTAH, while on a 2 lane, newly paved section of road without striping, the RED HANDS warning displayed and FSD dropped out, but this time, it displayed that since I didn't have my hand on the wheel (BUT MY HANDS WERE ON THE WHEEL) that it reduced my limit of 5 warning by 1 to only 4 remaining warnings, before FSD would never again work on my model Y. Since my FSD is beta software, I consider these inappropriate RED HANDS to be a serious bug that needs to be fixed. I also want my Tesla model Y to have the full 5 appropriate warning limit restored to 5. I want someone from Tesla to look into this safety issue and contact me how Tesla is going to correct it and restore my warning limit to 5. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using adaptive cruise, Tesla requires that the beta automatic windshield wiper function be enabled. When this function is active, the windshield can quickly become smeared due to false positive detections, or even during accurate moisture detection though the driver’s vision is not impaired enough to warrant wiper usage. The driver has no ability to disable this feature in favor of their own judgment for determining when the windshield should be safely cleared. Even having put only 7000 miles on my 2023 Tesla Model Y, I have been in multiple situations where the wipers turn on unexpectedly and smear the windshield. Situations which are especially dangerous are when driving directly into sunlight, and in cold weather conditions when the wipers smear freezing moisture in my field of view. When these dangerous situations occur, my view of the roadway and surrounding vehicles is impaired for a few seconds while I manually activate the windshield fluid cleaning system. I have raised this issue with Tesla‘s service department twice and both times have been told there is no way to disable the automatic windshield wiper function while using adaptive cruise control, and that their developers are both aware of and working on the problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | The automatic windshield wipers run when it is dry, and they do not run when it is pouring rain. They cannot be disabled when using autopilot or adaptive cruise control. One must stop looking at the road and look at the screen in order to correct the wipers. If one disengages cruise control, the automatic wipers stay on, and must be manually turned off. There are no manual controls one can use while maintaining a view of the road. The problem has been confirmed by Tesla service and they are unable to repair it. They have told me to wait for it to be improved with a future software update. They are aware it is a widespread problem, and have verbally told me so. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla model y, suddenly applied emergency brake bringing the car speed from 70 down to 50 suddenly, when FSD was enabled while traveling on I35. This happened at least 4 times and all 4 times there was a truck next to model y. This is really dangerous and as there is no one behind me in my lane, no accidents occurred. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The vehicle applied the brake without any warning. The road was clear with no other vehicles ahead and behind at the time. The speed at the time of the incident was 78 miles/hour. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STEERING,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | UNKWOWN: ASSESSMENT: Date of Event 19 December 2022 Upon taking delivery from Tesla for 2023 Model Y vehicle with the above or contained VIN, driver experiences a series of events that result from a autosteer activation. Approximately seven (7) calendar days after receiving the vehicle a FDU (Front Drive Unit) was replaced. At approximately another twenty-one (21) calendar days after the FDU was replaced while activating active cruise control and or autosteer the vehicle unexpectedly aggressively accelerated (UAA) to unknown speed that was not observed by the driver. It was later found out by the drive through scheduling a service appointment that a series of settings and unknown factors may have caused the incident. This incident was video recorded as a result of a traffic stop conducted by a local sheriff's office. This event contained several other incidents before vehicle was stopped including UAA, collision avoidance (oncoming traffic), vehicle brake lockup, and unresponsive controls. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | The car was behaving like in “rolling” mode even though it was set to “hold” mode. The modes refer to the stopping modes. I have reported the incident to Tesla and it’s been in the shop for over 1 week. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The problem here is the cruise control or autopilot. It first appeared when I bought the car. It continues to appear when driving on cruise control or autopilot. The car brakes harsh or suddenly stops. No messages or warning. Sometimes when driving under a ramp or sometimes when nothing is there it stops. I went to the Tesla shop many time and they can’t find any issue. I can’t drive using the auto pilot or cruise control. It’s not safe and my passengers. The other issue is the wipers start working when no rain but when you have auto or autopilot on. Please fix this issue. It has become a problem for me. I have taken it many times to the shop and they can’t find issue. No messages or warning. Another issue occurred two weeks. It’s regarding TPMS. A warning sign appeared on the dash state faulty. I took it to the shop 4x and they’ve tried to fix it but it continues to show up. The tech repaired tpsi, warning goes away but after some driving it comes up as right passenger side issue. I rotated the tires from left to right and vice versa. Same issue on the right side. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This has only happened in our 2023 model Y. We also own a 2016 & 2017 Model X and we never had the car applied the brakes while in auto pilot and nothing is in front of the car for at least a mile. We are worry about being rear ended because of the sudden braking to a almost stop. We have reported to tesla numerous times and nothing has corrected it so we try to not use that feature when we see cars coming up behind us. We only us it on road trips in open spaces with little traffic. I believe the reason for this problem is the removal 9f the sensors fe9m the front bumper. As I have stated we never had this problem with our other two cars and they have sensors. This Model Y only relies on the camera which might see glare as some in front of it since it can't see. Tesla knows this is a problem, so they are looking at installing a radar system in the bumper but aren't looking at retro fitting the Models they decided to not install sensors in the bumper. All the other early Models with sensors don't have this problem to my knowledge. This a safety issue that needs to be corrected before people start dying from rear end collision that could have been prevented. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while reversing at 5 MPH, the parking sensor was inoperable, and the vehicle crashed into a parked vehicle. The contact stated that there was no damage to the other vehicle. The contact's rear bumper on the vehicle was dented. The contact stated that the parking sensor displayed an incorrect distance measurement and had not worked properly for the past eight months. The contact stated that he contacted Tesla several times in the past regarding the failure and was advised that an upgrade for the software would be forthcoming. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 5,000. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | 5,000 |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | When their is a car in my blind spot the car does not beep or try to pull the car back unless you are basically hitting the car next to you. It also does not beep or show me space out side my range of view to prevent backing into another car. My car (tesla model Y) has had non-function blind spot warnings and backing up warnings since we purchased it in Feb 2023. There have been multiple times when I have not seen other cars and almost ran into them (they were able to swerve). On this Monday night the other car was not able to swerve because there was someone in the lane next to her (3 lane road) so we crashed. My car is available for inspection upon request but someone would have to come to my home because the car is not drivable and is waiting to get into the tesla body shop | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | The incident involves the malfunctioning of the Tesla Vision and Parking Assist systems in my 2023 Tesla Model Y. Over the course of owning the vehicle, I have experienced multiple issues with these systems that led to three parking accidents and safety concerns. On several occasions, the Tesla Vision system displayed a message indicating "Tesla Vision will experience degraded performance." This message appeared consistently, signaling an ongoing issue with the system's capabilities. The degraded performance of Tesla Vision was particularly evident in its inability to accurately gauge distances and detect obstacles during parking maneuvers. The Parking Assist feature, which is crucial for safe and efficient parking, also exhibited significant flaws. The system failed to provide accurate distance measurements and warnings, which are essential for preventing collisions. This was especially problematic in tight parking spaces and while maneuvering near obstacles. Specific incidents of concern include: 1. A parking accident occurred when attempting to park in my garage. The Tesla Vision system failed to accurately detect the garage door, resulting in a collision while exiting the garage and attempting to turn the car. 2. Another incident involved a collision with a white column positioned against a gray wall, which the Tesla Vision system failed to recognize, leading to vehicle damage. These incidents highlight the unreliability of the Tesla Vision and Parking Assist systems in their current state. Prior to owning the Tesla Model Y, I drove a 2019 Acura MDX and had no parking accidents. The technicians at the Tesla dealership do not use the Park Assist because of this I have a video showing assist lines moving from stop to 16" ... while parked. The image showed I had 14" when in fact it was 5" | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving 75 MPH on the interstate with cruise control activated. Brakes slammed unexpectedly with no reason or warning. Had there been anyone behind me it would have caused serious accident. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving eastbound on interstate 8 with adaptive cruise control engaged and my Tesla suddenly stoppeg in the freeway. No one was behind me but it was frightening. 0930 hours | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STEERING | Steering got locked while driving. Couldn’t perform left turn in the middle of drive | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |