Complaint volume
1069 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
1069 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2023 Tesla Model Y, grouped by component category.
1069 Total complaints
138 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 138 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?
138 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
1,069 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle at interstate speeds would periodically “phantom brake” on I-90 one a clear day with no other cars around. Experienced about 10 different phantom brake incidents betweeen Sioux Falls and rapid city | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Phantom Braking: On our trip from Billings, MT to Minneapolis and back, we experienced 13 hard phantom braking incidents on I94. The first 3 were extremely dangerous and anxiety-inducing. We were very fortunate we did not have following traffic or we likely would have caused a collision at high speed. After that, I used the cruise control sparingly and only when we did not have following drivers. Still, we were anxious whenever I engaged cruise control and every time the car braked hard for no apparent reason. I am well-aware that Tesla owners report this problem regularly to the NTSB, and I keep expecting the company or the Agency to do something about it. It will kill people. We would be grateful for some action here. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I bought this car on March 2023. The windshield blades won't stop running on auto. I kept it turned off, but when I engage the adaptive cruise control, it goes back on and I can't turn it off. I made a service request on May 10 and Tesla cancelled the appointment saying the issue was resolved because it was a software issue, not a hardward issue. I was advised that wait for over the air update. I have had 3 over the air updates and the issues continuous. This is no my first tesla and this was never a software problem with my previous car. I also have another tesla Y 2021 that doesn't have the problem either. I have contacted Tesla again and they don't have a solution. One of the main reason I keep buying teslas is because I have problems with my arms and need to use the adaptive cruise control with lane centring to easy my arm pain. It is a feature I bought and it has to work otherwise I don't want this car. what seems to be easy it is become a problem. I always happen to get disconnected when talking to people at tesla. They must really have phone problems. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness | Harness is fraying from normal use; car seat is unsafe to use. Contacted company and they refused to replace it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | A two-month old Tesla model Y encountered phantom braking at least 12 times in 5 days while Autopilot was activated. All incidents happened in a 4000 miles round trip on I-5 in California, I-10 in Arizona, and I-10 in Texas. The vehicle underwent automatic braking without any prior prediction. As a result of these incidents, there was a potential risk of the rear vehicle colliding with my own vehicle, or the potential risk of neck injury. These incidents happened on 05/08/2023, 05/09/2023, 05/19/2023, 05/20/2023, and 05/21/2023. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Braking. Yes, can be inspected upon request. Phantom braking for no apparent reason occurred at least 12 times in each direction on a long-distance trip on 2- and 4-lane roads on May 15 & 17 and also a trip in April, both in Autopilot and TACC modes, with nothing but the open road ahead, very little traffic, although a couple times when nearing the top of a hill. Driving at 70 mph on 2-lane roads and 80 mph on 4-lane roads. Concern of being rear-ended if passing a vehicle so wait long time to return to driving lane. Fortunately in standard driving no one was following closely to cause concern. One time when I was passing a semi, when I was almost even with the cab. No contact with dealer or service center as they are 240 miles away from my home or inspection by others. Unknown if there were on-screen messages due to watching the road instead. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This incident took place on May 20, 2023 at Judicial Dr, Fairfax VA at 1:12pm. I was driving with my family, I changed from left lane to the right lane and the forward collision warning went off for no good reason: I didn't have any cars in front of me, or at my right hand side. Forward collision warning is producing false/phantom warnings. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Incidents of phantom braking: We took our brand new Tesla model Y on a road-trip from Saint Helena CA to Scottsdale AZ and back. We had several incidents of the car slamming on the brakes while in cruise control due to mistakes in recognizing an actual reason to brake. May 11, in Arizona on highway 60, single lane road, we were in the right lane heading east when a large white pickup approached in the left lane. Our car mistook the approaching vehicle as a potential collision and slammed the brakes. This occurred a second time with another approaching vehicle at which point we ceased using cruise control. May 17 return trip on highway 10 in the morning, as I was driving with cruise control on, two lane highway, I approached a swale in the road with a change in pavement color. Gray concrete color contrasted with the blacktop patches in the upslope of the swale and the car slammed on the brakes. Same day, same highway, I was in the left lane having passed a slower vehicle. There were two cars behind me, waiting to pass. I put on the right turn signal and began to move into the right lane. There were a series of white jersey barriers on either side of the road. The car mistook these as a potential collision, slammed on the brakes and pushed me back toward the left lane. I applied the accelerator and forced it back into the right lane, avoiding a collision with the cars behind me. May 18 driving north on highway 5, multi lane highway and as my wife was driving and crested a hill there was a wire hanging across the road. In the center of the wire was a camera or some other device. While the wire was at least 6 feet over us, the car mistook it for an obstruction and slammed on the brakes. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | False forward collision warning incident took place on May 20, 2023 at 9:25pm on Alder Woods Dr. Fairfax, VA. The forward collision system mistake a legally parked on the street car for a moving car, and produced a false/phantom warning. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Wipers keep turning on randomly. It is a safety hazard as you do not expect wipers to turn on when no rain or water. Asked tesla dealer and they said it is a system wide issue and they have no solution. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | My vehicle has issues correctly identifying forward collisions. There are moments the car produces "phantom forward collision warnings" of objects or people not in the same lane (such as a pedestrian on a sidewalk or a car far outside of a safe stopping distance. However, there are other instances where I would expect a forward collision warning and receive none at all. This is exasperated by environmental factors and road conditions. "Tesla Vision" with camera-only detection seems to be highly unreliable based on the environmental factors (such as amount of daylight) or road conditions (speed bumps, construction areas, etc). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Tesla Model Y adaptive Cruise control was engaged while on an expressway; there were no cars in sight in front of me and very light traffic about 1000 feet behind me; the distance was set to 4 car lengths. I was steering from the travel lane to an exit lane, with feet off of the pedals. While steering from travel lane to exit lane, the adaptive cruise control suddenly braked, and the car reduced speed from 65 to 45 mph before I took over and applied the gas. The braking was sudden with no warning given. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | STEERING,VISIBILITY/WIPER | Hi Team, I bought a new car Model Y- [XXX] from Tesla on 27 Dec 2022 and after driving 50 miles itself with in 3 days, I reported so many manufacturing issues to Tesla in my new Car. All the issues that I have reported at that time either all of them are still open or while fixing any of those issues it caused even more issues in my car. As of now I have given my car 5-6 times to them for service so they may fix them but still all those issues either still exists or not fixed well. I am fed up giving my new car back to them for servicing and booking appointments & visiting them. Initially one of their employee gave me a confirmation that he is working with Tesla to buy back my car but then after 30 days I got to understand that Tesla employee is no more working with Tesla and have been fooling around me. I am not sure what kind of customer service, assurance does Tesla provides to its customer and how they working towards resolving those issues. I have paid $68000 to buy this car- and I feel like I am driving a car which got lot of design issues and I feel like I paid for new car and I am driving a 2nd hand car. It so much noise and rattle in my car and that also started to come after they tried to fix issues in my car. So, I am no more interested to get the issues fixed in a factory fitted car rather should have a new car or should get a full refund of the car. I am attaching a PDF of email thread that is going on from last 2-3 months with Tesla service employee and still they just want me to keep coming and giving my car to them. I don't have any more trust on them. Attach PDF shows all the issues and how they are just wanting me to spend time and keep explaining the same issues to them. All the issues details can also be referred from the email attached. Also from the email you may see- I was supposed to get one of issue fixed today but they have pushed again my appointment again after 10 days and not addressing my email. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | POWER TRAIN,UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM | The new model y froze in the middle of an interstate Highway indicating it was shutting itself down and not driveable. It took only 30seconds from 60 miles per hour to completely inoperable and stopped itself in traffic. Currently the mileage of this car is only 12 miles and I drove only 7 miles about 20 minutes after the we picked up the car. Tesla service told me it was a rear motor inverter issue. There are many incidents of similar occurrences people report online. Luckily we were saved by some quick thinking driver who called 911, while we were anxiously trying to contact tesla service. The police parked his cruiser to shield us from the fast moving traffic. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving 45 MPH with the cruise control feature activated, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated without the brake pedal being depressed. The contact corrected the failure by depressing the brake pedal. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacture was not notified of the failure. The failure was approximately 3,950. | Crash: No Fire: No | 3,950 |
| May 2023 | LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | Tesla purposely disabled sensors to warn when close to objects (curb, other vehicles, garage door opening & wall). I wasn’t informed that there will be no parking assist feature indefinitely when I spoke to sakes dept.Tesla says it is still developing cameras to replace sensors. I had a 2015 tesla, which had these warnings. Before that I had a2002 Jaguar with park sensors. It is not new. Because of lack of reliable sensors, I am afraid to use any of Tesla’s driver assistance features. I was told by service manager that sensors only “see” a few feet, while cameras can see infinitely. This is doubtful. But at this point, I have neither. In fact, when parking in tight places, “infinite” camera vision would be useless. Seeing that I’m inches away from an obstacle is useful.I have been told that when a car comes in for Tesla service and still has sensors, the sensors are removed without the owner’s knowledge. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES | Our car experienced unexpected and sudden braking on 3 occasions. #1: We were in cruise control (cc) and the car was going through a town and the brakes were applied suddenly (5/4/23). It accelerated again on its own. The other two incidents were on 5/8/23) #2: In CC, on a two lane highway. Tesla passed a semi in opposite direction (had plenty of clearance) and car braked suddenly. We were no where close to the semi. #3: Not in CC, on a 4 lane highway, we moved over into another lane to give a bicycle clear berth. Car braked suddenly. In #2 and #3 we had passed other semis and bicycles in tighter situations and braking did not occur. No accident occurred altho we had a car behind us in #2. Will be bringing car into Tesla on 5/20/23 to have them look at the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Several consistent and repeating phantom braking instances on morning commute on 1-10 and hwy 90 between Tucson AZ and Sierra Vista Az daily. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This incident, which is a false forward collision warning, took place on May 10, 2023 at 8:56am ET on Route 50 at Arlington, VA: 1. I was travelling on Rt. 50 at the left lane 2. Due to morning traffic jam, I, and all the other cars, were moving way below the maximum speed limit 3. On my right, there was another car traveling below the speed line with left signal on 4. Other car didn't make make any lane changes, but its left turn signal kept blinking 5. While I was passing this car, I received a false warning from my Tesla Model Y performance model vehicle 6. Other car, didn't change lanes, it stayed in its own lane | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | STEERING | I was trying to make my way into a parking lot yesterday and my car was in a complete stop and I was making sure that the spot is a right one since I was in downtown Norfolk with its parking issue. I noticed a sudden acceleration of my vehicle and I obviously became terrified and just waiting for what will happen next. Fortunately, the parking lot of empty with no passenger or vehicle to run into. I pressed the brake and the car came into a complete stop. I can only imagine what could have happened if the parking lot was not empty. I parked my car and went for my appointment. After my appointment and I drove the same car home with no issues, I am curious to understand what has happened so I started researching online whether this is a one of issue or there are others who have had similar experience. I found that there are cases describing something similar to what I had experience but the investigation blamed it on user misuse or misapplication of acceleration. I STRONGLY believe that there is more to this issue than what your previous investigation has unravelled and my concern is more about the public safety danger that this represents. What could have happened if there are people at the parking? What if this had happened in a public square? I am one of the cases that did not result in an accident but I do have responsibility to report this and ensure that this case is properly investigated. Looking forward to your update on this matter. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | On two separate trips on 5/5 and 5/7, multiple times the adaptive cruise control initiated a hard braking response for no reason. There were no cars, objects, animal, etc in front of me. Some of these incidents occurred when the road turned or there were rolling hills. However there were at lease two occasions where the road was straight and level. One of these times the hard braking incident almost caused a rear end collision with the person behind me. Additionally the lane keep assistance violently tried to over correct when the car couldn't determine where the road was during a slight turn. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While using Tesla's "traffic aware cruise control", the car rapidly slowed 3 times unexpectedly and harshly. Once going 35 mph following another car on a 2 lane road, then 2 times today while going 60 mph on a 2 lane highway. There was never any reason to slow down, and it would have caused an accident if another car had followed closely. This feature appears to be seriously malfunctioning under ideal operating conditions: during the day, not going into the sun, no glare, without rain. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving at 80mph with cruise control on in daylight, car suddenly for no reason braked hard, this occured 2 times hard and several other times enough to alert us while driving and take Cruise Control off by touching brake pedal Car went immidiately from 80mph to 60mph throwing us forward in our seats. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Drivers side mirror glass vibrates while driving causing blurry image, and has done so since vehicle was new. Tesla service center indicated that it is working as designed. However the passenger side mirror doesn’t vibrate at all and the image is perfect. This is an active problem on my vehicle that Tesla cannot repair. Tesla needs to develop a fix for the drivers side mirror. According to various Internet discussion boards, this appears to be a common problem. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| May 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The Model Y with AutoPilot Plus and Autopark enabled lurched forward and crashed into a wall during parking. Just as important a concern is that the car never made a beep, chirp or any other indication or warning that it ever even realized it was driving into an obstacle. We are certain the collision would not have happened had Tesla not removed ultrasonic sensors from the car because the driver has driven many teslas and even owned a tesla before but all had USS sensors in them. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | Unknown |