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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | After just 250 miles on the car and just after one month of the purchase, my wife along with my 4 years old daughter was driving to get my 7 years old son from the school when it suddenly stopped on the road with displaying errors on the screen as follows, the car battery was sufficiently charged, later from the inspecting what it appeared that the "rear drive unit" of the car got screwed up. Warning and error messages were: "Acceleration and top speed reduced" "Power Reduced" There was a huge school traffic jammed behind the car, luckily other car owners offered help but the car was not moving, it stranded in the middle of the road. We contacted Tesla they towed the car after one hour of the call, they kept the car for a week and told us the whole new "rear drive unit" need to be replaced. After a frustrating experience they offered no replacement but to fix the car. I found another same incident with other customer here at the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smVnwKOpuYY&ab_channel=JustAnotherModelYGuy | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | The USS Park Assist safety feature was eliminated from the vehicle without providing an alternative method or feature to monitor the front of the parked car in case an object or child was placed in front of the car after it was parked. The original USS Park Assist feature would detect this but the current Vision feature would not if the object or child is closer than 3 feet. It is irresponsible for a car manufacturer to eliminate a safety feature without providing a similar function as a substitute immediately. Just promising that this will come in the future should not be acceptable to the NHTSA. No problems have been recorded to date but this is just an accident waiting to happen. I'm asking the NHTSA to contact Tesla to require an immediate resolution. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | POWER TRAIN,ENGINE | I bought this Tesla model y in less than a month to be specific February 23th, I was forced to park the car due to rear motor failure. I had barely any time to find a parking lot before the car shot down on me. Until today, I have not gotten the car yet from Tesla due to long delay repair time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while at a stop with the brake pedal depressed, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated. The contact stated that no warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that she rear-ended the vehicle in front as she turned the steering wheel to the left and landed in a ditch. No air bags deployed. The contact stated that she and her front-seat passenger sustained no injuries however the other vehicle driver was seen by the EMTs on the scene. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an authorized Tesla Center and was awaiting diagnosis. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and a case was opened. The contact stated that she was informed by the manufacturer that a diagnosis team was working on the diagnosis. The approximate failure mileage was 473. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed Medical attention | 473 |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We had 2 phantom breaking occurrences while in Autopilot traveling at 75 MPH within 10 minutes. The first time we were passing a pickup with trailer on the right and the in the second a pickup was passing us on the left. in both cases there were no other vehicles or objects on the road in front of us. If there was a vehicle following close behind us there could have been an accident. We did not come to a complete stop but I am not sure if that was because of Autopilot or my reaction. There were no other warnings. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Vehicle brakes suddenly while driving even when there are no cars or obstacles of any kind in front or even in the distance. This has led to several events where I was almost rear-ended because of how strongly and violently the car was breaking on the highway. Last example was on March 5th 2023 at 1:19 p.m. while driving on interstate 90 in Ohio going westbound, there were no cars in front or in the distance in the lane. The car suddenly applied the brakes in a very strong fashion in the middle of the highway. There were at least five examples just like this one which happened prior. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving on East on I-8 and was East of Yuma, AZ. I was using the enhanced auto pilot feature. I was traveling 70 miles per hour (5 below the speed limit) There were no autos in front of me and nothing on the shoulder. There was a semi truck behind me (I am not sure how far back.). My car suddenly put on the brakes and rapidly slowed down. (I am not what speed) The de-acceleration was so severe that my coffee cup too flew onto the floor. The semi truck was able to move to the right lane but blew his horn loudly. It was extremely scary and dangerous for both of us. I have done some research and this seems to be a problem that many Tesla owners are experiencing. This issue needs to be fixed immediately. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | VISIBILITY | Hello, I was taking my car reverse and my car door was open slightly and it hit my garage door, and that was my mistake. My only problem here is, the driver side rear window broke and it broke into MILLIONS OF PIECES and shattered all over inside.the car. Not sure what the technology is, and it should not break into millions of tiny, tiny pieces. It's a brand new car and struggling to clean it because they are no minute. Thanks | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Mar 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER,LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION | The Tesla Model Y Blind Spot warning system does not accurately detect the position of cars in the lanes next to the car. The display shows the car as behind the vehicle while it is actually at the rear quarter panel. There is only an audio warning if the turn signal is activated. The car is in the blind spot yet the system does not warn the driver. I took the car in for an adjustment to cameras and Tesla said they are functioning as designed. Tesla removed the radar sensors that aid in parking at low speeds. This was intended to be replaced with Tesla Vision. Tesla Vision functionality is not yet available. Although a low-speed collision with an object may not result in injury to a person, it is a safety feature that has been removed. The windshield wiper's speed cannot be adjusted or even started on the stock. To change speed or turn on the wipers you must look away from the road, locate the control panel and then select the desired speed. This clearly is a safety hazzard. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On February, Friday 17th, 2023 around 10:15pm on 287 exit ramp towards rte 78 west , a truck with a flatbed suddenly went from right to left but the car failed to detect that and we almost collide into the back of it. Collision was avoided only by driver reaction. All collision warning systems failed to detect the situation. Still this is the same behavior we have seen since we bought the car. There is no awareness of close proximity objects. Tesla is acknowledging that critical ultrasound sensors were removed from the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | STEERING | Intermittent shaking from the two front wheels while driving. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | POWER TRAIN,ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,ENGINE | Driving 70mph on the highway, car abruptly clunked and three warning messages appeared. APP_W009 Automatic Emergency Braking is disabled; DIF_A062 Power reduced; and BMS_a170 Acceleration and top speed recuded. Car immediately dropped to 40mph and gave me enough time to exit the freeway to the shoulder. After putting in park, the car would no longer shift into any gear. Soft reset and full reset, exiting and re-entering the car didn't fix the issue. Tow required. Failure of rear motor (inverter) was cited in the service center. Seems to be a common issue across Model 3 (as far back as 2017), Model Y (deliveries in Nov/Dec 2022) and Model S (the last 3-4 years). Very dangerous if someone had hit us when it decelerated hard on the highway. Traveling with a 6yr old in a car seat. Only 500 miles on the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When using the cruise control function (not hands free) we have experienced multiple disconnects from the cruise control which puts the car into a sudden breaking condition slowing the car until the cruise control reconnects automatically. On a recent road trip we narrowly avoided a serious accident when this happened and we had a big rig truck behind us. We reported this to Tesla and their emailed reply said the cause was "map data, speed limit data, GPS position inaccuracies or predictive position inaccuracies." We drove over 2,500, mostly interstate highways, and in our opinion, none of their reasons for this condition apply to what happened to us. We set up an appointment with Tesla to look at the car but their email response seemed to indicate that as we drive the car more, the system will correct itself. In our opinion, this apparent software glitch is serious and can have fatal consequences. We have spoken with other Tesla owners and they are also aware of this chronic problem. We are reporting this matter in hopes that it will be investigated and promptly correctly before lives are lost. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while his wife was driving in a parking lot, the vehicle independently accelerated as she depressed the brake pedal. The contact's wife crashed into another parked vehicle due to the failure. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The contact's wife experienced mental trauma due to the accident but did not need medical attention. A police report was filed. The contact stated that the vehicle was equipped with a safety feature known as "Sentry Mode", which recorded the movements of the vehicle. The contact stated that the feature recorded the movements except for the failure and the collision. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla service center where it remained in their possession. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but the contact was not provided a case number. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 363. | Crash: Yes Fire: No Injuries: 1 Towed | 363 |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Twice while driving in early afternoon on very bright days in the direction of the sun I've received forward collision alerts for no apparent reason. Due to adrenaline I don't remember if I slammed on my brakes or not, but I hope I did. Given that there was nothing in front of me for a substantial distance sudden braking for the alert would have been like a brake check had another vehicle been tailgating me. Date is for most recent occurrence, first occurrence was a few weeks ago. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | LANE DEPARTURE,BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This 2023 model Y has no collision warning. This was not what I expected when I purchased. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Driving on highway with cruise control activated. No traffic around. Experienced phantom braking taking me from about 80mph to 65mph before I was able to react. Had this happened in traffic there is a good chance i would have been rear ended. No notifications or emergency lights appeared on my dash. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | This “phantom braking” issue MUST be resolved! This happens 2-4 times during a 700 mile trip. THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE. At highway speeds or less with only the cruise control on the car will abruptly slow down as if there was something in front of me but nothing is there. A member of my family no longer wants to drive the car because of this. It’s scary. When it happens, she screams! Fortunately, no one has been behind me close enough to cause an accident. Once we had AEB automatic emergency, braking turned off and it STILL happened! It happens day and night, dusk, and dawn and 40 mph or 80 mph. If you were using cruise control, it can happen at any time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Car did phantom breaking when I was driving with my wife, 2 kids and Niece from NJ to Pittsburgh, PA. I was driving on autopilot and There was no car in front or on side and yet it suddenly applied break and car went doen to appx 40 mph. Luckily the car behind was at distance and they managed their breaking well. I see it as a big risk to me and my family while being on long rides on autopilot. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | In auto pilot mode , my Tesla suddenly applied emergency brake and brought my model y from 65 to 10 min in 287 Highway. Luckily they was no car or truck behind me. No car in front of me also. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While in Traffic Aware Cruise Control (adaptive cruise control), the vehicle will brake hard suddenly with no objects anywhere near it. This has happened primarily on the freeway and luckily no cars were following close enough behind to cause a collision. This is very concerning as it is occurs in inconsistent situations and is completely unpredictable. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On Saturday, February 11, 2023, my wife and I were driving on the highway. I was the driver and I was utilizing the adaptive cruise control set at approximately 75 mph, which is the speed limit. There were no vehicles or objects in the roadway in front of us when all of a sudden, the vehicle automatically braked hard. My wife and I were startled and thrust forward in our seats. I quickly pressed the accelerator and looked in my rear view mirror. I saw a red truck that had been behind me had to veer off into the shoulder of the road to avoid hitting me. Another vehicle was next to him in the passing lane and was also braking. This was very shocking and disturbing that we narrowly avoided a major crash. We had previously experienced this "phantom braking" during a roadtrip a few weeks ago. At that time, we reported the problem to our Tesla dealer and they sent a technician to our house on Feb 3, 2023. The technician told us that we were experiencing this phantom braking and all of the newer Tesla's had this problem. He assured me that the "engineers" were working on it and would have a solution soon. He further told me that there have been no reports of any accidents, injuries or deaths as a result of this phantom braking problem. That was reassuring at the time. With this latest incident, I find it hard to believe there have been no accidents. The only reason we did not have a bad wreck is because of the skill and attention of the driver behind us. We reported this latest incident to our Tesla dealer and were given the following reply: "As mentioned in the previous messages, unwanted slows do happen and are expected. As we develop the system and the firmware, this will get better over time. At this time, we do not have an immediate resolution for you." I have never experienced a safety issue with a vehicle to the caliber of this magnitude. I am shocked this is allowed and acceptable. I am truly worried for our safety. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Was using the adaptive cruise control in addition to lane keeping assist, collectively known as Autopilot. Was in the left most lane with no cars in front or beside and a car about 5 car lengths behind when max auto regen occurred aka "phantom braking". There were no indications of obstacles in front based on the screen rendering. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 75 MPH, the vehicle abruptly stopped independently. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,300. | Crash: No Fire: No | 1,300 |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I was driving highway on 2/13/2023 around 11:12am. Traffic was clear, weather was good, I was using autopilot with Tesla model Y. The car decided to break at highway speeds for no reason. The breaking was very aggressive and I was very scared. There was no accident but something is not right with autopilot of Tesla. The car is new and using latest available software update. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |