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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,VISIBILITY/WIPER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When autopilot is engaged the car slows down without warning and there isn't anything in front of the car. We had close calls with cars behind us when the car applies the brakes for no reason. The wipers would come on for no reason and as long as the autopilot was on it couldn't be turn off. So we had to disengage the autopilot and turn off the wipers and drive another 300 miles without autopilot for our safety. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | Car braked aggressively and unexpectedly on highway in full traffic with autopilot (lane keeping cruise control) for no reason. Car in front was over 10 car lengths away and not slowing. Almost caused collision with car behind me but I took control immediately and hit accelerator. Night time driving - approximately 530pm on route 64/1 headed west in Raleigh nc. My car is “vision only”. Extremely unsafe. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Had Adas engaged for about 180 miles and had phantom braking atleast two times. There was no one in front or on side | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When driving in Traffic aware cruise control in Highway where the speed was around 70 mph, vehicles system auto applied brake and significantly slowed down speed for a few seconds. Had there been a vehicle following us closely, there would have been an accident. There were no close objects or vehicle in front while this incident happened. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Failure: rear motor disabled. Verified customer concern. Inspected rear drive unit and found inverter had internal issue causing failure. Replaced rear drive unit inverter and verified vehicle now operates as expected. Safety: car speed reduced to 68mph max and the regenerative braking barely worked. All functionality like cruise control/adaptive were restricted Yes - reported to Tesla dealer/service center and had verified and fixed under warranty No warnings prior. Driving down the road I heard a loud clunk and then a warning appeared saying power reduced, rear motor disabled. Ok to drive. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | The back up camera is misaligned and shows the car in the wrong position. The poor rear visibility, combined with the “coming soon“ parking sensors means it’s very dangerous to backup the vehicle. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | While backing out of my parking lot space I almost hit a pedestrian emerging from behind a nearby parked car. My user manual, provided at the time of delivery, referred to warning sounds in situations such as these. I notified the Tesla service about this issue and was informed that my vehicle did not include these warnings because Tesla stopped installing the ultra sonic sensors required to activate the warning. Tesla service indicated this would be corrected in a future software release relying on Tesla vision. That initial service call was early January and Tesla has still not provided the updated software nor a target date for the change. The lack of sensors has also resulted in near impact in the front of the car due to the lack of sensors. This is a particular problem for senior drivers. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | AIR BAGS | The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that the message “Passenger Air Bag Off” would illuminate while his wife was occupying the front passenger’s seat with the seat belt securely buckled. The vehicle was taken to the Tesla Service Center, where an unknown software update was recalibrated. The Tesla Service Center then informed the contact that the front passenger’s side seat needed to be replaced in the event the failure persisted. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred approximately three weeks later. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was operating as designed and the passenger’s side air bag would not activate unless the passenger weighed approximately 130 pounds. However, the contact stated that the Owner’s Manual indicated that the air bag would be activated if the passenger weighed 100 pounds. The contact stated that his wife weighed 126 pounds and was 5ft. 1 inch tall. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 15. | Crash: No Fire: No | 15 |
| Feb 2023 | STEERING | I bought this car on January 24, 2023, I was driving with my family on Route 1 South in Woodbridge, NJ and all the sudden steering wheel fall January 29, 2023 . Was lucky there was no car behind and able to pull on divider. https://twitter.com/preneh24/status/1619889507133976580?s=48&t=-diw7ET9CNnRr31mHffyfw | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Feb 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | I was driving on the George Bush Turnpike on with cruise control set at 80mph. There were few cars on the road an no cars in front of mine. All of a sudden the car went from 80 down to 60 mph and I had to recover manually by pressing the acceleration pedal. The only interesting point is that there were 2 cars accelerating at a higher speed in the next two right lanes that were passing me and didn't cross into my lane. There were no cars within 10-15 car lengths in front of me. Thankfully there were also no cars behind me so I was not rear ended due to the sudden deceleration. I cannot get in to even discuss the issue as Tesla has failed to service the car after moving 5 scheduled appointments in the last month. They now tell me my next appointment is Feb 24. To be fair they are not aware of this specific issue...the appointment was originally for several other issues unrelated to safety. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When I purchased the car it was sold with certain safety features and those features are not available. It was also a surprise that the sensors were removed and Tesla Vision was the replacement. As of today Tesla Vision software update has not occurred and many features have been disabled. I cannot understand why Tesla would eliminate the sensors / radar and not have the upgrade to Tesla Vision tested and active in my new vehicle. Pretty much all of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) you list above are not functional. I have written three letters to Tesla since I picked up the "Y" model and have not received a response. In those letters I requested the car be returned for a full refund because it was knowingly sold with these features missing! | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | We were driving our brand new Tesla Y long range (we picked it up by the end of November 2022, and it was less then 150 miles) on 01/22, there were 3 adults and 2 kids in the car, and the car lost power in the middle of freeway. We had to slide the car to the shoulder and call Tesla service. When we saw the warning message on the screen, we were NOT given any respond time, the car lost power immediately. We were almost killed by it. On 01/27, we were told that the car has been fixed. They said there is a definite failure in the drive motor that was documented. There was an issue with an integrated part of the drive unite called the inverter, which can limit power when it has an issue and was resolved by replacing the drive motor assembly with another complete assembly under warranty. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VISIBILITY/WIPER | Traversing Blewett Pass at night, in a rain storm. Auto sensing wipers don’t respond to light rain or rain at night. When they are on they don’t adjust to the amount of rain so there is significant water on the windshield for too long. There is no manual option for adjusting the speed of the wipers forcing drivers to navigate a touchscreen in a downpour, in the dark, on a windy mountain pass. It’s terrifying. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | Brand new 2023 Tesla Model Y LR phantom breaks on shadows. Issue happens with just auto speed Adaptive cruise control and the more advanced lane departure "Autopilot" feature on. Happens on 45mph roads and on highways at 65-75mph. Most serious instance was on US 540 in Apex NC where car hard braked when it was about to go under an overpass with a strong shadow. Sunny day, 10AM in the morning, no other cars near by. Would have likely caused an accident if someone had been behind me. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE,LANE DEPARTURE | On the freeway with auto steer and adaptive cruise control on. I experienced 3 phantom breaking incidents over the last two weeks. The car suddenly drops in speed about 10-20 mph before I can catch it and turn off cruise control and accelerate back to the right speed. It’s super dangerous. We live in WA where it rains a lot and our car was delivered without any ultra sonic sensors. This was a big issue for me because we didn’t get a lot of the features I was expecting and they told me it would be fixed with full vision eventually. I think it’s false advertising since the test drives and a lot of things that sold me on the car were not there when I got mine. The breaking problem could easily cause crashes for us and is a big safety risk. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | I ordered the car with parking sensor feature standard similar to my daughter car model Y 2022 which she bought a couple of months earlier. Tesla removed the parking sensor without advising me. This sensors are vital for safety of pets, children and obstacles during parking. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,SERVICE BRAKES,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | While driving on the expressway, I had the cruise control set at about 72 mph. The car to my right went to change lanes but then saw me and rectified; my car automatically applied the brakes hard without me even touching anything. I was lucky that the car behind me was far enough that it didn’t hit me. However, this is a safety hazard for me and others as I couldn’t control the breaks at all. It also caught me by surprise since I did t know it was going to do that. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION | Park collision warning is defective. I have learned that Tesla has disabled Park Assist on this vehicle and on Model 3/Y manufactured after October 2022 despite still advertising this functionality in the current user manual. This is because they have transitioned from ultrasonic sensors to a purely camera based system. However, their camera based software has not been enabled for park assist. As a result of this, I had a minor impact while parking due to expecting an audible 'beep' or screen indication of distance from objects, as I have had in my prior tesla. However, I received no such warning. Also, Tesla poorly communicated to users, many of whom have had this functionality in prior teslas, that this functionality has been disabled. In speaking with Tesla Service, I was informed that Tesla has disabled park assist until a software update will be available. However, until the software update is made available, this is a safety defect that should be communicated through a recall to all owners. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | We were driving on a three lane on the expressway with the autopilot engaged. all of the sudden and without any warning the car engage on the breaks. We didnt have any cars in front or side we did have a car behind us. This was an extreamly scare situation as it took us by surprised. This happened two times while engages on autopilot. We didnt use anymore after. I searched the web and there are thousands of complaint about it without a resolution. Tesla is no help following up. I hope you can do something about it. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | When returning from the holidays during the last week of December I was using the Tesla AutoPilot for it's cruise control on the open highway. I experienced the "Phantom Braking" twice during the three and a half hour trip. I reached out to Tesla but only received a canned response explaining how AutoPilot is engaged and disengaged. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL | When entering the vehicle, the touchscreen does not turn on. The vehicle can be operated but without the touchscreen on, the speedometer is not available. I believe this to be a safety issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | On January 13th, 2023 we were waiting for green light on an intersection, 2nd in place. The car in front of us started moving on green light for a left turn, and suddenly it slowed down as a result of another car coming in the opposite direction. Our Tesla Model Y didn't recognized the situation and crashed into it. The automatic emergency braking didn't actuate and also the Forward collision warning didn't alert. The low speed collision avoidance also failed to act. A police report was filed because of the accident. Previously, On January 6th, 2023, a service was requested because of the vision system is not properly detecting objects / situations that can result in collision. Tesla canceled the service appointment. After contacting the dealer on January 13th, they acknowledged verbally that the car is missing sensors that were previously installed in older models. | Crash: Yes Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | BACK OVER PREVENTION,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | The car advertising having USS when place the pre-order. But when pick up the vehicle, USS is not there | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | There was a spontaneous blowout of a rear tire made by Continental. Thankfully I was not hurt while driving at 75 on a highway. I had to tow and replace the tire at discount. There was blowout from sidewall with no evidence of other damage or cause of it. I have kept the tire as evidence. I noticed there is a safety recall on very similar Continental tires. I am attaching the pictures and video of the tire and the note from Discount tire professionals that nothing was found inside the tire. I wonder if these continental tires also need to be on recall list. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2023 | FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE | I purchased the vehicle on Dec 14 th and so far had two episodes of Phantom breaking leading to near rear end collision. Car is applying breaks for no reason even when there is nothing in front. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |