2021 TESLA MODEL Y Complaints

On two occasion, our brand new Tesla model Y lurched forward from a complete stop. The first time, on 2021/10/09 at 4:36pm I was at a car wash and trying to put the car in neutral. Fiddling with the gear selector, the car jumped forward without me touching the pedals. I hit the breaks and neither the car or anyone else was injured. The second time, on 2021/10/25 at 8:10 am, my wife was dropping off the kids at school. At full stop the car lurched forward again without her touching the pedals or the speed controller. The car hit the car in front of it 3 times with force. The car as well as the two other cars in front of it got seriously damaged. My two year old son was on board, there was many middle schoolers around but thankfully no one was injured. Incidents were reported to Tesla right away who has assured us they would investigate but we have had no update since despite contacting them multiple times. They assured us they have the ability to download telemetry remotely but I am concerned that as time goes by data will no longer be available. We later got an alert on the app that the emergency braking system had been disabled at the time of the second incident. I have videos files, recorded by the car itself of both incidents as they are happening available. The body damage of the car is fully repaired but the car is otherwise available for inspection/data downloads.

My wife and I purchased our Tesla model Y back in February 2021. We picked it up back in May 2021. The selling point for us was how it drove in the winter since we live in central WI. When we test drove the car in a snow snow at the highland park dealer. The car handled great in the ice and snow due to the car having the winter driving option. My wife nearly got into an accident due to no longer having the option for winter driving. The regenerative braking option is great until you drive in winter conditions. Ice and snow will cause the vehicle to slip and slide whenever letting off the throttle. The safety concern is that if a line of vehicles is in front of you and one person slams on the brakes letting off the throttle is essentially the same thing as slamming on your brakes. Which you never do while in a snow storm. We essentially bought the vehicle with and for this option to to control the vehicle better based on weather conditions. Removing the the winter driving option was not only wrong but a law suit waiting to happen due to the safety issue it brings.

I was driving on Interstate 80 in NJ this morning. I was in the middle of three lanes. In the lane to the right of me were two tractor trailers. Adaptive cruise control was engaged. For no apparent reason my vehicle suddenly braked hard, startling me and making me wonder what I might have missed in my surroundings. There was no hazard...this was frightening and a major flaw in the system that I have seen referred to as "phantom braking." It has happened to me a couple of times before but never on such a crowded roadway...I could have been rear ended. This component of the vehicle has not been subjected to a service call...the car has 5,000 miles. There was no warning.

While driving on an interstate highway (75 mph) at about 12am (little traffic) on four separate occasions, with cruise control engaged, the brakes were unexpectedly applied without warning, no forward traffic, no wildlife, no vehicles on the side of the road. Had there been a vehicle behind us, it could have resulted in a rear end collision. Several days later, on a two lane road (55 mph), cruise engaged, with oncoming large delivery/semi vehicles, again, the brakes were applied as if it was an imminent collision - which it was not. We have not seen any warning lamps, messages, warnings - however, we are new to this vehicle and not sure where we would see such a warning. After the latter event, I contacted Tesla service but was told it is an issue being looked at however there were no fixes available at this time. I have not driven with cruise control since as I am very afraid of being rear-ended.

Have a recurring issue with phantom braking, without apparent issue, causing the car to suddenly brake (hard) without warning. (60 mph to 30 mph). This happens when using adaptive cruise control. Dealer has been contacted and their response is that this is perfectly normal, it happens to everyone, and that the car and systems are in beta. They indicate all that mechanical components are in working order and my software is up to date. Over time this may be fixed. Meanwhile, I’m concerned about being rear ended caused by my car's sudden phantom braking. This issue is prevalent in other Teslas and reports on the internet are numerous.

Tesla's autopilot / adaptive cruise control / emergency braking is defective. On multiple occurrences I have had incidents where the vehicle's adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking systems have activated inappropriately. In one occurrence I was driving on I-17 through Phoenix in the middle lane. I was beginning to pass a pickup truck pulling a trailer (my front bumper was just behind the trailer) when the car detected this as an imminent collision and applied significant braking. I had to use the accelerator to disable the emergency braking, and this triggered a number of cars behind me having to brake as well. In a second occurrence I was driving on SR-74 westbound in phoenix between I-17 and Lake Pleasant Parkway. This is a two lane road in many sections, and at one point I had a semi truck and trailer coming towards me in the opposite lane and my car detected this as infront of me and applied emergency braking. Thankfully there was no one behind me as the vehicle reduced speed from 65 to 40 before I was able to push the accelerator and resolve the issue. There have been other incidents of it braking in ways that were unexpected and dangerous. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Auto pilot / adaptive cruise control / automatic emergency braking How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? See Above Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? NO, but is well known among Tesla owners Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? NO Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? NO

When traveling down a clear road with no obstructions, the Tesla will unexpectedly put the brakes on, sometimes mildly and sometimes severely when the Speed Sensitive Cruise Control OR the Autopilot is engaged. This is not Tesla full self driving, just standard cruise. This is a known problem that Tesla is aware of and has not addressed. The problem has become much more pronounced in recent software updates. This happens frequently and sometimes causes an unsafe condition causing me to not want to use this feature while driving at all.

The autopilot randomly applies the brakes. Sometimes it applies the brakes on a 2 lane highway when a truck or large vehicle approaches in the oncoming lane. Other times nothing is in the lane and it slams on the brakes. Other times the forward collision warning starts making noises and nothing is in front of me. I took the vehicle in for service, but of course the Tesla tech could not duplicate. Although the invoice says "autopilot will improve as firmware is released."

While using autopilot (adaptive cruise control) and driving on two lane highways the car will suddenly apply braking. The braking is abrupt and aggressive. The concern is being rear ended even for vehicles following at a safe distance. The abrupt braking happens randomly and more consistently when there is an oncoming car, especially around turns or hills.

Adaptive Cruise Control breaks hard for no apparent reason. If there had been any cars trailing close behind I could easily be rear-ended. Happens at least once every time I turn on cruise control. On a recent longer highway trip of about 90 miles it happened three times. One time on that trip it happened while passing under a bridge, did it pick up the lower speed from the bridge above? The other times it seemed to happen for no reason. All these times our hearts dropped (2 passengers in car). Note that I do not have full self driving, so I’m talking about adaptive cruise control being the problem.