3,290 of the
7,503 complaints filed about the Tesla Model Y
are about the driver-assist systems —
100% of everything owners reported.
The worst model year for it is 2021.
3,290
Complaints
100%
Share of all complaints
444
Crashes
15
Fires
Driver Assist & Collision Avoidance complaints by model year
In the 5 years we have had this vehicle there have been multiple issues with the Self Driving feature including: 1)Phantom braking on busy freeways in Twin Cities 2)Swerving randomly into the other late on a curve on 4 lane hwy at 65 mph (Hwy 10 near Little Falls, MN) 3)Attempting to switch lanes into fast traffic when we were at a standstill in rush hour traffic (Interstate 35E Southbound) 4)Slamming brakes on on a 2 lane road on a curve because there was a semi in the other lane (that had not crossed the line) MN Hwy 64 5)Being a short way from exiting the freeway and having the car jump back into traffic (Interstate 35E Northbound at Hwy 96) 6) Slammed on brakes when the car in front of us was exiting Hwy 10 normally on an offramp going northbourd around the city of Rice, MN. These are some of the most egregious errors the car has made, but there are more not listed. I try it on occasion when there is a software update. It is not safe though- almost without fail I need to take over each time I try it. As Elon musk said on 4/22/2026 "Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD due to physical computing and memory limitations." The full self driving is dangerous, yet each time I get in the car the computer encourages its use.
NHTSA complaint #11764224 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
In the 5 years we have had this vehicle there have been multiple issues with the Self Driving feature including: 1)Phantom braking on busy freeways in Twin Cities 2)Swerving randomly into the other late on a curve on 4 lane hwy at 65 mph (Hwy 10 near Little Falls, MN) 3)Attempting to switch lanes into fast traffic when we were at a standstill in rush hour traffic (Interstate 35E Southbound) 4)Slamming brakes on on a 2 lane road on a curve because there was a semi in the other lane (that had not crossed the line) MN Hwy 64 5)Being a short way from exiting the freeway and having the car jump back into traffic (Interstate 35E Northbound at Hwy 96) 6) Slammed on brakes when the car in front of us was exiting Hwy 10 normally on an offramp going northbourd around the city of Rice, MN. These are some of the most egregious errors the car has made, but there are more not listed. I try it on occasion when there is a software update. It is not safe though- almost without fail I need to take over each time I try it. As Elon musk said on 4/22/2026 "Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD due to physical computing and memory limitations." The full self driving is dangerous, yet each time I get in the car the computer encourages its use.
NHTSA complaint #11764224 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
2023 Tesla Model Y – HW3 Autopilot computer/camera system failure My 2023 Tesla Model Y has approximately 54,000 miles and is equipped with the Tesla Hardware 3 (HW3) Autopilot computer. After receiving Tesla's FSD v14 Lite software, the vehicle began intermittently losing camera-based driver-assistance functionality. I observed an APP_w141 ECU Thermal Issue alert. The vehicle subsequently experienced APS_w134_appMia and APS_w135_appCritical alerts indicating that the Autopilot Processor Secondary was losing communication with and detecting a malfunction of the Autopilot Processor Primary. When the problem occurs, camera/vision functions and driving visualization become unavailable or degraded, and the vehicle has reported Self-Driving Features Limited, Cruise Control Unavailable, Adaptive Headlight Features Unavailable, and other driver-assistance limitations. In Tesla Service Mode I have documented the primary Autopilot processor repeatedly changing between INIT, CRITICAL and COREBOOT while the secondary processor remains NOMINAL. A DAS reset can temporarily restore communication, but the failure returns. Tesla has proposed replacing the entire HW3 car computer at a cost of approximately $3,120. I am concerned that this may represent a safety-related HW3 computer failure, particularly because I observed an ECU thermal alert and because the failure removes multiple camera-based driver-assistance and safety functions. I have photographs documenting the alerts and processor states and have an open Tesla service case.
NHTSA complaint #11764244 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
2023 Tesla Model Y – HW3 Autopilot computer/camera system failure My 2023 Tesla Model Y has approximately 54,000 miles and is equipped with the Tesla Hardware 3 (HW3) Autopilot computer. After receiving Tesla's FSD v14 Lite software, the vehicle began intermittently losing camera-based driver-assistance functionality. I observed an APP_w141 ECU Thermal Issue alert. The vehicle subsequently experienced APS_w134_appMia and APS_w135_appCritical alerts indicating that the Autopilot Processor Secondary was losing communication with and detecting a malfunction of the Autopilot Processor Primary. When the problem occurs, camera/vision functions and driving visualization become unavailable or degraded, and the vehicle has reported Self-Driving Features Limited, Cruise Control Unavailable, Adaptive Headlight Features Unavailable, and other driver-assistance limitations. In Tesla Service Mode I have documented the primary Autopilot processor repeatedly changing between INIT, CRITICAL and COREBOOT while the secondary processor remains NOMINAL. A DAS reset can temporarily restore communication, but the failure returns. Tesla has proposed replacing the entire HW3 car computer at a cost of approximately $3,120. I am concerned that this may represent a safety-related HW3 computer failure, particularly because I observed an ECU thermal alert and because the failure removes multiple camera-based driver-assistance and safety functions. I have photographs documenting the alerts and processor states and have an open Tesla service case.
NHTSA complaint #11764244 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My 2024 Tesla Model Y (VIN [XXX]) has lost all forward camera-based safety and driver assistance functions. The vehicle displays alerts that Automatic Emergency Braking is unavailable, Park Assist is unavailable, adaptive headlight features are unavailable, and that self-driving is degrading and the vehicle may stop. Autopilot and Full Self-Driving will not engage. The side repeater cameras and the rearview camera still display images normally on the touchscreen, so the failure is not a loss of video display. The loss of Automatic Emergency Braking and forward collision warning means the vehicle has no automated protection against a frontal collision, and the loss of adaptive headlights and auto high beam means the high beams no longer dim for oncoming traffic. I performed a touchscreen reboot and a full power-off reset, and the condition returned. The vehicle is equipped with HW4 hardware and falls within the model years covered by NHTSA campaign 25V002000 (Tesla SB-25-00-001) concerning a computer circuit board short, though my VIN was not included in that recall population. I am reporting this because a vehicle sold with these active safety systems is now operating without them, and I believe other owners of vehicles in this build range may be experiencing the same failure. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11763974 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My 2024 Tesla Model Y (VIN [XXX]) has lost all forward camera-based safety and driver assistance functions. The vehicle displays alerts that Automatic Emergency Braking is unavailable, Park Assist is unavailable, adaptive headlight features are unavailable, and that self-driving is degrading and the vehicle may stop. Autopilot and Full Self-Driving will not engage. The side repeater cameras and the rearview camera still display images normally on the touchscreen, so the failure is not a loss of video display. The loss of Automatic Emergency Braking and forward collision warning means the vehicle has no automated protection against a frontal collision, and the loss of adaptive headlights and auto high beam means the high beams no longer dim for oncoming traffic. I performed a touchscreen reboot and a full power-off reset, and the condition returned. The vehicle is equipped with HW4 hardware and falls within the model years covered by NHTSA campaign 25V002000 (Tesla SB-25-00-001) concerning a computer circuit board short, though my VIN was not included in that recall population. I am reporting this because a vehicle sold with these active safety systems is now operating without them, and I believe other owners of vehicles in this build range may be experiencing the same failure. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11763974 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My 2024 Tesla Model Y (VIN [XXX]) has lost all forward camera-based safety and driver assistance functions. The vehicle displays alerts that Automatic Emergency Braking is unavailable, Park Assist is unavailable, adaptive headlight features are unavailable, and that self-driving is degrading and the vehicle may stop. Autopilot and Full Self-Driving will not engage. The side repeater cameras and the rearview camera still display images normally on the touchscreen, so the failure is not a loss of video display. The loss of Automatic Emergency Braking and forward collision warning means the vehicle has no automated protection against a frontal collision, and the loss of adaptive headlights and auto high beam means the high beams no longer dim for oncoming traffic. I performed a touchscreen reboot and a full power-off reset, and the condition returned. The vehicle is equipped with HW4 hardware and falls within the model years covered by NHTSA campaign 25V002000 (Tesla SB-25-00-001) concerning a computer circuit board short, though my VIN was not included in that recall population. I am reporting this because a vehicle sold with these active safety systems is now operating without them, and I believe other owners of vehicles in this build range may be experiencing the same failure. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11763974 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On September 11, 2026 at 5:11:51 PM in San Jose, CA, FSD (Supervised) had been engaged continuously for 23 minutes. The vehicle was traveling straight in its lane at 32 mph and still accelerating. FSD disengaged with no takeover warning: no visual alert, no chime. My data export from the manufacturer (200 ms resolution) confirms the timestamp and shows the driver-monitoring channel never entered either of its warning states during the drive, though both appear elsewhere in my data. Nothing I did caused it. Steering torque stayed within sensor noise, with no rightward torque at any point. First brake application was 5.56 seconds after; first accelerator input 15.5 seconds after; no steering wheel button events near the event. Immediately afterward the steering angle moved about 7 degrees right over five seconds with my torque still near zero. The vehicle left its lane toward parked cars and came very close to striking them. No forward collision warning, no automatic emergency braking. I braked manually and stopped. I re-engaged FSD 36 seconds later and again two minutes later. Both times it steered right again and I disengaged. No warning lamps or messages appeared before any of this. The manufacturer reviewed logs remotely but has not inspected the vehicle or reproduced the problem. They attribute it to reduced forward camera visibility. My export shows one camera-related alert for that drive, logged 23 minutes earlier and absent from the incident window. They later stated the vehicle logged 30 non-customer-facing "low" obstruction events over two weeks, and that a customer alert appears only for significant obstruction. I drove extensively in that period without incident. A condition judged not worth notifying me about should not also explain withdrawal of steering control at 32 mph. Root cause is unconfirmed pending a paid diagnosis I have not authorized. Vehicle available for inspection. I have dashcam footage and the full export.
NHTSA complaint #11764259 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On September 11, 2026 at 5:11:51 PM in San Jose, CA, FSD (Supervised) had been engaged continuously for 23 minutes. The vehicle was traveling straight in its lane at 32 mph and still accelerating. FSD disengaged with no takeover warning: no visual alert, no chime. My data export from the manufacturer (200 ms resolution) confirms the timestamp and shows the driver-monitoring channel never entered either of its warning states during the drive, though both appear elsewhere in my data. Nothing I did caused it. Steering torque stayed within sensor noise, with no rightward torque at any point. First brake application was 5.56 seconds after; first accelerator input 15.5 seconds after; no steering wheel button events near the event. Immediately afterward the steering angle moved about 7 degrees right over five seconds with my torque still near zero. The vehicle left its lane toward parked cars and came very close to striking them. No forward collision warning, no automatic emergency braking. I braked manually and stopped. I re-engaged FSD 36 seconds later and again two minutes later. Both times it steered right again and I disengaged. No warning lamps or messages appeared before any of this. The manufacturer reviewed logs remotely but has not inspected the vehicle or reproduced the problem. They attribute it to reduced forward camera visibility. My export shows one camera-related alert for that drive, logged 23 minutes earlier and absent from the incident window. They later stated the vehicle logged 30 non-customer-facing "low" obstruction events over two weeks, and that a customer alert appears only for significant obstruction. I drove extensively in that period without incident. A condition judged not worth notifying me about should not also explain withdrawal of steering control at 32 mph. Root cause is unconfirmed pending a paid diagnosis I have not authorized. Vehicle available for inspection. I have dashcam footage and the full export.
NHTSA complaint #11764259 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
This is an issue with Tesla's Full Self Driving (Supervised). The categories above don't match this capability. Sunday, XXX, about 6:05 PM. FSD (Supervised) version 14.3.9. Leaving In-N-Out Burger, [XXX], FSD chose to exit westbound onto [XXX]. A vehicle coming from the east had gone around the queue on my right and was westbound on [XXX]. FSD pulled forward so the nose entered that westbound lane in front of that car. I intervened with throttle and steering. No contact. Since I didn't honk there was no saved dashcam clip. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11763962 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
This is an issue with Tesla's Full Self Driving (Supervised). The categories above don't match this capability. Sunday, XXX, about 6:05 PM. FSD (Supervised) version 14.3.9. Leaving In-N-Out Burger, [XXX], FSD chose to exit westbound onto [XXX]. A vehicle coming from the east had gone around the queue on my right and was westbound on [XXX]. FSD pulled forward so the nose entered that westbound lane in front of that car. I intervened with throttle and steering. No contact. Since I didn't honk there was no saved dashcam clip. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11763962 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
This is an issue with Tesla's Full Self Driving (Supervised). The categories above don't match this capability. Sunday, XXX, about 6:05 PM. FSD (Supervised) version 14.3.9. Leaving In-N-Out Burger, [XXX], FSD chose to exit westbound onto [XXX]. A vehicle coming from the east had gone around the queue on my right and was westbound on [XXX]. FSD pulled forward so the nose entered that westbound lane in front of that car. I intervened with throttle and steering. No contact. Since I didn't honk there was no saved dashcam clip. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11763962 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
I own a 2023 Tesla Model Y (VIN: [XXX]) equipped with Full Self-Driving and Hardware 3 (HW3) computer. Over the last couple of years, while using Autopilot/FSD, my vehicle has repeatedly exhibited phantom braking, including sometimes coming to a complete stop for no reason. My vehicle has also swerved into the lane of oncoming traffic on many occasions. On one occasion, this happened three separate times in one day, and the following day the vehicle swerved off the side of the road while FSD was engaged. I have reported these incidents to Tesla Service repeatedly for years, including photos of related screen malfunctions and "What Happened" incident data, documented in the Tesla app as well as in-person at service center visits. August 2026 was the first time Tesla told my husband and me that this was a known hardware/software (Hardware 3) issue, despite years of prior reports. Tesla has given conflicting information about whether a hardware upgrade is possible: I was told the HW3 computer cannot be upgraded and was encouraged to purchase a new vehicle instead, while a service representative separately mentioned a $3,000 upgrade option that "probably wouldn't fix the issue anyway." I am concerned this vehicle poses an ongoing risk of a head-on collision or road departure to myself and other drivers. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11762976 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
My chat constantly phantom brakes. This is a constant issue, I ve had the car since it was new and almost everytime im in adaptive cruise control it randomly brakes. Today with nothing in front of my on 3 separate occasions it applies the brakes and forces me to accelerate to maintain speed.
NHTSA complaint #11762300 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My chat constantly phantom brakes. This is a constant issue, I ve had the car since it was new and almost everytime im in adaptive cruise control it randomly brakes. Today with nothing in front of my on 3 separate occasions it applies the brakes and forces me to accelerate to maintain speed.
NHTSA complaint #11762300 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
Whenever I disengage full self driving the car forces me to tell it why I did it via an on screen selection. It does not go away after a period of time. I used to be able to dismiss it by hitting the voice button twice but they've removed that loop hole. It's very distracting and forces me to interact with the screen while driving. The selection screen also blocks the blind spot cameras. It comes up even when disengaging to park. Someone is going to wreck messing around with this forced distraction.
NHTSA complaint #11762378 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL
My 2023 Tesla Model Y suffered a critical factory safety defect: under-torqued front suspension lateral link bolts, causing dangerous clunking noises under Autopilot. The official Tesla Invoice verified the defect and noted it was re-torqued to spec. Crucially, a close friend owning an identical 2023 Model Y in [XXX] experienced the exact same suspension noise. Upon inspecting his car, the Littleton facility attempted to exploit his lack of information by issuing a deceptive out-of-pocket diagnosis estimate of $240.00 instead of honoring the active bumper-to-bumper warranty. Tesla only backed down and waived the fee to $0.00 after being confronted with my personal repair invoice as leverage. This proves Tesla is actively executing predatory billing and hiding a systemic batch safety hazard from uninformed consumers. Regulatory investigators can verify this pattern by auditing the Littleton Service Center's internal torque check logs and warranty waiver histories for 2023 Model Y vehicles. Furthermore, after touchless app-pickup on XXX, Tesla staff omitted any key card communication. Two weeks later, after discovering my physical key cards were missing, I initiated a brand-new service request to inquire, and agent Tony admitted they were left at the front desk, exposing that Advisor Luis Rodriguez falsified records on XXX by logging that the vehicle was retrieved on XXX. This constitutes bad-faith warranty denial, record alteration, and predatory consumer deception. I formally reported this severe failure directly to Tesla Global Compliance on XXX, but have received absolutely zero response to date. Full PDF report of my personal logs provided. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11761700 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
It is a safety complaint about the automated parking/FSD reverse maneuver. My brand-new Tesla Model Y (VIN: [[XXX]]), which I purchased XXX and which had only 819 miles on the odometer at time of the incident. Following the over-the-air software update to version 14.3.7, the vehicle's behavior changed. It began automatically selecting a reverse parking maneuver into my garage. Over the days following the update, the vehicle successfully completed this maneuver approximately 7–10 times without incident, which established a reasonable expectation that the system was handling it competently. On XXX at 03:34 PM, while executing this same reverse parking maneuver under my supervision, the vehicle struck my garage, causing damage to the rear bumper and quarter panel area. The prior version of software stopped when not able to correctly park in garage. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11761660 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.