40 of the
7,374 complaints filed about the Tesla Model Y
are about the fuel system —
1% of everything owners reported.
The worst model year for it is 2021.
The high-voltage battery failed unexpectedly shortly after the warranty expired (with only 9,000 miles past warranty). Tesla Service confirmed a main high-voltage battery defect and quoted a full battery replacement. A sudden high-voltage battery failure causes a complete loss of propulsion/power, creating a severe collision and safety hazard on public roads. There were no prior warnings until the system suddenly failed and rendered the vehicle inoperable. The vehicle is currently available for inspection. This appears to be a premature latent defect in 2021 model high-voltage battery packs.
NHTSA complaint #11755660 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While driving my 2026 Tesla Model Y in June 2026, the vehicle suddenly applied steering input on its own and began swerving left and right even though there were no obstacles in the road. I was driving on a straight section of roadway, centered in my lane, when the steering wheel started moving by itself as if the lane keeping system and steering were confused. I had to fight the wheel in both directions to keep the car from veering toward the curb and toward the adjacent lane. It felt like struggling against another person at the wheel. Fortunately there were no vehicles directly beside me at that moment, so I was able to avoid a collision, but this behavior could easily cause an accident for a typical driver. This incident is part of an ongoing pattern of safety issues with this vehicle. Since late 2025, I have experienced multiple events where the car fails to respond to the accelerator after shifting into Drive and behaves as if it is in neutral until I shift back to Park and then into Drive again including a complete loss of propulsion while driving in moderate traffic. Tesla has already performed recall repairs on the battery/battery contactors and multiple diagnostic visits for intermittent loss of propulsion and steering concerns, but the problems continue. I am filing this complaint because I believe there is a serious defect involving the steering, propulsion system, and lane keeping driver assist systems that could cause loss of control and a crash.
NHTSA complaint #11746596 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
A 2023 Tesla Model Y experienced a sudden electrical failure while parked/being prepared for use. Multiple warnings appeared on May 26, 2026, including high-voltage system service required, low-voltage electrical system power reduced/vehicle shutting down, cabin climate control limited, and steering/braking/parking brake functions degraded. The vehicle could not be driven normally and required flatbed recovery. The failure created a safety concern because the vehicle showed high-voltage and low-voltage faults together with steering/braking/parking brake warnings and could have left the vehicle disabled without reliable restart or parking brake function. The manufacturer service center inspected and repaired the vehicle after several days. The component should be available through manufacturer service records, and screenshots of the warnings, tow/recovery, and service records are available.
NHTSA complaint #11743303 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On XXX at approximately 9:30am, my 2026 Tesla Model Y suddenly accelerated without driver input while parking at The Center at [XXX], [XXX]. Vehicle surged forward unexpectedly. I immediately applied brakes. No warning messages appeared before or during the incident. Vehicle struck parking lot curb. Police responded and vehicle was towed. Physical evidence including tire drag marks and vehicle debris remain at scene. Requesting full EDR data log preservation. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11742309 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
HV failure failed on 2/12/26 @ 62k miles. Multiple errors (BMS_d265 Replacebatterypack, BMS_a079_Max_charge_limit_exceeded, and BMS_a029_dSOC_limiting. Frequent errors while driving, especially during acceleration on highway which were confusing/distracting. The errors seem to indicate danger with the vehicle and to not charge the vehicle/limit the charge to prevent further damage to the vehicle/surroundings. Took into service center on 2/13/26. Confirmed need a replacement HV Pack.
NHTSA complaint #11717781 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
We live on a road with a steep embankment. My wife backed across our driveway and when she put the car from reverse to drive it accelerated uncontrollably. She hit our mailbox, then a power pole across the street, a driveway across the street then over the embankment where she hit a retainer wall another wooden railing and finally came to rest against our neighbors house. If she wouldn’t have caught the edge of the house she would have went down approximately 150 foot embankment. Not only the car accelerated on its own it is supposed to automatically brake, it didn’t and the airbags never deployed. This all this happened right after it went through an automatic update. The car was totaled, with my wife getting a concussion and a lot of muscle injuries. There was no warning lights prior to event and we reported it to Tesla and all they did was send camera images which we had. The car is now in possession of Wawanesa Insurance because it was a total loss
NHTSA complaint #11716189 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
After charging the vehicle threw error code “BMS_a079 Unable to charge - Maximum charge level reached Reduced maximum charge level - Schedule service”. The car would no longer charge and had to be taken in for service. Tesla advised the High Voltage battery needed to be replaced. Replacing the High Voltage battery resolved the issue.
NHTSA complaint #11711113 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My high voltage drive inverter experienced a failure resulting in loss of all power as well as regenerative braking. Mechanical braking and steering remained available. There were no warnings or indications before the failure. After the failure there were warnings that the propulsion system had failed and to pull over immediately.
NHTSA complaint #11702739 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Pulled into hospital parking garage. Stopped to pull parking ticket. When the parking gate was raised, Tesla immediately took off at very high uncontrolled speed. Basically a runaway vehicle. There was no accerlation on my part. Brakes did not work. Hit parked car in the garage about 300 feet from the parking gate. I was taken to hospital with broken wrist. Car has been totaled.
NHTSA complaint #11697204 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I was driving the Tesla and coming up my circular drive(note I was driving uphill). The car suddenly accelerated and went out of control. I pumped the brake and took my foot off the accelerator but the car kept going and crashed into our house (sunroom) at end of the driveway at high speed > we went through the casement windows and brick foundation and would have gone through the other side window and down a hill and probably been killed if it were not for a heavy cast iron table that brought us to a stop. The airbags never opened.The car was totaled(the insurance company declared it a total lost and refused to repair and paid us a small amount , less than we paid for the car. This was the second repeat incident, the first one very similar was reported to NHTSA by my erhusband ,reported to NHTSA 0n 1/20/2025, 6.19 pm; complaint number 11637163 .after the first crash we tried to get Tesla to pick up the car . they refused. Instead they said they would check it remotely. We gave them the opportunity to inspect and repair the car between the first and second incident . They ignored us , do to their negligence we were almost killed. Please open an investigation. We have names and emails to show who we complained to.
NHTSA complaint #11697069 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I am genuinely concerned about the risk of my 2026 Tesla Y catching fire and/or being trapped inside the vehicle leading to death. In the past 30 days, have seen several accidents in Tesla products leading to fires with people trapped inside ultimately perishing. This includes the North Miami crash on 10/01/2025. No one in my family will travel inside this 2026 Tesla Y due to the fires. They have begged me to stop driving. I purchased this vehicle based on the published safety records including by Tesla. My wife just started cancer treatment and the intention purchasing was for a safe vehicle. Due to my very real concerns, I cannot risk my children being orphaned.
NHTSA complaint #11692232 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Our new Model Y with only 302 miles lost driving power, reported a high voltage problem, and shutdown in the middle of the street. Within an hour Tesla towed it to the repair center. The next day we picked up a loaner. Throughout the ordeal the Tesla staff have been very friendly. They only needed two days to make the repair. Here is what the technician wrote in the Tesla app. With the vehicle on site found it unresponsive and unable to drive. Towed the vehicle in and pulled vehicle data. Found numerous alerts for contactor power supply being undervoltage. Performed and exhaustive inspection of the right main harness. Found the contactor power supply wire to have a short to ground in the harness. Continued inspection and found the harness to have rubbed through the harness at the right rear c pillar area. Removed the wires and rerouted to prevent damage. Rewrapped the harness and added foam to prevent the issues from returning. Performed a test drive and verified the vehicle is back to working order with no alerts or issues.
NHTSA complaint #11690672 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I was trying to reverse the car from my Garage. I turned on the Engine and put the vehicle in Reverse Gear. The vehicle just zoomed out of the driveway leaving me without the ability to control it and hit a tree on a neighbor's house and stopped. Then I tried to bring the Car into the Garage by engaging the Drive Gear. Again, the vehicle zoomed into the Garage, hit a few objects in the garage and stopped. At that point I just turned off power and walked out. I took pictures of the damaged parts. At that time, I only noticed damage to the Rear on the Driver Side and the front on the Driver Side. When a tow-truck came a couple of days later, I noticed damage on the Front on the Passenger side also. When the incident happened , the street was empty and luckily no one (including me) was hurt n
NHTSA complaint #11639475 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
SUDDEN ACCELERATION, I WAS DRIVING IN MY OWN DRIVEWAY AND A MODEST SPEED T15 MPH I HAVE A CIRCULAR DRIVEWAY AND I WAS ASCENDING UP THE CIRCLE WHEN THE CAR SUDDENLY ACCELERATED WITHOUT MY ACTION. i TOOK MYI FOOT OFF THE ACCELERATOR AND HIT THE BREAK BUT THE CAR DID NOT STOP OR SLOW DOWN. IT CONTINUED UP MY DRIVEWAY ON MY LAWN AND ACCROSS MY LAWN THROUGH A FENCE AND I WOUND UP IN MY NEIGHBORS LOT WITH CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE. I WAS SHAKEN BUT DID NOT SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION AT THE TIME. MY NEIGHBOR AND MY WIFE ASSISTED. THE CAR WAS TOWED TO TESLA CONTRACTOR BODY SHOP -RECON. WHERE IT IS NOW. I HAVE REQUESTED THAT TESLA EVALUATE AND REPAIR THE CAR BEFORE I DRIVE IT AGAIN AND PICK IT UP FROM THE BODY SHOP. I NOTIFIED THE BODY SHOPP(TONI MCCARTHY) AND TESLA SERVICE(RADCLIFFE SERVICE PERSON WORKS FOR DON HADDON SERVICE MANAGER) .SO FAR NOTHING HAS HAPPENED . TESLA ASKED ME TO SEND A PHOTO OF THE ACCELERATOR BUT SINCE THE CAR IS STILL IN THEIR AUTHORIZED BODY SHOP, I AM UNABLE TO DO IT. i AM AFRAID TO DRIVE THE CAR AND ASKED THEM TO TOW IT FROM THE BODY SHOP TO THE ROCKVILLE TESLA DEALER BUT THEY SEEM RELUCTANT TO DO THIS. MY WIFE HAD A SEPARATE PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH SUDDEN ACCELERATION .N HOPING FOR NHTSA INTERVENTION
NHTSA complaint #11637163 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
•Unknown parts or system malfunctions; yes, an inspection can be issued •The car is parked very close to the house and continuously producing poisonous and harmful gas, battery liquid and glasses splattered more than 20ft away. •No, before the incident there was no issue observed. •No, but from the fire department report the cause of the fire was "failure of equipment". •No, there was no warnings from the app, or signs of malfunctions. the car functions normally.
NHTSA complaint #11630674 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While Driving, the system prompt electrical system failure. pull to the road side. within 20 or so seconds, the car lost power. About 10 minutes or so later, the whole car (emergency light, door, trunk etc lost power too. Consider the car lost driving power in seconds, then lost emergency light can be highly dangerous to all parties. Before the failure, the car shows "front motor is disabled, power is reduced, OK to drive" This OK to drive turns out not OK to drive, misleading. Now the car is fixed (yet to pickup), reason Front drive unit and pyro fuse were replaced (new car, but with refurnished part).
NHTSA complaint #11627802 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
High voltage battery systems are failing at an extreme rate on 2021 tesla model 3 and Y. I am a used car dealer and have had 6 battery failures in the last 30 days. When addressing this with the local service center, they said they've reported this to Tesla engineers as they're prematurely failing at "an alarming rate". There is no advanced warnings. The vehicle just leaves you stranded.
NHTSA complaint #11621456 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Charge port didn't allow to latch the charge cable. So the car lost the ability to be charged. This failure first time happened in December 2023. A mobile service technician visited my home to look into it. He checked and was able to restore the working of latch again. He didn't replace any part. This problem again happened on a very hot day (above 43 degree C) on 4th July when me and my family were away from home and were routed to a fast charger which was more than 70 miles from my home. The battery at that time was showing only 35 miles range left. I was forced to drop my car in nearest service center which was closed due to 4th July. Me and my Family were stranded on the road in harsh temperature conditions. Some how I reached back home by alternate means. It took more than 5 days Service center touched the car and fixed the car. Per there report they replaced the charge port on my car. The problem happened again on July 29 but got resolved on its own. I visited Service center again on 15 August and was give a detailed form to fill up next time the problem happens. I was told that they will do some further diagnosis but they didn't even touched the car as the problem was not showing at that time. I have strong feeling that this problem can happen again and may leave me again stranded on road without any support. I have lost confidence to drive this car for longer distance where I may need to charge on the way. The issue happens without any warning and will show up right at the time when I have to charge it. I feel that this issue may leave me in a unsafe situation if I am at a remote place where the car looses the ability to be charged. I am not sure if this is the right forum to bring up this issue. Please feel free to direct me if this is not the right forum.
NHTSA complaint #11610757 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On [XXX] we charged enough more than 80% limit to travel towards Knoxville . The vehicle indicated we have enough charge to reach Knoxville supercharger. Kindly note our vehicle has set like that it can’t go more than 80mph. While we’re closer to severville, the vehicle still indicated that I need to drive to Knoxville but indicated battery percentage will be -2% means we will not be able to drive safely and reach Knoxville supercharge as family and might be stranded in middle of night somewhere without any help and safety compromised. This is series issue in vehicle diagnostic and projection while driving it and trusting to take us to right place with proper guidance to supercharger availability. It created a great panic to our family in middle of night. This has to be investigated for misguiding the customers about mileage model-y can go and it’s capability to project supercharger availability to safely drive with family. We panicked and found out supercharger [XXX] in [XXX] in Sevierville that model-y will NOT route or guide us to get charged. This caused reliability and approvals to let such vehicle to be sold which can put everyone at risk. What if we didn’t find our self the charger and vehicle suddenly stopped in middle of traffic that could have caused accident or rear-ending. It’s serious safety issue that vehicle is not evaluating and projecting right information to travel on Road. I have taken pictures while this happened and can attach them. Also we all can witness evidence on this whole safety problem we experienced. Reporting this to ensure no other citizen should be put thru such safety issue on a vehicle that runs in American soil. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11607706 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On Wednesday, [XXX], 2024 between 1015-1045 am while traveling on [XXX] , my vehicle unexpectedly accelerated while entering the left turn lane. On ramp to [XXX] northbound, Monroe county, Pennsylvania. At the time I was giving steering input and had also applied the windshield wiper system. This happened a second time while approaching the intersection of [XXX] northbound. While taking my foot off the accelerator pedal to allow for regenerative braking and using the windshield wipers the vehicle accelerated at a quick rate. In both instances I had to apply the brake to slow it down. I noticed Tesla on that date. Tesla related that someone would contact me. No co text has been made as of the submission of this report. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11589249 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.