2021 Tesla Model Y Reliability Report

Phantom braking on Autopilot or adaptive cruise makes up most of these reports. The car drops from 65 mph toward a near stop on open road, and some drivers report it daily or 20 or more times on one long trip. A smaller group says the brake pedal did nothing during low-speed surges in parking lots or at a red light. Crashes appear in 4 of 95 complaints. Strong regenerative braking can break traction on snow or ice. One car computer defect disabled emergency braking and the backup camera, and replacing it cost $2,583.

Sudden unintended acceleration at low speed leads this catch-all group. The car surges while braking in a parking lot, waiting at a garage door, or holding at a light, then hits poles, fences, or buildings. Crashes appear in 15 of 91 complaints, including one fatal crash on a residential street. Other reports describe the car sliding or spinning on wet highways with Autopilot engaged, Smart Summon steering into parked cars or pillars, and the rear camera failing to appear when reversing. Tesla denied warranty coverage or blamed the driver in some cases.

Without warning, the wheel locks or resists input, sometimes at highway speed and sometimes alongside a "steering assist reduced" alert. Several crashes follow the car jerking left into a median or guardrail, often in light rain, with drivers unable to steer back and brakes feeling ineffective. Crashes appear in 10 of 72 complaints, with 6 injuries. Mechanical failures include a tie rod separating at 24,000 miles and both control arms failing near 52,000 miles. One owner just past warranty was quoted $2,500 for a possible rack replacement.

Front suspension links and their bolts loosen or fail. Early signs are creaking, groaning, or clunking in low-speed turns and over bumps, often starting between 45,000 and 68,000 miles. In worse cases bolts fall out, a front wheel twists or collapses, and the car becomes undrivable in traffic. Several owners link these failures to recall campaign 21V835000, though some VINs were not included. Upper control arm and ball joint wear shows up as an out-of-pocket repair after the 50,000-mile warranty. Front half shaft failures also appear.

Drive power cuts out. Reports describe a "power limited" turtle warning, intermittent drive disconnections, and a front motor inverter that blew the high-voltage pyrofuse and left the car needing a tow. A rear motor oil pump error returns on sub-freezing road trips. Some cars lunge forward when shifted out of Park, and one spun out in rain at 70 mph. Fire reports include a parked car fire and a rear window module that overheated and melted the door. A battery replacement at about 30,000 miles and a $4,000 heat pump bill also appear.

A front passenger restraint system fault warning is the main pattern. It comes and goes, often traces to the seat occupancy sensor, and can switch the passenger airbag off for adults weighing 108 to 123 lb. Repairs drag on, with months-long parts waits and quotes from $500 to $2,000, sometimes outside warranty. Separately, 5 of 15 complaints describe crashes where the airbags did not deploy, including one where the front airbag sensors were found fractured.

Lane keeping and Full Self-Driving Beta steer the car where the driver does not want it to go: back toward a road hazard the driver was avoiding, across the center line mid-curve, into the wrong lane during a turn, or toward an exit ramp at highway speed. Drivers say the system fought their steering. Crashes appear in 5 of 14 complaints, including a Smart Summon collision with a tree. Other reports cite water getting into the B-pillar cameras, lane centering drifting after a windshield replacement until recalibration, and blind spot warnings shown only on the center screen.