Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (accelerator pedal, throttle, sudden acceleration, cruise control).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2020 Tesla Model Y owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while reversing at low speed from his driveway, the accelerator pedal inadvertently depressed into the floorboard, resulting in sudden unintended acceleration. The contact depressed the brake pedal, but the vehicle failed to stop immediately. The vehicle struck two other parked vehicles in another driveway before crashing into a residence. The residents were not injured. The contact sustained a fractured neck, and shoulder pain from his seat belt, and head pain from striking the steering wheel. The contact's front passenger sustained a bruised shoulder, and the rear passenger, who was laying down on the rear seats, rolled over during impact and hit the rear seats, sustaining back and leg pain. The contact and his passengers were transported by ambulance to the hospital. A police report was filed. …
The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact was driving approximately 3 MPH as she was parking the vehicle, front end first, the vehicle independently accelerated as she removed her foot from the accelerator. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact's vehicle crashed into the vehicle's front end that had already been parked, the vehicle was not occupied. The contact stated that she depressed the brake with force. The contact stated that the force of the crash had moved the other vehicle out of the parking spot and into the lot. The contact's vehicle had a crushed front bumper and the other vehicle also had damage to the front bumper. The contact's vehicle was drivable. There were no injuries and the police were not involved. The contact had not been taken to a local dealer or independent mechanic. …
The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 60 MPH in rainy weather, the vehicle inadvertently spun in circles, and he lost control of the vehicle. The contact took his foot off the accelerator pedal. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle crashed into an embankment and then spun twice before inadvertently driving into the forest and coming to a complete stop. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed. The contact and his father, who was a passenger, were uninjured. There was no medical attention received. The vehicle was first towed to the tow yard, and then the insurance company had it towed to the salvage yard, where it was deemed totaled. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and advised the contact to contact the local dealer for the computer data. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.
On Tuesday, [redacted], around [redacted] returning home and in my driveway when the following happened. Pulling into the left side of the driveway because a utility van was parked on the right side of the driveway with the rear door and driver's side door opened with no one in the vicinity. There was not enough room to go forward into the garage. I was almost at a complete stop with the intention of getting out of the car to shut the drivers side door. That was when the car sped up at full speed and turned to the right into the van and continued in the right direction into the garage. The car was headed to the right back corner of the garage smashing into paint cans, a freezer, sink and cabinets. I had no control over the car from the time the car sped up and smashed into the back of the garage and it all happened in a matter of a few seconds. …
My wife and I drove into a parking lot in a strip mall located at 1301 IL Route 59 to park the car. I was driving very slow at 5 miles an hour. As I pulled into a parking spot facing IL Route 59 which is a three lane highway, the vehicle malfunctioned causing it to uncontrollably accelerate. I was not able to control the car as it jumped the curb of the parking lot and went through the grass on the side of the roadway towards IL Route 59. To avoid driving onto IL Route 59 I was able to steer the car right and struck an AT&T telephone box which brought the car to a halt. Police arrived on the scene to check the status of the accident. A police complaint has been filed. Police did not issue a citation to me as this was not my fault and there was clearly a defect in the car that caused this accident. Luckily my wife and I were not injured and the car was towed to a body shop for repair. …
Re: VIN-[redacted] My wife was driving the car in this accident. I am reporting it as it happened. When: Oct 29, 2021 at about 2:45 +/- 40 minutes. Where: in the parking lot of a shopping center. In Quail Hills shopping center in Irvine, California. Summary of what happened: a) Unintended and sudden acceleration. The car accelerated suddenly by itself and caused an accident when I was trying to park the car. b) Two more cars were involved and were damaged. My car did not respond to brake and it hit two other cars. c) The car was inspected by repair center and was fixed. Damages were extensive. d) A warning appeared on the screen that said "Automatic braking disabled." during or after the accident. e) We reported the accident to Tesla and requested the EDR/crash data report. They have not provided that. I called several times, sent emails and even went to a Tesla service center. …
We were trying to park the car at Costco Parking lot on Jan 14th, 2022 in the early afternoon. A car had pulled out of a parking spot and indicated us to move forward in that spot. When we tried to move forward,the vehicle suddenly accelerated and hit three other cars. The airbags did not come on. We have asked Tesla to look into this and are awaiting a response. There was damage to front end, both bumpers, hoods, front grill etc. The accident was reported to the Police, Insurance Company and Tesla. The vehicle was towed to Tesla dealership and then was sent to another repair facility, Gerber Collision in Beria, Ohio.
Cruise control braked hard unexpectedly and for no reason. I'm describing a specific instance here, but this happens regularly. Specifically, the traffic aware system frequently misinterprets the data it is collecting. In this case, a car in an exit lane, slowing down to take a ramp. I was not in that lane, but there was no painted line between my lane and the exit lane. My car slowed to match the speed of the car on the exit ramp. In other cases, my car has slowed drastically when a car in a slower lane slightly veered into my lane by only a couple inches. There has been no risk of a collision when this happens, but my car suddenly braking then causes a new risk of collision for the cars behind me. Car rapidly decelerated from 70mph to 35 mph while there was another car behind me. …
During phone calls, the system would start making sparking noises and stall the calls. While navigation was input parts of the screen would disappear. While backing up, the rear cameras would freeze and stall. The rear camera freezing had caused us to get into an accident, and caused us to have 4 near misses. When I was trying to download the latest software release, the software download froze and never downloaded. I started to drive to the Tesla dealership and as I was doing so, the screen picture of my vehicle disappeared along with the gear shift indicator, the surrounding cameras failed. Then when I put on my turn signal, the sound disappeared. Then eventually the indicator disappeared. The entire screen froze with no information, and then went black while I was driving to the Tesla dealership. …
While driving at highway speeds (50mph-80mph), on 2 lane or 4 lane highways, in the day or night, in sunny conditions and overcast sky's, while using the cruise control (auto-pilot), the car will suddenly and unexpectedly apply the brakes. It happens between 8 and 10 times on every road trip, each way. Not only is it a shock to me as there is never a visual obstacle that seems to be causing the hard braking, but it is a dangerous safety issue to other motorists too. This has caused cars behind me to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision. Other motorists have mistaken this hard braking as me "Brake-Checking" them and very nearly cause a road-rage incident. I've had the car for about a year and have opened several service appointments with Tesla. …
NHTSA investigations
Sudden Unintended Acceleration
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a petition requesting that ODI reevaluate its decision to deny DP20-001 on the basis that intermittent high electrical current demands on the vehicles' 12VDC systems may have caused some or all of the incidents examined by ODI in DP20-001. The petitioner bases this information on a review of open-source research and the DP20-001 denial.
Acceleration complaints in other Model Y years
Frequently asked questions
How common are acceleration problems on the 2020 Tesla Model Y?
NHTSA has 37 complaints about the speed control & acceleration of the 2020 Tesla Model Y, 13% of the model year's 282 complaints. The component named most often is accelerator pedal (2 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2020 Tesla Model Y acceleration problems?
No. NHTSA lists no speed control & acceleration recall for the 2020 Tesla Model Y, though it has 24 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2020 Tesla Model Y acceleration problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 1,000 miles, and 89% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 13 crashes, 0 fires and 6 injuries to speed control & acceleration problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.