2020 Tesla Model Y Collision Avoidance Problems

Which parts fail

• Adaptive cruise control
  73
• Automatic emergency braking
  45
• Warnings
  23
• Assist
  17
• Warning
  12
• Blind spot detection
  7

Components named in complaints (automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise, lane keeping, backup camera).

Mileage when the problem started

• Under 25k
  969%
• 25k–50k
  431%
• 50k–75k
  00%
• 75k–100k
  00%
• 100k–150k
  00%
• 150k+
  00%

Owner reports

Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2020 Tesla Model Y owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that after an update was made to the vehicle's autopilot feature, the vehicle experienced phantom braking intermittently that activated without the brake pedal being depressed. The contact stated that while his wife was driving on autopilot at 55 MPH, the phantom brake occurred which caused the vehicle to hydroplane. The vehicle initially veered to the left and then to the right, hitting a guardrail. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The guardrail was damaged as a result of the incident. The contact's wife did not notice any warning lights during the failure. His wife did not suffer any injuries during the crash and a police report was not filed. The contact's wife managed to drive the vehicle home after the incident. The service center nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. …

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number 23V838000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact was driving at an undisclosed mph up a driveway with autopilot on, the contact engaged autosteer by veering to the left before the vehicle crashed into the mailbox. There were no injuries and no police report. The lane departure warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the Tesla Collision Center to be diagnosed. The technician stated the following components failed, steering, the land departure warning, and the avoidance warning, however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 3 MPH and in reverse gear, the rearview camera display began to drop frames and was not displaying live action. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact had a manufacturer technician go to his work location who diagnosed on a laptop and stated that there were no issues with the vehicle. The vehicle had not been repaired and the contact stated that the failure was ongoing. The contact stated that he did have a backup crash due to a camera failure. The contact's rear bumper crashed into the front bumper of another vehicle. The damage was minimal, only scuff marks on the contact vehicle and the other vehicle. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.

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. …

While sitting behind a car at a red light, the car suddenly went into autopilot and spontaneously accelerated forward at a high speed, causing a rear end collision and over $7000 damages to my car. The sedan that was rear ended by me incurred damages but I have no idea how much. . This is the second time this car has suddenly unintentionally accelerated forward while at a full stop since 1/22 ( I've owned the car since 7/2020). The first time while sitting at a drive through pharmacy window- thank goodness there wasn't a person in front of me! The second time, as stated above, at a red light at a busy intersection. Once again, thank goodness there was a car in front of me to stop the car, otherwise I might have ended up in cross traffic with potentially fatal results. UN-nerving. …

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. …

I was on a self driving mode enabled but it's been raining for a while and I believe it showed the poor weather condition so FSD is not enabled but autopilot was engaged (but not 100% sure about which mode it was) It was around 2am in the morning and was on 580 southbound from Dublin to SFO. I was on the second to the left lane. It suddenly tried to go diagonally to the first lane. (Not like normal lane change but very abrupt almost like making turn 90 degree left) so I tried to cancel by holding on the steering wheel. And then it went out of control and start rotating until it stopped by hitting the center guard rail on the passenger rear side. The car stopped facing backward on the road (on the center shoulder). Luckily it was late night (around 2am) and there were no car behind luckily. I could have dead if another car hit into my car. …

The incident happened on October 23, 2023 at 3:02 PM. The car is being parked between two vehicles and the car triggered automatic emergency breaking, after the emergency breaking there were error on screen about "Automatic Emergency Breaking Unavailable, ABS disabled and Automatic vehicles hold disabled". After seeing this error on screen the car did sudden uncontrolled acceleration which caused it to crash in to buildings. I have contacted Tesla to investigate this issue, provided error message and vedio recordings of the incident. After two months investigation, I have been told they did not find issue in the car and can't go any further details to explain error on screen, sudden emergency stop and sudden acceleration on the car. The car has been deemed total by the insurance company. …

On 9/11/22 at approximately 1:30PM I was driving north on I65 in northern Tennessee just before the Kentucky border. Conditions were heavy rain. Traffic was moving but heavy. I had autopilot engaged. I was traveling approximately 70 mph. Three lanes of traffic. I was in the far left lane. I had my hands on the steering wheel. Without any prior notice, I lost total control of the car. Seemingly all four wheels were autoplaning due to the wet pavement. I had zero control of the car. The car seemed to slow down, drifted into the full shoulder left lane, then rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise and hit the concrete center median. The car then rotated another 90 degrees counterclockwise and came to a full stop all in the left shoulder lane. The front airbags deployed. There were three people in the car. We were not injured and left the vehicle on our own. …

we were in a head-on collision (not our fault) in April. The police determined the combined speed of the crash impact to be 60-65 miles per hour. The 2020 Tesla Y did not deploy its airbags. And as far as we can determine, the accident was not automatically recorded by the Tesla as it should have been. Because the airbags did not deploy, I sustained a fracture to my sternum that traverses over to my collarbone. We both have TBIs and other injuries. With that kind of an impact, one would expect an airbag to protect oneself, yet it did not. There were no warning lights/messages/etc from our vehicle. We are asking that you please look into this safety matter. (Especially since you are part of the push to have us own electric cars, they need to be safe for us). I do not know how much longer the Tesla will be available to inspect.

Related recalls

Collision Avoidance complaints in other Model Y years