Assist problems of the 2021 Tesla Model Y - part 1

Tesla’s full self-driving (fsd) system has repeatedly demonstrated unsafe behavior in my 2021 Model Y (VIN [xxx] , ~60,184 miles). The issues involve adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistance, and forward collision warning. Fsd frequently follows vehicles too closely, leaving insufficient distance. When I disengage, I am left with no safe option: braking hard risks being rear-ended and triggers a hard-braking event, while lifting off the accelerator leaves me dangerously close, still flagged as unsafe following. Fsd often waits until less than a mile before highway exits to attempt lane changes, causing last-second darting, missed exits, or unsafe maneuvers. It also performs excessive and unnecessary lane changes that add risk without improving efficiency. Merges are frequently unsafe, forcing me to brake hard to let others pass or accelerate aggressively to avoid being cut off. On several occasions, fsd has jerked or swerved into adjacent lanes without signaling, seemingly triggered by shadows or changes in the road surface. These phantom maneuvers are unpredictable and hazardous. On [xxx] at about [xxx], at a t-shaped intersection, fsd failed to yield to a vehicle traveling straight with the right of way while I was making a left turn. I had to slam on the brakes to disengage, narrowly avoiding a collision. This was the second such incident in the same intersection in one week. These repeated failures—unsafe following, late exit attempts, failed merges, phantom swerves, and failure to yield—create significant risks for me, my passengers, and surrounding drivers. The problem has been reported to Tesla multiple times via in-car voice reports and a written service request, and logs from my vehicle should confirm these events. No warning lamps or system alerts appeared before or during the failures. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I’ve had to replace the steering rack, upper and lower control arm for the left wheel, entire computer motherboard. I drove the car for less than 70k miles and zero accidents and zero modifications. Yes I am open for inspection. While driving with fsd lane keep failed causing the car to veer to other lane. The Tesla repair shop said the steering rack was sending errors and the whole rack needs to be replaced. They said it was both electrical and mechanical failure. Previously I’ve had the control arms replaced because it was making clicking noise when I turn the wheel. They said it was due to front compliance link and lateral link issues. Also had entire computer board replaced previously. The error message after the incident was lane assist disabled, steering assist reduced. In the maintenance mode it said “ the drive interface (di) or drive inverter (dix) electronic control unit (ecu) detects a low voltage (lv) battery undervoltage event. ”.

Autopilot suddenly slams on the brakes going [xxx] on [xxx] just north of ankeny, IA when you hit the underpass at [xxx] [xxx] , [xxx] ). This happens every time for the past year about. No software update has fixed this yet. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

When driving on highways the car will jerk the steering wheel and cause the car to turn when the car is in the center of the lane. This causes the driver to counter the force from the steering wheel to keep the car on the road. This only happens when autopilot and full self driving are not being used. I have taken it to the service center twice. The first time they said it was an issue with the car alignment so they realigned the tires and the second time they said it was a problem with the car’s computer so they replaced the computer. This continues to happen and is dangerous. Sometimes it will give a lane departure warning while other times there are no warnings.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? system computer. After a over the air (ota) update, most driver assistive functions are inoperative. System feedback display sometime goes black (speedometer, controls, backup camera, etc). After manufacturer serviced car to verify and resolve issue, issue was not corrected. Screen continues to error, asking for a software update. Per the manufacturer this is a computer issue with the cache, and being told to replace computer. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? since the driver feedback display and cameras are sometimes non-functional. Back up camera can be unusable, lane keeping, and cruise control are inoperative. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? yes has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? by an manufacturer repair center. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? no, they appeared after an ota update 9-Aug-2024.

Tesla fsd consistently ignores temporary lane closures, and will cheerfully try to drive over the barrier poles. The locale is the san diego pure water project construction zones. They set up lane closures that change every week or so. They use a line of red poles along the middle of the road to block off a lane and direct both lanes of traffic into one lane. Sometimes there is also a large closed sign in the middle of the closed lane. Tesla never sees the red poles and often does not see the closed sign. I attach several photos each showing both the Tesla screen and reality in the same image. (unless Tesla fixes this soon) I can send you lots more photos if you wish.

After Tesla software update 2023. 44. 30. 2, the rear back up camera no longer works. It’s just a black screen. Failure first occurred on 12/20/2023. Also, Tesla “auto pilot” no longer works (cruise control and lane assist). Support team could not fix both issues. Have a service appointment scheduled on 12/27/2023. Thank you and happy holidays.

Approximately 11:26 am on Thursday July 27, and approximately 110 miles east of gallup, new mexico, I experienced when driving a 2021 Tesla Model Y, a series of extreme phantom braking events. One phantom braking event resulted in an extreme braking and the car gave a loud alarm signal. This happened while passing two rather closely spaced semi-trailer trucks that were in the right lane of the interstate highway 40 roadway going westbound. Both trucks were traveling without making any unusual movements. They were steadily traveling between 70 and 80 mph. There was a large SUV following our vehicle. This event resulted in an extremely hazardous condition. A high-speed rear-end collision was imminent. I, as the driver of the Model Y, immediately accelerated and steered over to the left-lane shoulder. No collision occurred and I was able to pass the two trucks and return to the right lane. Clearly, this behavior of the Model Y is extremely hazardous and must be corrected. It is my recollection that I had disengaged the auto steer mode prior to passing the two trucks and then reengaged the auto steer after passing the two trucks and moving to the right lane. I have experienced this behavior before as I have been driving the vehicle for the past two years of my three-year lease. Strangely it always occurs, it seems when driving on rural interstate, such as this case. Fortunately, these experiences helped me to instantly respond by accelerating and moving onto the left lane shoulder to avoid a disastrous accident. It is appalling that this has been happening. The Tesla gives absolutely no indication of the cause of the urgent breaking either before or after the event. Also there has been no notifications from Tesla on this dangerous phantom breaking. I am sending this report to Tesla and the NHTSA.

Had my front windshield replace by dealership. While driving home on highway from dealership I turned on super cruise and the car no longer followed the center of the lane. It moved over to the left and nearly ran into a neighboring car before I over rode the lane following with the steering wheel. On an empty section of the highway later I tested and it was now driving with its wheels on the left lane line, body and mirror extending over the line into the next lane. Dealership should have checked that or at least warned me to look out for it when I picked up the car. Called Tesla roadside assistance and person on the phone told me to recalibrate camera, which I did and it fixed the problem. Calibration of the front camera was thrown off when it was remounted on the new windshield. Obvious to me in hindsight, but it did not occur to me at all when I picked up the car.

My family and I were driving from san diego to arizona on interstate 8. I was utilizing autopilot (adaptive cruise control with lane keeping assistance) and 4 different times the car slammed on the brakes from approximately 75 mph to 60 mph. We were driving on a bright, sunny, extremely hot day (116 degrees). Luckily there were no cars behind us or we could have been rear-ended. It's also noteworthy, there were no cars/vehicles in front of us or objects in the road when the phantom braking occurred. I now no longer feel safe using autopilot on our Model Y. No warning messages appeared and no additional information was provided by the car. We have used autopilot on several other road trips and never experienced this issue.

“full self driving” (Tesla’s beta feature) swerved erratically when used on highway with bike rack attached to tow hitch loaded with 4 bikes. The screen intermittently showed a car following closely (which wasn’t there) and likely swerved to try and get away from it. This caused the car to move onto adjacent lanes risking bumping into other cars in those lanes.

Experienced phantom braking twice today on I 5. Almost crashed or got rear ended. Car was on auto pilot. This needs to be fixed.

I was using the new version of the full self driving on surface streets. It was my second time using the system (yesterday was the first on the freeway and it seemed odd). Today it sped up and veered towards a car parked in the middle lane. I grabbed the wheel and thought it might have been an innocent error. Then a few minutes later the car took control again and tried to turn (quickly) into the side of a fedex truck. At that point I knew the first miss wasn’t made up in my mind. I’m so glad I was paying attention, both would have been serious car damage - though not likely to be deadly because they were at low enough speeds.

Jan 13, 2023 at 7:02am pst. While using adaptive cruise control with lanekeeping, I was driving in second lane from the right at a constant speed. There was plenty of room in front of me- no car nearby. As I was slowly passing the car to my right, another car that was behind the car to my right began a normal lane change to its left into my lane behind me. For no reason, my car began to slow down suddenly. Video footage of cameras on my car show the moment when the front of my car pitched down because it was suddenly slowing down. The rear camera view shows when my car's brake lights illuminated for no good reason. I immediately intervened and accelerated back to my highway speed so as to not contribute to the car behind me running into me or having to suddenly brake itself and leading to a problem for yet more drivers. These video files I am linking to show the incident 14 seconds into each video. . Read more...

Unknown this incident happened on 10/16/2022 while on I-95 while the vehicle was engaged in the auto-pilot mode on the highway (we do not use this autopilot mode unless we are o the highway for long distance drives and that is very infrequent). The vehicle suddenly swerved around and lost control while on auto pilot. As always my hands were on the wheel and I could undo the auto pilot and take control of the vehicle. Fortunately there were no other vehicles around us and there was no damage! we have filed another claim previously with the NHTSA - 11455695.

I was going on I-95 north (palm beach county) on autopilot (and I had full self driving enabled in my car). It was raining, and I was at moderate speed, I would say 45-50 mph. The car started spinning uncontrollably. By miracle nodoby hit me, the card corrected after what I believe were 2 spins and continue on the same direction as traffic. I believe, with the nerves of the moment, that about 45 to 60 seconds later, I put auto pilot again, not knowing what hapened. And the car, out of nothing, started spininng again. 3 times, and I hit the opposite wall of the highway. By another miracle, nobody hit me (rush hour, I-95 north, 820am).

Multiple incidents of phantom braking well traveling on I 90. 5 documented incidents. Have requested vehicle service however previous service for this type of incident did not correct the issue. At one point the car slowed from 75 to 50 before I could react. There were no other vehicles near my vehicle when the events occurred.

Multiple incidences of phantom braking while using cruise control/autopilot (not full self driving) traveling to/from sacramento, CA and park city, utah on August 13th and 19th. This has happened previously while traveling to/from sacramento, CA and napa, CA. Unexpected hard braking on the highway at speeds of 55-85 mph) for no apparent reason is a hazard to the driver/passenger as well as any nearby vehicles. It causes undue fright, motion sickness, whiplash, and potential accidents. I contacted Tesla and they evaluated the car remotely and said they found nothing wrong. Yes, the car is available anytime for an inspection. No, the car or components have not been inspected by anyone, except as noted above by Tesla's service department. There were no warning lights/messages. This has been a problem for at least 6 months. It just became more evideent on our trip to/from utah.

On a roadtrip between California and wyoming, the adaptive cruise control, full-self driving, and emergency breaking engaged for absolutely no reason on dozens of occasions - what I understand is termed "phantom breaking. " this was so bad that on Sunday, July 10, I noted each severe incident. Some of these occurred with absolutely no traffic in the road, some during busier periods. In each case, it was scary and dangers -- to the point where my dog went flying off the seat. While this was an issue throughout the road trip, I only noted incidents on July 10, but please be aware this happened on many other days as well. Here are the significant incidents on July 10. Please note there were less severe incidents on this day that I didn't note because it would have been too many to count. 12pm mountain time just outside idaho falls, id -- car braked with no warning from 70 mph to 60 mph 2pm mountain time - 77 miles outside twin falls, id 256pm mountain time - right outside twin falls 408pm mountain time - heading south from twin falls towards nevada -- the car braked three times in rapid succession 447pm mountain time - heading south past jackpot nv 450pm mountain time - same 420pm pacific time - 16 miles north of wells nv, braking multiple times in succession 524pm pacific time - just west of wells, nv, sudden braking from 85 mph to 65 mph 643pm pacific time - half way between wells, nv and winnemucca nv.

The brakes engage during lane assist mode as if to avoid something in the road although there is nothing there. This happens many times on a road trip from phoenix to los angeles on I 10. It also happened multiple times on the freeway in town in phoenix. It is very jarring.

On June 2 around 3:40pm cdt while driving in cruise control on I-43 in wisconsin around 70mph my car suddenly went into corrective lane assist with warning alerts and steering wheel action. There was no reason this should have happened.

Driving south on interstate 89 in vermont, approaching exit 2. Auto-pilot and auto-steer engaged. (note: this vehicle does not have the optional "full self-driving beta" mode. ) in the right lane, road curving to the left. The right-hand exit ramp appeared almost directly ahead. Auto-steer tried to continue straight ahead into the (low-speed) exit ramp at full highway speed. I had to physically wrestle the auto-steer for a short period, which forces it to disengage, to keep in my lane on the highway. Daylight, clear weather. Had I not had my hands on the wheel and had I not paid attention, the car would have taken the sharply curving exit ramp and I would have run off the road into trees. This is a failure of the auto-steer software. I have also had issues with auto-steer when driving past on-ramps and off-ramps that do not have dashed lines that continue the right-hand edge of the driving lane. In these cases, the auto-steer attempts to abruptly correct into the middle of the suddenly wider "lane" as indicated by the edges of the ramps and the left side dashed line. It should maintain its standard distance from the left lane markings instead of trying to center itself in the suddenly wider perceived lane. I have the auto-steer lane correction enabled and set to "early" mode (which is the most aggressive setting). This is a software bug, not a component failure.

All of these incidents occurred with adaptive cruise control engaged, and sometimes with lane keeping engaged. The vehicle frequently brakes, or slows dramatically, when on the freeway and there is no obstacle in the vicinity. Over the last three days I made the drive from burbank to anaheim along I-5. Always in the same area, the car would suddenly slow. In two out of the three incidents, the "max speed," which was set to 80, dropped to 45. Simultaneously, the car thought it was in a 55 mph zone (it was a 65 mph zone). In one of the three instances, the max speed was not changed, but the car still slowed dramatically. On the same commute, the car navigation always has me get off on artesia blvd, and then get right back on the freeway. The adaptive cruise has a configurable follow distance that the car seems to generally ignore. It's a number from 2 to 6 or so, and it's not clear what it's supposed to be (seconds or car lengths). It's rarely either, although it should represent seconds. When traffic comes to a complete stop, the car waits until it is too close to brake. When traffic begins moving, the car waits too long to start moving, and then accelerates excessively to catch up. Finally, when using the regular adpative cruise and lane keeping, I would signal lane changes and initiate the change. The car disengages steering but maintains cruise. In many cases, while still indicating the lane change, the car's lane departure warning will sound and it will attempt to correct my steering, which I have to physically override. My Nissan leaf had adaptive cruise control, lane centering, and lane departure avoidance, and it never gave me these issues. Oh also, the Tesla frequently and erroneously warns of forward collision. It's really terrible, and it's due in no small part to the removal of the forward radar sensor.

This vehicle when on adas (aka autopilot) and adaptive cruise control I experience constant "phantom" braking where car will slow down or slam on brakes for seemingly no reason. Most noticeable on a non separated highway phantom braking occurs constantly and is very predictable when large truck is near on the oncoming lane; happens probably 80% of the time. Slamming on the brakes for no reason is alarming and dangerous in my estimation. This system is completely unusable and very unnerving. Ironically I had a 2019 model 3 with the same features and did this very rarely so this feature is much worse than it was on older vehicles with radar.

After seeing news reports about the problems with Tesla "phantom braking", I realized this is not an issue localized with my vehicle. I also have this problem where the car will slam on the brakes when using the advanced cruise control system. It's jarring, to say the least. I reported the issue to Tesla a month after buying the car (10/21) and they instructed me to do a power cycle on the car but this has not helped. Incidenct occurance varies on the type of driving, but it's probably every 5 miles or so on a 2-lane road.

I was traveling early morning before sunrise over the tehachapi pass towards mojave in California. Someone had lost a camper shell from the top of a pickup truck in the lane. It was still dark outside. I saw the obstruction in the road but the car cameras did not pick it up. I pulled into the left lane to try to get around the camper shell. The lane assist pulled me right back into the camper shell which tore down the side of the car doing 10k in damage. The car never recognized impact or an accident. I have the videos from the cameras of the car. The lane assist, as far as I know, only doesn’t activate when the turn signal is used, which I did not have time for, as I had less than 200 feet between me and the camper shell.

Car brakes while on autopilot whenever a truck comes in opposite lane, especially in single lane roads, more prominent on cloudy days. Near collision by following cars due to unanticipated brakes.

The cruise control and auto pilot functions failed while driving in the rain. The car would not disengage from auto pilot and continually would engage back into auto pilot and eventually locking tires and spinning out across all lanes of the freeway. My safety and all the drivers around me are put at risk when something that dramatic occurs. The car spun out completely out of control and after doing a complete spin the car continued to spin losing all control and ended up inches from the center median and was facing oncoming traffic. Unknown- I instantly called Tesla and removed my memory stick from the vehicle, they are still conducting their "investigation". Took it into the dealer and had them look into the issue. They are currently remotely working on what caused the issue with their engineers. No warning lamps or messages appeared prior to the occurence.

On Monday November 22 at around 6:15 pm cst, I was driving my Model Y and had Tesla's full self driving beta software engaged. A right banked curve on a two lane road in a rural area came up with a vehicle coming around the curve the opposite direction. The Model Y slowed slightly and began making the turn properly and without cause for concern. Suddenly, about 40% of the way through the turn, the Model Y straightened the wheel and crossed over the center line into the direct path of the oncoming vehicle. I reacted as quickly as I could, trying to pull the vehicle back into the lane. I really did not have a lot of time to react, so chose to override fsd by turning the steering wheel since my hands were already on the wheel and I felt this would be the fastest way to avoid a front overlap collision with the oncoming vehicle. When I attempted to pull the vehicle back into my lane, I lost control and skidded off into a ditch and through the woods, causing significant damage to the vehicle. I was able to retrieve the dashcam footage of this incident and it is attached here. I did analyze the footage myself briefly. You can see the vehicle leave the lane, and within about 10 frames, I had already begun pulling back into the lane before losing control and skidding off the road. Since this video is recorded at about 36 fps, this would mean I reacted within 360ms of the lane departure. I understand it is my responsibility to pay attention and maintain control of the vehicle, which I agreed to when I enrolled in fsd beta. I was paying attention, but human reaction does not get much faster than this and I am not sure how I could have otherwise avoided this incident. I am thankful this was the outcome rather than a front overlap collision with the oncoming vehicle, which would have likely resulted in bodily injury. Tesla has confirmed that fsd beta was engaged, per the attached correspondence, but insists that this incident and the resulting accident are my responsibility.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 60 mph, the lane assist feature operated independently as he attempted to merge into the right lane. Due to the failure, the vehicle pulled back into the left lane which caused the vehicle to spin in a circle and crash into a median. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The contact was not injured as a result of the accident. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was initially towed to the dealer where he was informed that the vehicle would be towed to an independent body shop for repair. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 24,300.

The vehicle was in fsd beta mode and while taking a left turn the car went into the wrong lane and I was hit by another driver in the lane next to my lane. The car gave an alert 1/2 way through the turn so I tried to turn the wheel to avoid it from going into the wrong lane but the car by itself took control and forced itself into the incorrect lane creating an unsafe maneuver putting everyone involved at risk. Car is severely damaged on the driver side.

Using autopilot on 405 freeway at approximately 60mph. When approaching stopped traffic, I initiated a lane change using the turn signal. Halfway through the lane change the car swerved back into the original lane and slammed on the brakes causing the car behind me to rear end the vehicle. Damage was minor. I reported the incident to Tesla on October 17. The original response was to schedule a service appointment. The appointment was later cancelled after I received a message from Tesla legal regarding autopilot. My message to Tesla was deleted from my service history. Tesla autopilot, tacc and fsd are not safe to use on any roads. I have experienced dozens of phantom braking episodes in this car on all types of roads in clear conditions.

The vehicle sometimes brakes dangerously hard at highway speeds, nearly causing the vehicle behind me to nearly rear-end me.

My car brakes for no apparent reason when cruis control is active of autopilot. Sometime it is about sometimes it is gradual. In one instance on the interstate at 75mph it took me down to 50 befor I could hit the accelerator petal to make it continue. This is a hazard for drivers around me. I have been in contact with Tesla multiple time but they have done nothing to fix it. Lane keep assist is also an issue. When the lane keep assist is turned off in the settings it will still preform the lane keeping. This caught me off guard and caused damage to the vehicle.

I purchased the Tesla full self-driving capability via subscription for my 2021 Tesla Model Y on Saturday, July 17, 2021. On Sunday, July 18, 2021 at approximately 12:40pm CT. While activating the Smart summon feature in a private residential parking lot, the car drove itself into a tree damaging the front of the car resulting in a total cost of $1,799. 32. Tesla is refusing to refund me the $200. 00 for the self-driving subscription after their software malfunctioned. This is a dangerous feature that is available to millions of drivers. Video footage of the incident is here: https://vimeo. . Read more...