general problems of the 2021 Tesla Model Y

Summary of issue: the vehicle has experienced intermittent drive disconnections without warning. This occurred multiple times on August 9–10, 2025, during trips between palo alto and monterey. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection? the suspected component is the drive unit (covered under Tesla’s 8-year drive unit & battery warranty). The vehicle and its systems remain available for inspection by NHTSA or Tesla. How was safety put at risk? the intermittent drive disconnections can result in sudden loss of propulsion without warning while the car is in motion. If this occurs at highway speeds, it creates a serious safety risk of collision or loss of vehicle control. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center? Tesla service has attempted to inspect the vehicle but reported “no fault found. ” because the issue is intermittent, Tesla did not reproduce it during their inspection, though I documented it on August 9–10, 2025. Has the vehicle/component been inspected by the manufacturer or others? yes, the Tesla service center inspected the vehicle 25 August 2025. However, Tesla has refused to provide a detailed record of what diagnostic steps were actually performed (log review, physical inspection, or drive unit stress testing). Were there any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms? no warning lamps or messages appeared at the time of the failures. The vehicle resumed propulsion after several seconds, clearing the condition without leaving an active customer-facing alert. Concern: because the failure is intermittent and leaves no persistent alerts, Tesla has returned the vehicle without resolving the problem or providing adequate documentation. This leaves a potential safety-critical drivetrain failure unaddressed. Requested action: I request that NHTSA investigate potential drive unit intermittent disconnection failures in Tesla Model Y.

A year ago I went on a road trip from florida to iowa in the winter, temperatures were freezing or below freezing. I got an alert to maintenance powertrain, after driving to Tesla they informed me the oil pump on the rear motor was falling apart. It was replaced. A year later on a second road trip to the same location also in sub freezing conditions the exact same error pops up, in service mode it says rear oil pump error.

­•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.

Steering disabled due to software update resulting in vehicle undriviable and having to be towed from driveway Tesla requiring customer to pay for hardware replacement due to software update failure costing $2,921. 24 for the replacement, out of pocket. Required replacement of steering rack (dual motor) part - steering gear left hand drive (1044832-00-a).

The main screen on my Tesla Model Y flickers while driving, as well as charging. I have a video of it happening, if you slow the video down it completely shuts the screen down for a millisecond and then turns back on. I have sent this video to Tesla, as well as Tesla technicians has confirmed the issue happening when they had the vehicle. I have had the vehicle into Tesla 3 separate times for service, they don't know how to fix the issue and keep telling me to wait. I have been dealing with this issue since January 2024 and am tired of waiting and putting my safety at risk. I feel that I have been more than patient with them and now I feel that they are now blowing me off. They don't feel that it is a safety concern even considering that the display screen went out while driving 70 mph, for 13 miles and I couldn't get it to turn back on.  aditionally the side cameras on the vehicle intermittently go out. There is no warnings or symptoms prior to it happening it just happens. I have 29 times documented of it happening to me. I have requested a buyback which was denied as well as a loaner from Tesla until they can fix the issue, yet they denied that as well. It seems that Tesla does not care about the safety of me and I want this issue to be investigated. I have the video of the screen flickering reach out to me to get it since I cant post it in the place below.

I was driving on PA turnpike in light rain . I never drive fast . Somehow my car start shifting from one side of the rd to another I slow down but I did not feel connection with sterling wheels car start spinning in circles and I crashed with 2 kids in the car.

When driving the car abruptly slows down. This also happened on the freeway. I get an error message that says “power limited” and a turtle symbol. This is the second time this issue has happened. Tesla service center has not been able to confidently diagnose this issue. They say it’s resolved and once I leave the service center and the problem comes back.

Battery is not able to charge . The message shows need services bring the car to Tesla service center , they told us the battery need to be replaced. They did not tell us what caused the battery to die. The car has about 30000 miles on it . Daily driving to work. Don’t understand why the battery dies so fast . Does anyone report the same problem on 2021 Tesla Model Y ?.

The power steering went out and it was virtually impossible to turn the steering wheel. It was unsafe to drive because you were not able to turn the car unless you were very strong. Safety issue-unable to turn the car without possibly colliding with another car. Tesla replaced the drive train. Another incident happened while getting into the car and driving it. An alert came up on the screen saying that the power train needed immediate service and that I could not exceed 60 mph. I was driving at the time. As I continued to drive to my destination the alert kept coming on with different speeds I could not drive at. It eventually got down to 53 mph and it physically would not drive over that speed and it was on the freeway and dangerous because the car kept slowing down. Tesla replaced the oil pump in the back battery. I have had this car for 3 years and it has been in the shop 15 times.

The car started to malfunction its ability for regenerative braking (regen. ) upon release of the accelerator. The car felt as if the regen feature was slipping - so instead of a constant brake and deceleration, the car could be felt moving forward as if accelerating. Then while driving on freeway at 65-70 mph, car lost its ability to brake when I pressed on the brake twice, instead of slowing it felt as if the car just continued at its current speed. Then the car cut its power and flashed an alert "power reduced - exiting and re-entering vehicle may restore operation" it then flashed an alert "pull over immediately - unable to drive". According to Tesla, they said it was the "lh body harness. Found that the harness was not creating an efficient connection" but they never directly addressed why it felt as if the car was accelerating when I pressed on the brake. Safety was critically comprised for myself and others who I could have hit in a vehicle collision since the brakes did not respond accordingly and felt as if it accelerated or continue to maintain its speed. The problem was confirmed by Tesla but they only addressed the car going into what they refer to as "limp mode". Car was inspected by Tesla and diagnosed the problem to a faulty/bad body harness that caused an improper signal. No warning lights or messages prior to the failure. Symptoms started the morning of the incident with the noted regen not fully engaged/working correctly. I did not have any feature setting which would have caused or replicated the lack of regen. I can provide the dealer invoice if needed.

My wife was driving in moderate rain on the freeway. We were going about 70mph which was the same speed as the rest of the cars. We were going around a gentle turn in the road. Then without warning, our car started to slowly spin around. My wife instantly and completely lost control. We spun almost 180 degrees, crashed into two other vehicles, and came to rest against the cement barrier. Luckily nobody was seriously hurt, but we totaled two vehicles and damaged another. If the spin had happened along a different section of road we frequently drive on, we would have slid into oncoming traffic and people could have been killed. I requested that Tesla send the full data logs of the accident. It shows that my wife released the accelerator pedal right when the spin started. In most cars, releasing the accelerator causes the car to gently slow down. But Teslas, on the other hand, do aggressive regenerative braking when the accelerator is released. So it was as if my wife had pressed the break. Here is the problem: the regenerative braking system applies the breaks to the rear wheels only. On dry pavement this is fine, but on a wet road, going around a turn, hitting only the rear breaks was enough to cause the back of our car to slide out from behind us. Here is more detail: 1. Our car was all wheel drive. But the Tesla has published that for increased efficiency, they don't actually use the front motor except during high acceleration. This means that most of the time the car is only rear wheel drive. 2. Our car had under 25,000 miles on it, and the factory tires. The rear tires were worn more than the front tires, likely due to the car's acceleration being mostly applied to the rear tires. I believe that Tesla could fix this issue with an over-the-air recall. The recall would need to either reduce regenerative braking when wet roads are detected, or apply braking across both the front and rear wheels while on wet roads. Thank you!.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while at a complete stop with the brake pedal depressed, the vehicle rolled backwards. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring intermittently while at a complete stop. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

Steering wheel locked up and would not let driver navigate off-ramp from freeway. Car attempted to force driver to merge into a stopped lane. Auto-pilot features engaged in screen but they were not manually activated. Car attempted to cause an accident.

Received error code: vcfront_447 indicating a cabin heat issue, and a complete loss of heat within the interior of the vehicle. It appears this also is preventing the battery from fully warming up causing severe vehicle power reduction and lack of regen braking. It being sub-zero and frost bite within minutes this poses a safety risk when traveling. The problem has been reported by other vehicle owners. It has not been inspected at this time. There were no other alerts prior to the issue starting on 1/20/2022 at ~6am cst.

The vehicle loose power all of sudden while driving disabling all power including loss of power steering, failure of lane departure avoidance, regenerative brakes, parking breaks, traction and stability controls. This has caused hazardous dangerous conditions on the road. The vehicle had to be towed to local Tesla repair/service center on 4 occasions. We have been given false reassurance with no definitive fix yet, continues to be an ongoing issues that recurs after few weeks that vehicle comes back from service center.

Sudden, hard self breaking when in autopilot mode. Danger of collision at high speeds.

The car has less than 300 miles on it and I hear a loud clunk under the front of the floor by the pedals as if something is loose like the front motor or the suspension.

This problem happens repeatedly. It has been reported by multiple Tesla owners but no action has been taken by Tesla. When driving with the cruise control engaged, the car will brake very aggressively. This happens most commonly when there is no other traffic on the road and no debris on the road. It seems the car believes there is something in front of the car for which it needs to stop, even though the road is clear. But if I press on the accelerator the car resumes normal cruise operation. If there is a car behind me I am worried that the car behind me will crash into me. The braking action is very aggressive.

Backing out of garage, the driver began to smell acid and burnt electronics from the back of car. After driving back home from work the driver inspected the car. The back driver side door reeked of burnt electronics and the entire car had an acid smell. After consulting Tesla, the first Tesla maintenance worker noticed the entire inside of the door had melted and all electronics were fried. He claimed he had never seen this before. The second maintenance worker came with parts and determined the window module had overheated and caught fire. The fire melted many components inside the door. A brand new 2021 Tesla Model Y should not spontaneously catch fire. Especially if it is residing inside the garage of a house. After replacing all the components, Tesla deemed the car safe to drive. Yet, a couple days later they requested we bring the car in so that they could replace the computer that controls the left side of the car to do more research and find the 'root' cause of the fire. There were no warnings for the driver, nor was the driver using that window module. We have not driven the car since as we feel unsafe in the vehicle.

These are additional comments regarding complaints numbers 11406321 and 11406325. Since that time we have had increasingly frequent problems with the phone keys on multiple phones. My suspicion is that the problem I initially reported in case number 11406321 was caused by loss of communication of that phone. I have never been able to re-establish that phone as a phone key, and we are now experiencing problems with multiple phones. I most strongly believe that there is a huge safety issue with the phone keys. Failure of that bluetooth connection would result in the immediate stopping of the vehicle.

On multiple occasions we have lost communications with the vehicle through the Tesla phone app. The problem exists for three different phones of two different models. We have usually been able to re-establish communications through the Tesla procedures, but not always. On all but one of those occasions the vehicle was stationary and we were able to use a key card to continue. But on one occasion, while making a u-turn on a side street, the car just stopped moving, partially blocking the street. We had lost communications with the phone app. After recovering with a key card we went straight to the dealer. Examining the software, they claimed that I had hit the 'park' button while moving. First, I would have had no reason to do so. Second, I know of no vehicle that would not block any attempt to enter park while moving. Third, it killed all communication with the vehicle, while moving, leaving it stranded in the middle of the street.

These are additional comments regarding complain number 11406321. We did have to shift into park in order to use the key card. That is normal and expected.

These are additional comments regarding complaints numbers 11406321, 11406325, and 11406632. According to Tesla documentation, loss of phone key communication should give 2 to 3 minutes drivability to get to a safe stop. There was no statement that I found in that documentation to describe how the driver is notified of the failure. Regarding the statement by Tesla personnel that I tried to shift into park while moving, the car does, indeed, prevent that from happening, and gives the driver a loud audible warning. The date of occurrence listed with this submission is approximate.

This is the 2nd Tesla my mom owned, she drove a model 3 without any problems for many months. She picks up this Model Y on November 19 2020, and drives home from the dealer without issues. Next day November 20, 2020, drives to her work, pulls into a parking spot and came to a complete stop. Approx 5-10 seconds later the car lurches forward, hops over the parking curb, over some grass and into a brick wall at full acceleration. Luckily nobody was hurt, but severe damage to the building and the car. This case of unintended acceleration needs investigation. My mom does not feel safe getting back into this Model Y.