Warnings problems of the 2023 Tesla Model Y

While attempting to park my Tesla, I accidentally struck another vehicle’s side step with the front passenger side of my car. The other vehicle was not damaged, but my Tesla sustained visible damage. The vehicle’s camera system failed to detect or display the side step, giving the impression that there was sufficient clearance. As a result, I relied on what I believed to be accurate visual guidance from the Tesla camera system. During a follow-up visit to the Tesla service center in gilroy, California, I was told that similar incidents have occurred before. According to the technicians, the camera system has known limitations in detecting low-profile or side-mounted obstacles, such as running boards or side steps. This presents a significant safety concern. Tesla vehicles rely heavily on cameras and sensors for driver awareness, particularly during parking maneuvers. When key blind spots exist in the system—especially in areas the driver may not be able to visually confirm easily—it puts both property and people at risk. Drivers are conditioned to trust the vehicle’s spatial guidance systems, but in this case, that trust may lead to preventable accidents. Given Tesla’s growing market share and the increasing use of its camera-based safety and autonomy features, I believe this issue could affect many other drivers. It may warrant broader review to determine whether a design or software update is necessary to improve detection of low-profile obstacles and better inform drivers in parking scenarios.

The primary safety restraint system, specifically the driver's side airbag, failed to deploy during a significant frontal impact collision. This severely compromised my personal safety, as my head struck the steering wheel with force, leading to injury and pain. Had the impact been more severe, the lack of airbag deployment could have led to much more serious, potentially life-threatening, injuries. Immediately after the impact, the primary braking system also malfunctioned, and the vehicle's warning and autopilot systems became compromised, posing further safety risks. The specific airbag non-deployment problem has not yet been reproduced or formally confirmed by a dealer or independent service center, vehicle is currently scheduled for its first post-accident inspection at a Tesla collision center address 6010 richmond Ave, houston TX 77057 on June 11, 2025, and is available for inspection. To date, the vehicle has not been formally inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives for these specific malfunctions. Police responded to the accident scene and filed a report, but no technical inspection was conducted by them. There were no prior warning lamps, messages, or symptoms indicating a malfunction with the airbag system before the collision. However, immediately after the collision, the primary brakes failed and the warning system and autopilot system showed signs of malfunction/disruption; no specific warning lights related to these post-impact issues appeared prior to their malfunction.

Auto parking feature malfunction and backed right rear quarter panel and bumper into a yellow pole in a parking spot.

We have had numerous incidents of sudden and unexpected braking. Earlier this month while rounding a curve with adaptive cruise control enabled, the car aggressively braked when it saw an oncoming semi safely in the other lane. It was good there were no cars behind us or no doubt they would’ve rear-ended us. Last night - like so many other times the past year or so - I was pulling into a parking spot with a bush in front and, only a few feet in, the car slammed the brakes on even engaging abs. Usually the warning system just makes a sound or gently applies this brakes but this was jarring. Everyone in the car lurched forward. The date below is from the incident related to the semi. That could have been very bad. My Subaru outback uses sonar and I’ve never had these sorts of problems.

The incident involves the malfunctioning of the Tesla vision and parking assist systems in my 2023 Tesla Model Y. Over the course of owning the vehicle, I have experienced multiple issues with these systems that led to three parking accidents and safety concerns. On several occasions, the Tesla vision system displayed a message indicating "Tesla vision will experience degraded performance. " this message appeared consistently, signaling an ongoing issue with the system's capabilities. The degraded performance of Tesla vision was particularly evident in its inability to accurately gauge distances and detect obstacles during parking maneuvers. The parking assist feature, which is crucial for safe and efficient parking, also exhibited significant flaws. The system failed to provide accurate distance measurements and warnings, which are essential for preventing collisions. This was especially problematic in tight parking spaces and while maneuvering near obstacles. Specific incidents of concern include: 1. A parking accident occurred when attempting to park in my garage. The Tesla vision system failed to accurately detect the garage door, resulting in a collision while exiting the garage and attempting to turn the car. 2. Another incident involved a collision with a white column positioned against a gray wall, which the Tesla vision system failed to recognize, leading to vehicle damage. These incidents highlight the unreliability of the Tesla vision and parking assist systems in their current state. Prior to owning the Tesla Model Y, I drove a 2019 Acura mdx and had no parking accidents. The technicians at the Tesla dealership do not use the park assist because of this I have a video showing assist lines moving from stop to 16" . . . While parked. The image showed I had 14" when in fact it was 5".

Backing up in a parking lot with direct sun behind the car, lost sight via the mirrors, dashboard camera and parking assist and collided with parking bollard approximately 3' high causing extensive damage to the left, rear quarter panel and wheel well. Parking assist didn't beep, blare or other as it does and has for our yard waste bins and garden cart at the edges of our driveway (backing up in the dark). I believe the fact that cameras only and sun exposure is a bad mix and was sure glad we weren't in fsd and going forward. I think that removing the radar function via software and or removing the connector plug (at a service visit) is both unsafe and a fraud against the purchaser of such a vehicle and radar systems should be reinstated for the consideration of safety whether going backwards or forwards. Wanted to make the complaint first as we also can't get a service appointment for this incident until the end of July. Happy with the overall vehicle but this safety function is fallible and unsafe.

Brand new vehicle, the vehicle cameras do not seem to be conveying the correct information to the control systems resulting in all related safety features like forward collision, parking assist, lane departure, automatic wipers, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, green light chime, etc are not working. In the last few months these features have not been operational for more than a few days. This is a major safety flaw with this vehicle and the local dealer is unable or unwilling to help.

The Model Y with autopilot plus and autopark enabled lurched forward and crashed into a wall during parking. Just as important a concern is that the car never made a beep, chirp or any other indication or warning that it ever even realized it was driving into an obstacle. We are certain the collision would not have happened had Tesla not removed ultrasonic sensors from the car because the driver has driven many Teslas and even owned a Tesla before but all had uss sensors in them.

Tesla purposely disabled sensors to warn when close to objects (curb, other vehicles, garage door opening & wall). I wasn’t informed that there will be no parking assist feature indefinitely when I spoke to sakes dept. Tesla says it is still developing cameras to replace sensors. I had a 2015 Tesla, which had these warnings. Before that I had a2002 Jaguar with park sensors. It is not new. Because of lack of reliable sensors, I am afraid to use any of Tesla’s driver assistance features. I was told by service manager that sensors only “see” a few feet, while cameras can see infinitely. This is doubtful. But at this point, I have neither. In fact, when parking in tight places, “infinite” camera vision would be useless. Seeing that I’m inches away from an obstacle is useful. I have been told that when a car comes in for Tesla service and still has sensors, the sensors are removed without the owner’s knowledge.

Tesla removed the parking sensors and replaced them with a "vision" system. My last Tesla has the parking sensors and the parking distance and chimes worked great. The new vision system works rarely. I've run into stuff in the garage while parking, it doesn't sense walls, doesn't work in the rain, you have to wait for an extended period of time for it to "load" and it randomly doesn't work. You'll get a message saying something to the effect of park assist unavailable. I've asked Tesla to address the issue but it's a problem I don't think they can solve as they are trying to get cameras to see where they don't have a field of view. In the image below I am about 18 inches from my garage door and it's not even being registered. The curb to the side is registering but not the giant wall behind me.

This 2023 Model Y has no collision warning. This was not what I expected when I purchased.

The back up camera is misaligned and shows the car in the wrong position. The poor rear visibility, combined with the “coming soon“ parking sensors means it’s very dangerous to backup the vehicle.

Bought 2023 Tesla Model Y on 29-Dec-2022. Noticed that when I am backing up the car, even when there is another car right behind, or any pedestrian crossing there was no warning. At first I thought some settings is turned off. Later, when I was changing lanes in freeway, no lane departure alert. Also no blind spot chime came on even though that option was turned on in settings. Almost I was about to crash into another car which was in my blind spot. I started googling and learnt that Tesla has removed ultrasonic sensors from oct2022 onwards and they are working on Tesla vision which is a camera based system. But Tesla vision is not ready as of 08-Mar-2023 when I am writing this. How is the 2023 Model Y manufactured without ultrasonic sensors and no Tesla vision passed basic safety test? I feel threatened every moment I drive the car without these basic safety features like rear object detection while backing up, lane departure alert, curb sensor alert, blind spot warning. I feel like I am driving a 2000 model old car which doesn't have any of these features. How does NHTSA deem Tesla cars manufactured after oct22 safe on roads? I will be at financial burden and stress and risk of death without these basic features in a 70k+ car. . Read more...

Park collision warning is defective. I have learned that Tesla has disabled park assist on this vehicle and on model 3/y manufactured after October 2022 despite still advertising this functionality in the current user manual. This is because they have transitioned from ultrasonic sensors to a purely camera based system. However, their camera based software has not been enabled for park assist. As a result of this, I had a minor impact while parking due to expecting an audible 'beep' or screen indication of distance from objects, as I have had in my prior Tesla. However, I received no such warning. Also, Tesla poorly communicated to users, many of whom have had this functionality in prior Teslas, that this functionality has been disabled. In speaking with Tesla service, I was informed that Tesla has disabled park assist until a software update will be available. However, until the software update is made available, this is a safety defect that should be communicated through a recall to all owners.

I ordered the car with parking sensor feature standard similar to my daughter car Model Y 2022 which she bought a couple of months earlier. Tesla removed the parking sensor without advising me. This sensors are vital for safety of pets, children and obstacles during parking.

Tesla advertised that Tesla vision will replace the ultrasonic sensors (uss) and help with park assist. Before buying the Tesla Model Y Tesla representative assured me that Tesla vision will function to replace the uss. Currently my Model Y has no visibility to any objects near the vehicle. The lake of sensors caused me to hit concrete blocks in parking spots. The lack of these sensors may cause serious accidents around the vehicle while moving out of garages.

The Tesla Model Y blind spot warning system does not accurately detect the position of cars in the lanes next to the car. The display shows the car as behind the vehicle while it is actually at the rear quarter panel. There is only an audio warning if the turn signal is activated. The car is in the blind spot yet the system does not warn the driver. I took the car in for an adjustment to cameras and Tesla said they are functioning as designed. Tesla removed the radar sensors that aid in parking at low speeds. This was intended to be replaced with Tesla vision. Tesla vision functionality is not yet available. Although a low-speed collision with an object may not result in injury to a person, it is a safety feature that has been removed. The windshield wiper's speed cannot be adjusted or even started on the stock. To change speed or turn on the wipers you must look away from the road, locate the control panel and then select the desired speed. This clearly is a safety hazzard.

The car advertising having uss when place the pre-order. But when pick up the vehicle, uss is not there.

The uss park assist safety feature was eliminated from the vehicle without providing an alternative method or feature to monitor the front of the parked car in case an object or child was placed in front of the car after it was parked. The original uss park assist feature would detect this but the current vision feature would not if the object or child is closer than 3 feet. It is irresponsible for a car manufacturer to eliminate a safety feature without providing a similar function as a substitute immediately. Just promising that this will come in the future should not be acceptable to the NHTSA. No problems have been recorded to date but this is just an accident waiting to happen. I'm asking the NHTSA to contact Tesla to require an immediate resolution.

When I purchased this vehicle, I was told that all adas features would be available once the cameras calibrated (approximately 50 miles). After 100 miles my wife bumped into a wall in our garage. I opened a ticket and Tesla said the adas features are unavailable until a software update is sent. The sales person who I spoke to were not aware of this. This is extremely dangerous. Drivers are reliant on warnings from features like this and to have the features off without a warning could get someone run over.