11 complaints reported

2020 Tesla Model Y VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE

Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.

Reports
11
Crashes
1
Fires
0
Injuries
0

Complaint Timeline

Chronological view of owner reports

Apr 2025 Crash

On Tuesday, [XXX], around [XXX] 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. The vehicle has been totaled by the insurance company. This incident was recorded in the vehicle’s computer. The police department was called the same day and a police officer came to the house to record the incident. The car was towed to Gerber Collision & Glass, 10491 Corkscrew Commons Dr., Estero, FL 33928, phone (239) 947-6050. The car computer system should have recorded the event. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Apr 2025
Dec 2024

On drives longer than 40 miles, camera faults cause cruise control systems to degrade in function and then when the faults are cleared, full functionality resumes without driver alerts. Side repeater camera feeds and rear camera feeds inconsistently load, or take an extended time period to load (10+ seconds). Tesla has confirmed that the autopilot computer (HW3) likely needs to be replaced, but this error/messaging is not directly accessible to the customer. The inconsistent failure behavior of the vehicle could easily lead less technical owners/drivers to incorrectly interpret how the car is behaving. The only message you receive while driving could be that 'cruise control is not available', and 'automatic emergency braking unavailable' with a message that the features may be restored later in the drive. My coworker has a 2022 Model Y and the same component failed on his vehicle and needed to be replaced under an extended warranty that was purchased from Tesla. I'm unsure how widespread the failure of this critical safety system is; we both purchased FSD and both had the same component fail and need replaced. I don't personally know others who own this vehicle with the FSD package to know for sure.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Dec 2024
Jun 2023

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. Each time they close the case before the service appointment with a version of the reply "this is normal" and "there is nothing to repair". They also claim that the car will learn how the react next time by my reaction to the incident this time. I have reacted the same way (by pushing the accelerator pedal until it regains forward motion) each time this has happened in the 8-10 times on each of the 6-8 road trips I've made in the last year. Clearly, the car isn't learning anything from my reaction to the sudden and unexpected braking. My safety is worth my time to make them take this seriously as they don't seem to be concerned with my safety!

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Jun 2023
Mar 2023

Nearly Every Single day on my drive home north on AZ hwy 90 my 2020 Tesla Model Y abruptly disengages and breaks from cruise control. it is especially startling when I pass a vehicle and then return to my lane only to have the car dramatically slow. I could be ok if it just disengaged cruise but daily multiple times it breaks on a fast moving highway

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Mar 2023
Feb 2023

• 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. He was caught off guard and had to manually brake hard himself to avoid hitting me • There are numerous independent confirmations of this behavior online, but I do not specifically know of any from an official "independent service center." Tesla denies the existence of the behavior. • There is no real "component" to inspect, this is a software issue • There were no warnings or other indications before it happened.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Oct 2021
Feb 2023

While driving on the highway at 59 mph using Tesla Autopilot functionality the vehicle braked so hard the wheels locked up and skidded without warning. There was no vehicle directly in front but there were two semi trucks on either side and vehicle directly behind me. The vehicle behind had to brake hard not to run into me. I took control of the vehicle and pressed the accelerator to regain speed and avoid an collision.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Feb 2023
Dec 2022

Phantom braking during a drive on highway. Out of no where, the car breaks even when there is no one stopping in front of you. This resulted in car behind panicking and almost rear ending.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Dec 2022
Nov 2022

During routine highway driving while using the included Autopilot (Adaptive Cruise Control) software, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning abruptly slow and apply breaks. This slowing can occur when traveling at 70mph (the posted speed limit) and attempt to slow to a speed of 45mph. This change causes a great safety hazard in the event of being closely followed or rear ended. This phenomenon is known to tesla and been colloquially termed "phantom breaking". No hazard or other external reason is present to merit a sudden breaking.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Nov 2022
Mar 2022

While using adaptive cruise control, the car decelerates for no apparent reason. The rapid deceleration of the vehicle could cause the following car to rear end my car. There is no warning when this occurs. I have not reported it to the manufacturer because forums and news show that all owners are impacted. This has happened many times.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Oct 2022
Feb 2022

When using the autonomous driving mode, the car unexpectedly decelerates with no warning and with no obvious traffic or other issue triggering the behavior. This has happened several times in dry, light conditions with no surrounding traffic. After experiencing this I have not used the autonomous mode again as it's completely unsafe.

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Dec 2020
Jan 2022

On a 900 mile drive, in one day, the “speed cruise control” would abruptly brake, as if it were seeing someone in front of us. It did this at a minimum 5 times. Never was there a car closer than 1/4 of a mile in front of us. Once it went from 78mph to 38mph in about 3 seconds, when there was a car about 3 car lengths behind us. On the return 900 mile drive it continued, at a lesser rate. I have reported this to Tesla, and they claim “my” car reports do not show anything out of the ordinary, and these errors are sometimes caused by…and they gave numerous reasons, such as speed limit data inaccuracies, etc. they also have determined that my car does not show any computer faults so there is nothing they can do. Unacceptable

Type: Vehicle, Vehicle: 2020 TESLA MODEL Y, Manufacturer: Tesla, Inc.
Incident: Nov 2022

Trend Over Time

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Quick Summary

The 2020 Tesla Model Y has 11 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.