What 1,087 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Tesla Model Y

Tesla Full Self Driving (Supervised) with version 12.5.4.1 Overview: Drove round trip from Las Vegas to San Diego and around San Diego utilizing FSD as much as possible. Much if it works very well, however I believe Tesla is aware of some specific short comings (because they have good engineers and are safety aware). 1) Lane ending merging gets an 'F' from several incidents: 1A) The most dangerous was upon entering the [XXX] from the Tesla Supercharger station at Yerma, Ca - [XXX]. The entrance ramp lane ends, and a pickup with a towed trailer happen to be parallel with my FSD Tesla as the lane ended. The Tesla showed no awareness of the impending collision. I braked hard to avoid the collision. 1B) In San Diego, entering a freeway the Tesla got confused while still in the right hand lane, and ultimately threw a critical error - something like 'autonomous steering system failure, take over immediately' with a red full screen alert. 1C) Merging on a freeway connector overpass with multiple lane consolidation, the Tesla failed to understand available openings and became confused causing left and right oscillations in the steering trajectory (at very low speed). 1D) Frequently is not aware of other vehicles as lanes end, causing unnecessary conflicts with other vehicles, and close calls. Tesla should publish a letter grade for the sub-features of full self driving. NHTSA should publish a standard list of sub-features - for example: A) Lane keeping with traffic flow B) Recognizing stopped traffic at highway speeds (i.e. sudden traffic jams) C) Merging cooperation D) Lane ending scenarios E) Maintaining single lanes (i.e. not darting across multiple lanes to achieve an unrealistic left or right turn). The success in many areas of FSD can lead to a sense of competence in the FSD, and to oversights by a human supervisor about what the likely deficiencies are. How does Tesla, or a human know where the risks are if there are no standards, or measurement INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11623790

Tesla FSD v12.5.4.1 tried to run a red light without stopping. Although FSD has a multitude of other issues when it comes to breaking traffic laws running Red lights shouldn't be one of them. Luckily I was able to override the system and no one was in the area to get hurt and no property damage.

NHTSA ODI 11621845

On [XXX] , south of Austin, north of [XXX] , on both directions, there are many turn lanes on either side. These turn lanes fork from either of the two highway lanes and do not have clear lane markings (by design, not due to fading) until the lane width is full. Tesla Autopilot with lane assist will, at multiple times along this route, center the car between the current lane and the emerging turn. Once the lane markings begin , the car will violently jerk back into a lane. Avoidance of these situations requires a takeover. Along this route, this is particularly dangerous on banks, hills, and in traffic (even with max following distance configured) due to reduced visibility of the start of the lane markings. One example of this is at [XXX] , although there are many others along this route in both directions. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11617089

We were driving on a 2 lane highway, when we came to an intersection with a center turn lane the car panicked and swerved left and then braked and disengaged the autosteer/cruise control. This was not with autopilot, just autosteer.

NHTSA ODI 11607771

We were on the freeway with cruise control on and the car slammed on the brakes. It automatically slowed 15mph while in front of another vehicle. The cause was that it hallucinated a person in the lane of the road, I could see the "person" on the screen of my car. However there was no person or hazard in the way.

NHTSA ODI 11607769

Since the recall earlier this year on for the Autopilot, I now have a car that is actually more dangerous as it emits a very jarring audible warning when I engage the Autosteer option. This has actually caused me to jump in my seat and cause me to turn the wheel creating a dangerous situation. Not only is this a potential accident waiting to happen, it is also superfluous as the driver is the one who pulls in the turn signal stall to engage the Autopilot and the Autosteer functionality. I do not need a very loud and startling tone to sound advising me that the Autosteer function is engaged. Please remove this as it is creating a dangerous driving environment. I have friends who also have Teslas and they confirm this hazardous condition exists in their cars as well. Thanks.

NHTSA ODI 11605373

I used the Full Self Driving software Tesla provided us in April. On [XXX], the car did not detect a curb therefore the car went right over the curb which popped both right side tires and the front rim. Damage was $1,800. I brought this up to Tesla and they informed me that it was my fault for not taking over and refused to help with the repairs. I understand taking over if there was a 3-foot shoulder, but on roads with no shoulder such as this one I found it impossible to correct in time. Also, at the very last split second, the torque on the wheel was too tight too correct (not enough time anyways). This is a busy state maintained road in the middle of Columbia, Missouri near a college campus and my safety was put at risk while I had to find the next side street to pull over. This is dangerous software that is not ready yet. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11595118

On Sunday [XXX] I was driving to work, there was a moment where I felt the steering wheel was very stiff to the point where it felt weird and hard to control. I felt the two front wheels a bit odd, but then it went back to normal. I paid no attention to it after. As I was driving on [XXX] , my car started to automatically move to the left and I tried steering my wheel to get back in lane, but the steering wheel got so stiff that even using all my might I could not steer it. Eventually the car slammed against the cement wall three times as it spins. At the end, the police came on site and saw that the two front wheels were pulled inward. I believe it was a software/technology malfunction. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11588991

Took Tesla's 30-day free trial offer of Full Self-Driving (supervised) for my Model Y. Encountered several concerning situations: 1. Autopilot failed to detect a parking barrier arm, causing acceleration towards it; fortunately, I intervened in time. 2. Merged onto the highway in the wrong lane, prompting honks from vehicles behind me. 3. Wheel hit the side road curb when making a right turn, damaging the hubcaps and tire on the right rear side. Unsure if Tesla will take responsibility for repairs, but I feel it's important to share my experience to highlight that Autopilot may not be as advanced as expected.

NHTSA ODI 11588330

My vehicle beeps liberally when parking in tight spots, anywhere near a line of any sort, etc. A few weeks after getting my vehicle in late November (I don’t remember the exact date), I was driving through construction at night and without warning, the steering “corrected” itself and I hit a cone causing 2 scuffs on my new vehicle. The steering locked, but thankfully I was able to get the vehicle back into the lane. When I called Tesla a few weeks later they asked for a specific date and time which I didn’t have. They said they were unable to help without that. Thankfully there was nothing more serious, but I would like my scuffs and steering fixed.

NHTSA ODI 11572920

The Facts of the Incident: On [XXX], at approximately [XXX] PM, [XXX] , was driving our 2023 Tesla Model Y on Arizona State Route [XXX] ), a two-lane highway, enroute from Orange, California, to the Grand Canyon South Rim. The vehicle carried a total of four passengers, including my wife, myself, and another couple from San Diego. During our journey, an alarming and life-threatening situation unfolded. Without warning, our 2023 Tesla Model Y abruptly veered to the left, dangerously encroaching into oncoming traffic. Despite my immediate attempts to regain control by steering the vehicle away from the oncoming traffic, the steering wheel became unresponsive, effectively locking in place. This mechanical or software malfunction prevented me from correcting the perilous situation, resulting in a head-on collision with a large Ford 350 Truck, which was also traveling at a high speed, estimated to be more than 60 miles per hour. Fortunately, while there were injuries, there didn’t appear to be any life threating injuries. Because of the resources required to further investigate and do an analysis of the vehicle, as well as the challenge of dealing with Tesla Inc., law firms have declined to pursue further investigations. Morgan and Morgan initially started an investigation with Knott, LLC, Arizona, but then dropped the pursuit due to costs. The vehicle is still on-hold by my insurance company, USAA, but they may not hold it much longer before placing it on auction. However, it is urgent that NHTSA take possession and complete further analysis of this vehicle. Your assistance and consideration are appreciated, and I look forward to assisting with this investigation. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11572760

When on Autopilot, the car engages in "ghost braking" for no valid reason. This has happened a couple of time. The last incidence happened today, 02/16/2024, at about 10:38 a.m. while on a freeway. I was lucky that there was no cars immediately following me, otherwise a chain accident with pile up would had happened. This was a very risky and scary incident.

NHTSA ODI 11572462

The back camera of the Tesla model y does not provide necessary image quality to identify any objects/persons of cross traffic when reversing the vehicle. In one incident I was about to hit a person behind the vehicle as there was no proper cross traffic alerting and no proper camera view. When I approached Tesla for support they identified the problem and determined it is by design and would not be able to help much. As per the images uploaded, there is clear distinction of camera quality between side camera and back camera. Also the images taken when the vehicle is in stop mode making the back light illuminate otherwise the images would be much darker. Also I want to point out that the back camera functions good during day time and the issue happens only during night.

NHTSA ODI 11569655

I was driving in the left lane of the highway. Just up ahead I saw something sitting on the guardrail to my left which was jutting into my lane, right about eye level. It looked like a long wood 2x4. I swerved to my right to avoid hitting the piece (scared it would shatter my windshield) and the steer correct safety feature (probably wrong term) quickly threw me back to the left and into the guardrail. I turned my steering wheel to the right to get away from the guardrail and it threw me back into the guardrail. It did this a few times. I didn’t understand what was going on. It felt like I had no control over the car. It just kept slamming back into the guardrail. I finally took my foot off the gas and it slowed down and stopped throwing me around. Luckily, there was no one next to me and no one else in the car with me. No one got hurt. If it wasn’t for that “safety” feature, my car wouldn’t have been damaged. I did call the police to let them know about the wood piece that was sitting on the guardrail so hopefully it gets removed and no one gets hurt.

NHTSA ODI 11569385

The new safety requirement for Tesla to update its autosteer to be more stringent and align to safety regulations is a complete disaster. This requirement results in multiple false alarms and creates more distractions than prior to the update. Furthermore... it's upsetting that this department has an apparent obsession with Tesla's technology. Rather than promote and work with Tesla to create a future where technology can meaningfully assist drivers on the road and reduce fatalities and car crashes, this department is doing its best to ensure that no progress is made. Lastly - it would be nice to see some actually meaningful and relevant statistics regarding Tesla autopilot incidents. Rather than reporting a meaningless number of incidents with 0 context, instead try comparing the number of Tesla incidents to non-Tesla incidents. And analyzing if there's a statistically significant difference between those two groups.

NHTSA ODI 11568425

The NHTSA changes that forced the Tesla update as part of campaign #23V-838 do NOT make the vehicle’s autopilot system more safe. Moreover, the car is actually now MORE UNSAFE and distracting with disruptive beeping and alerts. The NHTSA should have Tesla reverse the changes to basic autopilot in this update. Furthermore, the NHTSA should pivot its focus to other manufacturers’ autopilot-equivalent software features, as many of them are even less restrictive or even more dangerous. For example, the blue cruise can disengage without any warning to the user. There have been no recalls relating to this.

NHTSA ODI 11565554

My Tesla Model y is installing the same updates multiple times. The updates installing multiple times is causing erratic functionality issues with the car's software. Tesla has been unwilling to resolve the issue and claim the car is working just fine. When I asked the local service tech I was told the car shouldn't be installing the same update multiple times. I don't feel safe in my car when I don't know when it is going to act up next.

NHTSA ODI 11563378

Received the new OTA recall update. The driver monitoring is now too sensitive and I cannot check the cross traffic when approaching intersections without receiving alerts to pay attention to the road. The car then requires me to apply varying amounts of turning force to the steering wheel, which sometimes can cause accidental disengagement, which also disengages TACC and auto braking. This is dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11561403

Tesla software updates aren't transparent on the changes to the cars behavior they will cause. They hide behind the vague terms "minor fixes" with no way to find out what that means. They are changing how the adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist feature work without specifying it. The only way to find out if something changed is to re-read the whole manual every time there is an update and look for changes. The erratic behaviors these updates are causing are mostly unpredictable braking. The unpredictable braking would be predictable if it were disclosed what the updates are actually doing. I believe they are slowly moving enhanced autopilot features to regular auto pilot without disclosing it. The car will now early and aggressively slow down before a turn if navigation is turned on. Also it will randomly slow down if traffic in the other lane is going slower than the speed limit. There is one thing my car hasn't done before that isn't disclosed in the manual. When driving past semis on the interstate the autopilot feature will cause the car to nearly drive on the road line opposite of the semi. Their unwillingness to have full transparency of what the updates are doing is making the cars unsafe an will cause an accident in my opinion. There have been several updates that have been especially bad about adding new functionality without disclosing it.

NHTSA ODI 11561031

The updated autpilot nag requires too much steering whel torque often to the point of diengaging the steer assist making the car jerk sideways. This I believe makes the interaction less safe.

NHTSA ODI 11561141

Upon use and observation, the latest recall OTA update has caused the opposite effect that NHTSA was attempting to address. By making this update, it has caused the autopilot/lane keeping feature too easy to disengage with the steering wheel weight based presence notification/reminder. This can lead to an mis-input by the driver, causing an accident or collision. Please work to ensure that this is addressed or taken back for further evaluation

NHTSA ODI 11561159

When their is a car in my blind spot the car does not beep or try to pull the car back unless you are basically hitting the car next to you. It also does not beep or show me space out side my range of view to prevent backing into another car. My car (tesla model Y) has had non-function blind spot warnings and backing up warnings since we purchased it in Feb 2023. There have been multiple times when I have not seen other cars and almost ran into them (they were able to swerve). On this Monday night the other car was not able to swerve because there was someone in the lane next to her (3 lane road) so we crashed. My car is available for inspection upon request but someone would have to come to my home because the car is not drivable and is waiting to get into the tesla body shop

NHTSA ODI 11560122

These are observations over the past couple of months that I have owned the car. They have been consistently observed and have occurred at speed between 35-70 mph. There are four main issues I’m having with my tesla. 1) I cannot use cruise control because it requires automatic windshield wipers. The automatic windshield wipers cannot sense when it’s raining and just turns on randomly when it’s not raining. 2). The car breaks on its own randomly on both the highway and city streets. I have almost been rear ended several times because of this. 3) the car thought another car was coming in my lane on interstate 95 and violently switched lanes without warning causing me to oversteer and almost wreck. I had my family in the car with me and it was terrifying. 4). The two times I used full self driving the car actually accelerated to make it through a yellow light. I know these are all beta features of the car but in my opinion they are all dangerous to use on the roads and should be disabled until they are ready for prime time

NHTSA ODI 11557377

My Tesla Model Y has been braking while on autopilot out of nowhere and very, very hard. I have noticed this has been happening more when I am next to a semi truck or other large vehicle where the tesla will for whatever reason slam on the brakes even though there is no vehicle or objects in front of me and there is not a vehicle merging. This is a major safety issue and can lead to a loss of property and worst of all, life. Please do a recall on these vehicles and make Tesla fix these issues before it leads to further accidents and injuries/deaths. Thank you.

NHTSA ODI 11553487

Autosteer mode, while generally helpful and which I use daily, abruptly brakes hard and/or pulls hard to the right when its computer program misinterprets a mere shadow as a threat. While I am sure your organization already knows this well. I believe this has strong potential to cause a driver to over-react and lose control of the vehicle. Addition of a radar sensor as an input to the existing algorithm similar to the Chevy Bolt for separately assessing/confirming this perceived threat could resolve the problem in milliseconds and preclude this risk. Understandably, Tesla management as judged this acceptable since adding this capability would raise its cost and reduce its market share in the increasingly competitive EV market. But as a former systems engineer and general manager manufacturing aviation autopilot computers, I strongly disagree and remain concerned about its potential to cause a serious/fatal crash. Thus, I offer another voice pressing for reconsideration by your public safety organization.

NHTSA ODI 11552805