NHTSA Complaint #11523352 — 2022 TESLA MODEL Y

WHY I AM SUBMITTING THIS COMPLAINT: I am writing to you upon the advice of the CA Attorney General's office. Their guidance was in response to a question I submitted on their web about safe and legal towing with the Model Y factory-installed towing package. PROBLEM: Risk of silent brake controller failure. VEHICLES IMPACTED Model Y's with the Lithium Ion low voltage battery & towing trailers 1500 lbs or more. TECHNICAL ISSUES: The lithium Ion low-voltage battery operates at 15.5v, out of the normal 12v operating range. The wiring harness sends 15.5 v to the brake controller. Brake controllers connected to the Model Y towing harness do not throw an error. High voltage through a 12 v brake controller may result in unexpected brake controller failure per controller manufacturer's support teams. Tesla disconnected the 12v aux power to the 7-pin towing connector. This power is used for RF trailer brake controllers. RF brake controllers don't get the required power. RF Brake controllers will throw an error & the driver knows the brake system isn't connected correctly. WHY DO I KNOW THIS? I bought the Model Y to tow my 2,000 lb teardrop trailer w/ a Prodigy/Tekonsha RF Brake controller. When I attempted to connect & verify the rig was in spec, I discovered there was no power to the 7-pin plug. While troubleshooting, I found a Twitter post that described the problem, said Tesla disconnected the power & there would be a retrofit in mid-2022. See attached. ATTEMPTED RESOLUTION I've worked with Tesla Rocklin CA for a year. They submitted cases, escalated, and even unsuccessfully tried to connect a 24v controller. A fix isn't hard. I've heard corp. didn't expect people to tow. COMMUNICATION: To my knowledge, there's been no communication to affected owners or to brake controller manufacturers. NO FIX PLANNED Tesla Corp. doesn't intend to fix it or communicate to owners. See attached. ACTION NEEDED People towing may be at risk of silent brake controller failure.