NHTSA Complaint #11528060 — 2020 TESLA MODEL Y

While driving at highway speeds, the car unintentionally went into neutral. The setup: The driver was on the highway with cruise control on. Upon turning cruise control off to prepare for entering an exit ramp, the car also went neutral. We lost power and the regenerative braking that you expect in this car. The center console stated something like “Please shift into drive or reverse”. The cause is that Tesla uses an up movement on the right hand gear stalk to cancel auto pilot, cancel cruise control, and to put the car into neutral. If that up movement is too long, the car will inadvertently go into neutral regardless of car speed. We reported this to Tesla and they suggested all model 3s and Ys do this. Some light searching online showed this happening to others too. This feels dangerous at highway speeds. And the point at which you are turning cruise control off could be a critical phase of driving and feels like a unsafe time for the car to loose power.