2020 TESLA MODEL Y Electrical System Problems

Observed intermittent center display/infotainment computer (MCU) crashes/reboots where the center display becomes blank and then restarts. In recorded events, when reverse was selected during an MCU reboot interval, the rearview camera image did not display until the reboot completed. Recorded rear camera unavailability during reverse was approximately 10–17 seconds. MCU crash/reboot behavior was observed to be repeatable, including predictable occurrence while the vehicle was in the built-in Service Mode. After a factory reset, repeated/double boot behavior was also observed. Additional observations: - With the turn signal activated, light leakage was observed in the side repeater camera image (glare/bloom present in the camera view). - With each windshield wiper sweep, the forward camera image was observed to briefly flicker to a purple/green distorted state and then return to normal. - During driving, the on-screen message “Auto Lane Change unavailable” was observed. A separate rear camera symptom has also been observed: intermittent...

Problem: I purchased a 2020 Tesla Model Y Long Range AWD, EPA-certified at 316 miles. My vehicle consistently delivers only 120–150 miles per full charge, and just ~80 miles from the recommended daily 80% → 20% SOC window. This is less than half the advertised/certified range. I have meticulously logged trips since July 2025, recording start/end battery %, mileage, Wh/mi, and driving conditions. Even after following Tesla’s own efficiency guidance (Chill Mode, conservative HVAC, no Sentry Mode, no Cabin Overheat Protection, speeds at/below limits), the shortfall is repeatable. Company’s Response: Tesla repeatedly stated: No warranty action unless there is a system alert. My range loss is due to “short trips” or “driving habits.” They “cannot go off EPA numbers,” though Tesla advertises the EPA rating. To review my logs, I must pay $235/hour, while I cannot access my own internal vehicle data. On Aug 7, Tesla told me 33% SOC...

On [XXX], I identified a severe and unacceptable loss of driving range in my 2020 Tesla Model Y (VIN: [XXX] , mileage: 59,127 miles). The vehicle now shows only ~180 miles of range at 100% charge, compared to the original advertised 316 miles — representing a ~43% loss of range. This degradation is far outside normal industry standards for EV battery health. This loss of range significantly impacts vehicle safety, as trip planning becomes unreliable and there is a heightened risk of being stranded on highways or in unsafe locations without charging availability. This could endanger both myself and other drivers, especially in rural areas or during extreme weather conditions. The issue has been repeatedly reported to Tesla, but they have failed to provide a technical explanation, battery replacement, or corrective action. Tesla service claims it is “normal degradation,” despite the magnitude of loss and the vehicle’s mileage being well...

My 2020 Tesla Model Y Long Range/AWD vehicle has 46,000 miles and can no longer recharge its battery (engine) with an approved charger (L2) due to a commonly failed part inside the battery. This part is called PCS (Power Conversion System). This device attached to the Tesla battery is used to convert power from a charger which is AC (household alternating current) into DC (Direct Current) the battery can understand. This error appeared for the first time on [XXX] at [XXX]. This critical part has failed in thousands of Tesla vehicles, some multiple times easily verified by thousands of customer complaints online. The PCS is NOT a consumable part - such as a tire, wiper blades, brake pads, etc. There is nothing the vehicle Owner can do to prevent the PCS failure. The Cost to repair/replace the PCS part(s) is ~ $3,000 and may fail again after replacement. As required...

​To whom it may concern, ​I would love some help with an issue I'm having with Tesla. I purchased my 2020 Model Y used from Tesla and the car was and is still under bumper-to-bumper warranty. I've had dozens of issues with the built-in dashcam and sentry modes that have stemmed from an update Tesla made, which has also resulted in my USB drives causing repeated errors. And while the USB drive error may not seem bad, it causes issues with the sentry mode and dashcam where they don't work and these features are some of the main reasons that I purchased the car, also making the car valuable to me and my family. Despite this, even though the car is still under warranty, Tesla Service​ in Sacramento is trying to charge me for my ninth service center visit for this same issue. Here's a list of my visits for...

The car locked my toddler inside his car seat because the 12v battery died died as soon as we put him in his seat and closed hid door. There was absolutely no warning before that battery had died, indicating that it was low. Because of the way a Model Y is designed, there is no mechanical way to open the door when the 12V battery dies. The toddler is incapable of manually unlocking the door from inside when the electrical button doesn’t work. This is a huge safety issue and can result in death of children if not resolved by Tesla

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V554000 (Latches/Locks/Linkages, Electrical System); however, the contact stated that the dealer diagnosed the vehicle with a System Software Update Issue. The contact was informed that the dealer was not responsible to cover the cost of the repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The approximate mileage was 77,334. Parts distribution disconnect.

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while her daughter was driving at an undisclosed low speed, the vehicle suddenly shut off and failed restart. The vehicle was towed to Tesla service center, where it was diagnosed that the front and rear electric motors were inoperable due to a faulty main wiring harness that became unsecured and damaged. The motors and the wiring harness were replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 76,000.

I ordered a used Tesla Model Y (VIN [XXX] ) on [XXX]. At the time of purchase, the car had 31,540 miles and was picked up from the Stockton, CA location on [XXX]. Since then, the car has performed pretty well, however I’ve recently experienced a slew of issues with the dashcam function of the vehicle. I’ve taken the vehicle into Tesla Service on two separate occasions, however they were unable to fix the problem and now I’m hesitant to drive the vehicle. One of the primary reasons I chose a Tesla Model Y was for the safety and security of having a car with a built-in dashcam and now that works infrequently.  I’ve taken the vehicle into Tesla twice for this issue and they have been unable to fix nor offer a solution for this issue. I now get several alerts a night about the dash cam not working...

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number 23V838000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact was driving at an undisclosed mph up a driveway with autopilot on, the contact engaged autosteer by veering to the left before the vehicle crashed into the mailbox. There were no injuries and no police report. The lane departure warning light illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the Tesla Collision Center to be diagnosed. The technician stated the following components failed, steering, the land departure warning, and the avoidance warning, however, the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 40,000.  VIN tool confirms parts not available. 

Vehicle has 51,126 mi as of this writing. When new (June 2020) 250 miles of freeway range was typical in typical California weather for an efficiency rating of 280 Wh/mi for 100% to 1% state of charge (SoC). This was tested repeatedly, numerous times, on multiple road trips. At ~12K miles into ownership, OEM tires were swapped as they were dangerously useless in rain and snow. Repeated calculations confirmed ~10% range loss. This meant that average Wh/mi consumption went from about ~280 Wh/mi to about ~308 Wh/mi, for a real world freeway range reduction to about 227 from say 250 (again 100% to 1% SoC). This was expected and accepted. Last 2 years were spent in New England during which freeway range started to drop precipitously, reaching a low of 166 miles (100% to 1% state of charge; about 420 Wh/mi) at freezing temperatures; verified across two identical road trips....

Tesla completely shut down and my wife got locked inside with windows closed. Windows will not roll down. She called me and I asked for help with roadside assistance. They showed the manual door open latch. I called the tow truck and heard that this is a common incident. Tesla service center diagnosed it as a complete failure of 12V battery. There was absolutely no warning of the problem. This’s a really unsafe situation and needs to have a warning system for 12v battery failure.

During phone calls, the system would start making sparking noises and stall the calls. While navigation was input parts of the screen would disappear. While backing up, the rear cameras would freeze and stall. The rear camera freezing had caused us to get into an accident, and caused us to have 4 near misses. When I was trying to download the latest software release, the software download froze and never downloaded. I started to drive to the Tesla dealership and as I was doing so, the screen picture of my vehicle disappeared along with the gear shift indicator, the surrounding cameras failed. Then when I put on my turn signal, the sound disappeared. Then eventually the indicator disappeared. The entire screen froze with no information, and then went black while I was driving to the Tesla dealership. The system was black and finally did a reboot after 4 minutes, all...

Tesla has not yet fixed the following defect for my vehicle: Sep 19,2022 Manufacturer Recall Number TBD NHTSA Recall Number22V702 Recall StatusRecall Incomplete

Touchscreen repeatedly freezes. Won’t show gear selection, speed, or any other items. The touchscreen freezes then takes some time to crash to black screen before reboot. Has happened daily since Tesla update. Tesla refuses to provide a fix and continues to tell us to wait for an update. This is unsafe.

Four times in the last six weeks (three while driving) the car has lost all power. My screen either freezes or goes completely black so I have no speedometer, the blinkers do not work, I cannot control the windows or open the doors without the manual override. This usually lasts for 3-5 minutes, sometimes longer - and then the computer resets and everything reloads. Tesla is telling me it is a known issue and I have to wait until they figure out the firmware issue and get the next update. They were not at all concerned about the safety of the car and gave me no suggestions on how to continue to drive safely. The date entered below is the most recent occurrence

Without any warning, the display on my car froze up when my car came to a stop, and I could not accelerate. It seemed to say I was going 15 mph, when in fact I was stopped, and the display was completely unresponsive. Stepping on the accelerator did nothing. I could not use my turn signals, activate my 4-way flashers. No one was injured, since this happened on a quiet residential street, and I was able to wave to other motorists to go around me. After about 3 minutes, my car seemed to have reset, and I was able to drive it normally. I would gladly make my vehicle available for inspection upon request.

Heating / defrosting unit failed. While driving to work in 1 degree freezing weather my heating / defrosting unit would not provide a clear fog free windshield so i could safely see outside. Dealer has me scheduled for a date for repair but this is the second time this has happened. First time 9/2021 and now 1/2022. No inspection has happened yet. Warning message displayed saying that the climate control has failed.

While driving on a surface street, the vehicle stalled with very little time of warning for me to pull to the side of the road. The car came to a complete stop before I had a chance to completely pull over, leaving me in a vulnerable position. If this would have happened on the freeway I would have been definitely stranded in a potentially deadly situation. After calling Tesla Roadside Assistance a tow truck pulled the car to a Tesla service station. Tesla allegedly fixed the issue by replacing the Drive Inverter unit: ASY, DRIVE INV, 3DU, 810A, SIC, REAR(1079924-15-H), see document attached.

The system crashed and It said car was forward mode when the gear stock was stuck in reverse and I went ahead and banged behind car when removing car from parking instead of going forward .

WHILE TRAVELING ON NORTHBOUND US-101, THE INFOTAINMENT/DASHBOARD SCREEN FROZE. THE CLIMATE CONTROL SUDDENLY WENT FULL BLAST ON THE COLDEST SETTING, SPEEDOMETER STOPPED UPDATING, AND ALL INFOTAINMENT/DASHBOARD CONTROLS WERE UNRESPONSIVE. THE TURN SIGNALS APPEARED TO WORK, BUT STOPPED MAKING ITS CLICKING SOUND. I COULD ONLY TELL IT WORKED BY SEEING THE LIGHT REFLECTION FROM ROAD SIGNS. I WAS RESET THE SYSTEM BY PRESSING BOTH STEERING WHEEL BUTTONS FOR 10 SECONDS OR MORE AND THEN INFOTAINMENT SCREEN TURNED OFF. IT DID NOT RESTART UNTIL A COUPLE OF MILES LATER WHEN I EXITED THE HIGHWAY. THE CAR CONTINUED TO ACCELERATE AND BRAKE NORMALLY THE WHOLE TIME.

AUTOMATIC VEHICLE HOLD DISABLED. REGENERATIVE BRAKING DISABLED. TRACTION CONTROL DISABLED. STABILITY CONTROL DISABLED.STEERING ASSIST REDUCED. I WAS TURNED 360 DEGREES WHEN TRYING TO TURN LEFT. CAR WAS SLIDING DURING DRIVE.

MY CAR WAS PARKED IN A SECURED GARAGE AND THE REAR PASSENGER WINDOW SHATTERED DURING THE NIGHT WHEN NO ONE WAS WITHIN 100 FEET OF THE VEHICLE.

INCIDENT: CAR SHUTDOWN AND POWER FAILURE WITH LITTLE WARNING. TIME/DATE/PLACE OF INCIDENT: 9/7/2020, APPROXIMATELY 5:20PM IN LIVERMORE, CA. WHILE DRIVING AT A SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 45 MPH EASTBOUND ON W JACK LONDON BLVD (PAST WOLF HOUSE DRIVE), THE CAR'S COMPUTER DISPLAYED AN "UNABLE TO DRIVE" MESSAGE (ERROR CODE DI_A137) AND INSTRUCTED US TO PULL OVER. SINCE WE WERE ON A 2-LANE ROAD WITH NO SHOULDER WE PROCEEDED TO THE NEAREST DRIVEWAY (TURNING LEFT TO A DRIVEWAY AT ~1105 W JACK LONDON BLVD). THE CAR VIBRATED VIOLENTLY THEN SHUTDOWN. THE ESTIMATED TIME BETWEEN THE INITIAL WARNING AND SHUTDOWN WAS ONLY ABOUT 5 TO 10 SECONDS. OTHER ERROR CODES/MESSAGES DISPLAYED WERE "POWER REDUCED" (DIR_A126) AND "VEHICLE SHUTTING DOWN" (DI_A063). WE CALLED TESLA ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE FROM THE VEHICLE AND WERE INSTRUCTED TO POWER CYCLE THE CAR BY HAVING ALL PASSENGERS AND DRIVER EXIT THE CAR, CLOSE ALL DOORS, THEN HAVE THE DRIVER ENTER...