2023 TESLA MODEL Y Steering Problems
171 NHTSA complaints on file
All Steering Complaints — Page 2
Date of incident 9/9/24 11:15 AM 2023 Tesla Model Y traveling north bound I-15 using Tesla Autopilot intending soon to exit Pioneer Crossing / American Fork UT in the far right lane — vehicle made sudden move to right glancing off wall causing scraping damage to right front quarter panel, and hub cap. Although I stepped on the brake in attempt to take control of the vehicle I immediately experienced uncontrolled acceleration and difficulting in steering. I chose not to exit and fought to keep the vehicle in varying freeway lanes attempting to brake to which the vehicle continued to attempt to accelerate against the braking, I also simultaneously and frantically continued to push the right stalk upwards in attempt to disengage Autopilot assuming that was causing the unintended acceleration. I was fighting to keep the car in a lane with faulty steering at time awakwardly steering to avoid slower...
First time when it happened, i was able to control and It went to back to normal. I did not pay attention after. Second time I took right turn and the car drove in left lane but this time I felt steering was rigid and was unable to control the Steering and hit a tree. Driver seat air bag was deployed and all doors were locked. Gel from air bag burned my right hand wrist.
The control arm of my 2023 Model Y front wheel just came completely off without any incident. On August 31st at 9 pm, I was driving home from a park when I just pulled the car into my driveway, I heard a strange squeaky noise from the front wheel area, followed by a huge "BAM ''. I started to turn my steering wheel, and by then, the vehicle felt "stuck'' as if something was preventing the car from moving. I came out of the vehicle and noticed the control arm had just fallen off and was dragging on the ground, I also saw two bolts on the ground so I scheduled a Tesla roadside assistance. The Tesla service told me to call a lift-wheel tow truck to tow my vehicle to a collision for repairs. The control arm defect is a known issue for Tesla.
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.
The power steering stopped working while I was pulling out of a parallel parking space. It started working again when my speed went above 5 mph. The risk was that I was briefly in traffic, and it was very difficult to steer the car. The dealer has not seen the vehicle yet, and I didn’t notice any warning messages, but I also wasn’t looking at the screen at the time.
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....
I am reaching out on behalf of my wife who met with accident on 3/24/2024.She was driving Tesla Y model and this accident occurred due to System failure of Vehicle , brakes and Steering wheel get locked and she was not able to do anything and car hit the couple of trees on other side of parking lot . She was not using Autopilot feature and it vehicle didn't stop after applying the brake instead of stopping , its get accelerated and steering was also locked.
You have no doubt heard the news that Tesla has deployed Full Self Driving to all its vehicles as a "free trial." My Tesla received this update in the past few days. Last night I was driving on an expressway and engaged what has up until now been traffic-aware cruise control by pressing down one time on the right stalk. I expected regular cruise control but the car started steering for me. Tesla has changed the default behavior of the cruise control activation (one single downward press on the stalk) to instead activate Autopilot. My attempt to regain control caused me to jerk the wheel side to side in a way that could have led to an accident had I been in heavier traffic. This was unexpected behavior from the vehicle and I find it unacceptable that Tesla has changed a default function in this manner. I had to hunt...
I am receiving codes, GTW_w074 Steering Assist reduced, and UL_a020 Steering Assist reduced. In reality, steering is unavailable without extreme effort. This makes the car undrivable. I had the same problem in early February. The car was towed to Tesla for service and repaired. Now one month later the problem has returned.
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.
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...
Vehicle is not up to date. Needs “over the air” update for auto steering.
As I was trying to make a turn on a street which I have used for months, the vehicle started accelerating on its own. So much so that it laterally flew over a median curb and hit another vehicle. I could not steer the vehicle nor stop it despite the fact that I hit the breaks several times. It truly was a very scary experience, and I am not sure what caused it. I have read of similar issues in the past, but I never thought that this truly happens. As a result of the acceleration, I got into an accident that damaged four vehicles. I am a very good and confident driver with clean driving record, and I have no explanation as to what happened, other than that the vehicle took control on its own. There were no warning lamps before, the vehicle has not been inspected yet, but...
After making a right turn, the car accelerated automatically and drove onto the sidewalk. The driver was hitting the brakes and attempting to redirect the vehicle with the steering wheel but both components of the vehicle were locked, causing the vehicle to lose control and crash into several things on the sidewalk (flower pot, parked cars, building pillars). The Tesla is completely dead so we are unable to retrieve any data within the vehicle. The safety of civilians on the street as well has the driver and passenger of the vehicle were at risk due to the lack of control of the vehicle. Two weeks after the accident, Tesla sent out a recall notice in regards to autosteer which can increase risk of collision, but prior to this no notice/warning was in place. The police were involved and at the scene at the time of the event and a police...
Vechile started skidding and didn't respond to steering wheel control, ultimately failed to a make a turn and fell off road into a ditch. Also emergency braking wasn't triggered to prevent vechile from falling off road and furthermore upon impact airbags weren't deployed. The driver sustained grevious injuries and was transported away by EMS.
Autopilot feature disengaged with a single, 3 second warning.
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...
As I attempted to make a left turn, I wasn't able to make a complete turn when the steering wheels partially locked on me, resulting the car hitting a utility pole, I could only drive forward or reverse, difficulty making a turn. I was able to make it home but the next day, it had to be towed to a Tesla authorized collision center for damage assessment. I'm hoping Tesla can remedy the problem because usually my kids are in the car with me. Reached out to Tesla regarding the incident, they took my information as to what happened exactly during the accident and that there would an investigation on their end which should take about 1 week.
While I was trying to pull up my vehicle at about 10mph from the street to my driveway after driving around 35 miles from work, the vehicle suddenly accelerated (Unintended Acceleration) to 40+ mph (based on logs) and hit the property. This put my life and others at home at risk. The vehicle was inspected by insurance representative. No warnings lights prior to incident. However, the message 'Corrective steering applied for your safety' appeared periodically while driving back home even though the vehicle was very much within the lanes.
The vehicle's steering wheel vibrates regardles driving on highways/freeways and/or city streets. It happens since day 1 of ownership and has been owning for 4 months now. The vehicle's screen got blacked out twice when it was moving; thus, i couldn't read speed and perfom other functions such as turn on AC and/or heat. The regenerative braking/one pedal driving sometimes does not work. It sometimes accelerates itself after slowing down after accelarator was not depressed. Autopilot was not used at the times of unintended acceleration. Had submitted questions and service requests to Tesla. Unfortunately, Tesla did not provide any feedback or perform any service related to these issues.
We bought a 2023 Model Y from the Mesa Tesla on 12/17/23. The staff rushed orientation (we are first-time EV owners) saying they were so busy that we could only get 15-30 minutes max for a complex vehicle. They told us calibration is normal and to reboot the Y if anything happens and showed us how. Once we drove off the lot the A/C went out and we got calibration prompts saying Pull Over. We pulled over less than 0.5 miles out and the A/C came on. Because of the bullying at the dealer we we afraid to go back and decided to go home. Again the calibration prompts came on and Pull Over. My wife was driving with my daughter and my in-law's and I was behind her in another car with our son. She suddenly started slowing down on the road because the vehicle would not let her...
UNKWOWN: ASSESSMENT: Date of Event 19 December 2022 Upon taking delivery from Tesla for 2023 Model Y vehicle with the above or contained VIN, driver experiences a series of events that result from a autosteer activation. Approximately seven (7) calendar days after receiving the vehicle a FDU (Front Drive Unit) was replaced. At approximately another twenty-one (21) calendar days after the FDU was replaced while activating active cruise control and or autosteer the vehicle unexpectedly aggressively accelerated (UAA) to unknown speed that was not observed by the driver. It was later found out by the drive through scheduling a service appointment that a series of settings and unknown factors may have caused the incident. This incident was video recorded as a result of a traffic stop conducted by a local sheriff's office. This event contained several other incidents before vehicle was stopped including UAA, collision avoidance (oncoming traffic), vehicle brake...
Steering got locked while driving. Couldn’t perform left turn in the middle of drive
Steering system malfunction and failure: I have a brand new Tesla Model Y for less than 3 months. Two months after I have the vehicle, the steering rack had an internal fault. The steering rack was replaced at the Tesla authorized repair shop. Eighteen days after that repair. I was involved in a car accident. The reason was because my car had veered to the right on its own while driving on a city street. I then turned the steering wheel to the left, but the car did not turn to the left. My car then hit another vehicle that was parked on the right side of the street. The front of my vehicle was totally damaged on the right side. The entire left side of the other parked vehicle was also totally damaged. I was NOT on cruise control. I was NOT on self- driving mode.
Steering assist reduced. The steering wheel completely stopped working in the middle of a drive.
The process of the car losing control around 10:50am to 11:55am: We were driving on Woodgate Road and were making a U-turn. The car lost control just after the U-turn. The steering wheel spun and failed. The car sped up and the brakes did not work. The car hit the curb and the left tire burst. It went straight over. It was about 3 meters from the sidewalk to the hillside covered with weeds, and it was impossible to stop because the hillside was too steep.
The car lost steering while driving. The wheel was super difficult to turn. The problem was confirmed by Tesla Service via phone call, the Tesla Service Center in Rochester and alerts on the screen. The car was towed to the service center.
Power steering was not able to control. Can't control the handle. It was locked. My car got towed to service center on same day. I received a call and they said rat or squirrel bite electric line. And charged me over $800 for it. I just figured out there is lot of cases like me.
1. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? My 2023 Tesla Model Y's steering wheel was totally locked up. I was not able to control the vehicle at all. 2. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? It happened when I parked, but I believe this could happen anytime, anywhere while I am driving. That could happen on the freeway which I do not even want to imagine. I am now scared of driving it. 3. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? I have a service appointment tomorrow, so I am not sure this could be addressed by the service center, but I can easily find articles talking about the same issue. 4. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? Not...
I took my wife to a doctors appointment and upon going back into the car to drive off the steering wheel became VERY stiff. I had to use a considerable amount of force to move the wheel. My wife couldn't move the steering wheel at all. Some errors appeared on the screen 'Power steering reduced', and UI_a020 Steering assist is disabled. Ultimately had to call Tesla and they had to tow it away to a Service center.
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...
Steering Assist is reduced shows up in the screen. The steering then becomes hard to manouver and you lose parts of the control of the car.
We were turning onto a crowded street, and halfway through turning the power steering suddenly failed. We couldn't get the steering wheel to move. We were facing perpendicular to the street and several cars were within inches of hitting us. We got out of the car (in the middle of the crowded street) and back in, at which point the steering worked again. We thought this was a one-time issue, but as we got to the parking lot at our apartment complex, we experienced the same power steering failure. We can't drive this car under the assumption that we'll be safe.
During the week of October 09 2023, I started receiving two failure alerts on my 2023 Model Y. The first is that lane keeping assist was unavailable. In spite of this alert, the system continued to function properly. The second warning was a Steering Assist Reduced warning. At first, this also seemed to not corollate to a noticeable issue with the vehicle. On the evening October 15, when leaving a supercharger station, I noticed a momentary stutter in the steering wheel that accompanied the above mentioned alert. No other issue was observed. On the afternoon of October 16, when leaving from work, after putting the vehicle in gear, I had no steering ability at all, it was a similar feeling to the steering wheel lock on older vehicles. The wheel would move approximately 1" in either direction. I immediately shut the vehicle down and performed a reset by holding in...
Steering wheel locks frequently, especially when driving on busy road. Very dangerous.
Power steering randomly goes out while driving. Most often happens after reversing, but also happens consistently while in drive. I was essentially unable to turn the car, so I was stuck in one spot and had to get out of the car so that the car could reset. This happened in several low traffic areas but also happened while I was at a red light at an intersection. The system did say “steering assist degraded” and that the cameras were blocked, but not sure if that has to do with the same issue. Never has been inspected, but I did see reports that this has happened to other 2023 Model Y and 3 owners. We have a service appointment with Tesla coming up to address it.
Upon starting the vehicle, the center console displayed a fault code "UI_a020" and a message that steering assistance was disabled. There had been no earlier indication of faults or degraded operation - only minutes earlier, the car was driving fine. The vehicle was now very difficult to maneuver. Rebooting the car did not clear the fault code. I was able to navigate the short distance back home, though it was not a pleasant experience. Upon returning home, I scheduled an appointment for a repair with the local service center. Later, I checked my vehicle again, and found the fault code had cleared and it was operating normally. I still kept the service appointment, and the tech I spoke with mentioned they have had recent reports of faulty steering racks. They replaced the entire steering rack. (I do not have the faulty unit available for inspection.) This vehicle was only a...
While driving, the car suddenly lost power steering. We had to struggle to get the car to the side of the road. Had to do a reboot to get the power steering back.
I was driving my car, and the steering wheel locked while driving and pushed me into the oncoming lane. We were lucky there were no other cars coming the other direction. I had to reboot the car to get it to drive again. The steering locked up again while getting the car home and also in the driveway. Tesla towed the car and replaced the entire steering rack of the car. I then saw an article about this exact issue and wanted to add my car to the other complaints. My car is only six months old.
Steering felt odd and was pulling to the extreme right, which caused contact with a curb. After driving about a mile after contact, car lost steering and both front wheels were turned inward. Tesla claimed contact with curb caused the steering gear and rack to break-they did not take into consideration that car steering was not workin correctly before impact. Component is not available for inspection. Safety was a factor since I couldn't steer. Has not been reproduced or confirmed by an independent service center. Component not inspected by anyone other than Tesla service center in San Francisco, Ca. No warnings re:steering or any other issues.
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the steering wheel became stiff and difficult to maneuver. The steering assist warning light illuminated. The contact veered off the roadway. The contact notified a tow truck company, and the vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the steering rack had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact was concerned for her safety while driving the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,400.
I lost all power in my steering and was completely unable to steer. I contacted Tesla who advised me to conduct a soft reboot and the issue was resolved only to return about an hour later. I contacted Tesla again for roadside assistance. I was advised to complete a soft reboot and drive the vehicle to the nearest service station. I refused to drive the vehicle, as I did not feel safe to do so. Tesla sent a tow truck to pickup the vehicle and drop off at a Tesla service station. After 3 days, I was informed there was a malfunction in the vehicles steering rack and the entire part will be replaced. I conducted research and found a lot of owners are experiencing the same issue with 2023 Tesla Y, some even having crashes as a result. This is very unsafe and needs to be addressed.
It’s just been 2 weeks in I bought my Tesla Y 2023 model. Was exploring entertainment options in in park mode and then when I had to leave, I see this steering assist reduced and wasn’t able to move my steering at all, I was like what.. a brand new car having such safety issues, thank god didnt happen while I was on road, would have definitely killed me. Tried rebooting or reset but still the same. After multiple attempts, power steering came back on and I was able to get home. After reaching home immediately requested a service through my Tesla app. This is very frustrating to see issues in a brand new car.
The steering wheel locked and stiff, wasn't able to turn. The was very dangerous as my wife and kids could have gotten into a serious accident. We are no longer comfortable with driving this vehicle even if Tesla repairs so we would like a refund
Steering assist reduced error message. All of a sudden I was unable to steer the steering wheel. This was scary and dangerous.
I was driving and the steering wheel completely locked up, I could barely turn the wheel even when using all my strength. The car would only go forward and backward. I was fortunately pointed slightly towards the curb so was able to glide the car to a stop on the side of the road. There were no warnings prior to failure and I immediately lost all steering capability. The car was towed by Tesla to the service center.
Power steering went out twice, both from changing gears once was mid drive second time was going from park to reverse.
While Driving the car the steering became unresponsive, this almost created like a death situation for me. Tesla should be held accountable.
I was driving through a busy nyc street very slowly. Probably 10 mph or less. I was on a red light. then i moved forward when the light turned green, my handle felt weird and the car was moving side ways. I first thought it was the tire that blew off. So I immediately stopped the car and had my husband look at the tires. No holes, no pressure was lost. I thought it was so odd, so I started moving forward a little bit, again. Something felt very off. We stopped again and looked throughly and realized the right rear wheel was twisted while the other three remained straight. This is our brand new car that was just picked up 7 days ago. We just simply couldn’t believe our eyes. My whole family including my husband, my two kids (7,10), our dog and myself were in the car and...
- Failed system: Steering wheel was locked up in the middle of driving. Driver was making a right turn at an intersection. Suddenly a "Steering Assist Reduced" UI_a020 warning appeared on screen, and driver was unable to turn the wheel. No autopilot in any level whatsoever was turned on. - Safety risk: Driver hit another car due to the loss of control of the vehicle. Thankfully it happened in a city intersection. If it happened on a highway, much more damages and casualties might have been incurred. - Reproducing the problem: Right after the accident, driver was ordered to pull the car over to the side. But even after a few restarting of the car, the UI_a020 warning reappeared sporadically. From that time we completely stopped driving the car and drove it only occasionally to load/unload it to tow trucks. So we did not have much chance to reproduce the...
Other 2023 TESLA MODEL Y Problem Areas
Forward Collision Avoidance Adaptive Cruise Control
279 complaints
Forward Collision Avoidance Automatic Emergency Braking
218 complaints
Vehicle Speed Control
152 complaints
Service Brakes
140 complaints
Unknown Or Other
126 complaints
Forward Collision Avoidance Warnings
87 complaints
Electrical System
81 complaints
Suspension
72 complaints
Visibilitywiper
56 complaints
Lane Departure Assist
43 complaints
Air Bags
34 complaints
Wheels
32 complaints
Seat Belts
30 complaints
Back Over Prevention Warnings
24 complaints
Power Train
23 complaints
Structurebody
21 complaints
Lane Departure Blind Spot Detection
19 complaints
Engine
17 complaints
Exterior Lighting
17 complaints
Lane Departure Warning
16 complaints
Back Over Prevention Rearview System Braking
13 complaints
Seats
13 complaints
Electrical Systemadasautonomousself Driving
10 complaints
Fuelpropulsion System
8 complaints
Tires
7 complaints
Chest Clip Buckle Harness
4 complaints
Electrical Systemadasautonomousself Drivingsoftware
3 complaints
Vehicle Speed Controlaccelerator Pedal
3 complaints
Back Over Prevention Sensing System Camera
2 complaints
Carry Handle Shell Base
2 complaints
Service Brakes Electricsoftwareprogramming
2 complaints
Structurebodyhatchbackliftgate
2 complaints
Air Bagssensoroccupant Classificationfront Passenger
1 complaint
Back Over Prevention
1 complaint
Back Over Prevention Sensing System Other
1 complaint
Back Over Preventiondisplay Function
1 complaint
Electrical Systemadas
1 complaint
Electrical Systemadasparking Assistsoftware
1 complaint
Exterior Lightingheadlights
1 complaint
Forward Collision Avoidance Adaptive Cruise Controlsoftware
1 complaint
Insert Padding
1 complaint
Lane Departure Lane Keep Steering Assist
1 complaint
Latcheslockslinkages
1 complaint
Latcheslockslinkagesdoorslatch
1 complaint
Latcheslockslinkageshoodlatch
1 complaint
Latcheslockslinkagestrunk Lidlatch
1 complaint
Latcheslockslinkagestrunk Lidlock
1 complaint
Service Brakes Hydraulic
1 complaint
Steeringelectric Power Assist System
1 complaint
Structurebodydoor
1 complaint
Structurebodyhatchbackliftgatesupport Devicestrut
1 complaint
Structurebodytrunk Lid
1 complaint
Suspensionfrontcontrol Arm
1 complaint
Tirespressure Monitoring And Regulating Systems
1 complaint
Visibilitydefrosterdefoggerhvac System
1 complaint
Visibilityglass Siderear
1 complaint
Wheelshubcapcover
1 complaint