2023 TESLA MODEL Y Steering Problems

Steering wheel locked up while driving and making a turn

lost all power steering today on model Y 2023 tesla.

During driving this vehicle on road, this steering wheel wheel was suddenly locked, and cannot be turned. This caused the vehicle stopped making any turns. There was no any warning/messages/symptom before this incident happened. I had to go straight and stopped/parked the vehicle on roadside. After several power off and restarting, the steering wheel was still locked. Called Tesla tech support, the problem cannot be solved. Then had the vehicle been towed to Tesla service center. Tesla technician confirmed seeing error log info. It is under investigation now.

I got the dreaded ul_a020 error - "Steering assist reduced" today while driving our model Y - barely 3 months old with 2K miles. The steering became very stiff and I could barely move it, had to use all my forrce to rotate the steering wheel and move the car to the side. it very scary, I parked, got out and then drove again, it happened again. Thankfully I was not too far away from home, so somehow got back. The steering is not smooth anymore now.

Steering wheel locked after only 9k miles on the car. Won’t turn so cannot drive the car. Brand new car. God forbid this happens while driving the car on road.

Power steering appeared to be off when trying to drive car. Could not turn wheel at all. Car was towed to tesla service and told the power steering rack has an internal issue and needs to be replaced.

Please note that I am not the owner of the vehicle and I am making this report in the public interest to try and save lives. The defect affects all 2023 Tesla Model Y cars and I have used the VIN of a junkyard Model Y to be able to complete the form. I have also used a fictitious USA address to satisfy your website requirements. My genuine contact details are available I understand that it is perfectly lawful for a non USA resident and a non owner to file a complaint. A Tesla Forum in Germany has a report from an owner detailing severe corrosion on the Ground terminal on his [XXX] car. This looks like galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals. I think a bad ground connection might be the reason for the spate of power steering complaints on this model and possibly also causing brake booster failure. Tesla...

While driving I lost the ability to steer. The steering wheel completely locked almost. This was a huge safety risk, as I was in the middle of a busy road in Los Angeles. I went to the Tesla service center today and they were closed. No warning lights came on. The same thing happened again today.

On September 3/2023 at around 9am I was driving my Tesla Y. I stopped on a traffic light on an intersection and on my green light started to turn left. However my steering wheel was not turning, it has stuck. It was very scary because of the intense incoming traffic. I turned my car on parking and then started again but nothing has changed. Tried this a few times without any success. My car only moved straight forward and backward. Then two drivers stopped and started to help me. They stopped incoming traffic and one of them helped me to turn the steering wheel left to move my car from the middle of the intersection. Two of us barely did this together and moved the car to the side of the road.

Power steering failed repeatedly. Car was extremely difficult to steer. This only happened at low speeds, so there was no immediate danger. The car displayed various error messages. Took the car to the dealer, they confirmed it was an issue and replaced the Steering Rack.

I had an error message that power steering was not available and I was unable to steer.

Steering system completely failed during driving. Thankfully I was in a parking lot at the time. The car had to be towed to my home from over 100 miles away. I’m towing it back to Tesla service this morning, August 28, 2023.

While driving the steering locked up and driver was unable to turn in either direction

Power steering failed for unknown reason. Operating the vehicle without functional steering made turning through traffic dangerous. The vehicle is now at the Tesla service center for diagnosis.

When placing foot on brake to shift into gear, vehicle goes into multiple faults and disables all safety features. Also mid drive vehicle loses power steering and cause unsafe driving conditions. Brakes also start to behave erratically when this occurs.

Had my vehicle for under 1 month. I was driving on a busy highway and the steering wheel completely seized up. It was unable to respond to turns or even curves in the road. Luckily, I was eventually able to pull over gradually, stop the car and contact roadside assistance. However, this was a very dangerous condition that could have cause multiple fatalities, including my own. Tesla replaced the steering column and sent me away without explaining the cause of the condition.

While I was driving my car earlier today, my Tesla Model Y experienced an unexpected steering freeze right in the middle of the freeway. This incident occurred while I was accompanied by my 2-year-old son. Initially, I was quite alarmed and attempted to exert force to guide the car towards the slower lane, but unfortunately, the steering remained unresponsive. After trying the brakes a few times and executing forceful maneuvers, I was fortunate that the steering finally began to respond. Thanks to these actions, both my son and I are safe and well today. It's worth considering the safety implications of Tesla vehicles on the road, and some individuals believe that the NHTSA should intervene by imposing fines and addressing the use of the autopilot feature promptly. Thanks Dr. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Steering assist reduced. Notification on screen alerted me. Could not turn steering wheel to make turn while in a Chick-fil-A drive thru. Needed to park car and shift to drive a couple of times before I could eventually make the turn.

Last night the steering totally failed right after starting the car. An alert popped up saying “steering assist reduced”. Total loss of power steering and the car is inoperable.

While driving in the city on under construction road, the car started showing notifications that the steering power will be reduced. 30 sec. later the steering wheel froze and the car was drivable only forward and backwards. This safety system malfunction put me and my family at risk while in active driving mode, luckily there was no much traffic and i was able to reset the car in order to be able to drive it again. Bumpy road shouldn’t cause the system to malfunction and limit the driving capability, especially not while active driving. I wasnt using any cruise control or auto pilot features.

I have had the car 5 months and have had no problems. This week while driving there was a jerk of the steering wheel to the right and a second later I lost all power steering. I could not turn the wheel without using great force. Luckily I was in the far right lane and could pull over. Car behind me almost rear ended me. The warning on the Tesla screen said "steering assist reduced". I called Tesla and they sent a tow truck to get the car. I did try restarting the car and the steering came back for 10 seconds, but again there was a jerk the right of the wheel and then NO power steering again. Was very upsetting to say the least. I have a home in the mountains and had I been driving down a winding mountain road I could see myself having driven into...

While driving my Tesla model Y, an error message "Power assist reduced" popped up on the computer's screen. I couldn't turn the steering wheel in either direction in a parking lot. This incident happened on 8/11/2023. I reset the car's computer and walked away for 5 minutes and returned. The problem went away. I drove to another place and encountered the same error message while backing up a car into a parking space. I reset the computer system and got out of a car for a few minutes. The error message disappeared and I drove home within 2 mile radius. I have scheduled an appointment on Tuesday 8/15/2023 with Tesla Service Center.

Steering wheel locked up while driving under normal conditions at 45 MPH. I was exiting the highway at this time and was luckily able to come to a complete stop. The car had to be towed to the Tesla service center. This is a brand new 2023 Tesla Y purchased a month ago. The steering wheel has been locking up from time to time; and the steering of the vehicle sometimes feels unwieldy, uncontrollable, and simply undrivable. The issue is very dangerous. I Googled the issue and came across Reddit posts and other Tesla forums where other Tesla drivers have reported the same issue. There are also YouTube videos that discuss the same issue. This seems to be a common enough problem that warrants a total recall. The Tesla service agent acknowledged that the problem seems routine and pervasive, but downplayed the issue. There have been tragic accidents involving Teslas...

Having issue with steering getting stuck and not allowing to rotate. Happened 2 times today and I am ending up powering off and starting the car. I am worried about getting stuck while driving. This is a safety concern for me.

Steering locking up. Based on what I am reading it is the same as others have experienced.

I was driving on the street and all of a sudden steering lost control. The screen shows "steering assist reduced" but the steering got really really heavy to the point it couldn't be turned. It was a dangerous situation where we were in the middle of the street, and there were oncoming traffic on both ways. I called Tesla Road emergency assistant but in the first call was told they couldn't help me unless i move to a safe spot. They asked me to call 911 and get a towing service and could only help after doing so. So we called 911 and asked them again. This time they asked us to reboot the system and it worked for 2 minutes. Afterwards it failed again. It is a very threatening and dangerous situation, as we lost control of the car! I would not want to imagine what would happen if...

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the power steering failed and with three error messages displayed on the instrument panel. The contact was able to safely drive the vehicle to the residence. The contact stated that after the vehicle had sat for several minutes, the power steering functionality returned. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,170. The contact stated that Tesla replaced the steering rack under warranty.

While driving the steering wheel got locked. It occurred 2-3 times consecutively. I call the tesla center and they arranged a tow. When the tow arrived the steering wheel started to make weird noises (it initially worked again) and it got locked again. When the steering wheel was locked there were warnings appearing on the screen (photo attached). The car is now at the tesla service center but it has not been processed yet as they are not open on Sunday. I have video recording of when the second wheel lock happen and can send it if needed

As I was exiting my parking space I notice the steering wheel was stiff as I tried to navigate a left turn. I could not pull the wheel for a successful turn and to not block traffic I reverse slowly back into the parking spot. I rebooted the vehicle and was successful with no issues. Sent a message to Tesla service regarding incident. Mechanic says to have it towed the next time it happens again. Today for the second time (5 days later) as I try to leave for work the same problem appears. This time a reboot to the vehicle did not solve the issue. Rebooted 2 times and steering wheel was still frozen. Called for roadside assistance. Prior to this, there were warning signs that stated power steering reduced and lane departure off. With those warning signals I have a tesla service appointment scheduled.

This was a brand new vehicle delivered in March 2023. Soon after delivery, we noticed difficulty with the steering - more resistance than expected and a feeling that the wheel was turning through notches as you turned the wheel. Please note, we have owned other Teslas and are familiar with the normal steering effort required and software adjustments available. The problem continued to get worse, until one day in May while out, my wife got into the vehicle to drive and the screen displayed an error "Steering Assist Reduced" and the steering wheel would not turn at all, regardless of effort. She reset the vehicle a few times and got out, then re-entered and after a few minutes the problem went away on its own. She drove it home immediately, and then we had it towed to a service center. The service center determined that the vehicle had a steering...

Vehicle was parked on the street. Put car in Drive, loud noise came from steering column, and warning message shows steering assist reduced and lane departure avoidance features unavailable and at that point the car had no power steering. Car was reset 4 times. Every time the vehicle was reset, loud noise came from steering column, both warning messages appeared, and no power steering. On 4th reset, power steering came back, but both warning messages still appeared.

I bought the vehicle and after one day the cars power steering went off while driving and I couldn’t steer. As Tesla has an autopilot function it did not come with the car and no adaptive cruise control and I had to take it to service and leave the car for two days to resolve it.

After a software update I lost all power steering and could not drive the car. It had to be towed and the power steering motor replaced

Loss of power steering making vehicle very hard to steer. The day before power steering was lost, steering became step like - not turning smoothly but in incremental steps. The problem was confirmed by Tesla service and repair has been performed.

All of a sudden, steering wheel control was lost. Steering wheel was so hard to rotate that it was even difficult to park the car. Also, I was getting lots of pop up messages from tesla vehicle operating system.

Steering is locking up while driving. This happened 5 times in the past three weeks. Vehicle is scheduled for service.

Steering got locked and stiffened in middle of the road in traffic.had to call 911 to help me to move my car.this was scary as it could have lead to crash or accident.some time front wiper is automatically wiping in dry summer days which is sometimes blocks the view while driving. Had to switch off the auto mode for wiper.

Summary: Loss of power steering/inability to steer the vehicle occurred twice (7/16/23 & 7/29/23). Issue appears consistent with Investigation PE 23-014. Other functionality was also lost on each occurrence. Details: 7/16/23 - Driver entered the car and immediately received several alerts including Steering assist reduced, stability controlled disabled, traction control disabled, Lane departure avoidance features unavailable, and Vehicle hold disabled. Steering wheel could not be turned and regenerative braking was not functioning. A video of the issue was created and is available upon request as it could not be loaded in its current format. Tesla was contacted on 7/17/23. They stated that a firmware update failed on the evening of 7/15/23. The vehicle was towed to service center and firmware was updated. the invoice from the service center as also attached. 7/29/23 - Driver entered the car and immediately received several alerts including Steering assist reduced and Lane departure avoidance...

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request?: I got delivery of my new Model Y and odometer was reading 3 miles, i took the delivery and drove 10 miles and it stuck the steering wheel , "rear motor got disabled alert" and vehicle went to slow speed on freeway all of sudden, i had truck behind me it would ended up very bad for me and family, i had to immediately put emergency signal and stop on road side, i tried to call tesla road safety helpline and they were totally busy and did not receive call. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? ; this car "rear motor disabled " twice in middle of freeway , Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center?: Yes they confirmed but unable to...

I received delivery of my new 2023 Model Y at the end of June. About 2 weeks ago, I was driving with my child in the car and at a left turn light. When the light turned green, I attempted to turn and the steering wheel almost completely stopped working. It felt like it was totally locked and with all my force, I was able to turn the car about 10% to avoid running into oncoming traffic. There was an alert for steering assist reduced. However, this was basically a locked steering wheel. The vehicle was towed to the nearest Tesla service center and per their notes, they replaced the steering rack and after test driving, they found an HVIL alert. Per their following notes, vehicle kept HVIL faulting and they had to pull logs and check signals and found that OSC kit was needed at VCFront. Installed OCS kit...

Vehicle completely lost the ability to steer. Warning message appeared that said power steering assist had been reduced. In fact, the steering was "locked" and a tremendous amount of force was required to simply steer the vehicle slightly to the side of the road. I could have been killed if this had happened on anything but a very straight low speed section of road. The vehicle was taken away on a flat bed truck to Tesla.

Within two weeks of taking delivery of the car, the power steering locked up when I was driving on the highway. Luckily I was on the right lane and was able to pull over. Once I got out, locked the car and came back in, it started working. It happened twice after that on my drive home from Wilmington NC. I had to take it to Tesla and they replaced the steering rack to fix this but this seems to be a common problem.

The cruise control for keeping the car in the lane never worked correctly . The car had to be towed to 1805 N Pepper Ln, Liberty Lake, WA 99019. Tesla had our new Tesla for two days and fixed the problem. When the car steering when out I was in restaurant parking lot and only drove less than a mile to our Spokane hotel . Waiting two extra days in Spokane was a major pain and loss of two days of work .

While on the highway i lost all power steering and acceleration and breaking power. no blinkers or access to my cars screen would not put car in park while on the side of the highway. i had to cross 4 lanes with no power, blinkers, minimal breaking. The control computer completely broke and stopped working. this was a week after delivery. Telsa towed my car for free and fixed the issue. But did not give anything for almost killing me on the highway. what repair notes say they fixed/replaced. Steering Colum control module bolt Rc Airbag harness Faulty SCCM,CAN

Had car less than a month. After a Tesla software upgrade, error message that power steering assist was disabled. Unable to turn steering wheel. Reset software twice with no change. Left the car for awhile. When I came back, steering worked. No issues since.

Loose power steering control while driving. Mostly happens when car is backing but also has happened while driving. Twice, we narrowly avoided accident. We called Tesla and they said to reset the software upon which it did not show for a day and again started showing up. We are taking the car to be looked up by Tesla service center. This is extremely dangerous situation as loosing power steering makes car really hard to steer!!

Steering wheel locked up one morning and immediately reported it to Tesla and they corrected it, but it seems like they just did a flush of the system. Not sure if there is still some fundamental flow. Charging port also kept on not responding either which basically makes the vehicle unable to move if it can't be charged.

The steering wheel on my 2023 Tesla Model Y, brand new with only 800 miles on it, kept on locking up out of nowhere, in the middle of the drive, and even on the highway, posing a major safety concern for me and everyone driving around me. My safety was put at risk since I could not steer my vehicle off the road and into a safe area, posing a risk-prone of a severe accident through rear-ending. The problem was notified to Tesla Service, which responded super late to this incident where I had to call them and wait on hold for 1 hour to speak to a representative who then followed up and told me to drive it to the closest service center, which I declined since the steering wheel locking up at random is a major safety. Tesla stated that I would need a new steering rack installed...

Service pushed a software update intended to fix a parking assist issue, and after that the power steering failed with a "steering assist reduced" message. I did a full power off and waited a few minutes, and since then it has worked fine. Also of note I mentioned this in my service ticket and they didn't respond at all. I attached a screenshot of the conversation from the Tesla app.

While backing the vehicle out of my driveway the steering wheel completely froze and would not turn in either direction. The vehicle reported a fault, so I turned the vehicle off then back in and it returned to normal. There was an error reported in the app under the service section however it has now disappeared.