2026 TESLA MODEL Y Steering Problems

A structural chassis component (V-brace) was permanently removed from my vehicle by Tesla Service during a service visit. The removal was performed under a Tesla-described engineering retrofit (Tesla Service Article 9188600). The component was not reinstalled or replaced, and Tesla stated that once removed it cannot be reinstalled. The service visit was originally initiated due to a persistent rattle/noise from the vehicle The safety concern arises from: •A permanent modification to a structural chassis component, performed without my authorization. •Removal of a component originally installed for structural reinforcement and stability, creating uncertainty regarding vehicle rigidity, crash behavior, and handling. •The continued presence of an unresolved structural noise/rattle, which can be distracting to the driver and may indicate an underlying structural or mechanical issue. The vehicle was sold and delivered with this component installed, and its removal was not disclosed or approved prior to service. The noise/rattle was present prior to the service visit and prompted the service appointment. The structural component removal occurred during the service visit. The problem was reproduced and confirmed by Tesla Service and they: •Acknowledged the noise/rattle concern. •Performed a structural retrofit involving removal of the V-brace. •Marked the concern as “resolved”, despite the noise still being present. •Later stated the noise is considered “normal”, even though it is not present in all Model Y vehicles, including the Juniper variant. No warning lights or system messages appeared. The only symptom was a persistent rattle/noise originating from the vehicle chassis The vehicle was inspected and modified by Tesla Service, acting on behalf of the manufacturer. The modification was performed under a Tesla engineering directive. No independent service center, insurance representative, or law enforcement agency has inspected the vehicle.

The vehicle exhibits harmonic oscillation in the steering column since the day I drove the vehicle home on the interstate. Even though tires had been balanced out of pocket due to long service center wait times with a road force balancer, balanced again at the service center, match mounted and road force balanced again out of my own pocket, noise reducing foam removed and balanced on an uncalibrated balancer that resulted in a same day bring back and final road force balance. Service center refused to troubleshoot further after lead tech drove vehicle after third attempt of repair. I asked whether the tech felt the vibration and the service advisors face turned red, and fed the line that it is normal NVH from the solid front drive unit mounts and that was Tesla's stance. This issue has been widely reported online to vehicles that are RWD as well. The bad wheel balance exacerbates the harmonic in the column. Exceptional wheel balancing with RVF down to 6lbs on the front wheels only made it less intense. When driving on any uneven road, or crossing bridge expansion gaps for example, the steering oscillation gets worse, as the uneven roads make it worse. Reasonably assumed at this point it is not caused by just a balance issue. Tesla refused to try a set of known good wheels on the vehicle. This is not normal NVH or general road feel; something in the front end of the vehicle gets into harmonic oscillation. I asked if Tesla would like to keep the car for a proper diagnostic and whether they had looked into other components of the front end, and if they were not going to diagnose further I'd request a buyback. The simple response was that a buyback request would be initiated. It could be a myriad of issues, none of which should be my responsibility to try and track down or fix on a vehicle that exhibited the behavior since day one and still does after 1500 miles. I've passed the account to the service center manager and district manager yet to no reply.

Severe lateral swaying / side-to-side swaying (“boat-like” or “floaty” motion) at highway speeds (65–80 mph) on any concrete-surface interstate, especially grooved or slightly uneven concrete (typical on Illinois highways such as I-90, I-294, I-55, etc.). Description of safety concern: The vehicle continuously rocks side-to-side in a pronounced, pendulum-like motion that requires constant steering corrections to stay in the lane. The motion is severe enough to cause motion sickness in passengers within minutes and makes the driver tense and fatigued. In crosswinds or when passing trucks the swaying becomes even worse and feels unstable. I no amount of lane centering or driver input fully eliminates the sensation. Service history: December 2025 – Schaumburg, IL Tesla Service Center • Technician test-drove with me on I-90 and immediately felt the exact swaying I described. • Service advisor and service manager both stated this is a “normal characteristic of the 2025 Model Y Juniper” and that no repair or adjustment is possible. • Loaner 2025 Model Y Juniper provided exhibited identical swaying behavior. I do not believe constant, pronounced lateral instability at normal highway speeds is an acceptable “characteristic” in any passenger vehicle. It impairs control, increases driver fatigue, and creates a legitimate safety risk, especially in adverse weather or emergency maneuvers. Tesla refuses to acknowledge this as a defect. I am therefore requesting NHTSA investigate whether the 2025 Tesla Model Y suspension calibration and/or damper tuning creates an unreasonable safety risk due to excessive lateral instability on typical U.S. concrete highways

Approximately one month after purchasing a new vehicle, the steering system suddenly failed without any warning. While the car was parked at home and started normally, the steering wheel became extremely heavy, hot, and then completely locked. The vehicle could not be steered at all and became entirely non-drivable. Multiple warning messages appeared, including warnings related to reduced steering assist effectiveness and lane departure avoidance being unavailable. This occurred at approximately 1,000 miles. The failure happened suddenly with no prior symptoms. This defect created a serious safety risk. If this had occurred while driving, it could have resulted in loss of vehicle control and a potential crash. The vehicle was not drivable and had to be towed to a Tesla service center. The issue has been reported to Tesla and is currently under inspection. The exact cause of the failure is UNKNOWN at this time. A sudden and complete loss of steering control on a nearly new vehicle is extremely dangerous and indicates a potential defect in the steering system or related electrical components.

AFTER STARTING THE CAR IN A PARKING LOT, I ATTEMPTED TO NAVIGATE FROM THE PARKING SPACE. I SHIFTED THE VEHICLE INTO REVERSE. THE VEHICLE BACKED UP BUT I WAS UNABLE TO STEER IT. THE STEERING WAS LOCKED. I WAS ABLE TO MOVE THE CAR BACK INTO THE PARKING SPACE. I CONTACTED TESLA ABOUT THE PROBLEM. THEY INSTRUCTED ME TO DO SEVERAL DIAGNOSTICS AND EVENTUALLY ORDERED ME TO DO A RESET OF THE ELECTRONICS ON THE VEHICLE. ONCE COMPLETED, IT DID NOT CORRECT THE PROBLEM. TESLA ADVISED TO HAVE THE VEHICLE TOWED TO THEIR REPAIR CENTER. THEIR DIAGNOSTIC TEST SHOWED A STEERING RACK INITIALIZATION ERROR. THEY REMOVED AND REPLACED THE STEERING GEAR ASSEMBLY- LEFT HAND DRIVE (21888333-00-B). THE OPERATING SOFTWARE IS V12 (2025.38.9.6 10bd3d61eE72) FSD (Supervised) v14.2.1

We recently bought Tesla Model Y. Last week of October 2025. Last week we had visited our friend who lives in Pineville. Less than a mile from our place. We were at his place for an hour, as we decided to leave and as we put the car in park to drive we get a warning that “steering assist is not available.” I was unable to move the steering even with all my strength. The steering had become very hard to steer the car in any direction. We had to leave the car there and get back the next day to check on it. There was a software glitch that got resolved however the situation was scary as if this would have happened anywhere else or if this would have happend when my wife is alone it could have had different consequences. I would like to report this to the Authorities to see if other Tesla people have been facing similar issues.

Car seemed to have no power steering when I tried to leave this morning, brand new car less than 5000 miles and it’s glitching.

Hi, its not really an incident but I found what have happened suspicious. I got my tesla from the delivery zone at the Giga factory in Austin, TX last Wednesday. Right after the delivery i found an issue with steering wheel alignment. Steering wheel was tilted right and car was pulling right in the road. I addressed this issue to Tesla and visited service center last Saturday Nov-22nd. Technician confirmed an issue. Wheels alignment was performed on the vehicle and it was returned to me on the same day. As soon as I got the the road I found that issue wasn't fixed. It went better but not fully fixed. I came to the service center again. Senior technician took a ride with me and confirmed the issue again. She also told me that they will probably will have to look into suspension because alignment didnt help last time and it could be more serious issue. The car was taken care of and returned to me in 90 min or so. Service advisor told me that suspension and steering were torqued and another alignment performed. When I took it to the road and I found that issue was fixed and I'm happy now but ifter that i recieved a message from the Service Center that I found suspicious. Despite the communication in person in the message afterwards was stating that no issues were found (See attach). I found this suspicious and decided to let you know as that may look like an attempt to hide some serious safety concern with steering. Please find screenshot in the attachment

When using cruise control (traffic aware cruise control and autosteer) the car acts dangerously and stops for no reason. I've been driving on open roads with no traffic in front of me on regular roads, the car will slam on the brakes and it causes the people behind me to need to slam on their brakes as well. I feel like I'm going to get into an accident constantly... I was on the freeway and no one around in front of me and the car slammed on the brakes to almost a stop on a 70 mph speed limit road. Today the same thing occurred in high traffic on a 55mph road, luckily the driver behind me wasn't to close and was able to stop in time ... There is no option to use regular cruise control or disable enough features to prevent this from occurring... It's incredibly terrifying. If they can't do traffic aware cruise, there should be the option to do regular cruise... And it shouldn't require passing Tesla $8000 for full self driving to be able to drive your car at a speed without the that of being rear ended. This feels like extortion... I've submitted feature requests to Tesla, talked to their bot about fixing this and I've currently been on hold for almost an hour without any response. This dangerous tech is unacceptable!

My 2026 Tesla Model Y with under 3,000 miles experienced a sudden and total loss of power steering while driving. The car became extremely difficult to control. Tesla towed it to their service center, where they claimed it was a software-related issue that could not be replicated. The service center released the car back to me but refused to provide written assurance that the vehicle is safe to drive, stating only that it is “cleared for release.” I’m concerned this issue could reoccur, creating a risk of loss of control and injury. The lack of transparency and refusal to confirm the vehicle’s safety in writing raises serious safety concerns about potential defects in the steering or software systems.

On October 3, 2025, I visited the Tesla Service Center to resolve a persistent noise issue. The issue involves rattling and creaking sounds from the steering wheel area, especially when driving over uneven roads or turning. The service appointment did not resolve the problem, and Tesla scheduled the next available appointment for October 30, 2025 — almost a full month later. The noise from the steering wheel area raises safety concerns, as it may indicate a defect in the steering column, structure, or related components. This is distracting during driving and could potentially compromise safe vehicle operation. I request that NHTSA investigate whether this is an isolated issue or a more widespread safety-related defect affecting Tesla vehicles.

Yesterday on October 1st I was driving car recently last few days my car usually go more right side but I thought this may be due to keep in lane car feature or something so I didn’t bother much but yesterday when I was driving at around 11:13 am I didn’t know I reciived notifications in car about 1.automatic vehicle hold disabled 2.tracking control disabled 3. Stability control disabled 4.break pedal regenerative breaking unavailable 5.lane departure avoidance feature unavailable 6. Automatic emergency breaking unavailable And I see from y car pe drive vidio recording in 11:14 minute one my car hit curb and it damages my both side wheel and tire so badly damaged and broke like out of both pieces came off but didn’t flat my tire and when this happens I was trying it break but it didn’t break instead in lost all function so it was kind going fast and lost all control and with lot of work my car wind on side and then completely turn to other side this all happened in few seconds and was very scary I wasn’t far from tesla service centre and I have wheel protection and tire protection plan so I took straight to tesla service centre and I ask them about using my that plan and after some time they said based on damage and they check video they said this is collision and at that time I wasn’t aware what to do and this and that and I wasn’t fighting and I didn’t know about video or notifications all untill they show me and ask me to file insurence claim for collision and luckily I took picture of notification picture in car at that time and then I end up following insurence claim process in hour of something it took me and then went in car to take tesla flash drive and my stuff I saw they put vehicle in service mode and all notifications were cleared and I even tell them luckily there wasn’t car near by or highways and no one on street and it avoided big incident but all this failure due to impact or this impact due to failure I want investigation because I suspect

The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving and exceeding 70 MPH, the vehicle drifted to the right. The contact stated that the vehicle was vibrating abnormally. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who was unable to identify the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 10.

Mileage: 10

Description of Incident: While operating the vehicle with FSD engaged, the system was traveling at the posted speed limit of 25 mph. Without warning, it suddenly made a sharp left turn onto the sidewalk and accelerated during the maneuver. A pole on the left side struck the vehicle, damaging the driver-side mirror, scratching and denting the body, and leaving the left rear door unable to open properly. This was the third time FSD had been used since purchasing the car less than 24 hours prior. The system did not allow manual override of the wheel at the time of the incident. After the impact, once the vehicle returned to the road, it came to a stop and FSD disengaged on its own. Notes: No pedestrians or other vehicles were in the immediate area, preventing further harm. No system warnings or alerts were issued before or during the incident. The incident is attributed to a malfunction of the FSD system.

The Curvature Assist function activates and applies the brakes automatically on straight and level sections of freeways with no observable obstacles or curves, requiring driver to resume acceleration to override the brakes.

After I purchased this car I noticed that the steering wheel and whole car including the seats vibrate. They tried tire pressure, alignment and balancing nothing. It still vibrates so much it’s affecting the nerves in my hands and body and make me numb. They say the car is safe and refuse to diagnose or fix it unless I pay. Car is a month old it’s still under warranty!

After doing multiple search online came across multiple user complaints about new Tesla model y juniper 2026 Lr awd you can feel vibration from steering wheel at highway speeds it is really specific at 80mph this is not a normal behavior especially vibrations took it to the service center and was told it was the wheels are not balanced properly so they fixed it apparently but is still doing it. I truly believe there is something Tesla knows but is not acknowledging it.

I owned the vehicle less than a month, using full supervised drive, FSD. Today 6/22/2025 1:45 PM almost had an accident. The vehicle was in the right made a left turn crossing a yellow line, then made a turn in a white line, in front of the vehicle behind me. I took control of the vehicle to proceed in the correct lane. On another occasion it made a right turn, corrected itself to the left lane as it should have done. I am hearing impaired, focus on the road, cannot look at the screen monitor while driving. The vehicle stopped, advised me FSD was inoperable, had to manual drive to my destination. There is no warning, alerts for the hearing impaired. Other issues driving in the wrong lane, then at the last minute changes to the correct lane, I am certain cutting off drivers. UNKNOWN