Problems · by component
2022 Tesla Model Y visibility/wiper problems
27 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2022 Tesla Model Y cite visibility/wiper, 3% of all 874 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
27
3% of all complaints
Crashes
0
Reported by owners
Fires
0
Reported by owners
Injuries
0
Reported by owners
What owners say about the visibility/wiper
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“The heat pump failed after experiencing temperatures below 10 degrees fahrenheit. There was no warning until after the failure, when I received a notification that the climate system needed maintenance. All heating/cooling, including defrosting/defogging the windshield, is inoperable. The service center confirmed that this is a heat pump failure and requires a replacement of the entire system, and a Tesla employee indicated that this is a common issue in the first 6-9 months of this cooling system design. This is well documented across many forums, and there is a class-action lawsuit in Quebec, Canada related to this failure.”
“HVAC system failure in sub-freezing weather causing loss of windshield defrost and cabin heat. Tesla has acknowledged this as a known hardware design limitation of the heat pump/octovalve system but is refusing repair coverage outside of warranty. This condition affects driver visibility and winter driving safety.”
“While using cruise control at highway speed, the car suddenly slams on the breaks causing major panic. Oversteering onto incoming traffic and cars following are affected slamming on their breaks to avoid contact. Have contacted Tesla Service Center multiple times addressing the problem (Phantom breaking problem). What they keep on telling me is that there is no fix to the problem at this time. The cruise control intermittently turns off and on by itself with no warning or obstruction. No lamps warning or messages prior to failure. My Tesla 2022 Model Y (Performance) has been inspected at the Tesla Service Center many times, but to no avail problem still exists.”
“Incident Summary: Car Computer (HW3) suffered internal hardware failure on 12/17/25 following software update 2025.44.3. While the media screen and rearview camera functioned, the Autopilot Board (APB) was "MIA." Tesla Randolph (Invoice #3000S0015357298) confirmed the internal failure and replaced the unit. Safety Risk: Failure disabled safety-critical ADAS: Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and Forward Collision Warning. Driving visualizations were severely compromised; the vehicle failed to detect pedestrians or lane markings while in motion, creating an immediate collision risk. The car’s active safety "intelligence" was essentially blind despite the camera feed being visible on the screen. Inspection & Contradictions: Tesla Service confirmed the "internal failure" (12/19-12/23). Note: The Service Manager verbally claimed "no codes," but the official invoice explicitly states technicians "found multiple alerts present." Part was retained by Tesla. Warning Symptoms: Failure followed a software reboot loop. Symptoms (MIA board/power cycle failure) match Recall 25V-002. Vehicle had only 36,289 miles. Reporting as potential HW3 defect expansion.”
“The windshield has a huge crack that just appeared out of nowhere. We took it to the shop and they said it wasn’t from a rock. There is no chip in the glass. Apparently a stress fracture. The crack is getting bigger every day and becoming a distraction while driving. Tesla said we are 10,000 miles over our warranty even though the vehicle is only 2 years old. It seems like they used cheap glass as this is common in the Tesla forums and chats.”
“Multiple, random occurrences of hard braking at highway speeds when there was no object or obstruction ahead. In the 2-1/2 years we’ve owned the car this has happened on two lane and multiple lane highways, generally at speeds over 50 mph. Also, the windshield wipers randomly deploy even when turned completely off. They generally work when it’s raining but the delay function is also randomly not in sync with the settings or actual rainfall.”
Showing 6 of 27 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 3, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.