The vehicle itself will not follow safety lane control. Full self driving was in fact it crosses double white lines and toll roads and will merge into other lanes that has led to unsafe situation excessive ticketing, especially in the [XXX] area. This has happened several times, where it’ll go over the double white line ignore the laws and it will stay in the left lane, causing traffic and disruption. Today it did it several times and jerked into the toll lane when it was a double white line and caused a traffic issue instead of working through it. It signal quickly and then just moved over which was not OK and it was against the rules. Each state has their own set of laws and the cars should be able to adjust each state to follow those laws to ensure safety. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
2026 Tesla Model Y: jerking or lurching
9 of the 452 complaints about the 2026 Tesla Model Y describe jerking or lurching.
- owner complaints
- 9
- of this car's complaints
- 2%
- recalls
- 0
Jerking or lurching by model year
What owners say
Lane assist and warnings are horrible and can’t be permanently disabled because of your asinine regulations. I have had it try to force me into high way on ramp merge lanes and on unmarked backroads absolutely lose it’s mind and force me over to oncoming traffic because it doesn’t know where the shoulder is. In addition it is over sensitive and likes to blare annoying alarms and jerk my steering wheel when I am not even departing my lane. Thanks for over regulating yet another thing.
Subject: Safety Hazard caused by Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance on [2026 Tesla Model Y] Description: I am writing to report a serious safety issue regarding the Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance (ELDA) feature on my US-spec Tesla. Starting with recent software updates, the vehicle forces the Lane Departure Avoidance setting back to "Assist" upon every single drive cycle, with no option to disable it permanently. This behavior creates an immediate safety hazard, especially in cold climate regions and during winter driving conditions. When attempting to steer around immediate road hazards such as open manholes, deep potholes, or debris, the vehicle's cameras fail to recognize the object in the road. If the driver maneuvers to avoid the hazard without a pre-activated turn signal, the ELDA system aggressively intervenes, jerking the steering wheel back into the path of the danger. On slippery, icy, or wet roads, this unexpected electronic intervention causes a sudden loss of traction, risking a severe crash. Forcing a driver to navigate multiple sub-menus on a touchscreen to change a safety-critical setting before every single drive is dangerous and distracting. In the United States, there is no federal mandate requiring this setting to reset to "Assist" on every drive. I request that the federal safety agency investigate this aggressive software behavior and compel Tesla to restore the option for owners to permanently set Lane Departure Avoidance to "Warning" or "Off".
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving manually over 40 MPH, the Lane Departure Avoidance system jerked the steering wheel abruptly to the other side while the vehicle was still inside the desired lane. The failure was a recurring issue. The dealer was contacted and informed of the option to turn off the feature. However, each time the vehicle was restarted, the feature was turned on by default. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 300.
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed without the Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature engaged, the steering wheel suddenly jerked to the right. While the FSD was engaged, the vehicle made erroneous turns at 51 MPH, forcing the driver to take control of the vehicle. The contact received several warnings about the brakes and other safety features. The steering wheel jerked to the right while driving with the FSD engaged. The vehicle was towed to a Tesla Service Center on July 9th. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 303.
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while the contact's husband was driving at 70 MPH, the self-drive feature failed to function as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle aggressively jerked into the merging lane. The contact stated that the vehicle almost crashed into a concrete wall. In addition, the contact stated that the failure was persistent. The contact stated that the failure began after an unknown software update was performed. 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 4,800.
The contact owns a 2026 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while attempting to park the vehicle suddenly lurched forward and crashed into a curb, then the vehicle lunched forward and crashed into a brick wall. The vehicle then erroneously drove in reverse at a high rate of speed and crashed into a second parked vehicle. The contact indicated that after the incident, in order to shut the vehicle off, the doors had to be opened. The contact's foot remained on the brake pedal during the incident. During the crash, the driver sustained a fractured right foot, and the rear center passenger sustained a bruised back. Both injuries later required medical treatment. No police report was taken. The vehicle was later towed to the home. The cause of the failure was not determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 9,440
Lane Departure Aoidane is always enabled for each drive - the car menu states: “Lane Departure Assistance will be reset to Assist on the next drive” - you have to manually go 2 menus and scroll down to the bottom and turn it off every single drive every single transition to Park and drive. The feature is very intolerant. If you swerve around a pothole or a pedestrian or a bicycle, it freaks out and corrects the steering wheel startling the driver and causing a very unsafe situation. I have had several near misses due to this horrible feature. Tesla should design it to be able to be disabled and remember its default state. It’s not a safe feature. It has caused many near accidents and is especially bad in country road driving. The only time he would want such a feature as if the driver is asleep or heavily distracted of which no good driver should be. Tesla has a camera that could detect something like that. This is a safety feature that makes the vehicle significantly less safe. The default for this feature should be disabled for all Teslas. This is a ultra high priority item. It dramatically impacts by driving every day, and I don’t always remember to turn it off until the steering wheel jerks away from me and almost causes an accident!!! This stuff should not be enabled by default!!!
I've noticed periodically when the car is braking at start stop traffic in autopilot mode, the brake is very jerky and I can actually hear the pedal jerking and engaging. I wrote it off at the time in my head as normal operation of the car. I have brake pressure offset codes and brake booster mia codes. Sometimes I've noticed when I brake, randomly the pedal is super stiff and it feels like the car is driving on ice, as if the brakes aren't working or slowing me down at all, but I thought nothing of it at the time. Today on the 14th, I got into an accident at a relatively slow speed that in any other scenario I should have been able to stop. Yet I hit a parked car because as I was braking, I felt the pedal go very very stiff and unresponsive, and I carried the same speed as when I started braking right until impact, it seems as if I didn't slow down one bit. The brakes did not respond as they did mere seconds before and I hit a parked car. I understand teslas may throw codes left and right in service mode that may mean nothing, but I am worried about the brake booster code and wonder if maybe it caused the accident I was involved in. My friends told me they heard about tesla brake issues and that I should look into it and when I went to go check the codes hours later there they were.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2026 Tesla Model Y jerking
Is jerking or lurching a common problem on the 2026 Tesla Model Y?
9 of 452 owner complaints about the 2026 Tesla Model Y (2%) mention jerking or lurching. The model year with the most reports is 2023.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2026 Tesla Model Y?
There is no recall or service bulletin for this area of the car on record.
Other symptoms on the 2026 Tesla Model Y
Lane assist 29Adaptive cruise 16Collision warning 15Sudden acceleration 10Phantom braking 9Knocking 8Harsh shifting 8No deployment 7Power steering loss 7Ball joint 6Loss of power 6Grinding brakes 5
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