autoevolution
 

Tesla Model Y May Have a Chronic Rear Motor Issue That Makes It Fail

Whenever it seems that Tesla customers already had their fair share of defects, another one emerges. The company is yet to solve the problem with its heat pumps. Still, another safety concern emerged with the Model Y. According to ConsumerAffairs, its rear motors are failing at a worrying pace.
Tesla Model Y may have serious issues with its rear motors 11 photos
Photo: via TMC/Sandy Munro
Tesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y electric crossoverTesla Model Y may have serious issues with its rear motors
The consumer protection organization refers to at least two TMC Forum threads about the same issue. In a quick search, we found two more. The oldest complaint dates from November 19, 2020.

The user Demonofelru heard a grinding sound coming from their Model Y, “then a big thunk.” The EV then presented a message that the rear motor was disabled. Strangely, it said the car was still good to drive. Then more warnings came up: “electrical systems limited, power may be reduced, car may not restart, service needed, and electrical systems starting.” The user Hydrocarbon302 reported a similar issue in that thread, and that was it until August 20, 2021.

That’s when the second thread was started by user Meekasmom. The problem description is pretty similar, beginning with a clunk. Right after that, the vehicle started popping up warnings such as “electrical power reduced,” “vehicle speed limited,” and “rear motor failure.” All that happened in the middle of a busy street, preventing this Tesla customer from even putting it in neutral to move it to the side of the road. This person is glad that it did not happen on a highway.

In that same thread, other Tesla Model Y owners reported rear motor failures: the users Pzelaski, MyYisBluOn20s, tuansj21, FazedChicken, VermontDriver, Swerve, and agentS. The user Cyberspeed said one of their friends had a similar issue. In a single thread, we have nine people reporting the same failure. With the two customers from the first one, there are 11 people who wrote about the problem.

The user mikevince seized the discussion to disclose that his Model S also had two rear motor failures after driving his EV for just 65,000 miles. It could be worse: Hansjörg Eberhard von Gemmingen replaced the motor nine times so far. He has the Tesla with the most mileage in the world.

FazedChicken started the third thread on December 12, 2021. The rear motor on this person’s Model Y failed after only 100 kilometers (62 miles). The user JS99 mentioned the same problem, and another one, chriscilia, said they had the same issue with his Model 3. That makes sense: the Model 3 and the Model Y share the same platform and most of their components, such as the motors.

The third thread came from the user detwer and was published on February 7, 2022. The driver felt a sudden lurch and the same warnings started to appear. This Tesla had only two months and 2,500 miles (4,023 km). The users Cliffbar, ElectricAnt54, Edgefan2001, asha09, and aprameyabhat stated they had similar issues.

In ElectricAnt54’s case, Tesla experienced the problem when a technician was taking the electric SUV back from panel gap alignments. The description they gave this TMC Forum user fits what everybody else described, but Tesla told them that it was “a broken front left body controller.” Considering the similarities, we’d take that with a grain of salt.

In the same thread, ReversePolarity posted that a friend also had to have the rear motor replaced in his Model Y Long Range. That leads the number of affected owners to 18 – 19 if the issue with ElectricAnt54’s Model Y was not really what Tesla said it was.

From what the threads brought up by ConsumerAffairs and the ones we found, it seems that Tesla has a problem with its motors. They are not restricted only to the Model Y: there are cases with the Model 3, and the Model S. The Model X must also have them even if we have not seen them in these discussions. Hopefully, raising the issue will shed more light on what is causing these failures.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories