2021 TESLA MODEL Y — Complaint #2134227
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY filed September 26, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2134227 (ODI reference 11689915) concerns a 2021 TESLA MODEL Y and was filed on September 26, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 20, 2025. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as electrical system:12v/24v/48v battery, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same TESLA MODEL Y cohort independently describe similar electrical system:12v/24v/48v battery failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2021 TESLA MODEL Y shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
On August 20th, 2025 at 2:50pm, my eight-month-old infant was trapped inside my Tesla Model Y for approximately 30 minutes due to a critical systems failure. The vehicle experienced an error with the 12V battery that rendered the doors, windows, and trunk completely inoperable, preventing any means of access or escape. My infant was flushed, diaphoretic, and crying while stuck in his car seat with an indoor temperature exceeding 104 degrees fahrenheit. Despite all attempts to override the system, the car remained locked, and the battery dead, and emergency services had to be contacted. Officers from the Santa Barbara Sheriffâs Department, California Highway Patrol, and Montecito Fire Department arrived on scene and, in order to rescue my baby, were forced to smash a window to gain entry. The police officer was advised by a Tesla representative to do so, as he confirmed there would be no way to override the system to open the doors. My baby was found screaming in a pool full of sweat
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2134227 |
| ODI Number | 11689915 |
| Date Filed | September 26, 2025 |
| Failure Date | August 20, 2025 |
| VIN | 5YJYGDEE1MF |
Similar ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:12V/24V/48V BATTERY Complaints for 2021 TESLA MODEL Y
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Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.