What is the best year for the Tesla Model Y?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Tesla Model Y
which year?
Compare every Tesla Model Y model year the EPA recorded, 2020 to 2026. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Tesla Model Y year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Tesla Model Y years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2023
1,133 indexed complaint reports; forward collision avoidance is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2023 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect20211,058 indexed complaint reports; forward collision avoidance is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2021 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2022846 indexed complaint reports; forward collision avoidance is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2022 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Tesla Model Y model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2025 Tesla Model Y
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 93
- Combined EPA economy
- 104–125 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 3
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $600–750
- Fuel labels
- Electricity
Most-reported component labelsforward collision avoidance 52unknown or other 23lane departure 18
Open the 2025 evidence dossier →2026 Tesla Model Y
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 318
- Combined EPA economy
- 105–138 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 6
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $550–700
- Fuel labels
- Electricity
Most-reported component labelsforward collision avoidance 125unknown or other 97electrical system 49
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2026 has 225 more indexed complaint allegations than 2025.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Tesla Model Y by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 318 | forward collision avoidance 125unknown or other 97electrical system 49 | 105–138 | 6 | $550–700 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 93 | forward collision avoidance 52unknown or other 23lane departure 18 | 104–125 | 3 | $600–750 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 311 | forward collision avoidance 168back over prevention 68electrical system 59 | 105–120 | 5 | $650–700 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 1,133 | forward collision avoidance 624steering 204vehicle speed control 166 | 111–123 | 3 | $600–700 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 846 | forward collision avoidance 688vehicle speed control 137service brakes 128 | 111–129 | 4 | $600–700 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 1,058 | forward collision avoidance 839service brakes 177vehicle speed control 159 | 111–129 | 3 | $600–700 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 274 | forward collision avoidance 136unknown or other 53vehicle speed control 37 | 111–121 | 3 | $650–700 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.