Our title paraphrases Tesla Model Y Juniper owner, N.P., who has offered Torque News a full account of the brake issues he experienced with his Model Y Juniper. Here’s what every Model Y Juniper owner with any kind of braking issue should know.
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In our June 12, 2025 story The Brakes On My New Tesla Model Y Juniper Failed as I Approached a Roundabout and Tesla Says It Must Have Been Accidental, But Now I Have Heard This Is a Known Fault - Part 1, we offered a somewhat skeptical look at a reported problem by Model Y Juniper owner N.P. The gist of that story was that all manner of braking in a new Tesla Model Y (Juniper) failed to stop the vehicle all at one time. Lucky, N.P. is a responsible driver and was able to pull to safety and call Tesla for a tow. There was no accident. However, if the braking systems (all three) had failed in a different scenario, this story may have been quite grim.
Following our publication, owner N.P. reached out to Torque News directly. N.P. has now granted approval for us to use his images and more of the report, including some conversations he had with Tesla employees. We will offer N.P.’s account in further detail now. Let’s pick up the story where we left off, and below, I will create a new summary for any readers who have just joined us. Here is N.P.’s most recent update:
Tesla Service has said that the cause of the incorrect warning messages and sensation of vibration and pedal travel was due to a firmware issue. This gave incorrect signals to the Model Y’s braking system, but they say it would not have compromised the brakes themselves (it certainly felt like it at the time!). They updated the firmware and have tested the brakes and say everything is in order.
This updated information is in addition to the initial report offered by N.P., where he said that his initial contact with Tesla service resulted in him hearing that this was a “known fault.” Elaborating on that, N.P. has now added this part of the evolving story:
I've just collected the car from the service center. A guy who works there greeted me and asked if this was the MY with the brake issue, to which I replied yes. He replied, saying "we had another with the same a while ago." He didn't say if it was a MY or how old it was, but I assume they are aware the firmware can cause issues with the braking system, which they've admitted to me (twice).
Tesla’s Response
Please don’t read into this story or our first that this is an attempt at a “Gotcha” of the Tesla brand. No place has N.P. said or hinted that Tesla has not helped him. In fact, he has an app message that offers any further assistance needed, which says, "We recommend the continued monitoring of the vehicle's performance on future drive cycles." Issues with cars happen, Tesla has responded, and done so quickly, and N.P. has the Model Y Juniper back in service.
N.P.’s Plan For Now With His Model Y
We know from detailed communications that N.P.’s “boy racer days are behind him.” He entered the roundabout slowly and carefully, and that is a big reason why he didn’t have any fender benders when the brakes acted up suddenly. He has told Torque News that his plans for now are as follows:
I'll be driving the MY for a few weeks before I let my wife get back behind the wheel (just in case), and the grandchildren will not be going in the MY until we're happy with the car's performance.
Further Details On the Symptoms N.P. Observed
Our first story had limited details on what N.P. experienced while driving the Model Y Juniper when braking became an issue. Please allow us to recreate what we have been told in multiple conversations in a continuous timeline. What follows is us piecing together the info N.P. has offered. We are not embellishing.
“When I pulled up to the roundabout, I was at the bottom of a hill.” As N.P. approached the roundabout (a small rotary for our U.S. readers who may not have them locally), he experienced vibrations through the brake pedal that were quite pronounced. Not brake rotor warp - more than that. At that same instant, the brake pedal travel increased quite a lot. N.P. says of that brake feeling “(It felt) spongy and making such a noise and almost to the floor.”
At the same time, the brakes vibrated and went spongy. N.P says, “messages were popping up on the screen." You can see the messages yourself in our top-of-page image. They indicate low brake fluid and parking brake problems.
N.P. pulled over on an uphill section of roadway and turned his wheels for safety. He remained in the car to ensure it would not roll away. He called for roadside assistance, which in his area is called AA. Even when stopped, N.P. says the brakes acted weird. “I believe the travel on the brakes and the vibration may have been the ABS, but at 5 miles an hour? This continued when I pressed the brake when stationary. The AA guy (tow driver) experienced the same.”
What to Make of This Tesla Model Y Juniper Braking Story
Our intent is to accurately report an account of braking problems reported by the owner of one of America’s top-selling vehicles, the Tesla Model Y. Tesla has experienced brake problems in the past. Those were corrected by an update, and Elon Musk even weighed in on that issue. Since this is an all-new model, we hope that any owner who has a similar problem may find this account and seek help from Tesla right away. Perhaps an OTA update will cure the malady and prevent it from happening ever again. Or perhaps others will report it, and there will be more to report. How would we rate Tesla’s response to the issue as reported to us by N.P.? We’d say Tesla did a great job. They acknowledged the issue, fixed the issue very quickly, and have offered N.P. more assistance should it be required or requested.
If you have a Tesla Model Y with any brake issues, we hope that you will add a comment to help other owners. Feel free to tell us what your thoughts are on this bake problem in the comments below.
John Goreham is a long-standing member of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools.
The images in this story were used with the written permission of the owner.
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