Tesla Model Y is full of new convenience features that make the ownership experience of the electric crossover second to none. However, what goes unseen are secret tidbits that Tesla engineers implemented in the Model Y that make it stand even further apart from other vehicles in its category.
YouTuber and Tesla owner Tesla Raj delved into his six favorite “secrets” of the Model Y that you may not know of.
Magnetic Sun Visors
The first change on the Model Y that Raj notes as one of his favorites on the new crossover is the magnetic sun visor “clip.” In past Tesla vehicles, like the Model 3, the sun visor has utilized a clip and bar system, where the bar snaps into the clip, locking the visor into place.
Tesla improved upon the visor by implementing a magnet system that simply closes the visor into place without excessive pulling or pushing that can create a hassle for a driver when operating the vehicle. The visor still extends and is maneuverable so it can be adjusted to block the sun at any angle. The magnetic system creates a more relaxed lodging and dislodging experience for drivers when they would like to use it to keep the bright light in the sky out of their eyes.
Door Seals
Arguably, one of the most satisfying feelings that define luxury over economy is the sound of a closing door.
Tesla has installed a sturdier, thicker, and firmer door seal with the Model Y, creating a distinctive and robust sound indicating the car door is sealed shut. Raj compared the sound Model Y makes when shutting the door with that of the Model 3 and took notice of a deeper and sturdier sound from the all-electric crossover. Moreover, the seal in the Model Y is of better quality and contours around the vehicle’s curves with more precision over Model 3.
Trunk Vents
Model Y includes trunk vents on both corners of the rear trunk where the side compartments are located. The driver’s side vent houses the Charge Port pull tab, that can alleviate a jammed charging port door if it becomes stuck.
The passenger side vent contains the vehicle’s subwoofer and acts as relief for the air that pushes through the speaker.
Under-Seat Storage Space
The driver’s and passenger’s seats of the Model Y both have a 5″ tall by 14″ wide by 7″ long space beneath them, creating the impression that it could be used to store anything from books, to games, to possibly a homemade drawer under it. Raj believes someone with the proper craftsmanship could build a small drawer that could be fashioned under the seat, creating extra storage space any sort of object. With kids, this could be a perfect opportunity to store coloring books, handheld game systems, DVDs, or other entertainment outlets during a long drive.
Hood/Frunk Polymer Seal
The frunk on previous Tesla models seemed to have a considerable space between the actual frunk door and the bottom of the storage compartment, leaving space for items, like food or drinks, to move around excessively. This increased the risk of spillage or movement, so Tesla created a large seal that gets rid of this extra space. The storage is still the same as the seal does not pass the upper-outer lip of the frunk, but it certainly creates a more secure environment for whatever is stored in the compartment.
Pedestrian Warning Speaker
In Early September 2019, Tesla complied with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandate that required electric vehicles traveling below 19 MPH to omit a noise to increase pedestrian awareness of quiet electric cars. Model 3’s manufactured around that time were all outfitted with this speaker, and it appears the Model Y also has speakers as well. While the mandate does not go into effect until September 2020.
Tesla Raj’s full video on six Model Y secrets is below.
Tesla’s Automatic Collision Evasion feature can be seen in one of the first owner videos of it in action.
Tesla owner Spencer (@scotsrule08) posted on Monday that the feature “worked flawlessly,” saying FSD reengaged itself just as he was about to hit a curb. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s AI team, shared the clip and wrote, “A guardian angel always looking out for you.”
The video arrives in the middle of a staged rollout. Tesla first shipped Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD (Supervised) v14.3.9 in software update 2026.27.6 earlier this month, which Teslarati covered as it reached cars. Update 2026.27.10, which began going out on September 19, carried the feature improvements with FSD v14.3.10, according to release notes tracked by Not a Tesla App. The newer 2026.27.11 build is now reaching another wave of vehicles.
The new Automatic Collision Evasion feature worked flawlessly! FSD reengaged itself just as I was about to hit a curb.
Kudos @Tesla_AI team! 👏 pic.twitter.com/Fbp15HhpL2
— Spencer (@scotsrule08) September 28, 2026
The feature only runs on HW4 vehicles, and it requires an active FSD purchase or subscription with both FSD (Supervised) and Automatic Emergency Braking enabled. HW3 owners receive FSD v14.2 Lite in the same updates, but that build does not include collision evasion.
Tesla’s release notes describe two triggers. The first is an imminent frontal collision that braking alone may not prevent, in which case the car can activate FSD to steer, brake or accelerate around the hazard. That scenario is limited to highways below 85 mph, with no pedestrians or cyclists detected and no slippery road surface. The second covers a driver who appears inattentive, such as reaching into the back seat, or who seems to have switched off FSD by accident. Spencer’s curb clip appears to fall into that second category.
Tesla plans big safety improvements for Full Self-Driving v15
Once the system takes over, the accelerator is muted and light brake input will not cancel the maneuver. Drivers need to apply firm, deliberate steering force to take back control, and the car chimes to hand control back once the danger has passed.
Elluswamy recently noted that earlier hazard prediction, faster reaction time and better collision avoidance would arrive with FSD v15, the next major version.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk drops a surprise update on Boring Company’s next big dig
Musk says Boring Company could shrink the Austin to San Antonio drive to just minutes.
Elon Musk says The Boring Company is working on what he called “a simple, precursor Hyperloop” tunnel connecting Austin and San Antonio, targeting speeds above 200 mph and cutting a drive that can take up to two and a half hours down to a consistent under 30 minutes. Musk posted the idea on X Sunday, in a reply to a repost of an AI generated video imagining a science fiction future with human colonies on other worlds, which he shared with the line “This is the future we shall bring into being.”
This is the future we shall bring into being pic.twitter.com/8aD0w8MDVc
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 20, 2026
The Boring Company’s own account picked up the idea in the same thread, adding a detail about how the trip would actually work: “Because Loop/Hyperloop is express (i.e. no intermediate stops), one could travel from an Austin parking lot to a favorite San Antonio restaurant in about 30 minutes. As long as they both have Loop stations.” That framing ties the proposed intercity link to the same station model the company already runs in Las Vegas, where riders enter the tunnel network through small, garage style stops rather than one central terminal.
This is not the company’s first run at the Austin to San Antonio corridor. Boring Company floated tunnels between the two cities as far back as 2021, and later competed for a separate San Antonio Loop project tied to the airport before that specific bid stalled. Pitches for tunnels in Chicago, Los Angeles, and a New York to Washington corridor have followed a similar pattern of big announcement without a shovel in the ground.
What is different this time is the balance sheet, especially since The Boring Company closed a 3 billion dollar funding round led by investors in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month at a valuation near 23 billion dollars, giving the tunneling company more capital to chase speculative projects than it had during its earlier Texas pitches. The company is also mid-build on two other intercity systems it has actually broken ground on, inc;luding a Nashville tunnel linking downtown to the airport, where a second boring machine finished commissioning in June, and its Las Vegas network, where the station count keeps climbing on paper faster than tunnels get dug.
That gap between announcement and execution is the reason to treat Sunday’s post as an opening bid rather than a project. A tunnel spanning roughly 80 miles between two metro areas, running at speeds Boring Company has not demonstrated over any real distance, would dwarf anything the company has built. For now, the Austin to San Antonio Hyperloop exists as a caption under an AI generated space video.
Elon Musk
Tesla eyes supply partners for Optimus mass production
Tesla certified three Chinese suppliers for Optimus mass production, signaling its robot timeline is accelerating.
Tesla’s robotics team traveled to Ningbo, in China’s Zhejiang province, on September 16 and spent the following day auditing component suppliers for Optimus, according to a Bloomberg report cited by RobotAIGeek. The visit moved three manufacturers from provisional status to certified mass production partners: Tuopu Group, which handles actuators and chassis components, Ningbo Joyson Electronic, a sensor supplier, and Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls, which builds thermal management systems. All three already supply parts to Tesla’s electric vehicles, and the audit reportedly came with fresh orders that supply chain reports put at an initial batch of roughly 5,000 units.
Tuopu, Joyson, and Sanhua built their manufacturing base serving the automotive industry, where tolerances and volume requirements are already close to what a mass produced humanoid robot demands. Sanhua in particular has history here. Teslarati reported last October that the company had received a roughly $685 million order for linear actuators tied to Optimus, a volume industry watchers estimated could cover around 180,000 robots once production ramped.
Supply chain reports tied to this week’s audit put Tesla’s near term production goal at about 1,000 Optimus units a week by late September, rising to 2,000 to 2,500 units a week by the end of the year. That pace would put real weight behind the timeline Tesla has been building toward since May, when it wound down Model S and Model X production at Fremont to convert that floor space into a dedicated Optimus line targeting one million units annually. JPMorgan analysts who toured the factory in August confirmed the conversion took roughly four months, a pace Musk has called unprecedented for a facility that size.
New drone video shows Tesla’s Optimus Factory reaching a turning point
Fremont is only the first phase. A second, larger Optimus plant is rising at Gigafactory Texas, where drone footage shared by Joe Tegtmeyer last week showed the structural steel nearing completion on the north end of the building. Tesla has said that facility is meant to eventually support production of up to 10 million units a year, though volume output there is not expected before 2027.
Commercial sales of Optimus are still targeted for the second half of 2027, but production is expected to start well before then. JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta has said Tesla’s “Optimus Academy” program, which uses early units to collect real world training data inside Tesla’s own facilities, is expected to be running later this year. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ian Ma described the Ningbo audits as “a positive commercialization signal for China’s humanoid supply chain,” noting that sentiment could improve further if the visit leads to confirmed supplier nominations and larger orders. The Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index rose about 1.4% on the news, though it remains down roughly 30% for the year.
Watch Tesla’s “guardian angel” FSD feature take over for collision evasion
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