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Tesla reveals new Model Y refresh features in latest video

Credit: Tesla | X

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Tesla has shared a new video about the design and engineering of the refreshed Model Y, revealing a few new features and talks from some of the company’s top executives.

In a new video released on social media on Saturday, Tesla shared a few new details about the design and engineering of the so-called Model Y “Juniper,” which the company launched in multiple markets in recent weeks as expected. The interview features Head of Design Franz von Holzhausen, who talks about the approach to the design of the new Model Y, along with interviews with multiple other executives and engineers from the company.

“When we set out to redesign the Model Y, we looked at trying to give the car a little bit more of its own unique personality,” von Holzhausen says in the video’s intro.

The video also includes a few moments from Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy, along with a few others from the company.

Tesla’s refreshed Model Y design should make repairing this part easier

READ MORE ON TESLA’S NEW MODEL Y:

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Tesla Model Y refresh: other new features in the 2025 release

Tesla Model Y front camera

The new Model Y includes a front fascia camera with a 180-degree scope of view, offering improvements for “automatic assisted driving and advanced smart summon,” as stated by the company last month. The new video details nine cameras overall for optimal viewing angles to assist the Autopilot and Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) systems.

Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla Model Y front lightbar and reflective rear lightbar

As was revealed upon Tesla’s initial release of the new 2025 Model Y, the design includes both a front lightbar and a reflective rear lightbar, both of which represent pretty major exterior changes from the legacy version of the SUV. In the video, Tesla’s Creative Manager of Design Sahm Jafari points out how the front lightbar makes the Model Y refresh look a little bit wider, along with boosting the amount of air running over the front tires for a slight improvement to aerodynamics.

Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla Model Y frunk and drain plug

The Model Y also includes what the company calls a more “utility-focused” frunk, including a drain plug that makes it easy to use the space as a wash station, cooler, or otherwise. Tesla also says it plans to release some new, specifically designed accessories for the Model Y frunk for even more use cases.

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Credit: Tesla | X

Credit: Tesla | X

Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla Model Y tires

The Model Y “Juniper” also comes with upgraded tires developed by Tesla to be even more efficient than the legacy model, offering lower resistance for improved handling and less in-cabin road noise.

Credit: Tesla | X

Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla Model Y rear screen with Bluetooth pairing

The new Model Y also includes a rear infotainment screen with the ability to pair with up to two Bluetooth headsets, letting the driver and other passengers listen to the media of their choice while children or other rear passengers can tune into what they want. The vehicle includes 16 speakers total, and the video also contains details on how Tesla hid some of them to make the audio as immersive as possible.

Credit: Tesla | X

Tesla Model Y upgraded acoustic glass

Tesla’s upgraded acoustic glass and its other design improvements result in a noise reduction of 20 percent, according to the video. One of these improvements includes the vehicle’s upgraded seals, which let the blowers run at lower speeds than those of the legacy Model Y—ultimately contributing to the lower in-cabin volume.

Credit: Tesla | X

You can see the full video about the refreshed Model Y below, as released by Tesla on Saturday.

 

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Tesla is offering a crazy Supercharging incentive on its two ‘sentimental’ vehicles

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Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Lifestyle

Tesla FSD changed its mind mid-intersection, and it may have saved a life

Tesla shares dashcam footage of FSD Supervised stopping mid intersection to avoid a T-bone crash.

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Credit: @BLKMDL3/X

Tesla is putting another Full Self-Driving save in front of its 24.8 million followers on X.

On Tuesday morning, Tesla’s main account shared a dashcam clip with the caption “FSD Supervised preventing T-bone crash.” The footage came from an owner posting as TheNewGrid, who described what happened at a stop sign: “I looked at the car coming to the stop sign figured they would stop, my car went, then came to a stop mid intersection as they flew by. Had I been manually driving this would have resulted in a crash.”

The sequence is the notable part. FSD had already started crossing when the other driver ran the stop sign. Instead of pressing on, the car braked hard in the middle of the intersection and let the crossing vehicle pass in front of it. By the owner’s own account, they had made the same assumption the software initially made, that the other car would stop, and would not have corrected in time.

The clip is the latest in a run of safety posts Tesla has amplified over the past several days. On Saturday, the company shared a video from Selling Sunset star Jason Oppenheim, who sold his Bentley for a Model Y and said he was buying Teslas with FSD for 10 of his employees. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla AI, followed up by writing that Tesla self-driving “reacts to other people cutting into your path with super-human response times.” On Monday, a Cybertruck owner posted footage of FSD moving across three lanes from a red light to clear a path for an ambulance approaching from behind.

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This recent clip also lands a few weeks after Tesla began shipping Automatic Collision Evasion with FSD v14.3.9, a feature that can activate FSD on the driver’s behalf when a frontal collision is imminent or the driver appears distracted. Elluswamy said in September that “even earlier prediction of hazards, even faster reaction time and overall significantly better safety and collision avoidance” are coming with v15, the release Tesla has tied to round the clock Robotaxi operation.

The safety messaging matters beyond social media. Tesla has said FSD Supervised was 4.1 times less likely to crash than manual driving across 100 million kilometers on European roads, and it has been putting those figures in front of regulators. Eight EU countries have now approved FSD Supervised, with Croatia the most recent, but the EU’s bloc-wide vote originally set for October 6 has been pushed to December at the earliest.

FSD Supervised is still a Level 2 system, and the driver remains responsible at all times. Even heavy users find reasons to step in. Teslarati’s Joey Klender, who uses FSD for about 76 percent of his driving, laid out five recurring issues on Tuesday that still prompt him to intervene. Clips like this one show the other column of that ledger: moments where the software caught a mistake a human was about to make.

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Energy

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y can now do what only Cybertruck could

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y can power your home with Powerwall 3 during outages.

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Tesla has turned its two top sellers into backup batteries for the house.

Tesla Energy announced on Tuesday that Powershare Home Backup is now available for new Model 3 and Model Y vehicles paired with a Powerwall 3, saying the car can “extend your home backup by over 2 days.” Minutes later, Tesla’s main account quoted the post with a broader pitch: “With Powerwall 3, every Tesla can now serve as your home’s backup battery.”

Until this week, the Cybertruck was the only Tesla that could send power back into a home, and that capability only began working alongside Powerwall 3 last month, after years of ambitious targets.

Tesla’s updated Powershare page says every Model 3 and Model Y ordered in the U.S. or Puerto Rico on or after October 1, 2026 can use the feature. Some, but not all, earlier cars also qualify. Owners can check on the touchscreen under Software, then Additional Vehicle Information, where a capable car shows “Powershare Support: Enabled.” As Electrek reported, bidirectional power on the two cars runs through an inverter Tesla calls PCS2 Lite, and the company has not said when that part entered production on each trim.

The home side is simpler. A house that already has a Powerwall 3 and either a Wall Connector 3 or Universal Wall Connector needs no additional equipment, and Tesla says compatibility is enabled through a software update. When the grid drops, the Powerwall and the car work together, with up to 11.52 kW of continuous power available. Tesla’s “over two days” estimate assumes a home using 30 kWh per day and a car starting at a 90 percent charge. Standard trims are rated for up to two days, while the Cybertruck adds more than three.

There are limits. Powerwall 2 and Powerwall+ support is listed as “coming soon.” Model S and Model X are not included, and Grid Support, the program that lets Cybertruck owners in Texas send power back to the grid during demand spikes for bill credits, is not available for Model 3 or Model Y.

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The rollout also lines up with something Elon Musk said more than three years ago. At Tesla’s March 2023 Investor Day, Musk said, “I don’t think very many people are going to want to use bidirectional charging, unless you have a Powerwall.” Tesla has now shipped the feature for its volume cars with exactly that requirement attached.

The Powerwall pairing was the hard part on Cybertruck. Tesla told owners in December 2025 that Powershare with Powerwall had been pushed to mid 2026, and lead engineer Wes Morrill explained that two devices capable of forming a home’s grid have to negotiate which one leads during an outage, across multiple generations of hardware. With that work done for the truck, Tesla was able to extend it to the Model 3 and Model Y within a month.

Ford and GM have offered home backup from their EVs for several years, but both require a separate inverter and backup hardware. Tesla’s version leans on equipment many Powerwall 3 owners already have on the wall. Powershare for the two cars also ships as part of software update 2026.38.3, the same release that began delivering Halloween Mode on Tuesday.

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Tesla ships ‘spooky’ Halloween Mode with creepy and fun features

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is now starting to ship a “Halloween Mode” that is filled with some creepy and fun features; the company says, “This spooky update turns your Tesla into a haunted house on wheels.”

The update is just the latest in a series of updates that Tesla typically ships out in a seasonal fashion. The Spring and Summer Updates provided some fun novelty items while also packing some cool features that are actually useful for the ownership experience.

This one seems to be more fun-forward, and there are not any updates to the Full Self-Driving suite or overall operation of the vehicle. Instead, these novelty features are geared toward getting you in the mood for the Fall and Halloween.

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New Ghost Costume on Car Avatar

Driver Visualization will now show your vehicle as a ghost, as an all-white sheet is draped over the vehicle. Pedestrians are turned into mummies or skeletons, and other vehicles are all a spooky green:

Credit: Tesla

Additionally, the Park Scene with your Tesla now displays that ghost costume draped over your vehicle in the foreground of a scary backdrop with Jack-o-Lanterns and a haunted house:

Credit: Tesla

Trick or Treat Mode

Trick or Treat Mode will enable the vehicle to play spooky sounds and flicker the lights as visitors approach. This might be a nice touch for when you’re handing out candy to kids on Halloween Night.

Other Features

Tesla is also adding a new Light Show, new Wrap Options, and a new Lock Sound with this update.

Credit: Tesla

Additionally, Photobooth has a new Halloween option:

Credit: Tesla

You will also be able to speak remotely through the app and transmit your voice to people outside, which is not a new feature, but the car will say it in a voice of its own, which is a new feature with that bullhorn-like feature.

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