2022 TESLA MODEL 3 Vehicle Speed Control Problems
166 complaints about Vehicle Speed Control
High Severity Issue
This component has been associated with crashes, fires, or deaths.
This Problem Across All Years
All Vehicle Speed Control Complaints (166)
My family and I were in my Tesla Model 3 2022 and heading from Charlotte to Orlando on [XXX]. The car was in Full Self-Drive (FSD) mode while commuting through Daytona Beach. The rain was heavy in the area. While driving in Daytona Beach, FSD caused the car to change lanes and go to a lane that had standing rain puddles on [XXX]. After FSD caused the lane change, the car immediately hydroplaned out of control. The car's short clearance from it's bottom and the ground which traps water that exacerbates hydroplaning, along with its generative breaking feature made matters worse and uncontrollable. The car spun into the median three times and settled in the middle of danger interstate. The car is totalled. My family and I require medical attention and counseling due to the trauma. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Wy wife and I drove our Tesla Model 3 from Palo Alto, CA to San Francisco downtown, to meet friends. I was the driver, and my wife sat on the passenger seat. The weather was clear, and the pavement was dry. I did not engage auto-pilot features during the entire trip. The car condition was normal with no signs of error or warning. I made a right turn onto [XXX] from [XXX] Shortly after I completed the turn, the car unexpectedly lost control. Without any prior warnings, it suddenly veered into the center divider, snapped a tree, dashed towards oncoming traffic on the other side of [XXX] , and finally stopped on [XXX] , labelled as location A on the attached drawing. Everything happened so quickly: I could not control the steering wheel, and I applied the brakes in vain. The vehicle seized control, no matter how hard I tried to stop it. I regained control of the vehicle at the intersection of [XXX] and [XXX] , and was able to park the car at location A. We were very fortunate and blessed that we did not hit people at the bus stop, that there were no cars in front of us, that the opposite traffic on [XXX] was stopped by a red light, and that the traffic was light on [XXX] Without such luck, my wife and I, and probably others, would have been seriously injured, if not worse. Because [XXX] is one-way, we decided to move the vehicle to [XXX] , and parked at location B in the drawing. I called 911 and spoke to a female dispatcher. She asked us to remain at location B and wait for police officers to arrive. We waited there for almost 3 hours, but no police arrived. The dashboard display indicated that we had a flat tire(s). We called mobile tire services. After their inspection, most of our tires were alright, except the rim of the front-left wheel was badly bent, as you can see in the attached photo. The mobile tire service staff was skilled enough to carefully patch the damage and said it should be OK to drive back to Palo Alto. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 5
If you are on a hill and you accidently press both the brake an accelerator, the car will fall to neutral and free roll. In whatever direction is downhill. I have big feet. Happened again to me, I bumped the brake pedal (but not enough to apply the brakes to stop) when attempting to pull forwards slowly and my car beeped with the "both pedals detected pressed" alert. and then it free rolled backwards (because I was on an uphill). THIS WILL CAUSE AN ACCIDENT BECAUSE THE CAR IS NOT SUPPOSED TO FREE ROLL BACKWARDS WHEN IN DRIVE, THIS IS A SAFETY PROBLEM. It has been 4 years now, and no action has been taken to adress this software defect. a NORMAL gas car does NOT do this. If you bump the brake in a normal gas car, IT DOES NOT FREE ROLL IN ANY DIRECTION. This is a tesla software problem that tesla needs to promptly fix ASAP!!!!!
I'm not quite sure what component was affected, some module of some sort got water in or near it that wasn't supposed to. It is available for inspection. Yes my safety and others was out at risk. Yes the problem was fixed by service center supposedly. Yes the car has been inspected by the manufacturer. There were no warnings. What happened was on 12/29 I was driving the car and out of absolutely nowhere a bunch of warnings came up including loss of ABS, any and all safety features. And more importantly lost usage of brakes almost entirely when car came to a stop it was grinding and shakey. This problem all arises due to teslas negligence when it came to installing a new windshield on the vehicle. As stated in messages below, they made a mistake while installing my windshield that caused this major issue to arise. They have offered nothing as a solution but saying that their error is supposedly fixed.
NHTSA Vehicle Safety Complaint •Vehicle Information: •Make: Tesla •Model: Model 3 •Year: 2022 •Summary of Incident: On November 28,2024, I experienced an incident involving my 2022 Tesla Model 3 while it was stationary just outside my garage. I accidentally pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake. The car surged forward and crashed into the back wall of my garage. Despite Tesla’s advertised safety features, such as Collision Avoidance Assist and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), none of these systems intervened or activated during the incident. I expected the safety systems to detect the garage wall and mitigate the collision, but they failed to respond. Additionally, Tesla’s Obstacle-Aware Acceleration system did not seem to function as intended to limit acceleration in this scenario. •Injuries or Property Damage: There were minor injuries to passenger, but the vehicle and the garage sustained significant damage. •Steps Taken Post-Incident: I have contacted Tesla to request an analysis of the vehicle’s event data logs to determine why the safety features did not activate. I am waiting for their response. •Concern: I am filing this report because I believe this may indicate a potential safety issue with Tesla’s collision prevention systems in low-speed scenarios involving stationary obstacles. This raises concerns about the reliability of these features in real-world situations, particularly for drivers who may accidentally press the accelerator. •Supporting Information: If needed, I can provide photographs of the damage, repair estimates, and additional details.
Full Self Driving prominently suggests the user enable “automatic set speed offset”. When enabled it tries to guess the speed it should be going, and goes that speed. On city streets and rural highways the driver is unable to lower the speed with the normal cruise control speed dial. it is disabled. It recognizes when the speed limit lowers on the road, but does not adjust to that new limit. The only option is to hit the brakes or otherwise disable the system. On the interstate this resulted in it resetting to the maximum 85 MPH as it was setting itself to 86 at every deactivation. Turning cruise control back on, despite having previously set it to the speed limit, causes it to to immediately accelerate regardless of the posted limits or the previous setting.
The noted vehicle is one of 7 Teslas (6 Model 3s and 1 Model Y) that I have rented from Hertz for a round trip from Orlando Fl to Naples Fl. Over the last 7 months. Each of the Model 3 vehicles was different, I never got the same Model 3. Each of the vehicles exhibited the same or similar glitch when traveling on [XXX] at [XXX] when either the navigation and/or the adaptive speed control was engaged and traveling at or near the posted speed limit when nearing this specific exit. If only the navigation system is on it will direct the driver to take the exit and then return to the interstate using the on ramp. If the adaptive speed control is engaged, either with or without the navigation feature on, when the vehicle is on [XXX] near or under the overpass it will abruptly try to slow the vehicle to 35 MPH, the speed limit for traffic on the overpass. None of the rental vehicles has the full autopilot activated to my knowledge. This event will occur when traveling in either direction and has only occurred at [XXX] on my 200+ mile trip. Having this occur once or twice would be strange, but 7 times at the same location over 7 months in 7 different vehicles is more likely a glitch of some kind, and one that could result in a crash if a driver is unprepared for the unexpected rapid reduction in speed. [XXX] is heavily travelled with both local and out of town drivers in both personal and rental vehicles. I have no idea if this is occurring at other locations but it seems to be consistent here. Since the adaptive speed control must be using information from the navigation system to display and utilize the speed limit to regulate maximum speed, it is likely the problem is in the navigation system. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
My 2022 Tesla model 3 has a major issue that should be widely addressed and because the computer screen has completely turned off although there was never any damage done to the vehicle. The cost to fix this issue is $3,052.30. I went on a three day vacation and came back to the screen not turning on but the vehicle can still drive, the major issue is that the screen controls all major functions of the vehicle and is a major danger driving the car if you cant see how fast your going, how much battery is left or will basic safety equipment will deploy? How can a vehicle be driven under these basic safety standards and conditions when it’s a faulty manufacturing issue. In addition come to find out that the computer tried to update it’s software with out my consent and causing the computer to fail there fore leaving me in danger situation of driving the vehicle under these conditions and then having me to pay the financial repercussions although I caused no damage to the vehicle.
While driving with the cruise control set, at times the care must sense that there is an issue ahead and slams the brakes on. This has happened on numerous occasions. This had led to cars following to do the same (hard braking). Although this has not caused an accident for me, I don't trust the system. I'm waiting for a rear end collision when this happens.
This car will suddenly slow down for no apparent reason when driving with the speed control set. I have experienced this multiple times at 2 specific intersections. It has also happened at other times but on roads I have traveled on less often. Traffic aware cruise control is always enabled on this car. There isn't an option to turn it off. I scheduled a service visit with Tesla explaining what was happening at these 2 specific intersections (I included the intersection specific information). They responded and said they performed a remote diagnosis on the Autopilot System in the vehicle and its affiliated hardware and all checks came back in good standing with no faults. They went on to state "just as a reminder as Autopilot/Traffic aware cruise control is under Beta, per owners manual, many factors can impact the performance of Autopilot/Traffic aware cruise control components. Autopilot/Traffic aware cruise control may occasionally cause vehicle to brake when not required or when you are not expecting it." They referred me to the owners manual where these warnings/limitations were reiterated. I replied and asked what Tesla was doing to improve this situation. I did not get a response. I am very concerned about this sudden braking/deceleration as it may result in a rear end collision if someone is following closely when it occurs. I believe Tesla should be more transparent about what they are doing to resolve the issue. They should also provide an option to turn off the Traffic Aware cruise control until the issue is resolved.
After the recent 1-month free trial of FSD, my basic autopilot does not keep speed and will reset the programmed speed. This causes my car to slow rapidly and unexpectedly. This erratic change of speed creates a safety issue on the road due to the car slowing with no warning and without reason. Tesla has evaluated the vehicle remotely and has said it is performing normally despite this behavior just starting with the FSD trial. The previous 2 years of ownership have had no issues. I am told that this is due to different levels of autopilot having different performance and if I upgrade to the FSD this won't be an issue. No warning lamps are present.
The accelerator pedal broke off completely while driving on the highway (this is the second time this has happened). Accelerator pedal felt as if it were stuck when going from full self driving to manual and pedal broke off when more pressure was applied. The car began coming to a rapid stop on the highway due to regenerative braking and I was forced to quickly get to emergency lane, narrowly avoiding other vehicles in the process.
My wife driving our Tesla Model 3. From her report, the car was accelerating on its own and would not stop despite her pressing on the brake pedal. She was unable to stop at the traffic light and crashed into another car at an intersection.
See attached document for complaint
Vehicle has been scheduled for service 4 times to address phantom braking while set to cruise control on highways. Tesla service center continuously resolves the problem remotely stating that there are no faults in the system and it is operating as intended. I’m an airline pilot and my vehicle poses a safety hazard to me and those around me when operating in any autonomous mode.
On [XXX], I was driving from Victorville, CA to Las Vegas, NV on [XXX] northbound. Between [XXX] two incidents occurred. Both incidents involve phantom braking. My vehicle was in autopilot mode, which is essentially traffic aware cruise control. I was traveling at 70MPH and passed a semi-truck. I changed lanes back into the right lane after passing the truck. About 30 seconds later, the car slammed on the brakes. The semi-truck behind me took immediate evasive maneuver and swerved into the left lane to avoid hitting me. There was no obstruction in front of me. The nearest vehicles ahead of me were so far away that I could barely see their tail lights. This was a very unsafe condition. The second incident happened about 40 minutes later. No other vehicles were near me although the sudden braking gave me a scare. There were no warnings, messages, or any indication that the sudden braking was being applied. I was able to immediately depress the accelerator to increase speed and override the autopilot. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Have reported multiple times the safety hazard with the unnacuracy of the mileage given per charge. Vehicle will drain through battery leaving motorist standard. When using self drive option vehicle will not stay in appropriate lanes. Vehicle will overheat on battery and start making concerning sounds while driving. When reported to Tesla they acknowledged the issue but have failed to fix the issues on the vehicle.
I was sitting at a red light with my foot resting lightly on the accelerator. I was completely stopped waiting for the light to turn and suddenly my car began to accelerate quite fast. I had to slam on the brakes which seemed to be malfunctioning. I managed to stop before I hit the car in front of me. I took it to the Teslas service station and was told by their engineer that nothing was wrong with the car. The experience was scary. I no longer feel safe in my car.
Driving on the freeway 70mph on cruise control. Not auto pilot. No one around us and no warning. Suddenly car applied brakes on its own and dramatically slowed. Good thing there was no one behind us or else there would have been an accident and we would have been badly injured. Monday Jan 1 2024 1:35pm
Please help Phantom braking is getting worse
This car has demonstrated repeated incidents of moving/driving backwards when it is set in Drive/Forward via the steering wheel control. This was first reported to Tesla in December of 22. Their service center responded that they could not identify a cause or propose a repair. They commented that it was an engineering and/or software problem. I provided them with multiple date/time stamps. videos of the car performing this way. In the interim the car has demonstrated ghost braking at high speed on an empty freeway. A complaint regarding this concern was provided to NTSA and I have not had a response. The car has subsequently repeatedly moved backward when in Drive. I also have videos of these occurrences. I returned the car to the service center for these behaviors and was told that there was nothing that could be done. The service center said that I "canceled" my request for servicing, and noted that in the Tesla service files. I did not cancel my appointment. They refused to examine and service the car. We recently experienced the car steering wheel locking and inableing the wheel to be turned right, during a 3 point parking exit. I took the car in and was told that the problem was a "firmware" update problem. The problem of driving in reverse when the car is placed in Drive has repeated itself in the past 3 weeks, and I again have videos of this occurrence. This in particular is a dangerous action as it can result in a collision or injury to persons. It is a servo-motor and control problem.
Phantom braking continues. This time the vehicle was traveling on an Interstate highway at 70mph, until the phantom braking occured, which caused the speed to drop immediately (within a few seconds) to less than 30mph. This safety problem was extremely prevalent when the car was within its first six months of use. It has improved, but has not gone away completely.
I have been forced to stop using cruise control on my Tesla Model 3. Over the past few years, the car will repeatedly slam on the brakes for no good reason when I am driving on the highway. I understand this behavior is known as "phantom braking." The car will suddenly and unexpectedly drop speed by 10-20 mph on the highway. I am so worried that someone will rear-end my vehicle that I cannot use cruise control anymore. For some unexplained reason, the Tesla Model 3 does not currently have a "dumb" cruise control that I could use instead.
I took a recent road trip of 1,200 miles across the southwest. Numerous times while using adaptive cruise control the vehicle suddenly and violently braked for no apparent reason. This was particularly concerning when passing trucks. One particular event was on interstate 5 when passing a big rig truck, I was along side the truck with a following car tailgating me, my car suddenly braked hard, creating a risk of rear end collision at 70 miles per hour. I was able to accelerate to avoid a collision. I did not keep track of the number of events of sudden unanticipated braking, but I would estimate more than 50 instances. They vary from momentary slow down to violent sudden breaking.
We took our first long-disance trip (Albuquerque NM to Arlington TX, round trip) in our 2022 Tesla Model 3 and experienced multiple (4-5) phantom braking episodes to and from Arlington when engaging adaptive cruise control or autopilot. The car had been driven 5,760 miles before the trip. There were no warnings before the braking. The car was travelling at 70-77 mph on interstate highways and suddenly the brakes would engage slowing the car to 40 or 50 mph before we pressed pressed the accelerator. It was a clear day with temperatures in the 90-100 range. One time the phantom brake episode occurred while passing. Fortunately, there no cars travelling close behind us or there could have been a serious multi-car accident. We contacted Tesla service and they told us the car had no discernable problems (attached message).
The contact stated that while renting a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 mph, the steering wheel suddenly turned left while accelerating. The contact attempted to gain control however the steering wheel seized. The vehicle ended up crashing in the middle of the highway on the left side of the vehicle and front-end mostly. The air bags deployed. The vehicle was towed however it had not been determined if the vehicle was totaled as of yet. The display of the front left safety restraint system fault message was displayed on the main control display. The contact received injuries to their arms, knees, neck, shoulder, and back. Medical attention was needed. A police report was filed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 50,000.
Mileage: 50,000
I believe the autopilot and cruise control systems are affected. On 6-8 occasions, the cameras have picked up a non- existent hazard along the road causing the cruise control to disengage, rapidly slowing the car approximately 20 MPH in about 3 seconds. This has occurred on highways and freeways at speeds of 65-75 MPH. If there had been another vehicle traveling close behind, an accident would likely have occurred. I’ve taken the car to the dealer and they are aware of this problem. After the dealer adjusted the cameras the problem persisted. When this problem has occurred, there was no prior warning.
I was at a stop light. The car was stopped. The car suddenly lurched forward. I put my foot on the break but then it lurched forward again, and rear-ended the car in front of me. It appears that the car accelerated by itself. This caused an accident. The accident happened tonight. I have filed a police report and received a traffic citation for following to close. I have saved the dash cam footage of the incident to a computer and have requested that Tesla send me the EDR data. Looking at the car's logs in service mode I can see that the car was throwing several errors from before the accident with codes of "VCFRONT_a059_inputResistanceHigh," and "DIF_a018_hwLVSupplyUV" relating to the front vehicle controller and drive interface. I am attaching this plus photos of the damage.
Car brakes hard on cruise control when no other cars are around.
I was pulling into parking lot at REI car suddenly accelerated and jumped pavement and hit a wall.
I was attempting to park my car at parking spaces inside a garage. The car was about half way into the spot, and I released the accelerator to slow down. Suddenly, while my foot was off the gas, the car accelerated on its own, lurching forward and hitting a barrier, which protected against falling off the side of the garage into the floor below. The car sustained minor damage to the hood, but it could have been far worse; if the car ran through the barrier, it would have fallen one story down to the floor below. I am now way too concerned to drive the car, and have not driven it since. I took the car to a Tesla service stations and they said that they cannot reproduce the same phenomena, and that the car passed their diagnostic check. Currently, this is the only person to inspect the car. During the sudden acceleration incident, the car did not make any warning sounds, which it typically does when driving into a parking spot and approaching a barrier or wall.
On 19 July 2023 at approximately 4am in the morning, while with my wife traveling north on I-95, I was driving approximately 77 mph and my 2022 Tesla Model 3 SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES. I had several cars directly behind me that had to slam on brakes and perform other evasive driving maneuvers as well. Luckily my reaction time was quick enough for me to SLAM ON THE ACCELERTOR to avoid a very serious wreck and pile up. This is the 3rd time this has happened but thankfully the first 2 times I did not have traffic directly behind me. Although I paid an extra $6000 for the Enhanced Auto Pilot, I do not use it, as I am now scared to death of this car at highway speeds. On the night/morning of 19 July, I was on just regular cruise control. The very next day (20 July) I applied for an appointment with the local Tesla Service Center here in the Richmond VA area. After a couple days, and I had not taken the car in yet, Tesla sent me a message and informed "that I am NOT to bring the car in." I have not heard from them since then... and today is 5 August 2023. Respectfully request that you weigh in to either get me a Refund for this car, or in some way restore my confidence in it. I am scared to ever put this car on the highway again. THANK YOU.
I was in Rei parking lot pulling into parking space and suddenly vehicle accelerated and jumped curb and hit the wall loud noise.people thought it was earth quake. Air bag did not deploy . No warning signals came on when jumping the curb it hitting the wall
I was driving my 2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range. This car does NOT have Autopilot (because we do not trust that technology). We were traveling eastbound on I-8 just east of Exit 61 from San Diego to Arizona on Sunday July 16 at about 2:30pm. The weather conditions were not an issue; it was sunny and warm. I was in the left lane doing 77mph with the Cruise Control on. I had passed a vehicle in the right lane and it was now maybe 500 feet behind us, still in the right lane. Suddenly, the Tesla Model 3 braked hard for no reason. The car braked so hard that the tires were starting to squeal. We were well inside the lane (had not drifted to either side). There were no obstacles in front of us. There was no discoloration on the highway from any repair or car fire. The road was completely visible. The car's speed had dropped from 77mph to about 57mph before I could press on the gas to resume normal driving. Had there been a car behind us, it's possible we could've been hit from behind. The car in the right lane did wind up passing us and I'm pretty sure they thought our driving was dangerous -- borderline insane. There were no warning sounds, no alerts on the monitor. It was completely random, completely sudden and completely dangerous. The car did this 2 more times before I disengaged the cruise control for the rest of the trip. I do not have a dashcam recording of this incident, but I do have one of a similar behavior from the car a few days earlier on July 13. It's hard to tell from the video exactly where it happens.
Can not use cruise control on my Tesla model three 2022 because a phantom breaking
My car was set on navigate on autopilot, and normally it decreases speed when detecting change in speed limit. But for last couple of times, it's been not decreasing speed. On july 4th, 2023, I was driving and it did not change the speed limit based on the changes on the road. The speed limit had changed from 60 to 55, and it didn't change in the car. Also, Tesla just abruptly slowed down multiple times without any warning. There's no obstruction in the road, but it just keeps slowing down without a reason. Like the speed limit would be 45, and it's slowed down to 20. The car ahead is faster, and no one is walking across. it's just random.
As I was driving the car today, I had a car ahead of me at a full stop, so in order to slow down the car I lifted my foot off the acceleration pedal. However, instead of slowing down it sped up. My car has regenerative breaking (and it was turn on) which usually applies break when the pressure is lifted from acceleration pedal. However in this instant my car started speeding up. I then applied pressure on breaks, however it didn’t work. Fortunately the car ahead of me moved ahead and an accident was averted. My break and accelerator started working as expected moments later. But this can cause accident anytime. I have booked service request with Tesla. Also note that the car was not on Autopilot.
This was a case of phantom braking. While on the freeway with the cruise control set to 80 mph the car suddenly and unexpectedly slammed on the brakes. I had to step on the throttle to make the car stop braking. We were nearly rear ended by the car behind us. You can definitely come and inspect the car. I have not taken the vehicle to Tesla for inspection. No accident resulted from this incident, however it was definitely a very close call. There wasn’t a vehicle in sight ahead of us for at least a half mile. The car had no reason to slow down the way it did. I use Autopilot on my Tesla all the time. This is the first time I’ve experienced this behavior.
"Phantom braking:" Vehicle has braked Multiple times on the freeway while using adaptive cruise control, when no objects were In the vehicle's path. Typically occurs when driving on curved section of freeway at speeds above 50 mph.
My car engaged the automatic emergency braking (AEB) when the car in front of me lightly tapped on their brakes-- When the AEB engaged, my car come to a complete stop... I tried to accelerate to prevent being rear ended, but my accelerator was disabled and I had no control of my car... Nearly causing me to get rear ended and probably causing a 5+ car collision. MANY Tesla drivers have experienced this, and it is absolutely TERRIFYING and NEEDS SERIOUS attention because lives are absolutely endangered due to this, and Tesla will not take responsibility, nor have they acknowledged the problem, at all. I've had this happen several times in the last week and I am just waiting to get in an accident at this point. This is unacceptable.
During a 30 mile trip on a two lane highway I activated the cruise control. A number of times the car made significant slow downs. They seamed to be associated with oncoming trafic. I then shut off the cruise control. Later on when I could see there where no oncoming cars I again set the cruise control for 65 MPH. After only about 15 seconds the car made a rapid deceleation. The deceleration was rapid enough to cause an ice chest sitting on the passangers side of the front floorboard to roll over. I shut of the cruise control and did not use it again for the remainder of the trip
While driving across the Nevada and Utah deserts, while on cruise control, traveling at 80 MPH we experienced 7 phantom braking. There were no vehicles or obstructions in sight and it was on straight stretches of road. We are no longer using cruise control due to the danger of possibly causing an accident.
I have had several incidents of my car rapidly decelerating when in assisted driving mode and I am driving on the highway. I am driving at 65 and all of the sudden it decelerates, making it extremely dangerous. There are no apparent barriers or nearby objects causing this to happen. I am very concerned this will result in a significant accident. I have filed this claim previously without anything happening. Additionally, I had a problem with my rear warning signal not going off when I was in a parking garage, causing me to back into a car. I filed a claim with Tesla and never heard back from them.
The Tesla computer and especially the USER INTERFACE IS UNSAFE. More accurate to say I hate the UNFRIENDLY user interface. I am surprised NHTSA OKed this computer interface. It needs a GOOGLE quality voice activation feature. The current one is deaf to most words normally used to drive a car. E.G., to turn the lights on while driving on a road where “LIGHTS ON” is required. I must hit a button to see all controls. Then I must hit the “LIGHTS” button. Then I must hit the “LIGHTS ON”. All this while having trouble reading the small print on the screen. The reading is difficult. All this while taking my eyes off the road to even see the screen. This is just one of very many examples. The actual use of the computer is VERY OFTEN more user UNfriendly and UNSAFE than the “LIGHTS” button. Dangerous, DANGEROUS. I almost killed another driver when my car was new because I was WORKING the computer and I ran a read light. Fortunately my car stopped because I hit the breaks or because the car was, in fact, SMART??????? I am surprised NHTSA OKed this computer interface. The computer is smart but using the interface is dangerous. I want to bring this issue up to NHTSA, not to issue a recall, but to ADD on a user interface as good as GOOGLE? What is the chance that they will re-investigate a safety decision they have already made? Sincerely; [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Vehicle will repeatably go incorrect speed limit while on Autopilot or Fsd(beta), internal mapping data has incorrect speed limits, sometimes 65 in a 30, other times 25 in an unmarked 55. Speed limit may change multiple times within a short distance making it hard to correct without slowing or speeding up This is on software 2022.45.12. ( fsd 11.3.3), has been a constant issue on previous versions, also affects regular auto pilot
On a two lane road with no traffic approaching and no traffic behind us on us95 in the Nv desert, the model 3 slammed on the brakes and slowed from 60mph to 30 or less. This is with the adaptive cruise control engaged, not auto steering. This happens several times. There were several times when large semi trucks were approaching in the opposing Lane and the model 3 slammed on the brakes also when adaptive cruise control was engaged. When we reported this to Tesla they said they need the exact date and time of each incident, or they could not help us. These breaking incidents happened during a 12 hour trip between Carson City and Rancho Cucamonga. This is an unbelievable safety hazard as if someone is following too closely and the car suddenly decide to apply the brakes. The person behind you is going to be caught off guard and crash into you. I cannot believe this is been going on for over a year as I have read several articles about the problem. There is no warning whatsoever when the car does this.
During normal operation vehicle suddenly engages braking system l. This has nearly caused 2 accidents. Tesla insists there is no fault with the car.
The accelerator pedal snapped off without any warning while driving on the interstate attempting to pass a vehicle. As I pressed the accelerator pedal, all resistance in the pedal disappeared and vehicles regenerative braking immediately engaged despite my efforts to maintain a safe speed on the interstate. Due to the regenerative braking and the lack of an accelerator pedal, I quickly found myself in the very dangerous situation in which my car was attempting to come to a stop from a high rate of speed in the middle of the interstate. I was luckily able to make a hard right turn to cross a lane of traffic in order to reach the safety of the emergency lane just before the car came to a complete stop. While doing so, I nearly clipped the front of another vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where it was serviced and a new accelerator pedal was installed. However, the service department had notified me that they had never had an incident like this before and even had difficulty knowing exactly how to fix it. The service to replace the accelerator pedal took nearly two weeks, leaving me without a reliable vehicle for my daily work commute. Upon picking up my vehicle, the service department also could not confirm that the vehicle was test driven with the newly installed accelerator pedal which heightened my safety concerns even more. When I asked to speak with someone in regards to my safety concerns going forward, no manager was available despite phone calls, messages, and an in person request. The vehicle now has a small wheel shake that wasn't present prior which is very unsettling.
I used Autopilot on my Model 3 for the first and only time a few weeks ago, and had a terrifying experience with "phantom braking" that could have killed my entire family while going ~75mph on the I-5 near Bakersfield, CA. The I-5 here is split with 2 lanes in each direction, and is straight with no bends. I was driving in the right northbound lane, with Autopilot engaged (adaptive speed control only, no automatic lane-steering). My right foot was off both pedals and two hands were on the wheel. There were no other cars in sight except for a single car driving northbound behind me in the left lane. This car began to pass me on the left, and when its front bumper was aligned with the mid-point of my car (I could just barely see the front bumper through the corner of my eye), my Tesla suddenly automatically slammed on the brakes with absolutely no warning! I immediately clenched the wheel as hard as I could, and had to quickly respond to prevent the wheel from automatically veering to the left. While fighting the wheel to try to keep the vehicle straight, and my family hanging on for their lives, we screeched to a grinding halt at a 45 degree angle facing the left lane. We were extremely lucky to not hit the passing car and fortunately there were no vehicles behind us. I disengaged Autopilot and quickly got out of there so we weren't vulnerable. I speculate that the camera on the left panel between the driver and rear door saw the passing car, and wrongly invoked automatic evasive braking and steering maneuvers in response to a falsely anticipated head-on collision. That's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with. I will not use Autopilot again until "phantom braking" is eliminated. This is a known issue that I've since found mentioned all over the Internet by other Tesla owners. This needs to be fixed hastily before people are killed! We're damn lucky I had both hands on the wheel, otherwise we'd likely be dead! Note: Same report has been sent to Tesla.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while her husband was driving 80 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle jerked forward and decelerated to 52 MPH. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The driver deactivated the cruise control and continued driving to his destination. The contact stated she also experienced the failure on February 27, 2023. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.
Mileage: 1,000
The "traffic aware" cruise control automatically slows the car when entering a portion of highway with a reduced speed limit. Sounds good in theory and Tesla says this is intentional and cannot be modified in settings. However, suddenly slowing down from 65 mph to 45 mph when all traffic PERSISTS at 65 mph could lead to rear end collisions or loss of control.
Constant Phantom Breaking at interstate speeds. Tesla insists this is not a problem.
Cruise control thinks it detects a pending collision and abruptly brakes. Following cars almost rear ended us. This happens every time at exactly the same bridge overpasses on the NJ Garden State Parkway south.
The contact owned a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at approximately 65 MPH with the "auto-pilot" engaged, the vehicle approached another vehicle in traffic from behind and had gotten too close. The contact stated that she depressed the brake pedal to slow down when the vehicle inadvertently accelerated at high speed. The contact steered to the left to avoid rear-end crash with the vehicle directly in front. Additionally, the contact stated that the steering wheel had become hard to turn and the vehicle crashed into the highway divider. The vehicle's front end had crashed into the divider wall and the vehicle ricocheted across four lanes of traffic and ran off the roadway onto the right shoulder and was stopped by having crashed with small trees and bushes. The contact stated she did not notice any warning lights. The contact stated that she had been transported by ambulance to a trauma center. The contact stated that she had compression fractures of her spine, suffered soft tissue damage to her neck, and right wrist soft tissue damage, and rib fractures on the left side. The vehicle had been towed to an impound lot, and the police were on the scene and filed a report. The contact stated that her insurance provider had declared the vehicle a total loss. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 4,400.
Mileage: 4,400
During cruise control on straight highways with no other cars nearby, the car would brake for no reason. Very scary.
Phantom braking. Driving down 395 going the speed limit, no other cars or any obstacles in the road whatsoever, the car would slam on the brakes hard to the point I almost lost control of the vehicle. This happened 3 times in a row before I turned off adaptive cruise control. This is the most glaring obvious example of a vehicle safety hazard that should be recalled that I’ve ever seen on a new car. If someone was driving behind my car I have no doubt this would have caused a rear and accident.
Regardless of which cruise control function you are operating in the system will suddenly brake for no reason, sometimes slowing down by only a few miles an hour and sometimes by as much as 30 or 40 miles per hour. This can potentially lead to a rear end accident. System has far fewer failures at night than during the day and far fewer if there is traffic in front of the car than if there is an open road in front. This cruise control is almost unusable during the day on an open road. This has happened within 45 miles of owning the car to present 5000 miles + and has happened at every speed we have used it at This has been an on-going issue since the day we bought it and not something the Dealership tells you about in advance
My car is brand new. When in Autopilot mode (not full FSD), the vehicle does u expected braking apparently randomly. There are no road obstructions or potential road obstructions visible at all to me as driver. Yet, the vehicle will brake suddenly. It does this so frequently that I no longer use Autopilot unless I know the road has no other vehicle driving behind me and is very clear ahead of me. I never, ever use it on the highway. In one incident, I was using my Autopilot and a motorcycle was traveling at a much too close distance behind me on a curve on a busy roadway, with a large RV driving in the lane next to me. As all three of our vehicles approached the curve in this cluster, my vehicle suddenly braked and the motorcycle behind me almost crashed into my vehicle’s rear end. It was terrifying. After that incident, I severely limited my use of Autopilot and take pains to ensure my foot is resting on the accelerator in case I need to apply a little pressure to counteract the unexpected braking while in Autopilot mode.
Multiple times traveling on Interstate 70 at 75 mph the car would brake itself without warning while the “Autopilot” (driver assist) was engaged. This probably happened 4 times over the course of 1 hour. I recalibrated the cameras after the 3rd event, but it did not help. This was very dangerous and unsettling. I verified no-one was close behind when engaging the autopilot in case the system “decided” to brake unexpectedly. If someone was behind me traveling at interstate speeds, they would have hit me.
Several times, while using the cruise control, the car automatically braked at highway speed. The car is available for inspection. My safety and my wife's safety were put at risk by the car suddenly slowing down on the interstate without my control. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center - I have not had the car serviced. It has not been inspected. There were no warning lamps or messages.
The adaptive cruise control. is subject to sudden phantom braking. On several occasions when the cruise control is engaged the vehicle will brake for no reason. On one occasion the sudden braking caused a semi-truck behind me to swerve just barely avoiding an accident. On another occasion the vehicle braked so hard that we skidded. There is no warning when the phantom braking will occur. The adaptive cruise control is useless on two lane highways and streets, because it sees cars in the oncoming lane and brakes. I have called the company to have the vehicle check on at least two occasions. Every time I schedule a service the company calls back and tells me they know about the problem and that they are working on the issue. I asked if they could do an update to turn off the adaptive cruise control and revert back the standard cruise control that does not brake or slow down. They said that is not an option. This is a real safety concern, and I will not use the adaptive cruise control except in stop and go traffic. It has been my experience that there has been no phantom braking in stop and go traffic.
Cruise control set @70 to 74mph on open highway with no vehicles in front or behind. Midday, sunny, clear, and dry. The vehicle suddenly applies brakes. This could have easily lead to being rear-ended if another vehicle were following too closely. This happened numerous time this last weekend. Contacted the manufacturer and they stated this is normal and no hardware faults were detected in the vehicle when diagnosed remotely.
We just went on a longish trip, covering a total of about 2,500 miles. While driving on interstate highways and using cruise control, the car would occasionally brake for no reason. The first several times it happened, the car braked mildly and we tried to explain it away. ("It must have seen the guardrail/traffic cone/butterfly," etc.) However, the last time it happened, with absolutely nothing anywhere near us to the sides or front, the car braked FREAKING HARD. I was driving, and it scared the $hit out of me. If the 18-wheeler behind us had been a little closer, we would have been toast. After that, we disabled the automatic emergency braking every time we started the car, and we'll continue to do that.
I rented a Tesla model three and have driven 5000 miles on it since I got it three weeks ago. In that time this car has done some very dangerous things that concern me about my safety. I stopped using the auto pilot function after one time when it tried to pull me off the road at highway speeds into the emergency lane. I have also started experiencing the phantom braking issue that you read about online. For some reason this car can’t go more than 10 or 15 miles without slamming on the brakes even though there are no cars anywhere close to me or any objects on the road that might trigger the automatic braking. I am afraid that this car is going to slam on the brakes when there is somebody behind me and cause an accident.
We have an ongoing issue with our Model 3 stopping for no reason at speed when using cruise-control or auto-pilot. We have had the car in for service at Kearney Mesa and the “manager” observed it happen. But nobody gets back to us and nobody knows anything. The car suddenly brakes for no reason. This happened multiple times. Including once with the “service manager” in the car. Answers below are for that occurrence. No other warnings on the display. If a car had been behind us, we would have been rear-ended. We are being “stonewalled “ by the attitude “I know nothing” or “someone will get back to you”. I cannot get through to anyone at Tesla HQ and the local service center is completely unhelpful. Please advise.
I am renting this Tesla Model 3 on monthly basis Rental from Hertz. ON SEP 5TH, 2022 I was at a stop sign fully stopped and all of a sudden the car started accelarating by itself. I try to call Tesla about it and their answer was as I am not the owner they won't even talk to me. I tried to call Hertz but their Customer Service no available just in a circle of press this and press that for hours..Today Sep 16, around 10:58 am , I was Stopped at an intersection on a Red light waiting for the signal to turn Green , Then all of a sudden the Car Accelerated and Luckily no Cross Traffic and I proceeded through the Intersection. This is a Serious Issue.This car does not have Self Driving Feature, and twice in 10 Days this speed issue occur. Also on three different occasions while I was driving on a freeway other Cars from left and right swerved into my Lane and extremely close to my Car and the side Sensors didn't Beep.
On Wednesday, 8/24/2022 around 1:30pm, when I tried to park my Tesla Model 3 on a residential street, suddenly and without any warning the steering wheel lost control, accelerated, made a right and then a left turn, hit an electric box and landed on the neighbor's driveway. No one else was injured, only myself with severe back pain and I could not move. Several neighbors came out of their house and checked on me and called the Homeowners Association Office and called 911, the homeowners experienced power outage. An ambulance came & took me to the Irvine Hoag Hospital Emergency Center. The medical staff took X-Ray for me and gave me Tylenol pills and ice pack on my back. I was diagnosed with compression fracture of T12 vertebra, per doctor's exam: It will take two-to-six-month to heal my back. A police report #[XXX] was filed on 8/31/2022. CA resident since 1976 very healthy, enjoy working, and helping school and do community services. Do not take drag, no alcohol with over 46+ year's careful driving skill, and a safe driver with good driving record.
During recent drive from the Kansas City area to downtown Denver over the period of September 11-12, I experienced what's known as "phantom braking" no fewer than five times along I-70. At least one of these instances was so aggressive that it slowed the car down from 77mph to 60mph. This is an extremely dangerous situation that must be addressed by Tesla ASAP. Someone is going to die.
Phantom braking aggressively appearing during a family road trip. Violent braking leading to a 20-30 mph drop in speed.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at 5 MPH to park at her residence, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration and inadvertently veered to the right. The vehicle then crashed into a transformer box in a residential yard and came to a complete stop. The contact had a broken backbone and received medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a body shop where it remained unrepaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and informed the contact that it was a human error, mistaking the accelerator pedal for the brake pedal and that they would review the computer log. The failure mileage was 1,062. The VIN was unavailable.
Mileage: 1,062
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while at a stop light with the brake pedal depressed, the vehicle accelerated and crashed into a Dodge Ram. There were no warning lights illuminated. There was no reported injuries, fire or air bag deployment. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot and then to a collision center. The local dealer was contacted but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The approximate failure mileage was 135
Mileage: 135
Driving with cruise control on two lane or interstate car will automatically just slam on breaks. Dropping cars speed 10+ mph. There is no warning it breaks hard enough to skid tires and lock seatbelt. I have several times it has break checked car that are behind me cause them to switch lanes abruptly. It will do it some times after you merge back into a lane after you pass some one. There is no warning at anytime it will do this. I reported this to them the day I purchased this car new. They canceled the service appointment and said car will update it self and there is a software issue they are working on. Car is getting worse as time goes on. It does it every time you drive it. I understand if it slowed down 1 to 3 mph but it will drop 20 mph in seconds. It violently brakes. You can hit accelerator pedal fast enough before it drops 10 mph.
Multiple instances of hard phantom highway braking on clear sunny days with no other vehicles close while using adaptive cruise control. If another vehicle had been following closely it could have caused a rear end collision as there was no cause to slow down. This problem is recurring. Tesla says to just report the incident on their automated system but there has been no response from them.
Numerous times while on cruise control “autopilot” the car suddenly and rapidly decelerates for no apparent reason. Most often when no other cars or obstacles are seen and during full daylight (no rain or other complicating weather) but has also occurred at night. Typically while driving at highway speeds 65-80mph and the deceleration is rapid and significant (decreases by estimated 20 mph within 1 sec).
Multiple Phantom braking events with hard deceleration which nearly caused the car behind me to rear end my vehicle. Car suddenly braked and speed Was reduced from 72 mph to 55 mph before I could disengage the autopilot. At the time nearest vehicle In front of me was a over 1/2 mile away. Was traveling West bound around 0800 issue was severe enough that I did not trust reactivating the system until I reached my destination and could put the car in park. This was the second such episode in phantom braking in less than a week. The episode last week occurred as I was approaching a bridge and I am guessing the car mistook the shadow across the road as a vehicle
Yesterday on a road trip my car repeatedly slammed on the brakes while in cruise control despite no vehicles or objects in the road in front of me.
The Auto-Pilot system, Tesla's version of adaptive cruise control, 'phantom' brakes with no obstruction in the road. It has happened to me many times on a recent long trip. perhaps a dozen times over 1300 miles. It has occurred when I am on the only car on a quiet country road and on busy highways. There appear to be 2 types of braking; one in which the brakes are actually engaged and the other in which is appears that Auto-Pilot just turns off and the system allows the regenerative braking to slow the car. At times it happens over slight dips or undulations in the road. On another occasion it happened when the car 'sees' a sharp shadow under an upcoming bridge in bright sunlight. Most of the time when approaching a bridge It does not phantom brake. However it did do this when approaching two consecutive bridges under identical lighting conditions. This all may be a function of using a camera based system for cruise control. I am making this report because I was to go on record in pointing out it is a very very big problem. I wish I had more real data to share with you. Tesla needs to cooperate with you to fix this immediately. It is a serious safety issue. Thank you.
A day of Phantom Braking today while the car was on adaptive cruise: -Going on the interstate up a hill, and on the crest it freaks out and slams on the brake -Going on MN Hwy 18 at 6:30 pm north, and dozens of phantom braking incidents in shadows, dark colored patches of road, and for random reasons. Got so bad I stopped using the feature
Car is phantom breaking with cruise control set on the freeway.
When driving at highway speeds on open roads with light traffic with the adaptive cruise control ON the car would severely brake at random. I have seen this referred to a "Phantom Braking" in other reports. This happens several times an hour and the brakes are severely applied automatically, reducing the speed from 70-80mph to 40-50mph before I can intervene by stepping on the accelerator pedal. It is a frightening experience and can throw the driver and passengers up against the seat belts. This is a critical safety issue because it can result in a rear end accident if a car is following too closely. I have not taken the vehicle for inspection yet but I see there are many reports of this same problem on social media and the NTSB has already opened an investigation on this problem. The vehicle is only a few weeks old and it became noticeable during a long distance open road trip through the open highways in Utah, Idaho and Nevada.
While driving on a highway with adaptive cruise control set and no visible vehicles or obstacles on the roadway, the vehicle slammed on the brakes and slowed to about 2/3 the speed. I disengaged the cruise and took over and was able to then speed back up. My concern is that had someone been close behind me they would have for sure ran into me! At highway speeds this could seriously injure or kill someone. This happened 2 times on July 10th, on my 360 mile trip and also happened on the way to this location 1 time but was a quick brake incident only slowing 10 mph and then went back to the speed I had set…that was the first time and that date was July 7th.
Just completed road-trip from Florida to New England and back. Experienced 4/5 phantom braking events while using cruise control at highway speeds. When traveling in traffic at highway speed, this abrupt braking came very close to causing a collision.
While driving on the interstate and having the adaptive cruise control enabled, the vehicle unexpectedly and suddenly decelerated with no vehicles in front of us. This happened 3 times over a two day period, with a total time of about 3 hours having the cruise control on. The 3rd time it happened, we were traveling at about 75 mph with another vehicle behind us, no more than two seconds behind. No vehicle was in front of us, but our car suddenly decelerated by about 20 mph. If the driver behind us was not paying attention, they would’ve rear ended us. I sent in a service request to Tesla. The answer was, in summary, they are aware of this issue with their beta version of adaptive cruise control and are working on a firmware update to fix it. The solution given, in the meantime, is to disengage the cruise control when it happens. This is unacceptable to me, as the consequences of sudden, unexpected deceleration will have already happened. I am not going to use the cruise control until it is fixed. For such an expensive car, still under warranty, an unusable and dangerous feature should be fixed.
Recently, while traveling on the freeway with light traffic conditions (no cars near me to the front, sides or rear -- possibly no cars even visible) the car automatically applied the brakes causing the speed to drop by more than 30 miles an hour. This happened three times over the course of two minutes, with one of the incidences being particularly severe (throwing me forward in my seat as the brakes were applied). Had a car been behind me, I'm sure I would have been rear-ended. At the time, the weather was clear, and the time was near noon, putting the sun nearly overhead. I did not detect any shadows or unusual road patterns at the time of the incidences, nor was I near any overpasses. At the time of the incidents, the car had its "traffic aware" cruise control engaged with the lane following feature active. Later that same day I experienced a similar incident with heavy, unexpected braking (same freeway, now heading in the opposite direction, about one hour from sunset), with traffic aware cruise control engaged but without lane following engaged. I have experienced milder versions of unnecessary automatic braking about 6 times. They were annoying, but not a safety issue. In at least one of the incidences described above, the braking was so severe, I do think it could have gotten me killed if a vehicle had been close behind me. I'm now afraid to use the feature in moderate traffic, which is a shame, because it is in under exactly that circumstance that the feature is most useful.
I engaged cruise control on my 2022 Tesla model 3 at 70 mph while traveling on flat level terrain, and after about 1 to 2 miles in cruise, braking automatically occurred slowing my speed down to 50 mph in less than 2 seconds. I've read that this is considered phantom braking which is considered common on the newer 2022 Tesla model 3. There were no warning signals and no visible objects on the road, and the time of day was about 4:30 pm. I took the vehicle to the dealership for another issue, but they didn't have time to take it for a test drive. I was thrown forward in my seat when the incident occurred, and fortunately there were no other drivers immediately behind me.
While the car is in Auto Cruise control, especially in the 72 mph and above range, the brakes engage for no reason. This happens repeatedly on long travel days. There is no notice of the slowdown. It can be abruptly and be extreme. The accelerator has to be used to disengaged the braking. We see it called phantom braking. It certainly is not safe.
Phantom braking at interstate speeds when vehicle was in autosteer. On a recent 600+ mile day trip I experienced 5 separate instances of instant phantom braking when the car was travelling between 70 and 75mph with autosteer on. The car would brake violently from 70mph to around 50mph in milliseconds without any observable obstacles and no visual or audible warnings from the car. The driver notification log does not show any instance of the event.
This concerns the "Phantom Braking" problem occurring to many Tesla owners recently. I took delivery of my new Tesla model 3 on May 3, 2022. I was very cautious about enabling the advanced features of the car such as Autopilot, and I did not experience the Phantom Braking (PB) problems that some of my friends described with their Tesla. I bought the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package but I have not asked for it to be enabled. Then I left my house on June 9th for a 12 day, 2500 mile round trip to Seattle and back. During the trip I cautiously began to use autopilot functions, and found them to be very useful, particularly the TACC cruise control feature. As the trip progressed, I began to use the TACC more and more because I was beginning to conclude it might be safer than my own driving in specific situations). On the 6th day I began to return home and increased my use of both autopilot functions (TACC and auto-steer). The further I drove, the more certain I became what was happening, but not why. But first you have to understand the constraints. TACC controls the accelerator and the brake pedal and therefore also controls the regenerative braking capability. The other half of autopilot is the auto-steering capability, which controls only the steering wheel. But the important part is -- you can operate the car with only TACC engaged but you can't engage auto-steer unless you activate TACC first, or at the same time. During my trip I experienced some degree of PB something like 25 times. The 3-5 worst were similar to stepping on the brake pedal firmly. On one occasion I had no traffic near me so I didn't immediately override the stop, to see what it would do. The car continued to rapidly brake from about 75 mph down to about 25 when I stepped on the accelerator to break the PB episode. My conclusions -- PB is a TACC problem. Auto-steer does not change the behavior and PB doesn't happen unless TACC is engaged.
While driving at approx 80 MPH along a major highway at approximately 11:30 PM, and while utilizing cruise control, my Tesla Model 3 applied brakes when no vehicle or object was around. My hands were on the wheel and I was focused on driving but the force of the braking caused passengers to move abruptly forward in their seat belts and startled me as the driver. The speed abruptly went from approx 80 down to below 60 MpH. This has happened multiple times. I contacted Tesla support and was told that this is a known issue called “phantom braking.” Since I have NOT used this feature and was told that there is currently not a fix or estimated software release.
Driving on freeway, very little traffic, no cars near me. Speed 73 mph. Sudden loss of power, coasting to stop making a lane change and seeking shoulder space. At about 30 mph power was regained. Sudden loss of power. ( electric motor, motor controller, battery or software failure ) Difficult rapid maneuver to get to side of road. Dealer has made an appointment. Nor warning lamps or warning sounds. There was another incident 2 days earlier when the cruise control would not engage. Two trips no cruise control. yellow warning symbol with "Cruise control unavailable" Made an appointment with Tesla, they cancelled saying that the car did not do that, and my appointment cancelled. Tesla or vehicle software lies.
Two separate times today the car automatically braked hard when there was nothing in front, nor around us, when we were using cruise control.
When driving on the interstate this morning our Tesla suddenly and aggressively applied the brakes. This happened many times. There was absolutely nothing near us. These were empty stretches of highway, These incidents were jarring, both emotionally and physically. We were fortunate that there were no cars near us, especially behind us. This has happened before driving around town but it was less dramatic because our speed was slower than on the highway, We thought maybe we had to get used to the car, This is our first highway trip. We’ve been on the road for 3-4 hours and it has occurred 8 or 9 times. We called Tesla to report it. They said they rarely hear this complaint, upon researching it we see that this is a known issue with our year and model but nothing is being done. The research says you are “investigating”. Tesla owners need to be told that this issue is under investigation. I’m Sure it is hugely underreported. Will it take personal injuries to get some action? At the very least Tesla owners need to told to be aware and to report any incidences of this random extremely dangerous breaking out of the blue. I am requesting a personal reply to this concern and compliant: [XXX]@yahoo.com and [XXX]@gmail.com. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).”
My concern first started with the cruise control suddenly shuts off. My biggest concern when the cruise control suddenly shut off and braked. When this happened we were traveling on Interstate 80. 4 lane highway 2 lanes each direction. Cruise control set at 80 mph. Approaching an 18 wheel truck moved to the fast lane. Half way past the 18 wheel truck cruise control suddenly shuts off and the car brakes. Traffic was light so lucky I wasn't rear ended. Notified Tesla they sent me a over the air software update. Not satisfied made appointment to bring into their service department. Was told their system doesn't go back to the incident and it happens again file a bug report. Not feeling safe with a car suddenly brakes.
On 4 June 2022, at 5:03pm (CDT), while traveling northbound on Hwy 175 in Dallas, Texas and approximately 1-mile from the I-45 interchange I was traveling in the left lane with the Tesla Autopilot ON and speed set to 70 mph with a posted speed limit of 65 mph. There was very light traffic. When unexpectedly and suddenly the car began braking for no apparent reason. Since traffic was light I momentarily allowed the car to continue to brake arbitrarily in order to observe what it would do since I had also experienced this same phenomenon in our other Tesla that we own. The car continued its braking action unabated and within seconds had slowed to approximately 55mph and was continuing to brake on the highway for no apparent reason. Since traffic was now approaching me from behind at a high-rate of speed in order to avoid an accident I took over the accelerator and accelerated back to the appropriate highway speed.
I purchased my Tesla Model 3 six months ago and I have experienced the phantom braking event while on autopilot four times that I can recall. The most recent occurrence was this past Saturday afternoon, May 28th, 2022 southbound on I-35W around 2pm . I was driving on a clear sunny day and there was no traffic in front of me. There was a white pickup truck behind me about 5-10 car lengths. While traveling on auto-pilot at 70mph the car suddenly slammed on the brakes and created a situation where the truck behind me could have rear ended my vehicle if I had not disengaged the autopilot quickly. The forward collision warning sensor did not activate indicating any type of potential collision risk. The vehicle simply slammed on the brakes and decelerated from 70 to about 35mph before I could get the autopilot disengaged by tapping the brakes and taking manual control of the vehicle. This was by far the most startling incident but it has occurred on more than one occasion.
My car while in auto pilot will sometimes randomly on highways at highway speed, slam on the brakes. It’s dangerous because you will be doing 75+ mph and the car will just slam on the brakes and you have to take over control quickly to keep up speed. It has happened to me on I-25 in Colorado and I worry sometimes that I could get rear ended. It doesn’t happen all the time just randomly.
While driving on the highway and using the tesla version of cruise control, the car abruptly brakes with no obstacles in the area and the car is within the lane. The braking so abrupt that I think the car is about to cause an accident. This happens consistently in both the cruise control and the autosteer function engaged. Today I had the car set to 75mph with autosteer and no other car on the highway (4 lanes wide) and me traveling in the hov lane. Suddenly the car slowed to 65mph in less than a couple seconds before I was able to deactivate the cruise control. The feature is not stable and frightening to use.
When using the cruise control or assisted cruise control, the car will brake suddenly and without warning as if there’s an obstacle in front of the car. In every case (more than 20 times) no obstacle is present yet it brakes regardless. In one recent case we were being closely followed and the trailing car had to suddenly maneuver around us into the oncoming lane. Thankfully there was no oncoming traffic. When I reached out to Tesla they acted like it was not common yet now I’m reading that it’s becoming extremely common.
We are on a cross country trip departed Rancho Mirage Ca on May 25th) for Hobart Indiana We have experienced phantom braking using cruise control at least 4-10x a day) On return trip while in ColorDo on I 86 June 1st @ 2pm the most serious and dangerous phantom braking occurred I had cruise control set att 75 ( speed limit) Road well marked, flat with no car ahead of us within a mile. The car had been experiencing phantom braking for last hour bringing speed down to 69-70 for no apparent reason A car was traveling immediately behind us when my Tesla suddenly braked to 58 mph. The car traveling behind us had to make a sudden and violent swerve around us, barely missing our car The other car quickly passed us as we stayed slow at 58 mph for a few seconds after the other car passed us This car needs to be recalled and use of cruise control suspended until recall remedies problem If this was my gasoline Escalade exhibiting such repeated cruise control malfunction , it would be taken off the road I am not new to owning a Tesla. This is our 3rd Tesla but we never had this problem with our Tesla S and only a few times with our X. This issue is a major safety problem and I am notifying media and newspapers of this problem, to ensure the NTSB addresses this serious problem. All data should be in cars computer system for verification
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at 40-60 MPH and making a turn using the self-driving mode, the brake pedal was depressed. However, the vehicle accelerated inadvertently at a higher speed. The contact depressed the brake pedal several times but the vehicle failed to respond. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle crashed into the front passenger's side door of another occupied vehicle. The air bags deployed. The contact briefly lost consciousness. The contact sustained soreness on the nose, the throat, the upper back shoulders, and increasingly on the back. Additionally, the contact sustained emotional trauma. The contact stated that she was in the process of seeking medical assistance. The two passengers occupying the front driver's seat and the front passenger's seat of the other vehicle sought medical assistance. There was no further information provided. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but did not provide any assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 3,500.
Mileage: 3,500
The vehicle while in adaptive cruise control or autopilot will brake hard at high speeds on wide open highway. It has always done this from day one but while on a Kansas open highway it almost caused a major accident 3 times in a short period of time. After the third incident I discontinued any driver assistance. The speed limit was 75mph, the autopilot was set at 75mph, in under 2 seconds we were at 35mph for no reason 3 times in row. I contacted Tesla after a few days after purchase and they said they know about it and it will get fixed in the future but its been 4 months. I had my 4 year old in the car and this is a very concerning issue.
I was using Tesla's Traffic Aware Cruise Control. I was traveling at approximately 75mph on a highway. There was a car approximately 6 car lengths ahead of me traveling at approximately the same speed. There may have been cars next to me on both sides. For no apparent reason, the Tesla braked and the speed was reduced from 75mph to approximately 35mph. I disengaged the Traffic Aware Cruise Control and accelerated back to approximately 70mph. My safety was put at risk because the car behind me had to slam on their brakes and I assume the car behind them had to do the same. This was dangerous for my safety and the safety of the people in the car(s) behind me. The vehicle has not been inspected. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the issue.
I also shared this on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaLounge/comments/ubcbuc/phantom_brake_occurence/ My brand new, (February-2022), Model 3 Performance Phantom Braked hard yesterday and almost killed me and my daughter. We were on a road-trip driving from Arizona to California, on the 8 freeway westbound. It was running Tesla software version. 2022.12.3.1. Conditions were ideal. Clear sky, open road, no opposing traffic since the opposing lanes were across about 200 feet of desert. No cars in front of us for any visible distance, road was straight for miles, no shadows, no reflections, just open road. I had the cruise control on and locked at 75 MPH. I wasn't using Auto Pilot, just cruise control, (single press down on the drive stalk). After cruise control had been on for a few minutes suddenly, the car hard braked, throwing myself and my kid forward. Decelerated from 75 to 30 MPH in about 2 seconds. Scared the shit out of both of us. We were just sorting out the confusion when we hear honking horns, cars would be on us soon. I slammed the accelerator to move. I later checked the outside of the car wondering if maybe a camera had become obstructed but nope, all the cameras had perfectly clean surfaces. This phantom braking issue is going to kill someone.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving on the highway at 70 MPH, with the cruise control activated, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,900.
Mileage: 2,900
I275 southbound in Terra Ceia, FL. 11PM. Road surface damp. Speed 80 mph with adaptive cruise control engaged. No other vehicles within view. While on cruise control, the vehicle suddenly engaged the brakes slowing from 80mph to 65mph in a violent manner in a fraction of a second. Wheels broke traction slightly. This has occurred on a number of occasions to me since owned on 12/10/21. It's extremely dangerous to the point I rarely use cruise control on wet or slippery roads for fear of departing the roadway.
There have been 3 separate instances in unexpected and sudden braking when using cruise control. All instances occurred when there were no nearby vehicles present. The first incident occurred on a 2 lane road when I was driving in daylight. I used the cruise control and twice over 10 min the car suddenly and unexpected slowed/braked startling me. After 2 times, I turned off the cruise control. Another incident occurred when I was driving on the interstate. Same experience. Sudden unexpected emergency braking as if I was about to hit something and there was nothing there, again daylight. Most recent occurrence my husband was driving, it was night on interstate and he had cruise control on and the car suddenly braked startling everyone in the car. There were no other vehicles present. He turned off cruise control for the remainder of the drive.
The Tesla will slam on the brakes unexpectedly while using cruise control. It does this for no apparent reason and has almost cause several accidents including me being rear ended while cruising at 60mph.
While driving with cruise control set to 90 mph, my vehicle rapidly decelerated to 70 mph — with no other vehicles around. The vehicle suddenly braked for no reason at all, multiple times. Autopilot was not engaged and I was steering the vehicle myself. This while driving West on HWY 76 in Colorado a clear sunny day around mile marker 141, near Proctor, CO. The middle of nowhere. I have a 50 second video I would be happy to share but no video upload option.
With cruise control on the vehicle abruptly applied breaking system without driving involvement and quickly reduced speed from 85 to 60 before driver could engage accelerator to prevent chance of being rear ended. I have a video file if needed.
I have a 1 month old Tesla Model 3 that when i use the cruise control every time i go past a truck on a 2 lane highway, my car will initiate emergency breaking. This has caused cars to almost rear end me. I took the car to Tesla to be serviced, and the issue didn't get any better. I have videos of this happening if you need them
Multiples times while the car was using cruise control we have had it unexpectedly and aggressively brake. This seems to happen when a car is coming towards us in the opposite lane. We have only had the car for 4 days. It is to the point we do not use the cruise control. If someone would have been behind us we would have gotten in an accident. We have also had the forward collision warning go off while not in cruise control.
When driving my husband's new Tesla on the highway for the first time, with adaptive cruise control on, there were two frightening incidents: 1) I was traveling in the left-most lane of a 3 lane highway (3 lanes in one direction) moderate traffic. I signaled my intention to change lanes, and started to migrate into the middle lane. There was an 18-wheeler in the right-most lane slightly ahead of me. The Tesla suddenly braked hard without warning. Either I or the Tesla also swerved back towards the leftmost lane (it happened very fast and I was panicked, so I'm not sure which of us initiated the swerve). The Tesla then seemed to recover from being "spooked", and accelerated back up to the set speed. 2) Later that day, I was traveling on a highway again, this time just two lanes in one direction. Traffic was light. The Tesla again braked suddenly, though there were no cars nearby, and then resumed speed. Additionally, when driving in moderate traffic in town, the Tesla let out loud alarms twice to alert me about cars it deemed I had not paid sufficient attention to as traffic slowed approaching a light. Cruise control was not on, and it did not brake, but it was startling. I usually drive a 2017 Volvo V60 with adaptive cruise and collision-avoidance technology, and it is MUCH less sensitive than the Tesla is.
Drive Unit inverter failed. Yes my safety and the safety of my passenger and drivers behind me was at risk Problem was confirmed by Tesla repair center. They diagnosed this as the problem. No accident happened so no police, insurance reps, etc. Warning lamps came up after the car stalled. Or at least that's when I noticed them. while I was driving the car started jerking and came to a complete stop in traffic. No warning, just stopped. It wouldn't start or roll or anything and I was blocking traffic until I could get Tesla Roadside service to tell me on the phone how to put it into Transport Mode to push it to the side. This took 2 hours. My safety was DEFINITELY at risk. If I had been travelling at a high speed, it could have been fatal. The dealer/service center said it's the failure of the rear drive unit inverter and it was a US made part by Tesla. Warnings showed up on the screen but after the call stalled. It is currently at the dealership being replaced but now I am afraid to drive it as I have lost confidence in the company. I really hope you put pressure on Tesla to correct this problem. It is terrifying.
I had multiple episodes of phantom braking while at highway speeds on cruise control. Most were small taps on the brakes that I could feel. There was one instance of a sudden 20mph drop from 67mph to mid forties and a second similar one they also resulted in the alarm within the vehicle going off. There were no vehicles, pedestrians, or other objects in the road in front of me and no reason for the car to brake.
Good evening, we took delivery of our Model 3 just over a week ago and have a big concern with Autopilot. Over a dozen times thus far, the car disengages Autopilot and begins to brake. This is MUCH worse at night when approaching hills or other cars and is very unsafe, especially for the people behind us. Is there a feature I can turn out to improve this? Perhaps add STD Cruise w/no emergency braking? Help!!!
Phantom braking when using either cruise control or auto pilot. This happens during the day and night. If there is a car on the other side of road, it will brake very hard. This happens on one lane highways or large freeways. It is extremely dangerous especially if you have another car behind you. It will go from 80 mph to 50 mph in one second.
this vehicle has regenerative braking. It used to have an option to reduce the regenerative braking but software updates removed it. During recent snow and ice, when letting off the accelerator pedal the regenerative braking kicks in and causes the vehicle to become unstable. If regenerative braking had a low setting this could prevent the vehicle from becoming unstable on snow and ice every time the accelerator pedal is let go. It is very un-nerving driving like this
Phantom braking occurs when 'autopilot - cruise control' is engaged, while traveling at highway speeds.
I have reported to Tesla that my brand new 2022 Model 3 is braking and indicating far ward Colli on warnings when there are no issues present on the roadway. I have submitted well over 50 bug reports within the past month detailing these incidents when they happen. Each of these incidents are a safety hazard. Unexpected braking not only is scary, but also causes problems for vehicles following behind me. I’ve had other vehicles nearly collude with my vehicle from behind (due to my car quickly decelerating for no reason). I’ve also been on the receiving end of some road rage incidents because my car is slowing down for no reason, people think I’m brake checking them or trying to intentionally cause a rear end collision. I have sent my concerns to Tesla on three occasions. They have not investigated my specific claims and only respond to say that the behavior is “normal” for the software and hardware configurations within the vehicle. I’m not sure how a system that can be this unsafe can be considered “normal”
Phantom Braking
We took our first out of town day trip of about 400 miles round trip, mostly freeway driving, last week 2/19/22. I tried using Tesla Traffic Aware Cruise Control several times during the trip, and we experienced at least 3 episodes of the "phantom braking" that I have read about. On those occasions, the system abruptly sounded alerts and braked automatically while cruising at about 80 mph (speed limit 75). There did not seem to be any obvious reason for this braking on the freeway on two occasions. There was one episode on a two lane section of straight highway, cruising at about 70 mph, when a large semi truck/trailer passed us in the opposite direction, both of us staying in our lanes, when the TACC sounded alert and applied brakes abruptly. I am very reluctant to use this function now until Tesla resolves the issues involved. It is very disconcerting and potentially dangerous when these events happen. I did send a "bug report" to Tesla from the vehicle the day after this happened. No response as yet.
Car will brake for no reason at all. Hazardous for any cars behind the vehicle when it randomly brakes.
Phantom braking keeps occurring when my cruise control is set. If there is oncoming traffic with their headlights on in the opposite lane, my car will begin to brake. It also occurs sometimes when there are no other cars nearby.
I purchased this vehicle 10 days ago and have had “phantom braking” about a dozen times already. Some more drastic than others. Most cases was at night and most cases there were absolutely no objects that should have triggered the vehicle to rapidly slow down. It is extremely annoying and dangerous as I went from 75 to 60 in about a second. It seems to happen more when there is little traffic in front of me than when I am moving along with a lot of traffic.
PHANTOM braking constantly with NOTHING around, in the road, no oncoming traffic, at hill tops, in curves, VERY, VERY DANGEROUS!!! My Tesla is only 72 hours old and has less than 200 miles. Cruise at 60 mph and slams the brakes to as slow as 28 mph ...throws everything in the car to the floor. This is on State Highways with no traffic no oncoming cars, nothing in road, Tesla needs to be sued!!!! Please issue Federal Recall BEFORE someone is rear ended and dies. I've read Tesla has Known this problem exists since early 2021. Stop Tesla from making this deadly functionality.
The car regularly brakes unexpectedly at highway speeds when the cruise control is engaged. It is behaving as if it detects a car in front and is trying to avoid a front end collision but there is no object there. I wonder if some debris or something flies in front of the camera and the car interprets it as another vehicle.
Phantom Braking. Yes my safety and the safety of cars behind me were put at risk by the sudden braking. I have not contacted the dealer yet. There was no warning prior to the issues occurring. I sure wish I'd known about phantom braking before I set off on a road trip across I-70 recently. Very dangerous indeed. I drove my 2022 Model 3 from Denver to KC round trip last weekend and phantom braking occurred about 30-40 times total. I was using TACC cruise control and going about 75 MPH during these times. I didn't want to turn off TACC cruise control because the roads were straight and it was a 9 hour drive, but I did drive with my toe on the accelerator to be safe and was always on guard, especially when cars were directly behind me. It would suddenly brake when the pavement texture changed, under an overpass shadow, after a bridge and randomly when I had no idea it would occur. I was afraid of getting rear-ended and it made for a pretty tense trip. I sure hope it gets fixed or I won't be taking it on extended road trips. It would be a shame to not be able to safely use cruise control. Also, makes me aware of other Tesla's out there that might phantom brake as well so we need to be careful. Unacceptable and dangerous.
When driving on highway with “autopilot” engaged…. Vehicle brakes for no apparent reason at random times. Super dangerous especially if someone is following you. Vehicle brakes hard and is not safe
Driving on a two lane highway with adaptive cruise control on, the car sometimes decelerates and sometimes even comes to a quick stop with brakes when a vehicle approaches from the opposite direction. Although it does not happen every time, tractor trailers turn red and the car slows from 55 mph to 10-20 mph rapidly. Cars behind me have nearly hit me in the rear because of the fast stop where none was expected (or needed). On occasion, the car slows when no car is coming, but there is a rise in the road, or a curve. In Rochester, at Tesla Service, I was told that the adaptive cruise control was "performing within specifications." If that is correct, the specifications are dangerous and need to be modified. The only remedy, I was told, was not to use adaptive cruise control.
The automatic emergency braking system activated for no reason while driving northbound at night in the right lane on MA Route 24 as I approached the intersection with MA Route 79. At the time of the incident, there were no vehicles in front of me, nor were there any vehicles entering from Route 79. The adaptive cruise control system was engaged at the time of the incident. This has happened on several occasions at that same intersection under the same conditions. It has also happened when I've been driving in the left lane on the highway and passing a tractor-trailer in the right lane. The sudden, unexpected deceleration put us in danger of being rear-ended by traffice behind us, creating the possibility of a multi-vehicle, high speed collision. The problem hasn't been reproduced or confirmed by the mfr, police or others. The vehicle has not been inspected by the mfr, police, or others. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.
Phantom Braking - Severe, very large number of instances since taking delivery of this auto in December 2021. Severe risk of rear-end collision should this occur when being followed closely. This occurs very often. On a 13 mile drive this morning, 2/19/2022, phantom braking occurred 12 times. The Tesla repair center repeatedly cancels an appointment made to address this issue, stating that 'it's normal for this to occur. Remember, autopilot is a Beta function'. The one time that I was able to have the vehicle seen by the repair center, this is what I was told. Warning chimes do sound. However, this extreme braking is unsafe, and could possibly result in loss of control if it occurs on slippery roads.
When I drive this car in cruise control, I never know when it will suddenly brake without warning, trying to bring the car to a stop whether I am going 65 or 30 mph. It will see a shadow in the road, a pedestrian on a sidewalk, an oil spot on the pavement, and will abruptly throw the car and me into rapid deceleration. If it is sees a car in the oncoming lane, driving appropriately in its own lane, my car in the opposite lane will suddenly brake like I am about to have an accident. It will brake if it sees a vehicle coming around a bend in the opposite lane. Not only is my vehicle's braking uncomfortable and alarming, it is exceedingly dangerous. On urban and semi-urban highways, multiple times someone has almost rear-ended my car. Only because I was hyper-alert to the situation was an accident averted. I am an excellent and conscientious driver, with both hands on the wheel, not using my phone. I am not using the "self-driving" mode and never have. It is an option I paid $10K for but have never used. My main concern is for the safety of my current vehicle and for the other cars on the highway around me.
When driving on two lane roads using adaptive cruise control, the car will often decelerate or brake suddenly when there is oncoming traffic or lighting conditions change. There is no warning when this happens. I recently made a 200 mile trip and this occurred at least 15 times during the drive. I felt unsafe especially when there was a vehicle behind me.
I was driving on the highway with cruise control activated at 60mph. The vehicle randomly broke and slowed. No other car was on site and no other person or object was around us. This has happened several times. This random braking on cruise control. This is dangerous. Please help with this issue and let me know what the next steps are. Thanks.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60-70 MPH, the vehicle independently stopped without warning. Also, while driving approximately 80 MPH, the vehicle decelerated independently to 20 MPH abruptly. The contact stated there was an abnormal beeping alert prior to the failure. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where they informed him, they were waiting for a firmware update. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was taken to another local dealer, Tesla (9140 E Independence Blvd, Matthews, NC 28105. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but no further assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 7,826.
Mileage: 7,826
Driving on I-26, 4:30am, no cars around and my car aggressively brakes causing me to react quickly and disable smart cruise control. Making a return trip 1 week later on I-95, the car at various times brakes for no reason multiple times on a700 Mile trip.
Using the Autopilot cruise control for the first time, the vehicle was traveling at the speed limit when it suddenly began braking at an aggressive rate. Since the vehicle is brand new to us, and this being our first Tesla, my wife and I thought that maybe we did something to cause the braking. We tried the autopilot cruise control again later that evening and the vehicle did the same thing. Luckily, there was not a vehicle behind us on either occasion or else we would have been rear ended. This is extremely unsafe. How can you feel confident enough to drive on cruise control when the vehicle randomly brakes at an aggressive rate? This is going to get someone killed, if it hasn't already.
We have experienced 6 or more incidents of phantom braking in the few weeks we have owned the car. This mostly seems to occur on sunny days when there are distinct shadows in the road. This mostly occurs on highways at high speed and typically slows the vehicle down well below the speed limit prior to correcting itself. It has also occurred once at lower non-highway speeds. It is concerning mostly because it could easily cause an accident whereby the person behind me is unable to stop in time.
When using the autosteer function and also the adaptive cruise control, the vehicle seems to have a phantom braking issue. The car will apply brakes in an aggressive manner when the vehicle is faced with oncoming traffic in the opposite lane headed the other direction on a 2 lane road. This seems to occur when a large truck such as UPS or semi tractor trailer is approaching in the other lane headed the other direction - the vehicle seems to recognize that as an imminent forward collision and begins to aggressively brake the vehicle, which could cause a following vehicle to rear end me. This has happened on several occasions with varying degrees or severity (how hard it applies the breaks)
On two occasions I've been driving on a highway using autopilot at 70 MPH and the car started to brake for no reason. During one of the incidents the car also started to steer to the right and also cause a crash.
The auto emergency braking consistently brakes for no apparent reason while using adaptive cruise control or autopilot. The Tesla Model 3 will consistently slow and brake while passing a semi or larger vehicle while myself and the vehicle I am passing are both within our lanes with no abnormalities. This "phantom braking" is the worst on a two way (one lane each direction) highway at night. It was so bad I could not use and trust the autopilot/cruise system because it was more unsafe to use it than to just turn if off. I feared that I would get rear ended or it could aggressively brake in a corner causing me to loose traction. I also had the vehicle brake with no vehicle approaching and no one behind. It just randomly applied the brakes and the collision warning went off. Literally nothing in front or behind me on a two lane highway (one lane in each direction). My cameras were clean
On a two lane road doing 60 mph, with vehicle on cruise control, it slowed rapidly to about 30 mph all on its own. When I say rapidly like right now-I was afraid the vehicle behind me would not be able to stop. Then accelerated back to the set speed. NO WARNING…..this problem is easy to duplicate. As of now I cannot use cruise control too dangerous.
While driving with either cruise control or autopilot my car constantly brakes or “phantom brakes” for no apparent reason or brakes VERY hard when semis are approaching in opposite direction. This happens mainly on one lane country roads. On the freeway it’s less but it has braked for absolutely NO reason ( no cars around) at least a few times per month. My wife will not use cruise control due to this happening so often. I drive it most of the time and since I use cruise control or autopilot it “phantom brakes” every single day.
While using cruise control, the car will very frequently hesitate and slows down a few miles per hour, but in addition, the car will suddenly, very forcefully try to stop. This happens more often after dark and with on-coming vehicles, especially trucks. There is no warning sound or chime as will happen if there is actually an obstacle. The vehicle simply tries to stop and I feel that I would have ended up into the windshield if not restrained. The touch pad also shows no warning notice as it does if there is an obstacle such as a car in the way. This has happened with other cars behind me, but not anymore as I no longer use cruise control, especially if there is any traffic at all. The vehicle has yet to be seen in any Tesla service center due to difficulty getting an appointment. On-line searches reveal that this is a problem for others as well. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone else. This issue appeared very shortly after picking the care up on 12/31/21. I had a 2019 Tesla Model 3 which never did this.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently started braking with the cruise control was activated. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the local dealer. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was approximately 1,500.
Mileage: 1,500
I was traveling northbound on a two lane highway with a speed limit of 55mph. I was traveling 60mph with Tesla autopilot to include autosteer engaged, it was light outside and partly cloudy. A tractor trailer approached traveling southbound in the opposite direction, my vehicle immediately slammed on the brakes, dropped speed to under 25mph, and the forward collision warning chimes and alerts on the screen started. It should be noted I was well within my lane of travel going northbound; the tractor trailer was also well within its lane traveling southbound. At no point did my vehicle or the tractor trailer veer towards each other, and at no point was there ever a chance of our vehicles colliding. This happened a total of two times, both times the circumstances were identical involving tractor trailers.
On my daily commute to work on the interstate while in cruise control the car will slam on the brakes fro no apparent reason. This abruptly takes my car from 70 mph to 40. Happens multiple times in cruise control every day.
When driving on two lane highways and using the "autopilot" cruise control, the car will occasionally panic brake for no valid reason. This occurs almost every time an oncoming semi passes in the oncoming lane as well as going over bridges with raised sides or when there is crack seal on the road that is slightly more reflective. This has happened several times when crossing a bridge with cars following closely, almost causing several accidents. Tesla service was contacted immediately and I was told that it was a "software issue" and that there was nothing I could do. I tried disabling emergency braking in the car interface however it had no effect on the issue.
This vehicle has frequent issues with phantom braking whenever cruise control is engaged. The brakes are suddenly applied automatically and sometimes severely. This occurs dozens of times on long drives and I purchased the car new 6 weeks ago. I have reported it to Tesla and was told this is a “known software characteristic”. I brought it in for service and provided date and time stamps for dozens of occurrences. The service manager confirmed with me that this is a known issue that Tesla is looking into and that even her own Tesla has this problem regularly. This is clearly a safety issue and makes me feel unsafe to drive this car, which is especially concerning since one of the biggest selling points for me was its rating as the safest car on the road.
Twice now the car abruptly slowed down from about 75 to 50 in the left lane of the highway with nothing in front or next to my car. Falsely thought there was something in front of the vehicle and it quickly decelerated. Oddly happened both times in the same spot on the highway. Seems to be an issue with that area on how it looks in the "Tesla Vision" software. Both times almost caused an accident with the car behind me.
Random "phantom braking" while on cruise control. Unexpected and significant braking. On icy or wet roads, this could cause a departure from the vehicle path and road. It happens often enough that I'm rarely using it anymore. And fora feature that is supposed to be a safety feature (reducing driver fatigue, backup to emergency braking, safe following etc.) this is very bad.
Driving on a two lane rural road with a 55mph speed limit, I had traffic aware cruise control engaged with the speed set to 55 mph. A truck crested a hill coming the opposite direction, fully within their lane, and the car engaged the emergency breaking system. Fortunately, no one was behind me at the time as this could have resulted in me being rear-ended.
Vehicle frequently brakes hard to prevent a collision with an object that does not exist. Also known as phantom breaking that is a commonly known issues with Teslas autopilot.
When using cruise control (TACC) with or without using lane centering (Autosteer), my vehicle will often brake suddenly (and harshly) for no reason at all. It's worse on undivided highways (with no median). I've noticed the phantom braking occurs most often when an oncoming tall vehicle (18-wheeler, RV/motor home) approaches, or I approach an underpass, or I approach a large shadow on the road (from a building or large tree). During a 90-mile trip last weekend, my car phantom braked almost a dozen times, sometimes severely. Fortunately, no one was following close to me. I feel this is a safety hazard and should be fixed.
Traffic aware cruise control is dangerous to use. Automatically slams on brakes on 2 lane roads with large vehicles in oncoming lane. Brakes at the top of any sort of hill, brakes for shadows of overpasses on the highway. System is dangerous and has caused several situations where I would have been rear ended on 2 lane roads and larger highways. Recent road trip had almost a dozen phantom braking events on a one hour drive on a straight 2 lane road during the day.
On February 2, 2022 at approximately 8:00 a.m., MST, I was driving north at 50 mph on a stretch of two-lane highway with moderate traffic. Adaptive cruise control was engaged. A large truck was approaching, traveling in the opposite direction. Suddenly, and without warning, my vehicle’s brakes were applied, without my involvement, slowing my vehicle to approximately 20 mph and causing the driver of a vehicle traveling behind me to slam on its brakes to avoid a rear-end collision. No collision occurred and no one was injured. It could have been a lot worse, but this problem needs to be identified and fixed.
Vehicle applies 100% braking sporadically when traveling at highway speeds on cruise control, causing loss of control and risk to vehicles behind it. It seems that the vehicle’s forward sensors mistakenly interpret an imminent collision and apply full braking force, without any potential collision risk present. This happens in all scenarios, single to multiple lane highways, dense traffic to no traffic. This is commonly referred to as “phantom braking”.
While traveling on a two lane highway while using Traffic Assist Cruise Control I have had several collision alarms and emergency braking situations that were severe enough to cause my unprepared wife to say that she could have gotten whiplash. Luckily there was no one following us closely enough to cause a rear end collision. I have notified Tesla and they said that since it is actually in beta that the system is working properly. With the software capabilities that Tesla has I feel that they should provide a workable basic cruise control that can be used.
When driving with cruise control on the car will suddenly apply brakes if it detects a car coming at me from the opposite lane. This is a safety hazard as the cars behind me would have no idea I would be stopping and poses a serious rear end threat.
The autopilot feature which keeps the car in it's lane and speeds up or brakes the vehicle based on its surroundings is not functioning properly. It slams on the brakes whenever a semi-truck or large vehicle is driving in the opposite lane on a two-lane road. Especially if there is a bend in the road. It thinks that a forward collision is going to take place.
The vehicle is having a very serious problem with phantom braking whenever the cruise control is engaged. The problem occurs randomly regardless of road conditions or traffic conditions. While driving at any speed with cruise control engaged the car with randomly brake hard and sound an alert. The road has always been clear of obstructions and debris. It will also engage braking abruptly when a large truck or bus is coming towards me in the opposite lane on a two lane road. At first I thought it was an anomaly. But now after 3400 miles of ownership I fear for my safety while driving because of the conduction. To the point that I have stopped using the cruise control and auto pilot because of the issue. Considering that autopilot was one of the main reasons for me to purchase the vehicle, it seems like I have been missled and sold a vehicle that is unsafe for public roads.
Phantom braking in city and highway with no obstacle in vehicle path. Sudden and strong emergency braking enough to cause a rear end collision if being followed. Very scarry in one 700 mile road trip we had 11 such occurrences . Thank you for your help. Mike
As widely reported by Tesla owners, I have also experienced issues with the TACC - traffic aware cruise control - feature of this vehicle. I have owned it for almost 2 weeks and in that time on both highways and city streets the 'cruise control' feature has initiated braking for no reason. The system is supposed to be 'traffic' aware however in these instances there was no vehicle in front of me in any position to cause a braking event. This type of erratic behavior could easily cause an accident (being rear ended). This is happening when the 'autopilot' feature is not engaged, but rather just using the only available cruise control feature the vehicle provides: TACC. It seems as though the software is interpreting shadows, changes in painted line/lane markings, or other environmental stimuli as 'traffic' and reacting, but that's just a guess. All I know is that it is very annoying at a minimum and potentially quite dangerous!
VERY AGGRESSIVE phantom braking on two lane highways and at night with oncoming headlights. Car will reduce speed by 30mph or more in seconds. This is a new car, a month old. Tesla says cruise is part of autopilot, but we turn autopilot off and just use cruise and it still does it very often. It is extremely unsafe. The internet is full of similar complaints. We need NHSTB to pressure Tesla to fix this. It is a major safety hazard.
Three incidents within 5 minutes of what Tesla owners call "phantom braking" whenever the car has cruise control on. For no predictable reason and no warning the car brakes suddenly and forcefully - could be shadows, reflected lights, oncoming traffic, who knows. It is a scary phenomenon and caused me to get in very dangerous situations - almost got rear ended at 60 mph. This is after owning the car for only 10 days. Called Tesla and they had no answer except to say that the car "will learn."
**Im well aware that Tesla's AutoPilot system is not autonomous** There is no 'dumb' cruise control option on Tesla Vehicles, only Traffic-aware-cruise-control (TACC). TACC is unusable, and quite frankly dangerous, on any single-lane divided road. Anytime a large vehicle, such as a semi or box truck, passes by in the opposite lane, my car abruptly and aggressively brakes while TACC is engaged. This poses a danger to myself and others behind me. Im filing this complaint in hopes that it will coerce Tesla to address this issue faster.