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When asked about the top electric cars on the road, everyone already knows Tesla. However, the 2021 Tesla Model 3 is supposed to provide more than what the previous years did. In fact, the electric automaker claims that this model is “built around the driver.” Yet, customers continue to complain about the same aspects, from the defective structure to the malfunctioning electrical system.
Click on other model year to view more problems: 2019 2020 2022 2023
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NHTSA Complaints for the 2021 Tesla Model 3
| Complaint Category | Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control | |
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking | |
| Service Brakes | |
| Vehicle Speed Control | |
| Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings | |
| Unknown Or Other | |
| Electrical System | |
| Visibility/wiper | |
| Steering | |
| Lane Departure: Assist |
Problems with the Structure
Over the years, Tesla has been known for a lot of reasons, but one of the major aspects is how poorly the cars are put together. It doesn’t appear that has changed with the 2021 model.
Read this Edmunds review. “Tesla is horrible at putting these cars panels together! My car was delivered and has a power trunk. When I got home I went to open the trunk. As it opened, it would immediately slam shut. After inspecting it, I saw that the trunk lid was not installed properly and there were paint shavings on my car. It had been scraping against the panel next to it and took the paint off both edges. There is zero customer support on this. I took it to a service shop and they fixed the trunk, but only applied a little touch up paint which came off on my first car wash. There is no one to call and no resources to get help or any kind of customer loyalty department. Now I am stuck with a car that was delivered imperfect for $72,000.”
Of course, the company doesn’t respond to any allegations or faults. Nothing is said, and people continue to think that Tesla is a top company. Still, many drivers continue to deal with parts falling off, cracking, chipping and breaking with no support from the manufacturer. Maybe instead of building electric cars, Tesla should go back to playing with LEGOs. At least no one will be disappointed when it all falls apart.
Problems with the Electrical System
Considering Tesla makes electric cars, one would think that the electrical system is top-notch. However, that would be untrue.
Even top automotive publishers know how defective this car is. Read what Motor Trend wrote. “Perhaps the biggest knock on the Tesla is the inconsistent Autopilot driver assistance feature. Despite being dubbed one of the most advanced systems in the market, in our testing it randomly turned off without warning. The system also didn’t bring the Model 3 to a stop when approaching a line of stopped cars, forcing the driver to intervene and apply the brakes.”
While there are no recalls yet for this vehicle, there is some coming down the pipeline for sure. After all, looking back on previous models, it’s clear to see that the defects have not been repaired. In fact, there was a massive recall for older Tesla models because the touchscreen would fail and increase the chance of an accident. It appears this model is following in its older siblings’ footsteps.
Your Lemon Law Legal Rights
Think you have a lemon? Sit back and let the experts work out your lemon case at no cost to you. The law makes Cadillac pay legal fees. You may be able to get your lemon out of your life. Every year, auto manufacturers buy back, replace or pay cash settlements to thousands of ‘lemon’ owners like you.
Complaint Data
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 19, 2023 |
| State | SC |
| Description | The car suddenly braked hard when there were no obstacles or other reason. If someone was behind me I would have been hit. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Mar 18, 2023 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Car put on brakes unexpectedly during use of adaptive cruise control (autopilot). This phantom braking happens often at highway speed. Bug reports have been sent from vehicle to tesla |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 08, 2023 |
| State | VA |
| Description | While driving on the interstate I was using autopilot (cruise control). I started into a slight curve when the vehicle suddenly emergency braked. The roadway was clear and thankfully no vehicle was following close behind me. Also there was no warning alarms, just a sudden, aggressive braking. This has happened several times before but the first time with no alarms beforehand. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 07, 2023 |
| State | MO |
| Description | My operating my model 3 in autopilot mode, there is one particular location that my car "phantom brakes" every time I pass. I travel this location an average of 4 times per week. I have been reporting the phantom braking to tesla for almost two (2) years and they still have not fixed the problem. They claim the car is doing what it is supposed to do. The phantom braking occurs on a divided highway on an overpass that passes over a highway with a lower speed limit ( 37° 4'54. 40"n 94°18'48. 09"w). It only occurs in the east bound direction. Tesla says their mapping information is provided by google and until google updates or corrects their mapping data, the problem will persist. On a day with no traffic behind me, I did not intervene and allowed the car to brake as it saw fit. I went from 70mph to 40mph all while in a 70mph zone. As I have mentioned, I have been telling tesla about this since march of 2021 yet it is not resolved. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 25, 2023 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving tesla on the freeway using adaptive cruise control at 65 miles per hour and the car suddenly brake and the sped jumped from 65 to 20 in seconds. It was scary. There was no one in front of nothing in the road to cause that to happen. It did say on the screen something about visibility. I had to take control of the car after. It has happened several times before. When I spoke with tesla they said it's a safety feature and it only happens when you pass certain cities. I find that hardly true |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 25, 2023 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving with the autopilot on, traveling about 65 mph on the freeway when the automatic emergency braking system kicked in for no reason. There was absolutely nothing in front of the car when it aggressively braked, very suddenly. I was very lucky no one was behind me. I have not reported this directly to tesla, no one has inspected or confirmed this event. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Feb 25, 2023 |
| State | MI |
| Description | Ac/heat pump total failure at 18,317 miles. Due to cold weather in michigan and simply running the car, the heat pump went out entirely which creates the climate control in the vehicle. This caused dangerous driving conditions since the windows could not be defogged and the vehicle was below freezing temperatures inside. The service agents I spoke with seemed to understand this was a common occurrence in cold weather climates. The reason I am reporting this, is although mine was replaced at no cost to me under warranty, this is a manufacturing oversight and needs to be addressed by the company. This can cause very unsafe driving conditions for many people, and cost thousands of dollars in repairs all because they sell a vehicle that has parts not suitable for the climates they operate in. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 16, 2023 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I am slowly coming into the driveway. All of a sudden the car accelrated while I was applying brake. The air bags didn't come on either. It hit the car in front which then got pushed into the garage |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 08, 2023 |
| State | OH |
| Description | This incident happened last summer, 2022 but I recently read that it is happening to many other people and thought I should report it. I was driving on hwy 71 south in the cincinnati area with the adas with the cruise control and auto steering in operation. All of a sudden the brakes slammed on with me not doing anything to cause it. There were no cars behind me and I touched and released the brake pedal and it went back to a normal driving mode. I don't believe I hit a pothole or bump on the highway. I did not report it to tesla. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jan 31, 2023 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Tesla software release 2022. 44. 25 my tesla autopilot continues to exhibit phantom braking while in traffic aware cruise control and autopilot. The vehicle will suddenly slow down either gently or harshly. This behavior was observed after tesla released software that disabled the cars radar. Since then, multiple updates have remedied the issue but 2022. 44. 25 has introduced phantom braking again. No accidents have occurred but luckily I live in a remote area of arizona and can take control of the car as it phantom brakes. After tesla working in autopilot for years, I think it's time for additional validation to start happening on autopilot and traffic aware cruise control. I'm also of the belief that normal cruise control should be banned. Thanks! |
| Category | Unknown Or Other, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Jan 27, 2023 |
| State | MN |
| Description | The heat pump failed in 12/2022. The defroster would not work and heating was an issue. I encountered 2 dangerous situations in snowstorms where I could not see out the window and the heating was inconsistent and difficult to control. This was fixed by tesla. The heat pump failed again (less than a month later). I was told today that there was an ice buildup in the coils possibly due to car wash (?). This problem, I am afraid, is going to continue. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Jan 25, 2023 |
| State | TN |
| Description | While charging model 3 the amperage went from 32amps and was capped at 16amps. This is a wide spread issue with tesla's model 3 power conversion system (pcs). There is 3 controllers in the pcs system. When all 3 are working correctly it will charge at 48amps. If one stops it will drop to 32 amps or drop to 16 amps if two fail or not even charge if 3 fail. This is a known issue and and costly repair as tesla refuses to fix these under the battery warranty. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Jan 25, 2023 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | While using the base level of "autopilot," remaining in a lane and maintaining speed, the car will randomly slam on the brakes even when there are no vehicles or objects in front of it. The first incident occurred while driving late at night on an interstate. There were no vehicles in front of the car, but it rapidly reduced speed from 75mph to 30mph, before immediately speeding up again. The camera based "autopilot" is essentially useless and I have decided not to use it when driving. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jan 20, 2023 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Autopilot failed. Driver had head, neck injuries , and the passenger had head, neck, and knee injuries. Crash report: date - 1/14/23; time - 10:30 am. Ncic number - 9565; officer's name: garduno #22857 |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jan 16, 2023 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Twice in october 2022 (18th and 20th), my vehicle decelerated suddenly during cruise control with no impediments in the road (I. E., phantom breaking). The breaking on the 20th was akin to slamming on the breaks, and both occurred at freeway speeds. I did *not purchase tesla's self-driving feature. The vehicle also on the 18th tried to steer around an object that did not exist in the road while I turned onto a freeway on-ramp. I reported all three incidents at that time to tesla for servicing of the vehicle. It is unknown whether any "repair" was actually done to eliminate phantom breaking (I no longer use tesla's cruise control in similar traffic conditions which were at the time crowded outside of the carpool lane I was using). |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jan 15, 2023 |
| State | MD |
| Description | On 1-14-2023, while driving westbound on I-64, around sunset (5:20ish pm) in a straight portion of the highway, the vehicle suddenly braked for no reason. There was nothing in the road and no cross traffic. There was an all white semi in the right lane that I was approaching in the passing lane. I immediately disengaged the cruise and continued my trip with no further incidents. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jan 13, 2023 |
| State | TX |
| Description | The only cruise control feature available on this car is the adaptive cruise control. This car continues to make sudden unsafe braking maneuvers for no reason. It seems to get confused by steep hills, bridges, shadows, and other factors. You can be on a highway going 70mph and it will slam the brakes, terrifying passengers and potentially causing you to get rear ended. This has been ongoing since the purchase of the car 1 year ago. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Jan 12, 2023 |
| State | WA |
| Description | Vehicle's turn signal is not hardware based, but instead relies on the software registering signal use. The turn signal can be "fully" pressed, and "partially" pressed, and the behavior is supposed to be: full press: blinks until you manually disengage 1/2 press: blinks 3 times, then automatically disengages. Anything "between" a full press and a half-press, ie beyond the level which is supposed to trigger a 3-time blink, but not "bottoming out" the signal, regularly fails to trigger the signal at all. This leads to scenarios in which the driver "thinks" they have signaled, and creates unsafe situations for surrounding vehicles. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jan 12, 2023 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Trip from piedmont, california to salt lake city, utah, I experienced three (x3) phantom breaking incidents at over 80 mph on interstate 1-80. The car without warning dramatically de-accelerated from approximately 85mph to 65mph or 60mph without warning and suddenly. Dog was riding in back and thrown into front dashboard on one occasion. Visited tesla dealership on state st in salt lake city utah upon destination arrival and manager/head at front desk laughed indicents off saying, "we've heard of such incidents just wait for the software update." horrible. Beyond dangerous. I can report that in all three incidents there were no cars in front or behind me and the phenonenon occurred totally unexpectedly. Reported it also to tesla repair shop in berkeley, california, and intake group had zero sympathy and said, "it's a known software glitch." |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jan 12, 2023 |
| State | WA |
| Description | While driving on an otherwise unobstructed road, with no nearby obstacles on a rural south dakota interstate, the vehicle suddenly slammed on breaks in an unsafe fashion, forcing the vehicle behind us to swerve to evade our car. We were told by tesla service that sometimes, "road shimmering" can cause this behavior, and there is no remedy available. In response to this, I gunned the accelerator to try and remedy the issue, hitting unsafe speeds before being able to fully return control to the vehicle. This was not while using the vehicle's autopilot system for fsd (which was available on the car), but adaptive cruise control, though the same issue happens with fsd regularly. This is not the first instance of this happening (I have stopped using cruise control and fsd on the vehicle since), but the first time it seriously endangered myself and another driver. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jan 06, 2023 |
| State | TX |
| Description | On multiple occasions, the car will suddenly decelerate while using adaptive cruise control on the highway. Malfunctioning component: adaptive cruise control. Safety: rear end collision if another vehicle was following too closely. Manufacturer is fully aware of the problem. |
| Category | Suspension |
| Date | Jan 03, 2023 |
| State | TX |
| Description | The wheel control arm bolts that hold the wheel onto the vehicle slowly unscrewed until they fell out (x2 bolts per wheel). It is available for inspection upon request. If a disconnected fully inflated tire is sucked under the car at high speeds, it may potentially flip the vehicle, badly rupture the battery pack or the wheel may jettison from the vehicle onto surrounding vehicles. It is unknown what kind of damage or after-effect would take place if the battery were severely damaged by an inflated tire and rim. The problem was observed, documented and repaired by tesla. The effects of the problem were only observed at 1 mph. A recall of this specific issue was listed for other model 3 2021 vehicles, but our vin # was not included in this recall, while it should have been. Tesla has inspected the vehicle one time and claim the vehicle is now safe to drive. Insurance would not participate in any claims regarding this type of incident because nobody was hurt. We did not receive any warning prior to failure, not even a wobble, shimmy, clunk or precursor of any kind. The car appeared to be perfectly solid and then suddenly the wheel came off. The car did not crash into anything other than the ground when the wheel disconnected. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jan 02, 2023 |
| State | OK |
| Description | I was going 80mph on the interstate coming back from little rock to tulsa. The time was 4am in the morning with little or no traffic on the road. I was using only the cruise control with adaption turned on. The car all of a sudden without any warning almost came to a complete stop on the interstate. I later asked what caused this and was told it is phatom braking but this was very dangerous, if someone had been behind me they probably would have been messed up. I merely accelerated to make sure I was at least keeping the minimum speed limit. Please advise. Shawn |
| Category | Electrical System, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Dec 28, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | The supermanifold failed, causing the front defroster to not work properly, resulting in loss of visibility in freezing temperatures. This is a common problem with 2021/2022 model 3/model y with the new heat pump that was supposed to be fixed with a software update, but was not. I now have a 00 repair bill on a 1 year old car with 56,000 miles. The warranty expired at 50,000 miles. The failure was not a result of negligence. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Dec 28, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Adding our vehicle to the list of those affected by what seems to be commonly known as "phantom braking". The most recent occurrence was on interstate 25 southbound in northern colorado when the "autopilot" (adaptive cruise control) suddenly braked and reduced our speed from 75 to 51 mph, with no vehicles or other obstructions visible. We were almost rear-ended by a car following us, however. I want to point out that this was only the worst example of several episodes that occurred that day, and on earlier dates as well. We no longer use autopilot, which makes long trips much less comfortable. I also want to mention that our vehicle does not have tesla's "full self driving" (fsd) installed, so my hands were on the wheel at all times. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Steering, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Dec 25, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | On certain sections of highway unsuccessfully attempted to activate auto-steer (two down clicks) multiple times in a row. Did this multiple times in a row but was unsuccessful to activate auto-steer. Instead a supposed "easter egg" (which activates with 4 down clicks) very loudly plays loud jarring music (called "rainbow road")... This is not fucking funny--I nearly ran my car off the road and into oncoming traffic. Giant 2000 pound hunks of metal going at 60 mph should not fucking come with special surprises. This is incredibly dangerous and jarring to drivers. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance |
| Date | Dec 23, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 22v235000 (electrical system, forward collison avoidance) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. Parts distribution disconnect. |
| Category | Engine And Engine Cooling |
| Date | Dec 21, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Driving south on the 5 freeway right northing on oceanside the vehicle shut down at freeway speed. I had to coast of the to the first oceanside. Fortunately it was late at night and there were no cars in the immediate vicinity. In addition to this the vehicle has had multiple episode of phantom breaking. I do not feel safe driving the car. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Structure:body, Suspension |
| Date | Dec 19, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | Random "phantom braking" while using autopilot or cruise control. Causes the car to slam on brakes and has lost control once almost causing me to go off the road. Also, has brake-checked many cars that follow behind me while I'm using autopilot or cruise due to the phantom braking. Also tesla repair center in chicago replaced my front bumper with a discolored front bumper that had the same issue of peeling on the inner edges of the bumper as the prior front bumper. When I brought up the issue to tesla they said that was a manufacturing process issue due to the molding process of the bumpers and that is how they all are. If that is the case why change the bumper? Could have just told me that's how all the cars are and saved a lot of my time. Also, have had many repairs from tesla that don't seem to end. These cars arent being produced in a consistent manner. What was promised during the purchase of the car doesn't seem to hold up. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Dec 17, 2022 |
| State | MN |
| Description | At some point in 2021 tesla released a software update that causes the vehicle to ignore the ambient temperature sensor for the first 15 minutes of a drive. Tesla explained to me that this was to avoid errant readings in hot environments with lots of reflected heat from pavement. I've reported the following safety issue to them several times through the winters of 2021 and now 2022, to no avail despite numerous software updates since. In cold environments where a vehicle is leaving a warm and potentially higher humidity environment such as a garage to a very cold and dry environment - just as the car begins using the sensor data the windshield will immediately fog up causing a major safety issue. This occurs with the hvac on auto and requires a shift of 30+ degrees, which is not an uncommon occurrence in cold environments. 50 degree garage to 17 degree outside for example. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Dec 16, 2022 |
| State | MN |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that the adaptive cruise control was activated during the failure. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle had not been taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 14,169. |
| Category | Electrical System:propulsion System:inverter |
| Date | Dec 14, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 20 mph, the vehicle inadvertently made a sudden stop and then lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, and the contact was informed that the inverter failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 9,000. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Dec 05, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact leased a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated upon starting the vehicle, the center display failed to operate as designed. The contact was able to drive the vehicle; however, while driving 25 mph, the vehicle stopped abruptly in the middle of the road. A message indicating that the trunk was opened was displayed. There was also a question displayed whether the contact wished to continue driving. The contact tapped the option yes however, the touch pad center display failed to respond. The contact exited the vehicle and attempted to close the trunk several times; however, the trunk reopened independently. The contact was able to close the trunk after eight attempts. The contact was able to continue driving to her residence. The contact stated that upon parking the vehicle, the trunk reopened independently. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and assisted the contact with towing the vehicle to the local tesla service center where it was diagnosed that an unknown software had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer declined to provide additional information. The failure mileage was approximately 15,460. |
| Category | Lane Departure: Assist |
| Date | Dec 05, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | I believe that tesla's autosteer and full self driving features are improperly designed. I will speak to them as if they were one and the same. I noticed that you have a check box for lane keeping assistance above, but there is no checkbox for coercive auto steering, which is tesla's product. The only ability it offers as far as steering the car is to forcibly disengage the autosteering feature. This is not assistance and this is the problem. A properly designed lane keeping assistance feature continuously monitors driver steering action, lane position, and traffic conditions. If the lane keeping assistance system finds itself 'alone' with little or no measurable input from the driver, action is called for. With the tesla, the feature has an embarrassingly stupid 'driver attention check' which, until recently, could be easily defeated by the simple addition of a weight to one side of the steering wheel or the other. In a misguided attempt to correct this ridiculously poor design, they have recently made matters much worse. Now they distract the driver's attention from driving by forcing the playing of some sort of 'patty cake' type game, which does prove alertness of the driver, but detracts from the real and necessary work of circumventing the actual threats encountered in everyday driving. In short, a proper lane keeping assistance feature should not be totally ignorant of the driver's subtle driving moves (it's an excellent feature as long as autosteering isn't engaged) and should honor requests to move into different parts of the lane long before disengaging, and no attention measuring system should come at the expense of driver awareness of actual issues. I have tried through email and phone to convince tesla that something needs to be done, but have received no response from them. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Dec 02, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | The cabin heater stopped working. I received an error code "vcfront_a447" recommending to take the vehicle in for service. This issue is a problem in sub-zero climates where the windshield will not defrost before and during driving. I have found 67 other cases from reddit and tesla motors club describing the same issue, on new or There is no charge unless we win." img="balance" color="green"],792 repair. Replacing a supermanifold (0. 37) & a/c compressor (73. 53) +tax =92. I am out of warranty by milage, car is 1. 5 years old. 60,200 miles. |
| Category | Electrical System, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Dec 01, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | I'm getting a notification that says " cabin climate control system requires service cabin heating/cooling limited or unavailable". As a result of this failure the defroster is not working properly. The windshield defroster will only blow cold air very slowly. This causes the windshield to fog up very quickly in cold temperatures. I cannot see out of the windshield properly. |
| Category | Visibility |
| Date | Nov 29, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 22v702000 (visibility) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was not contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Nov 26, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | While using cruise control on a cross country drive, there have been numerous instances of phantom braking in my tesla model 3 sr+ (2021). This has been occurring during both day and night driving on the highway, at speeds of 65-75mph. It appears to happen most frequently when there's a slight up-hill on the highway followed by a slight downhill and then phantom brake, but there have been instances on flat highway road at night with phantom braking taking place. |
| Category | Electrical System, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Nov 25, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | It has been weeks and tesla has still not provided a fix for this issue. It was supposed to be resolved over the air but we have called tesla for weeks and they have no idea when the fix will be available. Do they have a time limit to resolve? Sep 19,2022 manufacturer recall numbertbd nhtsa recall number22v702 recall statusrecall incomplete |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Nov 19, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I have had the car for about 1. 5 years. In the last week it has started to have phantom braking where on a clear, flat road with no traffic, it suddenly has hard braking and slows from about 65 mph down to 40-50 mph. This has occurred when operating on autopilot with the cruise control and autosteer on. There is a risk of a rear collision with this sudden braking. There was no warning. I do not have full self driving. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Nov 12, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Model 3 sudden max speed reduction (60/55 to 25/30) when using autopilot. This happens every time and in multiple areas when driving on I-4 through orlando, fl. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Nov 11, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Driving in empty highway, no cars in front of me for great distances, on cruise control, the car would all of sudden perform hard braking. It happened many times in the course of two 6 hour drives over a weekend and I couldn't figure out what scenarios were predisposing to this. I also tried out autosteer (not autopilot) and it did it in autosteer too. It was very hard braking, not just disengaging, and so I just drove without cruise control because it is too dangerous and risks getting rear-ended because I am braking without warning and for no reason. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Nov 09, 2022 |
| State | AR |
| Description | The tesla uses “auto high beam†when in autopilot. The pros of this can allow drivers to utilize the light so the cameras can detect anything to avoid any possible wrecks, but it does not have an option to be turned off. Along with other people online, my brights have flashed at people on the interstate and highways or haven't turned off at all. This is irritating and limits the way I am comfortable with using autopilot. Please inform tesla to make the auto high beam feature optional. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Nov 07, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | I was on a road trip on rural highways in texas and new mexico. The adaptive cruise control/autopilot system repeatedly hit the brakes when driving at highway speeds for no apparent reason. This would happen even though there were no cars in front of me or other obstructions in the roadway. If there had been another car behind me there would have been risk of a rear end collision because the car would unexpectedly significantly reduce speed. A few times when this happened, the car made warning sounds, but most of the time it would not provide any warning at all. I have tried making a service request with the manufacturer, but they claim that there are no hardware problems with the car and I have to wait for a firmware update. |
| Category | Wheels |
| Date | Nov 06, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The tpms alerted me that the front driver tire was low at 36 psi. Pulled into gas station within a mile from initial alert and when I unscrewed the valve cap the valve stem broke and shot out of the tire and the tire deflated. The components were found and are available for inspection. The car has not been repaired yet and is currently at the tesla service center in agoura hills at 28721 bldg a canwood street agoura hills, ca. I drive two children under 5 and am lucky this did not occur at high speeds or while the vehicle was in operation at any speed. There is no reason this should have happened. There was no prior damage to the wheel or tire. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Oct 29, 2022 |
| State | OK |
| Description | During a road trip from oklahoma to california and back my model 3 suddenly and abruptly braked coming almost to a stop on up highway while cruise control was engaged. The braking was such that it caused occupants to lunge forward and seatbelts pretension. This aggressive braking is a common occurrence with tesla and has been called “phantom brakingâ€. This is not the first time this has happened to me. This is a recurring issue |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Dynamic Brake Support/brake Assist |
| Date | Oct 26, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 70 mph up a hill, the vehicle made a sudden stop without any warning, causing the contact and his wife go forward in their seats. The contact accelerated and the vehicle continued to operate normally. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was contacted and stated that the computer needed to be checked. The failure mileage was 4,100. |
| Category | Back Over Prevention: Warnings, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Oct 25, 2022 |
| State | IN |
| Description | In vehicle speaker system occasionally resets, keeping speakers from making noise during a 5-10 second window. This keeps in-vehicle chimes and collision warnings from sounding at appropriate volumes. |
| Category | Structure |
| Date | Oct 19, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 10-15 mph through standing water, he heard an abnormal sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. The contact stated that upon parking the vehicle, he noticed that the rear bumper had separated from the frame. The contact found the rear bumper on the ground a block away from his residence. The vehicle was taken to a tesla service center who informed the contact that the failure was caused by water damage. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The manufacturer advised the contact to take the vehicle to an auto collision repair shop where the vehicle could be repaired by his insurance provider. The failure mileage was approximately 59,800. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Oct 18, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 80 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated to 20 mph and experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 15,000. |
| Category | Electrical System, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Oct 15, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | Driver side window fails to lock completely upon locking the car manually and/or using auto walk away function. This leaves the car very much unsecure and open to being vandalized. Additionally, the driver sides window fails to close fully when auto close button is pressed. The driver side window button has to be fiddled with few times to get a complete window seel. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Oct 15, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Traveling between colorado and missouri, multiple instances of "phantom braking" where, without warning, the car would brake suddenly and very sharply, such that the tires would squeal and items in the back seat slid onto the floor. There were no obstacles, the weather was clear and there was no reason for it to do so. We were only using the cruise control and not the self driving program. Our safety was put at risk because had a car or truck been behind us, a severe rear end collision could have occurred. We were traveling at highway speeds at the time this occurred. We requested a service appointment but tesla told us this could not be addressed in a service appointment. Tesla said this would be addressed in future updates. We told tesla this was unsatisfactory and dangerous. We wanted the car inspected and the problem addressed but tesla said the service appointment could not do anything. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms before the failure. In fact the braking did not even disengage the cruise control, which normally is the case when the brake is applied. This had occurred previously and tesla said it would be fixed with a computer update in july 2022. Obviously it has not been fixed. |
| Category | Electrical System:body Control Module:software, Seats, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Oct 13, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | Seat sensor fail and was able to drive in the middle of the intersection to make a left turn. Since the sensor fail if vechicle is driven less the 5 mph the car will go in park- very scary when in the middle trying to turn left |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Oct 13, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | On numerous occasions since I bought the tesla in march 2021, the car will phantom brake when using cruise control and sometimes on it's own. This happens randomly with no warning and is very dangerous as it risks my car getting rear ended. This is an ongoing problem as you know but tesla did nothing when I reported it and is still not doing anything. Not good. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Oct 06, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Since owning this car in january 2022, there have been issues of phantom braking during cruise control or autopilot. However, today 10/6/22 during an hour and a half time frame my car has had phantom braking episodes at least 5 times in the middle of the highway where it's speed suddenly drops by 20mph. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Oct 05, 2022 |
| State | WI |
| Description | Driving with cruise control on following another vehicle 150 yards in front of me. I'm not even using auto-pilot because on how dangerous and unpredictable it is. I'm using normal cruise control, which is also a disaster. A car built in 80s can perform cruise control without any hassle. It phantom braked and the vehicle behind me had to take corrective action. This has to be addressed to be fixed. Ditching radar for "vision" was a huge mistake that puts mine and many other lives in danger. A simple cruise control feature that every car is equipped with shouldn't be a death sentence waiting to happen. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Oct 02, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | We have experienced numerous occasions of phantom braking, or sudden breaking while using the adaptive cruise control. The dealer could not find and mechanical or software problem although the issue persists. This is unsafe because the vehicles breaks suddenly and aggressively from speed without warning and when no breaking action is needed. I fear being rear ended by a following vehicle and have been reluctant to use cruise control. Warnings appear intermittently regarding camera visibility and needing cleaning the cameras have been clear when this warning appeared. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Sep 25, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Complaint: phantom braking -- my wife and I took ownership of our 2021 tesla model 3 at the beginning of july 2021. We experienced what is referred to as phantom braking (car initiating sudden braking while at highway speeds). We took it on a 3,000+ mile road trip to visit national parks in the western united states. Having owned electric vehicles since 2015, we found tesla's charging network to be reliable and hassle-free to operate. On a few long stretches of road in nevada, wyoming, and utah we engaged model 3's adaptive cruise control. Three times during that trip, between july 2nd and july 8th, 2021, the car braked hard, without warning, while traveling at highway speeds. From what we could determine, shadows cast on the road at the approaching side of gentle hills, with the sun in front of us, may have been interpreted by the car's camera's as an approaching or stationary object on the road. This was very unnerving and caused us to lose faith in the adaptive cruise control system. This was both disappointing and a bother since it meant that we were driving a 50 thousand dollar car without cruise control, making driving a more tiresome experience. This past labor day weekend, 2022, we drove to las vegas on the same tesla model 3 and again activated the adaptive cruise control while driving in nevada. We thought that by now the periodic software updates would have fixed the problem. This time the phantom braking occurred more frequently and on seemingly level sections of road. After about four attempts at using the adaptive cruise control we stopped. This was, again, disappointing that we were driving a car whose adaptive cruise control failed to perform as it was designed to. We were disappointed because for what we paid for the car, this feature should be more mature than it is. Luckily we did not have other cars close behind us at the times the car's computer together with the sensors and / or cameras decided it needed to apply the brakes. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure: Assist, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Sep 23, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | Tesla allows owners to enroll as fsd beta testers however, the owner cannot unenroll when they request. The fsd beta is extremely dangerous and makes the use of even acc impossible to use. I have requested to leave the beta via emailing fsdbeta@tesla. Com, which an automatic response is received stating to unenroll respond to that email with your vin and they will process the request. However, they do not process the request; I have sent dozens of email requests with no response and am still stuck in the beta software queue. I have attempted to submit service requests but the app recognizes the verbiage and blocks the submissions, stating to send the email instead. There is no other method to contact tesla. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure: Assist, Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Sep 19, 2022 |
| State | MA |
| Description | Pillar cameras constantly complain blocked or blinded. Services refused to even look into the issue blaming glare from the sun, even when happening to both on opposite sides of the car at the same time. Report it even happens at night I am told it might be too dark for the camera. Did not occur like this on my 2019 tesla model 3. This seems to be causing random unexpected lane departure alerts or failures in lane keeping on cruise control or with lane assist. Message are extremely frequent and distracting. Message placement is blocked by arm while holding the steering wheel requiring me to take my eyes off the road to read. Been complaining about this for months, one of the two cameras (drivers side) was replaced which improved the issues with that side complaining but passenger side complains extremely often. Drivers side issue not 100% resolved but improved after replacement, possible cabling or mcu/ecu issue. Instead of looking at the issue tesla insists the cameras must be dirty, moisture, too bright, too dark, etc. And fails to even examine components. Recent appointment canceled by tesla after the scheduled date and time without notice. Camera doesn't appear to detect or recognize people or objects in that cameras visions creating what appears to be a blind spot when viewing in vehicle display. Have repeatedly seen person walking around my car will disappear from the screen around the passenger front quarter but reappear when in front of the vehicle or by the rear quarter. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Sep 18, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | Unexplained sudden braking while using adaptive cruise control. Almost got rear-ended as a result. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Sep 14, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Unexpected phantom braking occurring randomly but on multiple occasions during a 2000 mile multi day trip. Several incidents of a hiccup resulting on a jolt but at least three incidents of rapid and sudden deceleration without an observed corresponding hazard. Occurred a couple times while cresting a hill on single and multi lane roads. One severe incident occurred while passing a semi truck on a multiple lane highway. Causes high anxiety and potential for a crash, especially from behind. This has not been inspected by tesla or others but note many reports of this online. No warning prior to event but cruise control did not work properly after event and required reseting. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Sep 13, 2022 |
| State | OK |
| Description | Cruise control (autopilot) phantom braking events have gotten very bad. About once every few miles on an empty 2 lane highway the car slams on the brakes. I've made numerous bug reports over the years and if anything it's gotten worse. It seems to have gotten worse with the software update a few days ago (v11. 0 2022. 24. 6 40a0d11b18af). |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Sep 12, 2022 |
| State | MO |
| Description | I was driving in oklahoma on a straight interstate highway at 75 mph using cruise control (not autopilot) and experience a sudden application of full brakes. The application was so sudden the tires "chipped" and decelerated to below 45 mph before I could take control by applying throttle. On the same trip, I was near midland, texas and experience another serious phantom braking on a clear straight highway. By this time I experienced 10 additional minor braking issues. On my return trip, I did not use cruise control or autopilot and didn't have a single incident. I reported the incident to tesla service and reported ever incident via the feedback button (when it worked). I'm a retired boeing engineer experienced in flight controls, fly-by-wire control, and aircraft subsystem design. I have no confidence in this design. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Sep 11, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | On an empty freeway i5 southbound over a crest, the car emergency braked from highway speed with no obstacles or cars in front of it. The weather conditions were sunny, 98f, and some mirages were on the road surface. Autopilot was engaged and set to the speed limit. Emergency braking alert sounded and the car applied full power braking. Car is running software version 2022. 24. 6. Prior versions of the software with radar support did not exhibit this phantom breaking behavior. The current version disabled radar and used "tesla vision" |
| Category | Steering |
| Date | Sep 08, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | The steering system malfunctioned. Yes it is available for inspection. The car turned across oncoming traffic turning the vehicle 180 degrees leaving me facing oncoming traffic during rush hour. I could have died in a horrific accident. The service center for the vehicle sulfate they will not evaluate vehicle until body damage to vehicle are repaired. The vehicle had no notifications or warnings prior to the incident. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Power Train, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Sep 07, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | The adaptive cruise control (tesla "autopilot") system has unexpectedly disengaged and applied light to heavy braking numerous times. The system frequently mistakes a particular highway sign for a stopped vehicle and applies moderate braking. The system has also applied light to heavy braking in circumstances where I simply cannot figure out what the camera is interpreting as a hazard. This puts me and other drivers around me at risk as it is unnecessary and unpredictable braking at highway speeds in traffic. Tesla has not been able to remedy this problem and I do not consider the cruise control system to be safe to use. This has happened more than 10 times. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Sep 07, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Was driving about 35-40mph on city street when car abruptly applied emergency braking. Car automatically slammed on brakes (screeching) and came to complete stop. This action was dangerous because it could have caused an accident if another car was behind me. Caused fear and panic as I believed something or someone had hit my vehicle, it also scared a pedestrian that was walking along the sidewalk. The sudden braking also caused my body to violently jerk forward and backwards. This has not been reproduced or confirmed by dealership or service center. It has not yet been inspected by anyone. I have made an appointment for car to get inspected, appointment is 9/16. No warning lights or symptoms came on prior to this incident. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Sep 07, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | While using my tesla's full self driving (fsd) feature (navigate on autopilot) on a recent road trip through west texas, the vehicle, on multiple occasions, would automatically brake while cruising at speeds of 80 mph (speed limit was 75 mph), which consequently dropped the vehicle's speed over 20 mph within seconds. The result was being forcibly slammed forward with such a jarring, unexpected force that would have easily slammed me as the driver and my front seat passenger into the wind shield if we were not wearing our seatbelts. This happened multiple times on the trip. The only way to recover was to depress the accelerator and forcefully hold on to the steering wheel until the braking system released and control was returned to the driver. If this had occurred on a crowded highway rather than on the open spaces of the west texas interstate system, I am convinced there would have been a rear impact collision. This "phantom breaking" as tesla claims, is a serious issue that will no doubt lead to fatalities if not corrected. This issue manifested without warning and with no alerting. The issue can be easily reproduced and the component has yet to be inspected by any 3rd party. I fear people will die because of this issue until it is resolved. Thanks, sean merino |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Sep 06, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving sb on n gate rd in vacaville, approaching the gate for travis afb. There was traffic backed up at the gate and I put the car into autopilot to negotiate the stop and go traffic. I had been in autopilot for maybe 50 yards when the car suddenly accelerated on it's own and veered to the right. The brakes would not work to stop the car and the steering wheel would physically turn but it wasn't changing the direction of the car. The car veered off the road to the right and into a utility pole. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Aug 30, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Driving in autopilot during daylight hours (8:30am) about 70mph the vehicle suddenly braked long and hard, tires screeched when there was nothing around me or in the road. It could have caused a serious accident if anyone was behind me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 30, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | When car was engaged in autopilot the barking system was activated without warning or cause. The vehicle slowed rapidly and sudden. Had to disengage autopilot to get vehicle back to safe driving speed. No others vehicles where in front or behind me and no obstructions were in the path of vehicle. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Aug 30, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | While driving with the autopilot system engaged at 55 mph, on a clear, sunny day, the vehicle applied the brakes and rapidly decelerated to 40 mph before I could press the accelerator pedal to restore my set speed. There were no objects of any kind on the road. No hills or curves were involved. I was fortunate that no vehicle was closely following me or they might have run into me due to my unexpected and unnecessary brake application. |
| Category | Fuel/propulsion System |
| Date | Aug 26, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | This is a complaint about the unacceptable fire risk that affects all teslas due to the dangerous battery chemistry and the vulnerability to impact damage that can trigger an instantaneous fire . The vin of a random tesla has been used. This problem affects every tesla. Here is a video of a test conducted by a european testing authority which shows the tesla igniting almost immediately after a deliberate crash that only caused a minor strike to the underside. Https://www. Youtube. Com/watch? V=qrdckfcdh90 when nhtsa and many other testing authorities perform crash tests on teslas they should do so with a fully charge battery that is warm from charging or from having being driven. This is a much more realistic scenario than using cold depleted batteries that are less prone to instant ignition. By comparison with a tesla the pinto was just a damp squib. And yet it was recalled and grounded. Please do the right thing before even more people get burned alive. Thank you |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Steering, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 24, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | This is a complaint about tesla using unqualified drivers to test atopilot beta on the public roads. Please note that the vin of a random model 3 tesla has been used to enable this submission to be completed. Here is a video of a driver testing autopilot on what is in his own words the most dangerous road in virginia. Https://www. Youtube. Com/watch? V=7vbhdrj1cqm he is driving hands free around sharp bends and against oncoming traffic entirely hands free but just giving the wheel a little nudge with his finger every 30 seconds to defeat the nag. At one point the car does swerve towards an oncoming car but corrects itself just in time. The driver is alert and monitoring the situation but because he does not have his hands on the wheel he is playing russian roulette with many lives. Please do not allow this madness to continue for one day longer. Elon musk thinks this is all a joke which is why he has called it release 69. Smutty and unamusing. I will be posting a copy of this report on social media where it will be widely read. If you fail to take action there will be consequences. Thank you. I have archived this video in case the owner or tesla decides to delete it. If that happens I will make another complaint with a link to my copy. A dummy usa address has been used to enable this submission. My true email address is used and you may contact me on this. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Aug 24, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | My tesla will repeated and randomly brake strongly. This happens on regular streets and on the highway at speed. It's not like slamming on the brakes with the wheels screeching. But a quick and strong deceleration and then it lets go. There has never been anything in front of me when this happens. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Aug 24, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | The screen keeps freezing while I'm driving. It freezes and after a while the screen shuts off and resets. The most dangerous situation was when while I was on the interstate between barstow and baker. The screen screen recently froze while driving on august 20th around 255pm |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 18, 2022 |
| State | OK |
| Description | In autopilot there has been a phantom braking problem (automatic emergency breaking due to object avoidance) since day one. It happened more than just regularly and would be uncalled for, scary, and dangerous. Ever since the update I have done that the company sent though, this has become now not just more than regularly but more than frequently and uncontrollably dangerous. It has done it around 30 times on a 9 and a half hour road trip. It has done a 20 mph slowdown from the speed limit for no reason in as fast as about two seconds frequently. The only thing that has saved us from getting rear ended is due to driver diligence and pure luck of being on an open interstate because of the road trip instead of it being through the congested part of a city…where it still can happen easily. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 13, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Unexpected acceleration while driving my car at about 20 mph and making a right turn the car suddenly accelerated. Using the brake immediately worked. This has happened a few times with my car. The sudden acceleration surprised my wife and she asked what happened. The car does not have full self driving installed and autopilot had been off for several miles. There were no warning messages or chimes. T |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Seat Belts |
| Date | Aug 12, 2022 |
| State | IN |
| Description | Tesla model 3 main computer system failure. Failure was not cause by any negligence by the operator. The vehicle was parked over night and upon attempting to operate the vehicle the following day there was no power to the screen. There were no warnings prior. The screen which displays vehicle speed, vehicle battery level, seatbelt warning indicators was inaccessible. Also as a result of the computer failure the vehicle did not emit the required pedestrian safety sound, the front and rear collision warnings were disabled, charging was not possible, the ability to disable passenger airbags in case of a child needing to be transported in the front was inaccessible, if the vehicle was operated during winter the ability to defrost the windshield would be impossible and all safety and security features were disabled. The screen/computer has been an issue for several owners as easily viewed by a simple google search. The vehicle is only a year and a half old and was purchased new. The issues that occurred from the defective computer could of easily have caused of an accident or a caused disabled pedestrian to have been hit. The computer was deemed the cause by tesla's service professionals. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 12, 2022 |
| State | GA |
| Description | After updating to tesla software 2022. 20. 6 (and 20. 7 and 20. 8) sometimes the regenerative braking fails to activate when lifting your foot off the go pedal. Sometimes the car just coasts at full speed, and sometimes it almost feels as if the car continues accelerating after the pedal is lifted. This obviously creates serious safety issues -- if you are expecting your car to brake after lifting your foot off the pedal and it doesn't, you risk slamming into the car in front of you. The brake pedal still works, but a feature of evs is one pedal driving, which has been broken. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Aug 07, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | The autopilot applies the brakes for no apparent reason, when there are no other vehicles in front of it, under good driving conditions; in clear daylight, on empty roads and on straight stretches of highway. My family could have been involved in a serious rear end collision, or caused other vehicles behind me to collide, if traffic was heavy at the time the system determined it needed to apply the brakes. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jul 29, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | Heating failure in colder temperature climates, left with my heat completely not working during a 7 hour drive in 15 degree weather. Had to eventually get a tow truck. Went to tesla to get it looked at and they were trying to charge 0 for a diagnostic. I had this same exact issue a week after when I first purchased the car where the heat would not work in cold weather. Had three sensors replaced under warranty. After some miles the issue has came back with the same fault codes in the following winter. This is a disaster and if you're stuck on the road, it can be a very lethal problem to occupants. Even in today's heat wave, I have found that the ac does not work either linked to the same error as the heating portion where ac would fail to blow cool air into the cabin. Last week, I had to push all of my trips to days where the temperature was cooler. This is another safety hazard that some people could suffer from heat strokes which can cause immediate danger to occupants and other drivers on the road. I already had this issue repaired in the past, and after 25k miles I find that the repair wasn't a repair at all until the next winter and summer. Now I'm being forced to pay 0 for a diagnostic fee not including the repairs for the actual issue. Since I'm out of warranty this is a huge safety issue and should be taken more seriously with these cars. Many people have reported this same issue and are seeking lemon laws regarding this. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jul 28, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Had significant dangerous and scary phantom breaking while driving on highway 80 across nevada. Seemed to be related to open highway with no vehicle visible on forward view during bright daylight. Sudden and deep breaking would occur at 75 mph or 80 mph repeatedly and with no apparent reason throughout the 12 hour drive. Was particularly pronounced when passing large semi-trucks. Would get sudden phantom breaking just as tesla would just get by a large truck. Could have caused serious event if another vehicle had been following. At first this just seemed inconvenient and unpredictable but in some cases seem like significant safety issue. Had to stop using system. Tried to report to tesla but they have no way on their web site or private tesla account to report. |
| Category | Steering |
| Date | Jul 25, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while reversing the vehicle from her residence at 3 mph and attempting to turn to the left, but failed to turn. The contact stated the vehicle continued to go straight and ran into a chain link fence. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated no one was injured nor sought medical attention but she was frightened. The contact attempted to straighten the vehicle by turning left again and drove into a railing. The contact stated the instrument cluster screen when blank after the second crash. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The contact towed the vehicle to local dealer and was being serviced at the moment of the call. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 12,297 |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jul 22, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | While driving the rear passenger driver side glass just shattered, this seems to be a issue with a lot of tesla 3 models. The glass has a outward bulge, nothing hit the glass. Luckily this did not result in a crash, but could have. There are a lot of people that have reported this on the internet, this is a new 2021 model still under warrenty and tesla refuses to repair it under warranty even though a lot of them are having the same problem. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jul 21, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Car would slow down and suddenly using regenerative braking for no good reason while on traffic-aware cruise control (part of autopilot) on very lightly traveled highways, mostly on I-80 in wy, ut, and nv. Incidents happened on 1 to 2% of every mile traveled. I have marked the date as july 3 below, but actually multiple (20 to 50 total) incidents occurred from 7/2 to 7/4, and 7/9 to 7/11. Incidents could occur whether autosteer was engaged or not. No alarm sounded to indicate that a collision was imminent. If I didn't intervene, the car would sometimes recover almost immediately and slowed only 5 mph, but in other cases it would slow down by 20 mph within 2-3 sec before recovering. Speed limits were typically 75 to 80 mph; I was normally traveling around that speed. Although these highways have low traffic density, my biggest concern is that another car will rear-end mine if it's following too closely. My own observations: 1. The most frequent incident type seemed to occur when there were no vehicles ahead for 15 to 30 sec following distance. Prior to this, traffic visualization would sometimes show the next vehicle with uncertainty (flickering in and out or changing size) even though it doesn't normally show a vehicle outside of 4 to 6 sec following distance. Typically that vehicle was a semi-trailer and its appearance to myself (and probably to the cameras) changed due to lighting, details of the trailer, going over a hill, etc. 2. Less frequently, the car would slow down while passing a semi-trailer. Generally autosteer was not engaged in these cases. 3. High crosswinds could be felt in many cases, but not all. 4. The system seemed much more reliable in areas with more traffic. I'm not sure, but I speculate is that the ai may start looking for vehicles where none exist if it can't easily see any. 5. When mentioned, 2 other tesla drivers confirmed seeing similar behavior. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance |
| Date | Jul 20, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 8 mph, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated and jumped the curb. The contact depressed the brakes pedal to the floorboard; however, the vehicle continued to accelerate and crashed into a wall where the vehicle came to a stop. There was no warning light illuminated. The seat belt was on and the driver's air bag deployed, however, the contact head hit the windshield, and it shattered. The air bag was not covering the contacts face completely. The police arrived on the scene and filed a report. There were injuries to the contact's left wrist, neck, hip, and back, and a fracture to the right foot. The contact started receiving medical treatment the same day. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The damage was to the front of the vehicle. The contact stated her personal phone was connected to tesla, and an inoperative alert message illuminated. The manufacturer notified the contact at the time of the accident. The approximate failure mileage was 13,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jul 19, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The adaptive cruise control system consistently phantom brakes in situations where there is no traffic in front of the vehicle while cresting rolling hills. Sometimes this braking is relatively minor ( |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Jul 19, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | My tesla slowed from 70 to 50 on the freeway in under two seconds for no apparent reason while on autopilot. There was a concrete barrier a few feet away on the shoulder, which I had been driving next to for about a quarter mile before the incident. There was no other traffic within 50 yards of me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jul 18, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | Problems with phantom breaking while driving on the highways at speeds over 65mph. There will be no reason for breaking (I. E. The automatic breaking system picks up a truck driving on the opposite side of the road/direction and slams on the break aggressively) which can be a cause for a rear collision and whiplash for driver/passengers. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jul 16, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I engaged the cruise control while driving on the highway. I let go of the accelerator and it correctly kept the speed I had requested. It warned me that the car would not break. As the car passed another car (probably a police cruiser) that was parked in the ditch separating the two directions of the highway, the car suddenly applied the breaks and decelerated substantially. A pickup truck towing a trailer that was driving behind us was forced to swerve onto the right shoulder to avoid rear-ending our car. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 14, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While driving in highway, interstate or freeway with cruise control enabled with or without autopilot the car suddenly breaks for no reason. It is a clear phantom break. It happened many times in different occasions even on the i40 with no car around in the middle of the desert. In a couple of times a big truck was following and I was almost rear ended because this. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 12, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Car breaks heavily without warning or cause. No cars in front view yet applies breaks like avoiding an accident. Almost caused me to get rear ended multiple times. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 11, 2022 |
| State | MO |
| Description | While traveling on interstate highways over a period of 2 days both in overcast and sunny conditions the vehicle initiated braking multiple times in cruise control only (not on autopilot). No other vehicle nor obstruction was near when this would happen. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 09, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Tesla has been phantom breaking during autopilot multiple times in a single drive and has happened on multiple drives. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jul 08, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | There were 3 back-to-back incidents of phantom braking. Car was in navigate on autopilot mode on highway 85 somewhere near blossom hill and going a 65mph (posted limit) but it slowed down dramatically causing the possibility of the car being rear-ended. There was no blocking vehicle or object that should have caused it to slow down and brake. In all three incidents, I was able to assume manual control and safely speed-up again. |
| Category | Electrical System, Service Brakes, Steering |
| Date | Jul 07, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | This "self driving" model 3, with fl license plate [xxx], attempted to merge onto i95 south from an on-ramp, and very nearly caused a major accident. The vehicle had a bumper sticker on the back that said something like "please be patient, I am a self driving vehicle." the vehicle was merging from a left side on-ramp, at a very low speed, and crossed two lanes of interstate traffic, very erratically accelerating, then braking, then accelerating again, and then braking. My vehicle was directly in its path, and I had to brake hard, and take to the shoulder to avoid the collision. If this vehicle's trips are logged, it needs to be investigated. If it weren't for the humans paying attention, the actions of the tesla car/driver would have caused a major accident, and most likely bodily injury or death. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 07, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Cruise control set to 75mph (speed limit) on lightly trafficked divided highway at ~5pm on june 26. Skies were overcast and temp was about 80 degrees. Car braked from 75 to about 62mph but did not disengage adaptive cruise control and neither did I by applying the brakes. There was light traffic and it did not happen while approaching an overpass which has triggered this before on two occasions. After rapid deceleration to 72, car increases speed but fluctuated in high 60s and low 70s before returning to the programmed 75. Incident lasted about five seconds in total. Once car returned to 75, I disabled cruise control for remainder of journey. This was a 45 mile journey and the issue did not surface until about 35 miles in to the journey. Because this has happened before, I was mentally prepared for it this time and wanted to see if the car would eventually stabilize back to the 75mph programmed speed. In two prior incidents in late 2021, the braking was severe and without warning so in those instances I immediately deactivated system by pressing brake pedal. The incident I report now also had no warning, good weather, no cars within about 100 yards, and no sun glare at all. Road surface was very good as it had been recently improved in 2021 so lane markers were excellent as well. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jul 07, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | When driving on the highway in adaptive cruise control, our vehicle all of a sudden breaked which slowed the car down dramatically. There was nothing around us that would have caused the car to automatically apply the breaks. This happened multiple times in a single drive on both autopilot and adapative cruise control. Luckily, no one was directly behind us when this happened so no collision was caused, but had someone been directly behind us we would have been hit. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer, insurance or police. The breaking was very random, and we had to tap the brakes to take control and hit the gas to get the car back to highway speeds. We have stopped using cruise control and autopilot after seeing this is a known issue and an investigation is ongoing. It is extremely concerning that this "phantom breaking" happens without warning and at random when there is nothing around the vehicle to cause it to apply the automatic breaking system. This is a safety issue on the road. |
| Category | Steering, Suspension |
| Date | Jul 07, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Please note that I have used the vin of a random tesla model 3 to submit this complaint since the number of the actual car is unavailable. There has been an incident on a motorway in germany and a full video is available here. Https://www. Youtube. Com/watch? V=okcvlemwp3c this is a single vehicle incident. The front rh wheel has simply fallen off. There is no other car involved. There are no air-bags deployed. How much more evidence do you require before you demand a recall? The suspensions are deadly fragile. I will make it simple for you. Watch this video https://www. Youtube. Com/watch? V=-fkpiviehhc plenty more where that came from. Https://www. Youtube. Com/watch? V=-fkpiviehhc have a nice day. Keef |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jul 06, 2022 |
| State | NM |
| Description | What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - cruise control randomly slams on its brakes, no warning at all. No, it is not available upon request. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? - cruise control (autopilot), puts my safety at risk because it can injure you if you are not anticipating the brakes being slammed, and it can put others at risk because if they aren't following at a safe distance or not expecting the car to slam on its brakes, it can lead to an accident. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? - no. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? - no. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? - no. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 30, 2022 |
| State | VT |
| Description | Car brakes while using adaptive speed control. In one incident the car was traveling at 71 miles per hour and braked to 25 mph. In other situations the car braked by at least 5 mph, on some situations this happened while speed control was engaged and I was traveling at 50 mph or less. In all these situations, there was not another vehicle in front of me that posed an immediate threat of collision. The adaptive self dimming headlights do not work properly while driving at night. Lights do not always dim for approaching vehicles or when approaching another vehicle from behind. On some occasions the bright lights engage when approaching other vehicles or dim when not approaching another vehicle. Other times the light repeatedly switch from bright to dim when following other vehicles. I reported these issues to tesla. The response was that their engineers are aware of the problenms and it is related to a firmware update and that will be coming. I worry about being struck from behind when the brake suddenly engages. I also worry that the headlight situation can cause a crash by blinding drivers. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas:autonomous/self Driving, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 29, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 65 mph with the self-driving feature activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that there were no other vehicles nearby in the lane. Additionally, the contact was unaware of any shadows or anything else in the lane. The contact stated that the vehicle slowed down and then resumed a higher speed. The contact stated that he disengaged the self-driving feature and manually drove the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The contact stated that he attempted to notify the manufacturer thru the vehicle app but was unable to leave a full detailed report. The approximate failure mileage was 10,445. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jun 24, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | On june 18 and 23, 2022, I was driving I-5 in washington state with adaptive cruise control engaged when, abruptly and without warning, the vehicle decelerated. I overcame the first instance by depressing the accelerator; the vehicle self-corrected in less than a second in the second instance. In both cases, there were no vehicles in the immediate vicinity to present a possible hazard. The concern is for vehicles following closely during an incident that might not react quickly enough to avoid a rear end collision. The vehicle has not been inspected by another party and no attempt has been made to reproduce the condition for another entity. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jun 24, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | For no reason, the car applied significant braking while in autopilot. There were no cars in front of me, no obstacles in the way and it was a clear, dry day. This is not the first time this has happened but it was the most significant. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jun 18, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | The car will phantom brake suddenly and sometimes hard while the adaptive cruise is on. I have reported to tesla and they say there's nothing they have to fix right now. This is extremely dangerous and tesla needs to focus on a fix. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jun 15, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | During a recent road trip to another state, auto pilot was engaged and the emergency braking system forced the car quickly to a stop on many occasions. To the human eye, there should have been no reason for the brakes to engage. Luckily no one collided with us, but the auto pilot system is not to be trusted. The incidents mostly occurred on two-lane roads, however, noticeable hesitation was evident many times during freeway cruising. Tesla repair will not review my case because I don't have a specific time(s) of incident and they will not tell me how to properly log this information into the car's software when an incident does occur. I feel helpless and am very nervous to take this car on a trip. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 11, 2022 |
| State | DE |
| Description | I had 2 phantom braking incidents one one trip today. The situation was similar- a car broken down on the shoulder. In both cases I slowed down and moved a bit left to give them room. I had cruise control on but as I braked, it came off. In both cases, once I passed the cars, the tesla brakes hard. In one case I was almost rear ended by the guy behind me. In both cases, I was in full control of the car and was slowing down and giving way. The phantom braking occurred as I was abreast or past the hazard - in other words, too unnecessary and too late to help anyway. It scared the heck out of me - twice. The car is unsafe at any speed |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 10, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | On a trip to northern california, I used the "traffic-aware cruise control", and there were several episodes of sudden hard braking for no reason. With no vehicle ahead for 20 car-lengths, no curves, no vehicles moving into our lane from the side, we had no clue to why this jarring experience occurred. I thought it might have been caused by gentle inclines in the road ahead, but there were plenty of these that did not cause this violent slam of the brakes. So, I dismissed that explanation. The final time it occurred, there was no incline, no impediments of any kind. Just a clear, flat lane ahead and no vehicle to the right, plus an unusually wide shoulder to the left. Not even a center divider wall or k-rail. The car is now scheduled to be taken to tesla on june 29, but having obtained the appointment through the app, I have no way of knowing if I must leave the car overnight, if I can get a loaner, or even if they'll call me when it's done, assuming they can fix it. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 09, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | I was driving on the freeway, north on I-5 here in washington state, approximately 60 to 65 mph, when in autopilot the car phantom braked for no reason. The breaking was very hard, and occurred in the passing lane; this could've easily caused an accident but luckily did not. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jun 08, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While driving at 70 mph with adaptive cruise control engaged I experienced several instances of "phantom braking." the car braked hard all by itself with no driver input. This happened several times on june 2, 2022 and again on june 6, 2022. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jun 08, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | When I am driving and using the cruise control (tesla calls this traffic aware cruise control), the car will randomly brake while I am driving, sometimes very abruptly and hard, even though there is no obstacle, the road is clear, there is no weather, no danger, etc. There is no way to disable this "feature" if I do not like it so that I can use cruise control normally, the only solution is to drive it manually and not use cruise control. If somebody is behind me they almost run into me. I will provide a date below when this occured as requested, but it occurs every single time I drive the car. Need to have an option to just have normal cruise control without the "traffic aware" portion. This is a real issue. I love my tesla but I absolutely hate this dangerous "feature" that does not work properly. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 07, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | When on autopilot (traffic-aware cruise control), the vehicle will brake suddenly and severely when cresting a hill that the cameras in the car cannot see over, if there is no other traffic in front of the car for the autopilot cameras to reference against. This is most notable and disturbing on inter-city freeways in the western u. S. Such as eastern oregon or nevada, where the freeways are rolling. This behavior (braking when cresting a hill with no vehicles visible in front of the car) is quite repeatable. The vehicle is a 2021 tesla model 3 with "tesla vision," I. E. Cameras only with no radar. It is not possible to turn off the "traffic aware" element of tesla's cruise control. If the tesla interface had a toggle to turn off "traffic aware" so that it had conventional cruise control (I. E. The vehicle will simply hold the chosen speed regardless of surroundings), that would be helpful and in many ways safer. Ideally, though, they would reprogram the traffic aware cruise control so that it can handle cresting a hill. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas:autonomous/self Driving, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control:software |
| Date | Jun 06, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 70 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle applied the brakes independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated he experience the failure three times while using the cruise control feature that same day. 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 7,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 06, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | The car will randomly brake on the highway when its in auto drive with no need to brake immediately. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 06, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | When applying cruise control on the model 3, the tesla will apply phantom braking in various situations. The car will brake on its own without any human interaction. This has occurred on the highway with no other cars nearby that should cause such braking.. This phantom braking has caused me to not use cruise control at all in my car. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 06, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | When passing below an overpass the car will rapidly brake from 80-60 mph or 65-45 mph without warning. I have to take over and speed up to avoid someone hitting me from behind. I believe the issue happens because the car for a second thinks you are driving on the overpass which has a much slower speed (25-40 mph). Therefore, it brakes hard to match the speed of the overpass. When it is enough of a distance away, it goes back to the normal highway speed. This issue has happened many times since I bought the car and has not been resolved after many updates. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 05, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | While driving on highway, I have autopilot on, and out of nowhere the vehicle will engage emergency braking. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 05, 2022 |
| State | MN |
| Description | On at least 4 occasions, I have been driving at freeway speeds of 70mph with cruise control engaged - typically while driving on I-35 between duluth and minneapolis in minnesota - and the vehicle has applied the brakes very hard for no known reason, without human input to the brake pedal. The most recent occurrence was on may 27th, 2022. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jun 04, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was in auto pilot (cruise control). The car was going at 78 mph. The brakes suddenly engaged for no reason. Slowing the car to 60 mph very quickly. It basically felt like I slammed on the brakes. This happened 3 times. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 04, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | While driving on the highway, , this car continues to phantom brake at high speeds which is dangerous. Both adaptive cruise control and “autopilot†experience this. It can be an overpass, cloud, or when the car sees it's shadow. The phantom braking is a serious safety issue and makes me not want to use the feature. Tesla needs to improve this asap. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 04, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | On multiple occasions, my vehicle has experienced the same “phantom braking†problem other teslas have. This has happened when cruise control (autopilot) was enabled. No cars or obstacles were directly in front of my vehicle and the immediate breaking was unnecessary |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 04, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Since purchasing my vehicle a year ago, it had has occasionally engaged the emergency braking system in situations where other cars have not been a threat or directly in front of me. This week, the system engaged when I was driving up an incline on the highway with no vehicles around me. Very disconcerting and dangerous. As a result I deactivated the system. This is a flaw. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jun 04, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The autopilot used for automatic cruise control regularly brakes for unexplained reasons when there is no immediate threat. This is not only scary but it could cause an accident if other cars were right behind me. There is one part of highway 470 in highlands ranch, co, where it happens every time, like autopilot is expecting the speed limit to drop so it slows way down for me, but the speed limit hasn't changed. Other times it just happens randomly. It will happen at least once usually every hour I use autopilot. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | While driving with cruise and steering control, car will emergency brake like something is in front of the car. Many call it "phantom" braking. One time on a 2 lane highway the car braked hard for no reason, it happened on the way to vegas and a large group of bikers were behind us. Very scary at highway speeds. We let the bikers pass. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Vehicle will engage breaks when there is no obstacle or while on a straight road when placed in cruise control. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | Driving at night, using adaptive cruise control, about 70 mph, no other vehicles near by, multi lane highway, when pavement changed from black tarmac to lighter concrete surface, the tesla braked hard automatically. I accelerated and disengaged the cruise control. No loss of control. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | WV |
| Description | When autopilot is engaged the vehicle will sometimes rapidly slow down unexpectedly. There is no visual or audio warning to accompany the slow down to indicate what the vehicle detected to cause this. It is a rare occurrence but could potentially cause an accident in heavy traffic. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | Car brakes heavily and suddenly for no reason while using cruise control. Seems to be on 2 way roads when semi-truck is passing by in opposite lane. Has happened multiple times on different days under different conditions. Concerned about being rear-ended. I have not had this inspected and no crash has occurred. I stopped using cruise control on this vehicle due to safety concerns. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | I've experienced the “phantom braking†most recently on may 29th, on highway. No cars around or anything that should have trigged it. I was in autosteer mode when it happened both times. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | GA |
| Description | My car has on several occasions while using cruise control feature engaged, braked unexpectedly at highway speeds when nothing was in front of the car. My tesla does not have full self driving capabilities, it has also done this emergency braking with autopilot engaged. It's happened so many times while the autopilot is engaged, that I never use autopilot anymore. I have twice nearly been rear ended, (with only cruise control engaged) by a car following me when this auto-braking happened in highway traffic, forcing me to have to immediately hit the accelerator pedal in response, to avoid being hit from behind after the brakes auto engaged. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | This happens to me all the time. Especially on interstates such as I-4 in florida. The car will suddenly brake with no warning, slowing down dramatically. For example, if driving at 80 mph the car will suddenly for no reason slam on the brakes to 50mph, almost having other cars behind me rear end me. This issue has never been dealt with by tesla and tesla claims it's a normal problem to have. I've never had any other car with adaptive cruise control do this. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jun 03, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | While using cruise control on the highway, I was rounding a slight bend in the road and the automatic braking system actuated, immediately slamming on the brakes and scrubbing off significant speed. Luckily I was close to the accelerator pedal and was able to quickly react by applying throttle, but had there been another vehicle following closely, there could have been a collision. There were no visible objects in or around the road to cause an emergency braking event. I have not used the cruise control feature since this occurrence, but it had happened twice before with similar circumstances. Reference "phantom braking" phenomenon well documented by many other operators. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | May 31, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The car, when using its "traffic aware cruise control" exhibits extreme sudden breaking for no reason (phantom braking). On thursday, I was on a major interstate in the middle of the day, perfectly marked lanes, no gradient changes, no weather or visibility issues, with absolutely nothing in front of me. The car would suddenly brake aggressively for no reason, sometimes hard enough to hurt my neck. If another car had been following me, I would have been immediately rear ended. Too add insult to injury, tesla charges for the full self driving function which fully navigates the car on highways, and even though it is so dysfunctional that it is dangerous, they will not refund it after I reported this behavior. Tesla fsd and traffic aware cruise control, in it's current state, is a danger to the public. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | May 31, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The tesla autopilot system in my model 3 repeatedly malfunctions by way of "phantom braking". The latest incident I was luckily able to capture on camera. In this incident, my vehicle is driving down a nevada highway in the heat, with no oncoming vehicles and a vehicle in my lane well over a mile away and increasing (they had just passed me a few minutes prior). With the speed set to 74mph (driving 73 at the time) the vehicle proceeds to apply heavy brakes, and slows to 56mph for no reason (no vehicles behind, thankfully). My safety and the safety of other motorists is put at risk with these events as the unexpected braking not only whips around the passengers of my vehicle, but also puts at risk any vehicles that may be behind me, expecting me to maintain my current velocity. The problem has not been reproduced by a dealer as far as I am aware, but the service department of my local tesla dealer has confirmed the issue is caused by the "tesla vision" camera-only system. They (service team) claim that there is no issue with the system, and that it is behaving as expected. They do not view this as a malfunction, and merely view it as the system being extra cautious, which is simply lazy. This component has not yet been inspected by any entity mentioned above. There were no symptoms of this issue prior to it occurring, however this did occur repeatedly over the course of my trip to/from las vegas. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | May 31, 2022 |
| State | SC |
| Description | Sudden unexpected deceleration. There was no car or obstacle in my lane and my car hit the brakes. It seems to have gotten worse with the latest firmware update. It seems like when a shiny object is on a mailbox near the side of the road the car hits the brakes. The truck behind me could have hit me and got very angry and sped around me. This is going to cause an accident if not fixed. It's happened multiple times now. |
| Category | Lane Departure: Blind Spot Detection |
| Date | May 30, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | Side camera glare at night when signaling |
| Category | Firerelated |
| Date | May 26, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | The contact's son owned a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated that his son was involved in a fatal collision while driving at an undisclosed speed with the autopilot activated. The contact was informed by his son's friend, who was a passenger in the vehicle, that the autopilot malfunctioned, causing the vehicle to inadvertently drive off the road, hit a tree, and then catch fire. An unknown bright orange light was seen on the windshield right before the failure occurred. The contact's son's friend was able to exit the vehicle, but the contact's son was unconscious and was not able to exit the vehicle. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire. A fire department report was filed. The contact's son's friend received medical attention for burns and bruises on his legs. The contact's son's autopsy report stated that his son died as a result of intense thermal heat and smoke inhalation. The vehicle was towed and remained with the highway patrol. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | May 25, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Referred to as "phantom braking," the vehicle decelerates dramatically when in "autopilot" mode. This happens at seemingly random times and locations. It happens in the day or night, open or populated roads, multi-lane highways or single lane. The deceleration is so sudden that passengers in the car are thrown forward. One instance the car decelerated from about 75 mph to 45 mph in a matter of about 2 seconds. Thankfully no one was behind me. Others worry that if someone is following too closely, they could rear-end the tesla... I don't think a vehicle would have to follow all that closely for this to cause an accident. |
| Category | Electrical System, Exterior Lighting, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | May 20, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | Https://youtube. Com/channel/ucnkrwnr_lakd4nelwyabuga my youtube channel has 13 videos about tesla safety concerns. They are the only videos on my channel. The minutes long clips show what happens when the mainframe screen goes black, dies out or powers down while driving. Listed from memory are the following concerns associated with the tesla ‘black screen of death': 1. No energy/distance shown 2. Glove box is inaccessible 3. Front trunk ‘frunk' cannot be opened 4. Proof of signalling is gone 5. Proof of low vs high beam is gone 6. Changing of wiper speed is gone 7. Access to heating/air-con is gone 8. Back up camera is obsolete 9. Cameras used when signalling are missing 10. Speedometer is not visible 11. Odometer is missing (have never found it on screen when running anyways!) 12 air pressure indication is gone 13 gps is obsolete from memory that is all I have to add. Imagine everything that was/is available to the driver in every other cars dashboard and then take those parts away sporadically for minutes at a time and you'll have an understanding of how precarious driving my tesla can be. As an uber driver I had the opportunity to speak with a corporate agent who was my passenger. She said tesla is aware of this issue. Having spoken with a tesla rep at a tesla garage I was given the same advice found on internet forums: “find a place to park, park, press the steering volume & station finder buttons for 10 seconds until display starts up†this very rarely works, and is impossible, even dangerous in many situations. I've learned to drive with this continually faltering equipment, and I know every tesla driver I've spoken with must do the same to varying degrees. While all tesla drivers experience this, none are as repetitive as mine and none seem as proactive to inform government agency of this. Next week, may 26, I have an appt with a tesla garage that will look into this when I bring my car in. Please view my videos. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas:autonomous/self Driving |
| Date | May 06, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | The contact owns a tesla unavailable. The contact stated while driving 10 mph in the parking lot he notice an unexpected increase in the amount of acceleration. The contact pulled over in the parking lot and turned the vehicle off then restarted and safely drove off. There was no warning light. The contact did not take the vehicle to a dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The mileage was 36,000 |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | May 06, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | Tesla autopilot will disengage and brake when driving under a bridge or a freeway sign. Tesla detects the overhead object as an object on the road and logs a forward collision warning. This issue has been reported to tesla and after multiple service appointments, tesla has failed to fix the issue. Tesla logs forward collision warnings and determines safety score for insurance price, having multiple false forward collision warning reduced the score and increases the premium which in return benefits tesla financially. I have video evidence for an instance that I have provided to tesla to look into and the issue is still not fixed. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | May 04, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | It has happened before, but on a 4 hour highway trip yesterday, the vehicle engaged in 3 incidents of sudden phantom braking. Twice the road was completely empty with no other vehicles around me. The third time the shadow of a truck in another lane may have triggered the event. Each time we were traveling over 65 miles per hour. For the last hour+ of the trip, I disengaged the autopilot (adaptive cruise control) feature and drove completely manually. |
| Category | Electrical System, Unknown Or Other, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Apr 30, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | We were driving on the freeway at 69 mph and suddenly with no warning the center console main screen froze. All electronic functions of the car stopped and the car was stuck at 69 mph. Speedometer and turn signals did not work. We managed to get to the side of the road (mechanical brakes and steering were unaffected). The car could not be put in park so a manual reboot was not possible. The car rebooted itself (screen went black and then came back online) after about 10 minutes or so and then the car functioned normally. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Apr 25, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | The car, driving on cruise control at 75mph did an expected and very sharp braking and slowed down to 55 mph. There were no upcoming alerts or indicators of this to happen. The braking was sudden and definitely not expected by drivers behind. This incident was reported to tesla service team. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas:autonomous/self Driving, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Apr 08, 2022 |
| State | KY |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while her son was driving 70 mph on autopilot, the vehicle independently decelerated to 45 mph. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The driver was able to continue driving to his destination. 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 8,900. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Apr 07, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 60-70 mph with the adaptive cruise control engaged, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact then accelerated and continued driving. The contact was unsure whether there was a warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while driving alongside other vehicles. The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 900. |
| Category | Power Train |
| Date | Apr 07, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | While driving, a small warning appeared on the screen, directing us to pull over. Roughly 10-15 seconds later, the car died in the middle of the road. The car was towed to a tesla service center. The rear motor power inverter was replaced. Incidentally, I saw this news story today: https://www. Autoevolution. Com/news/tesla-recall-for-127785-model-3s-in-china-due-to-rear-motor-inverter-defect-185844. Html the way the car failed was very dangerous. My other complaint was that the user experience telling us to pull over was not sufficient. If the problem was that dire, we need much more dramatic audible and visible alerts, as well as an indication of how long we have to go. We could have pulled off into a safer spot if we knew we only had a few seconds. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Apr 05, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While driving, typically on two lane roads with oncoming traffic, the vehicle will suddenly break hard for no visible reason. Often it is the case that the vehicle breaks so hard that things in the car fly forward and the seatbelts lock up causing people to grunt at the force and scream. This happens while using full self driving or just regular cruise control. There is no warning and people behind my vehicle have a high likelihood a rear ending me since there is no visible or obvious cars for my breaking. Also it would appear that I am brake checking the person behind me, causing them to become angry with me through no fault of my own, but it is understandable based on the reaction of my vehicle. When this happens I typically report the issue directly to tesla using their voice feature to report issues. The command is typically “bug report phantom braking.†|
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Mar 31, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving at 5 mph, the front driver's seat continuously changed positions independently and her foot could no longer reach the one-pedal driving. The contact veered to the side of the road and parked the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle was designed with a feature that allowed both her husband and her to save their front driver's seat profile on the center display, based on their physical characteristics. The contact stated that her husband was 6 ft. 2 inches tall and she was 5 ft. 5 inches tall. The contact stated that the failure occurred as the front driver's seat moved from her seat profile to her husband's seat profile. Additionally, the contact stated that the center display was displaying a message stating it was looking for a charging station while the vehicle was fully charged. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 2,100. The consumer stated tesla diagnosed the problem as phantom touchscreen issue and replaced the screen on april 29, 2022. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 27, 2022 |
| State | NE |
| Description | My tesla has continued from the time of purchase has fantom braked when no vehicles are even around. Putting it on basic cruise control or adaptive control makes no difference. Slamming on the brakes at any time is not safe with all the tailgaters that drive today. Who's liability is it when your car brakes for no reason a you are rear ended ? |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 26, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | The cars cruise control system is unusable due to random and unpredictable phantom breaking. This is a safety risk due to the potential collisions it can cause as a result of slamming on the brakes. We have had multiple close calls with this system. It specifically has issues on two lane highways. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Mar 25, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | While driving on the highway or freeway, the vehicle suddenly slowed dramatically as if the brakes had been heavily applied. It did this three times over the course of two days, always while the car was set on cruise control (not auto pilot). |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Mar 25, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Brakes were automatically engaged and speed dramatically reduced on an otherwise deserted, two-line highway. Speed was reduced from 68mph to 30mph in a few seconds multiple times in the span of two hours. Adaptive cruise control was active at the time. This would put myself and any vehicles behind me in danger, so I disabled the feature for the remainder of the drive. The behavior has been reproduced multiple times since then, in various conditions. No warning lamps or other messages appeared at the time. I reported the problem to the manufacturer and schedule a service appointment. The manufacturer canceled this appointment, stating, "our technicians will be unable to change this behavior." |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Mar 23, 2022 |
| State | NH |
| Description | The passenger side headlight has stopped functioning on repeated occasions, both the high and low beams stop functioning simultaneously each time. I have been on long distance road trips now each time that this has occurred. Tesla service techs insist that it's software related in both instances and provide a software update. This alleviates the problem temporarily. I am currently insisting that they replace the unit completely, as these are not standard headlights that a consumer is able to purchase and replace at a parts retailer or any auto service center. Today, I got another service update, no replacement yet. The inherent danger in this practice is the amount of days and weeks required to schedule a service appointment, while operating the vehicle with one headlight and a complete inability to source an alternative resolution. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 23, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | I'm reporting a "phantom braking" incident that occurred while driving approximately 75 mph in the left lane of interstate 10 just west of casa grande, az. (this section of the road had two westbound lanes.) "traffic-aware cruise control" was set at approximately 75 mph. The tesla slammed on the brakes for no reason (no vehicles were in front of me.) this was terrifying - luckily the vehicle that was directly behind me noticed and reduced their speed while I quickly pushed down on the accelerator. A collision was thus avoided. However, this could have been deadly for both my vehicle, the vehicle behind me, and so on. There was absolutely no reason for the car to apply the brakes - there were no obstructions in the road. My passenger can confirm the situation. I have had "phantom braking" occur with this tesla including slowing down almost to a stop when a semi truck is in the coming lane of a two-lane road. The "traffic-aware cruise control" is inconsistent in its performance and travelling at high speeds, incredibly dangerous. We could not operate this function during the rest of our travels on the interstate due to this issue and limited operation of "traffic aware cruise control" to 55 mph & under roads when there was no traffic behind us. I've been reading up on the tesla "phantom braking" phenomenon and am really disappointed in this very unsafe safety feature which I didn't know about before purchasing my tesla. My model 3 is newer and has "tesla vision" instead of radar like older model 3's. I think "tesla vision" is messed up and needs more work. This "automatic braking" could have caused a serious collision. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Mar 22, 2022 |
| State | MO |
| Description | The model 3 no longer turns on the headlights automatically when the windshield wipers are on. It requires the operator to search through menus to turn the lights on manually. This is required even if the headlights are in automatic mode. Voice command doesn't turn the headlights on either. I believe it is dangerous to be diverting eyes to a menu screen to turn the headlights on while driving in the rain. In addition, failure to turn on the headlights in my state is a moving violation. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 22, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | There is serious issue with automatic emergency braking. My tesla model 3 2021 applied automatic emergency braking while on auto steer or cruising on single lane highway as well as on 4 lane freeways without anything ahead which required to brake. Fortunately, we were not being followed or tail gated closely. The speed reduced from 65 mph to 30mph suddenly on a freeway. This has happened to me 3 times. Twice on single lane highway and once on 4 lane freeway. Tesla's cruising and self driving is worthless if I can't use them. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Mar 21, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | I was driving on a divide highway at 70 mph in the hov lane with cruise control activated, not auto steering, when the car abruptly slowed down. No car was visible in front of me. If someone was following closely behind me an accident could have occurred. I reported this to tesla. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Mar 20, 2022 |
| State | AL |
| Description | This vehicle's basic "autopilot" and adaptive cruise control is dangerous. The vehicle is unable to pass a truck on the highway while either system is active without slamming on the brakes. This is major safety hazard on the highway as following cars do not expect any vehicle to slam on the brakes at highway speeds. Further, using the cruise control on two lane road is also dangerous. Any large vehicle in the opposite oncoming lane will cause the vehicle to slam on its brakes. These systems are essentially unusable and are very dangerous to use. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 19, 2022 |
| State | KS |
| Description | Phantom braking occurs often when using traffic aware cruise control. I have not been able to determine a pattern, as the malfunction is not consistent. It can occur on a 2-lane road (with lines) as well as on a 6-line divided highway. I can tell the difference between phantom braking and the vehicle adjusting speed for an upcoming curve, as normal adjustment occurs in the same spot each time. Phantom braking is unpredictable, and may not occur in a location that it previously had. There are days it never happens, or sometimes once a day, or has occurred 5 times in an approx 6 mile trip. During a phantom braking event, the car unexpectedly applies the brakes hard. I react by pressing the accelerator, which usually results in a speed greater than the speed limit. I use the bug report feature each time it occurs, so tesla would be able to view each event. As I'm sure you can tell from the vin, this is a camera-only tesla system. I do not have full self driving. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 19, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | I was driving on interstate 8 from tucson to san diego. In a matter of 2 hours my tesla activated the brakes on its own 5 times, sometimes in a rapid series of 2 to 3 times, causing me to lurch while going 75 mph so I immediately disengaged the adaptive cruise control. I was on a 2 lane divided highway with no cars in front of me, see picture attached. Since taking possession of my new 2021 model 3 in november 2021, it has happened about 11 times. I just had my wife research it. I will not be using this feature. A semi truck behind me almost swerved off the road because of my braking. This is unacceptable that elon musk is not recalling vehicles. His arrogance is going to kill people for this clear safety issue. Please take over and do the recall. They sold me this car knowing this was an hazard since june 2021. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 19, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Was driving and automatic braking system engaged when there was no impeding incident. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Mar 19, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | No specific incident, but potentially dangerous. Several of the font sizes used on the touchscreen, but especially the ones displaying the time, the temperature, and the miles remaining on the charge, are very difficult, if not impossible, to read if you need reading glasses. This is especially true for seniors. In order to get that information, you need to either pull out and put on your reading glasses or move your face to the right and closer to the screen, both potentially dangerous if you're moving, especially at high speeds. This problem has been complained about repeatedly online for several years, but so far no response from tesla. I don't think it would be difficult or expensive either to give owners the option to increase font size or to make a one time increase of, say, 30% or 60%. The change would make driving a lot safer for those of us are on the wrong end of 60. |
| Category | Tires |
| Date | Mar 18, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Pirelli pzero 235/35/r20 tires on the entire car, was driving when front left tire blew out after 4500 miles, had the car towed back to tesla dealer and tire replaced. Now after 2 months, rear left tire has bubble on the sidewall after only 5400 miles with no indication of previous damage. I believe this to be a defective tire and an immense safety hazard. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Mar 18, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | On 3/9, the car lost heat (no heat at all, blowing cold air) and it was giving error message that the climate was unavailable. It created a driving hassle since the windshield was frosted. I took the car in to the tesla service center on 3/10. They returned the car to me on 3/16, mentioning they replace the heat pump. On 3/17, the car starts giving error message saying the climate control is unavailable. I told the car in back to the same tesla service center in springfield nj. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 17, 2022 |
| State | MN |
| Description | We just took our first road trip from minneapolis to denver in our 2021 model 3 and experienced about 14 phantom braking events in about 900 miles. Two happened at night and the rest in broad daylight with perfect visibility on the interstate. There was nothing I saw in or by the road that would explain any camera confusion. In all but two events, there were no other cars within 100 yards. In the first 200 miles we had 2 minor braking events and one severe one (hard breaking that required steady accelerator pressure to regain and maintain speed). There were no events in the next 300 miles. Then we had a moderate event which I immediately corrected. The next event was the most severe -- rapid deceleration followed by acceleration then deceleration, then a few seconds of speed fluctuation before I took full control (I purposely allowed this event to play out without intervention since there was no one around us and I wanted to see if it would correct itself--it didn't). Unfortunately, my wife hurt her neck in this one which resulted in neck pain and headaches for the rest of the day. Our dogs were in the back seat and were tossed around but ok. I then pulled over and rebooted the car. Within 5 minutes we had another moderate event. I pulled over again, cleaned the windshield, and reset/recalibrated the cameras. We understood this might take up to 100 miles, but in our case it only took about 5 miles. We tried the autopilot again and had a minor event within minutes and another minor event a few minutes later, and then a third a few minutes after that. I thought maybe the cameras didn't properly recalibrate since the process was so fast, so I pulled over and recalibrated again. As before, recal was done in a few miles. At this point my foot was hovering over the accelerator so I was able to intervene quickly to mitigate the severity. Over the next 20 miles there were 5 more events--a mixture of minor and moderate. We gave up and drove the last 100 miles manually. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 16, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | I have a lot of unexpected braking problems for no reason |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 16, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Phantom braking, the vehicle will stop unexpectedly while using adaptive cruise control even if there are no vehicles or objects on the road for miles. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Mar 15, 2022 |
| State | IN |
| Description | When driving using either the "traffic aware cruise control" or "autopilot" (I do not have full self driving), the care frequently slams the brakes when there is no instance of an obstacle in-front of the vehicle. This has happened consistently and frequently causing instances with cars having to go to the shoulder to not rear end me. Most commonly this has occurred on rural 2 lane roads when a vehicle is coming from the other direction. As the vehicle from the other direction approaches the tesla will suddenly emergency brake unexpectedly. This issue is even further exacerbated at night when this can happen with almost every passing vehicle. This issue has occurred enough times with either near rear end incidents or catching me so off guard I struggle to maintain my composure I often do not use the feature and am looking at getting rid of it due to being unusable even with the basic cruise feature. The date and speed below are the most recent but this has occurred many times in 2500 miles (easily 50 or more). |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 15, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | When the auto pilot is activated I have experienced many times that the car randomly stops. This happened when I was on the highway and I was almost rear ended |
| Category | Electrical System:horn |
| Date | Mar 14, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 65 mph, he attempted to honk the horn to warn a vehicle that abruptly moved in front of his vehicle however, the horn failed to respond. The contact stated that the horn only responded when he applied more pressure to it. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the tesla service center where the horn switch was adjusted; however, the failure reoccurred. A tesla mobile technician arrived at the contact's residence and diagnosed that the steering wheel was not seated properly, and the steering wheel switch was securely adjusted; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken to a second tesla service center, tesla (4180 el camino real, palo alto, ca 94306) where it was diagnosed that the horn retaining clip needed to be adjusted. The contact stated that the vehicle was repaired; however, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 900. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Mar 12, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | The automatic emergency brakes would go off while driving on autopilot at highway speed, when there is nothing in front of the car. The brakes are very unexpected and aggressive, potentially putting the car at risk of being rare ended. Tesla states that I should press on the accelerator to override the brakes, but most times the braking is so aggressive that the override isn't affective. Moreover, my car would give false forward collision warning if the car in front of me slows down even a little bit, even when there is at least a 5 car distance from me to the car in front of me, and we are no where near colliding. Tesla would use these false forward collision warnings to drive down my “safety score†and raise the premium of the insurance they offer me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 10, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | While using autopilot or cruise control on the highway, the vehicle frequently brakes for no reason and without warning. This occurs repeatedly throughout the drive. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 10, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | We were traveling at about 75 mph on intestate 94 in wisconsin (same speed as the other cars around us) using adaptive cruise control when our car suddenly hit the brakes, the display showed the speed limit sign of 70 mph, but the display where it would have shown the max speed we set, instead showed maximum speed of 40 mph. I used the accelerator pedal to return the speed to that of the surrounding traffic without problems. During other parts of the journey cars came up close behind us as they wanted to go faster and had this happened then we would have been the lead car in a severe rear end collision. This happened several other times during the same two day road trip, including once about a minute before the incident described above, but none were this severe, perhaps "lightly" tapping the brakes even though there would not have been a need to. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 10, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | Drivers side camera not working making cruise control (adaptive & regular) unavailable also left turn blind spot visualization not available. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Mar 10, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | I was on I-470 east of I-25 going east. I was traveling at 83 mph, therefore the car was not in autopilot, only had cruise control on. I signaled a lane change, made the lane change, and then the car applied brakes hard, going from 83 mph down to 66 mph. This happened in front of a late-model full-size pickup truck. The driver of the truck was not happy and tailgated for about 2 miles. I reported this problem to tesla. They first don't want to even allow a service visit on the issue. Second, they want to charge me over for a service visit on a car that is under warranty. When we had fsd beta in january 2022, we didn't face these issues except once or twice. Tesla advisor even admitted to me that cars with fsd beta and cars with autopilot have different navigation software. Therefore, tesla has a fix for this issue. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 09, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle would independently slow down without warning as vehicles on the opposite side of traffic would pass by his vehicle. The dealer nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000. |
| Category | Wheels |
| Date | Mar 08, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | The tire fell off the car while driving. The lateral link bolts have come unfastened and cause the link to come out of place and consequently damage several suspension components. As the bolts unfastened, the wheel was separated from the car and fell off, causing the car to be undrivable. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Mar 05, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | When the cruise control is activated, phantom braking happens within about 20 seconds. Also, when autopilot is engaged, phantom braking also happens within about 20-30 seconds. The phantom braking happens when there are no obstacles in the road or other traffic. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Mar 03, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | When the cruise control is set at a speed or the line centering cruise control is used the car will slam on it's brakes and go from the set 75 to between 50-60mph then back to the set speed. This happens almost every time I drive the car on the highway and a few times in town(35mph) it happens so often I stopped using cruise control because I am afraid of getting rear ended. I have been looking online and others are calling this phantom braking. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Mar 03, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | When either in autopilot or in cruise control especially in long drive car perform phantom breaking creating a risk of rear-end collision with following vehicles. Car vision system at times recognize cars coming in the opposite way as imminent collision and performs emergency phantom breaks. 03/ |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Mar 03, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | Three times, while using cruise control with autopilot, my model 3 rapidly braked with no one in front of me while driving on the interstate at 70-75mph. Luckily I was paying attention and quickly accelerated to avoid traffic following me from running into me. One of the times was a severe “brake check†on a following car. I don't use the option in traffic anymore. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 02, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | This vehicle phantom brakes during our last 2k miles trip. Happens while passing under pass, bridges, on coming vehicles on 2 way lanes, and just randomly when I was the only car on the highway. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 02, 2022 |
| State | WI |
| Description | The car randomly and violently applies the brakes, this occurs when it is in cruise control. It may occur due to shadows, oncoming cars both on two and four lane highways. Also occurs if I pass a semi truck on a 4 lane highway. It occurs nearly every time I use the cruise control. I have had cars in back of me nearly hit me due to the sudden and unexpected braking at highway speeds. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Mar 01, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | On several occasions (probably around 10 times) since I purchased the car in november of 2021 I have experienced phantom braking while using adaptive cruise control. Most have been minor with a couple instances of severe braking that could definitely have caused a rear end accident if there were cars behind me. These have occurred on busy city streets while traveling 40-50 mph. None have occurred on freeways. I have not notified tesla but see that others are having problems too. Software appears up to date. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 28, 2022 |
| State | NE |
| Description | Our company model 3 is having repeated phantom braking issues either in traffic aware cruise control (tacc) or in autosteer mode. Through time we have determined some expected situations but there are also many other times totally unexpected. The most common situation is while driving in tacc mode (standard cruise control) on a standard highway (one lane each direction) and passing a semi-truck. This situation results in phantom braking about in about 50% of instances. Beyond semi's, phantom braking can occur from other vehicles, shadows from trees, going up or down small inclines, changes in road coloration (going from cement to black top), and even when no obvious reason is present on a totally clear, flat road. During a 2-3 hour drive the average is about 20 instances of phantom braking. This has been reported to tesla. They have apparently reviewed the information and determined nothing is malfunctioning with the vehicle and reminded us that autopilot functions are all beta and they are not responsible to resolve the problems. Attached below are reports completed for tesla to describe information about phantom braking instances during a test period which was about an hour of driving. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 28, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 75 mph, the vehicle decelerated inadvertently. The contact stated that the vehicle would detect a non-existent road hazard causing the vehicle to slow down dramatically, almost causing a rear-end crash. The contact stated that there were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that while researching online he became of similar failures. The dealer and the manufacturer were contacted; however, no assistance was offered. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000. On a recent trip up the same two-lane segment of us-95 where chronic incidence of my 2021 tesla model 3 suddenly removing acceleration causing a very dangerous unexpected drastic slowing from high speeds, recurrence of this problem indicated what might be causing the problem. There are certain times of day when on a mostly level asphalt roadway it appears there are patches of water or grease on the pavement when seen from a distance. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 28, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | I have owned this car for almost 4 months. In that time we have experienced 4 incidents of the car deciding that for no reason it needed to slam on the brakes so hard we were thrown forward in our seats and went from speeds of 50-60mph on relatively fast highways to about 20mph. 3 of the 4 times we were in cruise control. But this latest event happened not in cruise control and there was literally nothing anywhere in front of us. However there was a car behind us that had to swerve into a different lane to avoid a collision. This last time was terrifying and we have scheduled an appointment with the dealer. But recently we have come to find out this has happened to other owners as well. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 26, 2022 |
| State | IN |
| Description | Tesla model 3 phantom braking while on cruise control. This car is a daily driver mostly expressway miles and cruise control is used every day for the majority of the drive. While driving on cruise control at 70 miles an hour the car will randomly brake hard enough for all items on the car seats to be sent to the floor. This happens in wide open situations with no other cars around in broad daylight. This has been occurring about twice a month since purchase. I am worried someday I may be rear ended or the car may brake hard into a slide. This has been mentioned to tesla multiple times at service calls and they say they are working on it |
| Category | Lane Departure: Blind Spot Detection, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Feb 26, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | Tesla offers a blind spot camera, standard on the vehicle, which activates automatically when the turn-signal is active on the appropriate side. The blind-spot camera feed appears on the center screen. The feed comes from each of the side cameras mounted to the external portion of the car. Since the side turn-signal is mounted right above the same blind-spot cameras, the light from the turn-signal often 'bleeds' into the camera feed used by the driver to determine if the appropriate lane is clear. At night, this causes the blind-spot camera video difficult to view since the video feed alternates between 'normal' video and a bright, flushed out video, matching the turn-signal timer. The end result is often times I, the driver having difficulty observing cars on the side of my vehicle at night. More specifically, several times I have missed the headlights of cars in the lane next to me because the turn signal light, bleeding into the camera feed, obscure or hides the car and/or headlights (since they driver's eyes have to chateaubriand adjust between a bright andrark video feed flashing). This causes me to start merging into a lane which I believe is clear, only to have to quickly swerve back into my original lane when I realize the lane is not clear. Both the driver in the new lane and myself are put at risk, unnecessarily when this occurs. I have reached out to the manufacturer for this complaint. In writing, they have admitted this is a problem and even though my car is only 10 months into a 4 year warranty, they will only fix this safety issue if I pay for a replacement part. This seems unacceptable to me to force customers to pay for a safety fix. The failed component is available for inspection. I have sample video available to demonstrate the problem. There are no warning lights for any components. The manufacturer does not need to inspect the component since they already know, and admit to the shortcomings, per my written conversation with them. |
| Category | Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 26, 2022 |
| State | RI |
| Description | My tesla 3 accelerated out of control when parking at my place of work which is a daycare center. I could have killed children, others and myself. My foot was fully pressed on the brake. Tesla is claiming it is driver error. That is false my foot was pressed fully on the brake. Scared to go back in the car. I don't want that car on the road. I hit the curb went airborne missing a car, sign, brick wall, trees onto an embankment. I have a wittiness too. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 25, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Phantom braking |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 25, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Phantom braking while cruise control engaged. I do not have full self driving, was only using the basic cruise. Appears to be worse when approaching large semi trucks, but has also happened numerous times when absolutely nothing is around (no cars, animals). No warning provided. Example: car will go from 75mph to 60mph in 1 second, then “recover†and go back to 75mph. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 24, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Adaptive cruise control engaged. Traveling over the crest of a hill after dark, the brakes automatically applied hard when an oncoming vehicle approaches uphill. This has occurred on several occasions. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 23, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Phantom braking |
| Category | Electrical System:adas:autonomous/self Driving |
| Date | Feb 22, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving on autopilot at 60 mph, the vehicle applied the brake independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact stated he had experienced the failure multiple times. 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 2,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 22, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I am experiencing phantom breaking on our model 3. While traveling last weekend on interstate 5, as well as on ca 101 - the vehicle frequently slowed abruptly while driving at highway speeds. This occurred both with other vehicles around, and with no vehicles present - also while driving at times in clear daylight and while approaching shadows from surrounding objects such as trees or highway overpasses. It rendered the adaptive cruise control non-useable on a 5hr drive home due to the sudden and abrupt slowing of the vehicle. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 22, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Was driving on clear roads, there was a driver ahead of me but they were over 100 yards away, the vehicle behind me swerved to make sure they didn't get hit by my car's auto-braking safety feature. The vehicle was on autopilot using adaptive cruise control and just randomly used the safety feature without any warning or indication that there was any object on the freeway. The incident had occurred in the morning on the 405s freeway. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 21, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Three times so far in a week, the car has had extreme hard breaking on the freeway. These were done in full self drive mode. Absolutely terrifying and so unsafe for my family to have this happen. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 21, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | This complaint was prompted by reading recent news reports of 'phantom braking' with our model vehicle. Previous to these reports, I did not have an awareness of nhtsa and their reporting mechanism. Driving on a highway, adaptive cruise control application. Sudden braking applied without my foot touching brake pedal. It was a sunny day, without any obvious need for braking. I was able to apply acceleration which terminated the braking cycle. No harm done, however if there was a car behind me there could have been a significant car accident at high speeds (>70 mph). This 'phantom braking' also occurred late 2021, also at highway speeds, on at least two occasion on the same trip cycle, in similar driving conditions (clear, dry). Nothing has been inspected. No indicators or warning lamps or messages applicable. |
| Category | Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Feb 21, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | This defect affects the lane departure warning system of my vehicle. In certain situations, the lane departure warning system incorrectly activates when the vehicle is turning (vs. Leaving a lane). On one occasion, the system activated while turning from my driveway onto the adjacent roadway. On another occasion, the system activated while leaving a parking spot. On both occasions, the vehicle was traveling less than 5 mph and was not departing from a lane. When the lane departure warning activates, a loud noise is triggered, along with an alert on the center display. A driver's natural response in this scenario is to slow down mid-turn, potentially resulting in unsafe conditions for both driver and nearby motorists. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 20, 2022 |
| State | AK |
| Description | When driving on one way road and a vehicle is travel inbound. The vehicle will stop extremely hard without any notice of anyone or anything in front of me. Even when travel on a open highway the vehicle will sometime stop extremely hard and freak out like something is in front of me when their is nothing. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 20, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | The car will brake seemingly for no reason while on autopilot. The environment does not change at all, yet the car will randomly brake very hard as if someone was in front of me and slammed the brakes. It also happens very commonly, more common than tolerable. No warning beeps or chimes or any indication of anything event. I'm not sure if this is inspectable, I have brought the car to service a few times under warranty for unrelated issues. This problem is pretty much widespread across tesla's autopilot system. This has happened many times, but the most dangerous one by far was on I-75 and slammed the brakes from 85 to 45-35 in a matter of seconds. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 20, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | At highway speeds while using cruise control I experienced several times what is now being called phantom braking. I have ceased using the cruise control as this is a scary problem. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 20, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | I currently drive a 2021 tesla model 3. When I drive this car down two lane highways my cruise control is almost un usable not to mention auto pilot. Almost every time a larger vehicle, something like a semi truck comes from the other direction in the opposite lane my car slams the brakes. At night time it's even worse when headlights are in the distance my car slams the brakes and when the headlights are closer it slams the brakes again. It also has random phantom breaking. I tried the service department and the told me it was a software issue and there was nothing they could do. The technician told me it would improve if I purchased fsd. I don't believe it, if basic cruise control doesn't work how is fsd going to work. I don't know who to contact or even what to do about this issue, the service department refuses to even look at my car. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | The tesla model 3 has unexpectedly braked very hard with no traffic ahead of my vehicle. So fast and hard that seat belts had to restrain passengers. This has happened several times while the autopilot is engaged. This usually is on a 2 lane road and there is traffic on the opposite side of the road. I have noticed if a semi-tractor trailer is approaching on the opposite side it happens 100 % of the time. The auto also steers hard to the right. This is very scary and a vehicles behind the tesla have no warning either. I have almost been hit twice from behind. Makes a lot of angry drivers behind me. I have not used the feature in a month. I called tesla and they said this was normal. It never happened until a recent software update and then it started doing this all the time. Please help |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | Similar to the reporting of others, I wanted to confirm that we had a problem with our tesla 3 auto-pilot feature erroneously triggering emergency braking by misinterpreting oncoming traffic. This happened twice in a similar situation. While driving on a single-lane highway in auto-pilot, the car abruptly braked when a semi-truck passed in the opposite lane. This sudden deceleration could have lead to a rear-end collision but fortunately the driver behind had left enough breaking space. The same thing occurred again on the same road - also with a semi-truck in the opposing lane. This time, vigilant that the auto-pilot might be malfunctioning, the sudden breaking was quickly overcome by pressing the accelerator. There is no doubt on our end that the current version of the auto-pilot will trigger emergency braking mistakenly based on misinterpreting opposing traffic. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | When in autopilot mode, the car will sporadically brake without any obstacles in front of it. This has occurred to me about half a dozen times. Always on the highway. Initially it would happen in the daytime near overpasses or when entering shade from a sunny area. Twice it occurred to me at night, on a well lit interstate in an urban area. This is often referred to as phantom breaking. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving my car and had it on autopilot. The road was empty and all of a sudden the car decided to apply brakes when nothing was infront of it. I was able to take control instantly to prevent a sudden stop however I was lucky there were no cars behind me |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | AL |
| Description | My 2021 tesla model 3 has a issue of what is called phantom braking. On 2 lane undivided highways and on all types of roads the car will randomly slam on the brakes to what I assume is to prevent hitting a obstacle that doesn't exist. The car will apply the brakes extremely fast and drop roughly 20 mph or more in just a few seconds. I am unable to use cruise control on 2 lane highways because it slams on the brakes it seems like anytime it sees a dip in the road or a mailbox on the side of the road it triggers the emergency braking system. I feel lucky that no one has been behind me while these events have happened. It happens almost every time I drive the car. I have contacted tesla about this issue and they say everything is fine and they would rather have a lot of false positives than to miss a actual event. I feel like it is a very unsafe feature and needs to be addressed because other manufacturers have this down with hardly any issues. This has been happening on the car since it was new and has not improved the car has 7500 miles on it. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | When the vehicle is in autopilot at high speed, it breaks suddenly without any visible obstacles. This happens at kraft once every 200 miles of highway driving with autopilot on. The speed drops suddenly from 75 mph to 40 mph. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While driving on the highway without any cars in front of ours, three times the vehicle slammed on the emergency braking system and attempted to stop the car causing cars behind us to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting ours. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Car suddenly brakes, also known as phantom braking, when in cruise control. It does it mostly on 2 lane roads, but it has done it driving on wide open freeways too. It's bad. Makes me feel very unsafe. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Driving on an open 2 lane highway between lecanto and gainesville, car slammed on the brakes while in autopilot. There were no obstructions or other reason to stop. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | With the autopilot engaged on the freeway I have had several of these phantom braking experiences but last night I was lucky to avoid a accident with the car following me.. This happened at 74 miles per hour with the autopilot engaged the brakes slow me down to 60 miles per hour before I could disengage the autopilot. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | MO |
| Description | The car was on fsd jerked right toward a semi truck then jerked left toward the posts in the median as it was accelerating and fsd would not turn off. Was trying to control the car but it kept pushing and accelerating causing us to crash in to the median posts. Normally fsd would turn off if it was unsure but this day it would not. Plus other times it would phantom brake if we were on 2 lane road and met on oncoming large truck. We also had other times of phantom braking going over a hill. We have reported this to tesla but no response yet. We owned this car 11 days when our wreck happened. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | The car has twice gone into emergency braking mode on the interstate for no good reason. One incident was as the car was approaching a dark shadow area under an overpass, and the other was in a construction zone and I have no idea what triggered it. In both cases if someone had been following closely I may have been in trouble. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | MD |
| Description | On several occasions while driving in the highway with autopilot engaged for adaptive cruise control, the car has suddenly applied the brakes very hard when there were no hazards in my lane. This has occurred on curves in the road when oncoming traffic was detected in the other lane and also when there has been a vehicle stopped on the shoulder. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 19, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Several times per week, my vehicle brakes automatically for no apparent reason. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | PA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed with the cruise control engaged, the vehicle would independently brake without warning. The contact stated that he saw an article that referred to the failure as “phantom brakingâ€. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | On multiple occassions, while using the adaptive cruise feature, (but not the auto steer feature) the vehicle will suddenly slow down to the speed limit, without any warning or notification that anything has changed. This happens in multiple occasions on the long island expressway between exits 48 adn 32. The vehicle slows by itself for no reason at all. Fb |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | I owned this 2021 tesla model 3 for six months. On many occasions, while using the adaptive cruise control mainly on two-lane roads at various speeds between 35-55 mph, the car would unexpectedly rapidly apply the brakes when there was no hazard present. This almost got me in a road rage situation, as the following vehicle thought that I intentionally brake-checked them. I discontinued using the system. I no longer on this vehicle, but can provide new owner's information if needed. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | PA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various highway speeds with the adaptive cruise control activated the braking system would erroneously activate causing the vehicle speed to suddenly be reduced. The contact indicated that the failure had occurred on multiple occasions and speed reduction was significant. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 1,400. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | WY |
| Description | 1) when using autosteer and/or adaptive cruise control the vehicle randomly brakes and very rapidly decelerates. This has occurred on at least a dozen drives, beginning on my first long road trip after owning the car for 2 months. 2) if another vehicle is following my car, we could very easily get into a rear-end accident. This happens at high speeds going from 75mph to 55mph in seconds, so the chance of a collision is high. I also become very scared when this happens which temporarily takes my attention away from driving. 3) no the problem has not been reproduced by a dealer. I live 150 miles from the nearest tesla dealership. 4) no the vehicle has not been inspected. 5) no warning signs which is why this "phantom braking" is so terrifying. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | When car is driving on autopilot on highway, it slams on the brakes on its own. This has happened 2-3 times. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | During the use of the autopilot feature in tesla, the car suddenly starts braking with no obstacles. This can cause a safety incident on the road when there are vehicles behind and the tesla suddenly stops for no apparent reason. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | PA |
| Description | I've owned this vehicle since october of 2021, and wish to provide examples of my own issues concerning phantom braking while using the autopilot/traffic aware cruise control feature on my model 3 standard range plus. Having now put roughly 6,000 miles on the vehicle in the conditions found in western maryland/south-central pennsylvania, I've been able to find these consistencies concerning phantom braking: on an undivided 2-lane highway: 1. When it's a dashed line that allows for passing on long straight stretches, more phantom braking incidents occur than when the center line is double-solid. Those are usually 5-15mph braking events until the opposing vehicle has passed without incident. 2. When going down/up a gently sloping hill and the car is unable to see the lines far enough ahead because of a turn. If a vehicle is coming the opposite direction, the car appears to believe that the opposing vehicle is in your lane and coming right at your vehicle. These are usually the hardest phantom braking events. 3. When vehicles are parked parallel along the side of an undivided road, and especially at night, the car appears to think these are threats to its/my safety. I say that they appear worse at night, as when my headlights cause the rear taillights/reflectors to visually brighten, the incidents are more frequent. These vary wildly, from having no braking events to hard braking events. On a divided highway: the most consistent issues in my case happen when going up/down mountains. A highway turns into 3 lanes, with the rightmost lane for large, heavy trucks that are going slower than the rest of traffic. If you are in the middle lane, and that slow truck is using it's 4-way blinkers, autopilot/tacc appears to see it as an emergency vehicle, and heavily brakes. I've gotten in the habit of always using the leftmost lane to avoid this issue. The trucks are clearly in another lane, well out of mine, and are moving, even if slower than the rest of traffic. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | Phantom braking while using cruise control and/or auto pilot. This is most disconcerting at highway speeds especially when it sounds safety alarms most times while doing it |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | UT |
| Description | I have owned my tesla model 3 with fsd for 9 months and have over 10000 miles of driving in the city and highway. Ghost braking has occurred on many occasions and is worse on two lane highways with commercial trucks approaching in the opposite oncoming lane. The vehicle inappropriately and suddenly decelerates from 65 mph to 40 mph. I have had to stop using fsd and adaptive cruise control because of this erratic issue. Recent trip using cruise control (not fsd) on a 4 lane divided highway (I-70 eastbound) there was no surrounding vehicles, no blind hills, obstacles or inclement weather and the vehicle went from 80 mph to 56 mph within a few seconds, requiring me to disengage the cruise control and accelerate to avoid being rear ended. The cruise control and fsd are dangerous and life threatening due to this erratic problem, please start an investigation and recall to remedy these issues before drivers and passengers are injured or killed. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Phantom breaking. Severe application of brakes resulting in up to but not limited to 25 mph decrease of speed when semis are oncoming in other lane. Other times without any vehicles around. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control:software:signage/signal Recognition |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | IA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving at 55 mph with the forward collision adaptive cruise control engaged, the driver was approaching a railroad overpass and the vehicle stopped independently. The cruise control was disengaged and the vehicle operated as designed. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The contact stated that the adaptive cruise control signal recognition was not functioning as designed. The contact reached out to the manufacturer and provided an online form describing the failure. The manufacturer confirmed that the issue was a known failure and that a fix was in the process. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 50. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | GA |
| Description | While driving on autopilot on the highway at about 65mph the car applied the brakes for no reason. The car descends in speed aggressively and can easily cause a rear end collision. This has happened randomly before as well. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | DE |
| Description | During use of the autopilot system on my trip from wilmington de to ga and vice versa, at nurmeous times the car would automatic hard break dropping the speed by 20mph+ stating there are emergency vehicles while there wasn't any or any vehicle in front on the highway, and at various other time during the drive it would auto slow down 1-2 mph for no reason both causing unsafe driving conditions. Each day this happened over 10+ times |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | When the vehicle is in cruise control mode, the brakes will engage for no apparent reason. It has happened three times. The brakes will engage then release causing the car to quickly decelerate and disengage the cruise control. It has only happened on the freeway when driving, no other cars are in front or braking in front of the car. There is no apparent reason for the braking other then cruise control mistake. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | This car has "phantom braking" issue. As the autopilot was on, on the freeway, the speed was around 70 mph, it brakes without any obstacles or car in the front, just a not very even road. Speed dropped suddenly, felt like an emergency. This scared me to use autopilot. And phantom braking happened several times. When I raised this issue to tesla dealership for repair, the answer is - "software updates constantly make autopilot better, and it is in beta and driver agree to it every time driver engage autopilot. Tesla will never force you to use autopilot and can drive normal like any other car." |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | On 2/17/22 at appx. 8:08am with adaptive cruise control engaged the collision warning alarm chimed and the car beaked quickly for 50mph to 30 mph. There was an suv in the oncoming traffic lane. This has happened several times. The system sometimes does not recognize that approaching vehicles are in a correct lane. This happens with larger approaching vehicles such as large suvs and trucks. Additionally we have been getting many (dozens) of dashboard error warnings that one or more of the cameras are blocked or blinded. As tesla has chosen to delete lidar and depend solely on cameras as safety system detectors this affects adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, and cross traffic alert. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Feb 18, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | While driving from austin to nashville, during the last, dark part of our drive, we hit rain. The auto windshield wiper setting did not work, so I had my passenger help with selecting wiper speeds as the wiper speed control is difficult and distracting to use while driving. We tried the auto setting a couple more times to see if there was any change, and noticed that the wipers would turn on when we drove under a light, then off again when the there was no light. We tested this a few more times and it appears that the auto wiper setting only works in well-lit settings (I. E. When it's not raining), and does not work in the dark. It is possible to click a button on the left stalk to trigger a single wipe, but this is ineffective in anything beyond light rain. Due to the inaccessibility of the wiper controls and insufficiency of the single-wipe button, this presents a safety risk while driving the car in the rain. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | While driving with cruise control engaged the vehicle will suddenly brake without reason. I have almost been rear-ended multiple times. My wife had things thrown off of seats and onto the floorboard. When I wrote to tesla they said this can be normal and gave me excuses including lighting problems and semis too close. Frequently this happens with no one around with no lighting problems. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | My 2021 tesla model 3 when on auto pilot or adaptive cruise control some times on a 2 lane road and meeting a large truck in the on coming lane will suddenly apply the brakes. Another case is where there are heavy shadows across the road. Should someone be following closely there could be a rear end collision. Perhaps this problem started after tesla stopped using radar on the 2021 model 3 teslas anyway, this is very concerning to me and my passengers. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | PA |
| Description | While using adaptive cruise control on freeway my suddenly reduces speed significantly quickly as if it's trying to stop. I always fear car behind me is going to bump into my car. Also it hurts passengers into the car when it happens. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | WV |
| Description | When using the traffic-aware cruise system on the interstate, the car will sometimes dramatically reduce its speed (within seconds)/apply the brakes for what appears to be no reason at all (often referred to as phantom braking). The most recent incident occurred while accelerating up an interstate entrance ramp. The car had reached the target speed of 75 mph before suddenly braking and reducing the speed down to around 65mph before I hit the accelerator to prevent it from slowing down any further. Within a few seconds, the care went back to accelerating normally again. There were no warning indicators on the display that would explain why the vehicle slowed down. I've noticed that sometimes there are certain spots on the interstate where this behavior will happen repeatedly. I will be cruising along at a set speed and the vehicle will suddenly slow down for a few seconds then continue back at the set cruise speed. This occurs when there are no other vehicles or objects in front of the car. Available for inspection upon request: yes safety risk: rapid deceleration on the interstate at high speeds risks a rear end collision reproducible: yes, but it seems to occur mostly at random, has not been confirmed by the dealer inspected by others: no warning lamps/messages: only once has it generated a pre-collision warning, all other instances generate no warning/alert only once have I had the system falsely generate a pre-collision warning and dramatically slow the vehicle while the vehicle had just entered the interstate from an entrance ramp (traveling at 70 mph) and no other objects or vehicles were around me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving 72 mph on ca state hwy 99 in the #2 lane. The closest car to me (front) was about 100 yards away in the fast lane #3. I had cruse control on when the vehicle applied its emergency braking bring me down to 54 mph in about a second. This caused the truck behind me to almost hit me. He then went around my vehicle and slammed on his breaks thinking I did it on purpose. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | GA |
| Description | My vehicle will be in autopilot mode on a two lane highway, when suddenly it will brake very hard, so hard that I have to hit the gas to avoid a collision from the car behind me. It also does this on interstates when approaching and passing a tractor trailer. It seems to read the shadow on the road cast by the truck as an obstacle and brakes very suddenly. Taking me from 65mph to much slower in a second or two. It seems very dangerous. This has happened at least 100 times in the past few months. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | I was driving the vehicle on a highway at night and there were no other vehicles around. I engaged the adaptive cruise control to set at 75mph. Suddenly the vehicle applied the break very hard on its own and slowed down to less than 30mph. It was very scary and unsettling. This happened on at least 2 separate occasions within about a month and both times there were no other cars nearby. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | While using either the autopilot or adaptive cruise control, the car will unexpectedly brake for no reason. This happens almost every single time the car is using either of the two features. Sometimes it brakes so hard it creates a safety issue for the cars traveling behind. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | While traveling at highway speeds, the vehicle arbitrarily applies the brakes when adaptive cruise is being used. It is scary to me and my passengers, and I am afraid to use this feature. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | I was driving on highway 70 in florida which is one lane in each direction. When in cruise control the car braked on its own multiple times when car or truck approaced from opposite direction |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Both the adaptive cruise control and the autopilot are dangerously defective. The car will brake without any valid reason. If put into use, the phantom braking will occur several times per hour, regardless of speed. Other drivers have honked at us after nearly rear-ending at highway speeds. We have been unable to use either feature. The car has been back to the dealership in vallejo ca. Hours of data log have been given to tesla. We have loaded every software update including the most recent. Nothing helps. I have given tesla a list of the situations that seem to cause the invalid braking. These include: red & blue markers in nevada that mark highway cross-overs for their highway patrol. Large highway signs at the outside of a curve. K-rail at the outside of a curve, black tar sealant lines on the highway, overhead highway signs as the car is coming up a rise, and many more. We actually made a game of predicting the phantom braking and were right over 50% of the time. As it is, it is unsafe and unuseable. Pending a fix, they should at the very least give drivers the option to revert to plain, old dumb cruise control. It would be far safer. The "autopilot" feature is even worse than the adaptive cruise control. It freaks out at corners with k-rail and when you do see a problem that hasn't registered with autopilot (road hazard) the autopilot fights you trying to take control. I almost crashed into a bumper that was on the highway. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | When driving with traffic aware cruise control and autopilot the car will randomly apply the brakes in causing a severe drop in speed frequently from 70 mph to less than 50 extremely quickly. This happens primarily on undivided highways with no pattern - sometimes when other vehicles are approaching, no distinction between large or small or color, but most frequently and most violently occurs when no vehicles or obstacles are present. This sudden drop and alarm notification from the car can cause me to quickly jerk the steering wheel in response and potentially losing vehicle control. In some occasions this happened at highway speeds with people behind me almost causing a rear-end collision. I put in a repair notice with tesla and the response was that the tacc and autopilot are beta and upon review of trip logs they noticed no faults and closed the repair request. This feature is unsafe and since a cruise control is a necessity for my frequent longer trips, having a car without a functioning cruise control is beyond inconvenient, it is a safety issue. The breaking has also occurred on divided multi-lane roads but less frequently and with less severity. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The automatic cruise control will 'phantom brake' and is unusable on the 2 lane highways near my home. Sometimes the braking is extremely abrupt and if a car was following it could create a very dangerous situation. The car brakes unexpectedly when traffic is coming the other way or of there's an undulation in the road. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Phantom braking with autopilot on one lane highways when larger vehicles approach the vehicle in the other lane. This is easily repeatable on any one lane road, happens literally all the time. My older tesla that still had radar never had this problem. This is a problem with teslas vision only approach to cruise control |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | I was driving along a 2 lane road around 1:00 pm. It is a bright sunny day. I put the car into tacc (traffic aware cruise control) and set a speed of 70mph in a 65 zone. Once a car came a certain distance away traveling in the opposite lane towards my vehicle the car would brake slightly and drop my speed below 70. I corrected the speed drop by applying the accelerator. Again within a few minutes the same behavior occurred when a vehicle in the opposite lane came into view the car braked and dropped my speed by 5-10 miles an hour before I was able to correct and accelerate again to cruising speed. This happened continuously almost every time a car was visible in the other lane until I turned it off. I attempted to use tacc again on the way home on the same ride in the evening and the same behavior occurred where the car would brake suddenly even though nothing was passing in front of the vehicle that would require a stop. I use tacc on freeways regularly and also use autopilot and it generally does not brake when it doesn't need to, but it still can occur on freeways. The most dangerous use is on 2-way roads. It is unusable and constantly brakes the car when another car approaches in the other lane. This braking is sudden and unexpected and could lead to a rear end collision. There is not an option to use cruise control that doesn't cause this problem. I am taking the vehicle to tesla 2/17 and will have them inspect it. There are no warnings or messages on the vehicle saying there is a problem. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | IN |
| Description | While in autopilot, with adaptive cruise and lane assist active, the car will randomly brake despite there being no object or vehicle in front of it that would require braking. It has happened over a dozen times over the past 6 months, primarily on two-lane country roads (where I've stopped using autopilot) but also at least three times on the expressway. Despite no potential collision incidents ahead, the car abruptly braked and I had to disengage autopilot to resume normal speed. Luckily in all cases there was no car directly behind me. On more narrow two-lane roads, I know twice the car has perceived a stopped car on the shoulder as a hazard and has abruptly braked, but most incidents have been on open roads with no obvious hazards ahead. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | KS |
| Description | On several occasions since june 2021, my tesla model 3 has suddenly braked hard on its own while the autopilot cruise control function was engaged (phantom braking). There has been no apparent reason for the sudden braking incidents, and they have happened at highway speeds. When I reported these incidents to my tesla dealer, I was told that tesla was aware of this problem with tesla model 3 vehicles, and that tesla was working on finding a solution. Yet the problem has continued, and occurred again as recently as yesterday |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | MO |
| Description | In cruise control or autopilot, the car will apply brakes randomly and without warning. It is extremely scary to have it slam on the brakes for no reason. Luckily no one was behind me, so I wasn't in danger of causing an accident, but the problem is constant enough I cannot use the cruise control nor autopilot. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | RI |
| Description | My tesla in auto pilot brakes randomly while on the highway or in a lanes roadway. I almost got rear ended last week. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | DC |
| Description | While autopilot was engaged at a speed of around 75 mph, the emergency brakes automatically engaged thought there were no impediments on the roadway. The closest car to the front was too far ahead for it to register on the screen. In another instance the same action occurred but as the car was going under an overpass. It was a sunny day so I assumed the shadows created by the overpass triggered the emergency braking. My spouse also reported two instances that this occurred to her while she was driving alone. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | Phantom braking. Tesla service asked me to record times of incidents. I drove cross country and there was an incident almost every 10 minutes. Most commonly when going over a hill or passing by a truck, the car will stomp on the brakes for no reason, causing danger to myself and other drivers. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | AL |
| Description | The issue is "phantom breaking" while using "traffic aware cruise control" and "auto pilot" the car suddenly breaks for no reason when using either mode listed above. It happens more frequently with sun and shadows than on overcast days. It's so upsetting that I don't try to use either with passengers onboard or when traffic is following close behind. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 17, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would brake without warning while autopilot mode was engaged. The vehicle was not taken to a local dealer to be inspected. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and the contact was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was unavailable. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 16, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While using cruise control on a highway, the car suddenly braked for no reason that I could detect. This has happened 3 or 4 times and I have stopped using cruise control for fear it will reoccur. I reported this to tesla but was told I would need to take the car to santa barbara. I live 90 miles north and traveling to santa barbara is not feasible right now. You ask for dates below and I don't know the dates other than that the incidents occurred between october and december 2021. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure: Assist |
| Date | Feb 15, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | The traffic aware cruise control and auto-steer are easily confused so that the vehicle does unexpected things like suddenly slowing down, even heavy breaking, or disengage steering control while in a corner next to semi-truck. This commonly happens when driving at higher speeds, 70 mph, on the freeway. Suddenly slowing down at such a high speed is dangerous when there are cars following me as they don't expect a sudden slow down when they can clearly see there is no reason for our car slamming on the brakes. In my observation this problems occur most frequently at higher speeds and when approaching a semi truck or overpass. It is especially worse when going through a corner. Sometimes the center barrier seems to cause sudden slowing down. Also, driving in a corner on the freeway while driving next to a semi truck has caused the auto steer to suddenly disengage which in itself was not dangerous since I had both hands on the steering wheel, it certainly startled me which could potentially be dangerous. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 13, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Phantom braking when cruise control is engaged (not auto steer or full self driving) the vehicle will intermittently slow down or apply corrective braking when no hazard exists. This happens more frequently on 2 lane roads but also happens occasionally on multi-lane freeways. On a 2 lane road, my vehicle will either slow down, brake or break hard when anything larger than a suv is coming from the other direction at normal speeds and in his lane. I have also experienced this when there is nobody for 1+ mile in front of behind me. If there are cars behind me, I find myself covering the accelerator and ready to floor it in case my car suddenly slams on the breaks. This make cruise control very unsafe and stressful. I have another tesla vehicle doing the same thing and will post separately on that one. Thank you. |
| Category | Structure:body |
| Date | Feb 13, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | The front latch on the front trunk was replaced due to a fault about a month ago. It has since opened on its own completely while parked. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 12, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | “phantom emergency braking†problem while cruise control engaged. Occurrences are unpredictable as to causation. Examples of emergency braking include: - no apparent reason: no vehicles nearby, no obstacles in road - cresting a hill - bridge overpass - highway overhead signage - vehicles on side of road - vehicles crossing highway but at a distance that is not dangerous - passing large vehicles on highway this problem causes anxiety driver. Could likely create a very dangerous scenario for vehicles following behind should emergency braking engage |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 12, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | In the process of slowing down for traffic, the brake pedal floored by itself and the brakes locked. There was no longer any contact between the foot and brake pedal. If not for the brake locking, the car would have been able to stop in time and avoid a rear end collision. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 12, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | Since we received the car in november 2021 on two lane roads when meeting large profile vehicles like semi's or ups it gives us a collision warning and hard brake, which in heavy traffic scares us of a rear end collision. It happens on both cruise and autopilot. Have been in touch with tesla and they say everything is working correctly. They say they are trying to correct the problem but it's been four months and we are still scared to use the cruise on two lane roads. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 11, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving down the freeway at highway speeds. A motorcycle passed me in the left lane. My car sudden slammed on the brakes at freeway speeds and if a car was following me closely I would have been hit. The motorcycle did not cross my path and I was in no danger of hitting it. I was using cruise control at the time. This has happened more than once. Usually it is when a motorcycle is around. I have stopped using cruise control if I see a motorcycle on the road. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Unknown Or Other, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 11, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Phantom braking. The tesla brakes without warning or provocation when on cruise control. On two lane roads brakes deploy forcefully every time a semi truck is traveling in the on coming lane. It does not have to be on a curve. It is every time a large truck is in the opposing lane. On 4 lane divided highways, it will forcefully brake (from 75 mph down to 40 mph in seconds) climbing small hills, patches of tar on the roads, shadows, off ramps, side roads and for no apparent reason. I have almost been rear ended when a car is following closely and it happens. I have recorded these incidents , reported to tesla, taken the vehicle for diagnostics and they have no answer and imply that occasionally it may happen however, it should not be an issue. It is a dangerous problem and an accident waiting to cause serious injury. I drive daily with my job and it happens every day. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 11, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | I received delivery of a tesla model 3 long range vehicle on oct 25, 2021. On nearly every occasion that I use the “autopilot†cruise control feature, one or more phantom braking events occur. When this happens, my vehicle decelerates rapidly and without warning with enough force to thrust my head and upper torso forward. In all cases, there is nothing in the road and no perceivable road condition to warrant this behavior. Fortunately, no one has been close behind me yet when this has occurred since it would surely result in a rear end collision. There appears to be no consistent pattern: it happens on sunny and cloudy days; day and night; highway and surface streets. I have gotten into the habit of leaving my foot resting gently on the accelerator when in autopilot mode in order to react quickly to these events and hopefully avoid a collision. On dec 17, 2021 I mentioned this issue during a service appointment at my local tesla dealership. The response was that this was a common and known problem with model 3's and would be hopefully worked out in future software updates as the system “learnsâ€. Four software updates later, the problem has not been resolved and in fact seems to be occurring more frequently. I believe this phantom braking problem is a serious safety issue that tesla should immediately address. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 11, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | The automatic braking system performs pretty well on interstate highways. However, on two lane highways and secondary roads, heavy braking occurs for no apparent reason and with no warning resulting in several near misses for rear end collisions. I can solve the problem by not using cruise control; but, cruise control prevents me from unintentionally speeding. Either this unintentional heavy braking needs to be technologically resolved and/or I need to be provided with the option to switch to conventional cruise control in which I set the speed and determine when the cruise control is deactivated. This issue has ocurred dozens of times during my 5 months and ~10,000 mile ownership. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 09, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Cruise control will slow abruptly without notification or apparent reason. Driving in the middle of the desert on an interstate with cruise control activated and the vehicle will suddenly apply emergency braking for no apparent reason. No other vehicles in close proximity. No crossroads, overpasses or entry/exit ramps in close proximity. Braking event occurs every time cruise control is initiated and occurs several times in one session. This is a critical safety hazard and needs to be addressed immediately. If a large truck was following close behind, they would not be able to slow in time which could have deadly consequences. Tesla shows no concern to fix this critical flaw in an expeditious manner. This needs to be investigated and corrected immediately before someone has to pay the ultimate price. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 09, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | While on autopilot I experience regular abrupt phantom breaking around semi trucks. This has nearly caused several accidents. I will be going from 60 mph to nearly full stop. This is incredibly unsafe and I no longer feel comfortable using this feature around semi trucks. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 09, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking system failed/malfunctioned. The car is in a tesla authorized body shop for inspection. The airbag deployed and prevented any injury but the accident did put my life and others at risk. The car was inspected by tesla's authorized body shop. There was no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. The car was brand new, and I believe a possible explanation is tesla taking out the radar and replacing it with tesla vision. I tried to contact tesla for an investigation but no response. I received a 30k bill to fix the car, and tesla did not take any responsibility. Here is the footage: https://www. Dropbox. Com/s/sat1w5i0gl6bwsr/2021-12-20_10-56-45-front. Mp4? Dl=0 |
| Category | Back Over Prevention: Sensing System: Camera, Electrical System, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Feb 08, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Since the v11 user interface update, when you put the car into reverse, the rear camera sometimes does not show up, or often shows up only after a delay. Sometimes the delay is just a second or two, other times it is a minute or seems to hang forever. Today I was parked in front of my kid's school dropoff zone, and needed to back up after they got out to leave. When I went into reverse the cameras were just black and stayed that way. This was especially worrying in this scenario since small children could be walking behind me that I wouldn't be able to see without the camera. This was never a problem until the v11 user interface update, which also causes other safety problems, by burying important functions behind menus. For instance you now have to dig into a menu and reach all the way to the right side of the screen to operate the wipers, you have to dig into menus to operate basic climate control functions that used to be immediately available, etc. |
| Category | Electrical System:horn, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Feb 08, 2022 |
| State | MA |
| Description | When pressing the horn in the center of my steering wheel, it only activates when certain regions are pressed. When pressing certain regions of the wheel, such as the bottom half of the wheel, a switch is heard clicking, but the horn does not activate. This issue has been reported elsewhere on forums with videos e. G. In one case where the left portion of the wheel's center area did not activate the car's horn. I have discussed this issue with my local tesla service center on four occasions and demonstrated it to the technician. But the issue is never addressed and I have now been told that bringing up the defect will incur fees from the service center. Https://teslamotorsclub. Com/tmc/threads/model-3-horn-issue-check-the-left-side. 137767/ ^here, there are at least 47 reports of the issue occuring, based on the thread's poll. I wouldn't mind this issue terribly much, except there has now been 3-4 separate incidents where I have had to use the horn in an emergency situation (e. G., when another car is changing lanes without noticing my car next to it). During these incidents, I was either unable to activate the horn, or only able to activate the horn in a delayed manner as I worked to activate the horn by pressing it in a specific manner to enable it. My own video of the issue: https://imgur. Com/a/dpxv7st |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 08, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | Tesla is phantom breaking for no reason. It could cause me to be rear ended by another car. This is happening more and more to me. Tesla purchased in oct. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 08, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Sudden/phantom braking of tesla model 3 with no apparent obstacles in sight while on adaptive cruise control both with and without auto steering. First noticed on a trip from sf bay area to san diego in august 2021 at mileage about 2,000 miles. On a longer trip from the bay area to colorado in october 2021 with mileage about 5000 miles, we further tested it on desolate stretches of highways with speed limits from 65 to 85 mph. Over the course of the trip, the problem occurred over 20 times. We turned off all the automatic driving functions and have not used them since october. We prepared a detailed spreadsheet of all the incidents. See attached. In november, we reported the sudden braking problem to tesla, along with the spreadsheet. They could not use the data I provided and asked me for more recent timestamp of the braking problem. I refused to test the car on busy bay area freeways because it was simply too dangerous. After much back and forth, they decided to test drive for themselves. I informed them that the problem was sporadic and would need to test drive for at least 2 to3 hours. On the first service appointment, they drove for about 15 miles and determined that they could not replicate the problem but would recalibrate the cameras. On the second appointment, instead of recalibrating the cameras as promised, they did another test drive. Again, they only drove for 15 miles and determined that they could not replicate the problem and asked that I contact them if the problem occurred again. I believe this problem is extremely dangerous and have not turned on the autopilot features since october. During my interactions with tesla service employees, they seem to act as though this is the first time they heard of the problem. I don't believe tesla is treating this problem seriously enough to take immediate action and needs the attention of nhtsa. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 08, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | Phantom braking occurs intermittently since vehicle purchase while operating autopilot cruise control. My tesla suddenly brakes without any vehicle ahead to warrant this action. Cars following me could easily slam into the rear of my car. Luckily that has not yet occurred. I have not noted any associated warning lights or alarms. I am awaiting replacement of the car computer (prompted by needing to reboot computer repeatedly), but this has been delayed several months due to parts unavailable. Consumer was unable to use cruise control because of the numerous times car brake mysteriously while driving on a freeway. Consumer reported the issue to tesla and tesla stated it was a bug immediately when it occurs. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 07, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The car makes sudden braking when cruise control and/or autopilot is engaged. It's very frustrating as the car thinks it's emergency braking because of something in front of the vehicle but the sensors are misreading the stopping. It's very scary. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 07, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | - yes - the cruise control portion of autopilot has some dangerous bugs in it ('21 model 3 long range). At freeway speeds, the phantom braking is scary asf!!! Potentially, getting someone killed. While on my road trip between los angeles and denver then back. I experience at least 20 to 30 phantom braking events from mild to dam near scaring the f$$k out of me. Most of these events were during the day at speeds that would have caused a serious accident if someone was following me too close!! During the night time the events were all mild in comparison to the day time events. -yes -no -no |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 07, 2022 |
| State | VT |
| Description | When traveling on a two-lane highway, oncoming traffic - especially larger vehicles such as semi trucks - cause the car to think it is going to hit the oncoming traffic and engages the brakes and sounds the forward collision warning. If the driver is not quick, there is danger of being rear-ended due to the sudden and unexpected braking. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 07, 2022 |
| State | MI |
| Description | With autopilot/adaptive cruise control engaged, the vehicle slows precipitously on the freeways before large overhead signs across the freeway. There is no need for this reduction in speed due to safety. The system phantom brakes. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 07, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While driving up sr95 in az at 65mph, the car suddenly provided an audio alert and then slammed on the brakes. It felt as the anti-lock may have engaged. When control was regained, I glanced at the screen and it appeared that it believed a person was in front of the car. There was nothing in front of the car at the time except the road and its common tar-snakes. All safety features were manually turned off to resume the drive. Though within seconds of turning on cruise control, it would start braking and being erratic forcing me to not use the basic cruise control. This was not while autopilot was engaged. At the time of the main incident, cruise control wasn't even engaged. I was in full control of the vehicle and the throttle. But I could not override the braking. Thankfully the person behind was far enough not to be a major risk, but that was luck. Had anyone been following at your average distance, it would have been a rear end collision. This system is not safe and I will be looking at replacing the vehicle on this incident alone. I had experienced phantom braking often in the past, but never like this one where it panicked and slammed on the brakes so hard as to cause pain in my wife's shoulder due to the belt. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Feb 07, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | The new tesla touch screen ui is a major safe risk. Tesla has decided to hide the controls for the defrosters and wipers to such a degree that we are required to trust the automatic solutions for both and they both are abject failures. The manual controls worked fine, but the new ui is such a disaster, that we can no longer safely use the controls without taking our eyes off the road and touch the screen multiple times. I have contacted tesla multiple times about this and will continue to do so requesting a way to roll back the software update. They refuse to do anything about this, so I have no recourse except to file safety complains to the nhtsa. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Unknown Or Other, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 06, 2022 |
| State | MA |
| Description | Phantom breaking. The basic autopilot cruise control frequently + aggressively brake as it detects phantom threats due to obscured sensors. Car can brake from 65 to e. G. 40mph rapidly, causing more risk, due to the rapid deceleration. Car needs a basic cruise control feature |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 05, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? - cruise control. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? - traveling at 55-60 mph on a 2 lane highway at night when the car suddenly put on brakes because it must of saw something but there was nothing. I believe this is called "ghost braking". There was a car behind us and had to slow down as well. Luckily no accident was caused but scared my wife and I. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? No. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? It happened so fast I did not see any warning lights. The car just suddenly started to brake hard. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 05, 2022 |
| State | MN |
| Description | Adaptive cruise control is becoming dangerous on two lane roads. It repeatedly tries to slam on the brakes as if there is an obstacle whenever a large truck or similar vehicle passes in the oncoming lane. It is dangerous to vehicles driving behind us and defeats the purpose of having adaptive cruise control. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 05, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The car keeps abruptly braking between 10-20 mph speed reduction while at highway speeds. Seems to be when there's minor hills or curves but otherwise entirely open road without nearby vehicles. Happening in a 4 lane and 2 lane highway with cruise control set (not self driving or autopilot) and the autopilot, autosteer, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking options are all confirmed off. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 05, 2022 |
| State | ND |
| Description | The car has been phantom braking wrecklessly since july and has not been fixed. It almost caused an accident yesterday morning on the way home from my work. There was a vehicle approaching in the oncoming traffic lane and the lights were on. My car slammed on its brakes causing the person behind me to swerve. If it is low light conditions and a car is approaching in the oncoming traffic lane my tesla will phantom brake almost always. This started with the vision only vehicles as my past teslas with radar did not do this. It is now impossible to drive in low light conditions even with cruise control without the car slamming on its brakes constantly in autopilot or cruise. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 05, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | We recently purchased a new tesla model 3. This vehicle has tesla vision and doesn't have the radar unit to assist with tacc or autosteer. With this vehicle, it has phantom braking on a frequently basis. For example, I drive on a two lane highway and in a 20 mile drive in clear daylight the vehicle will phantom brake anywhere from 5-10 during the trip. These phantom braking vary from random light braking for no reason to full on hard braking. Fortunately, we've been lucky not to have anyone behind us when these incidents occur. I've contacted tesla and given them multiple dates and times. I was told that they were able to look at some data on the car and it appears everything is working as it should and it "should" get better with updates. I was also given a bunch of excuses why it was working as it should. I even sent tesla a video of it doing a hard phantom brake and I was told that the highway was narrow. I've argued with them that this is occurring every day on every drive when we are on a two lane highway. I basically get told that it's functioning as it should, which clearly it is not. When I tell them I owned a 2019 model 3 and we had zero phantom braking issues with it, but they have no answers. I feel their go to answers are it's a software issue and blame the engineers, which us customers don't have access to. This is going to cause a crash one day if this issue isn't taken seriously. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While using adaptive cruise control the car unexpectedly and unnecessarily brakes, rather sharply at times. This occurs especially frequently on two lane roads with curves and with trucks coming from the opposite direction. This does not occur, in my 6 months of owning this tesla model 3, on freeways. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | On january 26th at about 4:30 pm pm on a clear day I was proceeding west at approximately 55mph on us33 between barboursville and ruckersville va on a straight section of the road with a slight downward slope. I was not using cruise control. A tractor-trailer sized truck was going east and as it approached my tesla braked hard, maybe maximally, and the panel flashed red, I think. I think I stepped on the brake pedal, but the braking ended instantly as the truck passed. There was no skidding or swerving. No car was close so there was no collision. There was no warning. The police were not called. I have not contacted the manufacturer - yet, as I assume it is a software problem that they are already working on. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | The car phantom brakes a lot. When sun is directly hitting from front, the car wouldn't go in autopilot. The car phantom brakes on 1 lane streets a lot when there is a car coming from the front. When going the speed limit, it changes automatically to lower speed limits out of nowhere and is a hazard and dangerous because there are cars coming from the back and can hit the car when it reduces the speed very fast. Have submitted multiple phantom braking issues with tesla with pressing and holding right scroll wheel but nothing has happened so far to correct this issue. When a big trailer changes lane and comes to the near lane of the car, the car thinks it's going to hit the truck so it phantom brakes. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Our tesla model 3, while using the adaptive cruise control, will apply full brakes with either nothing in the road ahead or with oncoming traffic on a 2-lane highway. This is extremely dangerous and a hazard to vehicles behind us. This occurs every time it is used, with frequency up to 4 times in a single minute. Tesla has cancelled 2 service requests this month stating this is normal operation. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Car applied brakes while cruise control was engaged. There were no other vehicles around (either in front, approaching, or behind) |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | SC |
| Description | This has happened frequently since I took delivery of the vehicle, I did have one repair request with tesla but they said they could not duplicate and the vehicle did not store enough data to confirm an issue. When driving with adaptive cruise control or cruise control with lane centering (autopilot) enabled the vehicle will slam on brakes (like full emergency braking) with nothing in front of me. Sometimes it chimes warning of a potential collision, sometimes it gives no visual or audible reason. It also will have more frequent events of mild to moderate braking. These events happen on interstates and two lane roads mostly but has also happened on multiple lane lower speed roads as well. It has gotten to where I do not use these features as I have almost been rear ended multiple times now due to these events. Tesla's general attitude to this was that it wasn't a big deal which I completely disagree. I have driven older teslas that still have a radar chip and it happens much less frequently and less severe on those. When I purchased the vehicle they informed me that the radar was no longer necessary and that it was to reduce these events. This happens from 20mph to 80+ all the way from 10 miles to the current 15,000 |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | NV |
| Description | I've complained to tesla as well. No known fix at this time. When autopilot is engaged, it will pick up phantom objects and brake hard to avoid. I notice this happens mostly when passing semis, rvs, trailers. I see this happening on any turn where a vehicle is in the lane next to you or on the other side of the road. The latest one I had autopilot engaged, I was alone on the highway, and it braked hard for no reason. Brought me from 75-80 mph down to 20 mph in an instant. It then accelerated hard up to 80 again. Within a couple of seconds, it braked hard again down to 20 mph. Autopilot doesn't work. Tesla had no fix and their recommendation was to not use it anymore. I bought the tesla for that reason. Full self driving is even worse. I'm afraid to use it because I have a delayed reaction in full self driving mode. It is unsafe and it will cause an accident. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | AR |
| Description | While driving on the highway and using auto pilot it has had multiple instances of phantom brakes doing highway speeds it will slow cars down rapidly and for no apparent reason. Really needs to get corrected. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | Car continues to have instances of phantom braking, no acknowledgment from tesla regarding the issue. Occurs randomly and unpredictably, causing a serious safety hazard for cars following behind on the road. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | When the car is in assisted autopilot, the vehicle will brake very hard when not necessary. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving 65 on highway 12 in california with the cruise control on and the car hit the brakes for no reason. I was not using autopilot, I was still controlling the steering. The car behind me had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting me. This has happened several times and I am not afraid to use cruise control |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | WI |
| Description | Since about november tesla has been doing random emergency braking both day and night in the middle of the highway almost causing numerous near miss accidents while on auto pilot. Also scaring the hell out myself and other passengers. It sends my dog in the back seat flying forward too. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | MS |
| Description | Any time I have the car in autopilot, it unexpectedly phantom brakes. Even when I'm not using autopilot, and I am using cruise control, the phantom braking still occurs. In several instances I have had people come close to hitting my car's rear. The braking is not subtle. It is rapid and aggressive. This issue creates a major danger for anyone in my car and others on the road. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | VA |
| Description | I have experienced several incidents of “phantom braking.†the brakes automatically apply, slowing the car abruptly, when there is no discernible reason. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Feb 04, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | In december, tesla released a software update that made model 3 and model y cars unsafe to operate. They hid the defroster buttons and many other important controls behind menus that require multiple touchscreen presses to operate. This is unsafe to do while driving and as such we don't drive this car if the weather is at all suspect. The interface for safely operating a car should not rely on taking your eyes off the road to navigate touchscreen menus. Tesla has refused to roll back the software update and has promised a future update in the future to address some of these concerns. It's been over a month now. This needs immediate attention. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas:autonomous/self Driving |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Phantom braking occurs often and cannot use the autopilot. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | System: traffic aware cruise control safety risk: full regenerative breaking in the fast lane on a highway with a car following behind. Car behind had to initiate emergency braking. Reproduced by dealer: did not contact dealer inspected by manufacturer: did not contact manufacturer warnings: no, braking automatically initiated system: lane departure warning safety risk: misreading a parking garage and initiating lane departure warning chime reproduced by dealer: did not contact dealer inspected by manufacturer: did not contact manufacturer warnings: yes, warning chime initiated and warning message. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | When using traffic aware cruise control or auto steer the car phantom breaks and issues warning chimes when it senses large vehicles approaching on undivided 2 lane roads. The car also phantom brakes when it misidentifies shadows on these same 2 lane roads. I have almost been rear ended by closely following traffic several times. This has been happening since new. We have been patient, hoping a software update would fix this very well known problem. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | DC |
| Description | On several occasions, when the car was on cruise control and for no apparent reason, it suddenly braked from 70/65 mph to 30. Not only was this startling and frightening, it could have caused a rear-end collision, especially on interstate 66 in va where cars often follow too close. I contacted tesla twice about the issue and set up a service appointment. Tesla cancelled the appointment the day before, saying they needed to have specific "time stamps" of the incidents. When I gave them a several day range, they said that wasn't specific enough, that I should drive the car and "time stamp" the next incident. Great idea, tesla, for me to risk injury so they can get a "time stamp". In a word, they were dismissive and responded as if this were the first they'd heard of such a problem. It is a significant safety issue not only for the driver but for anyone in nearby cars. I have only had the car 4+ months and it terrifies me. The washington post had an article this week indicating this is a problem with many teslas. Now I know I'm not alone. Would appreciate nhtsa's assistance in getting this safety issue resolved. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | When vehicle is in full self drive mode, sometimes it mistakenly detects an obstacle on the highway and applies brakes. This event presents risk of getting rear ended at high speed on highways. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | While driving in cruise control, my tesla 3 braked for no reason. No accident occurred because no one was behind me. It has happened about 10 times. It has not been confirmed by a dealer because I do not live near a dealer. It has not been inspected by the manufacturer, police or insurance representatives. No warning lights or messages appeared to warn me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | 1. Vehicle brakes for no reason while on traffic aware cruise control 2. At night on come head lights appear to cause braking while on traffic aware cruise control. 3. Vehicle brakes for no reason when on traffic aware cruise control when on two lane road (one lane each direction) when on coming large vehicle approaching. 4. Vehicle brakes for no apparent reason while on traffic aware cruise control when light conditions cause high contrast shadows on the road. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | When using the adaptive cruise control on the vehicle, which is the only cruise control there is, the car will often brake hard for no reason, or inappropriate reasons. This most recent incident was a two lane highway (one lane each direction) where oncoming cars who were in their lane would cause the car to think a collision was imminent, start beeping, and brake hard. Another incident appeared to brake for shadows, but I am unsure! Overall the experience, and experiences of many other tesla owners facing similar problems has caused me to just be unable to use cruise control at all as I fear it could cause an accident. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | Phantom braking occurs about once every 15-20 minutes of long distance highway driving while using tesla autopilot. Specifically, for no apparent reason, with no obstacle in front or near the car, while driving highway speed on autopilot, the car suddenly slams on the brakes on its own. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Since my ownership, I have experienced multiple phantom braking incidents with my 2021 tesla model 3 long range. I would estimate that I experience 3 to 5 severe phantom braking incidents per week. It is nearly a daily occurrence during my daily commute to work. Sometimes there are multiple incidents during one leg of my commute. I have filed several requests for service with tesla through their application and every time the technical support says the system is working properly. I have given them explicit details and information about the incidents which have helped them to identify the time and location but they have never fixed/changed/remedied the phantom braking issue. I have filed these requests for service to protect myself if I'm ever involved in a serious accident due to these phantom braking incidents. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Phantom braking for no apparent reason. Worst occurrence was this morning driving home from work on cruise control, max speed cruise 73mph, suddenly my car braked on its own down to 59mph in 2 seconds. Very scary. My wrist hurts from that incident & my forehead almost hit the steering. Nothing in front & thank god no tailgating car behind me. This is not safe. It happens to me all the time but this was the scariest of all. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | While using the autopilot feature on my tesla, there have been several instances where the car will brake suddenly for no apparent reason. This has happened at high speeds and at slow speeds under various conditions. The braking is so severe that if a car was following behind they would have to react quickly to avoid an accident. Multiple instances over the last year. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | 1st incident driving on a 2 lane road @ 55mph with no oncoming traffic emergency braking occurred (with all the warning lights and sounds) with no obstacles in my path. 2nd incident driving on a 8 lane highway @65 mph (I-71) with very little traffic (and no oncoming obstacles) emergency braking occurred (with all the warning lights and sounds) no obstacles in my path. 3rd incident driving on a different 2 lane road @ 45 mph emergency braking occurred (with all the warning lights and sounds) no obstacles in my path. I have only owned the vehicle 2. 5 months and less the 1300 miles on the odometer. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | TX |
| Description | When driving in several locations near my home, with cruise control engaged (not full driving, just cruise control), the car will suddenly slow to ~20mph and stay at that speed for a few moments, and then accelerate back up to the legal speed limit of 55mph, 60mph, etc. There are no objects on or near the road, no other cars, and it appears to be a problem with the software that identifies if there is an object in the road to automatically reduce speed or slow down. There are no warning chimes, no feedback to the driver of the reason to slow down, no posted speed limit signs, etc. I can duplicate this every time I traverse these roadways. One of the most significant reasons I purchased this vehicle was it's advertised safety features like emergency braking and such. However, with this problem, I either have to disable the auto-braking feature, or not use the driving assist features (like cruise control). This is a significant issue for me, and I have no doubt going from a 60mph roadway to 20mph for no reason will result in me getting rear-ended or at the very least cause problems for drivers behind me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | WI |
| Description | Driving on cruise control only. Autopilot was not engaged. I was cruising at 50mph when it "phantom" braked out of nowhere. It was clear as day in front of me and luckily the car behind me was a hundred yards or so. It abruptly decreased speed to 35mph before I could get back up to speed by manually using the accelerator to override cruise control. This has happened many times and I'm afraid to use such features moving forward. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | When driving at low speeds (below35) we have had 2 instances of the car braking with no obstacles. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | NE |
| Description | Driving on the interstate in autopilot with nobody in front of me but there was somebody riding my rear. And the vehicle decided to phantom break which almost caused the guy to rear end me while going 75 mph it could have been lethal. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 03, 2022 |
| State | SC |
| Description | I've had 2 incidents of phantom braking in 13 months of ownership. Both times when using cruise control. Scary stuff. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | During a 144 mile trip, my late 2021 model 3 "phantom-braked" 4 separate times in just one day. Meaning the car saw some imaginary object in front of it and proceeded to slam on the brakes with traffic behind me. The first two occurrences this day were due to what I'm assuming is the shadow of two semis. The third occurrence was after driving past a van on the shoulder with the autopilot system off. The last occurrence, before I seriously began to feel unsafe in this car, occurred when about to cross below an overpass with nonexistent traffic in front of me. Up until this specific day, I've experienced 4 phantom braking events spread across 4 months and 4500 miles. After today, and an additional 4 occurrences of phantom braking added within a few miles, my model 3 feels unsafe to me |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | Phantom braking when using cruise control. Car suddenly braking or rapidly decelerating for now discernible reason when traveling at speed on highways, both two-lane and multilane. The problem has occurred many times since first acquired in december 2021. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | Phantom breaking has occurred regularly with this vehicle when using adaptive cruise control on two-lane roads. Oncoming traffic in the opposite lane will cause the vehicle to suddenly decelerate, which has led to moments where the vehicle was rear ended. This has most typically occurred during curves in the road. There has never been a valid reason for the sudden deceleration, and the car is apparently confusing the oncoming vehicle with a imminent danger. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | When in autopilot (adaptive cruise control) the vehicle intermittently slams on the brakes at highway speeds. I have not been able to determine any pattern for when this will happen - it's disruptive and potentially dangerous. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | When adaptive cruise control is engaged the car brakes when it sees oncoming traffic even though the vehicle is clearly in it lane. This also happens when it sees a semi truck driving in the same direction but in the adjacent lane. Its at a minimum annoying but it is quite dangerous especially when cars are behind me. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | IL |
| Description | When driving north on highway 61 between st. Louis, mo and hannibal, mo and using "autopilot" adaptive cruise control, the vehicle will slam on it's brakes even when nothing is on the road in front of it. It happens multiple times through the duration of this trip. It's absolutely terrifying, and I hope it doesn't ever take effect when vehicles are behind me. It's so scary that I've stopped using cruise control out of fear it will brake check for no reason and cause an accident. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | When using autopilot and/or cruise control, the vehicle will brake hard for absolutely no reason. For example, when driving at highway speeds, the vehicle will drop from 70 mph to 45 mph in an instant. In my experience, it tends to happen when there are sudden changes in ambient light. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The problem I am having, when I use traffic-aware cruise control, is "phantom braking" this has occurred multiple times on two-lane highways when a large truck is passing in the opposite lane, and sometimes on a freeway when I pass a large truck that is in the right lane. The car suddenly slows or stops and the forward collision warning alarms sound. My vehicle is available for inspection upon request. This upsets everyone in the vehicle because it is so sudden that they are startled and frightened when the alarm sounds and the car abruptly brakes. My wife has asked me to not use the traffic-aware cruise control at all because of this problem. I have owned the car almost 9 months and my wife has not and will not drive it because of the this problem. It is also quite dangerous because a vehicle behind me would not be expecting me to slow down or stop when there is no apparent reason to do so and may crash into my car. I have not contacted tesla because I have thought the problem would be fixed by now with a software update, but after a number of updates the problem persists. I know other tesla owners are having the same problem. I will contact tesla today. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Power Train, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | MN |
| Description | While driving the vehicle using autopilot or adaptive cruise control, the vehicle "phantom brakes" - meaning the vehicle abruptly applies the brakes to slow down even though there are no obstacles in the road. This happens almost every time either one of these systems is used. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | The car was running 2021. 40. 6 at the time of latest incident, but have noticed it with previous verisons as well. Car abruptly brakes hard on the freeway when autopilot is being used. I have the non-fsd beta version, with just basic autopilot. I had to immediately intervene to prevent a car behind me from colliding. The driver assumed I was brake checking them. I've seen reports of this incident repeat with other teslas owned by friends - have not gone to the service center as they aren't very helpful with software issues. The car has not been inspected I don't recall receiving any warning from the car - the car suddenly started braking hard on the freeway, so I had to disengage autopilot and accelerate immediately |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | NM |
| Description | The vehicle will unexpectedly slam on the brakes while using the traffic aware cruise control. I've noticed it happens mostly on two lane highways with oncoming traffic or heavy shadows on the road. It will also happen on interstates when a shadow is on the road or a dark patch. I'm afraid I will be rear ended if this continues. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | WA |
| Description | The vehicle, while operating in autopilot mode, will automatically brake aggressively for no apparent reason. No physical object including shadows or potholes are in the way for this to occur. I have experienced this phantom braking on multiple occasions while using the driver assist mode on (autopilot). Being the attentive driver that I am, I quickly disengage the autopilot and manually take over to avoid a rear end collision. I have not had the vehicle inspected by tesla or my insurance company as this is apparently a common theme with this car. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | On a recent road trip from ca to ut while driving on four lane roads whenever I had traffic-aware cruise control enabled and approached a large vehicle from the passing lane the vehicle would suddenly slam on the brakes, dropping 15-25 mph in seconds, it would also do this for zero apparent reason when there was no other vehicles or objects within sight. Several times it almost caused a collision when a vehicle was following to closely behind us. I had to disable and stop using the feature to avoid a possible rear end collision! |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | HI |
| Description | Our 2021tesla model 3, delivered in september 2021, has ongoing, repeated problems with sudden, unexpected braking, whenever cruise control or auto-steer is engaged. This happens regularly while driving on two lane highways, usually when a large sized vehicle is approaching in the opposing lane, but it also occasionally happens when there is no oncoming vehicle. Typically, an alarm also sounds and a warning light flashes in the car, warning of imminent collision risk. This happens every time we have used cruise control or auto-steer sometimes with nearly every large oncoming vehicle. This is unsafe because of the risk of a rear-end collision. The car dramatically slows. It also risks injury to the car occupants from being thrown forward unexpectedly. Along with the alarm and flashing signal, the braking is so dangerous and unnerving that it makes cruise control and auto-steer unusable. We have complained to tesla of this problem. Tesla recently shipped the car to inspect more fully at its facility in honolulu, but so far has reported that it is operating within "normal parameters." the rep suggested that the cruise control is not designed to work on a two lane highway such as we have on the big island of hi, although she says that it does not happen with every tesla here. It occurs even on straight, level sections of wide, two lane highways with clearly marked lanes and wide shoulders. Tesla still has our car. When we read the washington post article explaining that many others are experiencing this problem, we felt we should report as well. We have advised tesla that the cruise control and auto-steer functions in our car are unsafe and unusable in their current condition. We do not use cruise control or auto-steer except to test whether the problem has been fixed. We do not have full self-driving. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 02, 2022 |
| State | LA |
| Description | Recently, at least it was noticed starting in dec 2021, while driving on two lane highways under cruise control or self driving, the vehicle would brake hard at vehicles approaching in the opposite lane. Large trucks especially triggered the response. The braking response definitely put the safety of the occupants and following vehicles at risk. I have not taken it to a dealer or service center. There were no warning lamps, messages or any symptoms prior. I have stopped using those features while on two lane roads. I certainly am hoping for a software update to solve this issue. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Feb 01, 2022 |
| State | NM |
| Description | Since purchasing my tesla new in 6/21, I've been experiencing random and dangerous "phantom braking" where the vehicle will suddenly brake hard on the highway for no reason. On a few occasions, this created a hazard for motorists behind me. This has been occurring in rural and urban settings with the vehicle's cruise control or autopilot set. It doesn't matter which system I use, phantom braking is persistent in both. I contacted tesla service twice on this issue and each time I was informed "no malfunction found with sensors or vehicle operation." I was hopeful that tesla would release a software update to mitigate this issue (other tesla owners have voiced this issue on social media and forums), however nothing has been resolved in the 7 months I've owned this vehicle. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Feb 01, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Emergency braking is applied while using adaptive cruise or autopilot. This happens on two lane undivided roads with larger vehicles approaching on the opposite side. It does not happen with cars or pick ups. For no reason the forward collision warning will sound and emergency braking is applied. If a vehicle is behind my car I would have been rear ended. I have sent error reports over the air to tesla at the moment. I also brought my car into service and documented this issue. They did recalibrate the forward cameras but no difference was seen. Just out of the blue the car will. Reduce speed by 20 mph. In my video the speed went from 46 to 29. The funny thing is it did not slow fir the oversized truck. I have videos if the incidents but I cannot upload them on here. |
| Category | Electrical System:adas |
| Date | Jan 31, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | While driving in cruise control at set at 75mph, the car suddenly started to slow down. (note, the nearest car ahead of me was at least 15 car lengths away and was not braking, so it should not have affected my speed) when I tried to accelerate, the car continued to de-accelerate. I looked at the screen and it indicated that cruise control was set at 50. When the car reached 50 mph, it stopped de-accelerating and I was able to increase my speed. I tapped the brake to get out of cruise control and continued my trip. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Steering |
| Date | Jan 31, 2022 |
| State | IN |
| Description | Hello, driving on a snowy road around 20 mph. Attempted to slow down in a straight line, used the brakes to try and slow vehicle to go into a driveway. Vehicle would not respond to any inputs. The brake pedal seemed frozen, coming off and back on the brake pedal did not change anything. There sounded like an abs pulsing but it was not working. Post accident pictures showed it looked like the car was dragging one axle like it was locked in the snow. Car ending up grazing a mailbox post and afterword said 'take control'. I believe the car tried to do an automated braking maneuver which did not work. The road was covered in 1-2" of snow and the mailbox would have been a reference point in the distance. When turning the steering wheel away from the object that was hit, the car continued to go straight like the wheels were not attached. The car never veered left or right during this whole event even though I tried to turn. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Jan 30, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | Purchased my model 3 in august 2021. Autopilot and cruise control features worked flawlessly for the first few months of ownership. In september of 2021 after a software update, the vehicle started to perform unsafe reactions while on autopilot or cruise control. If any large vehicle like a semi-truck or vans were traveling in the opposite direction of travel on any two lane road, cruise control or autopilot will slam on the breaks and activate the forward collision warning tones. Reactions like this from driver assist technology could easily result in a multi-car accident. While commuting on a busy road (10 miles) on cruise control/autopilot, this issue could occur over 10 times on one drive. While making contact with tesla service in september, a representative said that tesla's autopilot software team was aware of the issue affecting model 3's similar to my vin. The representative ensured that the team was working on a software update to fix this issue. This problem continued until january 13th when I had a service appointment where I stated the same issue. The technician wanted a ride to experience the issue the car had. After getting the issue to reoccur, the technician stated that "he had never seen this problem before." after he fixed an unrelated issue with the car, he reassured me that the issue is know by tesla and they were working on a software update to resolve the issue. After over three months with this major safety defect, I am reporting this issue to nhtsa. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jan 27, 2022 |
| State | OR |
| Description | Dangerously brakes for no apparent reason while using adaptive cruise control. Especially common on two-lane roads. Occurs approximately once every 20 miles of driving. Has caused near accidents on three occasions. Tesla does not take any action. Car has the most recent software update. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Jan 23, 2022 |
| State | NY |
| Description | My vehicle has a vcfront_a447 error code and will not heat up. With temperatures as low as -20 and highs of 25 not only is just the temperature potentially deadly but im unable to defog my windshield without freezing. I feel my car is entirely unsafe to drive. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jan 21, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | On a recent road trip (8-9 hours) my car had a number of software tics that had been noticed (music skipping, screen responding slowly, etc.). After 7 hours on the road, while the autopilot system was engaged my main screen froze on the car. Out of caution, I moved to exit the highway. While exiting, the entire screen in my car turned off, but all car functions were operable (turn signals, braking, accelerating, etc.). Once safely in a parking lot, I tried to do a soft reset with no success. After contacting service they told me the log indicated an issue that required a tow. In the interim I was able to do a power cycle which resolved the issue (but was difficult to perform since the screen was flashing on/off). The service rep recommended driving home but scheduling a follow up service. Subsequently the follow up team has informed me this is a "known software issue which is currently under investigation". Given the impact this software bug has on the primary information screen it seems to be a valid safety concern and should be issued as a recall. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Jan 20, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | On *multiple occasions* when driving on a highway and using cruise control, the car has suddenly and severly decelerated. Tesla advises that for my vehicle the safety system to detect possible collisions is still in the "beta phase" and has initially been programmed to be over-sensitive. Tesla claims that as software updates are made, this issue will improve. [see uploaded screenshot of text chat I had with tesla service on 1/19/21.] I have an appointmnet to take the vehicle in, but tesla says I must be able to give then exact dates and times of occurrences or otherwise there is too much code on the vehicle's computer log for their systemt to be able to analyze. (I am able to give them some dates but not exact times.) my fear and concern in the meantime is that such unpredictable deceleration events when traveling at highway speeds could result in a rear-end collision with a vehicle behind me. When I expressed this to tesla, their reply was: "it is the driver's responsibility to stay alert, drive safely, and be in control of the vehicle at all times." I pointed out to them the obvious fact that none of those things can prevent this issue from happening, and received no further reply. |
| Category | Electrical System, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jan 19, 2022 |
| State | WI |
| Description | I was driving north on wisconsin route 14 at about 60 mph in my tesla model 3 using the cruise control.. When a large transportation truck came from the opposite direction, my tesla suddenly braked sharply. A ford model f150 truck was following behind me and almost crashed into the back of my car. Fortunately the driver was alert and by sharply apply his brakes on driving into the ditch he avoided colliding with me. This could have been (and nearly was) a lethal accident. I would urge that you put a recall on a tesla vehicles until this problem is corrected. I have contacted other tesla owners and they have experienced similar problems. I contacted my local tesla service station and they seemed unconcerned about the problem. I urge you to issue a recall before someone is seriously hurt or killed. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Jan 19, 2022 |
| State | MA |
| Description | The windshield wipers are controlled by a sensor and the computer. Unfortunately, they come on too slowly. Several times I have been driving in the rain, waiting for the windshield wipers to start clearing the windshield. Each time, the rain on the windshield has gotten so bad that I was unable to see anything out my windshield. If the car in front had braked quickly, or if some pedestrian was trying to cross the street, I would not have known. I tried to tell this to a tesla service rep, but was told the wipers are controlled by the computer and there is nothing they can do. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Jan 18, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The automatic rear trunk closure button gets water inside wetting the electrical wiring. It has caused my trunk to randomly open at times and more importantly, can cause an electrical fire. This has put my safety, as well as any passengers at risk for injury and or death. I have not reproduced the issue because it has not rained, nor have I had the car washed. I have notified tesla of this approximately a month ago and they continue to cancel & reschedule my appointment. There seems to be no urgency to investigate or fix the issue. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone to date. There was no warning lamps or messages prior to the issue. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jan 18, 2022 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Multiple phantom braking incidents on regular cruise control (not autopilot). |
| Category | Fuel/propulsion System |
| Date | Jan 18, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Vehicle displayed "no capable drive units" error at 106 miles on 10/08/2021. System shut down and stranded me in downtown tampa traffic less than a mile from my home and fewer than five minutes after I started the car. All propulsion was lost and I did not have sufficient warning or time to process the situation and safely handle the vehicle. Tesla tampa service center diagnosed a failed drive unit and took approximately 27 days to repair the vehicle. The service center invoice described the drive unit replacement as a goodwill repair and not a warranty failure. This seemed odd to me as goodwill repairs are generally special accommodations to satisfy customers. I was told there were parts delays. Tesla seems to be managing its supply chain to get these cars turned around to avoid lemon law exposure (my wait was just under one month) and to suppress the number of warranty failures by calling them goodwill repairs. All at the expense of customers. The service center was generally arrogant and noncommunicative in resolving the issue. Happy to gather records and discuss further. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Jan 16, 2022 |
| State | DC |
| Description | Driving on the beltway around washington dc the weather conditions were variable and the revised user interface in version 11 of the model 3 software made changing the defroster settings dangerous while in traffic. Previously, it was a single icon on the control screen. Now it requires a push of an icon and a search for the correct controls and adjustments. |
| Category | Service Brakes |
| Date | Jan 14, 2022 |
| State | WV |
| Description | While driving in cruise control the car will break suddenly for no reason. I had a close call to where I was worried that the car behind me would hit me. The sudden breaking has happened many times. It's terrifying. I had to quit using auto pilot and cruise control when someone is following me for that reason. When I contacted tesla about the concern they replied saying that they completed a hardware diagnostic on the vehicle and determined that there is no hardware failure. I provided them with the timestamps for the dashcam for several incidents. This is a huge safety concern. The cruise control system is dangerous. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jan 14, 2022 |
| State | GA |
| Description | Tesla removed the ability to hang up a phone call via the steering wheel buttons which poses a massive safety issue. Currently the only ways to end a phone call are: 1- having the person on the other end of the call end the call 2- press the "end" button on the touchscreen (more details below) 3- press the "end" button on the phone itself (note: physically interacting with a phone while driving is illegal in georgia so this is not a viable option) the touchscreen generally has the phone call status on the bottom-left of the screen when a call is active. However there are times when this goes away which causes the driver to be required to navigate through a non-intuitive menu to get the phone call to reappear on the screen. Those times are: 1- a text message comes in while a call is in progress. That text message covers the phone call status 2- the windshield wipers are manually activated while a call is in progress. The windshield wiper status covers the phone call status 3- software bugs often cause the phone call status to disappear entirely, requiring a driver to swipe through the screen until the phone call status reappears ending a phone call with a physical button was previously an option on the model 3, as well as other tesla models. Removing that option is a danger to drivers, passengers, and pedestrians as distracted driving is a huge factor in automobile accidents. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Jan 13, 2022 |
| State | SC |
| Description | The car repeatedly applies the brakes when the cruise control is engaged when there is no imminent safety issue. It will do this on the highway when vehicles are following putting me at risk for a rear end collision. When I use the cruise on secondary roads (to stay under the speed limit) the behavior is similar. The car will apply brakes for passing shadows, again putting me at risk for a rear end collision. I no longer use the cruise function because the braking operation is unpredictable and it is, in my opinion, generally hazardous. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Jan 12, 2022 |
| State | NC |
| Description | The heat stops working at cold conditions. Many other users have reported this problem, after going into service I was told there is a sensor that is out in the open behind the bumper that when exposed to snow and rain can freeze and causes heat to stop working. I have experienced this myself when going on a trip back home from upstate ny to nc , I had no heat with temps outside being at 3 degrees f , not only was the car extremely cold causing me and my wife to get sick , but you can not use the defrost because there is no heat. So there is absolutely no visibility since there's frost on all windows that you cant do anything about. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes |
| Date | Jan 04, 2022 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Multiple random automatic braking occurred during freeway cruising |
| Category | Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Jan 04, 2022 |
| State | OH |
| Description | On 1/3/21, approximately 2pm. Driving south on I-77 in the city of broadview heights. In center lane of highway with autopilot (speed and steering only) on. A hummer in my left lane drifts into my lane and hits my car (I have video). No alarms or alerts went off to warn me. No automatic steering occurred. My car continued in lane and at speed (about 64mph), until my driver mirror broke off and adjusted my position to the left. Broadview height police report # [xxx]. I have a service request into tesla. I am awaiting the at-fault party insurance to contact me to begin repair process. To above questions: -I am suspicious about the ultrasonic sensors and/or camera and it failure to warn me I was about to be hit. -I was hit on my driver's side by a car that was not detected by my tesla -I have a service request made to tesla, awaiting response -no inspections or diagnostics have been performed yet by tesla -no warning occurred. I am very familiar with the warning my car can produce: things like drifting out of my lane; someone in front of me braking hard; or autopilot applying brakes when it thinks a car is in front of me (when it's actually on a curved road). Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). |
| Category | Unknown Or Other, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Dec 28, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Tesla in the december 2021 v11 software update as made the car's common control user interface unsafe. Critical controls, such as defrost and climate control, as well as many others (like trip, tire pressure, heated seats, windshield wipers) , are now only accessible by hunting through menus - - all which require the driver to turn their eyes off the road for longer periods of time than the previous user interface. Font sizes have also been made much smaller which will cause readability issues. This is a road hazard and needs to be addressed, and there is no option available to downgrade to the safer user interface. Please require tesla to perform an over the air recall for this ui to correct these safety issues. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Dec 27, 2021 |
| State | MI |
| Description | New software update removes easy access to basic functionality like wipers, defrost, heat, etc. And requires the driver to dig through multiple submenus which requires taking eyes off the road for an extended period of time. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Dec 26, 2021 |
| State | OR |
| Description | This is a follow up to my complaint issued nhtsa id number:Â 11439598. You opened an investigation and tesla promptly backed down, but only in regards to one portion of my complaint. Tesla has now disabled video game playing on the front dashboard screen while the car is in motion. Good! But there's more to be addressed. Tesla still allows live web browsing on that same screen. A keyboard pops up. You can type in your search, then click around most websites (except for youtube, which is appropriately blocked.) I checked the latest update and tesla has now moved the web browsing feature into the "entertainment" category. Web browsing is permitted for drivers. It is not "restricted" to passengers only. This is inherently dangerous. Please do not close this case before this web browsing distraction is addressed as well. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Dec 26, 2021 |
| State | MD |
| Description | Tesla pushed out a new user interface over christmas. The new interface buries the wiper controls and defrost controls under sub-menus and you can no longer quickly access them while driving. It takes multiple clicks and requires you removing your eyes from the road for a long time. Furthermore, there is no way to revert back to their old interface. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Departure: Assist |
| Date | Dec 23, 2021 |
| State | IL |
| Description | Several times during every drive where cruise control/autopilot is used, an event known as "phantom braking" occurs often time triggering the collision warning systems with no danger present. Phantom breaking is the automatic braking of the cruise control/autopilot systems when no danger is present, causing an unexpected and dangerous automatic braking event. I wish to emphasize that this happens when either system is used under safe conditions and even within the guidelines recommended by tesla. It is available for inspection should it be necessary. During these events, a vehicle following mine can and has been caught off-guard by the sudden braking, resulting in near-miss rear-endings. The danger of a vehicle collision is extremely high in these scenarios. The problem happens consistently on two-lane roads with no median using standard cruise control (autopilot is only recommended on divided highways/interstates). Phantom braking still occurs at random in varied environments with both systems. My vehicle has not been taken to a dealer, but the issue has been confirmed/acknowledged by the manufacturer with no solution. This vehicle is new and delivered to me this year. The problem has been occurring since taking ownership/lease. Aside from the the emergency collision warning chime occurring sometimes at the same time as the braking event, there are no symptoms, warnings, or lamps appearing prior to the automatic braking nor afterwards. I have attempted to use the vehicle's camera recalibration and have changed available safety settings to every combination possible to attempt a consumer fix for the issue, but no combination of settings seems to keep the automatic braking events from happening |
| Category | Structure:body, Wheels |
| Date | Dec 22, 2021 |
| State | TX |
| Description | I want to report an issue I have with tesla concerning the damage that occurred to my vehicle as a result of a failure of tesla fsd version 10. 3 firmware release 2021. 36. 5. 2 recalled by tesla on 10/29/21 nhtsa recall number 21v-846. At noon on 10-24-21, I was testing the latest release of fsd as part of the beta program. My tesla was in self-driving mode on a city street at 35 mph. This was the same route it had already successfully done earlier in the day, when suddenly the car jumped over the curb, causing damage to the bumper, to the wheel and a flat tire. This appeared to have been caused by a discolored patch in the road that gave the fsd a false perception of an obstacle which it tried to avoid. Immediately after the accident, the car was towed to the service center. The repair was finished on 10/27/21 at which time I was asked to pay text="Who are we? We are Lemberg Law, a Consumer Law Firm" smalltext="Lemberg Law is a consumer law firm helping victims of bad manufacturing and run-arounds from auto companies. We are ranked A+ by the BBB. Call our Helpline today! There is no charge unless we win." img="balance" color="green",332. 37 to take possession of the car. I explained that the damage was caused by the recalled version of fsd nhtsa recall number 21v-846 and that tesla should be liable for the damages. I was advised that the engineering team would conduct an investigation and based on the results the money would be reimbursed. However, I did not agree to pay hoping that after the investigation tesla would honor the recall. After two months of waiting, there is still no communication on the results of the investigation even though the case is quite simple. The car was going straight at a very low speed in self-driving mode. There is nothing except the recalled version of fsd that could have changed its trajectory. Therefore, it is obvious that nobody looked at this issue and there is no commitment to doing so anytime soon. I communicated using the tesla app chat that I am not willing to wait indefinitely and gave notice that I intend to file a petition with the court. I gave e-mail notice to tesla's resolution team as well to make sure that my notice reaches tesla's legal department. I have paid the invoice on 12/22/21 to get my car back. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Dec 17, 2021 |
| State | AL |
| Description | Phantom braking events on most every type of road and drive when using cruise control, not autopilot or other automated systems. Standard cruise control is unusable and is a safety concern with constant warning alerts and automatic emergency braking when other vehicles pass by safely in the adjacent lane. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control:cruise Control |
| Date | Dec 16, 2021 |
| State | SC |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated while driving 65 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle decelerated, and the brakes activated erroneously. The accelerator pedal was depressed, and the vehicle returned to normal driving operation. The contact stated that the failure recurred several times. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Dec 15, 2021 |
| State | CO |
| Description | Constant “phantom braking†when using autopilot on the freeway and other roads. When the pavement changes color, the car slams on the brakes in the middle of the freeway. When a truck is in the opposing lane, the car slams on the brakes. When a truck is merging into a lane to my right on the freeway, the car slams on the brakes. This is extremely unsafe and frightening. This software is garbage and worse than my 6 year old subaru. Tesla needs to address this, and I hope they're eventually forced to. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Dec 14, 2021 |
| State | CO |
| Description | We continue to have issues with tesla's autopilot feature. The model 3 with autopilot activated or just with the adaptive cruise control activated, will "phantom" brake for zero reason. Today, 12/14/2021, it happened three times within 90 minutes. All three times there was no reason for the car to make emergency actions. Once I had a truck with a trailer behind me, forcing them to brake hard to avoid hitting the rear of the car. I submitted a service request to tesla and this is what they told me: incidents like the one you are describing where the vehicle slowdowns for apparently no reason are generally caused by a few reason such as: map data inaccuracy, speed limit data inaccuracies, the vehicle reacting to an upcoming event, gps position inaccuracies, and predicative driving anomalies. In all of these situations the computer is trying to make the safest determination of what to do with the information that it being fed. To us as drivers, it would seem like a bad decision, but the computer uses our input following these events to get better at predicting how it should respond. Anytime you intervene with an autopilot behavior decision you are helping the system as whole get better. There are no faults with any of the hardware in the vehicle and at this time these behaviors are a limitation of software in the system. Our engineering team is working to improve auto pilot with every firmware update and we hope to see improvements in future updates. I'm sorry you feel that was justin. Future firmware updates will improve functionality. You always have the options of not using your autopilot until they do. Thank you |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Departure: Assist |
| Date | Dec 10, 2021 |
| State | NM |
| Description | On a daily basis while using the adaptive cruise control or tesla autopilot, I will experience multiple erroneous automatic braking events. The car generally slams the brakes on when it is cresting a hill, attempting to pass a semi truck, or when sun angles produce large shadows in the road. The automatic braking events are sometimes very aggressive and can be extremely dangerous, especially if someone is following behind you in high speed traffic. My wife has requested that I don't use cruise control or autopilot while she's in the car, as we experienced an unwarranted, aggressive automatic braking episode which caused great pressure against her pregnant belly on a previous road trip. Additionally, the cameras on my vehicle will often produce warning/error messages stating “x camera is blocked or blinded†for absolutely no reason other than headlights from oncoming traffic shining into my lane. I am unsure if this contributes to the automatic braking issue. |
| Category | Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Dec 07, 2021 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | Windshield has highly visible internal reflections resulting in vertical ghosting in high contrast situations such as headlights brake lights and even on sunny days service center said it was within acceptable tolerance but it greatly diminishes the clarity of vision through the windshield. Haven't seen anything like it in the four other cars manufactured across two decades that I've driven regularly. Dangerous design or manufacturing defect. |
| Category | Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Dec 06, 2021 |
| State | WA |
| Description | Front right headlight on a brand new car no longer functions, safety was put at risk by the fact that it is illegal to drive on 1 working light in the dark and rain; and this happened thankfully before leaving home on a dark morning so it was detectable and actionable. Problem was confirmed by remote diagnostic from dealer. No warnings or messages before failure which was confirmed by tesla representative on the phone. They have not inspected the component and will not return calls / have not responded to service scheduling for 3 days. There is no service possible when they have a monopoly on their supply chain and will not schedule service. My car is unsafe to drive and is basically a lemon at this point until they fix it. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Dec 04, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | My tesla model 3 is brand new and delivered in 2021, the vehicle has had no recalls or issues report by the manufacture and is running the latest software updates provided by tesla, which as of this date is: 2021. 36. 8 I have driven the car since delivery a total of 5,596 miles, which includes a cross country road trip from ca to fl. During this trip I used "autopilot" a feature which is touted as safe, however after my experience and reading and hearing other users reports I believe this is not the case. I had numerous cases of "phantom braking" which is where the vehicle believes there is an object that it will collide with and it slams the brakes on, usually dropping around ~20 mph extremely rapidly. Many of these events occurred in lower light scenarios (night time) and almost all of them occurred when I had no vehicles in any direction for over half a mile, which means that there should have been no indicators flagging an emergency braking event. Here are some other reports, including a well known publisher cnet: https://www. Cnet. Com/roadshow/reviews/2021-tesla-model-y-review/ the model y and 3 share a lot of common design and technical elements, including their lack of a forward radar system, which is think is likely why this issue is occurring for these vehicles and not for the model s and x. Here is a full user report: https://www. Youtube. Com/watch? V=uxvh60zbl70&t=1s I am writing this report in order to add myself to a growing list of tesla customers that have not been listened to about this issue, it is a massive safety issue and should likely trigger a full investigation, this issue can easily be replicated with and 2020-2021 model 3 and/or y. And likely should trigger an immediate call for either a software patch, disabling of the feature, and/or recall of all affected vehicles, either to retrofit a radar system, or to fix the camera system. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 29, 2021 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | Driving normally, with cruise control (not auto steering) engaged vehicle will spontaneously and dangerously apply emergency breaking. This happens regularly to the point I won't use it. It's going to cause accidents, especially when slippery conditions exist. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 28, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Adas systems detect oncoming traffic from the opposing lane on single lane roads and sounds forward collision alarm. If using adaptive cruise control or autopilot, vehicle will rapidly decelerate. This poses a risk to the occupants and vehicles behind from unexpected changes in speed, which could cause a rear-end accident. The issue can be repeated in the scenario described above. Forward collision warning alarm goes off when it sees a oncoming vehicle far off in the distance. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Nov 28, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Vehicle will randomly have phantom braking and braking events when using adaptive cruise control. It happens more often when a vehicle has recently passed and it 150+ feet in front of the vehicle. This poses a safety risk for vehicles behind as the car will randomly slow down. The adaptive function becomes unusable. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Nov 27, 2021 |
| State | NE |
| Description | Tesla cars are having an issue with phantom breaking which is causing the car to slow down or even slam on the brakes for zero reason. Since I have zero control of how close someone follows me, this is a huge safety issue and makes me fear for my life every time it happens. I drove 60 miles today on two lane roads and this happened at least 6 times. Seems to happen more on two lane roads that aren't flat, but I've had it happen other times too. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 26, 2021 |
| State | TX |
| Description | My new tesla 3 deployed automatic emergency braking seven (7) times in a 5 hour period. The tesla autopilot was turned off due to reports of phantom braking like this from many other drivers in a tesla online forum. Regardless, the car slammed on the brakes when there were no obstructions or cars in front of me. I almost suffered a rear end collision during one of these phantom emergency braking events, where the car suddenly braked from 70mph to less than 40mph. The malfunctioning component is likely the tesla software that works with the forward-facing cameras which are installed as part of the full self driving feature. While I did not pay the ,000 for fsd, this system still operates for automated braking and lane departure. I have requested tesla inspect the car, which has 482 miles on it, but am filing with you anyway due to the similarity between this experience today and the dozens of other complaints I have read about on the tesla owners forum called too. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 25, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Terrible phantom braking. On a road trip, flat straight open roads, little to no traffic in front of me, and consistent full on hard braking from 75mph down to 35mph in a split second. Multiple times and so consistent I had to stop using the cruise control completely. This never happened like this in my day to day city driving. But as is, the cruise control is nerve wracking and dangerous. Thankfully no cars behind me because it could very easily cause a serious and deadly accident. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 23, 2021 |
| State | WA |
| Description | Recurrent, frequent, and unpredictable sudden braking while vehicle is being driven in tacc (traffic aware cruise control). These event, or "phantom brakes", occur when there is no visible obstruction ahead of the car (I. E. Crossing vehicle or object), nor any environmental explanation (sun glare, heavy rain, etc.). Events occur in all conditions, including daytime, clear sky, with or without traffic. Frequently the collision warning will sound during these events. Given the episodes occur during highway driving, the unexpected hard braking is a set-up for being rear ended by cars behind me. These events are most common on 2 lane divided highways, and can occur as frequently as every 2-5 minutes. Brought in for evaluation at tesla service center, and they refused to acknowledge any problem, stating the car is "operating as designed." this was based on the fact that they did not reproduce symptoms on their test drive. Although I had logged >20 of these events for them to review on the automated records, it was not clear this was done. |
| Category | Service Brakes, Unknown Or Other, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 23, 2021 |
| State | NE |
| Description | On a recent trip, we started experiencing extreme issues with our car's cruise control and autopilot features. Specifically, when in cruise control or auto pilot, the car would randomly disengage the cruise control or auto pilot and start braking. Taking the car out of cruise control or auto pilot, restarting the car, etc did not fix the problem. We noticed the problem was much worse at night and when we were traveling on a two lane highway. We would be in cruise control/auto pilot and often when another vehicle would approach us from the opposite direction the vehicle would suddenly brake. While this happened more often at night, it continued to happen at any point during the day and when we were on many different roads/interstates. This seems extremely unsafe to have our vehicle hard braking randomly when we are traveling at high speeds (60mph+). We scheduled a service appointment with tesla and were told that this is a software issue and we would have to wait for an update. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 22, 2021 |
| State | NM |
| Description | Whenever tacc (cruise control) is engaged and the car is on a two lane highway with no divider, it will aggressively brake and trigger the collision warning system when a semi-truck passes going the opposite direction. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Nov 20, 2021 |
| State | MO |
| Description | While using autopilot feature on interstate highway the vehicle independently applied braking while traveling at 70 mph although no other vehicle nor any other physical object was observed. Also while using the same feature and traveling on a two lane highway at 55 mph the car independently applied braking when an large truck approached in the opposite on-coming lane. This exact event happened a second time when another large truck while traveling the same two lane highway. Autopilot was no longer used. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 18, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The “traffic aware cruise control†feature is flawed to the point of being unusable add dangerous. My model 3 (leased in late september 2021) exhibits very frequent “phantom braking†problems when tacc is active. Some are mild, the car applying the brakes and slowing down despite the absence of nearby cars or hazards. Some are dramatic, the car slamming on its brakes and sounding an alarm — again, with no hazards. I have a service appointment scheduled for dec 3 but I'm not optimistic. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Nov 17, 2021 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Traffic aware cruise control while cruise control is operating, driving at 70 mph or higher, for no apparent reason, no vehicles ahead of me, the car brakes suddenly. This happened at least six times on a 1000 mile trip. If a car had been following too closely, my sudden braking could have caused an accident. I have not figured out how to contact tesla about this. No one has inspected my car. There were no warning signs. After I got home, I googled the problem and saw that others had experienced it too. I'm writing in the hope that you will tell tesla to fix the problem, or at least to offer their customers plain cruise control without the traffic aware feature. This happened every time I was on the interstate for more than a couple hours, most recently on october 31, 2021. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Nov 17, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | For the past week, my car phantom braked with no obvious danger from a parked car. It just happens on a city road, not a freeway. Ithappened about 4 times |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 16, 2021 |
| State | CO |
| Description | While driving on c-470 westbound going 70 mph with the car on autopilot, the car braked hard dropping the speed to 40 mph. If a car would have been behind me, they would have hit the back of my car. This issue is happening frequently, from neighborhood side streets, city streets, and on the interstate highway. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 16, 2021 |
| State | WI |
| Description | Traffic aware cruise control in the 2021 model 3 is down right dangerous. Constant random braking for no reason at all. Happens multiple times if I use tacc on 2 lane roads. Happens nearly every time I use tacc on a 4 lane road. If I have traffic behind me I cannot use tacc at all for fear I would be rear ended. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 16, 2021 |
| State | OK |
| Description | Traffic aware cruise control (aka autopilot) applied full braking and sounded collision warning when no collision was imminent. Had traffic been following closely, a rear-end collision could have occurred. Several other similar "ghost braking" incidents have occurred but this was the worst and most dangerous. Vehicle has not yet been taken to a repair facility. Vehicle has not needed inspection by law enforcement nor insurance company. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Nov 15, 2021 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The contact owns a 2021 tesla model 3. The contact stated that while the vehicle was in full auto-drive mode approximately 10-15 mph, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,300. The vin was unavailable. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Nov 15, 2021 |
| State | SC |
| Description | I have been experiencing very frequent adaptive cruise control breaking for no reason. It is getting worse with every software update. It seems like the car is very scared of oncoming traffic and will hit the breaks or slow down for no reason. Sometimes there will be no traffic at all and it happens. If a car is following closely I'm afraid I will be hit. I wish I could turn off adaptive cruise control but there is no option. This is a serious safety issue. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 15, 2021 |
| State | MI |
| Description | Starting in june 2021, tesla removed the radar sensing on their vehicles and switched to a vision-only (camera) system for adaptive cruise control and "auto pilot" operation. On my 2021 model 3 performance, I can not use either system without constant "phantom braking" events. Sometimes it will only gently pulse the brake pedal, but often it is very hard braking along with a beep and message on-screen saying I need to take immediate control of the car. This happens daily and is not hard to reproduce. If there is a car behind you, it can be quite dangerous. Even if they don't rear end you, often it will cause them to think you're doing a "brake check" and can lead to road rage incidents. My previous car (a 2018 model 3 rwd) had a radar sensor and experienced mild (not hard) phantom braking roughly 2~3 times over an 18 month period. I still have access to that car and recently tested it for comparison. Even on the same software revisions, the old car drove flawlessly on acc and autopilot modes. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Nov 15, 2021 |
| State | NJ |
| Description | I was using auto pilot. The road was pretty empty single lane road. There was no car in front of me or coming in opposite direction. The car automatically slammed the brake pretty hard. We were lucky enough no one rear ended us. Looks like a software bug in tesla. Please investigate. I will never ever again use this [xxx] auto pilot and risk my family life. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). |
| Category | Lane Departure: Assist |
| Date | Nov 12, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was driving on fsd beta but when an alien landed on the road in front of me. The fsd beta software did not detect the alien's vehicle and almost hit her as she was stepping out. System initiated beeps and I tried to take control but it forced control away from me and tried to steer towards the alien. I had to kick the car to get control back. Very dangerous to everyone involved. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 11, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | Autopilot constantly brakes due to automatic emergency braking on two-way highways at night. Every time a car passes in the other direction, the car starts braking, often as soon as the headlights are visible. This is a significant safety issue and resulted in me disabling aeb, which re-enables automatically every time I drive. I needed to go out of my way and ensure no one was tailing me because the car would brake check them. This wasn't an isolated incident. Every time I've been on a two way highway and sometimes even on multi-lane unlit highways, I have these braking issues constantly. I was driving under the speed limit. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 10, 2021 |
| State | ME |
| Description | Car hits the brakes and activates the emergency braking and forward collision warning very frequently (10+ instances during a 1 hr drive) in instances that absolutely do not warrant it (no obstacles or cars in the lane of traffic). Product is unsafe in the condition that it is in, and car offers no way to revert to standard cruise control. This type of automatic behavior could cause accidents. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Nov 10, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | When driving using the traffic aware cruise control, the vehicle experiences frequent abrupt and random rapid deceleration. This causes a safety issue when other vehicles are behind due to the rapid change in speed. Occasionally the vehicle will produce a forward collision warning with nothing in the path of the vehicle. This makes the cruise control function less usable and no option to disable the adaptive function. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 09, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Vehicle slams brakes on with on coming traffic when cruise control activated. Have attempted to contacted tesla several times. Tesla actually canceled a mobile service stating they did an update to fix the issue. It did not. In fact it made the problem worse. The are not answering my emails or texts, calling the service line does no good the say they can't see the issue in their data |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking |
| Date | Nov 08, 2021 |
| State | NC |
| Description | When I use cruise control, the car will brake suddenly sometimes very fast or moderate braking. There is no reason for the car to break. It happens on 2 lane roads and 4 plus lanes. I can not determine if tree shadows cause it. It often breaks when a car is coming from the opposite direction on a curve. It also breaks during the night on a 2 lane road when a car comes from the opposite direction. Sometimes it has freaked so hard that if anything is on the seat, it is thrown toward the floor. I fear I could be hit from behind due to unnecessary braking, so I will only use cruise control if there is little or no traffic on on roads with 4 or more lanes. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Nov 06, 2021 |
| State | OR |
| Description | Tesla is now making interactive video games and live internet web searching possible on the main front seat display while the car is driving. The video games are allegedly restricted only to passengers. Web browsing is available to anyone at any time. Why is a manufacturer allowed to create an inherently distracting live video which takes over 2/3 of the screen which the driver relies on for all vehicle information? Tesla has no gauges above the steering wheel. Nhtsa needs to prohibit all live video in the front seat and all live interactive web browsing while the car is in motion. Creating a dangerous distraction for the driver is recklessly negligent. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Nov 02, 2021 |
| State | OR |
| Description | I noticed you have a recall for some teslas about a glitch with the auto braking after latest beta fsd rollout. My tesla has had this since day one, and I don't have or use fsd. I do use the adaptive cruise control, and that is when I have problems with my car slamming on the brakes for no reason. I have been lucky, 3 times I have almost, been rear-ended. I have had it in the shop a couple times for the issue, and they tell me to read the manual and the car is fine. I have talked with 5 other tesla owners, and they have all had the problem of their car slamming on the brakes for no real reason. I think the glitch is a bigger problem than tesla is willing to admit, and applies to most tesla cars. There are even website forums about, "phantom braking", which is lingo for the same thing |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Oct 24, 2021 |
| State | UT |
| Description | System erroneously sounded forward collision warnings about once per minute. Automatic emergency braking faulted and could not be enabled. Firmware version 2021. 36. 5. 2 |
| Category | Air Bags |
| Date | Oct 22, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | Car accident , car failed to deploy airbags . |
| Category | Service Brakes, Service Brakes, Hydraulic:foundation Components:disc:rotor |
| Date | Oct 20, 2021 |
| State | NY |
| Description | Break backing plate screw loosened and go into the break disk. It create noise when driving and breaking. The loosened screw might the damage the break rotor. The screw was removed from the break disk and tighten again by independent service center the manufacturer have inspected no warning lamps but it create noise. So it is not hard to detect this issue. It first appear on 19 oct and I have the service center fix it right the way. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control |
| Date | Oct 18, 2021 |
| State | WA |
| Description | My vehicle is a "tesla vision only" (non-radar) model 3 on firmware 2021. 32. 21 although this issue occurred on other firmware I've used as well. At night the car will very very frequently brake 3-10 miles an hour for no reason. It's specifically bad at night. It regularly thinks the ongoing traffic is headed in my lane. It regularly slows me down significantly before the top of a hill. Sometimes this can happen 3-5 times in succession within 5 minutes and causes other drivers to react to my vehicle as if it were dangerous. My only recourse is to tap the accelerator as quickly as I can to override the braking or not use the cruise control. This happens mostly on two lane two way traffic roads, often with gentle curves, and worst at night. I now have a car without even "dumb" cruise control. This is not what you think you're buying when you get a brand new k vehicle. When I originally received the vehicle in june I had brought up my experience to a technician while they were servicing the vehicle for other purposes they told me that there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the camera system and that with more firmware updates it would get better. It is not better, I'd say it's gotten worse since I bought the vehicle. |
| Category | Electrical System, Exterior Lighting |
| Date | Sep 25, 2021 |
| State | MN |
| Description | Periodically one headlight starts flashing and my front turn signal won't work. This typically happens in the middle of driving so I'm at risk of getting home safely. |
| Category | Power Train, Steering, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Sep 23, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | On september 1st, I was perpendicular back parking on the street in front of my home. Spaces are fairly tight and the street fairly narrow, so it is not uncommon to shift between reverse and drive a couple times to adjust one's fit before parking. That said, a quarter of the way into my parking spot, I shifted from drive to reverse after finishing adjusting. After doing so, I pushed on the accelerator and was sent forward as if I were in drive. I toggled between drive and reverse multiple times over the course of 15 seconds. Pushing on the accelerator continued to send me in the opposite direction, causing me to hit the sidewalk curb in front of me multiple times. The situation resolved itself after 20 or so seconds. Then, the same exact situation occurred on sept 7 and again on sept 13, and those times, I nearly hit the car parked adjacent to me. All of this occurred while hold mode was on, meaning the car was not simply swaying with gravity. There could be a host of defects involved in the manifestation of such a problem - perhaps a bug in the software which controls the power train. The swapping of reverse and drive for no apparent reason presents a huge safety concern/liability. I could have hit pedestrians on the sidewalks in front and behind or severely damaged mine and someone else's vehicle. My street is one of two which allow access to a monument. That said, there are always a ton of pedestrians, many of which are young children. I scheduled a tesla service appointment after the first occurrence. Timestamps and video of each of the incidents was captured and provided to tesla. They claim there is no issue and that the car was simply rolling due to gravity - despite hold mode. Furthermore, I drive on the same street every day and the aforementioned issue does not happen every time. Even given my three scary experiences, tesla has refused to take any further inaction, other than to reassure me nothing is wrong with my vehicle. |
| Category | Power Train |
| Date | Sep 22, 2021 |
| State | AL |
| Description | While parked, as I selected "r" (reverse), the car lurched and displayed two warning messages: "rear motor disabled - safe to drive" and "vehicle shutting down - pull over safely". The drive train was locked up and I fear that if the car had been moving when this happened, it would stopped suddenly possibly causing an accident. The car was towed away. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Sep 08, 2021 |
| State | CO |
| Description | The vehicle will suddenly brake with no discernible obstacles when advanced cruise control is engaged. We experienced multiple “phantom braking†events during an 800+ mile road trip (round trip) last week, which was so frequent and unpredictable that autopilot and autosteer (tesla's terms) are unsafe to use. The first half of our trip was on two-lane highways and the car would brake heavily on clear roads and triggered two emergency accident avoidance events when large pickups were approaching in the opposite lane (screen showed a vehicle in red in our lane, audible alarms + heavy braking). The braking was so sudden that we were almost rear ended twice. We chose a different route to return home on a divided interstate, hoping that the tacc system would work. It did not. The car would brake dramatically when we went over a small rise, there was a vehicle in our lane at a significant distance (. 5-1. 0 mile), or sometimes completely unpredictably. During these events, our speed would drop suddenly more than 20mph. It is an unsafe system to use in even light traffic. |
| Category | Service Brakes, Steering, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 29, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I was pulling up next to a curb inside a neighborhood to park my car. I released my foot on the accelerator pedal to slow and stop my car. I slowly stepped on the brake pedal to switch the gear into reverse and my vehicle sped up very fast and hit the parked car in front of me and ran over the curb, my steering wheel also shifted to the right as if it was trying to dodge an obstacle on the road. It happpend so fast that I could not avoid the impact. I could have ran into a pedestrian and put their life at risk, or injured the person in the car that was parked, and even hurt myself badly. I've been getting neck pain and headaches. This incident was very terrifying and traumatizing. I tried to reach out to tesla service center, but my tesla app was not working after the incident. The tesla app was frozen for 10-15 mins after the incident. I kept trying to reach out to tesla service center and kept getting an automated response to utilize the tesla app. Finally, the app started working again, I left them a message regarding the accident and photos, and they responded two days after, but did not address the issue about unintended acceleration until I kept asking why are they ignoring my concerns about the uninteded accerlation, and then I received a phone call from a technician. He said that I do not have to bring my car for inspection, instead they will just check the logs and could take up to 8 weeks to see what happened. Estimated cost for exterior damages according to geico insurance is 5344. 74. Tesla service center denied having the car inspected physcially for any sensor issues and malfunction issues, states that I don't have to bring my car in at all, they will submit a report for engineering team to review the driving logs at the time of the accident only. My car is currently towed to a 3rd party body shop that is tesla certified. No warnings from my car screen alerts or anything prior to the accident. |
| Category | Power Train, Service Brakes, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Aug 20, 2021 |
| State | OR |
| Description | When driving with the adaptive cruise control on, the car will for no reason, briefly slam on the brakes for no reason. I have almost been rear ended twice because of this. Check mark box above in this web page would not allow me to check the adaptive cruise control item. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Aug 19, 2021 |
| State | VA |
| Description | When accessing the on-screen owner's manual, the tesla screen freezes completely and no controls or signals are available. After the screen freezes, the air conditioning starts to blow at a full blast for about 30 seconds. The tesla screen then goes blank for about two minutes, at which time the driver has no access to signals, speedometer, alerts, or any other car information detail. It is not clear if lights or doors are impacted. The car is able to accelerate and brake during this period, but the driver is essentially "driving blind." after approximately two minutes, the screen flashes a tesla logo and reboots. Once the screen reboots, the screen - and car operation - appear to operate normally. This has occurred four times over a period of several weeks. This is a safety hazard. In one instance the screen went blank while driving on a highway on-ramp. It was frightening to have all car controls disappear. I appeared to have control of the steering wheel, accelerator and brake, but since there was no instruction or warning, there was no way of knowing if or when the car would simply stop on the highway. Since the speedometer, turn signal indicators, and traffic alert features disappeared, the car became hazardous to drive. In at least two of the incidents, there was no place to pull the car over while the car (hopefully) reset. Tesla automated software updates have not yet corrected this problem. The tesla "bug report" was used to report the problem after the systems resumed function, but there has been no communication from tesla on the matter. According to tesla forums, other tesla owners have experienced the same problem. |
| Category | Engine, Power Train |
| Date | Aug 13, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | When I was driving on highway the suddenly I lost power and if I press gas pedal it would not go. I applied brake to slow down and pull over but as soon as I applied the brake it corrected on its own and continued to go since I did had similar issue like this previously I called tesla and asked them to tow it to the shop. This is the 3nd time that I'm having an issues with drivetrain that my car was towed to shop. |
| Category | Electrical System, Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Aug 09, 2021 |
| State | FL |
| Description | Tesla: 2021 model 3 (standard w/full self-driving capability) vehicle safety issues as of august 09, 2021: 1. Vehicle does not have interior rear manual door release to allow rear seat occupants to escape in case(s) of emergency or vehicle electrical power failure 2. Vehicle does not have an exterior manual release for all doors in order to allow first responders the ability to assist or rescue vehicle occupants and/or driver 3. Vehicle doe not provide regenerative charging of 12v batter used as the only primary source of power to operate all onboard computer and diagnostics, as well as electronics 4. Vehicle does not provide redundancy to operate onboard computer and diagnostics or to maintain the electronics in order to allow vehicle to keep satellite contact or radio beacon 5. Vehicle does not have a mechanical locking system and is unable to be opened in the event of failure of the 12v battery 6. Vehicle does not have any audible seatbelt warning 7. Vehicle does not shift into park or neutral when drivers door or passenger doors are open 8. Vehicle interior parts and exterior parts are not securely fastened or reasonably installed to a standard that provides protection to occupants in cases of side impact, rear impact, and frontal collisions 9. Vehicle does not adequately provide secure installation or covering of side-curtain airbags, as well as a poorly designed tether that can easily be pulled triggering the airbags gas canister 10. Vehicle does not have any audible seatbelt warning 11. Vehicle does not shift into park or neutral when drivers door or passenger doors are open 12. Materials used in vehicle are both flammable and gaseous, as well as produce a toxic smell when ignited 13. Vehicle "panoramic" glass roof provides uv protection and actually absorbs heat 14. Vehicle does not feature adequate detection of: moving objects(pedestrians, bicyclist) 15. Vehicle is unable to safely navigate streets or highways with out solid lines or objects to follow |
| Category | Engine |
| Date | Jul 20, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | There was engine power loss while I was driving on the highway. So due to power loss I parked the car on the side and then put it back in to drive and it would go for approximately 10min then I lost power again, it started to do like these few times. Since it was unsafe I stopped the car and had the factory tow it to the shop. |
| Category | Electrical System, Engine, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 02, 2021 |
| State | NY |
| Description | See description on file report nb:11423241 |
| Category | Electrical System, Engine, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jul 02, 2021 |
| State | NY |
| Description | After parking and leaving the car, I realize later the dashboard did not shut down. The dashboard was still illuminated, and I was also able to hear the sound from a tuned fm radio. I re-open and closed both the driver and the passenger doors in an attempt to shutoff the dashboard. Since I did not get the expected result, I decided to get back into the car. I sat down in the driver chair to investigate the problem when the car was instantly activated and switched to a sudden and uncontrolled acceleration. It crashed into a facing wall after a run of about 30 feet. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Jun 26, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | I previously reported unexpected acceleration on two occasions with this car. This follow up not is to inform nhtsa that tesla has not been willing to provide any information or investigation results more than 8 weeks after my report to them. They told me they couldn't discuss it and I would be contacted within 5 weeks. When I inquire now they just say it's still under investigation. |
| Category | Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control, Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Avoidance: Warnings |
| Date | Jun 25, 2021 |
| State | MD |
| Description | Automatic cruise control (autopilot) has twice failed to decrease speed when it should have. The vehicle will also brake at a moderate to high rate on the highway with zero warning or message, with no obstacle or vehicle on the road, creating a dangerous situation with following vehicles. Acc also requires the use of automatic wipers and automatic high beams, both of which activate at random times and thus encourage their disuse (e. G. Sunny clear day, or with obvious traffic in front of the vehicle, respectively). Automatic high beams turning on and flashing when they shouldn't is unsafe for other drivers. Finally, the use automatic wipers and high beams is not listed as a requirement for active safety features such as fcw and aeb to function. However, these two critical safety systems rely on the same camera array and systems with problematic functionality described above. It's hard to believe that these actual safety systems, listed as a feature of the vehicle, are able to function as required when the full array of sensors and logic, shared with autopilot, are unable to perform reliably. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Jun 04, 2021 |
| State | AZ |
| Description | While I was driving on the state way at about 50 to 55mph, the car suddenly sped up and the abs system kicked on and the brake pedal became tight and when I fully pressed the pedal to stop the car, the car would not move after that and it gave some random error messages. Called 911 since I was blocking the road and the informed tesla. They towed the vehicle to their workshop. The tow truck drive mentioned that the car would not even go in to tow mode. |
| Category | Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | May 23, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | On two separate occasions our model 3 experienced uninitiated acceleration. Both times we were able engage the breaks and prevent any issue, but it's disconcerting. We reported to tesla on april 22nd and they said they would get back to us. |
| Category | Electrical System, Fuel/propulsion System, Unknown Or Other |
| Date | May 16, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | At around 5:30pm on 5/16/2021 we were entering our garage when our tesla accelerated on its own into our garage extremely quickly and nearly brought the garage down. |
| Category | Electrical System, Structure:body |
| Date | Apr 25, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | -body parts on car a lot were off aligned, service dept won't help or answer calls - sentry mode drains battery (sales rep said it doesn't, since the camera storage isn't stored on the car) - rear passanger door panel is not on correct - there was green tape inside the car - the window trim was hanging off. - adam told me that he would be working with the 'remarketing team' to get me a better than normal trade in quote. Said he was working with a special team to get me a quote - and that the team should have offered me a long range vehicle and he apologized - called me with a regular trade in quote. He went to the tesla. Com website and submitted a trade in quote and was not working with a 'special remarketing team" - kevin called me and asked for adam and if I had received my trade in quote through the website, figured it out that it was me and not adam, hung up and blocked me. - called and wanted to take my car in for the issues - the advisor wouldn't give me his name and that he felt threatened because I asked for his name. - my wife goes down to tesla costa mesa to speak to kevin wong then speaks to brian and finds out jared is who accused me of threatening him. - julia called me after that interaction, the same day and gave me the 3 options - went back and said 'it was a miscommunication' -car ac stopped working when driving -car wouldn't start -rear small window shattered by itself when driving on freeway, causing us to swerve and almost hitting the side barrier. |
| Category | Electrical System |
| Date | Apr 16, 2021 |
| State | WI |
| Description | 2021 tesla model 3. Consumer writes in regard to an issue with the right pillar camera. *ld the consumer stated the camera frequently displayed an "obstructed" error message, but there was no obstruction. *js |
| Category | Service Brakes, Unknown Or Other, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Mar 04, 2021 |
| State | MD |
| Description | On february 28, 2021 at 4:08 pm.. The approximate time of my arrival at workplace which is also displayed in my navigation. As soon as I'm doing a reverse to park my tesla for some reason and it did happen so quickly accidentally press the accelerator harder and as a result I cause an accident that my rear bumper hit the car behind me that was parked. The damaged was huge that it knock off the parked car front bumper, it broke the right headlight and buckled the engine hood. It really boggles me as to how it happened, I re-create the scenario at home it turns out and I truly believed that I got confused with the current driving mode as I switch the car to reverse while I stop to check my proximity, but the display changes to 'hold brake' font. Not knowing that it still in reverse mode, although the top left vertically displayed drive mode indicator still showing but it is too small/ minimal that it's hard to distinguish which one is active. For an owner that's new to this electric car it is confusing and specially you have other ice car you currently driving at home. Tesla should consider an update to the display on the driving mode indicator. The default as you switch the stalk to d, p, n or r, that large font only display momentarily and it changes to your speed and then changes to ' hold- brake font icon'. Those display font p-d- r- n on the top left corner is too minimal and even lightly obstructed with the steering wheel. Even the font color is hardly distinguishable, the current drive mode is only bold in the same color. This is really a safety issue and should be addressed asap. Tesla model 3 display should be updated, the drive mode should be visible enough and permanent on the display. Look at the model s.. It has a very visible/ easy to distinguish your current driving mode. ( p-d- n-r ) [xxx] contact: [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). *tr |
| Category | Electrical System, Fuel/propulsion System |
| Date | Mar 01, 2021 |
| State | CA |
| Description | The car suddenly powered off while I was driving on a city street. The car remained broken down in the middle of traffic and needed to be towed to the service center. The service report indicates that the drive unit failed. |
| Category | Electrical System, Unknown Or Other, Visibility/wiper |
| Date | Feb 20, 2021 |
| State | IL |
| Description | Heat no longer works in the car's climate control. This apparently is tied to faulty humidity and temperature sensors that must work properly for the heating system to work, and tesla service centers are aware of this yet are not proactively replacing them. This is a safety issue in cold climates since the windshield defrost no longer works, and the car is unsafe to drive overall in cold temperatures without functional heat. This issue appears to be restricted to the 2020/2021 model 3/ys with the heat pump that require these sensors to function properly. Another symptom is the climate screen displays an error message of "climate keeper is unavailable due to a system fault." |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Feb 12, 2021 |
| State | MD |
| Description | Water intrusion immediately after touchless carwash . Water leaked from under the glovebox compartment. Driving off the carwash bay, water was heared sloshing then the leak |
| Category | Lane Departure: Assist, Lane Departure: Blind Spot Detection, Lane Departure: Warning |
| Date | Feb 04, 2021 |
| State | IA |
| Description | Tesla model 3, while driving will report a left/right column camera, is obstructed do to condensation on the inside of the camera cover. While driving on this interrupts advanced driver assistance systems such as auto lane change, blind-spot detection, and lane departure warning. This has me concerned about the safety of the adas features as condensation has impeded functionality multiple times while using the feature driving at highway speeds. |
| Category | Unknown Or Other |
| Date | Feb 03, 2021 |
| State | NY |
| Description | The heating system failed in dangerously cold conditions in a remote area on a weekend trip to the adirondacks. I wasn't able to reach roadside assistance through the app, and I end up driving it 7 hours home without any heat. The heat system failure occurred early in the morning when leaving our hotel to drive home. The temperature -18 degrees f. After it had been repaired, the service manager indicated that the problem was caused by several faulty sensors. He indicated it is a common problem, resulting from a bad batch of sensors from a certain manufacturer, and that tesla has since stopped purchasing the sensors from that manufacturer. This implies that tesla knew the sensors in my car were defective. What the hell?! This is dangerous!!! If I was a little old lady, I could have frozen to death! Why hasn't tesla issued a safety recall? |
| Category | Service Brakes, Steering, Vehicle Speed Control |
| Date | Dec 28, 2020 |
| State | NH |
| Description | When I test drove the tesla model 3, there was an option to turn regenerative braking to low. This allowed the car to have more of a coasting effect when one lifts the foot off of the accelerator. When I received delivery of the car, the ability to reduce the regenerative braking effect was not available. The removal of this feature is being discussed at length in online forums. The latest version of the owners' manual states that regenerative braking in the standard setting could cause the care to lose traction in winter conditions and that drivers should select the low setting. By removing this ability, tesla, by its own admission, has decreased the car's safety in winter conditions. A rapid deceleration of a car on slippery roads is almost guaranteed to induce a skid and make the car difficult or impossible to control. I find this extremely concerning. Tesla needs to bring the feature back, or publicize other compensations that may have been made unbeknownst to owners. I took delivery of the car on 12/24/20, but according to online forums this seems to have happened starting in october of 2020. A side complaint would be that tesla does not update the owners manual in a timely manner to coincide with the many software updates. The above example is jjust one of many, since the current manual makes a recommendation that is not possible to do in the 2021 model 3 refresh. |
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About the Author:
Brian Jones spent more than 20 years working as an ASE Certified Master Tech and Parts Specialist at multiple dealerships. Brian has become an authority in the industry, traveling across the country to consult for car dealerships and contributing his expertise as a writer for several major automotive publications. In his spare time, Brian enjoys working on pickup trucks, muscle cars, Jeeps and anything related to motorsports.
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