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.
2021 Tesla Model 3 acceleration complaints
Page 4 of 5: complaints 71 to 100 of 123, newest first, as owners wrote them.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
“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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I've had 2 incidents of phantom braking in 13 months of ownership. Both times when using cruise control. Scary stuff.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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