My car was set on navigate on autopilot, and normally it decreases speed when detecting change in speed limit. But for last couple of times, it's been not decreasing speed. On july 4th, 2023, I was driving and it did not change the speed limit based on the changes on the road. The speed limit had changed from 60 to 55, and it didn't change in the car. Also, Tesla just abruptly slowed down multiple times without any warning. There's no obstruction in the road, but it just keeps slowing down without a reason. Like the speed limit would be 45, and it's slowed down to 20. The car ahead is faster, and no one is walking across. it's just random.
2022 Tesla Model 3 acceleration complaints
Page 3 of 7: complaints 41 to 70 of 171, newest first, as owners wrote them.
As I was driving the car today, I had a car ahead of me at a full stop, so in order to slow down the car I lifted my foot off the acceleration pedal. However, instead of slowing down it sped up. My car has regenerative breaking (and it was turn on) which usually applies break when the pressure is lifted from acceleration pedal. However in this instant my car started speeding up. I then applied pressure on breaks, however it didn’t work. Fortunately the car ahead of me moved ahead and an accident was averted. My break and accelerator started working as expected moments later. But this can cause accident anytime. I have booked service request with Tesla. Also note that the car was not on Autopilot.
This was a case of phantom braking. While on the freeway with the cruise control set to 80 mph the car suddenly and unexpectedly slammed on the brakes. I had to step on the throttle to make the car stop braking. We were nearly rear ended by the car behind us. You can definitely come and inspect the car. I have not taken the vehicle to Tesla for inspection. No accident resulted from this incident, however it was definitely a very close call. There wasn’t a vehicle in sight ahead of us for at least a half mile. The car had no reason to slow down the way it did. I use Autopilot on my Tesla all the time. This is the first time I’ve experienced this behavior.
"Phantom braking:" Vehicle has braked Multiple times on the freeway while using adaptive cruise control, when no objects were In the vehicle's path. Typically occurs when driving on curved section of freeway at speeds above 50 mph.
During a 30 mile trip on a two lane highway I activated the cruise control. A number of times the car made significant slow downs. They seamed to be associated with oncoming trafic. I then shut off the cruise control. Later on when I could see there where no oncoming cars I again set the cruise control for 65 MPH. After only about 15 seconds the car made a rapid deceleation. The deceleration was rapid enough to cause an ice chest sitting on the passangers side of the front floorboard to roll over. I shut of the cruise control and did not use it again for the remainder of the trip
My car engaged the automatic emergency braking (AEB) when the car in front of me lightly tapped on their brakes-- When the AEB engaged, my car come to a complete stop... I tried to accelerate to prevent being rear ended, but my accelerator was disabled and I had no control of my car... Nearly causing me to get rear ended and probably causing a 5+ car collision. MANY Tesla drivers have experienced this, and it is absolutely TERRIFYING and NEEDS SERIOUS attention because lives are absolutely endangered due to this, and Tesla will not take responsibility, nor have they acknowledged the problem, at all. I've had this happen several times in the last week and I am just waiting to get in an accident at this point. This is unacceptable.
While driving across the Nevada and Utah deserts, while on cruise control, traveling at 80 MPH we experienced 7 phantom braking. There were no vehicles or obstructions in sight and it was on straight stretches of road. We are no longer using cruise control due to the danger of possibly causing an accident.
I have had several incidents of my car rapidly decelerating when in assisted driving mode and I am driving on the highway. I am driving at 65 and all of the sudden it decelerates, making it extremely dangerous. There are no apparent barriers or nearby objects causing this to happen. I am very concerned this will result in a significant accident. I have filed this claim previously without anything happening. Additionally, I had a problem with my rear warning signal not going off when I was in a parking garage, causing me to back into a car. I filed a claim with Tesla and never heard back from them.
The Tesla computer and especially the USER INTERFACE IS UNSAFE. More accurate to say I hate the UNFRIENDLY user interface. I am surprised the federal safety agency OKed this computer interface. It needs a GOOGLE quality voice activation feature. The current one is deaf to most words normally used to drive a car. E.G., to turn the lights on while driving on a road where “LIGHTS ON” is required. I must hit a button to see all controls. Then I must hit the “LIGHTS” button. Then I must hit the “LIGHTS ON”. All this while having trouble reading the small print on the screen. The reading is difficult. All this while taking my eyes off the road to even see the screen. This is just one of very many examples. The actual use of the computer is VERY OFTEN more user UNfriendly and UNSAFE than the “LIGHTS” button. Dangerous, DANGEROUS. I almost killed another driver when my car was new because I was WORKING the computer and I ran a read light. Fortunately my car stopped because I hit the breaks or because the car was, in fact, SMART??????? I am surprised the federal safety agency OKed this computer interface. The computer is smart but using the interface is dangerous. I want to bring this issue up to the federal safety agency, not to issue a recall, but to ADD on a user interface as good as GOOGLE? What is the chance that they will re-investigate a safety decision they have already made? Sincerely; [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Vehicle will repeatably go incorrect speed limit while on Autopilot or Fsd(beta), internal mapping data has incorrect speed limits, sometimes 65 in a 30, other times 25 in an unmarked 55. Speed limit may change multiple times within a short distance making it hard to correct without slowing or speeding up This is on software 2022.45.12. ( fsd 11.3.3), has been a constant issue on previous versions, also affects regular auto pilot
On a two lane road with no traffic approaching and no traffic behind us on us95 in the Nv desert, the model 3 slammed on the brakes and slowed from 60mph to 30 or less. This is with the adaptive cruise control engaged, not auto steering. This happens several times. There were several times when large semi trucks were approaching in the opposing Lane and the model 3 slammed on the brakes also when adaptive cruise control was engaged. When we reported this to Tesla they said they need the exact date and time of each incident, or they could not help us. These breaking incidents happened during a 12 hour trip between Carson City and Rancho Cucamonga. This is an unbelievable safety hazard as if someone is following too closely and the car suddenly decide to apply the brakes. The person behind you is going to be caught off guard and crash into you. I cannot believe this is been going on for over a year as I have read several articles about the problem. There is no warning whatsoever when the car does this.
During normal operation vehicle suddenly engages braking system l. This has nearly caused 2 accidents. Tesla insists there is no fault with the car.
The accelerator pedal snapped off without any warning while driving on the interstate attempting to pass a vehicle. As I pressed the accelerator pedal, all resistance in the pedal disappeared and vehicles regenerative braking immediately engaged despite my efforts to maintain a safe speed on the interstate. Due to the regenerative braking and the lack of an accelerator pedal, I quickly found myself in the very dangerous situation in which my car was attempting to come to a stop from a high rate of speed in the middle of the interstate. I was luckily able to make a hard right turn to cross a lane of traffic in order to reach the safety of the emergency lane just before the car came to a complete stop. While doing so, I nearly clipped the front of another vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where it was serviced and a new accelerator pedal was installed. However, the service department had notified me that they had never had an incident like this before and even had difficulty knowing exactly how to fix it. The service to replace the accelerator pedal took nearly two weeks, leaving me without a reliable vehicle for my daily work commute. Upon picking up my vehicle, the service department also could not confirm that the vehicle was test driven with the newly installed accelerator pedal which heightened my safety concerns even more. When I asked to speak with someone in regards to my safety concerns going forward, no manager was available despite phone calls, messages, and an in person request. The vehicle now has a small wheel shake that wasn't present prior which is very unsettling.
I used Autopilot on my Model 3 for the first and only time a few weeks ago, and had a terrifying experience with "phantom braking" that could have killed my entire family while going ~75mph on the I-5 near Bakersfield, CA. The I-5 here is split with 2 lanes in each direction, and is straight with no bends. I was driving in the right northbound lane, with Autopilot engaged (adaptive speed control only, no automatic lane-steering). My right foot was off both pedals and two hands were on the wheel. There were no other cars in sight except for a single car driving northbound behind me in the left lane. This car began to pass me on the left, and when its front bumper was aligned with the mid-point of my car (I could just barely see the front bumper through the corner of my eye), my Tesla suddenly automatically slammed on the brakes with absolutely no warning! I immediately clenched the wheel as hard as I could, and had to quickly respond to prevent the wheel from automatically veering to the left. While fighting the wheel to try to keep the vehicle straight, and my family hanging on for their lives, we screeched to a grinding halt at a 45 degree angle facing the left lane. We were extremely lucky to not hit the passing car and fortunately there were no vehicles behind us. I disengaged Autopilot and quickly got out of there so we weren't vulnerable. I speculate that the camera on the left panel between the driver and rear door saw the passing car, and wrongly invoked automatic evasive braking and steering maneuvers in response to a falsely anticipated head-on collision. That's the only reasonable explanation I can come up with. I will not use Autopilot again until "phantom braking" is eliminated. This is a known issue that I've since found mentioned all over the Internet by other Tesla owners. This needs to be fixed hastily before people are killed! We're damn lucky I had both hands on the wheel, otherwise we'd likely be dead! Note: Same report has been sent to Tesla.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while her husband was driving 80 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle jerked forward and decelerated to 52 MPH. The contact stated there was no warning light illuminated. The driver deactivated the cruise control and continued driving to his destination. The contact stated she also experienced the failure on February 27, 2023. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.
The "traffic aware" cruise control automatically slows the car when entering a portion of highway with a reduced speed limit. Sounds good in theory and Tesla says this is intentional and cannot be modified in settings. However, suddenly slowing down from 65 mph to 45 mph when all traffic PERSISTS at 65 mph could lead to rear end collisions or loss of control.
Constant Phantom Breaking at interstate speeds. Tesla insists this is not a problem.
Cruise control thinks it detects a pending collision and abruptly brakes. Following cars almost rear ended us. This happens every time at exactly the same bridge overpasses on the NJ Garden State Parkway south.
The contact owned a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at approximately 65 MPH with the "auto-pilot" engaged, the vehicle approached another vehicle in traffic from behind and had gotten too close. The contact stated that she depressed the brake pedal to slow down when the vehicle inadvertently accelerated at high speed. The contact steered to the left to avoid rear-end crash with the vehicle directly in front. Additionally, the contact stated that the steering wheel had become hard to turn and the vehicle crashed into the highway divider. The vehicle's front end had crashed into the divider wall and the vehicle ricocheted across four lanes of traffic and ran off the roadway onto the right shoulder and was stopped by having crashed with small trees and bushes. The contact stated she did not notice any warning lights. The contact stated that she had been transported by ambulance to a trauma center. The contact stated that she had compression fractures of her spine, suffered soft tissue damage to her neck, and right wrist soft tissue damage, and rib fractures on the left side. The vehicle had been towed to an impound lot, and the police were on the scene and filed a report. The contact stated that her insurance provider had declared the vehicle a total loss. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 4,400.
During cruise control on straight highways with no other cars nearby, the car would brake for no reason. Very scary.
Phantom braking. Driving down 395 going the speed limit, no other cars or any obstacles in the road whatsoever, the car would slam on the brakes hard to the point I almost lost control of the vehicle. This happened 3 times in a row before I turned off adaptive cruise control. This is the most glaring obvious example of a vehicle safety hazard that should be recalled that I’ve ever seen on a new car. If someone was driving behind my car I have no doubt this would have caused a rear and accident.
Regardless of which cruise control function you are operating in the system will suddenly brake for no reason, sometimes slowing down by only a few miles an hour and sometimes by as much as 30 or 40 miles per hour. This can potentially lead to a rear end accident. System has far fewer failures at night than during the day and far fewer if there is traffic in front of the car than if there is an open road in front. This cruise control is almost unusable during the day on an open road. This has happened within 45 miles of owning the car to present 5000 miles + and has happened at every speed we have used it at This has been an on-going issue since the day we bought it and not something the Dealership tells you about in advance
Multiple times traveling on Interstate 70 at 75 mph the car would brake itself without warning while the “Autopilot” (driver assist) was engaged. This probably happened 4 times over the course of 1 hour. I recalibrated the cameras after the 3rd event, but it did not help. This was very dangerous and unsettling. I verified no-one was close behind when engaging the autopilot in case the system “decided” to brake unexpectedly. If someone was behind me traveling at interstate speeds, they would have hit me.
My car is brand new. When in Autopilot mode (not full FSD), the vehicle does u expected braking apparently randomly. There are no road obstructions or potential road obstructions visible at all to me as driver. Yet, the vehicle will brake suddenly. It does this so frequently that I no longer use Autopilot unless I know the road has no other vehicle driving behind me and is very clear ahead of me. I never, ever use it on the highway. In one incident, I was using my Autopilot and a motorcycle was traveling at a much too close distance behind me on a curve on a busy roadway, with a large RV driving in the lane next to me. As all three of our vehicles approached the curve in this cluster, my vehicle suddenly braked and the motorcycle behind me almost crashed into my vehicle’s rear end. It was terrifying. After that incident, I severely limited my use of Autopilot and take pains to ensure my foot is resting on the accelerator in case I need to apply a little pressure to counteract the unexpected braking while in Autopilot mode.
Several times, while using the cruise control, the car automatically braked at highway speed. The car is available for inspection. My safety and my wife's safety were put at risk by the car suddenly slowing down on the interstate without my control. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center - I have not had the car serviced. It has not been inspected. There were no warning lamps or messages.
The adaptive cruise control. is subject to sudden phantom braking. On several occasions when the cruise control is engaged the vehicle will brake for no reason. On one occasion the sudden braking caused a semi-truck behind me to swerve just barely avoiding an accident. On another occasion the vehicle braked so hard that we skidded. There is no warning when the phantom braking will occur. The adaptive cruise control is useless on two lane highways and streets, because it sees cars in the oncoming lane and brakes. I have called the company to have the vehicle check on at least two occasions. Every time I schedule a service the company calls back and tells me they know about the problem and that they are working on the issue. I asked if they could do an update to turn off the adaptive cruise control and revert back the standard cruise control that does not brake or slow down. They said that is not an option. This is a real safety concern, and I will not use the adaptive cruise control except in stop and go traffic. It has been my experience that there has been no phantom braking in stop and go traffic.
Cruise control set @70 to 74mph on open highway with no vehicles in front or behind. Midday, sunny, clear, and dry. The vehicle suddenly applies brakes. This could have easily lead to being rear-ended if another vehicle were following too closely. This happened numerous time this last weekend. Contacted the manufacturer and they stated this is normal and no hardware faults were detected in the vehicle when diagnosed remotely.
We just went on a longish trip, covering a total of about 2,500 miles. While driving on interstate highways and using cruise control, the car would occasionally brake for no reason. The first several times it happened, the car braked mildly and we tried to explain it away. ("It must have seen the guardrail/traffic cone/butterfly," etc.) However, the last time it happened, with absolutely nothing anywhere near us to the sides or front, the car braked FREAKING HARD. I was driving, and it scared the $hit out of me. If the 18-wheeler behind us had been a little closer, we would have been toast. After that, we disabled the automatic emergency braking every time we started the car, and we'll continue to do that.
I am renting this Tesla Model 3 on monthly basis Rental from Hertz. ON SEP 5TH, 2022 I was at a stop sign fully stopped and all of a sudden the car started accelarating by itself. I try to call Tesla about it and their answer was as I am not the owner they won't even talk to me. I tried to call Hertz but their Customer Service no available just in a circle of press this and press that for hours..Today Sep 16, around 10:58 am , I was Stopped at an intersection on a Red light waiting for the signal to turn Green , Then all of a sudden the Car Accelerated and Luckily no Cross Traffic and I proceeded through the Intersection. This is a Serious Issue.This car does not have Self Driving Feature, and twice in 10 Days this speed issue occur. Also on three different occasions while I was driving on a freeway other Cars from left and right swerved into my Lane and extremely close to my Car and the side Sensors didn't Beep.
We have an ongoing issue with our Model 3 stopping for no reason at speed when using cruise-control or auto-pilot. We have had the car in for service at Kearney Mesa and the “manager” observed it happen. But nobody gets back to us and nobody knows anything. The car suddenly brakes for no reason. This happened multiple times. Including once with the “service manager” in the car. Answers below are for that occurrence. No other warnings on the display. If a car had been behind us, we would have been rear-ended. We are being “stonewalled “ by the attitude “I know nothing” or “someone will get back to you”. I cannot get through to anyone at Tesla HQ and the local service center is completely unhelpful. Please advise.
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