I was driving on the highway when the touchscreen lit up with multiple error messages including: - Steering assist reduced (Steering may require increased effort) - Traction control disabled (Drive with caution) - Stability control disabled (Drive with caution) - Parking brake functions degraded (Parking brake may not apply or release) - Lane Departure Avoidance features unavailable (Features may be restored on next drive) Also, the speedometer changed to 0 (while we were going 70 mph). When I pulled onto the next off-ramp the steering was very heavy and the regenerative braking was not working. Pressing the brakes (even slightly) felt like the ABS was pulsating. This was extremely dangerous and easily could have resulted in a serious accident in heavy traffic or if the road had not been straight. It was a rental car so I have not seen the car since the rental company towed it away. I have not heard from the rental company about the car's status or their findings. Prior to the catastrophic failure of multiple systems, there were two other warnings messages: - Left front fender camera blocked or blinded (Clean cameras or wait to regain visibility) - Autopilot safety/convenience features unavailable (Features may be restored on next drive) These had been coming on and off for a couple hours but I had assumed they were due to driving through heavy rain.
2022 Tesla Model 3 brakes complaints
Page 2 of 7: complaints 11 to 40 of 169, newest first, as owners wrote them.
All has been reported in writing to Tesla Corporate and Tesla Service Center SoDo Seattle, WA. Has not been repaired to date, with multiple attempts to bring car in for service: Emergency brake failed to engage on two occasions, [XXX] it was first reported that the car lost control of steering and emergency brake did not engage. Second time on [XXX]; car would not shift into any gear. Tesla Roadside said to have it towed (we did), Tesla had car for two weeks and did not address issues reported. Tesla has received extensive documentation for both times. They continue to tell us to drive car and just report issues as their resolution. Car has failed seals that have resulted in multiple times of mold and rodents in car (had professionally inspected). Tesla continues to insist I go inside vehicle and drive car. Tesla first discovered the mold in March 2024 during warranty service visit. They acknowledge smell in writing. Odometer was changed while car was brought in for service (shows on Tesla provided service records). Car arrived on 7/2/24 at 11:06am with 32,390 miles and left 7/2/24 at 11:07am with 32,687 miles. Manager was present and in the car for this visit. Car charger has failed and been replaced multiple times, battery is defective. Tesla will not inspect. Reported in writing loud thudding in trunk for months and Tesla took no action. Turned out to be live rats discovered during private mold inspection in trunk, frunk and inside of car; we believe we were exposed to rodents for months due to Tesla refusing to inspect properly. We have reported the car making us incredibly ill with heart and lung issues, unexplained hair loss, nausea, fatigue and Tesla has taken no action. We arrived at Service center 7/2/24 asking for water and ill from the car and they ignored until we said we would need to call 911. No warning messages for any of the safety issues reporting, Tesla maintains the car is in good condition. Continue to seek medical care. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
Tesla has confirmed that the firmware of the high-voltage controller of the Model 3 is known to occasionally go "missing in action", causing regenerative braking to entirely cease to function and the driving performance of the car to drop considerably. This was expected to be resolved in a firmware update, but the problem continues. The service representative advised that they (Tesla employees) are not allowed to refer to the problem as a defect and instead must use the euphemism "firmware characteristic". The impact of the issue occurring while driving is that braking and acceleration are significantly reduced, thus reducing the ability of the driver to respond to unexpected situations and operate the vehicle safely. The impact of the issue occurring while parked is that the vehicle cannot start until such time as the controller resumes responding. The driver has no control over when/if this will happen, and the car may ultimately require towing. We encountered the while-parked case on 2024-07-07 and the while-driving case on 2024-07-27.
Driving on the freeway, husband driving, myself in passenger front seat and 1yr and 3yrs in back. Just touched a 70 zone when the car, without warning/prompt started to deviate from left lane to right lane, at same speed, my husband tried to control car at which point he realized that the steering wheel and brakes were locked and he had no control of the direction or speed and could do nothing to stop the car. The car continued at high speed to drag us to the left side of the road, we smashed at full force into a display maintenance board first, the airbags deployed, and we continued to smash through a barrier and finally into a tree in a field about 100yards+ from freeway. We managed to escape the vehicle and get our screaming kids to safety where we then were picked up by ambulance and police. The car, of course, was unsalvageable. We, by some unknown miracle, made it out alive of this horrific, beyond imaginable experience. This was not normal behavior for a car. We had this car for 2.5yrs, we had no automatic driving capabilities turned on (we didn't have self-drive) and were driving home midday from a grocery store trip on a road we drive frequently. The brakes wouldn't push down, the steering wheel wouldn't move, we were totally at the mercy of the car.
Driver's seat weight sensor not working properly. Causes car to slam on the brakes when seatbelt is not on (for example in a driveway or automated carwash, potentially causing a crash) and can potentially leave car running indefinitely (draining the battery). Since sometimes it gets stuck in the occupied or unoccupied state.
My wife driving our Tesla Model 3. From her report, the car was accelerating on its own and would not stop despite her pressing on the brake pedal. She was unable to stop at the traffic light and crashed into another car at an intersection.
On [XXX], I was driving from Victorville, CA to Las Vegas, NV on [XXX] northbound. Between [XXX] two incidents occurred. Both incidents involve phantom braking. My vehicle was in autopilot mode, which is essentially traffic aware cruise control. I was traveling at 70MPH and passed a semi-truck. I changed lanes back into the right lane after passing the truck. About 30 seconds later, the car slammed on the brakes. The semi-truck behind me took immediate evasive maneuver and swerved into the left lane to avoid hitting me. There was no obstruction in front of me. The nearest vehicles ahead of me were so far away that I could barely see their tail lights. This was a very unsafe condition. The second incident happened about 40 minutes later. No other vehicles were near me although the sudden braking gave me a scare. There were no warnings, messages, or any indication that the sudden braking was being applied. I was able to immediately depress the accelerator to increase speed and override the autopilot. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Traveling on I35 South, approx 70 -75 MPH. Using adaptive cruise control/enhanced auto pilot. No vehicles present within a mile of my vehicle. Braking spontaneously engaged, reducing speed to 40MPH within seconds. If a vehicle were behind me they would have absolutely collided. I've not filed a report with Tesla. Vehicle did not display any warning, or any other sort of indication that a malfunction had occurred. The problem has not been reproduced by me, however an internet search returns multiple complaints of these exact symptoms.
Car slammed on the brakes on its own while the auto steer function was being used going 80mph. If someone was behind me they would’ve rear ended me.
Accelerating with no input braking unsuccessful resulting in running a stop sign across two-way traffic. Vehicle stopped after approx. 100 meters after running the stop sign. I have discussed with Tesla service to run a diagnostic report (not completed at this time). No warnings or error messages. Vehicle resumed normal functional control after. Tested accelerating and braking at the same time gives error message did not present during the incident.
the car started to abruptly accelerate when slowing down the car at a stop light and would not brake. the anti collision functions did not work. the car went into a truck.
On 9 different occasions, my vehicle was operating in cruise control and slammed on the brakes for no reason. Fortunately, no vehicle was behind me. If there were I would have been rear-ended all 9 times. This has happed 8 times on the freeway and one time on surface streets.
If you are on a hill and if the Tesla detects both pedals are pressed. The car will drop into neutral on its own and free roll. The Tesla “one pedal stop and hold” will fail to maintain a stop and hold state if it detects both pedals are pressed. I was on an uphill driveway and I accidentally bumped my brake pedal when I went to press my accelerator pedal. (Big feet). My car free rolled backwards until I let off the accelerator and hit the brake. Luckily nobody was behind me. I moved a good 8 feet backwards during the situation. I tested this on my own in my slanted driveway at home and this problem can be easily reproduced. It happens when the car thinks both pedals are pressed and the brake isn’t fully pressed, it causes the electric motor to disengage causing the vehicle to free roll in neutral, and if “one pedal stop and hold is enabled”, it causes the brake to let go and the vehicle no longer stays stopped. This free rolling downhill. Case 1: stop and hold, in reverse or drive. Both pedals detected pressed, vehicle switches to neutral and free rolls downhill. Case 2: vehicle moving slowly uphill Via accelerator pedal pressed, but the brake is detected as pressed. And the the vehicle falls into neutral and starts free rolling downhill. The safety risk is when the vehicle free rolls downhill when both pedals are detected pressed. The safety risk can happen when the driver accidentally lightly presses both pedals. Or if there is an electrical fault where the vehicle may think both pedals are pressed. Vehicle risks free rolling downhill into other vehicles, buildings, or people Before the driver can realize what has happened and hits the brakes. A software patch will need to be implemented to correct this fault condition. It should be changed to the following: Case 1: if vehicle is in stop and hold mode, the vehicle should remain in stop and hold mode. Case 2: if vehicle is moving. The vehicle should engage stop and hold mode and stop. Thanks.
Please help Phantom braking is getting worse
It was a raining day. When I turned 90 degree to my right into the parking lot from local road, I hit the brake and the car slowed down for turning. FSD or autopilot were off for sure. Then I felt the car was moving down suddenly and made a big noise due to the a slightly slope down when I turned. I saw a parking slot right in front of me. I hit the accelerator a fraction of second to prevent the car to stop. In a fraction of second, the car accelerated like crazy. I immediately hit the brake very hard (95% of my force on brake). I have 30 years of driving experience. I knew that I hit the brake tightly, but the car still kept accelerate like crazy. I could forever remember the feel and moment of my foot was in the brake. Even after the accident, I went to test the Tesla car. I could feel the difference of brake and accelerator since the accelerator is much easier to push down and I needed to push much deeper in the right of my right foot for accelerator. And the brake is hard, and close to my foot. I thought the car would stop like what I had been driving this car for one year and about 20,000 miles. However, the car was stopping at all, but keeping accelerating for 2 seconds. No warning lights and AEB were on at working. The car hit the short of concrete wall and steel fence and then dropped and hit the tree in right front of me. Finally the car dropped into the short cliff. The airbags were off and warning lights were on. My son and me could use the manual door opener to go out.
on Nov 26, 2023. I parked the car in driveway. After sometime started car to go someplace. The car could not move front or back and gave metal rubbing sound. Called tesla road side and arrange a tow truck. Car was towed to tesla service center in Springfield, New Jersey. On Nov 27, Tesla informed me on app to pick the car. I picked the car back on Nov 28. 2023. Tesla service informed by that they could not replicate the issue of brake jamming. They did some tests and told me that car is fine and safe to drive. At the time of pickup the technician told be that it could be software issue. (instances of brake switch mismatch) Want to inform that this is brake jamming issue and can stop the car any where. No clear or satisfactory explanation given be Tesla. I continue to drive the car.
Over several occasions, this Model 3 Tesla has engaged the brakes heavily while using the autopilot, lane-assist function. This has always happened while going highway speeds. The braking is very abrupt and without any apparent reason (nothing in the front or beside the car). I do not recall this occurring unless the autopilot function is enabled. I am able to disengage the system and take control, but it's an alarming and unsafe glitch in the software.
While driving on 4 lane Pkwy at 45 mph then slowing down to move into left turning lane, my model 3 gave warning of "parking brake failure" and stopped working at the same time. This means it slowed down to a stop on its own. I was "manually driving" the vehicle when this occurred. Luckily for me I was able to be in a "slower" left turn lane and I knew where the emergency blinker button was located and turned them on. The vehicle didn't even go into coast mode to allow me to move over to side of road. It just decided to stop where it was at. After reading about Tesla's stopping on their own in traffic and people crashing into them I knew this is a serious problem. Weather was clear, my car and its cameras were clean.
On October 20th, 2023 around 3:00 pm I was driving eastbound on the highway 69 in Michigan. A friend of mine was seated on the front passenger side (no more other passenger). Autopilot was not installed on the car and the driver had both hands on the steering wheel. I was driving on the most left lane at speed about 75 mph. At about Exit#131, Suddenly, I felt the steering wheel turned right a little by itself and the car slowly drifted to the right a little, then the steering wheel quickly turned to left by itself and the car quick turned to the left. I tried to control the steering wheel but couldn't. The car zig-zagged forward and hit the center guardrail at about 45 degree angle. The car was pushed away from the guardrail and stopped in the middle lane. After the crush, the left side of the car tilted to the ground. The left side airbag was deployed and my head hit on the airbag (not injured). The bottom of the drivers side was steaming. At this point I thought the car was going to explode or catch a fire since EV's are known for doing that. My friend and I exited the car immediately and we called the police. No other car was involved and no people get injured. The wheel axle on the front left side collapsed and the wheel fell down on the ground but the tire did not blow up. There were severe damages on the left side of the vehicle: the lamp, the mirror, doors and charging port. The accident report can be retrieved at www.flinttownshippolice.org, report # [XXX]. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
I have been forced to stop using cruise control on my Tesla Model 3. Over the past few years, the car will repeatedly slam on the brakes for no good reason when I am driving on the highway. I understand this behavior is known as "phantom braking." The car will suddenly and unexpectedly drop speed by 10-20 mph on the highway. I am so worried that someone will rear-end my vehicle that I cannot use cruise control anymore. For some unexplained reason, the Tesla Model 3 does not currently have a "dumb" cruise control that I could use instead.
My car was purchased Aug 2022. In Nov. 2022 we took a short trip. I believe 5 or 6 times the car braked for no reason. I believe it is called phantom braking. One or two times it was a hard brake that I believe could cause an accident if someone was behind me, or the wrong person driving. It was sudden and hard in those two situations. I took the car in and after they drove it two miles they told me there were no issues. Then in June 2023 we went on a long trip. I do not use autopilot, this is only cruise control. On this trip probably between 35 to 45 times we experienced the same issues. At least 5 times they were hard brakes and could cause an accident. I again opened a service visit to Tesla. Again, they drove the car 5 miles and claimed there is nothing wrong. I did not accept this answer and asked for the GM. Finally after demanding this for 20 or so minutes a man came and said he was the manager. He also argued in the beginning but when I told him I have found accidents caused by this he finally admitted that it was something called "phantom braking" and that that it should be fixed very soon with an update. So then again, in August my wife and I went on another trip. It still is happening and probably 6 or 7 times this occurred. It seems to mostly be on smaller 2 lane highways and occurs usually when there are no cars, trucks, or anything nearby. But all it would take is a tailgater to cause a wreck. In August when we returned I made another warranty appointment her in Las Vegas and immediately they cancelled the visit on my app. They are lying about what is occurring and telling me that it is usually when I am following too close or some garbage like that, which is absolutely not true. I just made another appt today but I am sure they will cancel it. What do I do. I really want to go through Nevada Lemon law at this point. My name is [XXX] and my phone is [XXX] . Below I am putting in the most recent incident and mileage then. Happens many time INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
I was in the carpool lane when traffic came to a complete stop. I pressed on the brakes but they were heavy as if I was not able to press it down all the way. There was no information prior to the accident from the Tesla trying to warn me about an incoming collision. It wasn’t until after the accident the Tesla acknowledged that there was damage done to the car. Prior to the accident there was a service required for the front passenger safety restraints. This accident could have been much worse as I tried to swerve out of the way to avoid traffic but wasn’t able to make it back in time.
We took our first long-disance trip (Albuquerque NM to Arlington TX, round trip) in our 2022 Tesla Model 3 and experienced multiple (4-5) phantom braking episodes to and from Arlington when engaging adaptive cruise control or autopilot. The car had been driven 5,760 miles before the trip. There were no warnings before the braking. The car was travelling at 70-77 mph on interstate highways and suddenly the brakes would engage slowing the car to 40 or 50 mph before we pressed pressed the accelerator. It was a clear day with temperatures in the 90-100 range. One time the phantom brake episode occurred while passing. Fortunately, there no cars travelling close behind us or there could have been a serious multi-car accident. We contacted Tesla service and they told us the car had no discernable problems (attached message).
Car brakes hard on cruise control when no other cars are around.
Driving at speed limit (70MPH) on Interstate 5. Was using cruise control. On 5 occasions, driving N, then S 4 days later, car braked suddenly with no obstacle or vehicle within 50 yards.
During high speed vehicle would do sudden brake with no visible obstacles or cars ahead of vehicle
I was driving on Interstate 25 north towards Santa Fe NM at about 75mph with the cruise control engaged. The car abruptly slowed down to about 60 mph for no apparent reason. The slow down was so quick that passengers were pushed forward in their seats. This has happened before when cruise control was engaged. I had hoped that this was resolved by Tesla. There was not any vehicles in front of me for the car to believe a slowdown was necessary. I reported this to Tesla for repair and they replied that a repair was not necessary. They gave me instructions to override the action by pressing the acceleration pedal. I don't believe that is the solution to the problem and fear that if another car was following to close behind me that an accident could have happened. This car was purchased with cruise control but I cannot utilize it for fear of this braking problem
"Phantom braking:" Vehicle has braked Multiple times on the freeway while using adaptive cruise control, when no objects were In the vehicle's path. Typically occurs when driving on curved section of freeway at speeds above 50 mph.
My car engaged the automatic emergency braking (AEB) when the car in front of me lightly tapped on their brakes-- When the AEB engaged, my car come to a complete stop... I tried to accelerate to prevent being rear ended, but my accelerator was disabled and I had no control of my car... Nearly causing me to get rear ended and probably causing a 5+ car collision. MANY Tesla drivers have experienced this, and it is absolutely TERRIFYING and NEEDS SERIOUS attention because lives are absolutely endangered due to this, and Tesla will not take responsibility, nor have they acknowledged the problem, at all. I've had this happen several times in the last week and I am just waiting to get in an accident at this point. This is unacceptable.
In about a dozen incidences with my 12,000 mile model 3 the breaks come on unexpectedly. In one case i was on I-70 being followed by an 18 wheel truck / trailer when the phantom breaking occurred. Except for the attention of the truck driver and him slamming on his breaks to avoid rear ending me, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve opened 2 service complaints with Tesla and their response is that it is a learned correction for the car - Well it isn’t working.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2022 Tesla Model 3?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history