2016 Tesla Model S: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Mar 3, 2026 · Driver assistance · SD

multitude of electrical problems: Fuel/Propulsion System, Lighting, and body controls along with all ADAS: Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keeping Assistance systems are impacted by random intermittent glitching as computer screen bubbling progressed with goo leaking out of the bottom of the main computer. Most recent symptom was disabling of ALL ADAS systems along with automatic high beam headlight switching. Long ago as screen began to bubble and express fluid the low windshield washer alert came on and remains even when the tank is full. Then the charge port responsiveness degraded and stopped automatically functioning requiring user to bypass by clicking the "open charge port", then waiting 3 seconds, then tapping "unlock charge port". User must perform this as remote manual operation from a NACS charging handle button push will FAIL. Long ago the computer controlled 'home link' module would have excessive time delays on the order of hours or days from when the user would program and or operate the function. I even had a "phanthom" car appear by the computer calculations with E-Braking before the ADAS system failed fully, a 1.0 Tesla system should not have that... Windows have randomly rolled down and the driver side rear door will unlock and open on its own as the door handles present themselves. The safety risk class is unknown unknown; if the root problem is the screen filling leaking on electronics any number of unknown, unplanned, unstudied risk failure modes exist that can not be predicted. Schematically the HOMELINK is on connector X429 sharing CANBUS connections impacting safety: Driver "Instrument Cluster", DAS systems connected to "Power Steering ECU", "iBooster ECU", "ABS / Stability ECU", "Passive Restraints Controller"... see CAN Network - Chassis drawing page 11 , "Energy System - Charger Logic Connections" "Instrument Cluster / LIN" pg35

Filed Jan 3, 2024 · Brakes, Driver assistance · CA

Driving 75mph on cruise control. Car sensed a vehicle in front of me (which there were no vehicles in sight) my Tesla started flashing the red car light and making the alert noise. My vehicle automatically slammed on the brakes dropping me to about 40mph instantly. My greatest fear continuing to drive this vehicle is if I use cruise control, and it senses a vehicle in front of me without their actually being a vehicle and slams on the brakes again myself or someone is going to get hurt. This has the potential to cause death or cause severe injury.

Filed Feb 4, 2022 · Driver assistance · MN

When using the cruise control, vehicle will break hard, almost to a stop. This happens mostly on a curve 1 or 2 lanes when going highway speeds for no apparent reason.

Filed Dec 27, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 36,000 miles · TX

Tesla model s center touchscreen and associated assistance &infortainment features have become unstable and perform correctly only intermittently. Would have checked more boxes above in terms of systems affected but only allowed 3. Backup camera slow to come up (when working). System shutdowns and reboots occur while driving and parked. Backup camera, climate control, defogging systems, head light control, vehicle lock/unlock, turn signal indicator noice, and all driver assistance such as automatic breaking, adaptive cruise control, navigation etc are affected when this occurs. Variety of errors with entire touchscreen system including lack of response to voice commands, phone connections and audio controls occur nearly every day whether connected to wifi, lte, driving or stationary. Audio system will sometimes change volume when these errors occur or will be unavailable to change to a safer volume. Issues have been occurring for the past year at least but have become much worse over time. Have repeatedly brought up these concerns with manufacturer who states system is performing according to manufacturer standards and/or "known firmware issue". These issues absolutely affect driving safety.

Filed Dec 15, 2020 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 18,000 miles · CA

Multiple center screen failures experienced since october 2020. Most notable highway driving incidents listed below. 18nov2020 while driving center screen became unresponsive. The driver seat heater was stuck on level 3. The turn signal sound continued after the turn signal was turned off. Climate controls couldn't be turned off. No response to radio selections. 10 mins later the radio came on at a very loud volume, but unable to reduce or mute volume. Volume muted after 10 mins. The screen rebooted, no cell signal. 19nov2020 driving, the touch screen went black. Attempted to reboot using the scroll buttons several times. It did not respond. I rebooted the driver's screen, then the center screen began to reboot. The tesla symbol appeared and disappeared 4 times over 5 minutes before the center screen came on. Car unable to connect to cell services for several days. 26nov2020 driving, all systems appear to be normal accept there's no volume, and no turn signals. Center screen went black. Cannot stop ventilation. 4 hours after parking car the ventilation is still on, but the driver screen shows that the ventilation is off. Center screen does not respond to reboot attempts. Battery power getting low. Finally recovered center screen after 36 hours. 02dec2020 center screen went black and did not come back on. Request for appointment with tesla made. Earliest appointment is 21dec2020. Have not been able to reboot center screen after many attempts. 12 days later and screen is still not recoverable. When the center screen goes black the following features are out of commission: turn signals back up camera climate control & seat heaters(if on, I cannot turn it off) hazard lights tire pressure sensors autopilot features adaptive cruise control lane departure warning blind spot warning infotainment charging controls

Filed Nov 23, 2020 · Driver assistance · 80,000 miles · VA

While driving the touchscreen became unresponsive and all functions associated with the touchscreen including traffic adaptive cruise control on the highway and the rear view camera while in reverse were inoperable.

Filed Sep 29, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 52,500 miles · IL

The emmc flash memory is failing, leading to the main screen blacking out for several minutes happens randomly while driving and when at stop and when the car is booting up. This prevents adjustment of several components including climate control, manual lighting, cruise control/autopilot, music it has been happening for over a month, progressively getting worse. Service came out to just reset the 12v and update the software and said everything is good but it definitely is not because its getting worse day by day

Filed Sep 2, 2020 · Acceleration, Electrical · 70,000 miles · OR

The emmc flash memory is failing, leading to the main screen blacking out for several minutes both while driving and when at stop and when the car is booting up. This prevents adjustment of several components including climate (fans, defog, AC), manual lighting, cruise control/autopilot, etc. It has been happening for over a month, progressively getting worse. Tesla is telling us we have to replace the flash memory (~$500, but there is no guarantee the problem won't reoccur), or replace or upgrade the mcu (~$1500-2500). The car was recently upgraded to full self drive hardware (paid for in 2016) and others have reported that this contributes to the memory dying, so we contend this design flaw should be repaired by tesla for free.

Filed Jan 20, 2020 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 63,440 miles · CA

I was approaching a stop sign with my foot lifted above both pedals (brake and accelerator) when my car accelerated forward. I had always thought that most of these unintended accelerations were due to a driver hitting the accelerator pedal instead of the brake pedal so I noted that my foot was not resting or pressing on either pedal. I put it down on the brake pedal and the car stopped, but this should never have happened. I had no cruise control or steering aid activated. I also have 'creep mode' turned off.

Filed Jan 19, 2020 · Acceleration, Brakes · 20,000 miles · NY · crash · 2 injuries

On 1/18/20, I was travelling in my 2016 tesla model s p100d eastward on anderson hill road toward the intersection with purchase street. The stop light was red. I was driving 1mi under the speed limit of 35mph. The outside temperature was around freezing, and a wet snow had begun 5-10min earlier, with minimal accumulation. I know exactly how fast I was going because I had cruise control on. I was not on autopilot. Just cruise control. When the intersection and stop light came into view, I tapped the break to disengage the cruise control, and then depressed the break to slow the car. Nothing happened. The breaks would not engage. And neither did the regenerative breaking. I do not feel that I was skidding or sliding. It simply felt as if the car had no idea I wanted to brake. It was very very strange. In those few seconds it became clear to me there was a good chance I would be dead shortly. As it happens, I was struck broadside by a large suburban travelling northbound on purchase street perhaps 25 miles an hour. Both he and I seem to have emerged relatively unscathed (physically, anyway) thank god. But I want to know what happened to my car. Can you please contact tesla and demand all the information from the cars computers - and their computers at hq - so we can find out??? What happened was extremely dangerous, and could have killed both me nd others. To summarize: brake failure, both manual and degenerative, in 2016 tesla model s caused massive collision with both cars totalled.

Filed Sep 27, 2019 · Acceleration · 64,000 miles · WA

Driving on a 2 lane highway using autopilot the car accelerated and pulled left, ended up in the opposite lane and almost off road over a cliff. This is not the first incident I had with my tesla. On several occasions, while using cruise control, it suddenly braked in the middle of the highway, while the immediate collision alarm went off. There were no vehicles in front of mine and no immediate risk for collision. Tesla needs to improve the autopilot features as there are significant safety concerns.

Filed Oct 26, 2018 · Acceleration, Brakes · 46,000 miles · FL · crash · 1 injury

Failure of vehicle to engage automatic emergency braking or apply adaptive cruise control braking in repsonse to a vehicle abruptly stopping ahead. Vehicle had adaptive cruise engaged at 57 MPH on interstate highway and an acc sensitivity of 2. Vehicle forward collision warning did alert. This failure resulted in a rear-end collision with the car ahead.