Operating vehicle on highways while utilizing Autopilot and/or Autosteer(FSD) braking will randomly occur without any warning. This is commonly referred to as “Phantom Braking.”
2018 Tesla Model S driver assistance complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 56 of 56, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I purchase a used 2018 Tesla Model S about two months ago. Braking is very "jerky, causing me and my passenger to "lurch forward" unnecessarily. I run into this "phantom braking" issue numerous times every time I drive. It happens both on Automatic Cruise Control and FSD and under different circumstances" and encompasses: (1) Sudden braking for no apparent reason; (2) Sudden braking that is unnecessary or is too forceful for the circumstances; (23 If the car is on automatic cruise control or FSD, it will slow down and stop too far away from the car in front. So, I push the accelerator to close the gap. When I left my foot off the accelerator, the software apparently thinks it's too close the car in front, and jams on the brakes unnecessarily. Also, when on automatic cruise control, if the car in front of me goes around a curve and then shortly thereafter stops a stop sign/light, my car, sensing that the coast is clear, will accelerate to the speed limit. as it approaches the curve, which it should not do. Then, when the car in front suddenly comes into view, my car will have to "jam on the anchors" in order to stop in time. While I'd rather be "safe" than "sorry," the degree of this phantom braking should be addressed.
This incident happened some time ago but I read recently about complaints related to "phantom braking" which I also experienced. I was driving on the highway at speed with my cruise control activated. There was no traffic close in front of me, but a large semi was in the lane to my right. This vehicle triggered sharp braking of my car. It was very scary, but I immediately overroad the braking to avoid being hit by a vehicle behind me. I have never used my cruise control since that incident.
Without warning, the car will phantom brake at highway speeds at least once or twice on every highway trip I take. It will slam on the brakes automatically even though nothing is in front of the car, putting us at risk of losing control or a rear end collision if someone is following closely. This has been happening since I purchased the car in 2018 until I sold it in late 2021. Tesla cancelled my mobile service appointment about this issue, saying this is "normal environmental conditions" without even looking at the car. I have since sold the car due to this issue and frustration with their response, but wanted to report the safety issue here.
While driving at approximately 40 MPH the car suddenly braked by itself! A sound alarm and display indicator were also activated. After a couple of seconds the event resolved without any intervention. Their was no warning lamps or messages prior to the event. At the time I was driving on a divided road and there was light traffic at the time. The car was not on cruise control or auto-pilot. My concern was being rear-ended by the vehicle behind me! The car has not been inspected by anyone since the event.
Recently saw an article that the federal safety agency was looking into "Ghost Breaking" with Tesla cars. This is something we have experienced with our Model S on a few occasions in 2018 and 1029. Haven't been driving that car that much now during the pandemic. Problem reported to Tesla: While driving on US 101 in Bay Area (driving from Milpitas to South SanFrancisco), and the car on Adaptive Cruise Control, the car would suddenly break and resume driving again. This not only scares the driver, but could be very problematic in a crowded lane. Telsa has looked into it when we complained and there was not definitive answer or fix. Hope the recent considerations by the federal safety agency will result in a through root cause and corrective action. Thanks!
Driving on a freeway at 75mph with autopilot turned on, the car suddenly braked, requiring manual intervention to accelerate to intended speed. After this the car continued as normal. There was no visible obstruction. Fortunately I have had this happen while a vehicle has not been behind me otherwise there is a possiblity of a crash.
Driving west on Interstate 295 at the Scudders Falls bridge from NJ to PA, adaptive cruise control suddenly slows from a set speed of 65 to a set speed of 30, then restores to 65 after a second or so. This predictably and repeatedly happens just before and just after the bridge itself, at locations 40.26068356165738, -74.84459141709418 and 40.25572592962884, -74.85316191866097. I have reported this to Tesla a couple of times over 6 months or so but with no improvement. As mentioned, it is 100% repeatable, in any of the 3 lanes, regardless of weather or traffic conditions. It happens with no other nearby vehicles, so it is location based, not conditions. It could be extremely dangerous if someone did not expect this and a vehicle was close behind.
MCU will not keep up with basic standard features. Map would not load mid trip causing autopilot to fail during a turn causing car to veer wide and almost crash into a wall. Advised Tesla service and they said the only fix is to spend $2000 to upgrade the MCU.
I have been complaining since I got this Tesla in late 2017, that the car brakes unexpectedly on the Freeway. Tesla claim that nothing is wrong & this will happened if the sensor received a signal like light from another car, but I was driving on the Freeway during daytime? On 10/31/21 while driving autodrive on the freeway the car suddenly skid to the right twice, around 6.50 PM & 9.05 PM. My Grandson was in the car with me and witness the incident. Luckily I was able to straighten the car without any accident. Tesla made an appointment for a mobile visit on 11/5/21, but cancelled on 11/4/21 and reschedule one month later on 12/9/21 to a Service Ctr in Walnut. This is a Safety issue and Tesla is not seriously taking care of.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 tesla model s. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 21v035000 (back over prevention, visibility, exterior lighting) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue and confirmed that the part was not yet available. Parts distribution disconnect.
On several occasions both of my dashboard screens (driver cluster and center console) went blank while driving at a variety of speeds. I was unable to see my speedometer, back-up camera, control HVAC, or any audio. I also was unable to use collision assistance, blind spot detection, autopilot, or, presumably, emergency braking. To regain control I had to reboot the vehicle while driving, which was hazardous to say the least. There does not appear to be any specific trigger to this outage other than the vehicle was in gear and moving forward. It happened during the day and at night. I reported this to tesla using their "report bug" feature in the vehicle, but I never heard anything back. This has occurred at least 6 or 7 times over the last year. The most recent incident occurred last week, 15-16 march.
While driving on the expressway, cruise control was engaged at 65-70 MPH for 3-5 minutes, until suddenly, the car slowed down all by itself to around 50mph with vibration and jerking. The brake was not depressed at all. No other cars were in front of me or around me at the time of incident
On at least 2 occasions, while driving the car, the electrical system stopped working. One time, the car just shut down at a stop sign nearby my office; the second time, while driving on the highway, the car continued to run but all of the other electrons: speedometer, turn signals, radio stopped working. When I pulled over, the entire car shut down. Both instances required a "hard stop" to re-start the car. The dealer informed me that this can happen when the software has not been recently updated. However, you need wi-fi to update the software and it is not readily available where I reside and park my car. I consider this situation extremely dangerous in that the car can spontaneously shut down while in use. I am taking the car into the dealer today-probably so they can upgrade the software on site. However, this does not address future potential issues with the car. I do not have the ability to routinely take the car into the dealership for upgrades. Further, there is no message from tesla when the upgrades are available. Please help. I really have no desire to die when the car stops working while driving it!
I drove to work on may 2, 2019, and was trying to park in my allotted parking stall on the 3rd level of my office parking garage. My parking stall was along the outer edge of the garage and the only barrier to the outside was a set of three (about " diameter) cables strung between outside columns of the garage, besides a thin perforated corrugated metal sheet outside the cables, acting as a rain stop. I was trying to slowly turn right from the parking aisle to park between two pickup trucks on either side of my stall. When I had turned partway into my stall, my tesla suddenly accelerated into my parking stall at high speed, hit the outside cables, rebounded backwards and stopped about 10 feet from the outside cables. The cables saved me from plunging 3 floors down from the garage. There was extensive damage to the hood and front portions of my tesla. There was also some damage to the metal corrugated sheets outside the cables and a slight dent on the corner of the vehicle parked to my right. I have been parking in my office parking stall for about the past six months without any issue like this. I want to know why my car accelerated like that without warning and why the collision warning system was not triggered by the outside corrugated metal sheet. Also, there was an issue with my tesla the previous evening. When I tried to start my tesla after work, I got the 'systems are powering..' message on the screen and my car would not start even after a long wait. Then, I had to google to find a way to reboot the car computer, by pressing two buttons on the steering wheel. On the day of the accident, I used the intermittent rain sensing wipers for the first time, as there was a light rain. My car is still in the body shop waiting for some back ordered parts. I have asked tesla to do a diagnostics to see if there were any software bugs in the system.
My car was fully engaged in auto park and it hit a car. I quickly braked to stop a worse collision. I patiently waited for tesla to review their logs. They insist the auto park was working without fault."the engineers have indeed said the autopark feature was operating without fault." I keep questioning them. "if the vehicle comes into contact with another vehicle does not mean the autopark feature is operating with fault,' says tesla. I reply, 1. Would you clarify it and say that if the vehicle comes into contact with another vehicle with the auto park activated and the driver not grabbing the wheel to interrupt the process that the auto park feature is operating without fault? 2. I repeat my question again. Do the engineers have any reason or proof to believe I activated the auto park incorrectly or in anyway interrupted the program to cause the accident? I understand they don't want to pay for repairs but I want them to either admit the feature was at fault or convince me I did something wrong to cause the accident to help prevent another accident. I think other tesla drivers should be aware of how poorly this works. Also, I had brought the car in beforehand telling them that I didn't believe the auto park worked correctly. A tesla salesperson also got in the car with me and agreed that the autopark did not seem to work. This proceeded the accident. Once again a report that the engineers see no fault.
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