2020 Tesla Model Y: brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking)

Filed Oct 3, 2023 · Driver assistance · CO

I was driving with cruise control on and the car violently hit the brakes when there was no one in front of us. We have noticed this is more common when cresting a hill. This happens at least once every time we are on a road trip. This needs to be addressed. We know we are not the only person having these issues with the Tesla and the “phantom braking”

Filed Sep 3, 2023 · Driver assistance · NM

On a round trip from Albuquerque, NM to Tucson, AZ, we experienced 8-10 instances of phantom braking in our 2020 Tesla Long-Range Model Y. The occurrences happened when the car was in adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Highway speed was typically 75 MPH, weather was sunny, and roads were clear. Overall, an unnerving experience!

Filed Aug 30, 2023 · Acceleration, Brakes · OR

While driving in cruise control mode, not auto steer, and with no vehicle in or obvious obstruction in front, the brakes will be applied without warning (phantom braking). It has happened multiple time in the years of ownership. It has happened once or twice with a vehicle following resulting in near rear-end collision. In one case this resulted in the follower reacting with "road rage," passing with horns blaring and braking in front of my vehicle. I have this recent incident on video as it just requires me to honk the horn and the last 5-10 minutes of driving is recorded.

Filed Jun 15, 2023 · Brakes, Driver assistance · MN

On the last road trip, my car emergently braked for no reason when using cruise control and autopilot causing safety issues for cars behind my vehicle. This happened at least 6 times on my 500-mile round trip. I reached out to Tesla service and was told there is no fix at this time. in my opinion this is a dangerous problem that needs addressing in an urgent manner.

Filed Apr 11, 2023 · Driver assistance · MN

While driving on interstate highways and using autopilot, the car would "phantom brake" unnecessarily in numerous instances. Once it caused a truck to swerve dangerously to the next lane when the car suddenly brake in front of the truck. Mirages and sudden dips on interstate highways seem to be one of the main factors, but other incidents were less obvious what the cause was.

Filed Mar 9, 2023 · Driver assistance · WI

We continue to experience phantom braking when adaptive cruise control is engaged on major highways. On a recent trip, it occurred three times on I-90 eastbound between Madison and Janesville, WI, and again in Indiana. Our car does not have “full self-driving.” Most of these were relatively mild, but one was so violent that objects in the cabin were thrown around. If a vehicle had been following relatively closely, a collision would have been likely. This seems most likely to happen as we approach an overpass.

Filed Feb 15, 2023 · Brakes, Driver assistance · TX

Have had several issues with phantom braking. When in cruise control or auto drive there are times nothing is in the roadway but the vehicle will brake in middle of hwy. very dangerous

Filed Dec 22, 2022 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · FL

Phantom braking during a drive on highway. Out of no where, the car breaks even when there is no one stopping in front of you. This resulted in car behind panicking and almost rear ending.

Filed Nov 28, 2022 · Driver assistance · CA

Phantom Braking in Autopilot: Coming back from Mammoth Ca in November 2022 on highway 395 and 14 we experienced sudden braking in cruiscontrol/autopilot numerous times with no cars in front of us while driving. One time there was a car behind us and almost caused an accident. This is a very dangerous situation in which Tesla must fix this issue or refund us money back for the Auto pilot feature. This has happened previously on long trips. We do not use this feature in regular commuting to and from work

Filed Sep 24, 2022 · Brakes, Driver assistance · NM

Driving 1400 miles Santa Fe-Austin TX-Santa Fe, experienced phantom braking over 15 times. Generally happened while cruising on autopilot at 70-80 mph. Phantom braking occurred with no warning and for no apparent reason. The car suddenly jerked and lost 5-10 mph, and the autopilot went off.

Filed Sep 24, 2022 · Driver assistance · AZ

I reported many instances of what is know as "phantom braking" when using Adaptive Cruise Control when we went on our first long drives in the car when we took delivery. They recalibrated the front sensing cameras and that helped. It did not eliminate all events, but ACC was then usable in certain driving situations, i.e., when not in fast congested traffic as in metropolitan traffic. We took a long trip on freeway and two lane highways a month ago, about 3,500 miles, which had a few, non serious events. about a month or so ago, Tesla had a software update that said it was going to install "Tesla Vision", a camera only senor system, elimination the radar sensing our car has. The result was having quite a few more events of PB. One particular one was on a freeway (I8) heading east at 75 mph with no traffic visible neither in front of or behind our car. It slammed on, hard, the brakes and would have brought us to a complete stop had I not applied power. I reported the high number of PB events to Tesla Service, to which they replied, in essence, that ACC is a Beta feature and you just need to pay close attention when using it and it's not perfect. Well, its not close to reliable and is capable of causing major accidents. We avoided several because I always have my foot near the accelerator in case the car decides to stop. Tesla said that they could find no hardware faults in our car, but I suspect it is software, not hardware. I will happily join a class action suit. I will put the day the last one happened below.

Filed Sep 20, 2022 · Driver assistance · 30,000 miles · FL

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure would occur before crossing a bridge, or while a dark colored vehicle passed her vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to a Service Center and was informed that there was no fix for the failure. The contact was given tips on how to prevent the failure; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.