On numerous occasions while using cruise control the the Model Y brakes would be suddenly applied in the following situations. While in the inside lane of a curve in the road when several approached from the other direction the brakes would be suddenly applied when the front of the Model Y was pointing at one of the middle vehicles in the line of approaching vehicles. This sudden braking does not happing when traveling down straight sections of roadway or when traveling in the outside lane of a curve.
2021 Tesla Model Y acceleration complaints
Page 6 of 7: complaints 131 to 160 of 163, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I was driving north on I-5 in southern Washington on a sunny Sunday morning with low traffic in October 2020. I had only had the car for a few days and was using the autopilot and cruise control for the first time. As I approached an overpass that was casting a shadow across the highway, the car suddenly braked hard. Fortunately there were no vehicles immediately behind me. If there had been, I likely would have been rear-ended. About 15 minutes later, while driving in the middle of the three northbound lanes, a motorcycle passed me on the left and then cut across my lane to get to an exit. Again, the car braked suddenly. When I next stopped to charge the vehicle, I went online and read on various Tesla user chatrooms that this was a widely experienced problem. I immediately stopped using the autopilot and cruise control. I have not used them at all in the past 15 months.
On multiple occasions when auto pilot engaged, car will suddenly brake with extreme force. I have not been rear ended because of it, but it could very well happen. On Jan 30, as an example, travelling on divided 4 lane highway, no one in front of back, autopilot engaged, for no reason, it tried to come to a sudden complete stop while going 70mph. There was nothing in the road whatsoever. MULTIPLE other instances of this. On 2 lane roads, this happens even more frequently, I would estimate once every mile, though not always as severe.
On a recent trip to Minnesota when adaptive cruise control was engaged there were several ( >10) episodes when the car would suddenly decelerate for no apparent reason. On a two lane highway it might occur if a large vehicle such as a truck was oncoming in the opposite lane. On the interstate, the common scenario was traveling in the right lane going up a slight upgrade with a car passing in the left lane. Often the sudden speed reduction was 25 mph or more. On occasion even on a flat section the car might suddenly brake for no apparent reason. On one occasion this happened in the afternoon going west with the sun glinting off some shiny asphalt crack filling. No accident occurred, but if a car were following closely, sudden braking could cause a crash. Because of this erratic behavior I don't use adaptive cruise control except for short distances. This is a known Tesla problem, but it seems the company is more interested in enhancing games to be played while charging rather than attend to a major flaw.
Since delivery the vehicle has experienced several "phantom braking" incidents in situations where no threat was evident, including some in which braking was initiated on clear, straight highways with no other traffic anywhere in sight. The events are aggressive and result in immediate profound loss of speed, making the threat of a collision an issue.
Driving down the highway/interstate when autopilot is on and the brakes are automatically applied for no reason. This happens frequently, especially on two lane roads to the point where I am not able to use autopilot anymore of fear of the car behind me crashing into me when brakes are applied suddenly for no reason.
75 MPH on interstate with FSD 10.9. 6 separate phantom braking events over 350 miles. Very dangerous in traffic.
I was driving on the 7 mile bridge in the Florida Keys with the Adaptive cruise control set to 58 mph. There was no traffic in my lane for about a mile ahead of me. As an oncoming Semi approached me, remaining in his lane, my car applied emergency braking. I had to immediately add throttle to avoid a collision with the truck behind me. This “ Phantom braking “ has occurred on multiple occasions to me. There is no way to engage cruise control without the adaptive feature which uses cameras instead of radar on these new Teslas. I did not have this problem on my 2018 Tesla that did use radar.
Please see attached PDF
The car's adaptive cruise control system will suddenly and dangerously brake in random situations on multiple occasions. It presents a very dangerous condition should there be cars behind that can't brake in time
When driving on a two lane road and approaching an oncoming 18 wheeler the cruise control consistently slams on the brakes and I am concerned about the well-being of my 5 and 4 year old in the back seat. It whips them forward. I am also concerned about cars following me and getting rear ended with the force it is applying this phantom braking. I called Tesla and they said this is expected behavior and it might be fixed in a future firmware but no guarantees. I think this is an unacceptable answer regarding the safety of my family.
While driving my Tesla Model Y using cruise control, the vehicle will continuously brake suddenly for unknown reasons. In several instances, I was worried that the car following me would either hit my car or be forced to take other actions, possibly causing an accident. The system is dangerous and useless. When I contacted Tesla regarding my concern, they said something about the software program evolving…no fix available. I have had my Tesla Model Y in their service center three times and have had numerous phone conversations with them and their customer service department regarding this issue. They said they simply cannot do anything about it. Again, the cruise control system is extremely dangerous. Please require Tesla to resolve this problem immediately. Thank you.
On two occasion, our brand new Tesla model Y lurched forward from a complete stop. The first time, on 2021/10/09 at 4:36pm I was at a car wash and trying to put the car in neutral. Fiddling with the gear selector, the car jumped forward without me touching the pedals. I hit the breaks and neither the car or anyone else was injured. The second time, on 2021/10/25 at 8:10 am, my wife was dropping off the kids at school. At full stop the car lurched forward again without her touching the pedals or the speed controller. The car hit the car in front of it 3 times with force. The car as well as the two other cars in front of it got seriously damaged. My two year old son was on board, there was many middle schoolers around but thankfully no one was injured. Incidents were reported to Tesla right away who has assured us they would investigate but we have had no update since despite contacting them multiple times. They assured us they have the ability to download telemetry remotely but I am concerned that as time goes by data will no longer be available. We later got an alert on the app that the emergency braking system had been disabled at the time of the second incident. I have videos files, recorded by the car itself of both incidents as they are happening available. The body damage of the car is fully repaired but the car is otherwise available for inspection/data downloads.
Tesla's autopilot / adaptive cruise control / emergency braking is defective. On multiple occurrences I have had incidents where the vehicle's adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking systems have activated inappropriately. In one occurrence I was driving on I-17 through Phoenix in the middle lane. I was beginning to pass a pickup truck pulling a trailer (my front bumper was just behind the trailer) when the car detected this as an imminent collision and applied significant braking. I had to use the accelerator to disable the emergency braking, and this triggered a number of cars behind me having to brake as well. In a second occurrence I was driving on SR-74 westbound in phoenix between I-17 and Lake Pleasant Parkway. This is a two lane road in many sections, and at one point I had a semi truck and trailer coming towards me in the opposite lane and my car detected this as infront of me and applied emergency braking. Thankfully there was no one behind me as the vehicle reduced speed from 65 to 40 before I was able to push the accelerator and resolve the issue. There have been other incidents of it braking in ways that were unexpected and dangerous. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Auto pilot / adaptive cruise control / automatic emergency braking How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? See Above Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? NO, but is well known among Tesla owners Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? NO Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? NO
Adaptive Cruise Control breaks hard for no apparent reason. If there had been any cars trailing close behind I could easily be rear-ended. Happens at least once every time I turn on cruise control. On a recent longer highway trip of about 90 miles it happened three times. One time on that trip it happened while passing under a bridge, did it pick up the lower speed from the bridge above? The other times it seemed to happen for no reason. All these times our hearts dropped (2 passengers in car). Note that I do not have full self driving, so I’m talking about adaptive cruise control being the problem.
When driving with Cruise Control engaged, the car repeatedly brakes VERY HARD. Sometimes the braking is when there is a car in the opposing lane and is approaching but not over the line. Sometimes the sudden hard braking occurs for no apparent reason. But on a two lane highway this occurs VERY regularly. It occurs several times an hour. This is a serious problem because if there is a car behind me the sudden hard braking may cause that car to crash into me from behind. You can submit a bug report to Tesla by pushing the right hand steering wheel button, saying "Bug Report" and then describing the report verbally while driving. This will include all sorts of driving data being sent to Tesla. I have done this dozens and dozens of times. Each time I get a message on the screen thanking me for sending in the bug report. Never once have I ever heard back from Tesla other than the instantaneous message on the screen saying that the bug report has been submitted. I believe that Tesla has had a recall for a very similar problem with the Model S and Model X with Full Self Driving. This recall was fixed almost immediately with an over-the-air software update. However my problem does not relate to Full Self Driving (which my car does not have). This relates only to cruise control. I have spoken to several other Model 3 and Model Y owners who ALL report the exact same problem. A quick search online will reveal hundreds of other similar reports for Model 3 and Model Y owners who do NOT have Full Self Driving. I believe this is a very serious safety problem and needs to be addressed immediately. Regards, Ken Maples
Driving across the country in Model Y. Passed semi in left lane, and when merging back into right hand lane vehicle applied full brakes dropping the vehicle speed from 80mph to 60mph, right in front of semi. I was forced to take over and accelerate to avoid serious rear end collision. It wasn’t just the one time, vehicle continued to perform aggressive braking actions many times. Autopilot was unusable for majority of trip. Tesla needs to make autopilot able to be disabled, and standard cruise control possible. Tesla vision is not safe, and is a major liability. It’s very clear Tesla vision is an attempt to remove radar to get around supply chain issues, at the cost of consumer safety.
The latest version of Autopilot has very serious phantom braking issues. It will brake hard frequently for no apparent reason. Other times it will slow down, but not braking hard, also for no apparent reason. It will also beep at me frequently when cars are approaching in the opposite lane, again for no apparent reason. In short, the latest version of AP is all but unusable and more importantly is not safe for us b/c of the phantom braking issue. Luckily no car has been close behind me when the hard braking has occurred but it certainly could be and could cause a serious accident.
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 50-70 MPH on cruise control, the vehicle would inadvertently decelerate, almost causing other vehicles to crash into the rear of the vehicle. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact also stated that the vehicle was designed with no radars and was built with camera vision instead. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but did not provide any assistance. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring more frequently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 20.
Our 2021 Model Y features the new vision based cruise control system, both traffic aware cruise control and autopilot utilize this camera only system. At the time of ordering we were under the impression we were getting a much safer and mature radar based system. Upon accepting delivery at the end of May we have accumulated 9,000 miles on the car and have a had horrible experiences with the traffic aware cruise control slamming on the brakes for no apparent reason with nothing ahead or passing cars. Behavior can be 5-10mph slowdowns or in some cases FULL brake pressure which puts us in danger of being rear ended. Multiple times we have been close to rear ended. In addition the system can also produce audible beeps when cars pass however no warning or message is displayed. I want to stress this behavior is a daily occurrence day or night. We have reached out to Tesla in order to get the vehicle looked at for repairs and have a been denied even a service appointment. The vehicle was declared fine hardware wise. I documented our experiences in just one evening of driving and put together this YouTube video showing the behavior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ETPyzjc_U As referenced in the video below Tesla explains the cruise control is BETA and to be ready to take over at any moment. I take great exception to the practice Tesla is utilizing of declaring previously standard features "BETA" and making customers deal with their poor results with no accountability. We don't accept BETA seatbelts or BETA tires. This feature was enabled by default on the car upon purchase and it objectively doesn't work safely. This compliant is really an act of desperation as we simply have no other avenue to express our frustration and safety concerns for a half baked feature.
While driving on well marked highways, the adaptive cruise control would initiate rapid and unsafe braking while using the vehicles “AutoPilot”. The braking is equivalent to a user putting full pressure on a brake pedal, losing 10-20mph by the time I am able to intervene, even if I’m ready to take over. Such rapid deceleration leaves me vulnerable to a rear collision from following drivers There is no warning, and no alarms from the vehicle. The manufacturer has no specific response, other than advising a system reset. The system reset does not solve the problem.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? The Dashboard and yes. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? car display has unexpectedly rebooted while I was driving, my display rebooted. It crashed when my passenger was attempting to read the release notes while I was driving. It was night, and after it rebooted, the part of the screen that shows the car and road flashed white, blinding me while driving. I lost the ability to signal or determine if it's signaling, no speed indicator no anything, not even a signal sound. I couldn't control the windshield wiper, when I attempted to turn on the emergency blinkers, I had no visual or audio confirmation that it was working. this lasted for 1-2 minutes. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? No as the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No
At random times, without warning, cruise control changes from set speed (e.g. 70mph) to 45mph and vehicle immediately begins hard braking to achieve new set speed. Any cars following may not be able to react quickly enough to avoid a collision if the driver doesn't react quickly enough to command acceleration back to freeway speed. I sent multiple videos of this happening to Tesla's service department. Tesla virtual service has looked at vehicle's logs and says there's nothing wrong with the vehicle and that it must be in how the vehicle is interpreting fleet data and map data. Clearly a software bug not validating it's input for reasonableness. No audible warning and while the cruise set speed does change on the display, the deceleration happens simultaneously, so no actionable visual warning is given to prevent the uncommanded deceleration and one must react immediately.
This problem happens repeatedly. It has been reported by multiple Tesla owners but no action has been taken by Tesla. When driving with the cruise control engaged, the car will brake very aggressively. This happens most commonly when there is no other traffic on the road and no debris on the road. It seems the car believes there is something in front of the car for which it needs to stop, even though the road is clear. But if I press on the accelerator the car resumes normal cruise operation. If there is a car behind me I am worried that the car behind me will crash into me. The braking action is VERY aggressive.
Phantom braking is a known problem with the Tesla Model Y. My adaptive cruise control has malfunctioned 2 times in 1 week. It's a very dangerous situation. Apply panic braking when the road has very little traffic and no curves. No warning signs at all. I reported the 2 incidents to Tesla. They essentially said that there was nothing they could do.
I had turned into the Taco Bell address: 5217 Mudd Tavern Rd, Woodford, VA 22580 when the car surged and sped. I was able to avoid a person and the dog. But the car continued to accelerate. I tried to utilize the brake system but it did not engage and continued speeding into the next parking lot address 5217 Mudd Tavern Road, Woodford, VA 22580. The car did not stop for trees and so I had to stop the car by impact with a dumpster in the Best Western Plus parking lot. This happened on June 5th 2021. I have tried to get the video from the hotel but to no avail. The Senior Deputy is [XXX] Spotsylvania county. They have the scene photographs. His email is [XXX]. Phone [XXX] ext 3936. The case file number is [XXX]. Over the last 40 years of driving my records are excellent. I really would like to understand the reason for the crash. I am not getting any assistance in a rapid manner to determine the cause. Since I have driven multiple car type over the years I need to understand why this car caused this. Hoping nobody else has to go through this. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
On June, 4th, 2021 in the morning I went to Markham Park with my 13 year old daughter for the covid vaccine. We arrived and right after the shot on her we stopped our Tesla in a line where we should wait for about 15/20 minutes to see if everything was fine with my daughter. While the car was stopped in the line, I was talking to my daughter and the car started moving in the direction of the car in front of us and it hit the car many time till I turned the steering wheel to go away from there. Everything was very fast and confusing. I`m still trying to understand what happened with the car. The car was out of control and the car never tried to break or stop. I think it has stopped because I pressed the P button. I am so frightened and scared about what happened. My daughter and I, the passengers in the car in front of us and the people in the park could have been seriously injured. I opened a report at Tesla in the same day.
I was trying to park the tesla model y after finishing a 15-20 minute test drive on freeways and streets. I parked in a parking lot at the dealership in between two other cars. In order to park the car, I was braking to bring it to a complete stop. After the car was positioned into the parking lot and just before stopping, it accelerated all of a sudden, swerved left and hit a planter in front and another planter on the left before coming to a stop. I got out of the car and my family too and reported to the dealership. I did not leave until tesla fire and tesla security folks came in and took stock of the situation. They found the left front wheel locked in position and had to manually unlock it using tools. 3 other family members were in the car (including kids). Tesla has not offered any explanation for the last 6 days as to why this happened.
Tl* the contact owns a 2021 tesla model y. The contact's wife was parking the vehicle, when it inadvertently plunged forward and rear-ended a vehicle causing that vehicle to hit another vehicle. The air bags deployed. No medical attention was required. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a lot for the insurance company to examine the damages. The manufacturer tesla contacted the contact right after the collision and informed the contact that it appeared the vehicle was involved in a collision and they would have their engineers look at the database. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The failure mileage was 300.
Parking my car when I pressed the brake and ready to engage park , car accelerated in high speed and drove to island and trying to control the wheel while my foot still on break to avoid hitting other cars on the parking lot , hit some curbs which cause the tire on the front passenger side came off completely with axle attached . This cause the car to stop and deployed air bag and caught on fire , that's when I immediately got out the car. The car mileage is 524 when it happened. Minor burn on my left arm from the fire and sore shoulder less than 24 hours.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2021 Tesla Model Y?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history