I was driving on I5 north with autopilot enabled at 75 mph and the car decelerated rapidly to 45 mph. There could have been an accident if someone were behind me.
2021 Tesla Model Y driver assistance complaints
Page 10 of 22: complaints 251 to 280 of 630, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I own a 2021Tesla Model Y. I took possession of it on August 7, 2021, in Santa Barbara, Ca. Ever since, I have had thousands of instances of automatic emergency braking (phantom braking) episodes while using cruise control or autopilot. On January 26, 2022, I had 47 episodes, in just a couple of hours. This is typical. My latest incident of phantom braking occurred on June 27, 2022. In August 2021, I was promised by Tesla that a software update would be issued soon to remedy the problem. It still hasn't. I'm very exasperated. I understand Tesla was supposed to give you information about this issue on June 20, 2022. I am anxious to hear about Tesla's response. Furthermore, I sincerely hope the Tesla has told you they are fixing the problem. Has it? Please let me know of updates and proposed fixes to Tesla's phantom braking.
Driving on major interstates across Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, there were several instances of so-called “phantom braking” — while using Adaptive Cruise Control, with no other cars or obstacles in front, the brakes were rapidly applied, decelerating the car from roughly 75 MPH down to around 60 before I could manually press the accelerator pedal to override the behavior. Not only is this dangerous for myself, but could easily cause an accident if people are following closely at highway speeds. If Tesla’s camera-only system (as opposed to radar) can’t do the job, they should at least provide an option for a non-adaptive cruise toggle that would hopefully work around the issue.
We just completed a 6500 mile round trip road trip from So Cal to Toronto Canada and back. 5/24/22-6/12/22 During the trip we used the "Auto Pilot" with and with out "Auto Steering" Not Full Self Driving. I lost count of how many times we encountered "Phantom Braking" with the car at highway speeds. My guess would be at least 50 times. It got to the point where I would not use Auto Pilot especially when there was heavy traffic at full highway speeds. My deduction on why this is happening is that the Tesla cameras are "Infrared" sensitive and it seemed that the car was applying the brakes when it would see the heat waves off the hot road surface. Also in early morning one day the sun was directly behind us and the cars shadow was directly in front of us on the road surface and it kept applying the brakes thinking it was another car. In slow moving bumper to bumper traffic going 30MPH or less does not seem to initiate the "Phantom Braking". But at highway speeds it is super scary and dangerous when this happens. ;(
The vehicle randomly applies hard brakes. This makes cruise unusable and presents a safety issue for cars behind. I was almost hit from behind when my Tesla applied brakes on interstate going from 65 to 35MPH.
-Auto pilot (adaptive cruise control). Yes it is available for inspection. -Vehicle unexpectedly slowes down on highways (when using cruise control) at an unsafe rate when there is nothing in the path of the vehicle. This has cause multiple instances of vehicles almost rear-ending me due to the rapid deceleration. -I have asked a Tesla Service Center representative about the phantom breaking and they stated it was a known issue and that was being worked on. -No, the vehicle was not inspected by the manufacturer since we were advised it was a known issue. -There is no warning lights or sounds before the vehicle suddenly brakes. I suspect that hills, shadows, on coming traffic on two lane highways are some of the causes for the phantom braking.
There are 4 issues to report for our Tesla Model Y: 1) On the highway, our Tesla often presses on the brakes and slows down by itself when it should not be doing so. This occurs when we have adaptive cruise control on. We’ve noticed that at the time of the slowdown, the Tesla misreads the highway speed limit. For example, the Tesla will read the speed limit as 70 mph, then all of sudden without warning, the Tesla will suddenly read the speed limit at 40 mph, which then causes the Tesla to break and slow down by itself, when the speed limit is actually still 70 mph. This can happen several times on a single highway trip. Aside from the shock we receive as a driver as our vehicle slows unexpectedly, this could cause a rear end collision if a car is following us too closely from behind. 2) When we use adaptive cruise control and the steering assist feature, the car does not recognize to slow down on highway off ramp curves. I monitor the speed around curves, though if a driver is not aware of the issue and expects for the Tesla to take the curve slowly, this could cause an issue. In particular, if there is a big curve, I’d be concerned of the Tesla losing control and going off the road, due to speed. 3) The car will often provide a frontal collision warning, even if there is no car or object in front of the car, while it's in motion. This can lead to confusion for the driver or possibly hard breaking, which could cause a rear-end collision, if a car is following too close behind the Tesla. Also, the Tesla driver may swerve unnecessarily to avoid an object that isn’t there, which could cause a collision. 4) The Tesla is advertised as being able to travel over 300 miles on a single charge, however, the conditions for this to happen seem incredibly difficult to meet, as mileage is usually far less than this. This can cause drivers to overestimate how far they can drive, which could lead to cars urgently pulling of the road to prevent stalling where traffic is.
This is my sixth complaint to you. I own a 2021Tesla Model Y. I took possession of it on August 7, 2021, in Santa Barbara, Ca. Ever since, I have had several thousand instances of automatic emergency braking (phantom braking) episodes while using cruise control or autopilot. On January 26, 2022, I had 47 episodes, in two hours. This is typical. I was told immediately following my purchase last August that there would soon be a software update to remedy the problem. There hasn't! I have had five appointments with the Tesla service center, and they continually say "we can't fix it, only the software engineers can". The braking episodes are dangerous! I implore you to hold Tesla accountable and demand they fix the problem immediately. PLEASE!
Several instances of emergency braking applied without warning or obvious need during multiple driving sessions. This results in an unexpected rapid vehicle deceleration. Fortunately no other vehicle was following close enough to represent an imminent safety hazard though it is easily plausible this could happen. Typically the issue occurs when traveling uphill or around a bend and encountering traffic in an oncoming lane, structures (bridges) or dark shadows. The unexpected emergency braking has also happened when adaptive cruise control or autopilot is engaged while overtaking large vehicles on the left (tractor trailers in the right lane). I have also noticed several erroneous lane departure warnings despite turning off these notifications on the dashboard. They are more a nuisance than safety hazard so far but would like to completely silence them entirely. These issues have yet to be reproduced or inspected by the dealer, police, insurance or other investigator. No warning lamps or indicators were active at the time the braking or lane departure warnings were observed.
I was traveling early morning before sunrise over the tehachapi pass towards Mojave in California. Someone had lost a camper shell from the top of a pickup truck in the lane. It was still dark outside. I saw the obstruction in the road but the car cameras did not pick it up. I pulled into the left lane to try to get around the camper shell. The lane assist pulled me right back into the camper shell which tore down the side of the car doing 10k in damage. The car never recognized impact or an accident. I have the videos from the cameras of the car. The lane assist, as far as I know, only doesn’t activate when the turn signal is used, which I did not have time for, as I had less than 200 feet between me and the camper shell.
using autopilot adaptive cruise control, the vehicle on several occasions but mostly on non median highways the car for no apparent reason brakes hard. vehicles around me especially behind are put in danger by my sudden, hard braking for no apparent reason
I was driving to and from mammoth lakes California. Middle of the day, clear weather, with no other cars within thousands of feet if me. I put my vehicle into adaptive cruise control (not autopilot) and several times during the drive the brakes would slam to the point of reducing my speed from around 70 mph to roughly 40 mph very quickly. It was extremely happened and was repeatable but with no known reason.
The vehicle braked and slowed down on the highway for no reason when on autopilot. The speed of the vehicle was around 55 mph when suddenly it stated to decelerate for no reason. Ot resume speed after 100 ft or so
Unexpected and rapid slowing/braking of vehicle since new in November of 2021. Occurs when on cruise control usually at highway speed, more often on open highways and have possibly (though not always) related it to cresting a hill, distant reflective “water mirage” on our western roads, passing large trucks, two lane highway having large oncoming trucks +/- on curves. On one occasion while passing a semi truck with car on my tail came within a foot or so of being rear ended. Many other occasions where got to point I do not feel safe using the cruise control. We have driven it from Denver to Tucson in November and back in May, both times was worse on wide open western roads, sometimes tho not always with bright sun, pretty unpredictable and random but often to point of not using any of our autopilot or cruise control functions with confidence of safety. No warnings, lights or prehappening signs. Reported and examined in Tucson on arrival there in Nov/21. Told would “get better with time” and further hardware updates. Hasn’t happened with city driving (tho rarely use cruise control. Happened a couple times on highway drives in Arizona while on cruise and thought maybe better until recent trip to Denver when it was as severe as November. Again contacted Tesla and told would lengineers are aware of problem and would be fixed with hardware app fix at end of June. Recontact them in July if still an issue. When serviced in November for this issue tech said he could see in computer log what was happening. When I set up appointment this time basically said live (or die) with it until June and nothing they could do til “hardware fix”. In blanks below I entered last episodes date. It has been ongoing from 11/2021 to present at speeds from 50 to 80 mph. Started with first trip when less than 300 miles til present 5436 miles on it. Could almost guarantee it would happen on highway trip with cruise control if you would like to risk your life on a test drive.
When autopilot, it’s sudden breaks with no reason. My wife got neck injury.
The vehicle phantom breaks spontaneously upon an interstate drive for 1.5 hours on cruise control it will slam on the breaks between 3-5 times when there is no car or object near the vehicle. This has been reported to Tesla and they do nothing and pose no solution to the problem. It is dangerous and going to cause accidents.
This is a supplement to NHSTA Safety Issue ID 11467902. I requested service from Tesla. Attached is the service center's response writing that it is software subject to updates. This is unacceptable to me as the car is not driveable with this safety issue.
During 350 miles of driving, I experienced over 35 phantom braking events. Most were while driving at 75 mph. Some were while driving 45 mph. It did not matter whether I was in Autosteer with cruise, cruise alone or driving manually. I turned off Emergency Braking on the screen. I still had incidents. Some incidents were severe to the point that I could feel the ABS. There were no other cars, structures, signs etc. in the vicinity. Had there been a semi following me, there would have been an accident. If another car, I could only hope that they had traffic aware cruise and emergency braking. This is unacceptable as it is so dangerous.
I have been experiencing that my Tesla suddenly automatically slammed on the brakes while it’s on self driving mode on highway specifically I-66 and while returning from my work from Nebraska Avenue complex to Ashburn VA. This automatically phantom braking is very dangerous.
The car had a phantom braking incident where I was on the freeway with the autopilot set and the car slammed the brakes on because it thought it saw a person in the freeway. This is what it showed on the screen. The car decreased the speed from 70 mph to 40mph. There was no notification of this decrease. This has happened before in the car, but not as drastically and it doesn’t happen very often.
Recently, I had a long distance trip and and Tesla Model Y braked the vehicle at highway speed when it was on Advanced cruise control 3 or 4 times with obvious reasons. I had to push the acceralator pedal to speed up in order to avoid rear ended collision in a bumper to bumper traffic.
For the last several software versions, the car experienced “phantom breaking” when on a high speed roadway with no apparent obstacles in the road.
I was driving on Auto pilot and with no obstacle in sight or the need to do so, the car AEB system get activated ( PHANTOM BRAKING) another complaint that I got is went the traffic lights changes to green and I'm on Auto Pilot and the car slower down on the middle of crossing that intersection that can create an accident because the car from behind do not expect you slower down, the AEB system get activated went it's nothing in front of you.
Phantom braking. Had car on cruise control and FSD and car would brake excessively for no reason.
The brakes engage during lane assist mode as if to avoid something in the road although there is nothing there. This happens many times on a road trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles on I 10. It also happened multiple times on the freeway in town in Phoenix. It is very jarring
On June 2 around 3:40pm CDT while driving in cruise control on I-43 in Wisconsin around 70mph my car suddenly went into corrective lane assist with warning alerts and steering wheel action. There was no reason this should have happened.
Driving on I-43 in Wisconsin on June 2 around 2pm CDT while in cruise control the car suddenly went into emergency braking and slowed down dramatically requiring me to override the system. There was very little traffic and a semi-truck about 200-300 yards ahead of me.
2021 Tesla's rear-view camera and collision warning systems did not activate when backing out of a parking spot. Tesla screen showed the navigation map instead of the rear-view camera while I was backing out at low speed ~2 mph. A 2003 Honda Pilot directly behind me was also backing up at the same time resulting in a collision. After the crash, I confirmed that all safety features were enabled and I have always installed all regularly scheduled updates. After searching online forums, I found many customers reporting problems with their on-screen camera not activating. I have noticed that the camera did not consistently activate in the past. Sometimes it would, other times I would have to manually press the Camera button on-screen in order to view behind me. There were no on-screen notifications of problems before the event. However, there was one notable change I made to re-enable Sentry Mode (security) after being disabled for some time. Prior to the event, I was notified that two Sentry Camera events were available to watch but they would not load when I touched on screen. After the crash, I discovered after the crash that both Sentry and Dash Cam were not working so there was no footage at all of the crash! Nor were these Sentry events visible. This leads me to believe there is a bug with the camera system.
My Tesla model Y will experience phantom braking while in Auto pilot / adaptive cruise. It happens randomly but does occur every time at one point in Tacoma on I-5 head south on a bridge just before the Tacoma dome.
Driving on highway at 65 mph suddenly drive speed to 30 miles as if emergency brakes were applied.
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