The vehicle is subject to phantom braking. When I use the adaptive cruise control and am driving in the middle or left lane (i.e. when there is a clear lane to my right), the car will brake when there is no car beside me. Sometimes this occurs when I am passing a large truck on my right. Last weekend, I was driving 68mph on a highway during a bright sunny day. There were no cars on either side of me. The car braked for no reason. I had to step on the accelerator pedal to get back to highways speeds.
2021 Tesla Model Y driver assistance complaints
Page 8 of 22: complaints 191 to 220 of 630, newest first, as owners wrote them.
UNKNOWN This incident happened on 10/16/2022 while on I-95 while the vehicle was engaged in the Auto-Pilot mode on the highway (We do not use this autopilot mode unless we are o the highway for long distance drives and that is very infrequent). The vehicle suddenly swerved around and lost control while on auto pilot. As always my hands were on the wheel and I could undo the auto pilot and take control of the vehicle. Fortunately there were no other vehicles around us and there was no damage! We have filed another claim previously with the federal safety agency - 11455695
Phantom braking is common when driving on highway with advanced cruise control. On a recent trip from Tucson to San Diego I noted seven events in a 300 mile stretch. There were no cars within 1/2 mile in front of me, or any road debris during any event (I saved dash cam footage each time). There was a car behind me during one particularly violent event. I regularly commute on I-5 between San Diego and Irvine. One event per 70 mile trip is about the average. I’m almost used to it now.
I was returning home with my family at around 7 pm today (10/23/22). The autopilot (basic autopilot) was engaged and the vehicle was moving at 50 mph. Suddenly the car seemed to have engaged the brakes and I felt it almost came to a stop. At that time the red steering wheel alert appeared on the screen with the message to take control immediately. I had not braked nor there was a vehicle or any other object or vehicles in front of me or behind me. No vehicles were on the other lane either. The only thing I can clearly remember was a pickup truck waiting at a stop sign in a street connecting with the road I was on on the opposite side from me. Luckily there were no vehicles directly in front of me or behind me. It would have caused an accident if there was car behind me. All of us really got scared and my children are claiming they will never travel in my Tesla again. The vehicle may be inspected if needed. From what I read about this phenomenon it looks like what I experienced was a “phantom braking” event. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone at this time after the incident.
While driving with cruise control set to 70-74mph, we had several incidents of phantom braking on a recent road trip. From 70mph with no obstacles, trees, structures, or other cars in sight, the car would suddenly brake itself. This happened multiple times, sometimes just a minute or so after the previous time. We were saved from being rear-ended only because the cars behind us were far enough back, but it was terrifying nevertheless. We cannot use cruise control anymore. Tesla must address this totally unacceptable safety issue.
While travelling on TX-130 legally at 85 miles-per-hour with cruise control enabled, the braking system suddenly and without warning self-engaged, greatly reducing the speed of the vehicle. System available for inspection upon request (however I can help). The sudden speed change at such a high speed is alarming to the driver, possibly provoking unneeded corrective action which could destabilize the vehicle. If another vehicle had been following even reasonably closely, a collision was very likely. A collision at such high speed is obviously very dangerous. Manufacturer has not been contacted, but such "phantom braking" is the subject of frequent news articles from various sites. No explanation for the cause of the braking was displayed.
I was going on I-95 North (Palm Beach County) on Autopilot (and I had Full Self Driving enabled in my car). It was raining, and I was at moderate speed, I would say 45-50 mph. The car started spinning uncontrollably. By miracle nodoby hit me, the card corrected after what I believe were 2 spins and continue on the same direction as traffic. I believe, with the nerves of the moment, that about 45 to 60 seconds later, I put auto pilot again, not knowing what hapened. And the car, out of nothing, started spininng again. 3 times, and I hit the opposite wall of the highway. By another miracle, nobody hit me (rush hour, I-95 north, 820am)
My wife and I recently drove cross country in our Tesla Y. Occasionally, we had the forward collision warning go off for no reason. More importantly, when we had the adaptive cruise control on and particularly when the autopilot system on, we experienced episodes of sudden braking when there were no other vehicles or other objects in the vicinity. This happened, on average, once or twice every 30 minutes. It got to the point where we had to keep the cruise control off because it seemed to put us in potentially dangerous situations. My car’s software is and was up to date. I contacted Tesla about this issue. They blew me off. Thanks. Steve Steinberg
The "Traffic Aware Cruise Control" and "Auto Steer". Yes, available for inspection. During driving on a long highway trip with these features turned on, the car suddenly braked severely for no reason(no objects or other vehicles were in front of car). This caused a large truck, which was following me to also brake and nearly collided with my car's rear. Repeat experiences like this "phantom braking" occurred. Based on other reports, this is common in other Teslas. No warning alerts in car.
While driving on freeway on a clear day with no other cars in front of me the car suddenly hard brakes such that one could feel the anti locking activating. I was lucky there were no cars behind me or it would have been vary dangerous. There was a car on my right but it was holding its lane and there was no visible reason for emergency braking.
When on cruise control, the vehicle frequently brakes hard at highway speeds, jerking our bodies and forcing cars behind us to brake hard as well. Sometimes this happens when we’re beside a semi truck or a car changes lanes far in front of us, but often there’s nothing. There is no warning prior to the braking.
I started a drive from my house. I entered a destination into the NAV system, it plotted a route. I then proceeded to start my drive. When I tried to backup, the backup cameras did not display any video, I waited over 1 minute and there was still no video. I then proceeded with my drive. The car would not start the cruise control, autopilot or FSD functions. Whenever I tried to engage the systems the car would state that they are unavailable. At this time, I also noticed that the NAV system was not updating the display, it continued to display the same image that showed that I was at home in the driveway. After 15 minutes, I pulled into a parking lot to video the problem. First, I put the car in reverse and recorded that the cameras did not display video for over 30 seconds, I then started to drive and recorded that the navigation display was not updating. The display that usually has the lane markings and displays the other vehicles was also not working, there was no information other than a picture of my car with a totally blank gray area around it. I have contacted Tesla about the problem, but they keep saying that they don't detect any problem with the car. I sent them the video and am waiting to hear back from them.
Phantom braking on 4-lane highway with no other vehicles near.
Vehicle was driving with auto steer enabled at 65 mph on freeway and braked unexpectedly and unnecessarily 3 times within a few minutes. Each time it occurred, I canceled auto steer and re-engaged. At no time were any obstructions or objects visible in front of the vehicle, and at no time did any warning lights or messages appear, the car simply braked without notice. Safety was at risk as cars behind me were traveling closely and were not expecting my car to brake suddenly, although I responded quickly enough to prevent further braking and accelerated out of danger. I have researched "phantom braking" and it seems this incident is exactly what was described in those reports. The car has not been inspected since the incident. I am hesitant to use auto steer since I do not trust that the cameras are adequately detecting what's in front of the vehicle.
Adaptive cruise control has failed many times. Recently had adaptive cruise control set at 75 mph on interstate. With no warning, the car instantly slowed to 55 mph. If a car would have been behind me I would have been rear-ended. Or worse, if someone behind me thought I was intentionally braking hard or "squating" they could become angry and instigate a road rage incident. The car provided zero warning before it braked. The car has not been inspected yet. Yes, the car is available for inspection.
When in autopilor mode (cruise controll) the vehicle ocassionally brakes for no known reason (phantom braking). This usually happens at the crest of hill if there is a guard rail. or if there is a low overpass overhead. I have reported this before (it is an ongoing problem) and discuss with Tesla representatives who reply that the car will "learn" to avoid this behavior. It is an obvious collision danger if someone is following closely. On 09/27/2022 this occured 8-10 times during a 600 mile trip
5YJYGDEE2MF161659 VIN 2021 Tesla Model Y AWD with basis cruise control This last weekend we drove from our home in Arroyo Grande CA to the Mammoth Lakes area. Enroute, we experienced a number of unneeded emergency braking events while on the highways at speed (65-72 mph). While this happened about a dozen time, 5-6 of them were significant slow downs and could have caused us to be rear ended. In none of these events was there any reason for the emergency braking. One happened when another car was approaching from the rear quickly to pass. These events led us to stop using the cruise control entirely for the last 2 hours of our trip home. I have not yet contacted Tesla about this which I will be doing right after I submit this report. Prior to this, the adaptive cruise control had functioned normally with very few unexpected emergency braking events in the last year or so. We did disable the feature of “automatic emergency breaking” but that had no effect at all. This is a serious issue that need to be addressed immediately.
Using normal cruise control in the highway, my car brakes randomly and suddenly. This phantom braking has happened over 10 times in the past two weeks! It's very dangerous.
My Tesla model Y has been braking for no apparent reason when using the adaptive cruise control. Sometimes there may be a car coming in the opposite direction, but most times there is no other cars within miles. Several times the braking has been extremely aggressive causing me to have to hit the accelerator hard to avoid somebody behind me running into me. This has happened many times on long,straight, flat roads in the middle of the Arizona desert.
The vehicle brakes for no apparent reason without any other vehicles in near vicinity, both in adaptive cruse control and autopilot. This has improved with updates, but on a recent trip we experience six phantom breaking events on interstate travel.
Vehicle is experiencing “phantom braking”. Has happened dozens of times. I have contacted Tesla a few times regarding this, and they downplay everything.
While car was on cruise control. The car went off cruise control without intervention or warning and slowed down quite abruptly. This occurred about 4 times in a 4 hour period while going interstate speeds.
Multiple incidences of phantom braking while using cruise control/autopilot (not full self driving) traveling to/from Sacramento, CA and Park City, Utah on August 13th and 19th. This has happened previously while traveling to/from Sacramento, CA and Napa, CA. Unexpected hard braking on the highway at speeds of 55-85 mph) for no apparent reason is a hazard to the driver/passenger as well as any nearby vehicles. It causes undue fright, motion sickness, whiplash, and potential accidents. I contacted Tesla and they evaluated the car remotely and said they found nothing wrong. Yes, the car is available anytime for an inspection. No, the car or components have not been inspected by anyone, except as noted above by Tesla's service department. There were no warning lights/messages. This has been a problem for at least 6 months. It just became more evideent on our trip to/from Utah.
B pillar cameras have a known water intrusion issue rendering the camera inoperable and compromising the safety features of the vehicle. Tesla refuses to remedy this known design flaw.
Tesla's Traffic-Aware Cruise Control system has malfunctioned on my vehicle several times. It will often brake hard at high speeds despite there being no vehicle or object in front of me.
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while her husband was driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle inadvertently slowed down to 30 MPH. The contact disengaged the cruise control and the self-driving feature also disengaged simultaneously. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The Service Center diagnosed the vehicle with a software failure however, there was no current fix. The failure mileage was 10,043.
Traveling at 80 MPH using autopilot on an open freeway when suddenly a phantom braking event occurred and slows us down to 50 MPH in 5 seconds. There were no objects on the freeway and the closest car in our lane was at least one mile in front of us.
During a drive on 09/06/222 the car had 3 instances of phantom emergency braking while using autopilot. All the times there were no cars around the Tesla, the stop was a hard brake that jerked passengers around as well as shifting cargo. This has happened periodically before but now it is become common on every drive. Two of these instances occurred with in minutes of each other. The other happened later in the drive after stopping to charge. A hard stop like these could cause a serious accident if someone is following to close. These hard brakes could also cause whiplash style injuries, seatbelt abrasions, or bruises to passengers. There were no warnings, messages or sysmptoms prior to the issue.
I was driving my Tesla Model Y using “navigation with autopilot” on 9/4/22, from San Francisco to San Jose. The vehicle suddenly stopped while traveling at high speed after crossing “green” metering light in the ramp from 237 to 880S. The vehicle behind had to make a sudden stop, barely avoiding a rear end collision. This is the 4th time I have experienced this “phantom braking” while traveling at high speed on freeways.
Frequent, random, phantom braking using cruise control. Informed Tesla with times +/- one minute. Sometimes the braking was very hard and could cause a rear-end collision (at highway speeds). Always occurred with no warning and highly variable conditions (light, or hills, or overpasses, and then apparently nothing). I called Tesla and technician said overpasses were a problem. Vehicle and components have not been checked.
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