2022 Tesla Model Y: brakes engage by themselves (phantom braking)

Filed Sep 5, 2026 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · FL

My chat constantly phantom brakes. This is a constant issue, I ve had the car since it was new and almost everytime im in adaptive cruise control it randomly brakes. Today with nothing in front of my on 3 separate occasions it applies the brakes and forces me to accelerate to maintain speed.

Filed Mar 17, 2025 · Driver assistance · TX

Phantom braking event on highway. Going about 65 miles an hour. It slammed on the brakes. Car is on latest software. I have the video clip whet it shows me trying to get the car under control.

Filed Jun 8, 2024 · Acceleration, Brakes · NC

Phantom braking occurred when the adaptive cruise was engaged when a truck entered the road from the right side. The car abruptly slowed when the truck crossed my lane although there was no eminent danger. The car behind us nearly collided with us due to the sudden braking incident. This is the third sudden braking incident; however, the others were related to a bridge or overpass.

Filed Mar 16, 2024 · Driver assistance · CA

Phantom braking while driving with Adaptive Cruise Control or on Autopilot.

Filed Feb 27, 2024 · Driver assistance · TX

While using cruise control at highway speeds the car abruptly brakes for no reason. If another car was following too close it would have rear ended us. It happens at unexpected times and speeds. I has happened multiple times and I am to the point of not using it because of the danger it causes. It has not been inspected by any authority because of its randomness. No warnings were made prior or during the abrupt braking

Filed Dec 26, 2023 · Driver assistance · 32,000 miles · NY

The contact rented a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced Phantom Braking and abruptly decelerated. The contact stated that the failure had occurred twice during the trip; after de-activating the Adaptive Cruise Control, the vehicle operated normally. During the failure there were no other vehicles or objects nearby. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer, the local dealer, and the Rental Car Company were not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 32,000. The VIN was not available.

Filed Dec 14, 2023 · Driver assistance · CA

driving on a clear day, no traffic empty highway. Suddenly stop very hard no reason. Phantom braking. And a few minutes later happen again suddenly violently stop, seems the cameras thinking something is infront of the car which nothing. Like I said empty highway.

Filed Oct 11, 2023 · Driver assistance · AZ

Full self driving (FSD), when engaged on the freeway, occasionally causes needless hard braking (phantom braking). This happens randomly and without warning. When this occurs, I and others road users are at increased risk of an accident and serious injury and/or death. Since there has been no accident the vehicle has not been inspected.

Filed Sep 20, 2023 · Driver assistance · CA

When using cruise control my Model Y will randomly slam on the brakes for no reason. Latest incident was on a two lane highway (HWY 395 in CA) at 1pm. Sunny with perfect visibility. Road condition was no problem. No visual obstacles anywhere that would confuse the cameras. Zero reason for the brakes to be slammed. Luckily there were no cars around me. Especially behind me. This is a common occurrence and very dangerous. This could easily cause someone to rear end me as this happens in spots this shouldn’t and when you least expect it. This has been an issue people have been complaining about for awhile now with no fix. Please help

Filed Sep 11, 2023 · Acceleration, Brakes · NV

Many occurrences of phantom braking have occurred since I purchased the vehicle several months ago. I was driving on I-5 in California with the cruise control set at 70mph, then changed lanes from left lane to right lane with about 5-6 car links from the semi truck to the rear in the right lane. The emergency braking feature engaged with no vehicles in front of me in either lane for at least 500 yards. The semi truck locked up its breaks to avoid rear ending me. I applied the accelerator as quickly as possible and when I did the semi was approximately 3 feet from crashing into the rear of my vehicle.

Filed Aug 22, 2023 · Acceleration · NV

While driving with the adaptive cruise control engaged, the car has suddenly braked (hard) when the associate optical system encountered a shadow or some anomaly on the road ahead. This "phantom braking" has occurred numerous times on our vehicle, and speaking with our son who also has a Tesla Model Y, he has experienced the same behavior. To date, I have not contacted Tesla, due to the intermittent nature of the problem, and trouble getting a response from their website. For the time being, I will not use the adaptive cruise control if there is another car within several hundred yards behind me in order to avoid a rear-end collision incident. My understanding is that Tesla removed the radar input component of adaptive cruise control, which would have prevented this type of behavior. A prospective fix is to restore a radar sensor input to the system.

Filed Aug 14, 2023 · Driver assistance · OR

During a recent road-trip we experienced “phantom braking” twice while our cruise control was engaged. The first episode occurred on 8/4/23 when we were on a 4 lane highway (395) just north of Reno. Fortunately no other vehicles were close to us, the car suddenly decelerated from 75 to 40 mph pulling to the right. The second episode, on 8/7/23, with similar road circumstances. the sudden braking occurred while using cruise control, but this time took us from 75-0 pulling us to the right. Our luggage flew forward, tires screeched, and we smelled rubber/brakes?? when we got out to pull back the contents of the cargo space. It was very frightening. I have since read of many similar incidence occurring with Tesla’s tied to self driving and cruise control. After an assessment at the local Tesla dealership (Bend, OR) today they found nothing wrong with the car but acknowledged that the phantom braking is occurring and Tesla engineering is “working on it”. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way for consumers to opt out of the Autopilot (adaptive) portion of cruise control. We feel this is a dangerous situation.