I have a new 2022 Tesla Model Y and in less than 500 miles it has already "phantom emergency braked" on 5 separate occasions. The conditions was freeway driving, no traffic within 200-300 yards, daytime, and the geography was gentle rolling hills with little to no vegetation. On all occasions my speed was set at 75-80 mph. The events ranged from momentary autopilot brake application slowing the vehicle about 10 mph to very aggressive autopilot braking slowing the vehicle 30-40 mph. There are no other warning lamps, messages, or pre or post symptoms. Of course it goes without saying how dangerous this is especially if there were a vehicle following closely behind. Tesla is very aware of this problem. This particular vehicle, being brand new, has not had a service appointment to date but I am in the process of setting one up.
2022 Tesla Model Y driver assistance complaints
Page 10 of 19: complaints 251 to 280 of 531, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While driving on the interstate with the cruise control on the car suddenly applied the brakes. There were no other cars around and no objects on the roadway. This happened twice without warning on 10/09/2022. I have not reported this issue to Tesla yet but plan to.
I was using the Autopilot feature on highway and my car experienced phantom break.
My 2022 Model Y has severe phantom braking problems when cruise control or auto steer is activated. While driving at highway speeds the car slams on the brakes for no reason. This happened several times in 50 miles. I spoke to many other Tesla owners with the same problem. While driving at 70 mph on the interstate the car will suddenly and instantly apply the brakes hard. This is a severe safety issue. I am so scared that this will cause an accident that I have stopped using the cars adaptive cruise control and auto steer functions. I have contacted Tesla like everyone else, but have not gotten a response or fix. Please add this note to your pile of Tesla owners that are very pissed off that nothing is being done to resolve this safety issue. Thanks, [XXX] - Stoughton Wisconsin USA INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Phantom breaking happened 5 times interstate 8 Car slowed braked from 84mi to 55 mi no worning. Nothing on road close to car. Clear highway.
Driving on the interstate going 85 in autopilot with no other cars around and the car slammed on the brakes. Nothing in the road.
While driving highway speeds with the cruise control on, car suddenly brakes. No vehicle or obstacle was in front of us. This happened approximately 6 times in 200 miles. 5 of the 6 times happened on the interstate in a rural area.
Traveling on a three lane highway at normal traffic speeds, at night with little to no traffic, the Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) would activate braking with no identifiable reason. The braking is significant and would pose a danger to those vehicles that may be directly behind. For me this occurs mostly during night time driving because I tend to use the TACC when there is little traffic on the highway. I fear using the TACC during daytime due to the amount of traffic on New Jersey highways. The car is 100% drivable when TACC is not engaged.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 - 80 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control engaged, the Forward Collision Avoidance; Automatic Emergency Braking was activated with no traffic within a ¼ mile. There was no warning light illuminated. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted or notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 3,500.
On a 350 mile trip between Boise, ID and Salt Lake City, UT, we experiences four incidents of braking for no reason while using the adaptive cruise. No autopilot or full self driving functionality was engaged. The vehicle applied the brakes while at speeds of 80mph+ and it causes a violet slow down sometimes dropping 20mph very quickly requiring the driver to apply the gas to increase speed to meet the speed or traffic. This is a safety concern due to potential for being rear-ended, the violent nature could cause the driver to lose control, or cars following behind may think we are trying to 'brake-check' them in an aggressive manner. The problem has been reported previously, our vehicle has not been inspected. No warnings appeared.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle suddenly and without warning decelerated to approximately 50 MPH. The contact indicated that no other vehicles or objects were nearby during the failure. The failure had occurred on three separate occasions during the trip. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet contacted. The failure mileage was 5,000.
When using the cruise control feature on my Tesla model Y Long Range, I experience what is known as phantom breaking. The vehicles brake are applied hard after the camera sees what it incorrectly perceives to be a vehicle in front of it. This can manifest itself by a vehicle turning across it’s path in the distance or a large vehicle such as a truck coming toward us on a two lane road. This is a very unsafe condition because of the potential of being hit in the rear by vehicles behind us as our breaking maneuver can be excessive and unneeded.
I have a brand-new Tesla Model Y which was delivered to me on 8/29/2022. On 9/20/2022, between 08:20 and 09:20 AM PDT, I encountered at least 5 "unexpected slowdown" (or "phantom braking") events. It was on a section of I-15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The weather condition was warm, clear, and sunny, and the freeway had almost no traffic around me. I had the "traffic-aware cruise control" enabled, and suddenly and without any warning, the car braked violently. If there were other cars around me, I was certain that rear-end accidents would have happened. Each time this happened, there was NO warning of any kind whatsoever. With each occurrence, I used the Tesla "Report" voice command to document such an event. According to Tesla, the event data were available to diagnostic team for analysis.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 70-80 MPH with Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking while there were no vehicles or objects nearby. The contact stated that he depressed the accelerator pedal and was able to continue driving; however, the failure had been reoccurring more frequently. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 400.
Last evening , when doing a lane change on Highway 680 , I lost control of the car and the car began to swerve pretty badly. Thankfully I hit the brakes on time and everything was fine again. A blue car was trying to get in my lane and I quickly changed lanes to be safe and the severe swerving began. It was like I was in a roller coaster. Thankfully it was a 4-5 lane freeway and there were no cars around me. It felt like the autopilot tool control and the swerving began. How do I lodge a complaint so that Tesla can fix it? Can I turn something off to avoid this in future because I am scared to drive the car again? I have a 2022 Tesla Model Y. Also is it possible to see some sort of video from 680 between 4-5 pm on Tuesday Sept 20, 2022? I was returning to San Jose from Fremont, CA. Thank you, Jyoti
Model Y slamming on break for no particular reason when hazardous lights are on. Luckily no car was behind me
While driving on 1- 10 in Tucson headed East, at 6:15am, with no traffic visible coming or going and traveling at 75mph with cruise control engaged, the car slammed on the brakes without warning bringing the speed down to 30 mph. This also happened 3 to 4 times on 2 lane roads with no cars visible from horizon to horizon, vehicle speed was 65 mph, car for no reason initiated emergency braking down to 20mph. Obviously this is a severe hazard and potentially life threatening had there been vehicles or large trucks directly behind us. After these incidents my wife would not let me engage the cruise control and is thinking of selling the car.
Our Tesla was phantom braking on the highway on a recent trip to a neighboring state. The braking was unpredictable, sudden and aggressive. This happened when we used cruise control. Each time it happened, I was in the passenger seat and thrown forward. We quickly realized this could cause a fatal collision. We began limiting the use of cruise control to long stretches of highway when no other vehicles were behind us. This happened both on the way to our destination and on the way back home.
While driving west on I70 today phantom braking has occurred at least 5 times. This has happened when using adaptive cruise control and autopilot. NOT SAFE!!
08/27/22 3:37 pm While driving on I25 north to Wheatland WY at 80 mph the adaptive cruise control slammed on the brakes. The weather was sunny, there were no other cars within sight in front of the Tesla or to the rear and the pavement was dry. Thinking there must be something that hit a sensor I resumed the journey. The same braking malfunction occurred two more times so I pulled into a rest area and searched to find automatic emergency braking and turned off that feature. Once more I drove with the adaptive cruise control. It did it again. Had there been a semi or other heavy vehicle behind me there would have been a likely fatal crash. The Telsa braked so hard I thought the airbags would deploy. This is a very serious safety issue that must be immediately addressed. I returned home and within the week sold the Model Y.
I was driving on a stretch of I-15 in Utah using the traffic aware cruise control when the car suddenly applied the brakes by itself. I was traveling at approximately 80mph when this happened. Scared me half to death. I wasn't sure what happened and thought it was just an anomaly. Later I was using the auto pilot traffic aware cruise control feature and the same thing happened. That's when I figured out it was an issue with the cruise control/auto pilot. When I was stopped, I looked up that this is a frequent issue with the Tesla Model Y, known as phantom braking. No one at Tesla mentioned this issue as I went through the purchase process, or when I picked up the car in Dec. 2021. I wasn't aware of that before and feel like I could have been in a serious accident. I felt lucky that I wasn't.
I have experienced "phantom braking" with this vehicle from the time I received it in Feb '22. There have been over 20 incidents. I do not feel safe using the cruise control in traffic or when any car is following me. It could very easily cause an accident. When cruise control is on, it will randomly apply emergency braking. Yes the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and the safety of vehicle following me is at risk because the vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly applies emergency braking. I have not tried to address the issue with Tesla. There are never any warnings that this may happen. This is very unsafe and with the number of vehicles with this known issue, I hope the federal safety agency applies pressure to Tesla to fix the problem asap. I do not feel safe using the cruise control and likewise it is not a safe situation for others on the road to have these vehicles driving with this issue.
Phantom braking while using either cruise control or the autopilot feature in my brand new Tesla Y performance. Over a several hour drive from Utah to Wyoming and back , on two lane highway going one direction and two lanes the other direction. Speeds around 65-85 mph. Sudden scary braking that I had to override with gas pedal. Occurred about 6-10 times. About 3-5 times during 8 hour ride from UT to WY and 3-5 times from WY to UT. I would quit using cruise or autopilot for awhile as it was very disconcerting. One time I felt dizzy because of sudden deceleration.
My car came with a factory hitch adapter. I was hauling a flat bed trailer with a load of about 10 20' 2x4s on it home for my foundation. At approximately 65 miles per hour, out of no where, with no other cars around, on a sunny day, and on a straight section of 2 lane road, the car suddenly applied the brakes hard, to the point that I was afraid of the load on the trailer shifting and hitting the car even though it was tied on well. This is just the worst example of this annoying behavior that I can't seem to disable on my new Model Y. It sort of like riding a horse with a mind of it's own, and so you're never sure when this mare will spook and come to a stop and throw you off. You might say that there was no damage done, but that's like saying that if someone tried to break in your front door and failed, then you're ok. Of course you're not because it leaves emotional damage when this occurs. I'm scared to drive the car because of it.
Travelling on open highway (no other cars around) - attempted to use our AutoPilot/Cruise Control on the new Tesla for the first time. We engaged the system and it maintained the speed limit for a minute or two and then for no reason applied the brakes rapidly reducing speed. Thankfully no cars were behind us - but the force was so strong it did cause back/neck strain. We thought maybe we had done something wrong - tried again two more times - always on open road - no other cars around - and always the same action. We have concluded we cannot use this feature at all - it does not feel ready or safe.
When in cruise control, at random times, the car will break violently and without warning. We have experienced this multiple times, as my husband drives the vehicle hundreds of miles between our homes in Portland Oregon and Santa Fe New Mexico, and has done so round trip, twice. The "phantom" breaking happens sometimes multiple times in a few mile stretch, and other times it doesn't happen at all for a hundred or so miles. It is shocking and dangerous when it happens. Although we are only able to log one time/occurrence in the form below, it has happened MULTIPLE times. More than 15. It only happens when the car is in autopilot/adaptive cruise control, and when the breaking occurs, it can be as much as 10 or more miles per hour that it instantly (and without warning) slows. This causes the driver to jolt forward like whiplash which creates an overreaction or over-correction, and is a very dangerous, increasing the likelihood of a collision from behind, and from the jarring and overcorrections on the wheel when taken by surprise. We love this car, but the issues we have had with phantom breaking are jarring, scary, unpredictable, and dangerous which make us regret the feature (and sometimes the car, given the cost of the vehicle). We have not had this inspected by the manufacturer or anyone else. No warning lights or indications are experienced prior to the sudden breaking, and both my husband and I have experienced it separately, and together in the vehicle, but it has not been replicated by a 3rd party.
While on a cross country road trip, our 2022 Tesla Model Y has repeatedly slammed on the brakes at highway speeds with nothing in front of us. Most times have been cresting hills, but one time it was on straight road with, fortunately, no other cars near us.
Autopilot's adaptive cruise control has caused numerous sudden slowdowns without any traffic in front. Fortunately there wasn't a vehicle close behind me but had there been it could have caused a collision. I took a 3100 mile road trip and it probably happened between 20 and 40 times. Sometimes it would only slow from 70 to 60, but on a few occasions it was as if the brakes had been applied hard and went from 70 to 40 in just a few seconds.
When I drive my Tesla Model Y in Autopilot, I have noticed Phantom braking atleast 5 times. That too when driving at 70mph it drastically reduces the speed like a sudden break. I have reported the issue to representatives but did not get any satisfactory reply.
While driving from Austin Texas to San Deigo Cal. Had on at least a dozen occasions sharp braking while vehicle was in cruise control. Most of these sharp braking incidents occurred in very light traffic, sometimes no traffic on the interstate hwy. our speed would drop as much as 20 mph in an instant.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2022 Tesla Model Y?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history