Problem: unintended acceleration On 05/30/23, the Tesla Model Y was parked in a parking spot, southbound facing a building. The car suddenly began to drive forward on its own and struck the curb, an AC unit, and a business office wall. No injuries, but the driver and people in the building (a dental clinic) panicked.
2023 Tesla Model Y driver assistance complaints
Page 13 of 19: complaints 341 to 370 of 549, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have had many incidents of my Tesla Model Y Phantom braking. Traveling down the road using cruise control on a clear dry sunny day with proper lane markings not next to center dividing wall and no other vehicles in front of mine or to the sides my Tesla will suddenly apply the brakes for no apparent reason as if the car is detecting another vehicle or object ahead. The braking is sudden and aggressive with no warning. This could be extremely hazardous putting me at risk for a rear end collision at highway speeds. This has been a issue since the vehicle was new in February 2023. On a long trip you could get a few incidents in a hour then go for a long stretch with no problem. There does not appear to be a detectable pattern or situation for the phantom braking issue.
The car will sometimes brake hard for no reason, nothing in front of it
Vehicle suddenly break hard without any reason at any speed when you activate the cruise control. Can cause a serious accident. I can experience this any time numerous times during my daily driving.
Location: car wash tunnel Symptom: ghost braking/shifting While in car wash mode and neutral, Tesla shifted inexplicably from neutral to park, causing Tesla to be rear-ended by the car behind in the car wash tunnel. My passengers and I could have been injured. Tesla engineers completed a technical review of the safety incident but refused to provide the full report instead directed me to consult lawyers. On the day of the service appointment, they did not even inspect my vehicle but instead told me to request vehicle data online. It turned out to be a waste of time to download vehicle recorded data that only Tesla engineers understand. The service invoice says, “Verified proper operation of the vehicle.” That is false. They did not even admit my car into the service entrance. This crash is preventable, but Tesla is not taking this defect seriously and refuses to share the full report of technical review.
I was using autopilot on the car. A truck with a long truck bed was in front of me. I was getting really close to the truck bed and realize the my Tesla Model Y was not identifying the truck bed. There were no collision warning so I braked 3-4 feet away from the truck bed when I saw that the car was not braking on its own. I submit some pictures that shows the Tesla identifying that the truck is a car that is further away.
While driving on the interstate at 85 mph on a straight flat road, with no other vehicles around, the car suddenly and violently braked. Car was in autopilot beta mode. However, this has happened before while only using cruise control. This happened twice only minutes apart. This issue is typically called phantom braking.
Car decelerates while on auto pilot 4-5 times while driving from Chicago to Alberta,CA vice versa.
I was traveling on the 8 freeway in Az going around 80 passing a tractor trailer. I had the cruise control on. Then the car breaks for no reason dropping me to 50 mph. It happened maybe 3 other times on that trip. Maybe 10 times since I purchased the car 5 months ago
To whom it may concern I was driving in a 2023 Model Y around 7:30 in the evening at less than 30mph. There was light rain in the area. As I was driving down a street in the metro Boston area, I noticed the car ahead of me had slowed and was stopping behind another car at a crosswalk. I had taken my foot off the accelerator and noticed that the car did not slow down at all and the regenerative braking did not function properly. Even as I attempted to brake, it seemed like the car would not stop in time. To avoid hitting the car in front of me, in a split second decision I swerved to the left so that I would avoid hitting any other car. My Tesla Model Y went over the median and struck a crossing light pole before coming to a stop. During the seconds leading up to this no preventative warning sounds came from the cars safety systems (eg.collision alert warning, emergency braking) although on most other days it often beeped even when there was nothing directly in front me. Thankfully I did not hit anyone else and we were not injured. However, this was a shocking and highly disconcerting event and could have been worse had the car been traveling at a higher rate of speed or if I had been on a different street without an option to swerve. A preliminary verbal report from Tesla in a phone call stated that "all systems were working as intended". I have made a formal request for driver and video data for that incident from Tesla and am still waiting to receive it. As of now, my Tesla has been considered totaled and a complete write off. It is only 2.5 months old. Having driven hundreds of thousands of miles in various cars over decades, I have never experienced anything like this. Why there was unintended acceleration in such a situation is extremely confusing and has greatly impacted my faith in Tesla at the moment.
Approximately half a dozen times this year on highway journeys between California and Las Vegas, when the vehicle is on cruise control at approx. 70-75 mph, I have experienced brief instances of unnecessary, automated braking. Each time apparently in response to large black patches in front of the car, either a mismatched repair of the highway or a dark mirage type reflection of the sun on the highway. It appears to me that the vehicle cameras are occasionally mistaking these dark patches as an obstacle. Presumably lidar sensors would not react because the radar would not bounce back off anything, but I believe my car does not have lidar sensors. In each case there was an approximate 10 to 15 mph reduction in speed and then the vehicle quickly recovered. Fortunately, no other vehicle was tailgating me at the time but if one had been, I believe there is a realistic risk of being rear ended. Alternatively, the driver behind would, presumably, apply the brakes, which may cause a chain reaction when the highway is in fact, clear ahead. I have not contacted Tesla. Based on other reports online, it appears to be a waste of time.
on a recent 800 mile road trip, there were no less than 7 incidents of the vehicle suddenly braking on its own while on cruise control with no vehicles in front of us. one incident occurred with a semi truck behind us that almost caused an accident. the car went from 80 mph to 45 mph before I had time to react and press the gas pedal.
I was in Tesla charging station when I noticed this steering issue happened. I wasn’t be able to turn the steering as usual and had to make call to Tesla and had it towed to their repair shope. It took four days to replace the rack and pinion. I am not happy having just three month and this happened. Shape on Tesla. Thank God I was not in the free way.
I just purchased a new 2023 Model Y and took my first road trip. Traveling from Broomfield, CO to Santa Fe, NM, and then on to Mesa, AZ on July 16th and 17th. Traveling south on [XXX] I experienced nearly a dozen hard emergency braking events when using cruise control. The hard braking events happened without warning and without stepping hard on the throttle to overcome the sudden braking I believe the car would come to a complete stop. It is just dangerous and I do not understand why it is happening and why it has apparently not been corrected. I currently own two GM products with adaptive cruise control and have never experienced anything like this. The last 3 Audi cars I have owned with adaptive cruise never experienced any sudden braking. This needs to be addressed as soon as possible. [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
While driving down I-5 South between Bay Area and LA, the vehicle applied brakes and sounded a collision warning when there was no apparent vehicle/obstruction in front of the car. Tesla's Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) was engaged at the time and the max speed was set to 75MPH. The speed reduced to ~60MPH before I intervened and pushed on the accelerator pedal.
Sudden unexplained Phantom Braking. Travelling on The Chisholm Trail Parkway tool road and while approaching an underpass the car suddenly applied brakes with no cars near me in front or to my sides. Fortunately there were no vehicles behind me. This similar situation also happened to me in my 2022 Model 3, so it is apparent that Tesla has not been able to resolve this long standing potentially serious traffic safety hazard.
I was traveling on IH-10 from San Antonio and El Paso, when I had multiple hard braking incidents for no reason at all. I had adaptive cruise control on. Multiple incidents also happened on my return trip. I took out emergency brake on my return trip and it seemed to work ok, except it resets the emergency braking after each stop and I forgot to take it out. That is when I had multiple incidents of breaking for no reason. On one segment of the trip, I had taken out the emergency braking but It did it again. It occurrs at speed limit speeds of 80, 75, and 65 MPH. Luckily, there were no accidents but they could have happened very easily. I do not feel safe at all in this vehicle.
while using cruise control there are sudden and unexpected violent decelerations even though there are no cars other obstructions. also the visialization sofware cuts out or does not come one leading to no blind spot warning, forward collision warning, or may safety features requiring the software.
Phantom braking occurs in cruise control for no reason and with no warning. The car is available for inspection. Many other Tesla drivers have described the same situation. On a recent cross country trip phantom braking happened frequently. We made sure there was no one behind us when we engaged cruise to avoid being rear ended. We were in NV when it happened again- this time a big rig had safe distance behind us when the brakes engaged ( we were driving 75). The rig driver swerved into another lane to avoid us. We have not taken car to service center yet. Social media is full of these accounts. This is still happening. There is no warning whatsoever. It’s hard to describe how terrifying this is.
While traveling on I70 from Columbia, Missouri to Grand Junction, Colorado and back, we experienced at least 30 incidents of sudden braking while in adaptive cruise control. Some of the incidents were rapid, causing the car to lose 20 to 30 mph within a second. For the most part these occurrences of sudden braking happened on open highway with no other vehicle within 1/2 mile in front of us. We discussed this issue extensively with Telsa and no resolution was provided by Tesla. In fact, one service agent stated that we should just be happy that we were driving a Tesla and that eventually Tesla may solve the problem.
The adaptive cruise control malfunctioned while engaged on the highway/interstate. On a recent trip of approx. 1,000 miles, the vehicle experienced "phantom braking" (aggressive emergency braking for no reason) on three occasions while the adaptive cruise control was engaged on the highway/interstate at approx. 65-75 mph, with no obstruction/vehicle in front and the weather was clear sunny skies. No warnings or messages were prompt by the vehicle. This abrupt phantom breaking could have caused serious injury from a rear-end collision or cause vehicles behind to take unnecessary unsafe emergency maneuvers/braking.
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while reversing out of a parking space, the audible alarm and collision avoidance system did not activate as the vehicle drove closer to a nearby pole. The vehicle struck the pole causing minor damages to the rear pumper. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The manufacturer and local dealer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 4,000.
Have experienced 2 major “phantom braking” incidents almost causing 2 accidents. There has also been several other incidents but not as severe as the 2 almost causing accident. Called Tesla and they said it is a known problem, service person said he has had his car for 5 years and still having issues. Evidently he said it was software related. He reported there is nothing they can do as solution has not been found.
The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving approximately 65-75 MPH with the Autonomous Self Driving feature and the Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle jerked and drifted into another lane. The contact stated that the message to manually drive the vehicle was displayed. The contact turned off the Autonomous Self Driving and Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control however, the vehicle experienced phantom braking 30 minutes later while driving. The contact continued driving to her destination. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 398.
Cruise control settings are such that the driver engages and sets the cruise control speed based on the current speed of the vehicle. That speed setting should then never change unless the driver changes it. The vehicle unexpectedly and spontaneously resets the speed setting on its own when passing by certain specific landmarks e.g. specific exit ramps on the interstate and where an intersecting road crosses over the interstate on a bridge. The change in the speed setting can be quite large based on the speed limit of the interstate which then causes the vehicle to dramatically slow to meet the new speed setting. For example the speed setting was set at 70 MPH. The vehicle passed by a specific exit ramp on an interstate and the speed setting unexpectedly and spontaneously reset to 55 MPH. The vehicle then goes into a dramatic deceleration to slow down to the new speed setting creating a high risk for a rear collision from a following car.
Hard braking on its own while using cruise control. Nearly rear-ended multiple times.
Drove thru multiple states in spring and Tesla autopilot would come to abrupt sudden slow down without warning. Bad enough that I would disable the system and drive manually. This problem occurs regardless of one lane or two lane roads. With or without cars in front or behind me. Sunny or cloudy skies. Hot or cold. Straight or windy roads. With autopilot or even adaptive cruise control. I have no faith in the system. At one point it even changed lanes without warning almost hitting another car.
While driving in cruise control, the car suddenly decelerates periodically from 75 mph to 50 mph. No immediate safety issue but if a car had been following, we may have had a collision. We logged this with Tesla using “bug report”. No warnings. No inspections yet.
I had a very dangerous phantom breaking event while driving on the interstate. The car slammed on the brakes for no reason and I nearly had a rear end collision. There was nobody in front of me, sun was not a factor, road was flat and straight, weather was clear. Car was on cruise control only. I was driving Interstate speed, about 70 mph, and without warning the Tesla Model Y slammed on the brakes and the only reason we didn’t get rear ended was because I quickly hit the accelerator to get out of the braking action. My dogs also went flying forward in the back seat and my passenger was wretched forward and scared b/c it came out of nowhere. There was no indication from the car before, during our after that there was a problem. I have notified Tesla of the incident, but don’t expect they will do anything. This happened Thursday June 29, 2023 at 4pm CT.
I am filing a complaint about 2 separate issues. The first issue is water leaking inside of the center console. I drove my vehicle through the car wash for the first time this morning. Apparently the process of receiving an undercarriage wash left soapy water inside my center console. I have taken a photo. The second issue is that I can't operate cruise control (which is branded as Traffic Aware Cruise Control) without worrying about the vehicle brakes being aggressively applied in situations where they shouldn't be. I was almost rear ended on the highway last week when I had TACC set to 70mph and the vehicle decided to slam on the brakes for no reason.
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