2021 TESLA MODEL 3 Complaints

The car randomly and violently applies the brakes, this occurs when it is in cruise control. It may occur due to shadows, oncoming cars both on two and four lane highways. Also occurs if I pass a semi truck on a 4 lane highway. It occurs nearly every time I use the cruise control. I have had cars in back of me nearly hit me due to the sudden and unexpected braking at highway speeds.

On several occasions (probably around 10 times) since I purchased the car in November of 2021 I have experienced phantom braking while using adaptive cruise control. Most have been minor with a couple instances of severe braking that could definitely have caused a rear end accident if there were cars behind me. These have occurred on busy city streets while traveling 40-50 mph. None have occurred on freeways. I have not notified Tesla but see that others are having problems too. Software appears up to date.

I have owned this car for almost 4 months. In that time we have experienced 4 incidents of the car deciding that for no reason it needed to slam on the brakes so hard we were thrown forward in our seats and went from speeds of 50-60mph on relatively fast highways to about 20mph. 3 of the 4 times we were in cruise control. But this latest event happened NOT in cruise control and there was literally nothing anywhere in front of us. However there was a car behind us that had to swerve into a different lane to avoid a collision. This last time was terrifying and we have scheduled an appointment with the dealer. But recently we have come to find out this has happened to other owners as well.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 75 MPH, the vehicle decelerated inadvertently. The contact stated that the vehicle would detect a non-existent road hazard causing the vehicle to slow down dramatically, almost causing a rear-end crash. The contact stated that there were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that while researching online he became of similar failures. The dealer and the manufacturer were contacted; however, no assistance was offered. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000. On a recent trip up the same two-lane segment of US-95 where chronic incidence of my 2021 Tesla Model 3 suddenly removing acceleration causing a very dangerous unexpected drastic slowing from high speeds, recurrence of this problem indicated what might be causing the problem. There are certain times of day when on a mostly level asphalt roadway it appears there are patches of water or grease on the pavement when seen from a distance.

Our company Model 3 is having repeated phantom braking issues either in Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) or in Autosteer mode. Through time we have determined some expected situations but there are also many other times totally unexpected. The most common situation is while driving in TACC mode (standard cruise control) on a standard highway (one lane each direction) and passing a semi-truck. This situation results in phantom braking about in about 50% of instances. Beyond semi's, phantom braking can occur from other vehicles, shadows from trees, going up or down small inclines, changes in road coloration (going from cement to black top), and even when no obvious reason is present on a totally clear, flat road. During a 2-3 hour drive the average is about 20 instances of phantom braking. This has been reported to Tesla. They have apparently reviewed the information and determined nothing is malfunctioning with the vehicle and reminded us that Autopilot functions are all Beta and they are not responsible to resolve the problems. Attached below are reports completed for Tesla to describe information about phantom braking instances during a test period which was about an hour of driving.

My Tesla 3 accelerated out of control when parking at my place of work which is a daycare center. I could have killed children, others and myself. My foot was fully pressed on the brake. Tesla is claiming it is driver error. That is false my foot was pressed fully on the brake. Scared to go back in the car. I don’t want that car on the road. I hit the curb went airborne missing a car, sign, brick wall, trees onto an embankment. I have a wittiness too.

Tesla Model 3 Phantom Braking while on cruise control. This car is a daily driver mostly expressway miles and cruise control is used every day for the majority of the drive. While driving on cruise control at 70 miles an hour the car will randomly brake hard enough for all items on the car seats to be sent to the floor. This happens in wide open situations with no other cars around in broad daylight. This has been occurring about twice a month since purchase. I am worried someday I may be rear ended or the car may brake hard into a slide. This has been mentioned to Tesla multiple times at service calls and they say they are working on it

Tesla offers a blind spot camera, standard on the vehicle, which activates automatically when the turn-signal is active on the appropriate side. The blind-spot camera feed appears on the center screen. The feed comes from each of the side cameras mounted to the external portion of the car. Since the side turn-signal is mounted right above the same blind-spot cameras, the light from the turn-signal often 'bleeds' into the camera feed used by the driver to determine if the appropriate lane is clear. At night, this causes the blind-spot camera video difficult to view since the video feed alternates between 'normal' video and a bright, flushed out video, matching the turn-signal timer. The end result is often times I, the driver having difficulty observing cars on the side of my vehicle at night. More specifically, several times I have missed the headlights of cars in the lane next to me because the turn signal light, bleeding into the camera feed, obscure or hides the car and/or headlights (since they driver's eyes have to chateaubriand adjust between a bright andrark video feed flashing). This causes me to start merging into a lane which I believe is clear, only to have to quickly swerve back into my original lane when I realize the lane is not clear. Both the driver in the new lane and myself are put at risk, unnecessarily when this occurs. I have reached out to the manufacturer for this complaint. In writing, they have admitted this is a problem and even though my car is only 10 months into a 4 year warranty, they will only fix this safety issue if I pay for a replacement part. This seems unacceptable to me to force customers to pay for a safety fix. The failed component is available for inspection. I have sample video available to demonstrate the problem. There are no warning lights for any components. The manufacturer does not need to inspect the component since they already know, and admit to the shortcomings, per my written conversation with them.

Phantom braking while cruise control engaged. I do not have Full Self Driving, was only using the basic cruise. Appears to be worse when approaching large semi trucks, but has also happened numerous times when absolutely nothing is around (no cars, animals). No warning provided. Example: car will go from 75mph to 60mph in 1 second, then “recover” and go back to 75mph.

Adaptive cruise control engaged. Traveling over the crest of a hill after dark, the brakes automatically applied hard when an oncoming vehicle approaches uphill. This has occurred on several occasions.