2023 TESLA MODEL Y Complaints

I recently took a multi-day cross country trip to the southwest mostly along the interstate 40 but also along US and state highways and multiple times each day I experienced what is often called “phantom braking” while at posted highway speeds (typically 65 to 75 mph). These occurrences happened 3 to 5 times each day while I was either using adaptive cruise control or autopilot features on my vehicle. At times this occurred soon after passing another vehicle or semi truck, but sometimes it happened without any other vehicles in sight of my vehicle. The phantom braking occurred without warning and caused a rapid deceleration of my vehicle, at times risking an accident due to the vehicle behind me having to abruptly brake even though there was no indication of any sort of road hazard to alert them of a need to brake. Due to this random, unwarranted braking risk I was forced to keep my foot hovering over the accelerator so that when it occurred I could quickly press the accelerator to override the phantom braking. I tried to monitor the road conditions when the phantom braking would occur and the only seeming commonality may have been when it was a bright and sunny day with slight natural undulations in the roadway, but I cannot be absolute sure of those observed conditions being causal or just coincidental to the events. What does seem to be consistent was I did not seem to experience phantom braking during overcast conditions.

Around 3:54 PM EST, I was traveling on US 1 Route 1 North Bound, and I tried to turn right into Target Complex (4196 US-1, Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852) from Route 1. I slowed down to turn into the complex, and my vehicle had Sudden Unintended Acceleration while I am turning into a parking location. It jumped over the curbs and hit a tree. Airbags got deployed, and the car was damaged badly. Insurance deemed it a total loss. I saved videos from the crash from the USB. I can forward or upload them.

I had the car for exactly one week. I was driving the vehicle in the street, and my vehicle jerked and stopped in the middle of the intersection and a warning sign came on “rear motor disabled”. Then stated it two or three more times, stating the vehicle is safe to drive under 50 miles, and no steel grades. I do not feel safe driving this vehicle at all at this time, and feel that Tesla needs to replace my vehicle as the vehicle is a week old, and the motor isn’t working. This is a huge safety concern as it could’ve caused a major injury accident, especially if I was on the freeway.

The incident happened on 4/9/2023 at 2:30 pm. I drove in I-10 from Phoenix to California with Cruise Control and Autosteer ON. The speed was set to the highway speed limit. There were three other passengers with me. This seems to be related to the known issue of "Phantom Breaking" in Teslas. I was driving on a 4-lane road with no traffic, then the car suddenly reduced its speed from 65 mph to almost 30 mph, causing a sudden jolt to everyone in the car. There was nothing in front or reason for the car to break. No incoming traffic. It does not seem to have detected a "ghost" obstacle as an emergency. As there was no beeping or emergency message on display. No warning of any type. Luckily, no car was following me; otherwise, it could have caused a rear-end collision.

While using the cars adaptive cruise control, or enhanced autopilot as Teala calls it, the brakes would engage randomly and unpredictability while driving highway speeds (phantom braking). There were no cars, objects, or any other hazards around to warrant this "phantom braking". This has happened dozens of times while taking road trips.

On a multi day drive across the country I had multiple episodes of automatic breaking while on autopilot and using Traffic aware cruise control. In all instances there were no vehicles in either lane ahead of my vehicle. Braking episodes did not result in an accident but made the features essentially unusable.

I was using the advanced cruise control (autopilot without steering assistance turned on) on a four lane highway with light traffic on a clear partly cloudy late afternoon. The speed limit of the highway was 75mph which was my set speed. For no reason at all my system slammed on the brakes, hard. Tesla refers to this as "phantom braking" according to online reports. This almost caused an accident as the car behind me had to very quickly swerve out of my lane. This is unacceptable behavior for an ADAS system to push the brakes so hard without warning or reason.

I was driving on free way with Autopilot (Adaptive Cruise Control) set at 79 mph. Without warning, the Model Y suddenly quickly decelerated. There was no vehicle or barrier in front of me. I was able to quickly response and started to step on the Accelerator and noticed the speed dropped to about 70 MPH. There was no sound alert during this process. It was about 8:20 in the morning and I was driving east towards the sun. My daugher was with me in the vehicle and experienced this scare. There was no vehicle closely behind me, otherwise this may cause collision. The vehicle functioned normal afterwards.

At highway speed, using the autopilot feature for speed control only, the car applies severe braking when there is nothing obstructing the road or requiring brakes. This has happened dozens of times over the first several thousand miles we have owned the new car. We filed a report with Tesla and they said this is not a problem and is expected behavior. We are concerned this will occur with a vehicle behind us resulting in being rear ended.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while her husband was driving 50 MPH, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.