2021 TESLA MODEL Y Complaints

Hello, We have had our car for almost a year now. Ever since we purchased the car we have been having an issue with the "Phantom Braking". On writing about it to Tesla within a few months after the car purchase, they sent a representative to our house with whom we went for a test drive. On the test drive, while on the highway with the vehicle on Auto-Pilot the car suddenly slowed down fast, similar to "slamming the brake", for no reason. There was absolutely no obstruction in front of us. The representative mentioned that he had heard of this phantom braking but this was the first time he really saw it and he would pass the info to Tesla. We later got a reply from the company which explained that "as more info is gathered by Tesla from your experience as wells from other owners, the system will improve and issues such as yours should decrease." We still consistently get this problem on ALMOST every trip on the highway and if the auto-pilot is engaged. In fact it does happen multiple times on each trip! We sincerely feel that it is very unsafe esp. for a software which is supposed to make driving safer. Kind regards, [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

We have noticed an increase in phantom Braking while using cruise control and/or auto pilot. Prior to November it would happen randomly and only on single lane highways. Now it happens every time we try to use cruise control. It is very dangerous as we may be rear ended it stops so fast with nothing in front of us. We have reached out to Tesla more than one time and they just suggest we disengage use if cruise control if we experience this random phantom braking. We have reported this is not rare or random it’s constant and every time we attempt to use this product we paid $10,000.00 for. We are not safe with this braking and Tesla basically says they are working on it.

Using the Autopilot feature, I experienced the unexpected and phantom breaking several times while driving at highway speeds of usually 70 MPH or greater. This occurred well over 5 times in a single 300 mile trip and each time I disengaged the autopilot to recover from the sudden breaking.

While driving from Tucson to Denver the vehicle suddenly decelerated and/or braked no less than hundreds of times with varying rates--sometimes just a couple miles per hour and other times more than 30 miles per hour. These "phantom braking" events were generally on a divided interstate highway with clear visibility, flat, straight roads without rain/snow & oftentimes without another vehicle within 1/2 mile+. These events even happened 3 times within 3-4 minutes while I was speaking to Tesla roadside service trying to disable all sensors/interventions. More than once a vehicle behind me (at highway speeds) thought I was "brake-checking" them and would cause them to honk and deservedly give me a few finger symbols (road rage). There was no reason for the car to suddenly brake; no cars merging or in front of me other than light vehicle traffic in the opposite direction of the DIVIDED interstate. I asked TESLA several times if there is a way to turn off all the "assistance" and just have it function as a "normal" cruise control without "traffic aware" and other automatic braking features--but the answer was no. I am not exaggerating when I say this happened hundreds of time during my 2 trips. I always turned off the speed control when the roads were curving because I knew it would suddenly brake during a mountain pass curve & upset the vehicle--make it difficult to control, and potentially cause an accident at high speed for NO reason. My risk tolerance is fairly high, I have been driving cars with "Eyesight" and radar speed control and advanced safety features for over 10 years and have never felt less trusting or less safe than I do in my Tesla Model Y. I think Tesla should disable the "safety" feature until they can resolve the issue (perhaps a stop sale order)--I believe it will cause accidents even when someone is fully aware of its sudden, random braking issues. I have many video clips/pics of when the events ocurred as Tesla asked me to record.

While driving from Tucson to Denver the vehicle suddenly decelerated and/or braked no less than hundreds of times with varying rates--sometimes just a couple miles per hour and other times more than 30 miles per hour. These events were generally on a divided interstate highway with clear visibility, flat, straight roads without precipitation and oftentimes without another vehicle within 1/2 mile or more. These events even happened 3 times within 3-4 minutes while I was speaking to Tesla roadside service trying to disable all sensors/interventions. More than once there was a vehicle behind me at highway speeds that thought I was "brake-checking" them and would anger them and cause them to honk and give me a few finger symbols (road rage)... there was no reason for the car to suddenly brake; no cars merging or in front of me other than light vehicle traffic in the opposite direction of the DIVIDED interstate. I asked several times if there is a way to turn off all the "assistance" (unsafe interference) and just have it function as a normal cruise control without "traffic aware" and other automatic braking features--but the answer was no. I am not exaggerating when I say this happened hundreds of time during my trips. I always turned off the speed control when the roads were curving because I knew that it would suddenly brake during a mountain pass curve and upset the vehicle--make it difficult to control, and potentially cause an accident at high speed for NO reason. My risk tolerance is fairly high, I have been driving cars with "Eyesight" and radar speed control and advanced safety features for over 10 years and have never felt less trusting or less safe than I do now in my Tesla Model Y. I think Tesla should disable the "safety" feature until they can resolve the issue--I believe it will cause accidents even when someone is fully aware of its sudden, random braking issues. I have many video clips/pics of when the events occurre as Tesla asked me to record.

This complaint is specific to the automatic control of the Model Y related to "PHANTOM BRAKING". This is an ongoing problem with the "AUTOPILOT" and "FULL SELF DRIVING" functions on my car, it has always had. Most of the miles on my car are freeway and highway miles. Regardless of which of the automatic functions selected on my car, "phantom braking" occurs repeatedly in a startling fashion that doesn't seem to be related to the environment the car is being driven in. The problem is consistent enough that I will not use any of the auto driving functions when I have passengers in the car with me. The problem requires constant intervention by the driver. There are 2 versions of this type of un-commanded breaking: 1. Unexpected braking with no computer warnings or alerts. It can be hard braking or, light to medium breaking, for no apparent or justifiable reason. This type of breaking can happen sporadically or, at times it can happen in a chain fashion that can be so continuous that it becomes necessary to disengage the automatic functions completely. Although, it happens at varying times of day and different kinds of traffic, making it nearly impossible to relate the event to any specific cause, I have noticed it happens almost 100% of the time when a large vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction on a two lane road. That will usually be version 2 type of full emergency braking. 2. Full emergency braking with computer visual warning and loud computer audio alert. This type of braking is EXTREMELY dangerous because, just like with version 1 braking, it happens un-expectantly and for no apparent or justifiable reason. If this type of braking happens in freeway traffic, as I have experienced, it can cause a rear end collision or worse, a chain of collisions. Tesla is aware of this problem and I have reported it multiple times. I have received no response from Tesla related to these problems. I have experienced this problem since the car was new.

While driving 50-55 mph down a two lane highway, with adaptive cruise control in place, the vehicle suddenly slowed and signaled a front collision by beeping. It was terrifying as there was nothing in front of us. It was a clear day and we were lucky that there was no car behind us, as it could have easily caused an accident. We are now not wanting to use our cruise control or the autopilot that we purchased for this vehicle, until more is understood about the cause.

While traveling on US 93 southbound, the vehicle raandomly saw oncoming traffic as a threat and applied braking. This was most pronounced seemingly with large trucks, usually white in color, and occasionally apparently with flashing lighted signs. This phonenomen has occured at other times. Often in city traffic on city streets, it is overly sensitive and applies braking when cross-traffic occurs but is not yet a threat. I have not yet been rear-ended but have decided to only use this feature when I can be reasonably sure no one will be close behind me. Tesla's response is that this is a Beta feature. Your safety rating included this "feature" as one of the positive factors. Maybe that was a mistake?

the emergency braking failed, by activating when it should not have activated. Caused hard braking which the rear car almost ran into me. Vehicle has not been taken into dealer to be reproduced or confirmed by dealer. Vehicle has not be taken into dealer to be inspected. On vehicle display, there was a pedestrian image causing hard braking, but no actual pedestrian was there.

The rear passenger seat reclines randomly when vehicle is in motion with passengers in seat. The seat can randomly fall flat or decline at various angles. I have a video if needed.