2021 TESLA MODEL Y Complaints

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the braking system erroneously activated, causing the vehicle to abruptly slow down and reduce speed. The contact indicated that the failure had occurred on multiple occasions. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 500.

At 12:21pm on February 20, 2022, while driving on a divided highway (US-36), the Tesla Model Y braked hard with no cars nearby. The braking occurred as the car encountered a shadow on the roadway from an overpass. The sun was very bright, so the shadow had very high contrast. We suspect this is a case of "phantom braking", as has been reported with many Tesla Model Y and 3. The problem is not easily re-producible, but we also do not feel safe using the cruise control feature any longer, so it's unlikely to be reproduced soon. The vehicle has not been inspected by Tesla, nor confirmed by the dealer. There were no warning lamps or chimes - just a sudden, hard braking for approximately 1 second, losing approximately 20mph, immediately.

44E east of Joplin car braked hard while on autopilot. Pressing the accelerator would override but as soon as you let up it would hard brake again even though the car was below the cruise control speed

When using cruise control, the vehicle unexpectedly brakes on multiple occasions. This occurs when there are no other vehicles in the vicinity. It has also occurred when passing tractor trailers. I understand there have been hundreds of similar reports. No warning provided prior to the failure. This is a safety hazard that must be addressed. Tesla service will be notified.

Sometimes randomly but often in the spot, when in autopilot, the car will randomly brake hard when there is no car or obsticle in front of me. This has occured when I'm on the highway and I've noticed a pattern that it happens when I go under and overpass. Its usually very sunny and there is a strong shadow in front of the car. I think with the camera vision autopilot it thinks the shadow is an obstacle in the road but I'm not sure. This happens very suddenly and luckily has not happened when a car is following close behind me. But if it did this could definitely cause a rear collision at high speeds.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle suddenly experienced “Phantom Braking”. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact would depress the accelerator excessively to avoid a crash whenever the failure occurred. The contact had informed the manufacturer of the failure, however the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 1,000.

I was driving south on Highway 101 on 2/8/22. I was using the self driving feature. The car abruptly slowed down and was appearing to stop even though there was no collision imminent. Traffic was moderate.

Frequent phantom braking events occur without warning in cruise control and range from light braking to very hard braking. This especially occurs on two lane roads and occasionally on four lane roads and rarely on freeways, but it does occur. For example, we recorded approximately 14 phantom braking events within 20 minutes on US 191 North in Utah (2/12/22), and 28 phantom braking events on US 6 in Utah (2:46 pm to 4:37 pm on 2/17/22). The "hard" braking occurs without warning and rapidly reduces speed by about 20 mph, which is extremely dangerous especially with traffic from behind when traveling the posted speed limit of 65 mph. The majority of observed phantom braking events will reduce speed from 5 to 20 mph. Phantom braking has occurred the entire time we have owned the vehicle (8/21)

The adaptive cruise control feature frequently hits the brakes despite no obstacles in the road. Major triggers seem to be: Oncoming cars on an undivided highway at night. Oncoming 18-wheelers on an undivided highway at any time in day. Going over the top of a hill. Small bumps in the road at night. A large vehicle with blinking red hazard lights in view. (This will slam on the brakes and set the speed limit to 50 as it seems to think it's an emergency vehicle) Blinking red traffic lights. Sometimes HOV lane entrances will use a blinking red light to show that the lane is closed, and the car will slam on the brakes thinking it's an emergency vehicle. There's a risk of rear-end collisions caused by the sudden decelerations. Most of these events happened on highways with low traffic. No warning lights or messages were displayed before the events.

Multiple occurrences of unanticipated hard breaking. Adaptive Cruise Control will slam on the breaks when car is adjacent a pedestrian or bicyclist. The car car doesn't slow down as it approaches a pedestrian walking on the side of the road but slams the breaks on when the car is next to the pedestrian or cyclist. This unanticipated event causes the car to immediately drop in speed between 5 to 30 mph. Any motorists following will not be prepared for this illogical behavior and significantly increases the probability of a rear end collision. This behavior of the Adaptive Cruise Control has also occurred when the car approaches oncoming highway traffic regardless of whether the highway is divided or not. In this event, if the driver of the Tesla model Y does not instantly take over complete control of the vehicle a severe rear end collision can occur. I have not addressed this with Tesla nor have I taken my car in for inspection. I have been told by an owner of a Model 3 and an owner of a Model S that they have also experienced similar situations caused by the poorly calibrated performance of the Tesla Adaptive Cruise Control system. I have been forced to stop using the Adaptive Cruise Control and Auto-steer on my Model Y as this problem is on going.