2023 TESLA MODEL Y Complaints

Tesla's Autopilot feature regularly experiences "phantom braking". A typical scenario is while traveling on an interstate highway in Idaho, Oregon or Washington state at the speed limit (70 to 80 MPH), the car will suddenly and violently decelerate. The severity can vary between annoying to so extreme that the passenger is thrown forward hard enough to engage the retention mechanism in the seat belt. This happens under seemingly perfect conditions-- mid-day, clear skies, clear lane markings, smooth pavement in good condition, straight section of road. The deceleration can be overridden by pressing the accelerator or disengaging autopilot but by that time the risk of being rear-ended by anyone traveling close behind is very high. For this reason I've been using the feature less and less which leaves me without any form of basic cruise control. In two different trips of around 500 miles, phantom braking has occurred between 10 and 20 times each. In two different service requests, Tesla has confirmed that my car, including the vision system, is operating within normal specifications. Beyond that they're unwilling to engage in any form of diagnosis or investigation. There are two fundamental problems here: 1) Tesla's Autopilot feature in unreliable and dangerous 2) The car I purchased was advertised to have Cruise Control, implemented by Tesla with their Autopilot feature. Because of 1), it effectively has no Cruise Control.

I live in Fremont, CA. A few hours ago, I was driving from Mountain View to my home. When I was in the left most lane of CA-237 driving at like 70 mph on adaptive cruise control, the car started to brake really hard all of a sudden. There was nothing ahead of me as far as I could see at that point, there was no car close to me in the right lane either, and there wasn’t any kind of sharp turn or something. The braking was so sudden, forceful, and above all unexpected that we were really shocked and scared (and of course experienced a horrifying jerk). The same kind of thing has happened once before with the same car when the car began to brake suddenly and forcefully even though there was no one in sight on the highway.

While driving highway speeds in autopilot (cruise control) I experience sudden heavy breading for no reason. No cars around on a flat road. Once while in front of another car which scared me enough not to use it anymore.

During our road trip today on the HWY cruise control was engaged. without warning several times the car decelerated from 75 (speed of traffic) to 50 which could have caused an accident had other cars been following closer. We can no longer trust the cruise control mode as this is a serious safety concern.

The auto steer cruise control made a totally unnecessary sudden brake. The vehicle in the front did not make sudden stop. Since my Tesla which was in auto steer made a sudden stop the vehicle behind me had to make a emergency stop due which this cat got rear ended.

The cat keeps applying brakes on its own even when there is no obstacle on road. Car applies brake on highway when there is no car on road in front or on side road. It is a very dangerous fault and is an accident waiting to happen. I have complained to local service center many times. They call it Fantom Braking and say that Tesla is working on it. If so, all Teslas should be off road till such time they fix it. I am concerned that it will lead to fatal accidents.

While driving at highway speeds with the cruise control engaged we have experienced several ghost braking events. Fortunately no other cars have been behind us.

Intermittent braking while in cruise control for no reason. Nothing in the way, no cars around. Reduces speeds from 10 t0 50 miles per hour. At time it reduces speeds almost to a dead stop. If another car was behind us, could cause a serious crash. Happens at random times.

While traveling with cruise control engaged between 65-70 MPH, car suddenly disengages acceleration and applies braking to drop by 5 to 10 mph with no obstacles or traffic in front of car. Must immediately press on accelerator pedal to cancel braking. If another car following too closely, rear end collision possible.

When using traffic aware cruise control the car frequently brakes for no reason. The braking put the car in danger of being rear ended. The road was straight, clear weather, no change in speed limits or excessive speed.