What 650 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Tesla Model 3 Bev

The incident first happend (and has been happening ever since) on I-8, I-10, I-20 east bound 2 days ago. Driving on EB I-8 with speed limits 75MPH, engaged Tesla's well touted onboard Enhanced Auto Pilot (EAP) with Auto Steer control. There was no one ahead of us for over a mile. The weather was clear and sunny, time of incident around noon. Max speed was set to 75 on EAP. All of a sudden, we felt a jerky motion, and realized the EAP has activated brakes, dropping speed from set 75 to about 50mph. No visual or audible alarms, the EAP did not disengage. The driver took over to speed up to avoid being rear ended by vehicles coming behind us. It happened several times more during our trip and then we decided to manually drive. We have video documentation available.

NHTSA ODI 11526811

My model 3 on crusing speeds on high ways, automatically applies brakes and makes sudden,abrupt, jolted slowing down which causes extreme pressure on persons body

NHTSA ODI 11513839

Car put on brakes unexpectedly during use of adaptive cruise control (autopilot). This phantom braking happens often at highway speed. Bug reports have been sent from vehicle to Tesla

NHTSA ODI 11512552

I was driving with the Autopilot on, traveling about 65 mph on the freeway when the automatic emergency braking system kicked in for no reason. There was absolutely nothing in front of the car when it aggressively braked, very suddenly. I was very lucky no one was behind me. I have not reported this directly to Tesla, no one has inspected or confirmed this event.

NHTSA ODI 11509117

The only cruise control feature available on this car is the adaptive cruise control. This car continues to make sudden unsafe braking maneuvers for no reason. It seems to get confused by steep hills, bridges, shadows, and other factors. You can be on a highway going 70mph and it will slam the brakes, terrifying passengers and potentially causing you to get rear ended. This has been ongoing since the purchase of the car 1 year ago.

NHTSA ODI 11501665

I was going 80mph on the interstate coming back from Little Rock to Tulsa. The time was 4am in the morning with little or no traffic on the road. I was using only the cruise control with adaption turned on. The car all of a sudden without any warning almost came to a complete stop on the interstate. I later asked what caused this and was told it is phatom braking but this was VERY dangerous, if someone had been behind me they probably would have been messed up. I merely accelerated to make sure I was at least keeping the minimum speed limit. Please advise. Shawn

NHTSA ODI 11499843

On certain sections of highway unsuccessfully attempted to activate auto-steer (two down clicks) multiple times in a row. Did this multiple times in a row but was unsuccessful to activate auto-steer. Instead a supposed "easter egg" (which activates with 4 down clicks) very loudly plays loud jarring music (called "rainbow road")...this is NOT FUCKING FUNNY--I nearly ran my car off the road and into oncoming traffic. Giant 2000 pound hunks of metal going at 60 mph should NOT FUCKING COME with special surprises. This is incredibly dangerous and jarring to drivers.

NHTSA ODI 11498806

Traveling between Colorado and Missouri, multiple instances of "phantom braking" where, without warning, the car would brake suddenly and very sharply, such that the tires would squeal and items in the back seat slid onto the floor. There were no obstacles, the weather was clear and there was no reason for it to do so. We were only using the cruise control and not the self driving program. Our safety was put at risk because had a car or truck been behind us, a severe rear end collision could have occurred. We were traveling at highway speeds at the time this occurred. We requested a service appointment but Tesla told us this could not be addressed in a service appointment. Tesla said this would be addressed in future updates. We told Tesla this was unsatisfactory and dangerous. We wanted the car inspected and the problem addressed but Tesla said the service appointment could not do anything. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms before the failure. In fact the braking did not even disengage the cruise control, which normally is the case when the brake is applied. This had occurred previously and Tesla said it would be fixed with a computer update in July 2022. Obviously it has not been fixed.

NHTSA ODI 11489375

Driving with cruise control on following another vehicle 150 yards in front of me. I'm not even using Auto-Pilot because on how dangerous and unpredictable it is. I'm using Normal Cruise Control, which is also a disaster. A car built in 80s can perform cruise control without any hassle. It phantom braked and the vehicle behind me had to take corrective action. This has to be addressed to be fixed. Ditching radar for "vision" was a huge mistake that puts mine and many other lives in danger. A simple cruise control feature that every car is equipped with shouldn't be a death sentence waiting to happen.

NHTSA ODI 11487953

Complaint: Phantom Braking -- My wife and I took ownership of our 2021 Tesla Model 3 at the beginning of July 2021. We experienced what is referred to as Phantom Braking (Car initiating sudden braking while at highway speeds). We took it on a 3,000+ mile road trip to visit national parks in the western United States. Having owned electric vehicles since 2015, we found Tesla's charging network to be reliable and hassle-free to operate. On a few long stretches of road in Nevada, Wyoming, and Utah we engaged model 3's adaptive cruise control. Three times during that trip, between July 2nd and July 8th, 2021, the car braked hard, without warning, while traveling at highway speeds. From what we could determine, shadows cast on the road at the approaching side of gentle hills, with the sun in front of us, may have been interpreted by the car's camera's as an approaching or stationary object on the road. This was very unnerving and caused us to lose faith in the adaptive cruise control system. This was both disappointing and a bother since it meant that we were driving a 50 thousand dollar car without cruise control, making driving a more tiresome experience. This past labor day weekend, 2022, we drove to Las Vegas on the same Tesla model 3 and again activated the adaptive cruise control while driving in Nevada. We thought that by now the periodic software updates would have fixed the problem. This time the Phantom Braking occurred more frequently and on seemingly level sections of road. After about four attempts at using the adaptive cruise control we stopped. This was, again, disappointing that we were driving a car whose adaptive cruise control failed to perform as it was designed to. We were disappointed because for what we paid for the car, this feature should be more mature than it is. Luckily we did not have other cars close behind us at the times the car's computer together with the sensors and / or cameras decided it needed to apply the brakes.

NHTSA ODI 11486306

Unexpected phantom braking occurring randomly but on multiple occasions during a 2000 mile multi day trip. Several incidents of a hiccup resulting on a jolt but at least three incidents of rapid and sudden deceleration without an observed corresponding hazard. Occurred a couple times while cresting a hill on single and multi lane roads. One severe incident occurred while passing a semi truck on a multiple lane highway. Causes high anxiety and potential for a crash, especially from behind. This has not been inspected by Tesla or others but note many reports of this online. No warning prior to event but cruise control did not work properly after event and required reseting.

NHTSA ODI 11484437

The adaptive cruise control (Tesla "autopilot") system has unexpectedly disengaged and applied light to heavy braking numerous times. The system frequently mistakes a particular highway sign for a stopped vehicle and applies moderate braking. The system has also applied light to heavy braking in circumstances where I simply cannot figure out what the camera is interpreting as a hazard. This puts me and other drivers around me at risk as it is unnecessary and unpredictable braking at highway speeds in traffic. Tesla has not been able to remedy this problem and I do not consider the cruise control system to be safe to use. This has happened more than 10 times.

NHTSA ODI 11483402

When car was engaged in Autopilot the barking system was activated without warning or cause. The vehicle slowed rapidly and sudden. Had to disengage Autopilot to get vehicle back to safe driving speed. No others vehicles where in front or behind me and no obstructions were in the path of vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11482070

This is a complaint about Tesla using unqualified drivers to test Atopilot Beta on the public roads. Please note that the VIN of a random Model 3 Tesla has been used to enable this submission to be completed. Here is a video of a driver testing Autopilot on what is in his own words the most dangerous road in Virginia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VBhdrj1CqM He is driving hands free around sharp bends and against oncoming traffic entirely hands free but just giving the wheel a little nudge with his finger every 30 seconds to defeat the nag. At one point the car does swerve towards an oncoming car but corrects itself just in time. The driver is alert and monitoring the situation but because he does not have his hands on the wheel he is playing russian roulette with many lives. Please do not allow this madness to continue for one day longer. Elon Musk thinks this is all a joke which is why he has called it release 69. Smutty and unamusing. I will be posting a copy of this report on social media where it will be widely read. If you fail to take action there will be consequences. Thank you. I have archived this video in case the owner or Tesla decides to delete it. If that happens I will make another complaint with a link to my copy. A dummy USA address has been used to enable this submission. My true email address is used and you may contact me on this.

NHTSA ODI 11481098

In Autopilot there has been a phantom braking problem (automatic emergency breaking due to object avoidance) since day one. It happened more than just regularly and would be uncalled for, scary, and dangerous. Ever since the update I have done that the company sent though, this has become now not just more than regularly but more than frequently and uncontrollably dangerous. It has done it around 30 times on a 9 and a half hour road trip. It has done a 20 mph slowdown from the speed limit FOR NO REASON in as fast as about two seconds frequently. The ONLY thing that has saved us from getting rear ended is due to driver diligence and pure luck of being on an open interstate because of the road trip instead of it being through the congested part of a city…where it still can happen easily.

NHTSA ODI 11480083

Unexpected acceleration while driving my car at about 20 mph and making a right turn the car suddenly accelerated. Using the brake immediately worked. This has happened a few times with my car. The sudden acceleration surprised my wife and she asked what happened. The car does not have Full Self Driving installed and Autopilot had been off for several miles. There were no warning messages or chimes. T

NHTSA ODI 11479097

After updating to Tesla software 2022.20.6 (and 20.7 and 20.8) sometimes the regenerative braking fails to activate when lifting your foot off the go pedal. Sometimes the car just coasts at full speed, and sometimes it almost feels as if the car continues accelerating after the pedal is lifted. This obviously creates serious safety issues -- if you are expecting your car to brake after lifting your foot off the pedal and it doesn't, you risk slamming into the car in front of you. The brake pedal still works, but a feature of EVs is one pedal driving, which has been broken.

NHTSA ODI 11478932

While driving in Highway, Interstate or Freeway with cruise control enabled with or without autopilot the car suddenly breaks for no reason. It is a clear phantom break. It happened many times in different occasions even on the I40 with no car around in the middle of the Desert. In a couple of times a big truck was following and I was almost rear ended because this.

NHTSA ODI 11473804

Car breaks heavily without warning or cause. No cars in front view yet applies breaks like avoiding an accident. Almost caused me to get rear ended multiple times.

NHTSA ODI 11473584

While traveling on interstate highways over a period of 2 days both in overcast and sunny conditions the vehicle initiated braking multiple times in cruise control only (not on autopilot). No other vehicle nor obstruction was near when this would happen.

NHTSA ODI 11473431

Tesla has been phantom breaking during autopilot multiple times in a single drive and has happened on multiple drives.

NHTSA ODI 11473141

Cruise control set to 75mph (speed limit) on lightly trafficked divided highway at ~5pm on June 26. Skies were overcast and temp was about 80 degrees. Car braked from 75 to about 62mph but did not disengage adaptive cruise control and neither did I by applying the brakes. There was light traffic and it did not happen while approaching an overpass which has triggered this before on two occasions. After rapid deceleration to 72, car increases speed but fluctuated in high 60s and low 70s before returning to the programmed 75. Incident lasted about five seconds in total. Once car returned to 75, I disabled cruise control for remainder of journey. This was a 45 mile journey and the issue did not surface until about 35 miles in to the journey. Because this has happened before, I was mentally prepared for it this time and wanted to see if the car would eventually stabilize back to the 75mph programmed speed. In two prior incidents in late 2021, the braking was severe and without warning so in those instances I immediately deactivated system by pressing brake pedal. The incident I report now also had no warning, good weather, no cars within about 100 yards, and no sun glare at all. Road surface was very good as it had been recently improved in 2021 so lane markers were excellent as well.

NHTSA ODI 11472818

During a recent road trip to another state, Auto Pilot was engaged and the emergency braking system forced the car quickly to a stop on many occasions. To the human eye, there should have been no reason for the brakes to engage. Luckily no one collided with us, but the Auto Pilot system is not to be trusted. The incidents mostly occurred on two-lane roads, however, noticeable hesitation was evident many times during freeway cruising. Tesla repair will not review my case because I don’t have a specific time(s) of incident and they will not tell me how to properly log this information into the car’s software when an incident does occur. I feel helpless and am very nervous to take this car on a trip.

NHTSA ODI 11469391

When I am driving and using the cruise control (Tesla calls this Traffic Aware Cruise Control), the car will randomly brake while I am driving, sometimes very abruptly and hard, even though there is no obstacle, the road is clear, there is no weather, no danger, etc. There is no way to disable this "feature" if I do not like it so that I can use cruise control normally, the only solution is to drive it manually and not use cruise control. If somebody is behind me they almost run into me. I will provide a date below when this occured as requested, but it occurs EVERY SINGLE TIME I DRIVE THE CAR. Need to have an option to just have normal Cruise Control without the "Traffic Aware" portion. This is a REAL issue. I love my Tesla but I absolutely HATE this dangerous "feature" that DOES NOT WORK properly.

NHTSA ODI 11468292

While driving at 70 mph with adaptive cruise control engaged I experienced several instances of "phantom braking." The car braked hard all by itself with no driver input. This happened several times on June 2, 2022 and again on June 6, 2022.

NHTSA ODI 11468321