What 748 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Tesla Model 3 Bev

The fix for recall 23V-838; TC2023-657 has made using the feature more unsafe to use than in previous iterations.

NHTSA ODI 11560994

Tesla vehicles autopilot. I know you already have a situation with Tesla over the basic Autopilot. My safety report is about red lights and stop signs. Tesla reserves this feature for their FSD package. While basic and enhanced AP cannot identify red lights or stop signs. For the basic AP, I suggest that Tesla be required to include red light and stop sign identification in their basic autopilot system. While geo-locking AP is a current temporary solution, it is not the correct solution IMO. The correct solution I believe is to force Tesla to include red light and stop sign identifying in the basic and enhanced AP software. In addition to including red light and stop sign identification in their forward emergency braking safety system. Imagine how many intersection related collisions can be prevented if you make the vehicle capable of stopping. Especially when the driver could be having a medical emergency and cannot stop their car. Two ways. Option 1: Vehicle stops at red light for the driver, everyone is safe. Option 2: vehicle runs the red light, not using autopilot, vehicle T bones someone in the intersection. I highly suggest a pro-active approach that promotes a safe environment on the road rather than a punishing approach that promotes human drivers to continue as they are. After 40,000 miles of Autopilot, I can confirm that it’s a better driver overall than any human. Humans will eventually make mistakes, software will do the same thing repeatedly. The only reason software makes a mistake is because it wasn’t designed to be used in an application, so basically it’s still human error. I suggest to require the software to take over in more ways to prevent human error from happening more often. The less humans need to do, the less chance you have of collisions. Summary: Basic AP should have red light and stop sign ID to stop. And forward collision stopping should also have red lights and stop sign identification.

NHTSA ODI 11560627

This happens at 2 particular exits on a 65mph highway. One time the car slows down by 10mph and the other spot it will swerve over almost to the lane next to me and slow down. Just dangerous when someone is tailgating me (thats reality of driving these days) as they will not have time to react and more than likely hit me. It happened once and someone behind me started honking and flashing their lights at me. I have done a bug report for the times it "phantom braked"

NHTSA ODI 11560010

Please help Phantom braking is getting worse

NHTSA ODI 11559426

It was a raining day. When I turned 90 degree to my right into the parking lot from local road, I hit the brake and the car slowed down for turning. FSD or autopilot were off for sure. Then I felt the car was moving down suddenly and made a big noise due to the a slightly slope down when I turned. I saw a parking slot right in front of me. I hit the accelerator a fraction of second to prevent the car to stop. In a fraction of second, the car accelerated like crazy. I immediately hit the brake very hard (95% of my force on brake). I have 30 years of driving experience. I knew that I hit the brake tightly, but the car still kept accelerate like crazy. I could forever remember the feel and moment of my foot was in the brake. Even after the accident, I went to test the Tesla car. I could feel the difference of brake and accelerator since the accelerator is much easier to push down and I needed to push much deeper in the right of my right foot for accelerator. And the brake is hard, and close to my foot. I thought the car would stop like what I had been driving this car for one year and about 20,000 miles. However, the car was stopping at all, but keeping accelerating for 2 seconds. No warning lights and AEB were on at working. The car hit the short of concrete wall and steel fence and then dropped and hit the tree in right front of me. Finally the car dropped into the short cliff. The airbags were off and warning lights were on. My son and me could use the manual door opener to go out.

NHTSA ODI 11558300

While driving both during the day and at nighttime on the freeway with cruise control, the car abruptly brakes itself. No car was in front of me in any of these incidents. I have owned the car for a year and it has happened at least once a month. (I drive a lot for work.) The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and others' safety was put at risk because when traveling at high rates of speed on busy freeways with multiple lanes, it is easy for something like that to cause a multi-car accident. I live in a major metropolitan area and the freeways are up to 5 lanes across going one way. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by anyone. The vehicle or component has not been inspected. there were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. It first appeared within the first month of ownership.

NHTSA ODI 11554513

I was traveling on Interstate 40 in Arizona in a 75 mph zone with my cruise control set at 77 mph. Suddenly and without warning the car’s emergency braking system activate despite nothing being in the roadway in front of me and no cars ahead at all. I had to take evasive measures to avoid being hit from behind by a semi truck. Approximately 10 seconds later I began receiving error messages for several systems including emergency braking, traction control, steering alignment, lane departure, stability control, cruise control, vehicle hold, and regenerative braking. In addition, other systems were not working, such as an alert tone for when traffic lights turn green would activate indicating the driver should go even if there was a car in front that has not moved. The car is currently at Tesla being evaluated, however I really don’t think these cars should be trusted.

NHTSA ODI 11554448

There has been several false forward coalition alarms each month so far with no reason when I’m even driving in an easy and not a crowd street or highway. The alarm is so loud that everybody in the car panics including me and it dangerously interrupts my driving. This has caused me suddenly hit the brake several times which also may cause panic the drivers around me or at my back and put the or us in danger.

NHTSA ODI 11553514

There was a forward collision warning I got with a parked car when going less than 20 mph when the road was curving. The car is defective and I shouldn’t have gotten a forward collision warning which causes distraction from the loud and sudden noise it emits. It also negatively impacts my Tesla insurance safety score which is a scam.

NHTSA ODI 11553107

I have been forced to stop using cruise control on my Tesla Model 3. Over the past few years, the car will repeatedly slam on the brakes for no good reason when I am driving on the highway. I understand this behavior is known as "phantom braking." The car will suddenly and unexpectedly drop speed by 10-20 mph on the highway. I am so worried that someone will rear-end my vehicle that I cannot use cruise control anymore. For some unexplained reason, the Tesla Model 3 does not currently have a "dumb" cruise control that I could use instead.

NHTSA ODI 11548709

When driving using adaptive cruise control, it breaks for no reason slamming the car into a stop. Also, with adaptive cruise control regardless of the set speed limit it speeds up to whatever it once, which is a huge safety factor.

NHTSA ODI 11547661

I took a recent road trip of 1,200 miles across the southwest. Numerous times while using adaptive cruise control the vehicle suddenly and violently braked for no apparent reason. This was particularly concerning when passing trucks. One particular event was on interstate 5 when passing a big rig truck, I was along side the truck with a following car tailgating me, my car suddenly braked hard, creating a risk of rear end collision at 70 miles per hour. I was able to accelerate to avoid a collision. I did not keep track of the number of events of sudden unanticipated braking, but I would estimate more than 50 instances. They vary from momentary slow down to violent sudden breaking.

NHTSA ODI 11547282

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that no other vehicle or objects were nearby. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was 19,700.

NHTSA ODI 11546403

My car was purchased Aug 2022. In Nov. 2022 we took a short trip. I believe 5 or 6 times the car braked for no reason. I believe it is called phantom braking. One or two times it was a hard brake that I believe could cause an accident if someone was behind me, or the wrong person driving. It was sudden and hard in those two situations. I took the car in and after they drove it two miles they told me there were no issues. Then in June 2023 we went on a long trip. I do not use autopilot, this is only cruise control. On this trip probably between 35 to 45 times we experienced the same issues. At least 5 times they were hard brakes and could cause an accident. I again opened a service visit to Tesla. Again, they drove the car 5 miles and claimed there is nothing wrong. I did not accept this answer and asked for the GM. Finally after demanding this for 20 or so minutes a man came and said he was the manager. He also argued in the beginning but when I told him I have found accidents caused by this he finally admitted that it was something called "phantom braking" and that that it should be fixed very soon with an update. So then again, in August my wife and I went on another trip. It still is happening and probably 6 or 7 times this occurred. It seems to mostly be on smaller 2 lane highways and occurs usually when there are no cars, trucks, or anything nearby. But all it would take is a tailgater to cause a wreck. In August when we returned I made another warranty appointment her in Las Vegas and immediately they cancelled the visit on my app. They are lying about what is occurring and telling me that it is usually when I am following too close or some garbage like that, which is absolutely not true. I just made another appt today but I am sure they will cancel it. What do I do. I really want to go through Nevada Lemon law at this point. My name is [XXX] and my phone is [XXX] . Below I am putting in the most recent incident and mileage then. Happens many time INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11545244

I was in the carpool lane when traffic came to a complete stop. I pressed on the brakes but they were heavy as if I was not able to press it down all the way. There was no information prior to the accident from the Tesla trying to warn me about an incoming collision. It wasn’t until after the accident the Tesla acknowledged that there was damage done to the car. Prior to the accident there was a service required for the front passenger safety restraints. This accident could have been much worse as I tried to swerve out of the way to avoid traffic but wasn’t able to make it back in time.

NHTSA ODI 11544619

We took our first long-disance trip (Albuquerque NM to Arlington TX, round trip) in our 2022 Tesla Model 3 and experienced multiple (4-5) phantom braking episodes to and from Arlington when engaging adaptive cruise control or autopilot. The car had been driven 5,760 miles before the trip. There were no warnings before the braking. The car was travelling at 70-77 mph on interstate highways and suddenly the brakes would engage slowing the car to 40 or 50 mph before we pressed pressed the accelerator. It was a clear day with temperatures in the 90-100 range. One time the phantom brake episode occurred while passing. Fortunately, there no cars travelling close behind us or there could have been a serious multi-car accident. We contacted Tesla service and they told us the car had no discernable problems (attached message).

NHTSA ODI 11543853

On multiple occasions, I have had phantom braking issues with the car. Most notably, I have experienced this on Highway 80 between Fernley, NV, and Winnemucca. Originally, I was using the car's autopilot feature and I had multiple phantom braking events. I had the speed set for the speed limit of 80 MPH and the car randomly slammed on the brakes. By the time I was able to hit the gas pedal, I slowed down to about 60 MPH. Fearing I was going to cause a traffic incident, I stopped using autopilot and used the adaptive cruise control. I suffered over 50 phantom braking incidents with the adaptive cruise control. I kept using the feature so I could log a case with Tesla. Once I got home, I logged a case with Tesla and they said the cameras were dirty and that was the issue. On a second trip, taking the same route, I cleaned the cameras and had the exact same results. I have noticed taking the same route, I only have issues when it is sunny out. When it is dark, with less glare, the car operates okay. Autopilot and Tesla's adaptive cruise control are incredibly dangerous. I requested to have a standard cruise control, which Tesla said was impossible to get. I had a previous Tesla with standard cruise control and don't understand why we can't have that feature. Please investigate this and make Tesla offer a standard cruise control option so we do not have to risk our lives with their dangerous autopilot.

NHTSA ODI 11541549

While driving at 55 MPM on Interstate 66 West near Reston, I was using Tesla Autopilot and experienced a very sudden heavy braking, braking to about 35 MPH in a second or less. The braking was so sever it lifted me off the back o f the driver's seat. The closest vehicle in my lane (rightmost lane) was easily more than a quarter mile ahead. There were no vehicles on the 2 lanes to my left. I was not near an exit nor was there an overpass ahead. This occurs frequently while trying to use Tesla Autopilot in a variety of conditions. In each case there is no obvious reason for the sudden braking while using autopilot. This is quite scary and clearly dangerous. My frequent passengers all ask me not to use Tesla autopilot while they are in the car. As a comment, I would be quite happy if Tesla provided an option to only use autopilot for keeping the speed without anything else.

NHTSA ODI 11540998

On 8/3/23 on two occasions the vehicle suddenly applied brakes while in cruise/autopilot mode when there was no vehicle in close proximity in front of my vehicle. There was however a large commercial truck behind me on one occasion, which may have been effected by the application of brakes for no apparent reason. On 8/5/23, with the vehicle in the same mode, the system applied brakes.....there were no vehicles within a 1/4 mile front or rear. Tesla was contacted and reviewed the logs, stating that the vehicle braked for another vehicle..... As a 35 year police officers, my professional opinion is that this vehicle is dangerous when operated in this mode. I explained this to Tesla and their response was that sometimes you get false activations because the car perceived something that wasn't there and that's Ok. It's not Ok to unexpectedly step on the brakes at 70 or 80 miles per hour on a major highway! Had it been my daughter or my wife driving, I'm not sure they would have reacted as fast nor in the correct manner as it is confusing when it first happens.

NHTSA ODI 11540343

On Friday, August 11th. My wife and I were traveling on I-70 Eastbound from Colorado to Kansas. On several occasions during the trip, we experienced phantom braking while using the adaptive cruise control. The car would immediately brake at highway speeds, slowing rapidly when nothing was on the road. Luckily every time this happened there were no cars immediately behind us as it could have easily caused a crash. This happened both while I was driving [XXX] ) and while my wife was driving [XXX] ). At one point in the trip, we turned off the emergency braking feature and the phantom braking still occurred while using the adaptive cruise control. In all this happened around 10 times or so during the trip. I reported the event to Tesla on Monday, August 14 as neither of us felt safe using the adaptive cruise control after that event. Response from Tesla attached below. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11539782

I believe the autopilot and cruise control systems are affected. On 6-8 occasions, the cameras have picked up a non- existent hazard along the road causing the cruise control to disengage, rapidly slowing the car approximately 20 MPH in about 3 seconds. This has occurred on highways and freeways at speeds of 65-75 MPH. If there had been another vehicle traveling close behind, an accident would likely have occurred. I’ve taken the car to the dealer and they are aware of this problem. After the dealer adjusted the cameras the problem persisted. When this problem has occurred, there was no prior warning.

NHTSA ODI 11539641

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 75-78 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 13,300.

NHTSA ODI 11538620

Car brakes hard on cruise control when no other cars are around.

NHTSA ODI 11538534

I was using Tesla autopilot today while driving from corpus christy to Fulshear. Multiple times it slammed the brake on the freeway even if there was no one in front of me at all. This caused lot of panic to all of us specially passenger seat folks. It was extremely scary and could have resulted in long pile up on the highway.

NHTSA ODI 11538228

Was traveling on Interstate 94 near Steele, ND in broad daylight on July 30. The sky was mostly clear and it was not raining. There was no road construction on this stretch of road, . I was westbound in the right lane with no traffic approaching me or behind me: it was a rural roadway with no curves and mostly flat. At 7:39 PM Central time near mile point 198 the car braked without warning very aggressively. I continued traveling with the auto cruise and at 7:40 PM Central time near mile point 194 it again very aggressively braked with nothing but open straight highway with no vehicles, signs, construction or anything else that could have caused this to happen. I continued my journey and it happened several more time until I no longer felt safe using the adaptive cruise. This has happened before and Tesla Service asked me to track the event and report the time when it happened. I reported the above incident to Tesla and they scheduled a repair for August 8. Today they canceled this visit for repair and told me that this was something that occasionally happens with the cruise and that they were canceling my appointment. They told me that if I wanted to drive to the nearest service center that they too would not be able to fix it. I was lucky that this happened in North Dakota on a rural highway. The wheels locked on me and the tires even slightly screeched. I ascertain that had this happened where there would have been someone behind me there would have been an accident. Tesla clearly is not interested in fixing this and told me that if I did not feel safe that I should not use the cruise. I hope you can resolve this before there is a death or serious injury. I have talked to other Tesla Model 3 owners who have experienced this. Thank you for your consideration

NHTSA ODI 11536813