What 748 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Tesla Model 3

2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range. As already known the Tesla Model 3 has the issue of "Phantom Braking". Now that I have a $65,000 for 3 days I am very angry and concerned about the phantom braking. Here are some details. Within 10 minutes of initiating Autopilot or Cruise Control the vehicle brakes without any reason when driving highway or freeway speeds (I did not try it on city roads). For the most part the vehicle unexpectedly decelerates 2-5 mph. Although, it is just a little bit it makes for a very unpleasant ride. However, it happens repeatedly. And this happens all the time when Autopilot or cruise control is activated. I counted 5 occasions of phantom braking within less than 3 minutes. The last of those 5 was an unexpected and heart stopping deceleration from 84mph down to 52 mph in less than 2 seconds. This can really give you a heart attack because it is very unexpected. You cannot even drive 10 miles without this happening. There wasn't even a car in front of me for at least 1 mile. So no reason whatsoever for this braking "maneuver". Since I have read about this issue I only (if even) try cruise control or autopilot when there is no vehicle behind me within 1 mile to avoid someone rear ending me. But still.....it is a serious safety issue. One, because of following traffic rear ending the vehicle and second it is really HEART STOPPING when for no reason, out of the blue your vehicle decelerates very HARD. Thank you.

NHTSA ODI 11454170

We took our first out of town day trip of about 400 miles round trip, mostly freeway driving, last week 2/19/22. I tried using Tesla Traffic Aware Cruise Control several times during the trip, and we experienced at least 3 episodes of the "phantom braking" that I have read about. On those occasions, the system abruptly sounded alerts and braked automatically while cruising at about 80 mph (speed limit 75). There did not seem to be any obvious reason for this braking on the freeway on two occasions. There was one episode on a two lane section of straight highway, cruising at about 70 mph, when a large semi truck/trailer passed us in the opposite direction, both of us staying in our lanes, when the TACC sounded alert and applied brakes abruptly. I am very reluctant to use this function now until Tesla resolves the issues involved. It is very disconcerting and potentially dangerous when these events happen. I did send a "bug report" to Tesla from the vehicle the day after this happened. No response as yet.

NHTSA ODI 11454187

Car will brake for no reason at all. Hazardous for any cars behind the vehicle when it randomly brakes.

NHTSA ODI 11453604

Brand new Tesla Model 3, driving 60 mph on 2 lane highway. The shadow of an oncoming 18 wheel truck was cast into my lane, as it was oncoming, probably 60 mph as well. I believe the shadow triggered the "Automatic Emergency Braking", and my car violently slammed on the brakes, and released them about 30 mph. If there was a vehicle behind me, there almost certainly would have been a collision. Thankfully, no one was behind me, and my car never left the proper travel lane.

NHTSA ODI 11453607

My car is less than two months NEW. The headlight assembly, which includes blinker and running light, has been defective and not working for over a month. NO blinker, no headlight, no running light. This is a safety issue and can be issued a traffic citation, yet Tesla has NOT repaired/replaced this part.

NHTSA ODI 11453664

Phantom braking keeps occurring when my cruise control is set. If there is oncoming traffic with their headlights on in the opposite lane, my car will begin to brake. It also occurs sometimes when there are no other cars nearby.

NHTSA ODI 11453702

My car when it’s on cruise control will all of a sudden have phantom breaking issues causing it to decelerate very quickly almost causing many crashes with cars behind me. This issue needs to be addressed quickly before someone is injured or even killed

NHTSA ODI 11453332

I purchased this vehicle 10 days ago and have had “phantom braking” about a dozen times already. Some more drastic than others. Most cases was at night and most cases there were absolutely no objects that should have triggered the vehicle to rapidly slow down. It is extremely annoying and dangerous as I went from 75 to 60 in about a second. It seems to happen more when there is little traffic in front of me than when I am moving along with a lot of traffic.

NHTSA ODI 11453343

The vehicle will randomly SLAM on its brakes while traveling when autopilot or even just regular cruise control is engaged. We will be traveling 85 MPH and the car will randomly hit the brakes and drop down to 65 MPH in about 2-5 seconds. There are no other vehicles in front, but can sometimes be behind. It is extremely dangerous and could cost people their lives. These kinds of incidents will happen 15-20 times on a 150 mile road trip of all freeway driving.

NHTSA ODI 11453363

The autopilot applies the brakes when there is no obstacle in front of the car. One example - I was driving @ 60 mph on an entrance ramp from I-10 to SH 99 with the cruise control engaged but not the full autopilot (no lane keeping assist). There was a spot in the highway approximately 50 yards ahead where there was a slight dip and oil and lubricants had made a dark spot on the roadway approximately the size of a small car. Without any input from me the car slowed quickly from 60 to @ 30 mph. Fortunately no one was close behind me. Another example - I was driving @ 70 mph on SH 99 with the autopilot engaged. As we approached a gentle left hand turn the system apparently picked up the concrete guardrail as an obstacle and braked the car from 70 mph to @ 40 mph. As the autopilot continued the turn and maintained the lane the car sped back up to 70 mph. No one was behind me but there were cars in the lanes next to me that reacted when my car slowed down and sped up. My car is a 2022 Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Long Range. It does not have the full self driving option.

NHTSA ODI 11453369

PHANTOM braking constantly with NOTHING around, in the road, no oncoming traffic, at hill tops, in curves, VERY, VERY DANGEROUS!!! My Tesla is only 72 hours old and has less than 200 miles. Cruise at 60 mph and slams the brakes to as slow as 28 mph ...throws everything in the car to the floor. This is on State Highways with no traffic no oncoming cars, nothing in road, Tesla needs to be sued!!!! Please issue Federal Recall BEFORE someone is rear ended and dies. I've read Tesla has Known this problem exists since early 2021. Stop Tesla from making this deadly functionality.

NHTSA ODI 11453374

Phantom breaking issues..very dangerous

NHTSA ODI 11453526

This vehicle suffers from frequent, intense phantom braking/automatic emergency braking, as well as frequent false forward collision warnings. The phantom braking puts us at significantly increased risk of being rear ended. The incidents are so frequent that the ADAS systems are essentially unusable. The constant false collision warnings have conditioned me to ignore the forward collision warnings, so if there comes a day when a real forward collision warning occurs, I'll have been conditioned to ignore it, possibly to the detriment of my safety and others. Tesla needs to communicate a a plan to prevent phantom braking and false collision warnings.

NHTSA ODI 11453451

Just bought the in November and I experienced the phantom braking few times on the street without cruse control active and also on the freeway with and without autopilot on, on the street almost got rear ended.

NHTSA ODI 11453188

Phantom Braking. Yes my safety and the safety of cars behind me were put at risk by the sudden braking. I have not contacted the dealer yet. There was no warning prior to the issues occurring. I sure wish I'd known about phantom braking before I set off on a road trip across I-70 recently. Very dangerous indeed. I drove my 2022 Model 3 from Denver to KC round trip last weekend and phantom braking occurred about 30-40 times total. I was using TACC cruise control and going about 75 MPH during these times. I didn't want to turn off TACC cruise control because the roads were straight and it was a 9 hour drive, but I did drive with my toe on the accelerator to be safe and was always on guard, especially when cars were directly behind me. It would suddenly brake when the pavement texture changed, under an overpass shadow, after a bridge and randomly when I had no idea it would occur. I was afraid of getting rear-ended and it made for a pretty tense trip. I sure hope it gets fixed or I won't be taking it on extended road trips. It would be a shame to not be able to safely use cruise control. Also, makes me aware of other Tesla's out there that might phantom brake as well so we need to be careful. Unacceptable and dangerous.

NHTSA ODI 11453214

When using auto pilot or adaptive speed control the vehicle seems to see shadows or things that aren't there and brakes hard. It's happened several times and fortunately no accidents have occurred.

NHTSA ODI 11453247

Driving on the highway, traffic is slowing in front of me and automatic braking kicked in and made the vehicle come to a full complete stop. I can normally override the brake by pressing on the accelerator, but it continued to stop, with several vehicles behind me slamming on the brakes because my vehicle wouldn’t move. Vehicle in front of me was a quarter mile ahead before I could move again.

NHTSA ODI 11453272

On January 25, 2022, between approximately 7:30am and 8am while using cruise control, the auto suddenly braked three separate times between the above stated times. The third incident was so violent, that the passenger was thrown toward the dashboard and the driver pulled over to the shoulder to allow traffic from behind to pass. The incident could have caused a rear end collision given the sudden, involuntary braking. This was the first opportunity to engage the cruise control given we were driving a long distance at between 60-70 mph. Cruise control was disengaged after this incident and not used the balance of that trip. On February 8, 2022, at 7:44 am while using cruise control at approximately 65 mph, the vehicle again braked. The driver disengaged cruise control and did not use it again during that trip. The incidents have been reported to Tesla and there have been no explanations of the phantom breaking nor any assurance that the issues will be addressed. Given the breaking occurs at random times at high speeds while using cruise control, it is a dangerous condition and likely will cause rear end collision at some point. Would request that the issue be address and the phantom breaking be eliminated.

NHTSA ODI 11453305

The car regularly brakes unexpectedly at highway speeds when the cruise control is engaged. It is behaving as if it detects a car in front and is trying to avoid a front end collision but there is no object there. I wonder if some debris or something flies in front of the camera and the car interprets it as another vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11453177

When driving on highway with “autopilot” engaged…. Vehicle brakes for no apparent reason at random times. Super dangerous especially if someone is following you. Vehicle brakes hard and is not safe

NHTSA ODI 11453250

Driving on a two lane highway with adaptive cruise control on, the car sometimes decelerates and sometimes even comes to a quick stop with brakes when a vehicle approaches from the opposite direction. Although it does not happen every time, tractor trailers turn red and the car slows from 55 mph to 10-20 mph rapidly. Cars behind me have nearly hit me in the rear because of the fast stop where none was expected (or needed). On occasion, the car slows when no car is coming, but there is a rise in the road, or a curve. In Rochester, at Tesla Service, I was told that the adaptive cruise control was "performing within specifications." If that is correct, the specifications are dangerous and need to be modified. The only remedy, I was told, was not to use adaptive cruise control.

NHTSA ODI 11453289

The car brakes by itself. It seems to happen when there is an oncoming car in the opposite lane. The car slows down; it does not come to a complete stop but it is obviously dangerous enough that I will not use the cruise control

NHTSA ODI 11453294

2022 Tesla Model 3 experiences sudden and unwarranted braking. Vehicle will use Autopilot and suddenly brake on roads. Commonly known as “Phantom Braking.”

NHTSA ODI 11453060

When using cruise control or Autopilot the car will all of a sudden slam on the brakes. This has the potential of being rear ended by the car behind me. This is usually when a larger truck is approaching in the on coming lane and I suspect the Tesla thinks it is about to hit it. This happens so often that I cannot even use the cruise control feature.

NHTSA ODI 11453122

When on two lane roads and adaptive cruise control is engaged, the car ghost brakes when larger on coming vehicles are detected. This sudden braking could cause other cars to hit my car from behind. This occurs frequently. I reported this to Tesla during a service visit and they did something that didn't help. They did say to report back if it didn't help. I'm reluctant to use the adaptive cruise control.

NHTSA ODI 11453123