What 748 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Tesla Model 3

Tesla Model 3 while using the “FSD” or auto pilot mode will do what’s called “phantom breaking” with its emergency breaking system. This is very scary and has almost caused more accidents than preventing them in my experience. Tesla had not addressed or fixed this issue even with their constant software updates. How is this FSD considered legal I wonder.

NHTSA ODI 11684673

I pulled up to a red light in a protected left turn lane. My car is set to use regenerative braking and hold/not roll once stopped. I felt my car roll forward a bit, which shouldn't happen when these settings are on. I quickly checked my rearview mirror, assuming someone had hit me from behind to cause me to roll forward. No one was behind me. I hit my brake and the car suddenly accelerated at full throttle speed, I would guess, into the intersection, despite the light being red for me. I quickly glanced down at my foot to confirm that it was on the brake pedal and it definitely was. I continued to repeatedly push the brake pedal down to no avail. I was steering and tried to navigate my way through 4 lanes of moving traffic because they had a green light. I hit the front end of a car, which didn't slow my car at all. I went on to hit another car's front end, which didn't slow my car at all either. My car then charged out of control to hit the curb on the opposite side of the street facing traffic. Hitting the curb stopped my car finally. I noticed that the airbags on the right side of my car were deployed. Components that failed/malfunctioned: brakes, fuel/propulsion system, speed control, automatic emergency braking, collision warning/avoidance, traffic signal detection Tesla Insurance has deemed the car a total loss. I also reported the malfunction to their Vehicle Support but haven't gotten the report or the data report from the car that I requested yet. I was told that the report would be complete by 8/7/25. The car was placed on a hold for the investigation, so it should be available for inspection. I do have the dashcam videos and photos of my car, if needed. This incident was terrifying because I had zero control of my vehicle due to the sudden unintended acceleration (SUA). I see on the internet that SUA is a problem with Tesla that has been reported repeatedly. It is a miracle that no one was hurt or killed. Tesla needs to address this immediately!

NHTSA ODI 11679584

I was traveling northbound on [XXX} in Sugar Grove, IL with the traffic aware cruise control on. As I passed under [XXX] the car braked heavily for no reason. No cars in the area...thankfully. I could have easily been rear-ended. It has done this on more than one occasion at this location. I filed a "bug-report" via the right hand button on the steering wheel. I was also traveling [XXX] near Lasalle-Peru with the cruise control on at about 80 mph when the vehicle suddenly braked heavily. No cars around at all. The moment was extremely frightening. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11667444

When the vehicle is set to regenerative braking mode, lifting off the accelerator pedal causes the car to decelerate significantly. However, in many cases, the brake lights do not illuminate during this process. This could potentially create a safety risk, as drivers behind may not realize the car is slowing down and may not respond in time. tesla

NHTSA ODI 11660263

Wy wife and I drove our Tesla Model 3 from Palo Alto, CA to San Francisco downtown, to meet friends. I was the driver, and my wife sat on the passenger seat. The weather was clear, and the pavement was dry. I did not engage auto-pilot features during the entire trip. The car condition was normal with no signs of error or warning. I made a right turn onto [XXX] from [XXX] Shortly after I completed the turn, the car unexpectedly lost control. Without any prior warnings, it suddenly veered into the center divider, snapped a tree, dashed towards oncoming traffic on the other side of [XXX] , and finally stopped on [XXX] , labelled as location A on the attached drawing. Everything happened so quickly: I could not control the steering wheel, and I applied the brakes in vain. The vehicle seized control, no matter how hard I tried to stop it. I regained control of the vehicle at the intersection of [XXX] and [XXX] , and was able to park the car at location A. We were very fortunate and blessed that we did not hit people at the bus stop, that there were no cars in front of us, that the opposite traffic on [XXX] was stopped by a red light, and that the traffic was light on [XXX] Without such luck, my wife and I, and probably others, would have been seriously injured, if not worse. Because [XXX] is one-way, we decided to move the vehicle to [XXX] , and parked at location B in the drawing. I called 911 and spoke to a female dispatcher. She asked us to remain at location B and wait for police officers to arrive. We waited there for almost 3 hours, but no police arrived. The dashboard display indicated that we had a flat tire(s). We called mobile tire services. After their inspection, most of our tires were alright, except the rim of the front-left wheel was badly bent, as you can see in the attached photo. The mobile tire service staff was skilled enough to carefully patch the damage and said it should be OK to drive back to Palo Alto. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11658826

If you are on a hill and you accidently press both the brake an accelerator, the car will fall to neutral and free roll. In whatever direction is downhill. I have big feet. Happened again to me, I bumped the brake pedal (but not enough to apply the brakes to stop) when attempting to pull forwards slowly and my car beeped with the "both pedals detected pressed" alert. and then it free rolled backwards (because I was on an uphill). THIS WILL CAUSE AN ACCIDENT BECAUSE THE CAR IS NOT SUPPOSED TO FREE ROLL BACKWARDS WHEN IN DRIVE, THIS IS A SAFETY PROBLEM. It has been 4 years now, and no action has been taken to adress this software defect. a NORMAL gas car does NOT do this. If you bump the brake in a normal gas car, IT DOES NOT FREE ROLL IN ANY DIRECTION. This is a tesla software problem that tesla needs to promptly fix ASAP!!!!!

NHTSA ODI 11658650

I'm not quite sure what component was affected, some module of some sort got water in or near it that wasn't supposed to. It is available for inspection. Yes my safety and others was out at risk. Yes the problem was fixed by service center supposedly. Yes the car has been inspected by the manufacturer. There were no warnings. What happened was on 12/29 I was driving the car and out of absolutely nowhere a bunch of warnings came up including loss of ABS, any and all safety features. And more importantly lost usage of brakes almost entirely when car came to a stop it was grinding and shakey. This problem all arises due to teslas negligence when it came to installing a new windshield on the vehicle. As stated in messages below, they made a mistake while installing my windshield that caused this major issue to arise. They have offered nothing as a solution but saying that their error is supposedly fixed.

NHTSA ODI 11634987

NHTSA Vehicle Safety Complaint •Vehicle Information: •Make: Tesla •Model: Model 3 •Year: 2022 •Summary of Incident: On November 28,2024, I experienced an incident involving my 2022 Tesla Model 3 while it was stationary just outside my garage. I accidentally pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake. The car surged forward and crashed into the back wall of my garage. Despite Tesla’s advertised safety features, such as Collision Avoidance Assist and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), none of these systems intervened or activated during the incident. I expected the safety systems to detect the garage wall and mitigate the collision, but they failed to respond. Additionally, Tesla’s Obstacle-Aware Acceleration system did not seem to function as intended to limit acceleration in this scenario. •Injuries or Property Damage: There were minor injuries to passenger, but the vehicle and the garage sustained significant damage. •Steps Taken Post-Incident: I have contacted Tesla to request an analysis of the vehicle’s event data logs to determine why the safety features did not activate. I am waiting for their response. •Concern: I am filing this report because I believe this may indicate a potential safety issue with Tesla’s collision prevention systems in low-speed scenarios involving stationary obstacles. This raises concerns about the reliability of these features in real-world situations, particularly for drivers who may accidentally press the accelerator. •Supporting Information: If needed, I can provide photographs of the damage, repair estimates, and additional details.

NHTSA ODI 11634158

I was driving on the highway when the touchscreen lit up with multiple error messages including: - Steering assist reduced (Steering may require increased effort) - Traction control disabled (Drive with caution) - Stability control disabled (Drive with caution) - Parking brake functions degraded (Parking brake may not apply or release) - Lane Departure Avoidance features unavailable (Features may be restored on next drive) Also, the speedometer changed to 0 (while we were going 70 mph). When I pulled onto the next off-ramp the steering was very heavy and the regenerative braking was not working. Pressing the brakes (even slightly) felt like the ABS was pulsating. This was extremely dangerous and easily could have resulted in a serious accident in heavy traffic or if the road had not been straight. It was a rental car so I have not seen the car since the rental company towed it away. I have not heard from the rental company about the car's status or their findings. Prior to the catastrophic failure of multiple systems, there were two other warnings messages: - Left front fender camera blocked or blinded (Clean cameras or wait to regain visibility) - Autopilot safety/convenience features unavailable (Features may be restored on next drive) These had been coming on and off for a couple hours but I had assumed they were due to driving through heavy rain.

NHTSA ODI 11630921

All has been reported in writing to Tesla Corporate and Tesla Service Center SoDo Seattle, WA. Has not been repaired to date, with multiple attempts to bring car in for service: Emergency brake failed to engage on two occasions, [XXX] it was first reported that the car lost control of steering and emergency brake did not engage. Second time on [XXX]; car would not shift into any gear. Tesla Roadside said to have it towed (we did), Tesla had car for two weeks and did not address issues reported. Tesla has received extensive documentation for both times. They continue to tell us to drive car and just report issues as their resolution. Car has failed seals that have resulted in multiple times of mold and rodents in car (had professionally inspected). Tesla continues to insist I go inside vehicle and drive car. Tesla first discovered the mold in March 2024 during warranty service visit. They acknowledge smell in writing. Odometer was changed while car was brought in for service (shows on Tesla provided service records). Car arrived on 7/2/24 at 11:06am with 32,390 miles and left 7/2/24 at 11:07am with 32,687 miles. Manager was present and in the car for this visit. Car charger has failed and been replaced multiple times, battery is defective. Tesla will not inspect. Reported in writing loud thudding in trunk for months and Tesla took no action. Turned out to be live rats discovered during private mold inspection in trunk, frunk and inside of car; we believe we were exposed to rodents for months due to Tesla refusing to inspect properly. We have reported the car making us incredibly ill with heart and lung issues, unexplained hair loss, nausea, fatigue and Tesla has taken no action. We arrived at Service center 7/2/24 asking for water and ill from the car and they ignored until we said we would need to call 911. No warning messages for any of the safety issues reporting, Tesla maintains the car is in good condition. Continue to seek medical care. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11614883

Tesla has confirmed that the firmware of the high-voltage controller of the Model 3 is known to occasionally go "missing in action", causing regenerative braking to entirely cease to function and the driving performance of the car to drop considerably. This was expected to be resolved in a firmware update, but the problem continues. The service representative advised that they (Tesla employees) are not allowed to refer to the problem as a defect and instead must use the euphemism "firmware characteristic". The impact of the issue occurring while driving is that braking and acceleration are significantly reduced, thus reducing the ability of the driver to respond to unexpected situations and operate the vehicle safely. The impact of the issue occurring while parked is that the vehicle cannot start until such time as the controller resumes responding. The driver has no control over when/if this will happen, and the car may ultimately require towing. We encountered the while-parked case on 2024-07-07 and the while-driving case on 2024-07-27.

NHTSA ODI 11604984

Driving on the freeway, husband driving, myself in passenger front seat and 1yr and 3yrs in back. Just touched a 70 zone when the car, without warning/prompt started to deviate from left lane to right lane, at same speed, my husband tried to control car at which point he realized that the steering wheel and brakes were locked and he had no control of the direction or speed and could do nothing to stop the car. The car continued at high speed to drag us to the left side of the road, we smashed at full force into a display maintenance board first, the airbags deployed, and we continued to smash through a barrier and finally into a tree in a field about 100yards+ from freeway. We managed to escape the vehicle and get our screaming kids to safety where we then were picked up by ambulance and police. The car, of course, was unsalvageable. We, by some unknown miracle, made it out alive of this horrific, beyond imaginable experience. This was not normal behavior for a car. We had this car for 2.5yrs, we had no automatic driving capabilities turned on (we didn't have self-drive) and were driving home midday from a grocery store trip on a road we drive frequently. The brakes wouldn't push down, the steering wheel wouldn't move, we were totally at the mercy of the car.

NHTSA ODI 11592116

Driver's seat weight sensor not working properly. Causes car to slam on the brakes when seatbelt is not on (for example in a driveway or automated carwash, potentially causing a crash) and can potentially leave car running indefinitely (draining the battery). Since sometimes it gets stuck in the occupied or unoccupied state.

NHTSA ODI 11581507

My wife driving our Tesla Model 3. From her report, the car was accelerating on its own and would not stop despite her pressing on the brake pedal. She was unable to stop at the traffic light and crashed into another car at an intersection.

NHTSA ODI 11576904

On [XXX], I was driving from Victorville, CA to Las Vegas, NV on [XXX] northbound. Between [XXX] two incidents occurred. Both incidents involve phantom braking. My vehicle was in autopilot mode, which is essentially traffic aware cruise control. I was traveling at 70MPH and passed a semi-truck. I changed lanes back into the right lane after passing the truck. About 30 seconds later, the car slammed on the brakes. The semi-truck behind me took immediate evasive maneuver and swerved into the left lane to avoid hitting me. There was no obstruction in front of me. The nearest vehicles ahead of me were so far away that I could barely see their tail lights. This was a very unsafe condition. The second incident happened about 40 minutes later. No other vehicles were near me although the sudden braking gave me a scare. There were no warnings, messages, or any indication that the sudden braking was being applied. I was able to immediately depress the accelerator to increase speed and override the autopilot. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11575121

Traveling on I35 South, approx 70 -75 MPH. Using adaptive cruise control/enhanced auto pilot. No vehicles present within a mile of my vehicle. Braking spontaneously engaged, reducing speed to 40MPH within seconds. If a vehicle were behind me they would have absolutely collided. I've not filed a report with Tesla. Vehicle did not display any warning, or any other sort of indication that a malfunction had occurred. The problem has not been reproduced by me, however an internet search returns multiple complaints of these exact symptoms.

NHTSA ODI 11573872

Car slammed on the brakes on its own while the auto steer function was being used going 80mph. If someone was behind me they would’ve rear ended me.

NHTSA ODI 11570066

Accelerating with no input braking unsuccessful resulting in running a stop sign across two-way traffic. Vehicle stopped after approx. 100 meters after running the stop sign. I have discussed with Tesla service to run a diagnostic report (not completed at this time). No warnings or error messages. Vehicle resumed normal functional control after. Tested accelerating and braking at the same time gives error message did not present during the incident.

NHTSA ODI 11567311

On 9 different occasions, my vehicle was operating in cruise control and slammed on the brakes for no reason. Fortunately, no vehicle was behind me. If there were I would have been rear-ended all 9 times. This has happed 8 times on the freeway and one time on surface streets.

NHTSA ODI 11564747

the car started to abruptly accelerate when slowing down the car at a stop light and would not brake. the anti collision functions did not work. the car went into a truck.

NHTSA ODI 11564754

If you are on a hill and if the Tesla detects both pedals are pressed. The car will drop into neutral on its own and free roll. The Tesla “one pedal stop and hold” will fail to maintain a stop and hold state if it detects both pedals are pressed. I was on an uphill driveway and I accidentally bumped my brake pedal when I went to press my accelerator pedal. (Big feet). My car free rolled backwards until I let off the accelerator and hit the brake. Luckily nobody was behind me. I moved a good 8 feet backwards during the situation. I tested this on my own in my slanted driveway at home and this problem can be easily reproduced. It happens when the car thinks both pedals are pressed and the brake isn’t fully pressed, it causes the electric motor to disengage causing the vehicle to free roll in neutral, and if “one pedal stop and hold is enabled”, it causes the brake to let go and the vehicle no longer stays stopped. This free rolling downhill. Case 1: stop and hold, in reverse or drive. Both pedals detected pressed, vehicle switches to neutral and free rolls downhill. Case 2: vehicle moving slowly uphill Via accelerator pedal pressed, but the brake is detected as pressed. And the the vehicle falls into neutral and starts free rolling downhill. The safety risk is when the vehicle free rolls downhill when both pedals are detected pressed. The safety risk can happen when the driver accidentally lightly presses both pedals. Or if there is an electrical fault where the vehicle may think both pedals are pressed. Vehicle risks free rolling downhill into other vehicles, buildings, or people Before the driver can realize what has happened and hits the brakes. A software patch will need to be implemented to correct this fault condition. It should be changed to the following: Case 1: if vehicle is in stop and hold mode, the vehicle should remain in stop and hold mode. Case 2: if vehicle is moving. The vehicle should engage stop and hold mode and stop. Thanks.

NHTSA ODI 11560099

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

on Nov 26, 2023. I parked the car in driveway. After sometime started car to go someplace. The car could not move front or back and gave metal rubbing sound. Called tesla road side and arrange a tow truck. Car was towed to tesla service center in Springfield, New Jersey. On Nov 27, Tesla informed me on app to pick the car. I picked the car back on Nov 28. 2023. Tesla service informed by that they could not replicate the issue of brake jamming. They did some tests and told me that car is fine and safe to drive. At the time of pickup the technician told be that it could be software issue. (instances of brake switch mismatch) Want to inform that this is brake jamming issue and can stop the car any where. No clear or satisfactory explanation given be Tesla. I continue to drive the car.

NHTSA ODI 11557896

Over several occasions, this Model 3 Tesla has engaged the brakes heavily while using the autopilot, lane-assist function. This has always happened while going highway speeds. The braking is very abrupt and without any apparent reason (nothing in the front or beside the car). I do not recall this occurring unless the autopilot function is enabled. I am able to disengage the system and take control, but it's an alarming and unsafe glitch in the software.

NHTSA ODI 11554509