What 136 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Tesla Model S Bev

Incident Description: While driving through a parking lot at 20 mi/hr, my vehicle's AEB system activated in response to another vehicle approaching from a perpendicular direction. However, the system's response was dangerously delayed and inappropriate stopping the car right in front of the other car: The system failed to provide any advance warning or alert before applying the brakes The braking occurred too late to create adequate separation from the approaching vehicle The vehicle stopped directly in the path of the oncoming car, increasing rather than decreasing collision risk The abrupt stop left my vehicle in a position where I was at greater risk of being T-boned Only the other driver's quick reaction prevented a collision. Had that driver not stopped in time, the AEB system would have contributed to, rather than prevented, a serious accident.

NHTSA ODI 11707047

Vehicle: 2022 Tesla Model S (HW 3.0) System in Question: Full Self-Driving (FSD) Capability, initially purchased (Level 1 equivalent) for $6,000, and then upgraded (Level 2 equivalent) for an additional $3,000 (Total $9,000). I. Initial FSD Purchase and Unsafe Performance (Level 1) Upon initial purchase of the FSD package, the system (what Tesla later called FSD Beta, or its precursor) consistently demonstrated unsafe and aggressive behavior that necessitated immediate driver intervention to prevent a crash. Specific Safety Concern: The system would often execute turns, both in city and highway off-ramp scenarios, with excessive speed and aggressive lateral acceleration. This erratic behavior felt uncontrolled and risky, frequently causing the driver to feel unsafe and to rapidly override the system by taking manual control of the steering wheel. Resulting Risk: The system was virtually unusable for anything beyond basic highway cruising (a feature standard on many vehicles), yet its aggressive behavior posed a safety risk on the highway when attempting lane changes or taking exits. II. Upgrade and Deterioration of Practical Safety (Level 2) I upgraded to the top-tier FSD package with the hope of receiving a safer, more functional system that matched the "Full Self-Driving" name. Instead, the system introduced new safety and usability defects: Forced Disengagement/Driver Monitoring Defect: The system's driver monitoring is overly aggressive and interferes with safe, necessary driving actions. It delivers constant "nag" warnings and requires disengagement when the driver performs a brief but necessary safety check, such as looking at a side mirror, checking over the shoulder for a lane change, or briefly glancing at the car's screen to adjust climate/radio. Safety Implication: This defect forces the driver to prematurely disengage FSD in complex traffic situations to avoid a warning/lockout, which is counter-productive to safety. I am effectively penalized for

NHTSA ODI 11698829

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH in inclement weather with no other vehicles nearby, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop. The contact stated that the brakes were applied without driver input. The contact stated that the emergency stop message was displayed during the failure. The contact stated that on another occasion, while driving 45 MPH, the vehicle suddenly stopped. The contact had since stopped using the Forward Collision Avoidance: Adaptive Cruise Control. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 50,320.

NHTSA ODI 11660717

The horn is in a difficult place to access compared to ALL other vehicles in the USA making it a safety concern and hazard will driving should an emergency arise and you can’t get to the horn quickly. This has happened to me driving the 2022 Tesla Model S and I could not get to the horn swerving violently to avoid a collision.

NHTSA ODI 11584865

The update that you required for Auto Steer has made the car undrivable. I get a written and audible warning IMMEDIATELY when I engage Auto Steer. Literally within 2 seconds. I always keep my hands on the wheel, lightly, while I drive on the highway. Anything short of a death grip on the wheel causes the warning to go off. However, the nag feature (after the changes you required) goes off constantly. Honestly, it's very distracting. If I look at the radio to change the channel, the warning goes off. You need to undo the changes you required. It makes Auto Steer less safe, not more.

NHTSA ODI 11572535

Car without obstacle will without warning execute a hard slowdown/stop. We have received the latest OTA update and have disabled auto steering and fsd. These unplanned stops are incredibly dangerous when driving in traffic. They charged a substantial fee to enable FSD and we are afraid to use it which sucks but the fact that basic cruise control is so dangerous is criminal.

NHTSA ODI 11561927

Tesla, in multiple cars that I own, has repeatedly changed user-preferences of user-selections, without warning, or update notes, for a variety of functions. This seems to be a consequence of sloppy software coding and seems to coincide with new software releases. In recent months, Tesla has attempted to inform people of new software update functionality with ‘release notes’. However, these notes seldom, if ever, explain that a user’s preference is getting discarded (though could be restored -- if the user were aware). One example, is the operation of ‘Traffic Aware Cruise Control’ was changed from a double click of a scroll wheel to a single click. No release nor or manual page was called out to indicate the change — at least prior to this driver’s noticing and diagnosing the problem. Nor was any pop-up message explaining the new, and surprising functionality of a ‘double-click’ — which was to momentary activate and deactivate TACC. Other functions that get changed, without notice: 1) operation of automatic windshield wipers is deactivated (and set to ‘manual) — from the user-preference of ‘auto’; 2) Auto park chimes sounds are turned off — despite a user-preference setting them to 'on'. These changes to the UI, necessitating guesswork using the large glass screen, prove to be highly distracting to a driver in the midst of driving. In addition, these undocumented and un-communicated changes lead the consumer to contact Tesla and even setup ranger service to make a repair for what ends up being a sloppy manual — to the detriment of Tesla’s effectiveness of their Service Department. If Tesla cannot make the user interface operate in a coherent manner day-to-day, there is no hope that any alleged full self driving will avoid reverting to some unknown configuration on unknown time scales. Perhaps Tesla should repurpose engineers that make video games for the car to the purpose of regression testing to avoid surprises like these.

NHTSA ODI 11557795

"Tesla Vision" is the ADAS sensor system in the car which relies exclusively on video cameras with no LIDAR or ultrasonic sensors to measure distance. It is highly inaccurate and prone to failure. It consistently reports false warnings and fails to identify actual threats.

NHTSA ODI 11545573

Phantom braking continues to be a problem. I've never had it happen in the city or in traffic. I also owned a 2015 Tesla MS that NEVER had a phantom braking problem. For me PB has always occurred on a freeway with no traffic around at all. No overpass involved. Suddenly TACC thinks it must apply the brakes. Surely at least Tesla could log this kind of event and fix it. It's aggravating for me as a driver and terrifies passengers.

NHTSA ODI 11529676

Dangerous Phantom Braking: this has occurred many times including very dangerous situations in high speed interstate hwy settings. The car will slam on the brakes for no apparent reason often with cars following closely behind. I have completely stopped using “full self driving” as it is a death trap and people will certainly die because of its use.

NHTSA ODI 11526512

When using traffic-aware cruise control at normal highway speed, on regular, clear days — including when there is no glare — the system often brakes abruptly, despite the absence of obstacles or even shadows that could be misinterpreted as obstacles. This is extremely dangerous, and it has happened (1) when there are no other vehicles on the road, and (2) when the only other vehicle on the road is directly behind me. The latter scenario is particularly dangerous. Notably, the only cruise control available is traffic-aware cruise control. There is no ‘basic’ cruise control, which means there is no way to avoid this scary phantom braking other than by not using cruise control at all. I have tried disabling all ADAS automatic braking features, yet this phenomenon still occurs. This has been occurring with all software up to date. I am scared that my car is going to kill me.

NHTSA ODI 11526515

While utilizing the car’s cruise control (TRAAC) and the advanced autopilot features, the car brakes often, unexpectedly and without warning when there are no hazards or vehicles in its path. This is a well documented problem called “phantom braking” involving Teslas. My experiences include traveling on straight open highway with no other vehicle’ within hundreds of yards. Scary and unsafe.

NHTSA ODI 11514107

We had the adaptive cruise control, turned on and the car braked violently on I 90 in Washington state heading east. The brakes slammed on so hard that the tires screeched. We were in the fast lane and it was fortunate that no one was directly behind us or there would’ve been a serious accident. It happened again about 5 miles later, but not as violently.

NHTSA ODI 11509551

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while her husband was driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle experienced "phantom braking" approximately 8-times in total. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact called the local dealer and made them aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,000.

NHTSA ODI 11503174

Malfunctioning system: AUTOPILOT, Self Driving. The vehicle is available for inspection. We were put at RISK following having several 'NEAR MISS' incidents. None of which resulted in an accident. The 2022 Model S PLAID with less than 2,929 current miles as of this entry, while being driven in daylight & evening hours on major freeways and interstate roads in Central & Southern California while using the "AUTOPILOT" FULL SELF DRIVING (FSD) has multiple times for NO APPARENT REASON & WITHOUT WARNING suddenly 'PANIC' BRAKED the vehicle from freeway speeds to less than 30 MPH. In one instance this caused the late model vehicle following us to take immediate evasive action and swerve into the adjacent lane without warning and then the vehicle HONKED continuously at us while passing us to our left. On each of the occasions I have had to OVERRIDE the Autopilot by pressing on the accelerator pedal as soon as I realized what was happening! On other occasions when in 'AUTOPILOT' self-driving mode, the vehicle has attempted to change lanes to exit the highway without awareness of how close the vehicle was to the end of the exit lane. Again I had to OVERRIDE the Autopilot by turning the yoke back into the lane to avoid running into barriers. I had believed that because this is a 'BETA' version that these conditions were being worked on and would be corrected with a software update. I have had numerous software updates installed. The current Version is 2022.44.30.10. For this reason, I have not reported these incidents to the manufacturer or made an appointment with the Local Tesla Service Center. The problems continue even with the current software update. Until recently, I was unaware of others having these same issues or that significant injury, death, damage, have occurred. However, since being made aware of this problem, I chose to report my experiences. I will follow-up and make an appointment with the manufacturer to have the vehicle inspected.

NHTSA ODI 11503070

Sudden braking while using Adaptive Cruise Control. Multiple “Phantom Braking “ incidents during a long road trip.

NHTSA ODI 11501779

The Traffic Aware Cruise Control disengaged suddenly and unexpectedly multiple times during highway driving and rapidly decelerated from 70 mph to 35 mph. This occurred several times on a clear freeway without any obstructions or any basis for disengagement and placed vehicles behind at risk due to the sudden deceleration.

NHTSA ODI 11498813

The adaptive cruise control will erroneously do a hard stop for no reason. This could cause an accident if someone is following me. The owners manual has a disclaimer / warning and Tesla states this feature is beta. They (Tesla) need to step up and fix this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11495428

Recurring uncommanded FIRM phantom braking for no apparent reason. At risk of being hit from the rear. Driver & passengers frightened & panicked. It has occurred a number of times but cannot be reproduced at will. Vehicle inspection has not been performed. Dealer says it's a software issue. No warning lamps, messages or any other symptom prior to event. Event has recurred multiple times.

NHTSA ODI 11493857

Driving midday on interstate 90 at 78 mph. The car was in cruise control. Four passengers. No other cars in front of me. Luckily there were no cars directly behind me. The car violently slammed on the brakes. My passengers thought I had hit a dog. Very scary. I am glad no one was hurt. But it is dangerous. I think the car had a recent software update. I have heard that the phantom braking issue can be worse right after a software update.

NHTSA ODI 11493174

We took our first major road trip in our new 2022 Tesla Model S on Friday 10/14, leaving at 10:00 am for a 9 hour trip. During the trip the car experienced multiple severe incidents of the car braking hard while at highway speeds and two of the incidents almost caused an accident. The car drops 10 to 15 mph instantly for no reason. We drove the car home on Monday 10/17 without AEB, Auto Steer, FSD Beta, Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance and Obstacle-Aware Acceleration and used TACC occasionally and still had the issue but wasn't as severe. Even on the day we purchased the car (Sept 30) and drove it home (a short drive on highway 95) we had a similar incident but it was so new we weren't sure if it was us or the car but now we know it is a fault of the car and creates a very dangerous driving situation which could result in an accident or death to a passenger in our car or in the car behind us when our car decides to slam on the brakes for no apparent reason. There were no warning lamps, messages or symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. We turned in a service request to Tesla and their response was to drive the car and have it happen again and create a Bug report. So basically Tesla is asking us to put our lives on the line to help them diagnose the problem because they don't want to take the time to review the diagnostic data that is readily available to them. In our opinion, this is a very serious and dangerous problem and the car needs to be taken off the road until Tesla resolves the problem.

NHTSA ODI 11490108

While ADAS is engaged, vehicle occasionally suddenly breaks and disengages while the road is clear and obstruction free. This happens frequently.

NHTSA ODI 11489894

My new Tesla Model S, delivered 10/1/22 has frequent emergency breaking events every trip to town, approximately 25 miles on a 2 lane State highway. These breaking events involve severe emergency breaking and happen in cruse control or auto steering, (this car does not have auto driving feature). My concern is that these breaking events could cause an accident if a vehicle following me should rear-end my car because my vehicle breaks hard for no reason, without warning. I requested a service appointment from Tesla but my scheduled appointment was soon canceled by Tesla and instead, I was referred to a long written company explanation on why the breaking might be happening but nothing about when the issue might be corrected. I have a copy available if requested, and the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. Basically, the Tesla shop won’t look at the vehicle. To my knowledge, there is no authority, insurance representative, or independent service in New Mexico that would be interested in inspecting the vehicle, but I would make the vehicle available for such inspection within 100 miles of my residence. The emergency breaking event happened the first time I put the car in auto steering and again in cruse control, every time I drive the vehicle. There are no warnings lights or messages before, during, or after these events. A trip of 25 miles will have about 10 or more of these events. If cruse control or automatic steering is off and the driver has control, these events do not happen.

NHTSA ODI 11487924

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model S. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed with the ADAS Adaptive Cruise Control activated, the vehicle experienced Phantom Braking with an unknown warning light intermittently illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 2,236.

NHTSA ODI 11486756

I was driving my Model S from Oregon to Texas, 14-16 Sep. The car was new, picked up on 31 Aug. I had the car in Autopilot when I was on the highway on the drive to Texas. In the first two days I had four incidents of "phantom braking" at highway speeds, as high as 80 mph. There was not a lot of traffic those first two days and the conditions were dry so there was little risk to others and the car stayed straight during the braking. However it's not hard to imagine scenarios where unexpected braking at high speeds could be a problem, such as during wet or dusty road conditions, driving into a high speed turn with other vehicles nearby, etc. The vehicle has not been inspected but the incident has been reported to the dealer and I am awaiting guidance.

NHTSA ODI 11485633