What 411 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Tesla Model 3

Vehicle does not have the proper software updates needed to clear the two NHTSA recalls for my VIN.

NHTSA ODI 11572243

Autosteer was engaged while approaching Weatherford, OK on I40 - Sporadically, the vehicle slammed on the brakes, even though nothing was in front of me, and nothing was behind. The vehicle dropped in speed by almost 20 mph.

NHTSA ODI 11559994

Bought a 2023 Tesla model 3 performance that vibrates from the day I bought it. After 12 service visits, new wheels tires and even a new brake rotor the car is still vibrating. Tesla seems to say it’s normal and that all teslas drive like this but no other vehicle manufacturer has ever produced a car that vibrates. It’s unsafe and scary to drive this car the way it is. They tried fixing it at first hence why so many parts got replaced but since they don’t know how to fix it they wanna just push the “it’s normal and within spec” speech to me. Please get a recall going to address the ongoing steering wheel vibration problem faced by numerous owners as shown on numerous threads and forums. This is unacceptable.

NHTSA ODI 11554750

On 2 separate occasions, the cruise control set to 80 and suddenly decelerates. Very scary. Term being used in Tesla chat rooms is 'phantom breaking'.

NHTSA ODI 11551202

While driving with cruse controll, auto pilot, or adaptive cruise control my vehicle brakes suddenly without warning and without any reason or danger. This has happened many times. Today on the I8 traveling from Yuma az to Surpirse AZ the car braked around 15-20 times with out reason. I held the tesla car symbol on the screen to report the problem.

NHTSA ODI 11547242

When cruise control is engaged, the vehicle suddenly decelerates, (at times dropping speed by more than 20 mph in less than 2 seconds). This occurs as often as 5-10 times in a single 60mi trip, and occurs at least once per trip on this same route (divided highway, sometimes with hills, often with no other cars ahead of or around the vehicle, speed 60-70mph) These events are unsafe because unexpected braking is a hazard for following cars and my passengers. My job as a driver is to be as predictable as possible, but when I use the cruise control the car behaves unpredictability Problem reported to dealer, confirmed by remote diagnostic, and car was serviced but the problem got worse. There are no warning lamps or error messages displayed in conjunction with these sudden braking events. First appeared when the car reached 2000miles on odometer

NHTSA ODI 11546747

When on a recent trip from Salt Lake City to Denver Via I 15 to hwy 6 and on I 70 When it was in cruse control and also auto pilot the car would on it's own brake. Some of the time it would brake very harshly others it would not be so violet ,but would certainly be some thing that could cause a very bad accident. The only solution Tesla service would offer was to go on a test drive to see it happen. This could take posably many miles, and then said they did not have a solution.

NHTSA ODI 11546652

I was driving on I-35 from Kansas City to Des Moines on 9-11-23, and three times the car experienced phantom braking (i.e. the car suddenly braked for no apparent reason) while the adaptive cruise control was activated. During these instances the car would suddenly brake and slow down and on one occasion I had to accelerate immediately to avoid possibly being rear ended. On all occasions there were no obstacles on the road or cars within 1/4 of a mile ahead of me.

NHTSA ODI 11545213

On 09/11/2023 at approx. 6AM CST, my wife went to a nearby Walmart store for groceries. As she was parking the car in the parking space, the car started to accelerate by itself and went around the parking lot in random directions. She couldn't control the steering and brake despite the continuous tries. It was such a traumatic experience, and the car went on to hit couple of other parked cars and the cart return stations in the parking lot. After few seconds of random self-drive in multiple directions of parking lot, it finally came to a halt as it got on a curb that flattened the tires. By God's grace, the car stopped right before entering the main busy road due to flat tires and also no pedestrians at that time. Otherwise, the situation could have been worse as the car was going in an uncontrollable manner. The incident was reported to 911 and they got the car towed to a towing garage. We got the incident report from the police department. They also have the CCTV footage of this incident. We also have the dashcam videos recorded by TESLA and pictures taken after the incident. I will provide any supporting documentation you might need to understand this incident and address the issue. We are trying to come out of the trauma from this incident and would like to bring this issue to the attention of all concerned parties for next steps.

NHTSA ODI 11545050

I was coming to a stop due to a train passing by. As I got closer to the other vehicles that were waiting for the train, I let go of the acceleration and then the vehicle on its own launched forward rear ending the car in front of me.

NHTSA ODI 11541231

While using cruise control on a highway traveling between 65 and 75 MPH the brakes slammed on when there was absolutely no traffic in front of or beside us, no overhead obstructions, no upcoming corners, nothing at all but straight road ahead. If anyone had been behind us we could easily have been rear-ended. The car had only 1500 miles on it the first time it happened. There were 4 such events in our short 400 mile road trip. Took it directly to Tesla service and have been told there is nothing wrong with the car!

NHTSA ODI 11540086

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that there were no objects or other vehicles nearby when the failure occurred. The vehicle seemed to return to normal functionality, but the failure recurred a second time. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was 7,200.

NHTSA ODI 11538889

Emergency braking applied when no other vehicles were in sight. Braking was hard enough to spill coffee. Seems to occur when adaptive cruise control is on. Happened about 10 times on recent road trip. Lucky no one was behind us! Felt very unsafe.

NHTSA ODI 11536791

I was stopped before turning left into a parking space. I was driving slowly. The car stopped but I did not engage the brake as a Tesla will stop once the foot is removed from the accelerator. At that point the car leaped forward at full speed hitting parts of a building and a fence. I did NOT step on the accelerator. No one was injured. The airbags did not deploy even though there was $17,000 damage to the front of the car. There were no warning signals. The person inside the building was waiting for me and saw the car come to a stop.

NHTSA ODI 11536158

on July 18th around, 7:00PM, the location is 1688 Hostetter Road Pacific, Rim Lane, San Jose, CA 95131. when I parked my car, and the car almost stop, the car suddenly unintended accelerated and hit another car. the car I used Creep mode, not Hold mode. I definitely sure my foot on the break.

NHTSA ODI 11535584

While I was driving along a freeway using autopilot cruise control, the car suddenly slammed its brakes even if there was no cars in front of us. I thought it was just a fluke but it happened at least twice if not thrice during that trip. There was at least an approximate of 3 miles gap between us and the car in front, so practically no cars in front. Had there any vehicles behind us, it would for sure rear ended us.

NHTSA ODI 11533083

I have had this car for 6 months. Three times within the past month sudden braking (phantom braking) occurred while driving on the high way with cruise control engaged. The car slowed from 70miles/hour to 35-40 miles/hour without warning on a clear day on a clear road. Then the car picked up speed. The cars in the front and the rear were far away to cause any incident. This happens in a random fashion and cannot be reproduced.

NHTSA ODI 11532334

We have experienced several episodes of the car suddenly breaking for no reason when using cruise control. The speed is very quickly reduced a good 15 mph without warning.this is not only very alarming as drivers/passengers but it is incredibly dangerous. If there was a car following closely behind us, they would have hit us.

NHTSA ODI 11531094

While in cruise control vehicle will brake hard as if it detects something in front but there’s really a clear road.

NHTSA ODI 11529926

On several occasions ( 8 or 10 times) while driving at highway speeds, with little traffic, on an extended trip, the vehicle suddenly applied the brakes for no apparent reason. I have learned that this is called "phantom braking". On one such occasion, I narrowly avoided being struck from behind by another vehicle following me by applying the accelerator. I have not yet reported this problem to Tesla, but intend to.

NHTSA ODI 11527405

While in cruise control, the car suddenly reduced its speed; there is no obstacle in the path of the cat that would warrant such an action. This deceleration is sudden and violent and when it happens is dangerous for following drivers.

NHTSA ODI 11524171

Phantom braking. Traveling highway 5 Southbound between Red Bluff, CA and WIliams, CA at 70 mph, the vehicle suddenly and firmly applied brakes as if attempting to avoid a collision with an obstacle closely ahead. The braking force was enough to activate the seatbelt restraint. There was no traffic for at least a 1/4 mile ahead and behind and no obstacle. I managed to flip the ACC lever up to disable it during the braking but felt that I was losing control of the vehicle. After ACC was disabled normal operation ensued. Speculation: The incident occurred mid-May and the area is agricultural and therefore teeming with bugs that collect on the front of the car. The forward camera may have been hit by a bug and the visual recognition system may have mistaken the bug for a large obstacle.

NHTSA ODI 11521895

Hello, I have experienced 2 times the same issue with this new car model. I was driving on a interstate with 2 lanes, no cars in front of me and fortunately no cars behind, I was in autopilot mode and emergency brake system got engaged for no reasons apparently (Phantom braking) and I had to take over immediately. It was scary and I was lucky that no car was behind as it could have created definitely a worse scenario. The first time I was entering a bridge and the color of the asphalt was a bit different from the main road that might have triggered this phantom braking. The second time I entered in a driving area in the shade, here the phantom braking might have been triggered by a sudden change in the sun light. Regards.

NHTSA ODI 11520215

We were driving down the road, emergency braking enabled came on and car came to a complete abrupt start 10ft from railroad tracks and would not do anything. Could not reset it. Nothing.

NHTSA ODI 11510949

My Tesla Model 3 was delivered on 14 December 2022. I first drove it on 16 December 2022 and that day I had an accident. I was about to park my car and I was already on the designated parking slot when the car made a sudden Un- commanded acceleration. I first hit the handicap sign, but the car did not stop and apparently the collision avoidance safety feature did not work. The continue to accelerate and I hit a restaurant establishment. The police came and I reported the incident to my insurance (Geico). The police (Mr. McClure) gave me the case number 2238293. Geico is taking care of the repair which would cost over $10K and the property damage, which added up to 10K. I went to the Tesla service center in Carlsbad and Mr. Hyuma said that I can request for the log. I guess it is the EDR. They gave me a link to request for the EDR but the start date is 23 January 2023 way after the accident date of 16 December 2022. I have not received any log or EDR from Tesla to date. I am uploading the pictures of the car before the repair. Please help me find out what exactly happened and why the car suddenly accelerated without pressing the gas pedal. I am a retired US Navy (20 years) and I bought a Tesla to save money because i have solar in my house. I have a fixed income and cannot afford to spend money on the EDR. I believe that here is a defect on the Tesla Model 3 that I bought and I will appreciate all the help you can provide.

NHTSA ODI 11506785