What 1,087 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Tesla Model Y

Phantom braking issue- Brakes were automatically applied while driving on open highway with no other vehicles around. Autopilot was in use, speed set to limit of 75 mph.

NHTSA ODI 11530316

The cat keeps applying brakes on its own even when there is no obstacle on road. Car applies brake on highway when there is no car on road in front or on side road. It is a very dangerous fault and is an accident waiting to happen. I have complained to local service center many times. They call it Fantom Braking and say that Tesla is working on it. If so, all Teslas should be off road till such time they fix it. I am concerned that it will lead to fatal accidents.

NHTSA ODI 11529721

Intermittent braking while in cruise control for no reason. Nothing in the way, no cars around. Reduces speeds from 10 t0 50 miles per hour. At time it reduces speeds almost to a dead stop. If another car was behind us, could cause a serious crash. Happens at random times.

NHTSA ODI 11529558

While driving at highway speeds with the cruise control engaged we have experienced several ghost braking events. Fortunately no other cars have been behind us.

NHTSA ODI 11529658

Multiple moments of phantom braking 15+ times TODAY driving from North Platte, NE to Havelock, IA on cruise or auto pilot. Extremely dangerous, could've caused pile ups/rear end collisions. Screen would 50% of the time show a semi or vehicle in front of me when nothing was there. I tried cleaning the windshield, thought it helped for a bit then it happened again. This happened on both interstate driving and highway driving into the sun and not into the sun. Could be very hazardous - very abrupt emergency braking at interstate speed limits. at the Shelby, IA super charger, another Tesla owner expressed he had also just reported multiple phantom braking incidents today as well and reported it to Tesla.

NHTSA ODI 11528787

On a trip to Prescott, AZ and back to Los Angeles, I encountered the following problem about 5 separate times. While driving at freeway speeds (70-80mph), the car suddenly and violently, without warning, applied the brakes vary hard (with no input from me). This threw me forward while the car continued to decelerate. In one instance, there was a class C motorhome traveling behind me fairly closely as if to pass. This was on a 2-lane road in the Arizona “countryside.” It was between 6:20am and 7:15am on Saturday, May 13th. The motorhome following me had to make a split-second decision to either crash into the rear of my car, or swing out left into the oncoming lane. He chose the latter. Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic or it surely would have been a fatal, head-on accident between the motorhome and a car traveling in the opposite direction in the oncoming lane. The motorhome then continued to pass me and no accident resulted. In the other 4 times that the brakes suddenly applied, there was no one close enough behind me where they could not have slowed down to avoid an accident. Obviously, this was very disturbing to me. I finally realized that the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) feature was set to “on” (by default). I then turned it off. No further incidents occurred after this. At this point, I will not travel on a busy freeway with the AEB feature activated……it is simply too dangerous. If this issue happens on a busy freeway, the likelihood of someone crashing into the rear of my car is fairly high.

NHTSA ODI 11528663

My 2023 Tesla model y occasionally applies phantom braking when ADAS is on. The car brakes very abruptly therefore it may cause rear end collision.

NHTSA ODI 11528695

When driving between Elgin, OK and Oklahoma City, OK phantom breaking occurs sometimes two to four times. It isn’t safe driving 75 MPH and the car suddenly brakes for no reason. I reported the issue to the Tesla service center in Oklahoma City, OK and they acknowledged it is an issue, but said there is not a repair for the issue. They said it is a software/mapping issue that will hopefully be resolved in the future.

NHTSA ODI 11528165

Phantom braking in cruise control almost caused being rear ended. This happens all the time! Super dangerous

NHTSA ODI 11527639

Phantom braking while using cruise control on interstates. The automatic emergency braking caused severe slowdown reducing speed of vechicle from 75-55mph. On a 900 mi road trip phantom braking occured a minium of 12 times each direction. Sudden and unexcpeted braking nearly caused accidents on numerous occasions. As vehichles following were not expecting a sudden reduction in speed without cause. In no case was there an obvious trigger, so signs, shadows, debris, or any logical explanation for the dangerous sudden reduction in speed. Tesla service center in Madison, WI stated it was most likley 'just' a software issue. Tesla is not responsive to conerns and gravity of situation. Tesla service said they would inspect vehicle cameras but that would take several weeks, offered no loaner car, and dissmissed any cause for concern repeating the issue was simply a software issue that required drivers to better report 'bugs' and that more cars needed to drive these 'routes' (I-80 and I-76 in this case) in order for more accurate navigation. Vehichle repeatidly turned back on automatic emergency braking despite driver having disabled this feature.

NHTSA ODI 11527733

Automatic hold disabled. I had multiple instances where automatic hold was disabled. If driver isn’t paying attention to screen it is hard to know and car rolls back on wheel. Earlier when I encountered this issue vehicle was rolling back and my wife caught this issue.

NHTSA ODI 11527260

My Tesla Model Y is experiencing phantom braking, due presumably to a faulty collission avoidance safety system. With cruise control enabled (not autopilot with lane keeping, only cruise control by depressing the stalk once vs. twice for lane keep) the car will phantom brake, where it slams on the brakes thinking their is a vehicle in its path when there is no vehicle in the front lane. This has happened to us on a clear toll road in Southern California on Hwy 73, both on June 7th, 2023 and in April/May 2023, where the Tesla slams on its brakes, decelerating us from 65mph to 38mph and below (at which point I slammed the accelerator pedal to avoid a rear end collission), with vehicles directly behind us, almost causing a dangerous accident. This happened with my three children in the back seat. We have experiencing this phantom braking twice in the last 2 months. In all cases the vehicle was well centered in the lane and there was no vehicle in the lane ahead of us, nor did we recently change lanes. I created a service ticket with Tesla, including bringing it into the service center at Lake Forest, CA, as scheduled, and they explained in person that there is nothing they can do, that they are unable to retrieve any video footage from the vehicle, and sent us away without even looking at the vehicle, replacing any hardware, hardware testing, or test driving it for themselves. We are at a complete loss of what to do with this vehicle that is only 6 months old. The vehicle has no warning lights or error messages prior to any of these failures. I feel that this vehicle is unsafe for my family to drive and Tesla is not putting forth reasonable effort to fix the vehicle.

NHTSA ODI 11527037

Phantom braking at highway speed. Maybe a shadow or line on the road confuses the system and slams on brakes. Is more common if the cruise is engaged. Happens every day. My commute is about 30 miles happens once or twice every drive. Increases risk of being rear ended. The car is not FSD enabled.

NHTSA ODI 11526329

I drive in West Texas, no hills but some rises and slopes, mostly flat. Going from Odessa to Lubbock (5AM) maybe 2 phantom braking episodes. Coming back on a clear, sunshiny day I experienced 15-20, out of the blue. Scared me to death. No cars within 100 yards, just BAM and it braked. Another 6-7 when the car thought a car over taking me was a problem and braked or one coming in a two lane (just about 5 miles only) thinking there was a danger. We are talking about excellent 4 lane highways with excellent pavement and markings.

NHTSA ODI 11526380

I bought the Model Y in Feb 2023, after 2 months of driving, 3 weeks back on 5/14/2023, all of sudden the car lit up Yellow Brake indicator on dashboard while I was driving downhill. I didn't understand what this indicator meant but when I needed to brake - I could not brake at all, so I let regenerative braking slow the car down which it did. I was horrified as I was on the road at that time, so I tried to find parking to park the car and then read online what this indicator meant, but felt very unsafe to drive the car home. Since then Brakes doesnt work and ABS seems to push back my foot hard and Adaptive cruise controld doesnt work at all. I have service appointment on 6/6 which is the first appointment I could find close to my home.

NHTSA ODI 11524759

Repetitive phantom braking. Happens quite often. Three time today on the intestate. I had cruise control set at 71mph and without any vehicle or obstacles in the area the car hard breaked from 71 down to 40. I have it on video.

NHTSA ODI 11524260

While driving on a relatively straight, 2-lane highway with cruise control set and no autopilot, the car started to brake suddenly and aggressively. This caused the car behind me to almost rear end my car. Luckily I was quick enough to press the accelerator to avoid the accident. This same sudden braking happened a total of 4 times within a 200 mile trip, one of which almost caused an accident.

NHTSA ODI 11524179

We have had our car for under 3 months and have had repeated episodes (easily 2 to 3 dozen) of extremely rapid braking when the car is in cruise control on the open interstate road when there are no cars ahead of us or any other obstacles that might have triggered the camera sensor. Tried turning off the forward collision avoidance option and the events still happen. Have kept the windshield over the front camera areas clean. It has happened typically during sunny days as we have not usually used the cruise control in the rain. When these events happen there is typical rapid slowing of the vehicle by 20-30 mph within a few seconds. If a car was following close behind us, there would be a high chance of collision. There have been no warning messages or any signs that the vehicle is otherwise malfunctioning. When we contacted Tesla technical assistance, they emailed us a copy of the part of the car manual that says the feature might not function in bad weather, if the camera is not clean, in construction zones, etc. none of which describe the circumstances of when this malfunction happens in the car in broad daylight. They also said whenever it happens to send a bug report which the technicians will look at. They also said it might be fixed with the next update, which of course, it wasn't. Finally, in the same batch of emails, they sent email that said we could report our issue to NHTSA which without any other resolution method to the problem, is why I am reporting it here. It seems as if there are many Tesla owners who are reporting this problem online. It may have been less of a problem before Tesla removed the radar feature in the last year and depended solely on their front cameras to make automatic braking decisions for the car. Whatever is happening, it isn't working and makes driving with cruise control scary and dangerous. Thank you for listening. Please help.

NHTSA ODI 11524249

Error message “power braking assist reduced” displayed on the vehicle and the vehicles brake gave out. Meaning I was unable to utilize the brakes for slowing down the vehicle. The message disappeared after parking (and powering down) the vehicle for a bit. Had the same issue in a few days. Tesla is now replacing the entire brake pad assembly due to a brake sensor failure.

NHTSA ODI 11524070

Braking. Yes, can be inspected upon request. Phantom braking for no apparent reason occurred at least 12 times in each direction on a long-distance trip on 2- and 4-lane roads on May 15 & 17 and also a trip in April, both in Autopilot and TACC modes, with nothing but the open road ahead, very little traffic, although a couple times when nearing the top of a hill. Driving at 70 mph on 2-lane roads and 80 mph on 4-lane roads. Concern of being rear-ended if passing a vehicle so wait long time to return to driving lane. Fortunately in standard driving no one was following closely to cause concern. One time when I was passing a semi, when I was almost even with the cab. No contact with dealer or service center as they are 240 miles away from my home or inspection by others. Unknown if there were on-screen messages due to watching the road instead.

NHTSA ODI 11523076

Incidents of phantom braking: We took our brand new Tesla model Y on a road-trip from Saint Helena CA to Scottsdale AZ and back. We had several incidents of the car slamming on the brakes while in cruise control due to mistakes in recognizing an actual reason to brake. May 11, in Arizona on highway 60, single lane road, we were in the right lane heading east when a large white pickup approached in the left lane. Our car mistook the approaching vehicle as a potential collision and slammed the brakes. This occurred a second time with another approaching vehicle at which point we ceased using cruise control. May 17 return trip on highway 10 in the morning, as I was driving with cruise control on, two lane highway, I approached a swale in the road with a change in pavement color. Gray concrete color contrasted with the blacktop patches in the upslope of the swale and the car slammed on the brakes. Same day, same highway, I was in the left lane having passed a slower vehicle. There were two cars behind me, waiting to pass. I put on the right turn signal and began to move into the right lane. There were a series of white jersey barriers on either side of the road. The car mistook these as a potential collision, slammed on the brakes and pushed me back toward the left lane. I applied the accelerator and forced it back into the right lane, avoiding a collision with the cars behind me. May 18 driving north on highway 5, multi lane highway and as my wife was driving and crested a hill there was a wire hanging across the road. In the center of the wire was a camera or some other device. While the wire was at least 6 feet over us, the car mistook it for an obstruction and slammed on the brakes.

NHTSA ODI 11523010

Our car experienced unexpected and sudden braking on 3 occasions. #1: We were in cruise control (cc) and the car was going through a town and the brakes were applied suddenly (5/4/23). It accelerated again on its own. The other two incidents were on 5/8/23) #2: In CC, on a two lane highway. Tesla passed a semi in opposite direction (had plenty of clearance) and car braked suddenly. We were no where close to the semi. #3: Not in CC, on a 4 lane highway, we moved over into another lane to give a bicycle clear berth. Car braked suddenly. In #2 and #3 we had passed other semis and bicycles in tighter situations and braking did not occur. No accident occurred altho we had a car behind us in #2. Will be bringing car into Tesla on 5/20/23 to have them look at the car.

NHTSA ODI 11521691

Driving at 80mph with cruise control on in daylight, car suddenly for no reason braked hard, this occured 2 times hard and several other times enough to alert us while driving and take Cruise Control off by touching brake pedal Car went immidiately from 80mph to 60mph throwing us forward in our seats.

NHTSA ODI 11520864

1)2 weeks into owning the car had a powertrain error message which was fixed by replacing the front drive unit oil pump. 2)Static noise behind the display unit was due to the harness of the circuit not being tightened properly. 3)Left hand drive side LatheralLink bolt was loose and dropped off while making a turn. Right hand LatheralLink bolt was not tightened to the recommended torque. Lefthand driver side Latherallink was replaced and bolts have been tightened. I have updated the invoices, videos and pictures of the 3rd issue. Have requested Tesla to replace my car with a new one as I do not feel safe in the car nor do I feel safe having my family in the car. I have raised this issue with Tesla on Saturday (April 30) and have not heard back from them. I could not upload the video of the issue that I have captured on my phone in this ticket. Please let me know how to share that via an email.

NHTSA ODI 11519968

Dear Sir/Madam, I was cruising on autopilot on the highway at close to 80-85MPH and the brakes were suddenly applied bringing down the speed to less than 60MPH. There were cars behind me within the same lane(fortunately at a safe distance) and there were no cars in front of me for at least a mile or either on the side. The hard brake being applied unexpectedly, even without cars or obstacles in the front or side lanes, felt very unusual on autopilot mode. I would like to get this checked as to what is causing this issue as a priority as it can pose to be a real hazard if this happens in a packed highway lane or if any other driver is driving the car unaware of the issue. Regards, [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ODI 11519975