2022 Tesla Model 3 complaints

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving 75 MPH, the braking system erroneously activated causing the vehicle to abruptly stop. The contact indicated that prior to the braking system activating, an audible beeping noise was heard inside the cabin. Additionally, there was no vehicle or object nearby to cause the Forward Collision Avoidance system to be activated. The cause of the failure was not determined. The local service center was notified of the failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 1,800.

When driving in cruise control on a 4 lane highway (2 in each direction) the car automatically went into a hard brake, slowing down approximately 20 mph. The car returned to cruise control and 5-10 seconds later did the same thing again. There were no cars within roughly 1/4-1/2 mile in front of the vehicle, but there were cars heading in the other direction in the lanes traveling the opposite direction.

- Cruise control and Autopilot are causing rapid and unneeded emergency braking. This issue essentially renders the car unable to reliably use basic cruise control capabilities - Unneeded braking can cause an unintended rear collision by someone following behind the vehicle, also raises blood pressure of drivers and passengers in the car when braking happens violently and unnecessarily. - Issue hasn't been reproduced. But others I've spoke with are experiencing this on the Tesla Model 3 - The vehicle hasn't been inspected by anyone. - There is no warning audibly or visibly in the car. However the problem seems to occur when the car can't determine if an oncoming car or other obstacle is in the actual lane of the direction of travel or not. My guess is that this has to do with the vision system that's tied into autosteer and cruise control

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at 70 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,000.

While using adaptive cruise control, the car suddenly braked on Interstate at 65 mph when no obvious obstruction was seen. There was one truck over 100 yards ahead in the slow lane. The braking occurred after I changed lanes to pass. There were no vehicles ahead in the passing lane. Despite a light rain, visibility was not overly affected.

Just purchased a new Tesla Model 3 (long range) yesterday. On the drive home, I engaged the cruise control after the car reached its required calibration distance of 50 miles. Occasionally, but without warning, the car would automatically apply the brakes with no car or other visible obstruction ahead of me on a long straight road. The brakes were applied so firmly that the car would have come to a complete stop within 200-300 feet if I had not engaged the gas pedal to stop the braking action. The suddenness of the braking forced the car behind be (my wife, who was following at a safe distance) to aggressively brake in order not to rear-end me. This happened 3-4 more times during the 120-mile drive home, so I finally disengaged the cruise control and "manually" controlled the accelerator by foot for the last 20 miles of driving, without further incident.

Potential computer system/programming issue. TACC autopilot issue. Highly numerous amount of 'phantom braking' events, potentially could cause loss of vehicle control and/or rear end collision. Also, auto-dimming headlights issue, in that oncoming drivers could experience blinding high-beam lights due to the fact that the lights do not dim automatically until the oncoming vehicle is very close. This is potentially a high risk for auto accidents. Again, high amount of phantom braking!!! These issues are ongoing issues, and started upon delivery of my vehicle, new, in December 2021. Tesla service will not address these issues.

When driving my husband's new Tesla on the highway for the first time, with adaptive cruise control on, there were two frightening incidents: 1) I was traveling in the left-most lane of a 3 lane highway (3 lanes in one direction) moderate traffic. I signaled my intention to change lanes, and started to migrate into the middle lane. There was an 18-wheeler in the right-most lane slightly ahead of me. The Tesla suddenly braked hard without warning. Either I or the Tesla also swerved back towards the leftmost lane (it happened very fast and I was panicked, so I'm not sure which of us initiated the swerve). The Tesla then seemed to recover from being "spooked", and accelerated back up to the set speed. 2) Later that day, I was traveling on a highway again, this time just two lanes in one direction. Traffic was light. The Tesla again braked suddenly, though there were no cars nearby, and then resumed speed. Additionally, when driving in moderate traffic in town, the Tesla let out loud alarms twice to alert me about cars it deemed I had not paid sufficient attention to as traffic slowed approaching a light. Cruise control was not on, and it did not brake, but it was startling. I usually drive a 2017 Volvo V60 with adaptive cruise and collision-avoidance technology, and it is MUCH less sensitive than the Tesla is.

While driving with the adaptive cruise control enabled or the autopilot enabled, the car will do a hard braking episode which may reduce the speed from 60mph to 40 mph about a fast as is possible without locking up the tires. This happens on four lane divided interstate driving as well as two lane undivided driving. In either type of driving, there may not be any traffic anywhere in site. The most common condition for the occurrence of the braking is while using the adaptive cruise control on a two lane highway and a large truck or farm vehicle approaches from the other direction while driving in the center of their lane. The car acts like it has detected a possible collision, annunciates the collision warning, and brakes hard. I am reporting this because it is obvious to me that this is a safety defect. If someone were following behind me, even at a range considered safe, the deceleration is fast enough to cause the car behind me to collide with me. These hard braking episodes will happen as many as 4 or 5 times in a full day of highway driving. Many smaller episodes of less dangerous braking occur throughout a full day of driving and I consider them annoyances. I received my new car in January of 2022 and have driven it 4300 miles. The car has exhibited this condition since the fist time I tried to use these features starting February 3, 2022. I will not use the cruise control or autopilot when passengers are in the car because it is very alarming to them when it happens. I

Drive Unit inverter failed. Yes my safety and the safety of my passenger and drivers behind me was at risk Problem was confirmed by Tesla repair center. They diagnosed this as the problem. No accident happened so no police, insurance reps, etc. Warning lamps came up after the car stalled. Or at least that's when I noticed them. while I was driving the car started jerking and came to a complete stop in traffic. No warning, just stopped. It wouldn't start or roll or anything and I was blocking traffic until I could get Tesla Roadside service to tell me on the phone how to put it into Transport Mode to push it to the side. This took 2 hours. My safety was DEFINITELY at risk. If I had been travelling at a high speed, it could have been fatal. The dealer/service center said it's the failure of the rear drive unit inverter and it was a US made part by Tesla. Warnings showed up on the screen but after the call stalled. It is currently at the dealership being replaced but now I am afraid to drive it as I have lost confidence in the company. I really hope you put pressure on Tesla to correct this problem. It is terrifying.

Can’t believe there are a few hundred reports of phantom braking. This is essentially a standard feature of the car. Nearly every other highway drive using autopilot the car will hard brake for nothing. Most recently was Tuesday around 11pm on highway 91 between hartford and new haven, CT. In the right lane of the highway traveling at about 67 mph the car abruptly hit the brakes. I am accustomed to hovering my foot over the accelerator so was able to reengage and regain cruising speed. Luckily no car was behind me or anywher near me. There was no overpass, exit ramp, flashing lights or anything else obvious that might have caused the hard brake. I’ll not while I’m here that the auto brights feature is bizarre and potentially dangerous. Autopilot turns on the brights when there are no cars immeadiately in front and this can only be disabled per incident. When is it ever a good idea to have the brights on on a 3 lane highway during normal traffic hours? Annoying, sure, but could actually cause problems distracting or blinding other drivers

I had multiple episodes of phantom braking while at highway speeds on cruise control. Most were small taps on the brakes that I could feel. There was one instance of a sudden 20mph drop from 67mph to mid forties and a second similar one they also resulted in the alarm within the vehicle going off. There were no vehicles, pedestrians, or other objects in the road in front of me and no reason for the car to brake.

In a 90 minute stretch of 2 lane highway on the way home from vehicle delivery, the car “phantom braked” for every semi-truck and most taller pickups which were approaching in the oncoming lane. At least 100 times on this maiden voyage. This unwarranted hard braking is unacceptable and unsafe.

Good evening, we took delivery of our Model 3 just over a week ago and have a big concern with Autopilot. Over a dozen times thus far, the car disengages Autopilot and begins to brake. This is MUCH worse at night when approaching hills or other cars and is very unsafe, especially for the people behind us. Is there a feature I can turn out to improve this? Perhaps add STD Cruise w/no emergency braking? Help!!!

On multiple occasions in different environments the autopilot system has randomly braked/slowed to a dangerous level. This has occurred during city and freeway driving. It has not yet caused an accident, but I am now hesitant to use the feature in most situations. There is little consistency or understanding as to when or why this occurs. Please analyze the situation and require Tesla to remedy this problem.

While driving down the freeway in auto-pilot this morning, I was in the middle lane and somebody in the right most lane put on their turn signal to indicate that they were planning on moving into my lane after I passed, but my car suddenly panic-stopped from 65 to almost zero all at once, and I almost got rear-ended. It completely scared me, and I disabled auto-pilot for the rest of my drive to work! My car’s only 5 days old, and I now have anxiety about its auto-pilot capabilities!

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would independently downshift while in cruise control while passing semi-trucks driving in the opposite direction of traffic. The contact stated that while driving to work on one occasion, the failure occurred fourteen times. The contact stated that there was a beeping sound coming from the vehicle during the failure. The contact had called a service center where he was informed that the failure was normal vehicle operation. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 0.

While driving on the highway my car suddenly decelerated almost to a complete stop while going 60+ mph. It happened when I went under an overpass and there was a dark shadow on the road due to the overpass. It also happened when I was driving in the direction of the sunset which caused a big glare on the road.

Phantom braking when using either cruise control or auto pilot. This happens during the day and night. If there is a car on the other side of road, it will brake very hard. This happens on one lane highways or large freeways. It is extremely dangerous especially if you have another car behind you. It will go from 80 mph to 50 mph in one second.

This vehicle has regenerative braking. It used to have an option to reduce the regenerative braking but software updates removed it. During recent snow and ice, when letting off the accelerator pedal the regenerative braking kicks in and causes the vehicle to become unstable. If regenerative braking had a low setting this could prevent the vehicle from becoming unstable on snow and ice every time the accelerator pedal is let go. It is very un-nerving driving like this

Just bought the car a few weeks ago. Have had several instances of phantom breaking. Can't drive down a residential street at 25mph as the cars parked along the side of the road cause the alarms to go off and the breaks apply themselves. Also happens when driving on 3 lane roads with a middle suicide lane and there is a truck parked in the middle lane suicide lane. The car will apply emergency braking just driving past the truck. Or past a school bus that is off the side of the road. Very irritating. My subaru has never done this. Multiple dates this has happened

Phantom braking occurs when 'autopilot - cruise control' is engaged, while traveling at highway speeds.

My vehicle is experiencing a significant number of phantom braking events. The issue seems to be primarily contained to two way roads, more often when traffic is coming from the opposite direction, more often at night, going through intersections, at the crest of hills, and when there's no lead car in front of me in my lane. Without a lead car in my lane on 2 way country roads, it's not uncommon for the vehicle to rapidly decelerate, somewhere between 10-30 mph for around 3-10 seconds per instance, at least once per mile or so driven.

I have reported to Tesla that my brand new 2022 Model 3 is braking and indicating far ward Colli on warnings when there are no issues present on the roadway. I have submitted well over 50 bug reports within the past month detailing these incidents when they happen. Each of these incidents are a safety hazard. Unexpected braking not only is scary, but also causes problems for vehicles following behind me. I’ve had other vehicles nearly collude with my vehicle from behind (due to my car quickly decelerating for no reason). I’ve also been on the receiving end of some road rage incidents because my car is slowing down for no reason, people think I’m brake checking them or trying to intentionally cause a rear end collision. I have sent my concerns to Tesla on three occasions. They have not investigated my specific claims and only respond to say that the behavior is “normal” for the software and hardware configurations within the vehicle. I’m not sure how a system that can be this unsafe can be considered “normal”

Phantom Braking

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Phantom breaking issues..very dangerous

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.