Phantom breaking. When I am driving my vehicle in both cruise control, and autopilot I experience these very very dangerous symptoms. On 2 lane highways is the worst. When I see a semi truck oncoming my vehicle will go from the 65MPH speed limit and SLAM on the brakes sending me from 65-15 MPH immediately. Have almost been rear ended 10+ times in 3,000 miles of owning the vehicle! This is the most dangerous machine I have ever driven. Tesla needs to fix this. It has to do with them removing the radar and going to camera only autopilot. My other older teslas with radar do not do this. There’s no on at Tesla to talk to other than to tweet at Elon musk on twitter and hope he sees it. Ridiculous.
2022 Tesla Model Y complaints
Owner reports filed with NHTSA about this vehicle, newest first and reproduced as filed. They are unverified accounts: one proves nothing, and a pattern across many is the thing worth reading. Back to the full 2022 record →
With AutoPilot engaged both during the day and at night, though more frequently at night, and driving on two lane highways, the car automatically brakes sometimes very hard causing your neck to snap forward, whenever it detects oncoming traffic. This is amplified at dusk and at night. There is no warning or time to override this. Making the vehicle dangerous to driver, occupants, or cars travelling behind the Tesla. Tesla claims that this is a known issue, but other brands with similar safety mechanisms do not have this "Phantom Braking' condition.
Adaptive Cruise Control was unusable without consistent phantom breaking issues. Brand new car driving home a few hours I encountered phantom breaking on 2 lane and 4 lane highways during the night and during the day. It was so consistent that I basically could not use the cruise control at all as it was unsafe to have the car randomly break when at highway speeds with nothing in front of me and vehicle behind me. There is no way to turn off and leave off the adaptive part that effects the breaking and simply use a set speed cruise control.
Model Y consistently slams on the brakes while on standard cruise control mode despite there being no cars or hazards around the vehicle. It happens at highway speeds and is very frightening and it’s worrisome that it will one day cause a major accident if someone is ever following too close.
While adaptive cruise control is engaged, the system seems to incorrectly interpret a potential head-on collision and brakes hard and usually plays the alarm sound. I've had this car around two months and have found that this usually happens on a two-lane highway while traveling at 50-60 mph and when a box truck or larger is approaching from the opposite direction. It's worst when the sun is bright and casts a shadow of the truck and trailer across my lane. But it occasionally happens at night and when conditions are cloudy. I have to keep my foot over the accelerator pedal and force the car to keep speed, especially if there is a car close behind me. Otherwise, I'm scared I'll cause the tailing car to hit me. It's not as bad if there is a car in front of me. If no cars are in front of me, and cars are behind me, I'll disengage adaptive cruise in order to avoid causing a collision. I have not had Tesla look into this, however, I have seen comments online that others experience this problem as well.
Sudden abrupt braking for no reason when on adaptive cruise control and autopilot very dangerous for drivers behind me
AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING with Adaptive cruise control on. I was driving with adaptive cruise control on, at about 50 mph on a two lane road. the first experience I had was at dusk on a straight road when oncoming traffic with headlights seemed to trigger the braking system changing the speed of the car by about 10 mph repeatedly but not every car or truck. When I entered a curvy road section, it didn't trigger the brakes. The second experience was around noonish on a straight road, a large oncoming truck seemed to trigger the Automatic emergency braking and brought me suddenly to almost a stop from 50 mph. I looked behind me and saw no one close to rear ending me but it was scary to almost stop in the middle of my lane. no confirmation by dealer or service center, no inspection by others, no messages or other symptoms prior to the failure. No chimes or warning when it happened. The first experience appeared January 14, 2022 with approximately 350 miles on the new car. The second experience happened January 19th with approximately 450 miles on the car.
On January 19th, around 9:35-9:40am, while driving on Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon, the car jerked as if someone rear-ended it and then stopped abruptly in the middle of a busy road. The information screen displayed various error messages regarding battery and drive system. The stop was abrupt and we could have been seriously injured in busy traffic. This was a scary experience. The car had 260 miles range in the battery and no prior warnings/ messages indicating any problem. We called 911 and Tesla roadside assistance for help. San Ramon PD showed up and blocked the lane to avoid someone hitting our car. They had the car towed to the nearest Tesla Service Center in Dublin, CA. While waiting for the tow truck, we attempted to restart the car and computer system two times but the car did not go into "Drive" position to be moved. The service center is diagnosing the problem and have informed us that it could be a problem with the motor or drive terrain or inverter of the car. All these are major and crucial components on the car for safe and normal operation. Failure of any of these is catastrophic and can be fatal on freeway speeds or local roads if someone is following too closely and the car stops abruptly. We usually have kids in the car and this is a scary situation to imagine. This needs to be investigated in more detail by someone to find out how many card suffer this fate and how many accidents/ fatalities have been caused by something like this.
Driving on 2 Lane Rd. Using Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC). 45-50 MPH. Vehicle will brake suddenly when a large vehicle cement truck, school bus approaches in opposite lane. It also happens when I am passing a bicyclist on my right side. It also happens intermittently but not as severely when there is nothing around me. This is a very dangerous situation because of the possibility of a rear end collision caused by the sudden braking. It is a reoccurring problem. I have not contacted Tesla as I assume that was a known problem. There was no advance warning of the braking.
2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range frequently experiences "phantom braking" and false emergency braking. Even without the use of "autopilot," the vehicle will abruptly slow down or even hard brake. No warnings, no messages, nothing. Each time, there is nothing in front of the vehicle, no curves, clear weather, etc. In another scenario, such as driving down a neighborhood street with curves, it thinks you are going to hit a parked car, and slams on the brakes as well. At least here you do get an alert indicating what the car was thinking. Even though it was clearly mistaken. Had it properly accounted for steering position, would have realized there was no danger. This is all extremely dangerous and is just asking for an accident due to being rear-ended. In addition, there have been many complaints about this on the forum for years, and even the latest software updates have not resolved.
After taking the vehicle on a road trip through Canada, the vehicle’s heating and cooling system failed. We had been driving for ~15 hours. The error message was VCFRONT_a447 Cabin Climate control system requires service. This is a safety issue for traveling in cold climates as well as eliminating fog on the windshield that would cause a driver to lose visibility. A two button reset did not resolve the issue. A hard reset seemed to, but 15 minutes back onto the road, we saw the same error message again, and the heating no longer was warm. Please take action to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers.
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autopilot How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Yes. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? It has been confirmed by Tesla. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? No. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? No warning lamps or lights. The issue appeared a couple of days after I took delivery of my Tesla Model Y. Please read for details below. This car is UNDRIVEABLE due to its Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) System. Tesla does not provide a basic Cruise Control that just conforms to a set speed. A driver is left with no option but to use their TACC or Autopilot both of which are utter garbage. Every couple or so miles my Model Y slows down in the best case scenario or slams the brakes for no apparent reason in the worst case scenario. My car has made me and my passengers sick because of this issue. Not to mention that at multiple occasions while driving on a highway my car has slammed the brakes when there was NOTHING in front of it, almost causing the car coming behind me to almost rear-end us. This is dangerous and stressful for my family and I and for people who drive behind my car. This is a massive safety issue which
Vehicle was sold to me on 12/23/2021 (winter) in Paramus NJ. Tesla did not notify or otherwise inform me that this Performance Model Y comes with summer tires. A week ago my wife found she had little to no traction on wheels while going to work - she almost had an accident. A friend told me i might have summer tires. Tesla website has no info on this topic. After contact Tesla support they confirmed that this vehicle has summer Tires. I think Tesla is putting drivers in danger by letting them drive off the lot in summer tires during winter months and not informing them of it. Additionally, the summer tires immediately loose warranty when used in temperatures below 40 degrees.
Heat stop working in MN where the temperature are in the negative or single digit.
I drive on a 2 lane undivided highway/road. When I have cruise control activated I have severe braking occurring when I drive past any larger truck/bus. It has almost caused me to be rear ended on more than one occasion.
The side pillar cameras on the Tesla are not sealed and contain moisture. I live in Minnesota and this moisture will frost over in cold weather, thereby blocking these cameras and disengage autopilot while driving or make it unusable.
The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 50 - 60 MPH, the headlights inadvertently turned off for a few seconds. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that the computer data showed the high-beam was turning on and off but not the low-beam. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 440. Consumer stated the incident happened several (4 or 5) times during a 4 mile drive. Each incident’s time ranged from a few seconds to about 30 seconds.
The issue is with the standard self driving. When it is engaged while driving on the freeway it will randomly slams on the breaks. Very dangerous as someone could have rear ended me from behind. This occurs randomly and makes using this feature very dangerous!! I feel they should disengage the self driving until it gets fully tested.
I got hit very hard by a seat. Here is what happened: I was sitting in the right-side-2nd-row seat while trying to figure out how to adjust the left-side-2nd-row seat position in order to accommodate a child seat and look for a missing item. I had not brought in the child seat yet, I was still playing around with the controls to see if I understood how the seats could adjust and move. I couldn't figure out how to fold the seat down. The button at the top of the left-seat did not fold the seat. I thought that the 2nd-row-middle seat back rest might be blocking the folding, so I was able to release the middle-back-rest and folded that down. I crawled over to the left seat and searched around the side and found the button that could be pressed. With only a slight push, the seat released and very quickly came down and whacked me in the head, snapping my neck a bit. The hit was pretty hard, and it came at me very fast. I couldn’t really react. I was pinned briefly. My head hurt a bit, so I had to sit in the house for 2 hours to let the shock settle. On hindsight, I am lucky that the metal rod that connected to the middle seat did not whack me in the skull at that force, since I had exposed it by folding the middle back-rest down. I also think that the spring force might be too excessive, if my kid had triggered that while on the seat, the child might have been seriously injured. I may have been too complacent due to prior experience with other vehicles releasing the seat to fold f
What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? Answer: AutoPilot / TACC - over the first 800 miles I've used this car for, AutoPilot has not worked correctly in the day or night. There is a hesitation once every 5-10 miles. There is a forward collision warning without reason approximately every 20 miles, day or night. Upon request, the NHTSA may contact me and I will provide off-board videos of the claims within this complaint. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? Answer: There is a sudden braking for no apparent reason. There is a good possibility of being rear ended when behind a Vision only Tesla. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? The problem has occurred multiple times over the 700 mile ownership of the car. Tesla’s remote service team insists that “These are known limitations of autopilot in some conditions”. “Reviewing my vehicle it is not reporting any faults, all cameras are reporting calibrated and the pitch angles are within speciation.” A test drive to confirm these settings was offered and accepted. The test drive confirmed Tesla’s opinion that the car was fine. The car has received three software OTA updates since I’ve received the car and I have catalogued similar issues with every update. After having Tesla inspect the car, they returned it to me without confirming any changes. Issues persist after inspection. Has the vehicle or componen
Passenger side b-pillar camera has condensation inside the glass and does not allow for it to opperate.
Driving on two-lane highway, speed limit 55mph, with Tesla traffic aware cruise control enabled. Multiple instances of the car automatically applying heavy braking when cresting a hill or when a large vehicle oncoming. These incidents occurred when there was no traffic immediately ahead in my traveled lane. Luckily there wasn't a vehicle following me closely or I could've been hit from behind.
While on cruise control the car brakes aggressively with oncoming traffic and when passing large vehicles on the highway. No way to disable this feature to use a standard cruise control. This seems to be a problem mostly with large vehicles on the road.
When using cruise control on normal two way traffic roads during the day or at night: the car will brake aggressively because of proper oncoming traffic from the other lane. The system has been very poorly designed such that it only works on wide separated highways and there is no way to switch off this feature. I have already had two near accidents where the vehicle behind me didn’t expect my car to slow down so quickly for no reason. This is extremely dangerous.
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NHTSA publishes every complaint as the owner wrote it and investigates only a fraction. Spelling, capitalisation and judgement are the filer’s own. What carries weight is repetition: the same component failing the same way across many filings, and whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
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