NHTSA Complaint #11458359 — 2021 TESLA MODEL Y

While driving on the highway from Ohio to Arizona in December and returning to Ohio in February when using the adaptive cruise control, my car would suddenly and without warning brake and felt as if it would stop if I had not pushed the accelerator. I drove a total of 10 days, and it happened on some days two or three times, once happening five times. Luckily when it happened the traffic was light, but if someone had been behind me, I'm sure there would have been a rear end collision. It caused my wife and me to lurch forward from the sudden deceleration, and our seatbelts kept us from hitting our heads. When I got home, I reported it to Tesla by phone and was told that someone would get back to me. On March 24 I received an email, stating that "this behavior is a known limitation" and "Traffic-Aware Cruise Control may react to vehicles or objects that either do not exist or are not in the lane of travel, causing Model Y to slow down unnecessarily or inappropriately." Tesla did not offer to remedy the problem, saying only that "The braking behavior will improve over time with software updates." Tesla suggested that somehow I did something wrong, when it stated: "When using Autopilot features it is the driver’s responsibility to remain aware and be ready to take corrective action at all times." There was no corrective action to take except for the sudden braking of the car.