NHTSA Complaint #11468422 — 2018 TESLA MODEL 3

On June 1, 2022, we left on a roadtrip to CA from UT. Our Model 3 kept having incidents of "phantom braking," in which the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autopilot systems would suddenly, inexplicably cause the car to slam on the brakes, and sometimes even flash a "red" steering wheel and an alarm with a warning that there was an object ahead —when there was NOT! This happened at least a dozen times en route on Highway 95 in Nevada, and continued to happen throughout our roadtrip on other highways until we returned home one week later on June 8, 2022. I have experienced this problem several times over the past year, and numerous other owners have already submitted similar complaints to NHTSA. Indeed, the TACC and AP behaviors are now significantly WORSE than when we first took delivery of the car over 4 years ago in April 2018. It is as though the car suffers hiccups, spasms, Tourette's Syndrome without any warning. I fear that one of these times we will be rear ended by a car behind or to the side of us. I can only speculate as to why this has started to happen, but suspect it is because Tesla decided to stop using its radar sensors a year ago and now only relies on its cameras. These incidents truly frighten my wife to death, so much so that she wants me to get rid of the car. I can't say I blame her, as the problems with the car's TACC and AP systems are now making it unsafe on our highways. If Tesla doesn't restore reliable, dependable, safe TACC and AP in the near future, I will get rid of the car.