NHTSA Complaint #11489830 — 2020 TESLA MODEL 3

While driving on an open highway using the Tesla Auto Pilot (Adaptive Cruise Control, NOT Full Self Driving), we experienced 3 separate instances of unexpected braking. In each case, we were on flat terrain with no vehicles in front of us for hundreds of yards. The weather was sunny and warm with few clouds in the sky. We were driving westbound between 10am and 1pm at the time of the incidents. During the first incident, the vehicle began to brake sharply and violently enough to startle, awake and scare a sleeping adult passenger in the front passenger seat. From memory, the braking rapidly dropped our speed by 15-20 mph. Thinking it was a simple glitch, I attempted to re-engage the system two more times and the same type of behavior occurred each time. I drove the remaining hours of our drive without engaging Auto Pilot. After researching the issue following the drive, I learned of the "phantom braking" issue many customers have reported. We then reported the issue to Tesla and created a service appointment to check out the vehicle. Tesla responded back that the ran a full remote diagnostic and the vehicle has no hardware issues reported by any sensors and said the service appointment was unnecessary because there was nothing to look at.