NHTSA Complaint #11534104 — 2023 TESLA MODEL Y

To whom it may concern I was driving in a 2023 Model Y around 7:30 in the evening at less than 30mph. There was light rain in the area. As I was driving down a street in the metro Boston area, I noticed the car ahead of me had slowed and was stopping behind another car at a crosswalk. I had taken my foot off the accelerator and noticed that the car did not slow down at all and the regenerative braking did not function properly. Even as I attempted to brake, it seemed like the car would not stop in time. To avoid hitting the car in front of me, in a split second decision I swerved to the left so that I would avoid hitting any other car. My Tesla Model Y went over the median and struck a crossing light pole before coming to a stop. During the seconds leading up to this no preventative warning sounds came from the cars safety systems (eg.collision alert warning, emergency braking) although on most other days it often beeped even when there was nothing directly in front me. Thankfully I did not hit anyone else and we were not injured. However, this was a shocking and highly disconcerting event and could have been worse had the car been traveling at a higher rate of speed or if I had been on a different street without an option to swerve. A preliminary verbal report from Tesla in a phone call stated that "all systems were working as intended". I have made a formal request for driver and video data for that incident from Tesla and am still waiting to receive it. As of now, my Tesla has been considered totaled and a complete write off. It is only 2.5 months old. Having driven hundreds of thousands of miles in various cars over decades, I have never experienced anything like this. Why there was unintended acceleration in such a situation is extremely confusing and has greatly impacted my faith in Tesla at the moment.