NHTSA Complaint #11536046 — 2023 TESLA MODEL Y

On 8/1/2023, driving between Mojave, California and Inyokern, California on highway 14, a newly paved and striped highway being followed by a Mercedes Van, I was doing 70 in a 65 zone. No traffic in front of us. No road signs. No turn outs. No side roads. No bridges, overpasses or underpasses when suddenly the car braked from 70mph to 48mph before I pressed down on the accellerator to keep the Mercedes from hitting us. the front end of the Mercedes dipped as he hit the brakes hard and he honked his horn which is what I would have done under similar circumstances. In the next half hour we experienced the phantom braking phenomenon five more times before my wife found complaints about "phantom braking", a phenomenon we'd never heard of or had been warned about. We turned off the Automatic Emergency Braking and experienced no more events until after stopping in Lone Pine for charging. When we reentered the highway we experienced one more event before turning off the Automatic Emergency Braking system, once again. Hours before we'd been in Southern California driving on Highways 5, 101 and 405 cruising along at 70 with traffic close in front and behind us. If the phantom braking had occured there, we might not be here today. Calling the Tesla dealership in Reno the salesman was non-plussed about our experience and informed us we should be ready to hit the accellerator at all times. This is not an acceptable response to what could easily have been a major accident.