NHTSA Complaint #11621432 — 2024 TESLA MODEL Y

#Issue Description I experienced an issue with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system when a trailer hitch was attached to my vehicle. From what I observed, the FSD system appeared to detect the trailer hitch as an object in close proximity to the vehicle. This caused the vehicle to accelerate rapidly to the FSD maximum speed of 85 MPH, regardless of the road conditions or posted speed limits. This issue occurred when the lane markings were visible, but the hitch obstructed the rear camera’s view. On the FSD display, this obstruction was represented as a persistent “cloud” following the vehicle. I attempted to adjust the maximum speed limit manually to mitigate the acceleration, but this did not prevent the behavior. Each time I engaged FSD, the car would accelerate rapidly, even in situations where such high speeds were not appropriate for the road conditions. # Steps Taken to Resolve the Issue I covered the rear camera, which allowed FSD to function normally and prevented the rapid acceleration. The “cloud” visualization on the FSD display also disappeared once the camera was covered. # Trailer Mode Tesla offers a “Trailer Mode,” but I did not enable it since I was only using a hitch without towing a trailer. My understanding is that FSD does not operate in Trailer Mode. # Reference: This issue has been reported by other Tesla owners, as discussed here: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)