2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Forward Collision Avoidance Adaptive Cruise Control Problems

This summer while driving on interstate highways the Adaptive Cruise Control (with and without all other driver assistance/autopilot features enabled or disabled) would unexpectedly brake the car, slowing down by 10 or more MPH over 1-2 seconds, with no obstructions or vehicles in front of the car for hundreds of meters at least. This happened repeatedly, and we believe we correlated it to cases when the car came up over a low rise or bridge, and there was bright sun creating a small mirage in the distance on the highway in front of the car without any other vehicle in between to block the view. This seems to be a safety issue because at highway speeds, unexpected braking is very disruptive and startling to the driver, the passengers as well as anyone following behind who may not react in time especially on a clear sunny day with no obvious obstructions...

While using the traffic-aware cruise control in my Tesla model 3, going down the highway with cruise set at 75 and no cars around, the Tesla suddenly braked unexpectedly and with no visible cause. I then googled for similar tesla experiences and saw the gov was investigating this on 2021 and 2022 models, however my car is a 2017 or 18 and exhibited the same situation.

Multiple times when using the Auto-Pilot feature the brakes will engage and dramatically slow down the car for no reason. This has probably happened 5-10 times. At this point it is getting concerning. Luckily, no cars have been following me closely enough to cause an accident, but I'm afraid that this will occur at some point unless this is fixed. I am usually driving on the highway and there is nothing in front of me and the brakes will engage. On the screen I see arrows in the passing lane flowing in the opposite direction. I'm not sure what this means or if this is triggering the brakes.

While driving on a four-lane Interstate Highway and using the adaptive cruise control, the car suddenly decelerated with no obvious cause. We were well behind the car in front of us -- the cruise control was set to 7 car lengths. I pressed the accelerator as soon as I could to resume speed. Fortunately, there was no vehicle close behind us, but a vehicle closely tailgating might have crashed into us.

While in Cruise control: I.e.going 70 + mph, when passing large trucks (18 wheelers) the vehicle will hard break down to 50 mph. Vehicles traveling behind don’t expect this and are barely able to stop from hitting into my back end. Only happens with large 18 wheelers, seems to be Trucks that are white in color. It has happened several times previously, stopped at dealer, told nothing wrong, record if it happens again.

Car frequently brakes for no apparent reason when driving on the freeway. This happens when either adaptive cruise control only or autopilot is used. For example, it has happened on a divided highway during daytime, in good weather, with clear lane markings, with no obstructions. It also happens sometimes when certain road signs come into view, such as "Caution" or "Men Working". There was no phantom braking problem with the car prior to 2021, when a software change was made. It is scary and dangerous for the car to slam on the brakes without any reason. I have stopped using adaptive cruise control or autopilot because of the risk of being rear-ended on the freeway.

Very recently Tesla had a standard software update for the car. They happen all the time. There was no warning with this update (or any update I’ve seen) about removing paid for features if you install the update. This one disabled my radar and turned my radar based autopilot I specifically bought this car for into vision based autopilot. I paid $15k for full self driving and never requested the beta to use it because I specifically did not want to disable my radar because of safety concerns. They did it anyway now, and without warning. It phantom brakes now all the time and it never used to and the general autopilot performance is worse and unsafe. I can’t use it reliably anymore and Tesla refuses to downgrade the firmware or do anything to re-enable my radar and I’m absolutely livid. This is a $75k car that I got for...

On Sept. 9th, around 9:05pm, my wife was on the driver's seat, FSD was engaged. so the Tesla model 3 car was driving itself on highway 395 close to susanville. Then suddenly a car coming, we had a head-on collision, the other car's front left hit our front left. The other driver passed away, my wife and I got serious injuries, we are recovering from 3 surgeries. 1.FSD did not give alert or warning, 2.FSD did not break the car, 3.FSD did not slowing down the car 4.FSD did not change direction of the car. 5.FSD just kept the speed and direction. “Disabling FSD” needs time, my wife did nothing, because there was only few 10th of a second. But I am afraid if she was driving without engaging FSD, she might be able to steer the car slightly to the right to avoid the accident. CHP will pull data...

Constant "phantom braking" occurrences despite great conditions (sunny, no wind, good visibility, low traffic) during a road trip that was two hours both ways. Typically happened when coming to the crest of small hills, or when "road mirages" due to light refraction, or when a car in the distance just became noticed by the vehicle. Happened both on divided highway and two lane highways. Several braking occurrences were pronounced enough to be likened to not quite slamming on the brakes, but definitely applying them firmly. This, besides being terrifying and attention grabbing, itself a safety issue, it could also mean close following vehicles may have to react in such a way to also apply brakes heavily at highway speeds which could cause a rear end collision or swerving to avoid my vehicle. I also get little to no warning it's about to happen, until it does, no alarms go off,...

My Model 3 often breaks for no reason when using autopilot on freeways. Even though there is no vehicles around my car, the car "phantom brakes" often causing me to slow down extremely fast with no warning.

As I enabled the FSD Beta ADAS system, the vehicle accelerated inappropriately quickly away from a 90 degree stop. While continuing on the road, the vehicle braked inappropriately for oncoming cars within their lane, inappropriately braked within intersections, inappropriately braked for turn radius, and was unable to avoid a closed road marked with signs and cones. Steering input was erratic, and I believe the vehicle created an unsafe condition for myself and the vehicle following me. There were no AEB or FCW alerts, the system did not display any error messages, and appeared to be operating fully.

On a recent trip from northern califorina to southern california, I experienced 5 episodes of phantom braking, that involved my brakes being applied at 75 miles per hour when no other vechiles were around me. This also happened 3 days later 4 times when traveling from southern california to my home in northern california. all incidents happened on hwy I--5 I have contacted Tesla service and they tell me nothing is wrong after checking vehicle logs. I believe this is a known issue, that is why i am reporting it. my first trip was sep 1st and second trip was sept 4th In all incidents adaptive cruise control was engaged

During use of Full Self Drive vehicle brakes unexpectedly. Sometimes vehicle studder brakes and other times hard brakes. This has caused a concern with drivers following me as well as passengers I'm my car. Also on a two lane road with double yellow while stopped in traffic, vehicle attempts to exit lane to pass stopped vehicle, in essence breaking the law.

Traffic aware cruise control (TACC) frequently and sometimes violently brakes when there are no obstacles. This potentially puts the safety of myself, passengers, and other drivers at risk during these events. This events occur without warning. Since the purchase of my vehicle in 2018 the events have gotten worse through software updates. I would expect improvements through subsequent updates not a regression.

Driving down the freeway with Autopilot engaged and the autopilot started hard braking in the middle of the road going 70mph. No accidents occurred but it was a very dangerous situation

While driving my vehicle, no matter if I am on the interstate, country roads, side roads the vehicle will brake for unknown reasons. It will go from 65mph to 35mph, or 55mph to 45mph, etc. This happens whether in cruise control, auto drive or manual drive. It also will brake behind trash trucks with their flashing lights on, intersection flashing lights or warning flashing lights on the side of the road. It has also done it at night with oncoming vehicles. This is a daily occurrence. I have contacted Tesla service center on a few occasions and I am always told it is a computer issue, there is nothing that can be done. This is an extreme SAFETY issue and can cause a rear-end accident or another type of accident. I can not believe this issue has been going on for years and Tesla can not come up with a...

I was driving in rain with lane keeping assistance enabled. As the car followed a curve, my tires began to hydroplane and the front end began to lose directional control and drift to the right of my direction of motion. I overrode assisted steering and attempted to keep the front end aligned with the rear so as to avoid a spin. At this moment, I felt the adaptive cruise control add torque to the rear wheels which pushed the rear tires out from behind and aggravating the planing, and defeating my effort to keep the car aligned. I suppose I then fully disabled the cruise control, but the car had already rotated too far to recover directional control, and it spun 180 degrees (front wheels trailing the rear wheels.) This continued briefly until turning tail first up an earth embankment before coming to rest. There were no cars immediately near...

Phantom braking that causes the vehicle to suddenly apply the brakes for no reason. Issue occurs at least once each time I use the Autopilot. Occurs on interstates as well as highways. In my 6 hour drive today it happened 5 times. Each time the vehicle decreases in speed by 15-30mph. This is extremely dangerous for vehicles following behind and for the passengers who are suddenly jolted.

I have noticed unwarranted braking while using cruise control. I have been able to confirm at least some of it is due reconstruction of the highway. At certain places the car thinks I am on an exit ramp with a 45mph limit when I am actually on the main highway. It then suddenly slows the car until I correct it using the accelerator.

After purchasing the Autopilot feature on February 9th, 2022, on our first trip next day (Feb 10th), we experienced phantom braking with adaptive cruise control turned on, barely avoiding a hit from the rear by a truck in Toledo, OH. Later, during same trip, we experienced phantom braking with both ACC and Autopilot features turned on, and stopped using them out of safety concerns. After a new occurrence, while on cruise control on June 4th, I informed Tesla service in Clarkston, MI, but no repair, deletion of Autopilot and reimbursement was possible as I requested. We never had similar issues form November 2nd 2018 to February 9th 2022 (44.159 miles) , before purchasing and installing Autopilot.

The car brakes by it and accelerates by it. Some time it says I am not holding the steering wheel and it cancels the autopilot in the middle of the long distance driving. The defective cabin camera does not see the hand position at all and randomly keeps on distracting from the front road view to the screen which is not in the same line as the road. Too many errors of auto pilot are very frustrating and distracting. The Tesla’s team tries to repair something and keeps on blaming their own departments not to fix things correctly. I have tried many times to make an appointment thru their app which is very buggy and it’s like one way communication. I have multiple recalls on my car but they don’t have time or parts to fix it. They will not allow making any weekend or within 20 mile radius service...

Driving today on I45 between Dallas and Houston on beta autopilot I was traveling at the speed limit of 75 with much room to the next car, maybe 1/2 mile the car suddenly did a panic breaking for no reason. I took control by the time it was at about 30 mph and got back up.to speed but I'm positive the car behind me was alarmed. No damage or incident but it was quite alarming.

Going down an undivided single lane each way roadway at 55 MPH car suddenly hard braked and car behind me almost hit me. Most of these I don't report since it's normal for Tesla FSD or adaptive cruise to be incapable of maintaining reasonable speed for a day trip - this was worse than usual and almost resulted in an accident.

Cruise control was engaged at 70mph. Auto without warning while traveling suddenly started severe braking. Driver was only guiding steering at the time ( foot did not touch brake). The dual lane highway was level and straight. There were no other vehicles in sight. The skys were overcast so there were no shadows. There were no overpasses. I have had this happen several times when autopilot is engaged but never when just cruise control activated. Sudden braking like this at high speeds could cause a vehicle following this auto to rear end that could cause the loss of control of this vehicle that would cause a life threatening event to occur.

The optional "Self Driving Option" we purchased for an additional $8,000 when we purchased this vehicle has never worked properly. The adaptive cruise control will brake for no reason, often multiple times per mile. It seems to be affected by shadows on the road and the vehicle mistakes these shadows for obstacles. The "Self Driving Option" will abruptly jerk the steering wheel in the direction of oncoming traffic and violently disengage. My wife and I find it to be unusable. Multiple service requests to Tesla have resulted in no actions.

The recent full self driving update that was received approximately one week ago has resulted numerous, substantial, and dangerous Self driving errors. The Vehicle struggles greatly to understand lanes and has on multiple occasions suddenly and without warning jerked the wheel to completely change lanes and then re-jerking the wheel to change back into the Original Lane. There has also been a shocking increase in phantom breaking while driving at highway speeds which is unsafe because other nearby drivers may slam on the brakes. The behavior of the vehicle has a times been so erratic that I could’ve gotten a ticket from an officer. Finally, the vehicle increasingly does not understand lanes and has several times veered into a left turn lane despite having a follow vehicle and despite being on a navigational Straight path, subsequently the vehicle then suddenly jerks the wheel back into the correct lane. This all...

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...

When driving on local roads and the interstate the card suddenly brakes for no reason when using auto pilot or full self driving. Sometimes it seems to be triggered by shadows from trees or other objects on the road and other times for no reason at all. I have been going 45 mph and the car suddenly braked to 30mph. I have been on the open interstate doing 70 mph when the car will suddenly and violently brake when there is a car on your bumper and this is very dangerous. If you dont keep your foot over the gas while driving and force the car to speed up it will cause an accident bc it will brake until the car is stopped probably. Somone needs to look into tesla and the phantom braking on auto pilot and full self driving. i have owned this car for almost 4 years...

NHTSA forced Tesla FSDBETA to remove “Rolling Stop” behavior at clear intersections. This has caused me to be continually honked at, drivers aggressively passing my slow FSDBETA car. The decision by the NHTSA has caused my car to be more UNSAFE by impeding proper traffic flows. NHTSA should be focused on improving safety and not traffic law enforcement. This complaint is directed at the improper decision and solely on the NHTSA to lift the guidance to Tesla. As a customer I now feel my car is unsafe to drive due to your decision.

Multiple instances of phantom braking and slow down while driving on Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) and/or Autosteer mode of the Autopilot feature. In addition, the lane keeping assistance feature gives phantom warnings even though the car stays in the lane.

I saw the reports on all the auto breaking issues with tesla, and i wanted to report for over a year my car does this ALL the time when auto pilot is engaged. I can remember hundreds of times where there is nothing around and all of a sudden the car auto breaks and its hard breaking as though im slamming on the breaks.

Driving while on cruise control, the car will phantom brake. That is, it will apply the brakes: - when a vehicle is way way out there in my lane and not a potential problem. - when two vehicle are close on each left and right side lanes, but not in my lane. For instance, when on 3 lane road with all lanes going the same way, vehicles on my left and right sides out in front of me but not in front of me, the car will suddenly apply the brakes. These are just the most common instances. I get lots on incidents of the vehicle unnecessarily applying the brakes when on cruise control.

I intermittently get an on-screen message “automatic emergency braking is disabled.” Adaptive cruise control and auto-steering are disabled and I am unable to engage either one. Randomly the problem will resolve itself with no intervention from me - usually a day or two later. I have taken the car to Tesla service twice and they are unable to resolve the issue. On the last visit the service technician said that it is a firmware issue.

Car slammed on brakes as we were overtaking truck. Car may have mistaken truck's shadow for an object; this was around noon on a clear sunny day. Braking was sharp enough to cause an accident had someone been following us closely.

While on auto assist car engages in phantom braking

Autopilot hard breaks whip lash randomly beeps saying take over when going through an intersection or next to a semi. Phantom breaking

While vehicle was engaged in autopilot and adaptive cruise control on the freeway in traffic it has intermittently accelerated toward the vehicle in front requiring the driver to abruptly manually press on brakes to disengage the adaptive cruise control in order to avoid colliding into the vehicle in front. It has also suddenly braked on the freeway when there was no object in front requiring the vehicles behind to abruptly slow in order to avoid collision to rear of the vehicle. This has happened multiple times over years. I did report it once to the manufacturer who could not explain or reproduce it. There were not warning messages or lights to demonstrate failure of the system.

The auto cruise control brakes hard suddenly for no reason !! This puts the car in danger from vehicles behind me as the very unexpected slow down. Also, the blind spot warning has no audible and the car in next lane is too close beforeit turns red on the scree. It's not safe to turn your viewing to the screen from the road to change lanes. I drive the old fashioned way to be safe by looking over my shoulder before changing lanes.

My Model 3 regularly brakes at highway speeds for no reason it does this in daylight but more frequently at night also - it appears more common in the rain - where reflections off the wet pavement seems to appear as solid objects to the cruise control i have stopped using the cruise control now - it is frightening to have the car suddenly slam on the brakes at highway speeds

My car is equipped with forward-facing radar, but ever since Tesla turned it off in favor of "Tesla Vision" my Autopilot/TACC experience has been greatly worsened. The car suddenly (and very unsettlingly) slams on the brakes on the highway or city traffic (I have FSD Beta) for anything from shadows, to hills/inclines, to curves, or minor harmless debris (shopping bags) in the road. This has not yet caused an accident but has almost come close. Other issues: - FSD Beta, when engaged, forces the computer to have control over the high-beams and windshield wipers. The car obsessively flashes the high beams whenever possible, including on well-lit city streets. On multiple occasions this has triggered road rage in surrounding drivers because they think I'm flashing my brights at them for no reason. There is no reason to engage the brights in a well-lit urban environment. - Forward Collision Warning has become...

While on adaptive cruise control, my car breaks on highway for no reason. Looks like it happens at certain parts of highways. I noticed this at at least 3 highways and it breaks unexpectedly causing the vehicles behind me to almost crash into me.

Everyday while I am driving on the highway, when the car is in cruise control, multiple times it decreases the speed drastically for no reason.

While traveling from San Diego, CA to Louisiana on the self-drive mode the car abruptly stopped in traffic 3 times (while this was at night there was no concern for an accident). On the return trip back home it did it 1 more time in the daylight hours, but this time there was an 18 wheeler behind me. We were doing the speed limit at the time, which was 75mph and it slammed on the brakes making me go from 75 mph to 60 in seconds. I was able to take control of the vehicle and get it back to highway speed before there was an accident.

On several occasions while driving with autopilot on the car has suddenly and inexplicably braked HARD while at highway speed. Each time there was nothing in the road, no car, no obstruction, no anything, but it was as if the car saw something that wasn't there and jammed on the brakes. I quickly took back over and returned to highway speed. Luckily we were not in heavy traffic or I would have been concerned about being rear-ended by another vehicle. I don't do a lot of road trips with the car and have used autopilot less as a result, but I would guess it has happened 4-6 times since I have owned the vehicle. I just thought it was a glitch that they would work out but just saw reports of others still experiencing this issue so thought I should report it so you were aware of the breadth of...

Since we purchased this car 3 years ago, when driving with the cruise control, it has in appropriately applied the brakes. This is a ongoing problem. This is a frequent occurrence (once or twice during 100 mile drives) mostly on 4 lane high ways. The most common situation where this happens is on a uphill rise in the highway and a overpass at the top of the hill. It can be a slight application of brake or a very strong application which is very dangerous with a large truck or close following car behind you. I only use cruise control to rest my foot on long rides and turn it off when approaching a over pass. There are other times it is turned on when a truck passes on the other lane or a car entering the high way from an entrance ramp that the white lines are worn out....

The software on the car is and has always been updated to the latest standard. Driving on east and westbound on US 60 near Phoenix and Mesa AZ the car will emergency brake from time to time. This condition has continued for years off and on and is still happening as of this week. Generally speaking it appears to be caused by shadows from the overpasses and is far more prevalent at low sun angles that create significant shadows leading up to those overpasses.. I don't recall it happening after dark. On several occasions I have submitted "bug" reports via Tesla's online automated system.

The car breaks automatically when neighboring cars drive by during autopilot. I have a family of 4. This appears to happen when using autopilot almost every single time. It has gotten worse over the years. This car is becoming dangerous.

While using Autopilot adaptive cruise control at speeds of 50-70 mph, the car suddenly applies the brakes even though there is no car or other hazard anywhere near the car. This phantom braking has been happening since I bought the car in 2018. I imagine it's a software problem. I read recently that NHTSA is investigating a similar problem on 2021 and 2022 Tesla Model 3s, so wanted to let you know that this problem is also affecting my 2018 model. Also I read that there's speculation that the problem was as a result of a software update over the past year, but in my vehicle the phantom braking has occurred since 2018. The problem most recently happened last week.

I read in the news that you are investigating phantom braking in cars without radar. I want to make sure you are aware that this is also affecting cars with radar. Each software update makes it worse as they seem to use the radar less and less.

The car has been suddenly slowing from 70miles/hr to 50 miles/hr on the highway when on autopilot. I’ve been noticing this for about 6 months