2018 TESLA MODEL 3 Forward Collision Avoidance Adaptive Cruise Control Problems

I drive along the highway and all of a sudden while I'm in adaptive cruise control my car brakes suddenly for no reason.

On multiple occasions while my car was in Autopilot mode on highways and at highway speeds, I have experienced rapid braking (phantom braking) when there was no apparent reason for such. All of the phantom braking events have occurred on sunny days, usually around mid-day. Most often, the events have occurred when approaching a bridge or overpass. My supposition is that the system is mistaking dark shadows under bridges as obstacles that need to be avoided. As a result of the frequency of these events, I no longer use the system on sunny days.

1. Phantom Breaking when on Adaptive Cruise Control. 2. Many times , unexpectedly there will sudden application of brakes, or slowing down of car when on highway and with speed in range of 55-65 mph. 3. Mostly this happens when big truck comes in front or passing thru a bridge. 4. Many times I am not able make any reason of this sudden brakes. 5. Many times due to sudden deacceleration , I have a car following in back, came very close , and honking.

The contact owns a 2018 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at 60 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated to 40 MPH. There was no warning light illuminated. The accelerator pedal was depressed and the vehicle responded and accelerated as needed. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer however, the mechanic was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The dealer also informed the contact that the failure was a known issue and that the manufacturer had been made aware of the issue. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 14,484.

On several occasions, with Autopilot engaged my 2018 Tesla Model 3 has strongly applied the brakes while traveling at highway speeds, despite the fact that there were no obstacles up ahead. This has occurred throughout my ownership of the vehicle, and in each instance, it has been extremely unsettling. It required me taking manual control of the vehicle in order to return to highway speed. I do believe that on these occasions my safety and that of my passengers and other motorists has been at risk. It is worth noting that each time this has occurred there has been an overpass up ahead. I have hypothesized that the Autopilot interprets either the overpass or the shadow cast by the overpass as an obstruction. In my experience there is an apparent correlation here that is worth exploring. I was motived to report my experience after reading today's NY Times article (2/17/2022)...

As others have reported, please add my 2018 Model 3 to the list of reports of the vehicle having constant phantom breaking issues that Telsa needs to address. I'm glad you are conducting this investigation. Most times phantom breaking occurs I submit a "Bug Report" using the voice button in the car that sends car logs directly to Tesla so they will have records of these phantom breaking issues at the exact time and location my car experienced it. While it is random it also is very predicable at certain spots on highways I drive in the Bay Area. Namely 680 South in the HOV lane right before the Mission Blvd. exit. At least 90% of the time even I'm the only car in that stretch of road the car breaks hard for no reason. It is occurs so often in that section that I typically disconnect the Advanced Cruise...

My 2018 Tesla model 3 experiences “PHANTOM BRAKING” specifically and repeatedly traveling eastbound on the Loop 202 approaching 32nd street in Phoenix AZ. I have reported this issue to Tesla with no resolution.

While driving to work, in 2021, I had experienced sudden deceleration and disengagement of the autopilot. It happened a few times. I have ignored it thinking it to be an electronic glitch. I did not know how to report to Tesla. But since I was sharing my data with them, I thought they will pick up some issue and alert me if there is really something malfunctioning. But I just found out that other customers has had similar issues and that I could report it to NHTSA, therefore I am reporting it albeit delayed.

Was on highway using full self-driving feature when my car suddenly braked hard and in other instances I received a forward collision warning to take immediate action. These incidences (1/17/2022 & 2/6/2022) occurred when no cars were in front of me. I do not feel safe using this feature.

While using Tesla autopilot on surface streets, the car will randomly brake. Additionally, it frequently thinks that green lights are red and will stop the car at an intersection which can cause an accident as other cars will not be stopping.

When I use auto pilot on freeways, the car will suddenly brake, when there are no vehicles or obstructions in front of me. The sudden reduction in speed is jarring, as I fear getting rear-ended. This "phantom breaking" has happened on numerous occasions, to the point that I do not use auto pilot when I have other passengers in the car.

Many times when I am driving using the adaptive speed control the vehicle will suddenly brake very hard, slamming on the brake, scaring the driver and all passengers in the car. When this happens, there were no other vehicles near our vehicle at the time. If another car was behind mine at this time,I feel that it would surely have caused an accident. I have documented these occurrences each time and brought to the attention of Tesla Service department.

I drive twice a week from Washington DC to Charlottesville, VA, a distance of 117 miles each way. 35 miles are on an interstate and 82 miles are on a divided 4-lane state road. Since I restarted this commute in September 2021 after Covid shutdowns and summer break, I have experienced recurring, frequent problems with the car's vehicle warning system, adaptive cruise control, and forward collision notification system. When I drive on the interstate (where there is currently a great deal of construction), the adaptive cruise control keeps automatically adjusting my speed when there is no speed limit change. So I might be traveling at 65 mph when my speed is suddenly lowered to 30 mph. There are no warnings, either visual or audio. The speed just changes. This is incredibly dangerous and requires me to be hyper-vigilant to avoid a rear end collision, or to turn off the cruise...

Car randomly brakes very hard when using driver assistance systems. This has happened on wide open roads on clear days, multiple times.

Tesla introduced blind spot camera availability with the release of Version 11 software. When the driver switches lanes while in autopilot by engaging the turn signal stock at night, the built in turn signal led above the repeater camera blinds the camera by washing out and degrading the camera picture as the turn signal led turns on and off. This has been remedied in newer model year cars as shown in the following youtube video-- https://youtu.be/_BUPsjguqdY This is a safety hazard to vehicle occupants as well as the driver of the vehicle as the repeater camera is being blinded by the turn signal led.

When the vehicle is in autopilot, it sometimes (once every couple of months or so) will suddenly engage automatic braking as though there is an obstacle detected in front of the vehicle. In nearly every instance, this has happened at one particular location on an interstate where an overpass casts a shadow on the interstate on which the vehicle is located. The problem seems to be that the vehicle senses an object in front of it and the collision avoidance system is engaged; however, that "object" is only a shadow. This has happened in a few other locations (not simply this where this one overpass is).

When driving with the driver assist Auto Pilot active it's possible to disengage Auto Pilot but Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) remains active. When Auto Pilot is active the auto pilot system has control of the car including navigation, maintaining the lane, and speed. Speed can be set by the car or driver. In some cases disengaging auto pilot disables TACC , in other cased TACC remains active. A driver may be caught off-guard when the car continues forward at the set speed after disengaging auto pilot. This difference in behavior can surprise a driver and that puts every other driver in the area at risk. Ways to disengage Auto Pilot : 1) Press up on the right-side stalk (also used to engage TACC & Auto Pilot) on the steering column behind the steering wheel. When pressing up on the stalk Auto Pilot and TACC are both disabled. 2) Step...

Several times I am driving on the Highway at 65 mph and the car decelerates rapidly for no reason while I am in the drive assist mode. I have reported this several times to Tesla through the "report bug" feature in the car. It's very scary and dangerous. Additionally the drive assist mode doesn't work well in dense fog or rain and there should be a warning to that effect.

Over the last several weeks there have been numerous phantom braking events when on autopilot. These seemingly happen out of nowhere, various conditions, and for no apparent reason. Some of the braking events are very light and others are harder. I estimate in the last 4-6 weeks I have 2-3 per week while commuting. One almost caused the person behind me to rear end me. I am on software version 2021.32.22 on a 2018 Model 3

Multiple "phantom braking" events while using Tesla's Auto Pilot system. Vehicle, while in Auto Pilot mode, will suddenly aggressively brake for no reason (no road hazards or other imminent dangers). Occurs about once every 50 miles driven with Auto Pilot on. The last incident occurred on 11/14/21

I was driving on interstate, using adaptive speed control but not autopilot. Middle lane. Car suddenly applied brakes. A car was ahead of me but not very close, there was no reason to apply brakes. Slowed down from 65 to 45 very fast, (seatbelt tightened) before I resumed acceleration myself. Lucky I wasn’t rear ended because traffic is usually heavy in that area. I had one passenger who was as surprised as I was. Yes, the car can be inspected. Not reported to Tesla. No warning messages, including didn’t make the loud sound Tesla makes with normal city driving if a car ahead is turning right and I start to accelerate before it has completely left the lane I am in. Tesla cameras are also not seeing cars traveling in my driver side blind spot. They used to show up on the screen but haven’t for months. Tesla cameras also...

On enhanced auto pilot highway speeds, the vehicle suddenly breaks, also known as phantom breaking. Extremely dangerous! Tesla service notified, their response “software is in beta, with a recent software update addressing the matter”. 35,000 of driver miles experienced, the auto pilot is extremely glitchy. When the algorithm is to complicated the vehicle well transfer the liability back to the operator with little warning. Their vehicle safety claims are highly overstated. Software updates cannot keep up with outdated hardware.

The Tesla Model 3 manual is unclear on what situations it is appropriate to use various ADAS functions of the car. For instance, on page 86, it says to never use autosteer on city streets or construction zones. Then on page 87 it says "if you choose to use it on residential roads" which should never be acceptable. Then, on page 94, it discusses the use of Traffic Light and Stop Sign control, and how the vehicle will detect and stop for these controls when using autosteer. These are controls which only exist on city streets. It is impossible to utilize this advertised feature while obeying the manual's other limitations. The same conflicts exist in areas such as page 87, where it first says that the vehicle may steer out of a lane to avoid an object, but then immediately warns that that the car will not do this in...

Within the first day, my 2018 Tesla Model 3 lost all instruments, safety indicators, and touchscreen controls while driving on the freeway. The car did this *multiple* times, without warning. Each incident lasted several minutes. It was alarming, and there was no way to tell what systems in the car were working (such as automatic emergency braking or cruise control), and no way to change settings, or even know if the turn signals were working as I tried to exit the highway. The Model 3 has only one screen where everything (including basic instruments) is displayed and most controls are accessed. When the screen freezes, we lose access to basics like speedometer, collision safety or system failure warnings or even speedometer readings, as well as control of headlights, wipers, climate control, lock / unlock, navigation, and many other essential functions. During these failures, we do not know what if any...