2021 TESLA MODEL 3 Forward Collision Avoidance Automatic Emergency Braking Problems

Brakes were automatically engaged and speed dramatically reduced on an otherwise deserted, two-line highway. Speed was reduced from 68mph to 30mph in a few seconds multiple times in the span of two hours. Adaptive cruise control was active at the time. This would put myself and any vehicles behind me in danger, so I disabled the feature for the remainder of the drive. The behavior has been reproduced multiple times since then, in various conditions. No warning lamps or other messages appeared at the time. I reported the problem to the manufacturer and schedule a service appointment. The manufacturer canceled this appointment, stating, "Our technicians will be unable to change this behavior."

I'm reporting a "phantom braking" incident that occurred while driving approximately 75 mph in the left lane of Interstate 10 just west of Casa Grande, AZ. (This section of the road had two westbound lanes.) "Traffic-aware cruise control" was set at approximately 75 mph. The Tesla slammed on the brakes for no reason (no vehicles were in front of me.) This was terrifying - luckily the vehicle that was directly behind me noticed and reduced their speed while I quickly pushed down on the accelerator. A collision was thus avoided. However, this could have been deadly for both my vehicle, the vehicle behind me, and so on. There was absolutely no reason for the car to apply the brakes - there were no obstructions in the road. My passenger can confirm the situation. I have had "phantom braking" occur with this Tesla including slowing down almost to a stop when...

There is serious issue with automatic emergency braking. My Tesla Model 3 2021 applied automatic emergency braking while on auto steer or cruising on single lane highway as well as on 4 lane freeways without anything ahead which required to brake. Fortunately, we were not being followed or tail gated closely. The speed reduced from 65 mph to 30mph suddenly on a freeway. This has happened to me 3 times. twice on single lane highway and once on 4 lane freeway. Tesla's cruising and self driving is worthless if I can't use them.

This vehicle's basic "autopilot" and adaptive cruise control is dangerous. The vehicle is unable to pass a truck on the highway while either system is active without slamming on the brakes. This is major safety hazard on the highway as following cars do not expect any vehicle to slam on the brakes at highway speeds. Further, using the cruise control on two lane road is also dangerous. Any large vehicle in the opposite oncoming lane will cause the vehicle to slam on its brakes. These systems are essentially unusable and are very dangerous to use.

Phantom braking occurs often when using traffic aware cruise control. I have not been able to determine a pattern, as the malfunction is not consistent. It can occur on a 2-lane road (with lines) as well as on a 6-line divided highway. I can tell the difference between phantom braking and the vehicle adjusting speed for an upcoming curve, as normal adjustment occurs in the same spot each time. Phantom braking is unpredictable, and may not occur in a location that it previously had. There are days it never happens, or sometimes once a day, or has occurred 5 times in an approx 6 mile trip. During a phantom braking event, the car unexpectedly applies the brakes hard. I react by pressing the accelerator, which usually results in a speed greater than the speed limit. I use the bug report feature each time it occurs, so Tesla would be able...

Was driving and automatic braking system engaged when there was no impeding incident.

I was driving on interstate 8 from Tucson to San Diego. In a matter of 2 hours my Tesla activated the brakes on its own 5 times, sometimes in a rapid series of 2 to 3 times, causing me to lurch while going 75 mph so I immediately disengaged the adaptive cruise control. I was on a 2 lane divided highway with no cars in front of me, see picture attached. Since taking possession of my new 2021 model 3 in November 2021, it has happened about 11 times. I just had my wife research it. I will not be using this feature. A semi truck behind me almost swerved off the road because of my braking. This is unacceptable that Elon Musk is not recalling vehicles. His arrogance is going to kill people for this clear safety issue. Please take over and do the recall. They sold me this...

When driving using either the "traffic aware cruise control" or "autopilot" (I do not have full self driving), the care frequently slams the brakes when there is no instance of an obstacle in-front of the vehicle. This has happened consistently and frequently causing instances with cars having to go to the shoulder to not rear end me. Most commonly this has occurred on rural 2 lane roads when a vehicle is coming from the other direction. As the vehicle from the other direction approaches the Tesla will suddenly emergency brake unexpectedly. This issue is even further exacerbated at night when this can happen with almost every passing vehicle. This issue has occurred enough times with either near rear end incidents or catching me so off guard I struggle to maintain my composure I often do not use the feature and am looking at getting rid of it due to being...

When The auto pilot is activated I have experienced many times that the car randomly stops. This happened when I was on the highway and I was almost rear ended

The automatic emergency brakes would go off while driving on autopilot at highway speed, when there is nothing in front of the car. The brakes are very unexpected and aggressive, potentially putting the car at risk of being rare ended. Tesla states that I should press on the accelerator to override the brakes, but most times the braking is so aggressive that the override isn’t affective. Moreover, my car would give false forward collision warning if the car in front of me slows down even a little bit, even when there is at least a 5 car distance from me to the car in front of me, and we are no where near colliding. Tesla would use these false forward collision warnings to drive down my “safety score” and raise the premium of the insurance they offer me.

While using autopilot or cruise control on the highway, the vehicle frequently brakes for no reason and without warning. This occurs repeatedly throughout the drive.

We were traveling at about 75 mph on Intestate 94 in Wisconsin (same speed as the other cars around us) using adaptive cruise control when our car suddenly hit the brakes, the display showed the speed limit sign of 70 MPH, but the display where it would have shown the max speed we set, instead showed maximum speed of 40 mph. I used the accelerator pedal to return the speed to that of the surrounding traffic without problems. During other parts of the journey cars came up close behind us as they wanted to go faster and had this happened then we would have been the lead car in a severe rear end collision. This happened several other times during the same two day road trip, including once about a minute before the incident described above, but none were this severe, perhaps "lightly" tapping the brakes even though there would...

I was on I-470 east of I-25 going east. I was traveling at 83 MPH, therefore the car was not in Autopilot, only had cruise control on. I signaled a lane change, made the lane change, and then the car applied brakes hard, going from 83 MPH down to 66 MPH. This happened in front of a late-model full-size pickup truck. The driver of the truck was not happy and tailgated for about 2 miles. I reported this problem to Tesla. They first don't want to even allow a service visit on the issue. Second, they want to charge me over $80 for a service visit on a car that is under warranty. When we had FSD beta in January 2022, we didn't face these issues except once or twice. Tesla advisor even admitted to me that cars with FSD beta and cars with Autopilot have different navigation software. Therefore,...

Three times, while using cruise control with autopilot, my Model 3 rapidly braked with no one in front of me while driving on the interstate at 70-75MPH. Luckily I was paying attention and quickly accelerated to avoid traffic following me from running into me. One of the times was a severe “brake check” on a following car. I don’t use the option in traffic anymore.

When either in autopilot or in cruise control especially in long drive car perform phantom breaking creating a risk of rear-end collision with following vehicles. Car vision system at times recognize cars coming in the opposite way as imminent collision and performs emergency phantom breaks.03/

The car randomly and violently applies the brakes, this occurs when it is in cruise control. It may occur due to shadows, oncoming cars both on two and four lane highways. Also occurs if I pass a semi truck on a 4 lane highway. It occurs nearly every time I use the cruise control. I have had cars in back of me nearly hit me due to the sudden and unexpected braking at highway speeds.

This vehicle phantom brakes during our last 2k miles trip. Happens while passing under pass, bridges, on coming vehicles on 2 way lanes, and just randomly when i was the only car on the highway.

Our company Model 3 is having repeated phantom braking issues either in Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC) or in Autosteer mode. Through time we have determined some expected situations but there are also many other times totally unexpected. The most common situation is while driving in TACC mode (standard cruise control) on a standard highway (one lane each direction) and passing a semi-truck. This situation results in phantom braking about in about 50% of instances. Beyond semi's, phantom braking can occur from other vehicles, shadows from trees, going up or down small inclines, changes in road coloration (going from cement to black top), and even when no obvious reason is present on a totally clear, flat road. During a 2-3 hour drive the average is about 20 instances of phantom braking. This has been reported to Tesla. They have apparently reviewed the information and determined nothing is malfunctioning with the...

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 75 MPH, the vehicle decelerated inadvertently. The contact stated that the vehicle would detect a non-existent road hazard causing the vehicle to slow down dramatically, almost causing a rear-end crash. The contact stated that there were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that while researching online he became of similar failures. The dealer and the manufacturer were contacted; however, no assistance was offered. The approximate failure mileage was 10,000. On a recent trip up the same two-lane segment of US-95 where chronic incidence of my 2021 Tesla Model 3 suddenly removing acceleration causing a very dangerous unexpected drastic slowing from high speeds, recurrence of this problem indicated what might be causing the problem. There are certain times of day when on a mostly level asphalt roadway it appears there are patches of water or grease...

Was driving on clear roads, there was a driver ahead of me but they were over 100 yards away, the vehicle behind me swerved to make sure they didn't get hit by my car's auto-braking safety feature. the vehicle was on autopilot using adaptive cruise control and just randomly used the safety feature without any warning or indication that there was any object on the freeway. The Incident had occurred in the morning on the 405s freeway.

Three times so far in a week, the car has had extreme hard breaking on the freeway. These were done in full self drive mode. Absolutely terrifying and so unsafe for my family to have this happen.

This complaint was prompted by reading recent news reports of 'phantom braking' with our model vehicle. Previous to these reports, I did not have an awareness of NHTSA and their reporting mechanism. Driving on a highway, adaptive cruise control application. Sudden braking applied without my foot touching brake pedal. It was a sunny day, without any obvious need for braking. I was able to apply acceleration which terminated the braking cycle. No harm done, however if there was a car behind me there could have been a significant car accident at high speeds (>70 mph). This 'phantom braking' also occurred late 2021, also at highway speeds, on at least two occasion on the same trip cycle, in similar driving conditions (clear, dry). Nothing has been inspected. No indicators or warning lamps or messages applicable.

The car will brake seemingly for no reason while on Autopilot. The environment does not change at all, yet the car will randomly brake very hard as if someone was in front of me and slammed the brakes. It also happens very commonly, more common than tolerable. No warning beeps or chimes or any indication of anything event. I'm not sure if this is inspectable, I have brought the car to service a few times under warranty for unrelated issues. This problem is pretty much widespread across Tesla's autopilot system. This has happened many times, but the most dangerous one by far was on I-75 and slammed the brakes from 85 to 45-35 in a matter of seconds.

The Tesla model 3 has unexpectedly braked very hard with no traffic ahead of my vehicle. So fast and hard that seat belts had to restrain passengers. This has happened several times while the Autopilot is engaged. This usually is on a 2 lane road and there is traffic on the opposite side of the road. I have noticed if a semi-tractor trailer is approaching on the opposite side it happens 100 % of the time. The auto also steers hard to the right. This is very scary and a vehicles behind the Tesla have no warning either. I have almost been hit twice from behind. Makes a lot of angry drivers behind me. I have not used the feature in a month. I called Tesla and they said this was NORMAL. It never happened until a recent software update and then it started doing this all the time. Please...

On several occasions while driving in the highway with AutoPilot engaged for adaptive cruise control, the car has suddenly applied the brakes very hard when there were no hazards in my lane. This has occurred on curves in the road when oncoming traffic was detected in the other lane and also when there has been a vehicle stopped on the shoulder.

The car has twice gone into emergency braking mode on the interstate for no good reason. One incident was as the car was approaching a dark shadow area under an overpass, and the other was in a construction zone and I have no idea what triggered it. In both cases if someone had been following closely I may have been in trouble.

When the vehicle is in autopilot at high speed, it breaks suddenly without any visible obstacles. This happens at Kraft once every 200 miles of highway driving with autopilot on. The speed drops suddenly from 75 mph to 40 mph.

With the Autopilot engaged on the freeway I have had several of these phantom braking experiences but last night I was lucky to avoid a accident with the car following me.. This happened at 74 miles per hour with the autopilot engaged the brakes slow me down to 60 miles per hour before I could disengage the autopilot.

I was driving my car and had it on autopilot. The road was empty and all of a sudden the car decided to apply brakes when nothing was infront of it. I was able to take control instantly to prevent a sudden stop however I was lucky there were no cars behind me

While driving on the highway without any cars in front of ours, three times the vehicle slammed on the emergency braking system and attempted to stop the car causing cars behind us to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting ours.

The car was on FSD jerked right toward a semi truck then jerked left toward the posts in the median as it was accelerating and FSD would not turn off. Was trying to control the car but it kept pushing and accelerating causing us to crash in to the median posts. Normally FSD would turn off if it was unsure but this day it would not. Plus other times it would phantom brake if we were on 2 lane road and met on oncoming large truck. We also had other times of phantom braking going over a hill. We have reported this to Tesla but no response yet. We owned this car 11 days when our wreck happened.

Similar to the reporting of others, I wanted to confirm that we had a problem with our Tesla 3 auto-pilot feature erroneously triggering emergency braking by misinterpreting oncoming traffic. This happened twice in a similar situation. While driving on a single-lane highway in auto-pilot, the car abruptly braked when a semi-truck passed in the opposite lane. This sudden deceleration could have lead to a rear-end collision but fortunately the driver behind had left enough breaking space. The same thing occurred again on the same road - also with a semi-truck in the opposing lane. This time, vigilant that the auto-pilot might be malfunctioning, the sudden breaking was quickly overcome by pressing the accelerator. There is no doubt on our end that the current version of the auto-pilot will trigger emergency braking mistakenly based on misinterpreting opposing traffic.

Driving on an open 2 lane highway between Lecanto and Gainesville, car slammed on the brakes while in autopilot. There were no obstructions or other reason to stop.

Phantom braking while using cruise control and/or auto pilot. This is most disconcerting at highway speeds especially when it sounds safety alarms most times while doing it

When the vehicle is in cruise control mode, the brakes will engage for no apparent reason. It has happened three times. The brakes will engage then release causing the car to quickly decelerate and disengage the cruise control. It has only happened on the freeway when driving, no other cars are in front or braking in front of the car. There is no apparent reason for the braking other then cruise control mistake.

During use of the autopilot system on my trip from wilmington DE to GA and vice versa, at nurmeous times the car would automatic hard break dropping the speed by 20mph+ stating there are emergency vehicles while there wasn't any or any vehicle in front on the highway, and at various other time during the drive it would auto slow down 1-2 mph for no reason both causing unsafe driving conditions. Each day this happened over 10+ times

Phantom breaking. Severe application of brakes resulting in up to but not limited to 25 mph decrease of speed when semis are oncoming in other lane. Other times without any vehicles around.

While driving on autopilot on the highway at about 65MPH the car applied the brakes for no reason. The car descends in speed aggressively and can easily cause a rear end collision. This has happened randomly before as well.

This car has "Phantom braking" issue. As the autopilot was on, on the freeway, the speed was around 70 mph, it brakes without any obstacles or car in the front, just a not very even road. Speed dropped suddenly, felt like an emergency. This scared me to use autopilot. And phantom braking happened several times. When I raised this issue to Tesla dealership for repair, the answer is - "software updates constantly make autopilot better, and it is in beta and driver agree to it every time driver engage autopilot. Tesla will never force you to use autopilot and can drive normal like any other car."

When car is driving on autopilot on highway, it slams on the brakes on its own. This has happened 2-3 times.

The automatic cruise control will 'phantom brake' and is unusable on the 2 lane highways near my home. Sometimes the braking is extremely abrupt and if a car was following it could create a very dangerous situation. The car brakes unexpectedly when traffic is coming the other way or of there's an undulation in the road.

In cruise control or autopilot, the car will apply brakes randomly and without warning. It is extremely scary to have it slam on the brakes for no reason. Luckily no one was behind me, so I wasn’t in danger of causing an accident, but the problem is constant enough I cannot use the cruise control nor autopilot.

While in Autopilot, with adaptive cruise and lane assist active, the car will randomly brake despite there being no object or vehicle in front of it that would require braking. It has happened over a dozen times over the past 6 months, primarily on two-lane country roads (where I've stopped using Autopilot) but also at least three times on the expressway. Despite no potential collision incidents ahead, the car abruptly braked and I had to disengage Autopilot to resume normal speed. Luckily in all cases there was no car directly behind me. On more narrow two-lane roads, I know twice the car has perceived a stopped car on the shoulder as a hazard and has abruptly braked, but most incidents have been on open roads with no obvious hazards ahead.

I was driving on highway 70 in Florida which is one lane in each direction. When in cruise control the car braked on its own multiple times when car or truck approaced from opposite direction

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would brake without warning while autopilot mode was engaged. The vehicle was not taken to a local dealer to be inspected. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and the contact was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was unavailable.

My Tesla in auto pilot brakes randomly while on the highway or in a lanes roadway. I almost got rear ended last week.

When using the traffic-aware cruise system on the interstate, the car will sometimes dramatically reduce its speed (within seconds)/apply the brakes for what appears to be no reason at all (often referred to as phantom braking). The most recent incident occurred while accelerating up an interstate entrance ramp. The car had reached the target speed of 75 MPH before suddenly braking and reducing the speed down to around 65MPH before I hit the accelerator to prevent it from slowing down any further. Within a few seconds, the care went back to accelerating normally again. There were no warning indicators on the display that would explain why the vehicle slowed down. I've noticed that sometimes there are certain spots on the interstate where this behavior will happen repeatedly. I will be cruising along at a set speed and the vehicle will suddenly slow down for a few seconds then continue back...

I was driving along a 2 lane road around 1:00 PM. It is a bright sunny day. I put the car into TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control) and set a speed of 70MPH in a 65 zone. Once a car came a certain distance away traveling in the opposite lane towards my vehicle the car would brake slightly and drop my speed below 70. I corrected the speed drop by applying the accelerator. Again within a few minutes the same behavior occurred when a vehicle in the opposite lane came into view the car braked and dropped my speed by 5-10 miles an hour before I was able to correct and accelerate again to cruising speed. This happened continuously almost every time a car was visible in the other lane until I turned it off. I attempted to use TACC again on the way home on the same ride in...

The issue is "Phantom Breaking" while using "Traffic Aware Cruise Control" and "Auto Pilot" The car suddenly breaks for no reason when using either mode listed above. It happens more frequently with sun and shadows than on overcast days. It's so upsetting that I don't try to use either with passengers onboard or when traffic is following close behind.

When driving with Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autopilot the car will randomly apply the brakes in causing a severe drop in speed frequently from 70 MPH to less than 50 extremely quickly. This happens primarily on undivided highways with no pattern - sometimes when other vehicles are approaching, no distinction between large or small or color, but most frequently and most violently occurs when no vehicles or obstacles are present. This sudden drop and alarm notification from the car can cause me to quickly jerk the steering wheel in response and potentially losing vehicle control. In some occasions this happened at highway speeds with people behind me almost causing a rear-end collision. I put in a repair notice with Tesla and the response was that the TACC and Autopilot are beta and upon review of trip logs they noticed no faults and closed the repair request. This feature is...