2021 TESLA MODEL Y Forward Collision Avoidance Adaptive Cruise Control Problems

We are experiencing two issues with our Tesla Y, one of which I have come to learn is common. That issue is the cruise control will suddenly "disengage" forcing the brakes on, either actively or just through the regenerative components. This has happened in several conditions from high speeds on interstates (>55 MPH) and on smaller state highways (<55MPH). The primary concern is being rear ended by cars following; effectively the Tesla is "brake checking". I am not aware of Tesla pushing updates or addressing this issue in any typeof inspection. There are no warnings, and I have noticed no pattern as to why it happens (and it happens frequently). I have notified Tesla of the issue. The second issue is that the control/infotainment screen has frozen and gone blank on at least four occasions. This as well has happened in various conditions, most recently on both legs of a...

On multiple occasions, I have experienced the "phantom breaking" problem when using either adaptive cruise control or the limited self driving feature on my Tesla. I've experienced the problem when driving in traffic (me in another lane, passing a larger vehicle) when the breaking system will activate and all kinds of warning sounds given by the vehicle. I've also experienced the problem when driving alone on the highway (no traffic in either direction), usually in daylight conditions, when the breaking system activates and alarms go off. Additionally, I've experienced the problem when cruise control is activated and a vehicle turns in front of me (either in the same direction or sometimes when turning on a cross street), it's just strange for this to happen when the vehicle is about 1/4th of a mile (or more) in front of me and the turning action of the other vehicle will be complete...

My Tesla Model Y has phantom braking issue. When on autopilot (not full self-driving) traveling io the freeway, it just suddenly slows down to 45MPH for no obvious reason. This problem happens every time on the southbound direction of Interstate 5 when the car passes under the overpass bridge at Valley View Blvd in Santa Fe Springs, CA. The slow down also happens without fail in the same general area on the northbound direction of the same freeway. This incident last happened on May 27, 2022 but has happened numerous other times. It has also happened randomly on other freeways.

The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 79 MPH with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The dealer was made aware of the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.

With AP and AS activated the vehicle will have multiple episodes of phantom braking. With no vehicle in front, next to, or behind for 100’s of feet or even visible to the naked eye on a divided highway. No flashing lights, no moon visible, no signs just a straight stretch of flat highway 70-50 hard stop before deactivated. Nothing on the driving display to indicate a need to brake.

Going on highway at 70mph at around 440pm on I76 on 5/23/22 with autopilot with no cars in front. Clear weather and suddenly car brakes on the highway to almost 30mph. Thankfully there was no car behind me. It could have been a grave mishap. Have reported about this earlier also and has happened multiple times.

On or about 4:30 pm Monday, May 16th there were two instances of unintended braking. Then at approximately 10:30am on 19 May another 6 instances of unintentional braking occurred. I believe this is a serious safety risk and Tesla should be required to correct.

When engaged, Autopilot often causes vehicle to suddenly brake for no apparent reason. Online this phenomenon is often referred to as “phantom braking”.

My 2021 Tesla Model Y, when using adaptive cruise control engages in phantom braking on a perfect clear road with no obstacles. On a recent road trip the vehicle braked suddenly at least 10 times while driving at highway speeds on both divided and single lane roads. This is cleariy unsafe especially if there is a car following. Tesla is aware of this problem and has done nothing to resolve it.

On 3/7/22- 3/15/22 I and my wife took our Tesla Model Y 2021 for an extensive trip from San Diego, CA to Sedona, AZ. Our Tesla does not equipped with Autopilot. On 3/7 while on I-8 E Arizona, our Tesla was on cruise control at HWY speed, it suddendly braked from 75 miles/hr to 60 miles/hr and slowly going back up without any appearance reasons! There was No cars near and around. Afterward, it happened several more times so we stopped using cruise control on the second day of our trips until return home due to safety concerns of getting hit from behind. I took the Tesla to Tesla service for a check of the issue about a week after return San Diego, and the Tesla technician took the car for a test drive and found nothing wrong!

During cruise control the vehicle automatically slows down periodically.

When my Tesla Y is in cruise control, there have been intermittent unexpected slow downs causing the car to abruptly slow down on the highway. On my last road trip it happened about 5 times.

I was driving on full self driving assistance on the highway on the far left lane. I wanted to change lane to exit but notice a car was in my blind spot so I tried to take over the car my tugging the wheel. The car sounded an alarm indicating I was going to crash I think into the left median, so it auto corrected to pull towards the right lane. I didn't want to hit any incoming car so I tried to tug it left. I believe I was fighting with the car to regain control of the car and ended up hitting the left median which ricochet the car all the way to the right hitting the median, where the car came to a stop.

Occasionally, while the Adaptive Cruise Control (TACC) is engaged, the vehicle will suddenly brake as if there is an obstacle immediately in front of the car, even though there is not one and the road is completely clear. Sometimes this happens randomly on a divided highway, other times it happens on a two-lane highway when a large truck is approaching in the oncoming lane. Sometimes it is a minor deceleration, other times it is aggressive braking. During one particular road trip, on an empty & divided highway, the vehicle braked unnecessarily over 20 times in a 1 hour span. This is an ongoing issue and continues to occur any time TACC is engaged and there is a clear, unobstructed road ahead of the vehicle. This prevents a safety hazard to any vehicle(s) following behind, as well as the occupants of the offending vehicle, because it could directly result in being...

While driving in the adaptive cruise control the vehicle will suddenly go into a hard brake while at highway speeds. This has happened multiple times during both day and night, on roads varying from two lane highways to larger multi lane interstate freeways, and during weather conditions have always been clear. This feature has been typically only been used when traffic is light, as this problem has been documented by countless Tesla Y owners. This issue has been documented and reported to Tesla via the in vehicle reporting feature. When this happens it is a sudden and unexpected action that may cause another vehicle to rear end me, and or possibly loose control during the hard and sudden braking.

When driving the vehicle primarily on highways and with the Adaptive Cruise Control active, the car randomly reduces the cruise speed by up to 35 mph and then proceeds to slam the brakes. This happens intermittently on open road, 4 lane highways, with and without any traffic nearby. We logged the times that these occurred and took them to our local Tesla service center and they said “This is a software bug that we have to wait for Tesla to fix. There is no way to disable the adaptive nature of the cruise control either.” We informed them that this has been occurring for about 6 months now and they said “You’ll just have to wait until Tesla fixes the code. It gets better every release so eventually it won’t do this anymore”

While driving on interstate 25 the adaptive cruise control braked hard for no reason. There wasn’t any hazard and no traffic on clear days on a well marked road. It happened quite often . More than 100 occasions on a 65o mile drive.

Over the course of an eight hour drive on a single lane highway, the vehicle abruptly applied brakes without any warning at full speed multiple (at least 30 times). In some instances, there were vehicles in the opposite lane. In other instances, there were none. In all cases, there were no vehicles in front in the same lane. Weather conditions were clear and dry, with full daylight illumination. This issue is most likely related to the camera-only change made to Tesla vehicles, which are used for TACC and autopilot features.

All of these incidents occurred with adaptive cruise control engaged, and sometimes with lane keeping engaged. The vehicle frequently brakes, or slows dramatically, when on the freeway and there is no obstacle in the vicinity. Over the last three days I made the drive from Burbank to Anaheim along I-5. Always in the same area, the car would suddenly slow. In two out of the three incidents, the "max speed," which was set to 80, dropped to 45. Simultaneously, the car thought it was in a 55 mph zone (it was a 65 mph zone). In one of the three instances, the max speed was not changed, but the car still slowed dramatically. On the same commute, the car navigation always has me get off on Artesia Blvd, and then get right back on the freeway. The adaptive cruise has a configurable follow distance that the car seems to generally...

Driving along highway 330 in Iowa, car slowed from 70 mph to 15 for no apparent reason. No cars, animals or obstruction were around

Please see attached PDF for description of the phantom braking problem with my 2021 Tesla Model Y.

While driving on the highway from Ohio to Arizona in December and returning to Ohio in February when using the adaptive cruise control, my car would suddenly and without warning brake and felt as if it would stop if I had not pushed the accelerator. I drove a total of 10 days, and it happened on some days two or three times, once happening five times. Luckily when it happened the traffic was light, but if someone had been behind me, I'm sure there would have been a rear end collision. It caused my wife and me to lurch forward from the sudden deceleration, and our seatbelts kept us from hitting our heads. When I got home, I reported it to Tesla by phone and was told that someone would get back to me. On March 24 I received an email, stating that "this behavior is a known limitation" and...

Since buying the car 6/30/21 the automatic emergency braking has activated >300 times not once was it appropriate. We have had the car back to Tesla Service twice to repair the problem with out any improvement. It is only by luck that we have not had an accident. This is not an effective safety feature and it is increasing the likelihood of an accident. If Tesla cannot fix this it should be forced to deactivating the system

For the last few software updates and for a few months the vehicle will phantom brake and apply aggressive stopping in traffic for no reason when using cruise control, autopilot, or full self driving. Instances have occurred which has nearly caused us to be rear-ended by other vehicles. Additionally the car will turn aggressive when using passing lanes. We have experienced instances where the car will turn into a short right turn lane at highway speeds unexpectedly and then require immediate intervention or the brakes will be applied very hard. These situations are repeatable and occur frequently for no reason.

I was driving northbound on Highway 1 on 3-18-22 from Ventura California to Clayton California where I live. Four times through my trip the car suddenly decelerated and the brakes were applied automatically for no reason whatsoever there was no traffic in front of me there were no obstacles in front of me there were no hazards in front of me, it was open road and for whatever reason the car auto braked which immediately reduced my speed to a dangerous condition. If I had been in traffic I would’ve been rear ended!

Using autopilot on 405 freeway at approximately 60mph. When approaching stopped traffic, I initiated a lane change using the turn signal. Halfway through the lane change the car swerved back into the original lane and slammed on the brakes causing the car behind me to rear end the vehicle. Damage was minor. I reported the incident to tesla on October 17. The original response was to schedule a service appointment. The appointment was later cancelled after I received a message from Tesla legal regarding autopilot. My message to Tesla was deleted from my service history. Tesla autopilot, TACC and FSD are not safe to use on any roads. I have experienced dozens of phantom braking episodes in this car on all types of roads in clear conditions.

The cruise control of Tesla is majorly defective after taking out the Ladar component as it is entirely dependent on cameras. Sudden or phantom braking has been so bad that sometimes I avoid using it. My most recent episode happened last weekend as I was driving at a two way country highway at 50mph to get to the interstate. I was headed south between 9 to 10am. The sun was on my left (east) and there was a truck approaching on the opposite lane. When the truck passed (I guess it cast a huge shadow as it blocked the sun on my left) the car slammed on the brakes. There was no warning. Luckily there were no cars behind immediately behind me, otherwise we would have been rear ended in a possibly fatal accident.

While using adaptive cruise control on my Tesla Model Y on a 1974 mile trip to Florida and back the car would emergency brake for no reason. This happened at least 25 times on the trip. I believe this is being referred to "Phantom Breaking". So far I have been lucky and no one has rear ended me but that is a strong possibility.

Phantom breaking while using adaptive cruise control. Happened 3 times in past two months. First two times were traveling on a major highway, both on a hilly section at the bottom of a hill, with no other cars nearby. The car apparently thought the hill was something that should cause the breaks to engage. Car went from about 70 to 55 in a few seconds. Very startling. The third time was on a residential road, going about 38-40. There were no cars nearby, and the breaks engaged abruptly. The safety implications are obvious, although luckily there were no cars behind us when the breaks went on. We reported these incidents to Tesla today and asked for a service appointment. A Tesla representative called us and said we had assumed these risks when we bought a Tesla, there was nothing they could do, and it was probably driver error. They did...

Have had problems with 'phantom breaking" while using adaptive cruise control (not full Autopilot). This has happened over a dozen times over the last several firmware updates including latest version 22.4.5.16. For no obvious reason, the car just applied the brakes fairly hard (no skids) while at highway speeds without other vehicles nearby or no shadows visible.

We were driving on I-8 yesterday from California to Arizona and while using cruise control the car kept phantom braking. It happened multiple times - some times the braking was so hard, it threw us and our children forward in their car seats. It was terrifying and almost caused us to get into multiple accidents. There was absolutely no reason for the car to be braking . We tried to notice a pattern. It almost seemed like the car was afraid of its own shadow in front of us (the setting sun was directly behind us at points). But the phantom braking also happened when there was no shadow and nothing at all around. Absolutely terrifying.

Without warning and with the lowest setting for front impact prevention my cruise control randomly slams on the brakes. This happens basically anytime I use the cruise control, so I just don’t anymore to prevent possible collision. It happens when no cars are around, when cars are in the oncoming lane but not crossing the line. It happens in any situation and it is very frustrating. I put in a service ticket with Tesla, to my understanding there is not currently a fix.

While using the ADAS the Tesla had several incidents of phantom braking. We would be going 80 and it would slam the brakes on and take us to 50. It did it several times on a drive from Dixon,CA to Flagstaff, AZ. There were no cars near or anything remotely concerning on the road at the time the incidents took place. We called Tesla and reported and they could find no codes or system issues.

Since receiving Tesla Model Y 2021.44.x software update, I've experienced phantom braking on the highway at least once every time I drive it using autopilot. This continues through the software currently installed 2022.4.x. The most common scenario is I'm in the second lane from the right, a car is entering the highway to enter the first lane from the right. Each car is in its own lane. My car sometimes brakes for no reason. On many occasions there are no cars anywhere near me, but the car breaks suddenly. Not a danger for others, but dangerous for the driver and upsetting for passengers. I now only engage autopilot when there are no cars close behind me and no one else is riding with me. I don't want to cause and be responsible for someone hitting me because my car braked for no good reason. I'd prefer regular old cruise control...

Hello, We have had our car for almost a year now. Ever since we purchased the car we have been having an issue with the "Phantom Braking". On writing about it to Tesla within a few months after the car purchase, they sent a representative to our house with whom we went for a test drive. On the test drive, while on the highway with the vehicle on Auto-Pilot the car suddenly slowed down fast, similar to "slamming the brake", for no reason. There was absolutely no obstruction in front of us. The representative mentioned that he had heard of this phantom braking but this was the first time he really saw it and he would pass the info to Tesla. We later got a reply from the company which explained that "as more info is gathered by Tesla from your experience as wells from other owners, the system will...

Using the Autopilot feature, I experienced the unexpected and phantom breaking several times while driving at highway speeds of usually 70 MPH or greater. This occurred well over 5 times in a single 300 mile trip and each time I disengaged the autopilot to recover from the sudden breaking.

We have noticed an increase in phantom Braking while using cruise control and/or auto pilot. Prior to November it would happen randomly and only on single lane highways. Now it happens every time we try to use cruise control. It is very dangerous as we may be rear ended it stops so fast with nothing in front of us. We have reached out to Tesla more than one time and they just suggest we disengage use if cruise control if we experience this random phantom braking. We have reported this is not rare or random it’s constant and every time we attempt to use this product we paid $10,000.00 for. We are not safe with this braking and Tesla basically says they are working on it.

Phantom breaking at high speeds for no reason

While driving from Tucson to Denver the vehicle suddenly decelerated and/or braked no less than hundreds of times with varying rates--sometimes just a couple miles per hour and other times more than 30 miles per hour. These events were generally on a divided interstate highway with clear visibility, flat, straight roads without precipitation and oftentimes without another vehicle within 1/2 mile or more. These events even happened 3 times within 3-4 minutes while I was speaking to Tesla roadside service trying to disable all sensors/interventions. More than once there was a vehicle behind me at highway speeds that thought I was "brake-checking" them and would anger them and cause them to honk and give me a few finger symbols (road rage)... there was no reason for the car to suddenly brake; no cars merging or in front of me other than light vehicle traffic in the opposite direction of the...

While driving from Tucson to Denver the vehicle suddenly decelerated and/or braked no less than hundreds of times with varying rates--sometimes just a couple miles per hour and other times more than 30 miles per hour. These "phantom braking" events were generally on a divided interstate highway with clear visibility, flat, straight roads without rain/snow & oftentimes without another vehicle within 1/2 mile+. These events even happened 3 times within 3-4 minutes while I was speaking to Tesla roadside service trying to disable all sensors/interventions. More than once a vehicle behind me (at highway speeds) thought I was "brake-checking" them and would cause them to honk and deservedly give me a few finger symbols (road rage). There was no reason for the car to suddenly brake; no cars merging or in front of me other than light vehicle traffic in the opposite direction of the DIVIDED interstate. I asked TESLA...

While traveling on US 93 southbound, the vehicle raandomly saw oncoming traffic as a threat and applied braking. This was most pronounced seemingly with large trucks, usually white in color, and occasionally apparently with flashing lighted signs. This phonenomen has occured at other times. Often in city traffic on city streets, it is overly sensitive and applies braking when cross-traffic occurs but is not yet a threat. I have not yet been rear-ended but have decided to only use this feature when I can be reasonably sure no one will be close behind me. Tesla's response is that this is a Beta feature. Your safety rating included this "feature" as one of the positive factors. Maybe that was a mistake?

While driving 50-55 mph down a two lane highway, with adaptive cruise control in place, the vehicle suddenly slowed and signaled a front collision by beeping. It was terrifying as there was nothing in front of us. It was a clear day and we were lucky that there was no car behind us, as it could have easily caused an accident. We are now not wanting to use our cruise control or the autopilot that we purchased for this vehicle, until more is understood about the cause.

This complaint is specific to the automatic control of the Model Y related to "PHANTOM BRAKING". This is an ongoing problem with the "AUTOPILOT" and "FULL SELF DRIVING" functions on my car, it has always had. Most of the miles on my car are freeway and highway miles. Regardless of which of the automatic functions selected on my car, "phantom braking" occurs repeatedly in a startling fashion that doesn't seem to be related to the environment the car is being driven in. The problem is consistent enough that I will not use any of the auto driving functions when I have passengers in the car with me. The problem requires constant intervention by the driver. There are 2 versions of this type of un-commanded breaking: 1. Unexpected braking with no computer warnings or alerts. It can be hard braking or, light to medium breaking, for no apparent or justifiable reason....

While using Autopilot, the vehicle brakes when coming over the crest of any hill on the highway. It's not even occasionally, it's every single time I have Autopilot/CruiseControl enabled, it phantom brakes. To be clear, this is with just Autopilot, not FSD. My guess is the car can not see the road on the other side of the hill, so it freaks out. Also, this is a case of the car braking, it does not disengage Autopilot. After this happened about 20 times on a road trip I have just stopped using it. It's terrible. Also, another detail is this happens whether it's just on cruise control or autopilot. Even if I am in full control of the steering of the vehicle it still happens. Tesla doesn't have an option to just maintain speed with the cruise control where I control braking, it's the adaptive cruise control or Autopilot. Very...

This report is not about a single incident, but rather a REPEATED problem over several years with the adaptive cruise control on 3 different Tesla cars I have owned. These cars are a 2017 Tesla S, and 2 different 2021 Tesla Y models. in each case, whenever these cars are driven on a highway with the adaptive cruise control engaged, several times during each hour of driving, the cars will rapidly brake/decelerate with no action taken to cause the situation by the driver, nor any external situations with the traffic that would justify them. With the Tesla regenerative braking, these deceleration events are so extreme that it would be easy to imagine an accident with a car following closely behind. Indeed, with these situations occurring with no warning and extreme braking they are quite frightening to the passengers traveling in the car. During the most recent occurrence, I noted the...

Second report on same issue with DIFFERENT car. This report is not about a single incident, but rather a REPEATED problem over several years with the adaptive cruise control on 3 different Tesla cars I have owned. These cars are a 2017 Tesla S, and 2 different 2021 Tesla Y models. in each case, whenever these cars are driven on a highway with the adaptive cruise control engaged, several times during each hour of driving, the cars will rapidly brake/decelerate with no action taken to cause the situation by the driver, nor any external situations with the traffic that would justify them. With the Tesla regenerative braking, these deceleration events are so extreme that it would be easy to imagine an accident with a car following closely behind. Indeed, with these situations occurring with no warning and extreme braking they are quite frightening to the passengers traveling in the car....

Multiple hard phantom braking events using adaptive cruise control on interstate with no obstacles.

On Friday February 25, 2021, while driving on Florida’s Tamiami Trail (41), my Tesla repeatedly experienced extreme phantom braking, even though there were no vehicles in front of us or behind us either in our lane or the oncoming lane. It was a sunny bright morning between 9:30 and 10:00 AM.

When driving cross country from Illinois to Texas, the adaptive cruise control did the phantom braking 3 separate times. The first time scared me and I was not prepared for the car to act that way. Well, wasn’t prepared for the others either. I was going 75 and to have the phantom braking kick in is a safety hazard. The car behind hit the horn.

Car will suddenly brake hard when a pickup truck or semi truck is in the oncoming lane at highway speeds when adaptive cruise is engaged. This happens nearly every time a larger vehicle is in the oncoming lane, mostly only on two lane highways. Will also [XXX] occasionally brake for apparently no reason with adaptive cruise on. Tesla service knows of this problem and claims there is no fix. The hard braking happens every drive multiple times and nearly causes us to get rear ended by following cars. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).