2020 Tesla Model 3 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
Incident #1 Vehicle sitting at a red light. After several seconds the vehicle operating under Tesla FSD suddenly started to drive as if the light had turned green, which it had not. I stopped it immediately. Incident #2 Vehicle was stopped a t a red light and started forward again as it the light had changed but had not. I noticed a flashing red light at the next intersection a few hundred feet away. So, I went around the block and tried again and it behaved the same. After a few seconds it started to go again. There was not another light near where the first incident occurred.
On 9/3/23 we were traveling from Moab UT to Green River UT and the cruise control was engaged at highway speeds. We were not using the "Autopilot" functionality. Without warning, the car suddenly decelerated under what felt like hard braking. There was no warning immediately before the hard braking started and the car had no warning indicators of any kind either before or after the incidents. The hard deceleration happened at least four times. One of those times a raven flew up from the road, but the other times there was nothing in the road. At least three of the incidents occurred on highway 6 traveling north. The last time it occurred was on I-70 westbound after we stopped the cars and cleaned all the cameras and ensured there was no debris on the front bumper which could cause issues with the forward-looking radar. We lost confidence in the cruise control feature and did not enable it for the rest of the trip. This is a safety issue because the car does not just reduce speed, it feels like it is braking hard or perhaps full regeneration of the battery. Either way, on these 2-lane highways, there are often situations when other drivers are driving too close to the rear bumper and a sudden, inexplicable hard braking is very likely to cause collision. A collision at these speeds could push the car into oncoming traffic, leading to fatalities. We asked Tesla service to look into the issue, and said there is likely footage of at least one of the events (because I honked the horn to start recording). The Tesla service person gave several reasons why it deceleration may occur, but Tesla is neither reviewing the footage, nor taking action to remedy the issue. They said "Our remote diagnostics has confirmed the vehicle hardware is operating as expected and there are no repairs the service team can make in regards to this." With service unable to make a fix to the car, this problem remains unresolved and we have lost confidence in cruise control.
I was on a 3000 mile road trip over multiple interstates (including I-35, I-90, and I-80), and while the adaptive cruise control was engaged, the car would abruptly and aggressively brake when no other cars or obstacles were in the area. This would often be a 30mph deceleration before I could disengage cruise control and take over. This happened repeatedly, in multiple states, and in different weather conditions. At times, it was happening every 10 minutes. The system would sometimes, but not usually, make an alarm noise. This problem has become noticeably worse in later software updates. No accidents occurred because I would not use cruise control if other cars were in the area, and I eventually stopped using it altogether due to how frequently it was braking.
Phantom Braking occurred almost 40 times on our recent trip from Northern NV to California and return. We left on July 16 and returned on July 21. Our route was from Minden NV to Las Vegas on Highway 95 and then onto Temecula CA on Highway 15 and 215. The return trip was on Highway 15 to CA 138 to Highway 14 to Highway 395. All travel was during daylight hours. Sometimes phantom braking was so severe, the deceleration cause us to be thrown forward towards the dashboard. We wore seat belts to prevent hitting the dashboard. This also happened on a similar trip in 2022 and was reported to Tesla and were told that nothing could be done. The current software version is 2023.20.9
Unexpected Phantom Braking was experienced in this vehicle on a sunny day at mid day on I-30 going East through Arlington. The car was operating on Traffic Aware Cruise Control. Travelling at approx 70mph the vehicle suddenly slowed very quickly below 50 mph before I interceded to resume control of the accelerator to resume my speed before I was rear ended. This occured as I was approaching an overpass in my middle lane.
I was driving from indio,ca to Orinda,ca on interstate 10-210-5 north and the vehicle had at least 6 phantom braking events when the car was in cruise control and one event the auto pilot was on. There was clearly nothing front of me. This is so dangerous and there will be a bad accident if it isnβt fixed. Please have Tesla fix this.
Recurrent phantom braking while using autopilot. Sudden deceleration that does not seem to correlate to any specific traffic or weather condition.
When using cruise control from Las Vegas to Reno Nevada and also going back the car will brake extremely hard over 80 times one way which almost caused alone 4 major accidents with stopping abruptly for no reason causing the cars behind you to almost rear end you. This is tremendously dangerous and it s happening so often you can even use the cruise control. This does happen on other trips as well such as Las Vegas to Phoenix. When it slams the brakes randomly all your items get thrown to the front as well. This needs fixed before someone gets killed
Driving from Reno to Las Vegas on hwy 95. I was using the cruise control and the car repeatedly slammed on the breaks when there was nothing on the road to cause it. Breaking was applied dropping the speed from 5 miles an hour up to 35 miles per hour. The excessive breaking could have caused a crash if a semi was behind me. Every time it happened I noticed a phantom object showing up on the very limit of the traffic display screen. If there was any other vehicle picked up by the sensors the cruise control never malfunctioned. It braked at least 10 times during the trip. I talked to 10 other Tesla drivers and 9 told me they were having the same issue. The one driver that did not never used his cruise control.
I've had the car since December 2019. The car will "phantom brake" when the autopilot adaptive cruise control is on. This happens intermittently, ~1 time per month on my normal commute. I will be going along, cruise set to 75 and out of nowhere it'll slam on the brakes and lose 10 MPH in a second before I can take over. This occurs with absolutely no traffic or reason, it'll be an empty highway and it does it. I drive with my foot over the accelerator so I can floor it to override the car. This is the exact opposite reaction I would think that someone should have to do with a safety feature. Tesla tells me the system is working fine, but random brake checks on the highway should never be normal. I don't understand how this system was approved to operated by the government.
Vehicle suddenly braked while traveling 70mph on freeway with traffic aware cruise control engaged. This incident happened 3 times during the same 40 mile trip. No other vehicles were within 50 feet of the vehicle in either direction. A rear end collision could have happened if another vehicle were behind me. No warning sounds occurred or warning indication on the computer screen. I purchased this vehicle used from Tesla 3 days ago. Tesla service has not been notified of issue.
I get "phantom braking" on average about every 2-3 hours of highway driving with cruise control enabled. All of a sudden without any road obstructions or vehicles ahead, the car will suddenly break hard even at highway speeds. Sometimes it happens when I approach an underpass or get to a section where the pavement is darker than before.
Using Autopilot on an empty highway at appx 65mph, the auto pilot system began to brake aggressively without any obstacles in front of me. As it approached 40 or 30 mph, I pressed on the brake to cancel the autopilot before I was hit from behind. Scary.
Sudden hard "phantom" braking while in adaptive cruise control. This put myself and other drivers in danger of a collision. The problems been reported to Tesla, but as of yet not fixed or inspected.The problem seems to be completely random with no advanced warning of any kind.
While driving in FSD, autosteer, traffic aware cruise control, and with all turned off, I have experienced 5-10 episodes of βphantom brakingβ on the highway at high speeds over the past 48 hours. I have driven in 4 states total so far; in sunny, cloudy, straight road ahead conditions, sometimes with cars around and sometimes on totally empty stretches of road. The first episode took my car from 80mph to 60mph extremely suddenly, with no warning, lurching me and the things in my car forward. I was shocked as I was unfamiliar with this issue. Luckily the car behind me at the time was about 1/8 mile away. However, this could have very easily caused someone to rear end me. This repeated over and over all day yesterday, sometimes the braking less severe than others. Now if using cruise control I need to hold my foot over the accelerator instead of the brake, which feels wrong and also unsafe, but itβs terrifying and I disengage cruise control if anyone gets too close behind me to be safe.
Driving on Interstate 295 (it is unclear what the official direction North, south, west). You are going south toward Philadelphia. Some signs say north but in reality it is only for a mile or two then the road bends due south. Every time I travel on this road and just before the Scuddersfall bridge, the car brakes to 30 MPH and it does it again on the other side of the bridge (the same direction). I have reported this many times on Tesla's "bug report" and for the 2 years + nothing has been done to correct the problem. The car doesn't have a problem in the opposite direction. I usually take it off the autopilot at this location to prevent the braking.
Phantom braking: While in cruise or autopilot mode, it suddenly brakes on freeway without any obstacles observed.
Driving on cruise control (not autopilot), in the following conditions: on an interstate highway with all lanes in the traveling direction clear, no obstructions and no traffic to the front or to either side of the car, on a straight road with no bridge or on or off ramp in front of the car, daylight and no rain or or other participation, the car can unexpectedly and without warning aggressively brake. If the driver does not immediately regain control of the speed (by pressing the accelerator, or turning off the cruise control) the braking has caused the speed of the car to go from 75mph to 30mph. Unlike other Tesla accident avoidance features, the braking occurs with no indication that an obstruction is being avoided. I have owned the car since it was new and until Saturday 8 October 2022, the adaptive cruise control worked as expected. Since that Saturday (less than a week) the braking has occurred several times. Each time it required a sudden depress of the accelerator pedal to recover speed control of the car. The first photo I've attached shows a screengrab of the moment of one deceleration on Monday 10 October saved as a dashcam video. As you can see there is no obstruction and no other traffic around the car at the time. The second photo is a snapshot of the chat session I had with Tesla service where they claim that this behavior is caused by a curve, off ramp, a bridge, a two lane road. As you can see in the first photo, none of this is the case.
While driving on an open highway using the Tesla Auto Pilot (Adaptive Cruise Control, NOT Full Self Driving), we experienced 3 separate instances of unexpected braking. In each case, we were on flat terrain with no vehicles in front of us for hundreds of yards. The weather was sunny and warm with few clouds in the sky. We were driving westbound between 10am and 1pm at the time of the incidents. During the first incident, the vehicle began to brake sharply and violently enough to startle, awake and scare a sleeping adult passenger in the front passenger seat. From memory, the braking rapidly dropped our speed by 15-20 mph. Thinking it was a simple glitch, I attempted to re-engage the system two more times and the same type of behavior occurred each time. I drove the remaining hours of our drive without engaging Auto Pilot. After researching the issue following the drive, I learned of the "phantom braking" issue many customers have reported. We then reported the issue to Tesla and created a service appointment to check out the vehicle. Tesla responded back that the ran a full remote diagnostic and the vehicle has no hardware issues reported by any sensors and said the service appointment was unnecessary because there was nothing to look at.
The car exceeds the speed limit with adaptive cruise control/autopilot, despite all the available settings being set to strictly obey the speed limit. Driving on the highway in a 60mph zone enabling autopilot will set the speed to 60mph, as expected. If the speed limit increases, the car will change to the new speed limit, e.g. 70mph. Now, if the speed limit drops back down to 60, the car will NOT slow to 60, although the correct speed limit is displayed. Also happens on streets.
Vehicle was at a stop with brake engaged and then it proceeded to go full speed into a vehicle two meters away without acceleration pedal engaged. Emergency brake did not activate during or slightly before the collision. The brakes had to be engaged manually, but vehicle was already past a certain velocity on its own accord to be able to stop properly without damaging property or harming pedestrians.
My Tesla Model 3 is equipped with standard auto pilot (no full-self driving) and traffic aware cruise control (TACC or otherwise known as adaptive cruise control). While engaged, I experience, on average, per 60-mile trip a minimum of 1 phantom braking event. Note this is not on residential, county or state roads, this is on divided highways. The vehicle will slam on the brakes for no reason and will at times activate the forward collision warning system. It's so bad I've disabled many of the safety systems for fear I will cause an accident. Traffic aware cruise control on a two lane road (this does not steer or lane center the vehicle), is unusable because it constantly brakes for oncoming traffic in other lanes, or aggressively brakes for vehicles turning in front of you, even with plenty of distance to clear. The system will even continue to brake, after the turning vehicle has fully cleared the road. This requires the driver to slam the accelerator to cancel the braking action. When I first purchased the vehicle in February of 2020, there were no issues with Phantom braking. This issue has become worse with over-the-air updates. I canceled my full-self driving subscription because the phantom braking was even worse with that software. Additionally, Tesla uses a driver safety score to determine insurance rates if you are using their branded insurance program. When these phantom braking events occur it sometimes registers as an emergency braking event which deducts from your overall score and can ultimately cause your rates to increase. When I enrolled in FSD, before Tesla would release the software, they required a certain safety score over a week's time. During that time the system falsely reported running red lights, emergency braking events, and aggressive stopping, while only using the regenerative braking system. They system will also flag you for tailgating with auto pilot engaged.
There is a complete failure of the Autopilot (cruise control) feature and sudden braking when using. There is an extreme risk to personal safety when using this feature. On several occasions, I have been using this feature on the highway while going the posted speed limit of 65 or 70 mph. Suddenly, the vehicle will decelerate aggressively and violently causing any vehicles behind me to slam on their brakes to avoid a collision. This feature of the vehicle is not recognizing road signs, or other inanimate objects, correctly and mistakes them for some hazard that requires braking. Very dangerous.
Traveling on a clear, dry highway on a sunny morning and once again the next day we experienced phantom braking. This occurred three times in two days. In all cases we were traveling at 75mph and were using the adaptive cruise control. In all cases there were reflections in the road from the heat mirage or from something far down the road. The car acted as if it saw something in the road and braked sharply. The driver had to accelerate to override the braking.
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The 2020 Tesla Model 3 has 24 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL,FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE complaints on file. 1 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.