Adaptive Cruise Control problems of the 2017 Tesla Model 3

Feb 25 around 4pm pt we were driving north on us hwy 101 using the basic cruise control feature of our Model 3. Based on our settings I believe this would be considered adaptive cruise control, but I'm not sure. Enhanced auto-pilot was not in use. On a largely open highway, in particular with no one in front of us, and thankfully, no one close behind us, the car suddenly started to lose speed, not brake, just lose speed. I pressed the right-hand button on the steering wheel and called out "report bug" so there should be an incident record with Tesla I believe. After letting it slow a bit, I pressed the accelerator to resume and it resumed speed ok. I have used the "report bug" several times on this issue so there should be records of other incidents. Feb. 26, around noon. Traveling on central expwy at 55, the car suddenly slowed to about 25 in the space of a few seconds before re-accelerating. No visible object to cause this. Thankfully, no one behind me which is why I let it drop speed to see what it would do. Again, this was using cc, not eap. This first happened on Jan 14, '22 using cc on s-bd us 101. I have video of this, but it's 19mb, so can't upload. I took to Tesla service and they concluded it was moisture obstructing camera view. Made no sense then as you would it expect to occur constantly, not intermittently. Presumably if this was a vacuum issue, they would have checked that. I think the 3 works cc by wire.

Within a week of posting a complaint here about phantom braking while in autopilot, my autopilot was disabled. Does the NHTSA share VIN numbers with the manufacturer? because that sure felt like retaliation by Tesla.

Experiencing unexpected braking on freeway while on cruise control. Car brakes for apparently no reason. There is no warning, vehicles in sight, on clear sunny day. Has braked up to 3 times/hr on two different days on road trip. No indicators say that anything is wrong with the car or its cameras. It is jarring and scary for both driver and passenger. Collecting info for Tesla service appt in August. Read info of phantom braking for newer Teslas. We drove this same route in this car in summer of 2019 and didn’t experience phantom braking.

Many phantom braking incidents both on autopilot and in adaptive cruise control mode result in surprising (and frightening) sudden braking for no reason. In high traffic conditions, this could lead to a possible rear-end collision. The adaptive cruise control has become so unstable in the last few months we will not use it. As this is a mature feature that used to work nearly flawlessly this is very frustrating to go backwards with an update.

Essentially all of the safety and convenience features repeatedly shut off. Lane departure, autopilot, regenerative braking, vsc, emergency braking, airbags, traction control, automatic vehicle hold, stability control, and a few others stopped working on multiple occasions. This definitely put my life and my family's life at risk. The problems were reproduced and confirmed by the dealer and the vehicle was inspected by the manufacturer. All of the warning lamps and messages only popped up when the failure occurred. Tesla initially "fixed" all of these issues by doing a wheel alignment. Obviously this did not work and eventually a much more extensive repair was done. Also, they provided a loaner with tires so bald they the tread was below the wear bar.

Shortly after purchasing the car it received a software download called emergency lane departure avoidance which is Tesla's fancy name for a lane departure warning system. I have taken the car into their service centers 3 times to have it repaired because it only works <50% of the time - never works during rain, shadows on the road, and various other normal road & weather conditions. Each time I get the car back from the service centers I'm informed that that system is working normally. In late June of 2020 I purchased their basic auto-pilot software system for $2,170 which is a combination of both lane keeping assistance (Tesla's self steering) and adaptive cruise control (Tesla's traffic & road aware cruise control). This software has had "glitches" and malfunctions ever since the purchase. I contacted marie moore (assistant manager at Tesla's bellevue, wa) about the issues and I was told that this software was a "self leaning" type and would improve with use. The first issue was the while driving on the freeway with auto-pilot engaged the car would veer right a few to several feet toward most on & off ramps un-nerving myself & passengers as well as getting close traffic upset enough that I would get honked at or worse. It gradually got better so that it would only veer right significantly less. However on 4/19 my car received a new software download that stated it would improve the auto-pilot & cold weather performance. I drove the car on a 140 mile freeway trip only to discover that the car would radically veer right on ~90% of all on ramps! twice it nearly jerked the steering wheel from my grip and attempted to steer completely off the freeway & onto the on ramp. I made an appointment at the lynnwood, wa service center on 4/26 and was told once again that the car was performing normally & there was nothing they could do; & same with cruise control issues.