general problems of the 2020 Tesla Model 3 - part 1

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.

Vehicle must have thought a shadow line in the road from a bridge indicated a wall I was about to hit, as it slammed on the breaks in the middle of the freeway. Car behind had to swerve to avoid. On the same trip, several nags of 'keep eyes on the road' were incorrect, as my eyes were directly on the road, but phone was in hand functioning as a microphone taking voice memos. Car proceeded to shut itself down while in the middle of the freeway, causing me to go slower than traffic and put me in danger as cars behind me had to swerve or lane change to avoid me as I tried to pull off to the shoulder. These forced shutdowns from incorrect 'nag fails' are causing safety issues. Nag failures should not forcibly shut the car down. Not sure if this is being enforced by NHTSA, or why Tesla is choosing to disable their auto steer or fsd when drivers are detected to be failing nags - nags should be there to help drivers, and potentially the nag data/cab video can be used after the fact should a user failing nags be involved in an accident for insurance dispute resolution, but shutting the cars down themselves is causing issues.

I am filing a complaint regarding a serious safety issue with my 2020 Tesla Model 3 standard range plus. While driving on the freeway, the car displayed a “power limited - ok to drive” message, followed by “power reduced,” and then automatically limited my speed to 60 mph. This happened unexpectedly on a busy freeway, nearly causing an accident with a car behind me. The message advised that “exiting and re-entering the vehicle may restore operations. ” I took the freeway exit and exited the car, re-entered, and resumed driving, but the error returned, reducing my speed further to 58 mph, and at one point, down to 7 mph. This behavior makes the car unsafe for freeway driving, as the speed can drop suddenly, putting me at risk of a collision. This issue persists on city roads as well, with speed reductions happening within a mile of driving, restricting the speed anywhere between 7-60 mph. I scheduled a service appointment with Tesla on 10/12/2024, but the earliest available date is 11/1/2024. I contacted Tesla’s customer service to prioritize my appointment or perform a remote diagnosis, but they refused to accommodate my request. During my own online research, I found that the car log indicates a “reardrive inverter sensor” detecting high temperatures, likely causing the speed restrictions, along with a non-functional powertrain pump. Although my car is under an 8-year warranty for the battery and drive unit, Tesla has sent me a pre-approval bill for the upcoming service, making me concerned they may try to classify these issues as non-warranty and charge me hefty amounts for repairs. Currently, I cannot safely use my vehicle, especially on freeways, and I have no other repair options outside of Tesla. This ongoing issue is urgent and impacts my safety and ability to drive the car reliably.

The Tesla is reflecting an error “dir_a126” that is reducing the speed below the speed limit and with no rhyme or reason. Tesla services are not available and the problem is intermittent. Additionally, based on research it is found to not have consistent resolutions and reasonings.

I took delivery of this Tesla Model 3 last month and have been using it often for my commute. Tesla’s “traffic aware cruise control” is dangerous and has put my life at risk multiple times now when driving on the highway at night. It slams on the brakes as if it is about to crash when nothing is ahead. It also slammed the brakes when passing a semi truck that was accelerating from being stopped on the shoulder. If anyone was behind me, they would have crashed into me. This “phantom braking” only happens at night. I would disable it immediately but it is not able to be disabled! this is the most frustrating part. I have a long commute on the interstate at night and really need cruise control, and now I am constantly worried when commuting that the car will slam the brakes. The fact that I can’t revert to an old fashioned cruise control with no sensors and no cameras is absurd and extremely dangerous. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? I don’t believe anything “failed”. I believe Tesla’s software is not ready for the real world and this “traffic aware cruise control” should be a beta feature that drivers can use at their own risk. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? unexpected, random slamming of the brakes at highway specs on the interstate at night. In all situations that the “phantom braking” has happened, I would have been rear ended if someone was following behind me. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? no has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? no, as there has been no crash yet were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? no warnings, no messages, nothing. Just sudden braking when using “traffic aware cruise control”.

While operating tacc with lane keeping assist, I experienced multiple iterations of phantom braking when the road and weather was clear ahead. This phantom braking could potentially cause other drivers to collide with the vehicle that unexpectedly braked in the middle of the highway. This problem has been a common issue with multiple people taking their cars to the service center to get checked out with no problem identified. There are no warning lights or indicators that the Tesla is going to phantom brake on the highway. Recommend having Tesla provide information regarding this phantom braking.

I was already situated in the left turn lane on a two way city street, slowing down, and about to come to a full stop before making a u turn when I felt a surge in power before the car picked up, accelerated uncontrollably, and launched forward. In front of the turn is a raised cemented median strip divider where the car hit and went on top of it. Instinctively, I just held on to the steering wheel firmly to keep the car straight so that it will stay on (top) and within the divider and not veering to the right or left and running onto incoming traffics on both sides of the street. The car came to a stop after coming off the other end of the divider (approximately 100 ft) and ended on one of the lane from the opposite traffic. Thankfully there were no cars on that lane at the time and I was able to sluggishly drive the car safely into an adjacent parking lot. I, as well as other could have been seriously injured or killed. All wheels and tires are visibly damaged and possibly the underside as well. The car is in a body repair shop and waiting for inspection at this time. I already reported the incident to my insurance and Tesla companies. All inspections and reports are pending at this time. There was no police report since there was no collision or bodily injuries. There were no warning signs, signals, messages, or symptoms from the car or from Tesla before the incident. The car 12v battery was changed 3 months prior by Tesla service center. This is my first encounter with this sort of problem.

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.

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.

Sudden acceleration while driving and at stop sign.

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 on the freeway, my 2020 Model 3 “phantom braked” multiple times while using the cruise control. No autopilot for lane keeping assistance. There were no cars in front of me or any hazards. The pavement was pretty new. I was using this feature earlier in the trip with no issues then it started all the sudden with multiple incidents in a short amount of time.

My son-in-law went straight off country road and into a tree car burnt to ground was burnt to death date was June 26 2023 sheriff spokane county investigating teal front suspension repaired 1 month before at local Tesla shop spokane wa.

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.

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 isn’t fixed. Please have Tesla fix this.

Had cruise control on and “phantom braking” occurred about 10 times on a 22hr trip from California to oklahoma. Very scary. Car went from 80 to about 40mph in seconds. How is this even possible for Tesla to have these vehicles on the road? I’ve only had the car for 2 weeks.

The car had unintended acceleration. I was driving and suddenly it sped up really fast and I needed to slam on the brakes. This was on a residential street so it was really dangerous. This happened once before, on a highway. Both times this happened, I was touching the wipers controls. I have no idea if it’s connected or coincidence.

When driving on a longer trip, I have repeated sudden deceleration and sometimes harsh braking when using cruise control. This has also happened in normal daytime hours with no traffic around me on rural interstates. On my last trip, I had to keep my foot on the accelerator to keep the car at a constant speed. It is unnerving to me and very scary for passengers. It has made it impossible to use cruise when I have passengers. Tesla has said there is no hardware issue and have declined to service the car.

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.

While driving in fsd, autosteer, traffic aware cruise control, and with all turned off, I have experienced 5-10 episodes of “phantom braking” 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 it’s terrifying and I disengage cruise control if anyone gets too close behind me to be safe.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

I was on the exit lane coming from costco on 12/31/2022 at around 12:20 pm with a speed of about 40 miles . My exit is about 100 yards away. Tesla Model 3 that I’m driving suddenly accelerated at high speed and pulled towards right and hit the wall next to freeway exit lane. Then it hit the wall on rear tailgate and rolled to middle of freeway within a fraction of seconds. Two vehicles coming on the freeway hit my car and after second hit my car completely stopped in the middle of freeway. I was able to come out safely and later chp officers came and towed the vehicle.

Phantom braking: while in cruise or autopilot mode, it suddenly brakes on freeway without any obstacles observed.

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.

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.

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.

The other driver hit the rear of my Tesla Model 3 which cause the car accelerate fast about 40-50 miles, the brake is not working either. I can not brake or slow down the car.

The contact owned a 2020 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while pulling into the driveway and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle failed to respond, accelerated unintendedly, broke through the garage door and crashed into the vehicle parked inside the garage. The other vehicle moved away and damaged the garage. There was no warning light illuminated. The air bags did not deploy. The contact shifted into reverse (r), pulled out of the driveway and shifted into drive (d). The brake pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to respond. The contact stated that he hit the curb to stop the vehicle, and the vehicle stopped. The contact stated that all the air bags then deployed. The vehicle failed to unlock. The contact rolled down the windows and cried for help until the neighbors arrived and opened the vehicle from the outside. The contact sustained bruises on both arms, and the contact's wife sustained bruises on the right shoulder and on the left leg. Both the contact and his wife received medical assistance. There was no police report filed. The vehicle was towed to a third party it was sold to. The other damaged vehicle was totaled. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 9,600.

On July 19,2022, when I was driving on driveway, at less than 5 miles, I tried to stop to drop my wife and applied brake. Instead of brake, due to computer mal function, it accelerated & hit the garage door, broke the garage door, door fell on the car parked in the garage, damaged that car,and Tesla automatically reversed. While reversing brake wasn't working too so I tried to put in drive & brake still was not working so to stop the car for safety, I hit the curb in my front yard all airbags were deloyed, inuring both of us. All doors were locked & we couldn't open any of them. We could open windshield. We shouted help and my neighbor came & open the door from outside so we could get out otherwise we both could be dead inside the car.