Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2022 Tesla Model 3 - part 2

156 problems related to automatic emergency braking have been reported for the 2022 Tesla Model 3. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2022 Tesla Model 3 based on all problems reported for the 2022 Model 3.

36 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 12/26/2022

We have regular phantom braking issues. This has been happening since we got the car new. I have videos. We have nearly been rear ended twice and this has happened before n almost a daily basis. The problem has been reported to Tesla and of course they say “nothing is wrong with the hardware” and won’t fix anything. This is a well known issue. It’s gotten worse. Slamming on the brakes for what appears to be a shadow or perhaps a tar strip and sometimes nothing but concrete pavement. It’s really scary and dangerous.

37 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 12/23/2022

Driving across texas, cruise control with traffic assist was enabled in the 2022 Tesla Model 3 long range sedan. The vehicle suddenly braked and went from 84 mph to 68 mph in a matter of seconds. There were no cars in sight, no weather conditions or obstacles around the highway. Unsure of what or why that happened the first time, cruise control was re-enabled and the same thing happened very shortly after re-engaging cruise control.

38 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 12/11/2022

Suffering from phantom braking even when all safety options turned off. This occurs even when just using standard cruise control. Very dangerous to the point do not feel safe using cruise control.

39 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 11/21/2022

After purchasing my Model 3, I have experienced numerous times of what they call "phantom braking" and have tried to have it repaired and have been told that there is not anything Tesla can do at this time, but inform the driver to be aware! I was never told/informed/warned about this issue when I ordered and picked up my car. I have almost been in accidents at least 3 times while using my cruise control on the interstates.

40 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 11/20/2022

Phantom braking. Driving down 395 going the speed limit, no other cars or any obstacles in the road whatsoever, the car would slam on the brakes hard to the point I almost lost control of the vehicle. This happened 3 times in a row before I turned off adaptive cruise control. This is the most glaring obvious example of a vehicle safety hazard that should be recalled that I’ve ever seen on a new car. If someone was driving behind my car I have no doubt this would have caused a rear and accident.

41 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 11/15/2022

While driving both during the day and at nighttime on the freeway with cruise control, the car abruptly brakes itself. No car was in front of me in any of these incidents. I have owned the car for a year and it has happened at least once a month. (I drive a lot for work. ) the vehicle is available for inspection upon request. My safety and others' safety was put at risk because when traveling at high rates of speed on busy freeways with multiple lanes, it is easy for something like that to cause a multi-car accident. I live in a major metropolitan area and the freeways are up to 5 lanes across going one way. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by anyone. The vehicle or component has not been inspected. There were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. It first appeared within the first month of ownership.

42 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 11/07/2022

While driving the car suddenly the car applied sudden breaks & moved opposite road. Luckily no traffic opp side otherwise we are having the same day as last day.

43 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 11/03/2022

Experiencing phantom braking at high speeds when there is nothing there. This has happen 5-6 times during a recent road trip of 1000 miles.

44 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 10/28/2022

While driving back from san antonio TX, I engaged autopilot on the hwy. Multiple times my vehicle would experience phantom braking with no other cars on the road and would slow down drastically from 75mph to 20mph. This sudden braking for no reason could have caused an accident if there was another vehicle behind me. This phantom braking has also negatively affected my safety score for my insurance.

45 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 10/26/2022

Multiple times traveling on interstate 70 at 75 mph the car would brake itself without warning while the “autopilot” (driver assist) was engaged. This probably happened 4 times over the course of 1 hour. I recalibrated the cameras after the 3rd event, but it did not help. This was very dangerous and unsettling. I verified no-one was close behind when engaging the autopilot in case the system “decided” to brake unexpectedly. If someone was behind me traveling at interstate speeds, they would have hit me.

46 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 10/24/2022

Several times, while using the cruise control, the car automatically braked at highway speed. The car is available for inspection. My safety and my wife's safety were put at risk by the car suddenly slowing down on the interstate without my control. The problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center - I have not had the car serviced. It has not been inspected. There were no warning lamps or messages.

47 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 10/09/2022

The car slammed on the brakes while we were using auto pilot on the freeway, even though there was no one braking in front of us. This was the 2nd time this has happened. The ac and radio shut off for the rest of the ride and the ac has been working intermittently since. We have a baby and she was not in the car but she is in the car with us often. We have submitted a service request for this week.

48 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/28/2022

While using auto throttle (cruise control) on a recent trip I had several instances of uncommanded slow downs. These ranged from slowdowns from the activation of regenerative braking to actual hard breaking. It occurred on both two lane highways and interstates. More often on two lanes. Often it occurred on topping a hill and some thing in the distance was misinterpreted as a hazard. At other times I could not determine what set it off. It ranged from a slight slow down to hard breaking. It could easily have led to a rear end collision had someone been close to me. I finally had to stop using the auto throttle as it seemed unsafe.

49 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/25/2022

The contact leased a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving approximately 70-80 mph with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 38,000.

50 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/23/2022

We just went on a longish trip, covering a total of about 2,500 miles. While driving on interstate highways and using cruise control, the car would occasionally brake for no reason. The first several times it happened, the car braked mildly and we tried to explain it away. ("it must have seen the guardrail/traffic cone/butterfly," etc. ) however, the last time it happened, with absolutely nothing anywhere near us to the sides or front, the car braked freaking hard. I was driving, and it scared the $hit out of me. If the 18-wheeler behind us had been a little closer, we would have been toast. After that, we disabled the automatic emergency braking every time we started the car, and we'll continue to do that.

51 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/23/2022

Phantom braking in cruise control with or without autopilot. Sometimes braking is extremely hard. No apparent cause. Totally random this has happened several times since March 1, when we received the vehicle. Most recent events (more than 5 on September 23, 2023.

52 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/22/2022

While going at 75 mph, no obstacles or cars ahead of us, on us30 w in texas, the car applied a sudden strong brake (phantom braking) that almost caused a severe accident.

53 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/18/2022

My Tesla Model 3 has had multiple instances of phantom braking while the autopilot/cruise control has been engaged. All have been on the highway traveling 70-80mph. My car was delivered on 9/9/22, new from Tesla. I feel this is extremely dangerous at any speeds, but especially at highway speeds.

54 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/17/2022

My car is brand new. When in autopilot mode (not full fsd), the vehicle does u expected braking apparently randomly. There are no road obstructions or potential road obstructions visible at all to me as driver. Yet, the vehicle will brake suddenly. It does this so frequently that I no longer use autopilot unless I know the road has no other vehicle driving behind me and is very clear ahead of me. I never, ever use it on the highway. In one incident, I was using my autopilot and a motorcycle was traveling at a much too close distance behind me on a curve on a busy roadway, with a large RV driving in the lane next to me. As all three of our vehicles approached the curve in this cluster, my vehicle suddenly braked and the motorcycle behind me almost crashed into my vehicle’s rear end. It was terrifying. After that incident, I severely limited my use of autopilot and take pains to ensure my foot is resting on the accelerator in case I need to apply a little pressure to counteract the unexpected braking while in autopilot mode.

55 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/16/2022

I rented a Tesla model three and have driven 5000 miles on it since I got it three weeks ago. In that time this car has done some very dangerous things that concern me about my safety. I stopped using the auto pilot function after one time when it tried to pull me off the road at highway speeds into the emergency lane. I have also started experiencing the phantom braking issue that you read about online. For some reason this car can’t go more than 10 or 15 miles without slamming on the brakes even though there are no cars anywhere close to me or any objects on the road that might trigger the automatic braking. I am afraid that this car is going to slam on the brakes when there is somebody behind me and cause an accident.

56 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/15/2022

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 400.

57 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/14/2022

With Tesla auto pilot engaged, I was driving on I-10 in florida with no other automobiles in front, to the side or behind my car. I was driving the 70 mph speed limit when suddenly my car applied full braking (phantom braking) upon which I took control and applied the accelerator to regain proper velocity disabling Tesla auto pilot. This was the only time I experienced this issue.

58 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/07/2022

While traveling northbound on I-25 between las vegas nm and raton nm, the car auto breaked several times for no reason,going from 75 mph to 57 mph, throwing us forward against the seatbelts in the car. The incident happens again between colorado springs and cheyenne wy and outside cheyenne again on I-25 n. All incidents happened while using the cruise control, which is what Tesla recommends to get the most miles per charge. We are just very lucky there was no traffic behind us to rear end is.

59 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/05/2022

Phantom braking aggressively appearing during a family road trip. Violent braking leading to a 20-30 mph drop in speed.

60 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/04/2022

Often when driving on the highway with the cruise control on, the car will activate heavy braking without provocation. Sometimes it happens once on a 2 hour drive other times it happens 3 or 4 times on an hour drive. One time, I was the only car in sight when I was in a double lane 65mph divided highway. I am not using full self driving or auto steer, however it has occurred while using auto steer (beta). I'm not sure what causes this braking, but it's dangerous. One time it brake checked a semi truck before I slammed on the accelerator pedal to disable the braking system. Other times I can feel short choppy accels/decels on the highway again without having a car/object in front. Today a driver was following closely and it went into full braking mode. I'm not convinced it's emergency braking, however when you take your foot off the accelerator pedal it does brake heavily with regenerative braking. In our ownership of the car, the collision warning has chimed at us once but not actually activated braking to my knowledge. So far I've seen complaints about full self driving autopilot phantom braking, however we don't have that package. However the same systems are physically installed that may feed into the safety systems.

61 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 09/03/2022

Multiple instances of rapid deceleration, I. E. ; braking or regenerative slowing while at cruise speeds on my latest cross country trip.

62 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/30/2022

Car will phantom break while using autopilot. I will be driving 80 mph on a main free way (I-80) and all of a sudden it will slam on the breaks and go to 40 mph.

63 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/29/2022

The contact owns a 2022 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated while driving 70 mph with the self-driving assist feature activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. The contact stated that the failure occurred approximately 6-10 times within 7 hours. The contact stated that the failure reoccurred 4 times within 4 hours while driving with self-driving assist and auto-steer mode the following day. The contact notified a Tesla service center who informed him to submit a service request online. The contact submitted a service request online and later received a remote diagnostic test report stating that no hardware issues were found and the vehicle was operating as designed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 5,200.

64 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/28/2022

I recently got into a car accident with a Tesla. I was injured and my car crashed against a residence’s entrance putting myself and others in danger. The components or systems that failed are the regenerative breaking on the Tesla, the torque or force that is distributed to each wheel, and the rear passenger tire shows more wearing than any of the other tires of the vehicle (not only on my car, but also on one of my friend’s Tesla. ) it was raining. I was driving at a normal, slow speed, on a straight line on the road. I stopped pressing the gas pedal, the regenerative breaking activated, and my car glided and crashed. In the past, I have had some experiences where even on a dry road, sunny day and no rain, my car would slide and loose traction when letting go of the gas pedal therefore activating the regenerative breaking and making the car loose traction and slide. I have videos and pictures, filled a police report, and recently filed a claim with my insurance. The vehicles components have been inspected by the police. They have not been inspected by the insurance as of now. The only lights/car signals that turned on automatically after the incident occurred were the emergency lights. I do not recall any lights/signals showing up on the dashboard or screen while the incident was happening.

65 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/23/2022

Driving with cruise control on two lane or interstate car will automatically just slam on breaks. Dropping cars speed 10+ mph. There is no warning it breaks hard enough to skid tires and lock seatbelt. I have several times it has break checked car that are behind me cause them to switch lanes abruptly. It will do it some times after you merge back into a lane after you pass some one. There is no warning at anytime it will do this. I reported this to them the day I purchased this car new. They canceled the service appointment and said car will update it self and there is a software issue they are working on. Car is getting worse as time goes on. It does it every time you drive it. I understand if it slowed down 1 to 3 mph but it will drop 20 mph in seconds. It violently brakes. You can hit accelerator pedal fast enough before it drops 10 mph.

66 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/17/2022

While traveling on a highway (~ 50 mph) I engaged the cruise cruise control. After about 5 minutes -- while no traffic or obstacle anywhere near me -- the car suddenly applied emergency braking bringing the car near full-stop in the middle of the highway. I am fortunate there was no one behind me or it would have resulted in a collision. Obviously it was a terrifying event and I have instructed my family never to use that feature.

67 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/17/2022

We were using traffic aware cruise control on autopilot in florida on our way back home from vacation, when st approximately 7:45am our Model 3 suddenly slammed on the brakes on a very busy highway. We were almost rear ended, thankfully our quick response to take over and the driver behind us paying attention let us avoid a crash. Over the next 15 minutes the Tesla had one more phantom braking incident, thankfully we were ready as we no longer trusted it, then it began to reduce speeds to 30- 45mph saying that was the speed limit. The speed limit was 55 and 60mph. We have not experienced this problem until now but are very concerned about the safety of using autopilot or cruise control.

68 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/12/2022

During a recent trip from san diego to tucson and back, I had several incidents, in each direction, of sudden deceleration/phantom braking when the autopilot feature was engaged, while driving on the I-8 and I-10 highways. The first time it happened, the collision avoidance alert also went off with very abrupt braking. Each time, the car did not brake to a stop, bud did suddenly and quickly decelerate several mph. After a couple of incidents, I prepared to intervene by pressing the accelerator to counter the slowdown. I thought it might be the autopilot causing the issue, so I started using the adaptive cruise control only without the steering feature, but it happened once with only adaptive cruise control too. Altogether, there were about 4 incidents per direction of travel.

69 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/12/2022

Over a 4500 mile road trip, I experienced about 75 emergency braking incidents that were not caused by anything visible in the road or due to conditions. In nearly all cases there were warning chimes, but not always. Most were at highway speeds and were a sudden attempt to brake which required me to immediately react by stepping on accelerator to maintain distance in front of cars or large trucks behind me. It seemed more likely to happen at higher speeds (70-85 mph) and often times in more hilly areas of highways and often times as well coming just over the crests of hills. Tesla reviewed logs and said they didn't see anything and have been unhelpful. This is a high risk issue if cars stop on highways and people are not able to react quickly enough. So.

70 Automatic Emergency Braking problem

Failure Date: 08/11/2022

Several incidences of phantom breaking occurred when no other cars were around. This took place during our road trip from michigan to montana. One of the days, it occurred over 10 times, with the worst resulting in a hard brake from 75mph to 50mpg before I could intervene. The majority of the time there were no cars within 200 yards ahead or behind me. If there were a car behind me, it could have resulted in a severed accident. The braking was hard enough to throw me and my children hard into seatbelts, even causing the belts to lock. I reported these incidents to Tesla but have heard nothing back.



Model 3 Service Bulletins
Model 3 Defect Investigations