Adaptive Cruise Control Problems of Tesla Model 3 - part 1

Most recently, on or about 09/05/2026, driving on the freeway at about 65 mph with the sun directly in the windshield, the car suddenly issued an urgent take-over-immediately alert and autosteer disengaged with no advance warning. My 2025 Tesla Model 3 uses a camera-only driver assistance system (Tesla vision). Whenever I drive toward a low sun - at sunrise or sunset - the forward-facing cameras behind the windshield are washed out by glare. The vehicle displays a camera blocked/blinded warning, and autosteer and traffic-aware cruise control disengage and become unavailable while the car is moving in traffic. The handback is abrupt: the system does not warn me that it is losing visibility until it has already quit. This is fully reproducible whenever my direction of travel puts the sun low and straight ahead. The windshield is clean, including the inner glass in front of the camera housing, and the factory glare shield is intact, so this is not dirt or an obstruction - it is a limitation of camera-only sensing. There is no action an owner can take to prevent it. Tesla removed radar from these vehicles in 2021, leaving cameras as the only forward sensor. I believe this is the same defect covered by NHTSA investigation ea26002 (upgraded from pe24-031), concerning the failure of Tesla's fsd/autopilot to detect and respond to reduced roadway visibility caused by sun glare. I am filing so that my vehicle is on record in that investigation. No crash, fire or injury has occurred. The risk is an abrupt loss of driver assistance at highway speed, in exactly the conditions where the driver's own vision is also degraded.

See all problems of the 2025 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

On 8/24/2026 at approximately 12:02pm, my 2023 Model 3 was parked in my assigned space in a covered apartment carport, with a concrete support pillar approximately one to two feet from the passenger side. I entered a destination and activated fsd (supervised) from park, a Tesla-designed feature. Vehicle telemetry recorded in the dashcam clips shows fsd shifted into drive, activated the right turn signal, turned the steering wheel to near full right lock, and accelerated to 3 mph, contacting the pillar with the passenger mirror and front door approximately 1. 5 seconds after first movement. No accelerator or brake input was recorded from me before the collision. I applied the brake within one second of the impact beginning, and fsd disengaged. The pillar was within view of the vehicle's side cameras throughout. No warning was given. Damage to the passenger door; no injuries. Dashcam video with telemetry overlay and photos available.

See all problems of the 2023 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

On xxx at approximately 12:56 pm pacific on [xxx], my 2024 Tesla Model 3 VIN [xxx] was operating in full self-driving (supervised). The system detected oncoming traffic, stopped, then reversed to yield and backed into a parked 2015 Ford transit van that had an occupant inside. I am the registered owner. [xxx] was the driver. Teslacam saved events at 12:56:33 and 12:56:43. There was little visible damage, no injuries logged, and no police report. Tesla's consumer privacy form does not accept a crash narrative. I requested a vehicle data report / copy of my data on xxx. Usaa/[xxx] claim xxx later assigned 100 percent fault to the Tesla driver for backing, treating this as a conventional reverse collision rather than an fsd commanded maneuver. I am reporting this as a safety defect in fsd (supervised) because the vehicle reversed into a parked occupied vehicle while the feature was engaged. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2024 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

On xxx at around 3:30 pm est, I was driving my 2023 Tesla Model 3 on [xxx] about 10 miles outside of [xxx]. I had the adaptive cruise control set at 75 mph. I was driving in the right lane of the two available lanes of travel in that direction. I noticed an unattended car on the right shoulder about a 1/4 mile up the road and continued my drive as normal. The car was at least 5' to 6' off the highway. As I got about 30 yards from the car, my car suddenly slammed on the brakes automatically, which forced me to react in a corrective manner. Thankfully there was nobody behind me or the severity of the braking would have likely caused a rear end collision. To my understanding, this phantom braking is a known issue with Teslas, so I wanted to document my experience to add to the record. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Tesla replaced the windshield on my 2021 Model 3 at the Tesla service center in schaumburg, IL. Days after the installation, following a light rain, a film appeared on the exterior surface of the glass. In the presence of moisture the film hazes over and substantially obscures forward visibility from the driver's seat. The first occurrence was on 8/22/2026 while leaving a venue in heavy pedestrian traffic. Forward visibility was significantly degraded. During that drive the vehicle's driver-assist system issued a take-control prompt and returned control to the driver. The system did not display a reason for the prompt, so I cannot attribute it; I am reporting that it occurred while visibility through the windshield was degraded. The condition is not removable by normal means. Windshield wipers and washer fluid do not clear it. The defroster/defogger does not clear it, which rules out interior condensation. It required manual scrubbing to reduce, and it has recurred repeatedly since. It presents only in high humidity or after precipitation; in dry conditions the glass appears normal. The condition did not exist prior to the windshield replacement. I have photographs taken from the driver's seat showing the obscured view. I reported this to Tesla on 8/22/2026 through two in-app channels; both were closed without a response. I escalated by email on 8/24/2026. The service manager responded and scheduled an inspection. As of this filing the substance has not been identified, no cause has been determined, and no correction has been made. The condition remains active. I am filing because a windshield that intermittently obscures forward vision under ordinary weather conditions is a driving hazard, and because the vehicle has been operated in that condition while awaiting resolution. No crash, injury, or fire has occurred.

See all problems of the 2021 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Driving on a 2 lane road going 65 with traffic-aware cruise control enabled at 65 mph with a car behind and no car in front of us. The car phantom braked for no reason going from 65 to 40 mph in a matter of seconds. Luckily we were able to accelerate to avoid being rear ended.

The vehicle is experiencing severe, unpredictable software and hardware regressions related to the full self-driving (supervised) system (v14. 3. 7, software build 2026. 21. 5) that create an immediate, active traffic hazard and a high risk of rear-end collisions. Primary safety issues: 1. Traffic stalls upon disengagement: when full self-driving (fsd) is engaged, auxiliary sensors malfunction, causing the headlights to cycle on/off and windshield wipers to run at full speed in clear, dry, midday daylight. When attempting to manually disengage fsd to correct these malfunctioning systems, the vehicle fails to smoothly transition control. Instead, it triggers critical red flashing alert lights, sounds severe warning chimes, and initiates an immediate, aggressive brake application—stopping the vehicle dead in active, live traffic. 2. Phantom braking: the vehicle routinely experiences sudden, severe, and unprovoked phantom braking events while driving at speed, without any forward obstacles or environmental hazards present. 3. Steering instability: when navigating parking lot entrances, the vehicle exhibits extreme "indecisive behavior," resulting in violent, rapid shaking of the steering wheel before completing the maneuver. Tesla customer service was formally notified of these dangerous system behaviors on August 14, 2026. A formal remote engineering log review has been requested from the manufacturer, as these sudden braking actions in active traffic pose an immediate threat to public safety.

The horn on the steering wheel rarely works unless it is pressed directly in the middle. I have tried to honk the horn when there is a safety event but it rarely works. This is definitely a safety issue. This has been going on since I bought the car June 2022. Full self drive is also unsafe and it will make sudden turns, accelerate too quickly, or have phantom braking. This can be unsafe for other drivers. I heard that this is improved with newer models, but if it is unsafe for older models like my 2022, it should not be available.

See all problems of the 2022 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

When disengaging full self driving (fsd), a feedback notification pops up on the bottom left corner of the infotainment screen that fully blocks the media control panel and does not disappear until the driver provides feedback to Tesla for why fsd was disengaged. By forcing the driver to answer the feedback question in order to access the media controls, Tesla causes a distraction to the driver, who is forced to take their eyes off the road and select a feedback response to why they chose to disengage fsd, increasing the chance of an accident. This is an intentional but dangerous design decision.

All Teslas vehicles running hw3 / ai3 autopilot self driving computers have been known for years to have a defective design problem with the cooling system without its own dedicated cooling and which puts the self driving computer last in the cooling looping at the top of the cooling stack. When the computer fails and they will Tesla requires the owner to replace the computer. This does not result in a redesigned improvement to the computer or cooling system that reduces the thermal stress being applied to the new computer. Tesla is now pushing a new version of the self driving fsd software with the “v14 lite” release over the last two weeks. This software release uses large complex software models which Tesla design to use every part of the hw4 / ai3 compute power which stressed the computer by pushing it to it compute limiting. All this compute is causing the computer to overheat and fail. Tesla then require owners who are all out of warranty now to pay thousands to replace the computer. This replacemen uses the same flawed cooling system and the same computer incapable of dealing passive compute requests on it by the latest v14 lite software to eventually cause the computer to just require the replacement computer to eventually need yet another replacement of the same flawed design at owners cost. There is also supposed to systems which monitor the thermal stress on the computer and shut it off abruptly until it cools down which is not ideal at freeway speeds which is not happening. Recall to address and resolve the issue with improved cooling, more powerful computer that doesn’t reach maximum capacity and it’s each use, and less taxing software needs to be issue. This is a major safety design problem which Tesla has not addressed. There only solution is to just replace design constrained components with the exact same parts at owners cost. These multiple design issues can and often result is sudden shutdown of the computer, or worse case sudden complete failure.

See all problems of the 2020 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Whilst driving on highways which feature multiple speed limits - eg. 70 cars, 65 trucks, 60 buses. If full self driving more or when in adaptive cruise control - the car systems fail to recognize the restriction linked to the lower speed limits. As a result, you can be driving on full self drive at 75mpm, the car sees a 65 followed by a 60 speed limit (neither applicable to cars), but the car brakes hard dropping the speed from 75 to 62 almost instantly and, on more than one occasion, a closely following car has almost collided with me. Until such time as the Tesla system can recognize the 'sub text' on a speed limit - the fsd and adaptive cruise should not be certified. I also drive a BMW i4 and this reads all signs correctly, only applying those applicable to a car to the vehicle.

With its latest upgrade, 2026. 20. 6. 11 with full self-driving v14 light, Tesla no longer allows users to set a max speed. This is very dangerous, especially in school zones where the vehicle, with full self-driving, consistently misreads the speed limit. There is no way to revert this "upgrade. " many people have posted about this concern, but Tesla is ignoring it.

Tesla software update 2026. 20. 6. 11 v14 lite na-2025. 44 removed manual speed control for full self-driving. The driver can no longer set a maximum speed. The vehicle chooses its own speed and it is frequently wrong and dangerous. Curves are the worst failure. The car enters curves too fast. It accelerates through curves. It does not slow to a safe speed before the curve begins. The driver has no way to cap the speed. The scroll wheel is dead. There is no override. Posted speed limits are ignored. The vehicle uses bad map data instead of reading visible signs. It will do 65 in a 55. It will not slow down when the sign says 55. The driver cannot force it to obey the posted limit. Speed control is gone. The driver is a passenger watching the car make bad decisions. This is not safe. This is not driver assistance. This is loss of control. Nhtsa must require Tesla to return manual speed control immediately. A human driver must be able to cap the speed at all times. The current software removes that ability and creates a clear safety hazard.

When cruise control is engaged on a Tesla (all models to my knowledge) the auto wipers automatically come on and then randomly wipe. There is no option to disabled the auto wipers, as you can only disable by manually selecting control panel and then turn off each time you engage cruise control. This creates a significant risk to driver safety as I have had numerous instances of wipers randomly starting (without any rain) and smearing the windshield. This forces me to look away from the road and go through a manual disable every time I use cruise control. Note: this is a software default that cannot be removed.

Tesla rolled out fsd 14 lite to hardware, including to my vehicle and it’s become extremely unsafe. The past several days the vehicle will suddenly slow down/break causing people to almost crash into me, make sudden and indecisive lane changes, and constantly rocking the steering wheel left and right. I hope someone takes this seriously and has Tesla revert back to the old software or make changes before someone is killed.

See all problems of the 2019 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

The adaptive cruise control on Tesla vehicles is dangerous. The model in question is a 2021 Model 3 but its an issue with many model years. The cruise control tends to get confused and applies the brakes during normal driving leading to very unsafe conditions for the Tesla and anybody behind it. The issue can happen in any environment and from 1-2 times per drive. There are no warnings or indications that the car is about to apply the brakes. The car has not been inspected by a service center but is in good working condition.

Car was sitting at a red light while in full self driving (supervised). The screen showed at least four red lights. Suddenly the car started to move forward while the lights were still red. I was able to stop it from going further. This has happened before and I reported it then. If I had not had my foot near the brake pedal the car might have just run through the light.

On xxx, while full self-driving (supervised) was engaged, my 2022 Tesla Model 3 rwd abruptly decelerated without any visible vehicle, pedestrian, debris, or other obstacle requiring braking. Based on my best recollection, this occurred on approximately five separate occasions in clear daylight with clean cameras. On xxx, the first event occurred near xxx while traveling from [xxx] toward the [xxx]/[xxx] area. I took manual control for about 30 minutes. After I re-engaged fsd, a second event occurred and included approximately three rapid braking pulses. The occupants lunged forward during both episodes. On xxx, the drive from [xxx] to the ukiah costco was normal. On the return toward [xxx], fsd suddenly braked hard at approximately 63 mph and reduced the vehicle's speed by about 25 mph, to approximately 38 mph. Family members and friends in the vehicle were startled and moved forward. Later that day, there were two additional unexpected braking episodes while traveling from xxx toward xxx. I used accelerator input to override the unwanted braking. The unexpected highway-speed deceleration created a risk of being struck from behind and made the system unpredictable to supervise. No crash, fire, injury, or property damage occurred. I do not recall a warning message before the braking. The vehicle has not been inspected or diagnosed for this issue and is available for inspection upon request. As of xxx, the vehicle reports Tesla software 2026. 20. 3 and fsd (supervised) v12. 6. 4; it has hardware 3. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Two separate incidents occurred on July 10th and July 12th 2026 involving adaptive cruise control. While adaptive cruise control was engaged my car slammed on the brakes for no reason. There was nothing in the roadway to cause abrupt braking. The second time it occurred my car was close to being rear ended by a vehicle driving behind me. I took the car which is still under warranty to Tesla who confirmed there is a known firmware issue. No time frame was provided as to when the issue will be fixed.

On July 1, 2026, the vehicle was serviced by the manufacturer for gps and camera malfunctions, and the vehicle computer was replaced. On the morning of July 2, 2026, during the first use of autopilot after that repair, the vehicle experienced repeated serious driver-assistance malfunctions over a short period while traveling on a highway. While autopilot was engaged, the vehicle repeatedly moved/steered toward the center of the road and near the path of a truck in an adjacent lane. The truck nearly struck the vehicle. The driver had to manually intervene to maintain control and avoid a potential collision. Video of the incident is available upon request and shows the truck and manual intervention. The vehicle was returned to the manufacturer service center the same day. The service center reviewed logs, performed an inspection/test drive, and stated that no hardware faults or issues were found and that the test drive was normal. However, the incidents were intermittent, occurred during highway autopilot use, occurred the morning after a computer replacement related to gps/camera systems, and were captured on video.

I was driving my car on full self driving. I press the brake to stop full self driving the car immediately accelerated and caused a crash.

Adaptive cruise control was on, I was driving on the highway, traffic was speeding up and slowing down, and the Tesla was braking accordingly. I was paying attention to the road and noticed, all of a sudden, that the Tesla was not braking as traffic in front of us slowed. I immediately slammed my foot on the brake as hard as I could, yet there wasn't enough time or distance, and my car collided with the one in front of me. I wasn't injured, but there's a chance someone in the other car was. The emergency brake did not kick in whatsoever, and the adaptive cruise control completely failed, leading to an accident.

See all problems of the 2018 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

I was driving my Tesla 3 back from la yesterday. The car has "ai3" hardware not "ai4". The software is fully up to date. I do * subscribe to "Tesla fsd (supervised)" but the car is equipped with "autopilot". I was driving in "autopilot" mode driving southeast on [xxx] between eloy, arizona and marana, arizona, on a clear freeway in bright daylight, at about [xxx] pt on [xxx]. The car suddenly slammed on the brakes for an emergency stop for no good reason. There was nothing in front of us. Fortunately it was clear behind me so no one slammed into us. We came to almost a complete stop. The "autopilot" disengaged. I'm not sure why. I might have pressed the accelerator out of instinct to keep moving. During the incident a message in bright red briefly came up on the screen. I didn't get a chance to read it but I did catch the word "error" like some error in software was triggered. Once we got moving again and all was fine although my wife was in shock. I did not engage "autopilot" again for the rest of the trip and I'm reticent to do so ever again. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

After a recent Tesla software update, a mandatory full self-driving disengagement feedback window appears every time I disengage fsd while the vehicle is still moving. The feedback window covers a large portion of the display with a black overlay, noticeable enough something popped up. There is no setting to disable it, dismiss it immediately, or postpone the response until the vehicle is stopped. I am required to select a disengagement reason before I can access the controls and information behind the overlay. While this window is displayed, I cannot properly view or control functions such as music and other touchscreen features behind the area. This is especially dangerous because it appears immediately after I take manual control from fsd—a moment when my full attention should be on the road and the vehicle. The system effectively requires me to look away from the road and interact with the touchscreen before I can make another needed adjustment. This occurs every time I disengage fsd and is consistently reproducible. This behavior began after software version fsd v14. 3. 3. My vehicle is a 2026 Model 3. The problem occurred everytime while traveling at any speed. I believe this mandatory, non-dismissible overlay creates a serious driver-distraction hazard by obstructing the center display and requiring touchscreen interaction while the vehicle is in motion. Tesla should allow the feedback request to be dismissed, delayed until the vehicle is parked, or disabled entirely.

I am reporting a safety concern involving a Tesla operating with full self-driving supervised active. On June 5, 2026, at approximately 7:50–7:55 am pacific time, the vehicle was being driven with fsd supervised engaged. The vehicle was in a turning maneuver when the driver mistakenly applied the accelerator. Vehicle data provided by Tesla appears to show active_fsd shortly before the incident, a turning/steering angle, accelerator-pedal input/override, fsd becoming unavailable, and then crash-related/braking/tire-pressure signals shortly afterward. I am not claiming the vehicle accelerated on its own. The data appears to show driver accelerator input. My concern is that while fsd supervised was active and the vehicle was already turning, the system allowed a strong accelerator override that rapidly worsened the situation. In this case, the vehicle went over a curb/sidewalk area and sustained significant damage. The safety concern I am reporting is whether fsd supervised should better limit, warn, or manage strong accelerator override during low-speed turning maneuvers, especially where the vehicle may leave the roadway, cross a curb, or enter a sidewalk area. I believe this involved driver error as a mistake pedal acceleration, but the system design may have allowed that error to create a more dangerous outcome.

I was using full self driving (fsd), but I notice the autopilot gets "impatient" when (correctly) stopped for a "long" period of time (~2 minutes), but will then try to proceed in dangerous conditions. 1. I had fsd engaged while waiting to make an uncontrolled left turn. The street I'm turning onto is busy, so both lanes are going at a steady pace. After about 2 minutes of waiting, the autopilot decided to make the left turn while both directions had cars approaching. It turned towards a motorcyclist (which might be why it thought the lane was "empty"), and cut off a rather large car behind the motorcycle which almost caused a collision. I was honked from both sides (rightfully so) and put in a very dangerous position as my car was now stopped in the middle of the row of both lanes. 2. I was at a red light intersection with no traffic coming from either side with fsd engaged. After about 2 minutes of waiting, the car tried to go on its own while the light was still red. After manually stopping the autopilot, the light naturally turned green a few seconds later.

Speed profiles do not allow safe operation of the vehicle. Changes in speed profiles result in unsafe behavior. Standard speed profile regularly results in speed up to 73+ in a 55mph zone being selected by the vehicle. Chill mode results in speeds of 58 when traffic is traveling at 65mph. Switching profiles from standard to chill results in a rapid deceleration within the lane leading to problems with traffic behind the vehicle. In active school zones, system regularly does not acknowledge school zone speed limit and proceeds at 25-30mph in a 15 mph school zone even on sloth profile. European fsd has a max speed setting that allows these problems to be prevented, but it is missing as a critical safety feature in the us version of fsd 14.

After disengaging Tesla full self-driving (fsd) and taking manual control of the vehicle, a feedback popup appears on the center touchscreen asking the driver to select a reason for disengaging fsd. The popup does not automatically disappear and remains on the screen unless the driver interacts with it. I believe this creates an unnecessary driver-distraction risk. The moment immediately following an fsd disengagement is precisely when the driver has resumed responsibility for manually controlling the vehicle and should be focused entirely on the road and surrounding traffic. Presenting a nonessential survey at that moment encourages the driver to look at and interact with the touchscreen. There should be an option to disable this feedback request, dismiss it without touchscreen interaction, or have it automatically disappear after a short period. I am reporting this because I believe requiring or encouraging touchscreen interaction immediately after transitioning from fsd to manual driving is a safety concern and should be reviewed.

I was using actual Smart summon to get my vehicle out of my garage. While standing behind the vehicle, it indicated that the car was in drive with no reversing lights on. The vehicle then rapidly lurches backwards, striking me and a freezer. After reviewing the dashcam footage the vehicle stated it was in drive and never once activated its reverse lights, even when they was objects and a human behind the car, still reversed at a high rate of speed.

- Tesla fsd - my son was driving on fsd on state highway, while on fsd, the car suddenly turned left and hit the concrete barrier and spun out of control. All the air-bags were deployed and car front crashed completely. The car is near totaled, my son was able to get out the car with a bruise on right hand. -no -no -no warning was on, the car was on full fsd and suddenly turned left and drove into the concrete barrier and crashed and spun , I had no time to react/take over.

Vehicle was operating under Tesla full self-driving (supervised) on [xxx], on [xxx]. While fsd was engaged, the vehicle struck a large object/debris that was present in the travel lane. The system did not appear to detect or avoid the obstacle. The impact caused severe damage to two wheels and two tires, and the vehicle required towing. Tesla service later confirmed that the damage was caused by road debris and replaced the damaged wheels and tires. I am submitting this report because I am concerned that the fsd system failed to identify or respond to a significant roadway hazard. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Tesla fsd out of control and run into a light pole.

My Tesla's fsd turned off midway through a curve at highway speeds. I hit the guard rail and scratched the right side of the car. I could have run straight through the guardrail from the inertia or made the back car hit me due to the slowing down, though thankfully I took control of the vehicle to limit the damage. I visited a Tesla repair center, but they said they didn't address these types of issues and referred me to the Tesla. Com/legal page and a body shop they work with. Obviously, every time fsd turns off there is a chime, but that sudden alert for an event that spanned 5 seconds, 2 for me to take control, failed to be enough.

Tesla was on full self driving following a curve in the road were traffic lights. Lights were red car should have stopped but did not. Ran red light with no attempt to stop or slow down.

My 2023 Tesla Model 3 (VIN [xxx]) has a recurring safety defect in its driver-assistance system involving two unsafe behaviors. First, “phantom braking”: while driving with autopilot/fsd engaged, the vehicle decelerates suddenly and without warning when there is no obstacle or threat in its path, creating a rear-end collision risk. This was first reported within the vehicle’s warranty period and has recurred. Second, on the most recent occurrence, with a Tesla service technician riding along to witness the issue, full self driving (supervised) failed to proceed safely through the intersection of [xxx] and [xxx]. The vehicle stopped mid-turn while another vehicle approached from the opposite direction. I had to take manual control to complete the turn and avoid a hazard. The Tesla technician witnessed this directly, and the service summary states fsd “did not proceed through the intersection properly. ” the vehicle has been to a Tesla service center twice for this defect. It has not been resolved. The behavior occurs without warning and is unpredictable. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).