Automatic Emergency Braking Problems of Tesla Model 3 - part 2

Phantom braking occurred three times with this vehicle, all three times, the car abruptly stopped while driving for no reason: 10/30/2024 at 8:03am 2/10/25 at 7:47am 3/6/25 at 5:55pm.

See all problems of the 2024 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Car performed automatic emergency braking on driver's resumption of forward travel from a full stop when traffic light went from red to green. No oncoming vehicles or obstacles were present. Weather was clear and sunny and road was dry.

See all problems of the 2018 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

See attached document for complaint.

Trunk struts snap/come off. Causing trunk to slam shut. Damaging body. Tesla states vehicle is safe to operate, however vehicle trunk does not latch down anymore and opens every time I hit a bump. The trunk allignment is also well off. The vibration of the trunk causes several electrical issues including automatic emergency braking. Original problem occured September 15th 2023. Issue was fixed and persists. Current issue has been going on since February 18th 2025. Issue is not yet resolved or fixed. Tesla is not taking any action to repair issue at all. Vehicle is unsafe to operate.

See all problems of the 2023 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

When backing out, software doesn’t emergency brake or scream/beep/siren etc (no audible sound) when car is coming, just shows a red light on the screen. Every other manufacturer has this audible and emergency feature. My relative had hit their Tesla with another car since there was no beep or emergency braking with another car behind them. I have talked to many other people and they have said the same thing. It’s just a tiny red line that’s on the screen camera which makes no sense for a high tech car.

I'm not quite sure what component was affected, some module of some sort got water in or near it that wasn't supposed to. It is available for inspection. Yes my safety and others was out at risk. Yes the problem was fixed by service center supposedly. Yes the car has been inspected by the manufacturer. There were no warnings. What happened was on 12/29 I was driving the car and out of absolutely nowhere a bunch of warnings came up including loss of abs, any and all safety features. And more importantly lost usage of brakes almost entirely when car came to a stop it was grinding and shakey. This problem all arises due to Teslas negligence when it came to installing a new windshield on the vehicle. As stated in messages below, they made a mistake while installing my windshield that caused this major issue to arise. They have offered nothing as a solution but saying that their error is supposedly fixed.

See all problems of the 2022 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Tesla needs to be required to implement trailer mode to all Model 3/y vehicles (not just those equipped with a tow hitch from the factory) because the basic autopilot and existing safety software does not correctly identify when the vehicle is towing a trailer. Legal aftermarket tow hitch installations exist for small trailers, such as u-haul trailer. However Tesla does not recognize these aftermarket installs. And Tesla needs to be required to add the required trailer software mode for vehicles with aftermarket hitches to provide the required safety software when towing. It is needed because of the cars emergency braking, collision avoidance, navigation, and autopilot modes need to know that a trailer is connected so that the vehicle software does not make an unsafe maneuver depending on the driving situation/condition.

When cruise control or self-driving systems are engaged, there have been numerous times when the automatic emergency braking system mistakenly slowed the car suddenly. At 70+ mph, this is incredibly dangerous. The aebs apparently sees shadows as dangers. Fortunately, there has never been an instance when another vehicle has been close behind.

See all problems of the 2019 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Hi. My issue is partly related to case pe-22-002 and may also contribute to it as well. I will forward my dash-cam videos (the false detection of cars in-front of me for 63. 5% of that drive is included here) to your email as support for the investigations. I have been noticing warnings that a car is in the lane I am changing into when there is no car present. This has happened several times, despite the camera showing no cars and checking for myself showed no cars. The first time it happened, it scared me so bad I jerked back into my lane and could have lost control of being safely in the lane. I filed a service request and was told it would cost me an est. $195. 00 to have them look at it, but they said they think it is software related and tried to say they don't deal with software issues. It has experienced many occasions of decelerating for no cause when using the full self driving, autopilot and cruise control. It would cause me to have to disengage them as I felt it was effecting my distance efficiency. I found a new issue last night that caused concern. We have been getting high reports of following too closely, so I drove from plainview, TX to amarillo, TX in complete control myself while driving 100% perfectly and it reported that it claimed 63. 5% of that drive was "following to closely" when in-fact any time a vehicle was in-front of me by (I think) 30 car lengths, I changed into the other lane where the was no vehicles in the lane at all. It is my personal opinion that it is a combination of the cameras not being infrared and not seeing well enough in low light situations, and the software unable to tell the difference between darkness/shadows and objects that should be avoided. These false alerts occur more for me in low light conditions, but the unneeded deceleration has occurred in all conditions.

Vehicle constantly phantom brakes while driving. I have reported 100+ incidents thru my Tesla "report bug" feature. It will read the speed limit sign on the off ramp and slow the vehicle down 20mps abruptly, it will see a car on an onramp and slam the brakes on thinking there is a collision coming. It is every single day using cruise control.

See all problems of the 2021 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

If a Tesla software update fails it causes an apb version mismatch causing all safety features to become disabled until you schedule service for repairs. It is not covered outside of warranty even though it’s an issue caused by their update. If you google apb version mismatch, a lot of people have experienced it. Out of warranty repair is $2-3k for a computer replacement even though it was working fine before the update.

Two incidents while testing the most recent version of Tesla's "full self-driving": 1. While driving at less than 25mph in a residential neighborhood, using the "full self-driving" mode, the car was entirely unable to detect either heavy steel plates in the road (being used to cover road work) or significant potholes in the area near the plates. 2. While driving on h1 (a federal "interstate" highway) on oahu, at approximately 55mph, using the Tesla's "full self-driving", the car inexplicably slammed on the brakes. There was absolutely nothing visibly in front of the car for at least 200 yards. The car behind me had to swerve to avoid rear-ending my vehicle.

While driving at highway speeds, the driver initiated what was to be a standard lane change from right to left to accommodate traffic merging onto the highway into the right-hand lane. About halfway through the lane change, the vehicle automatically and unexpectedly braked hard, locking the wheels. This led to high stress and back/neck pain. If traffic had not been light at the time, the vehicle would likely have been rear-ended. The vehicle was operating in traffic-aware cruise control during this event.

Driver set cruise control has fsd imbedded that causes the vehicle to slow down drastically on its own. The car has brake tested several following vehicles so far. I’ve seen this before many times of other Teslas but thought it was the driver and now I know it was not. This causes a chain reaction of braking and smoking tires. I am positive this has created accidents but the ones involved have no idea how it started many vehicles ahead. The lane keep assist pillar cameras do not work in the dark, this has taken me by surprise already. The phantom braking on highways is awful, it is so bad that I am afraid to drive in the winter. The torque of the wheel sensor is not safe, when auto steer disables it can take you by surprise causing you to swerve into on coming traffic. The car accused me of using a cheat device one time so I decided to try it and surprisingly I found that it is actually much safer than using my body weight. These are extremely unsafe for busy traffic and slippery roads. I have videos showing it and will get more.

I was driving (~42 m/h) my Model 3 Tesla on a freeway and the traffic in front of me suddenly slowed down. The driver in front of me (she was a new driver with a new car) braked hard and came to a complete stop even though the traffic in front of her was moving. I ended up colliding with her as a result. I would have expected the Tesla forward collision system or the automatic emergency braking system to have activated and prevented this crash. Further, it seems Tesla brakes behave differently when it is fully charged as the engine braking does not engage. In fact the car seems to accelerate instead. If the Tesla forward collision system and the aeb do not work and prevent such accidents, what is the point of having these systems?.

In a private parking lot, within line of sight and ample time to respond to problem I used Tesla Smart summon. Instead of taking an obvious route through the parking lot, it narrowly hit a parked car, then proceeded to drive over a parking barrier and into a wooded field towards me and a crowded food truck area. I was unable to cancel the feature in time to stop the car from the collision as it accelerated too fast and without any initial signs of an issue. Even after canceling through the app, the car tried to continue for a brief period. If anyone was in the area or we were closer we could have been hit. Tesla replaced the cameras but claimed no responsibility for damages, citing I was "in control". There were no warning lamps or indicators of any defects before the incident. I also have the original dashcam footage portraying the incident, which clearly shows numerous safety hazards to the Smart summon feature.

See all problems of the 2020 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

The system failed to detect the driver having a seizure and had no way for the passenger to break the vehicle. People in the vehicle and others were put at the risk of a seizing person accelerating in a car that could not be prevented by the car or by the passenger. No dealer/service center has confirmed the issues. The vehicle is currently being inspected by police. No known warning signs/messages before the incident.

On 9/6/2024 I was driving on I-10 e going about 70 mph in the left lane. I had engaged the cruise control but not the autopilot because I’ve had dangerous experiences with the autopilot phantom breaking and misinterpreting cracks in the road as lane markers and dangerously changing lanes. So even though inoaid thousands of dollars for autopilot I never use it. So I was driving approaching a big rig in the lane to the left of mine and the sun was low in the sky casting a shadow on the road. The car thought the shadow was a car and slammed on the breaks and almost came to a complete stop until I pressed on the breaks to release the cruise control. We are very lucky the car behind us didn’t hit us. The car behind us almost hit us and my passenger and I both sprained our necks. The same exact thing happened 5 minutes later. After that I am too scared to use cruise control which is very inconvenient when on a road trip. My car is a 2018 Tesla Model 3 that is equipped with lidar radar when I bought it, however Tesla turned this feature off awhile back. I never had issues with cruise control when the lidar was still enabled. I am very angry that a carmaker can turn off a safety feature that I paid for without my consent. I would have bought a different electric car if I had know I’d have to go back in time to the 1990’s before cruise control was invented. Most cars use some kind of radar for their cruise control systems and this seems to much safer. There are many, many complaints on line of other Tesla drivers having lots os problems with phantom braking. This is an important safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

I am reporting a critical safety incident involving my vehicle, which occurred during rush hour on a busy highway with no traffic lights or stop signs. While waiting in the left turn lane at a center divide, my emergency autopilot braking system activated unexpectedly, causing my car's left front side to encroach into oncoming traffic. Despite my attempts to move the car, it became immobile. I attempted to reset the car by turning it off and on, but the vehicle’s computer system malfunctioned entirely. With oncoming traffic traveling at speeds of 70 mph, I had no choice but to exit the vehicle for safety. I left the car in the center divide. This incident was extremely frightening, and I am deeply concerned about the potential dangers posed by the malfunctioning autobraking system. Thank you for your attention to this serious matter.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model 3. The contact stated that while entering a parking lot, the brake pedal failed to respond, the driver was unable to control the steering wheel and crashed into a Ford vehicle and a tree. The air bags deployed, and the vehicle stopped shortly after. The forward collision emergency braking system failed to engage. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a tow lot. A police report was filed. There was no reported fire. The contact sustained injuries to the neck and shoulder and had bruises. Medical attention was provided. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 12,166.

While using standard cruise control (without autosteer), car sporadically & aggressively brakes for no reason with no obstruction or cars ahead and while at highway speeds. With cars close behind, a serious, life-threatening accident could've occurred. Can not determine how to recreate issue on demand. This is a known issue with Teslas that has not been addressed by Tesla. I have not reported this issue to Tesla.

Location: 35. 084609,-92. 414194 while driving through the roundabout north to south on amity road, the car has twice now applied automatic emergency braking while exiting the roundabout. There is a billboard 200ft from the road with an image of a person on it. The car is confusing that as a person in the road. This has caused my dog to be thrown (thankfully buckled in) and us to almost be rear-ended both times. This is extremely dangerous issue.

On [xxx] around [xxx], my daughter drove her Tesla Model 3 on [xxx] from school. Two strange/scary accidents happened to two different Tesla cars (model 3 and y). It was raining with low/medium visibility. One of the cars was driven by my daughter, and luckily, both drivers were safe with very minor injuries. The cars had significant damage but were drivable, and there were no airbags out. These two accidents occurred within 3 to 5 minutes at the “same location. ” when I asked them what happened, my daughter and other model y drivers described a sudden loss of control, with their cars spinning and becoming unresponsive to steering and braking. They then hit the guardrail on the center line. I checked the video recordings of our car multiple times; no vehicle-to-vehicle collision was involved. I also checked the road to see if there was any oil spillage, but the lane was clean. She didn't use auto pilot, fsd, and cruse control. The office recorded it as hydro plane in his report, but my concern was incidents that happened only to Teslas. Also, when I posted this incident on a Tesla whatsapp group, multiple Tesla owners reported that they had a similar issue when it was raining. It seems like sensors malfunctioning in the rain. Also, my daughter was driving below the posted speed (68/70), and she gave a written note to the officer too, but the officer recorded it as 70/70. I need to check that in the wake county traffic court. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I have taken my vehicle into Tesla to have the issue fixed twice. They don't know what's happening or how to fix it. My car is randomly taking the wheel and steering me into other cars / off the road. It happens once a month or so, I have a newborn baby I drive in the car and I don't feel safe driving. I've recorded the incident and Tesla service said "that should not be happening unless I'm using auto pilot" which I never do. I've looked into lemon law but I did not purchase the car from Tesla directly, I bought it from a used car dealership. I'm not sure what to do, I can't sell the car because I would still owe $10,000 after the sale. Please help anyway you can, I'm desperate for anything.

While driving on the highway with fsd on, the car severely amalfunctioned with sudden deceleration at 4 separate ocassions. At 68 mph when changing lanes, the car suddenly decelerated. There were several cars behind us and it could have been a major multi car collision. At all 4 ocassions, I immediately took over control on steering and acceleration, thus avoiding any accident. This problem has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center yet. My vehicle or component(s) have also not been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others yet. Additionally, there were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.

I recently took my car in for a recall for the trunk wiring harness and have never had any major issues since I purchased it in 2018. Since replacing the recalled harness, I’m starting to receive several alerts from my driver assistance system (emergency brakes, camera failure). I called a service tech who mentioned there’s either a failed camera or a failed wiring harness. Looking online, I was shocked to see hundreds of other owners with a 2018 Model 3 also experiencing the same issue in 2024 (assuming after they replaced the recently recalled harness). I strongly believe that these two issues are related and that the camera should be replaced alongside the wiring harness. Several people on this forum have been quoted hundreds or thousands from Tesla to replace the harness (including myself) and are taking matters into their own hands by replacing with after market parts. This is a serious safety issue since the cameras control all self driving functionality. I’m shocked that it’s not already been addressed through a recall! the first time my system had gone out while on autopilot, the car flashed and sirened and asked that I take over. Since then all my driver assistance features including my rear camera are no longer functional. Please see this forum where several others are experiencing the same issue on their 2018 Model 3s [xxx] attached are error messages from my car and screenshots from the forum above where people have described the diy fix and the costs quoted by Tesla. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I started receiving messages that the cameras were occluded and that there was an error and all of my system safety features were disabled. No front forward collision warnings, no emergency braking available, nothing available and the system computer that showed all of the traffic and everything completely disappeared from the screen, the car has literally gone blind. All of this started happening on with the camera issues in may, but I thought that it was a software issue and would be addressed in the next update, although the critical disengagements were supposed to be sent to Tesla. I took the car to the service center on 9/4/24 at 9am, and they stated that the did a system test and saw that the triple camera was showing a fault and so they replaced the camera and gave it back to me the same day. Everything worked for the rest of that day for a service that took at least 3hours to figure out. Today after I get off of work at 1pm and I go to initiate fsd and I get 3miles from my residence( I live <8mi from my job) and the system disengages again asking me to take over and all of my critical systems have yet again been disabled. My whole safety is compromised at this point yet again. I immediately bring the car back and they tell me that it's going to take them an additional 30-45 mins to "diagnose" the issue although it's the same thing that's been happening that was supposedly fixed yesterday. After that wait time the service consultant comes back and tell me that the car is throwing all kinds of codes and that, "it's still safe to drive. " when I told that it cannot be safe to drive if all of the critical systems were disabled he suggested that I take it and they can do a remote log pull so they can look more into the issue or I can leave it as the part that's needed needs to be ordered anyway. I don't know how they can order a part if they're claiming to not know what's wrong with it. Something else is going on that they don't want to take accountability for!.

I was driving behind someone when a SUV came over from left lane into the right lane in front of the cars that were in front of me and made a sudden turn into a business. I was already applying the brake and was the 3 second rule behind the car in front of me, however the car did not stop as I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could. There have been other times that the car will automatically slammed brakes on because it feels that it need to…when it’s not necessary at all. But the other day when I needed the brakes to help me stop abruptly…they failed to do so. I hit the car in front of me and was cited as well. If I had been going faster. . This could have been way worse. This definitely needs to be evaluated on Teslas. I have a dahcam video that I’m unable to upload.

Following an over-the-air software update, all audio in the vehicle stops working. This includes entertainment services, but more importantly turn signal indicator "clicks", forward collision warnings, parking assist chimes, shift confirmation and warning chimes, and various adas notification sounds. In some instances, the problem corrected itself within 24 hours. In another instance, it persisted for nearly a week before I discovered that unplugging the usb cable for the dashcam fixed the problem. The dashcam hard drive has been installed for over 4 years, per the instructions in the user manual, without problems until early 2024. There were no error notifications or anything else to indicate that there was a problem with the car's safety systems, or what the cause of the problem was, except for the lack of audio. I chatted with Tesla service about the issue. After discovering and sharing that disconnecting the usb drive fixed the issue, they were persistent in wanting to cancel my appointment without gathering any additional information. Here is the transcript of our interaction: unplugging my dascham hard drive from the usb port fixed it. Weird. Tesla: OH interesting. Good to know! do we have permission to cancel this appointment? since it keeps happening I'd like to keep it open. I turned on remote debugging in case that helps you to report the bug or something. Tesla: we have nothing else to diagnose if your vehicle is operating as expected. Ok. If it keeps happening I will still want to bring it in, so let's keep the appointment. And I wouldn't say it's operating as expected. Having to disconnect usb cable to get the turn signal to work properly isn't what I would expect. Tesla: I would hate for you to bring in your car, only for us to tell you that it is because of your third party accessory, and we charge you for the diagnostic time. I appreciate your concern.

While driving north on hwy 84 in texas, the Tesla autopilot abruptly and forcibly applied the brakes while I was driving approximately 77 mph. I was almost rear ended by a semi truck due to this issue. This happened again about 20 miles down the road and I disengaged the cruise control and autopilot altogether at that point. This is a continuous problem that needs to be addressed.

Full self driving and cruise control brakes randomly and violently with no warning at highway speeds. This has happened no less than 20 times on one trip on 8 March 2024. This has put myself and other vehicles in extreme danger. The model has had this issue known by the manufacturer and nothing has been done. This braking occurs with no warning other than the vehicle slamming on the brakes. This needs to be fixed ASAP, its a hazard to me as the driver and the general public.

Driving normally down I-5, no other cars nearby and system suddenly phantom brakes. I am lucky no other cars were behind me as it may have well caused an accident. There were no other cars in front of me within at least 1 mile.

Software updates caused failure notifications (seat restraint system) and disabled cameras/emergency brakes, happened immediately right after software updates. All hardware performed and properly functioned before the software updates. 1. First failure noticed on the begin of March 2024, component affected : " rear center safety restraint system fault". Second failure noticed on 25 November 2024, component affected: " autopilot cameras unavailable", "automatic emergency braking is unavailable" 2. I feel extremely unsafe now when using the vehicle with failure notification of the car's components, especially while driving my children to school. I am unsure if the system failure that could causes accidents and put my kids at risk or danger. 3. First issue was notified Tesla representative immediately right after the software update (happened over night). They scheduled an appointment, but I saw a charge bill that I have to approve before taking the car in for an inspection. It happened when my car is just out of warranty. I called Tesla dealership in buena park, CA to discuss about my safety concerns and got told it might be just a software glitch and I should be ok to drive. (??). Second issue was also notified Tesla and got a schedule for an inspection/service on December 10th, 2024, and again with an approval of $650 that I might got charged for ahead of the service ???? (why do I get charged for something that wasn't my false until Tesla pushed a bad software to make us pay for their bad scripts?) 4. There was no failure notification "at all" before the last 2 or 3 software updates. Tesla offered some kind of 1 month free fsd then software updates to remove the fsd then everything started to fall apart. I am very concerned with Tesla software updates now and failures it might cause that put our family at risk because of their bad scripts or batches.

Thursday, 2/29/23 I was driving through a busy intersection. The car in front of me was slowing and I too slowed by gently easing the brake. This slow down was not unusual for steadily moving traffic. As my foot was resting on the brake, I felt the car pull the brake down below my foot hard, forcing my vehicle to abruptly stop and due to the force, my body was pushed into the steering wheel. No injury or accidents resulted however, if a car had been driving behind me, I would have been rear-ended. If my toddler had been with me, his car seat would have protected him but this would have been the greatest force ever placed on him. The car did not provide warning that the emergency brake would be activated. I am not aware of a publicly-notified defect at this time. I have scheduled the most soon appointment available with a Tesla service center in order to audit my software system with hope this glitch will be resolved.

I don’t feel comfortable driving this car because it is unsafe when I am on autopilot on the highway it would randomly stop the car by breaking instantly out of nowhere when there isn’t any car in front of me?! please give me another car that is more safe to drive!?.