Service Brakes Problems of Tesla Model 3 - part 2

On [xxx] at approximately [xxx] on [xxx] in oakland, CA, I was intending to park the car on the street at the curb. As I started to pull to the side of the road to park, the brake suddenly fully engaged, bringing the car to an immediate complete stop. My foot was not on the brake at the time. There were no obstructions of any kind in the road or in front of the vehicle. No warning sounds, messages or lights were activated before, during or after the incident. The incident caused no injuries, because of the low speed at the time, just a sudden jerk forward. However, if the event had occurred at a higher speed, some kind of injury would have been likely. I am also reporting the incident directly to Tesla. There has been no testing or inspection of the vehicle. The vehicle will be made available for inspection or testing if requested. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

See all problems of the 2021 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Automatic breaking was initiated as I was pulling in a driveway as I got closer to a large trashcan. The braking was aggressive and I now have concerns that it might've given me minor whiplash as it was so sudden. I have pictures of where I parked. I was about 6-8 feet away from the trashcan when the car automatically braked. I've pulled into this spot numerous times and never had this reaction.

See all problems of the 2020 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

I was using full self driving (fsd) and there was no one directly in front of me and thankfully no one behind me when it engaged its emergency brakes and came to an abrupt stop for no reason.

See all problems of the 2025 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Automatic emergency braking and steering is unavailable along with a few other features. Service center and car manufacturer not doing anything about it.

When the vehicle is set to regenerative braking mode, lifting off the accelerator pedal causes the car to decelerate significantly. However, in many cases, the brake lights do not illuminate during this process. This could potentially create a safety risk, as drivers behind may not realize the car is slowing down and may not respond in time. Tesla.

See all problems of the 2022 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Phantom braking (as it's referred to by experts) happened to me twice on the highway using traffic-aware-cruise-control. Very scary. I was on cruise control going 60 mph when suddenly my car braked suddenly and inappropriately, losing at least 20 mph in a split second before I was able to slam on the accelerator and prevent an accident (rear-end collision). This happened twice in the course of 5 minutes on the same highway! there was no obstruction in the road, no cars moving into my lane, nothing but normal road conditions, when it occurred. From my research, this is a huge problem with Tesla vehicles that thousands of individuals are loudly complaining about online and now in court cases in the country. I see there are thousands of reports to your organization about this, but it says you have only complaints from 2021 and later years. However, I have a 2019 and it's happening to me. And it's happening to every single model year out there, just from researching and talking to Tesla owners. This is a major safety hazard, plain and simple. I was inches of being in a rear-end collision, and drivers behind me are extremely upset and vengeful on the road after an incident like this (understandably!). Because of this I fear for my safety and well-being on the road using Tesla's cruise control features. Very disappointing. Above for the adas option, I wasn't able to select 2 options, but "automatic emergency braking" is also applicable here as that is what happened. Somehow Teslas are falsely activating emergency braking during cruise control!.

See all problems of the 2019 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

If you are on a hill and you accidently press both the brake an accelerator, the car will fall to neutral and free roll. In whatever direction is downhill. I have big feet. Happened again to me, I bumped the brake pedal (but not enough to apply the brakes to stop) when attempting to pull forwards slowly and my car beeped with the "both pedals detected pressed" alert. And then it free rolled backwards (because I was on an uphill). This will cause an accident because the car is not supposed to free roll backwards when in drive, this is a safety problem. It has been 4 years now, and no action has been taken to adress this software defect. A normal gas car does not do this. If you bump the brake in a normal gas car, it does not free roll in any direction. This is a Tesla software problem that Tesla needs to promptly fix ASAP!!!!!.

Wy wife and I drove our Tesla Model 3 from palo alto, CA to san francisco downtown, to meet friends. I was the driver, and my wife sat on the passenger seat. The weather was clear, and the pavement was dry. I did not engage auto-pilot features during the entire trip. The car condition was normal with no signs of error or warning. I made a right turn onto [xxx] from [xxx] shortly after I completed the turn, the car unexpectedly lost control. Without any prior warnings, it suddenly veered into the center divider, snapped a tree, dashed towards oncoming traffic on the other side of [xxx] , and finally stopped on [xxx] , labelled as location a on the attached drawing. Everything happened so quickly: I could not control the steering wheel, and I applied the brakes in vain. The vehicle seized control, no matter how hard I tried to stop it. I regained control of the vehicle at the intersection of [xxx] and [xxx] , and was able to park the car at location a. We were very fortunate and blessed that we did not hit people at the bus stop, that there were no cars in front of us, that the opposite traffic on [xxx] was stopped by a red light, and that the traffic was light on [xxx] without such luck, my wife and I, and probably others, would have been seriously injured, if not worse. Because [xxx] is one-way, we decided to move the vehicle to [xxx] , and parked at location b in the drawing. I called 911 and spoke to a female dispatcher. She asked us to remain at location b and wait for police officers to arrive. We waited there for almost 3 hours, but no police arrived. The dashboard display indicated that we had a flat tire(s). We called mobile tire services. After their inspection, most of our tires were alright, except the rim of the front-left wheel was badly bent, as you can see in the attached photo. The mobile tire service staff was skilled enough to carefully patch the damage and said it should be ok to drive back to palo alto. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 5.

The brake lines have completely failed on my 2019 Tesla Model 3 due to rust / corrosion in the drivers side front wheel well. Fortunately failure was caught before an accident occurred. Had I not caught this failure, at highway speed this could have resulted in a very bad accident putting me and my family in danger. After the failure occurred the vehicle indicated it had low brake fluid and that it should be taken to a Tesla service center. I had two different Tesla service centers review the brake line failure, and inspect the remaining brake lines. Both service centers denied that the brake lines were covered under warranty. After connecting the second service center with a Tesla shop in the new england region the Tesla service center agreed to cover replacement under good will. While this is a positive outcome the failure of the brake lines has also identified massive corrosion issues on the battery, subframes, and bolts holding critical components together. I've been informed that removal of the sub-frames and battery may result in the battery being deemed faulty. This is due to corrosion found at the edges of the battery which may result in failure of the required battery pressure test. If the battery is faulty it will need to be replaced and is also not considered under warranty. The estimate for replacement is $23k which would mechanically total this vehicle. Battery corrosion is another safety issue, since the battery is designed to be sealed removing moisture from being able to penetrate the battery cells. Corrosion both on the battery pack and battery cells could contribute to failure of the battery pack while driving.

My dad was driving to work in the morning in the Tesla in the left lane of the freeway. Then the car started swerving on its own. He tried to regain control with the steering wheel but he couldn’t control it. The car wouldn’t turn when using the steering wheel and he was not using autopilot or lane assistance. He said it felt like the steering wheel and the car were not talking to each other. And the brakes weren’t stopping the car at all and because he couldn’t control the car it turned left into the divider and hit the divider and the car turn again to the right and automatically stopped in the middle of the second lane. The airbags deployed for the driver side. Thankfully there weren’t any other cars on the road at the time so there aren’t any injuries. But this crash could’ve caused serious injuries to him or other people. There were no warning signs, alerts, or noises before this happened. He has filed a claim with the insurance company. And a crash report was filed by the police.

See all problems of the 2023 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

I sent following to Tesla I had an accident at around 6:30 pm on Sunday, March 2nd with my Tesla Model 3 and asking to see if you can conduct a diagnostic check into this incident. I was coming home at that time with the Tesla and about 100 yards from my house, I experienced a sudden acceleration with the car going from about 20mph to, I think, over 40 mph and crashed into the garage area of my house. Around the time I started experiencing that unwanted acceleration, I heard a whining sound. As it started that sudden acceleration, I checked below to make sure my right foot was pressing on the brake pedal and it was. Since I have the regenerative braking with my Tesla, the car should have decelerated but, instead, it sped up. I continued to press the brake pedal but I could not mitigate my car’s continual acceleration. It eventually crashed through the lowered garage door and went through the right side of the garage wall about half way out and came to the stop. I was driving myself and not engaged in self-driving feature. I like to see if the Tesla has any resources available to retrace last few seconds and be able to glean more information of why that sudden acceleration might have happened. The car is still located in my garage but currently the car is disabled and powered off. The car’s power was on and it automatically turned on emergency light for about 30 minutes after the accident before it eventually powering off. I am also curious to know why none of the airbags were deployed in this accident. I have many photos available of the accident. The fire department and police came and assisted. I do not know if this matters but the couple of nights before the car had one of those over the air updates by Tesla and also about couple of minutes before the accident I drove through about a minute of hard rain in otherwise light rainy drive. I also wonder why auto-braking did not engage against the house.

I was involved in an accident due to what I believe was a malfunction in my Tesla’s steering system. While driving, the car unexpectedly turned the wheel to the left on its own and collided with a parked car. Despite my efforts to regain control by turning the wheel to the right and applying the brakes, the vehicle did not respond, and I was unable to prevent the crash. Given the lack of control and failure of the braking system, I strongly believe there was a serious issue with the car that led to the accident.

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.

During a hydroplaning incident on a ramp, the Tesla refused to budge or give any steer. Major issue was no air bags deployed during collision.

On December 24, 2024 I was driving on freeway 5 south and all of the sudden my vehicle came to an abrupt breaking without any reason. The traffic ahead of me was of normal traffic. This abrupt breaking happened twice within 5 minutes of time span. I have notified Tesla service center and the service center gave me a quote of $137. 50 for diagnostic and to schedule the service. I felt that this issues should be taken care of by Tesla with no charge to me. This is a safety issue. I have experienced the abrupt breaking issues with my vehicle on many occasions since I own the vehicle in 2018. Each time I was told there's no problem with the vehicle when I notified Tesla service center.

See all problems of the 2018 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

- autopoilt/fsd had a failure and malfunction, the car speeded up on its own and hit the divider while driving on a highway exit road, which is a u shaped road. - everyone in the car could be dead if I didn't pull the steer wheeling at the last minute to aviod fatal accident, it was horrifying - I have reported the claim to Tesla right after the incident, but they were not responsive in providing a solution, for more than month, they just kept me waiting - no, it has not been inspected - no warning or messages before the crash and the failure, the system all of sudden speed up on its own, causing the crash this is a seriously malfunction and faulty on Tesla's fsd system, they must recognize this issue and take responsibility over it. Yet they keep failing to take any responsibility on it.

I was at a stoplight behind a Toyota tacoma. I must have stopped around 8 feet behind it. I was not using fsd and I was not one-pedal driving. My foot was on the brake. I must have been at a complete stop for approximately 10 seconds when my Model 3 suddenly accelerated full throttle on its own and rear ended the tacoma, directly hitting its trailer hitch, causing my car's driver-side airbags to deploy. When it happened, the light was still red and my foot was still on the brake. I never touched the accelerator. Luckily I was driving alone. After the inital contact, my car sort of bounced off of his hitch then slowly lurched forward before it stopped. After that, it was immobile, leaving me stuck in traffic until it was towed away.

I was driving on the highway when the touchscreen lit up with multiple error messages including: - steering assist reduced (steering may require increased effort) - traction control disabled (drive with caution) - stability control disabled (drive with caution) - parking brake functions degraded (parking brake may not apply or release) - lane departure avoidance features unavailable (features may be restored on next drive) also, the speedometer changed to 0 (while we were going 70 mph). When I pulled onto the next off-ramp the steering was very heavy and the regenerative braking was not working. Pressing the brakes (even slightly) felt like the abs was pulsating. This was extremely dangerous and easily could have resulted in a serious accident in heavy traffic or if the road had not been straight. It was a rental car so I have not seen the car since the rental company towed it away. I have not heard from the rental company about the car's status or their findings. Prior to the catastrophic failure of multiple systems, there were two other warnings messages: - left front fender camera blocked or blinded (clean cameras or wait to regain visibility) - autopilot safety/convenience features unavailable (features may be restored on next drive) these had been coming on and off for a couple hours but I had assumed they were due to driving through heavy rain.

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.

Nhtsa vehicle safety complaint •vehicle information: •make: Tesla •model: Model 3 •year: 2022 •summary of incident: on November 28,2024, I experienced an incident involving my 2022 Tesla Model 3 while it was stationary just outside my garage. I accidentally pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake. The car surged forward and crashed into the back wall of my garage. Despite Tesla’s advertised safety features, such as collision avoidance assist and automatic emergency braking (aeb), none of these systems intervened or activated during the incident. I expected the safety systems to detect the garage wall and mitigate the collision, but they failed to respond. Additionally, Tesla’s obstacle-aware acceleration system did not seem to function as intended to limit acceleration in this scenario. •injuries or property damage: there were minor injuries to passenger, but the vehicle and the garage sustained significant damage. •steps taken post-incident: I have contacted Tesla to request an analysis of the vehicle’s event data logs to determine why the safety features did not activate. I am waiting for their response. •concern: I am filing this report because I believe this may indicate a potential safety issue with Tesla’s collision prevention systems in low-speed scenarios involving stationary obstacles. This raises concerns about the reliability of these features in real-world situations, particularly for drivers who may accidentally press the accelerator. •supporting information: if needed, I can provide photographs of the damage, repair estimates, and additional details.

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.

It brakes at highway speeds of 70 without reasons on cruise control and fsd. Happened three times on highway 46. It can be very bad if there was a car behind me. This happened to me through all these years since 2019.

My car did a phantom break while I was driving on president george bush turnpike e at the dallas north tollway exit . I was taking the exit with in the speed limit of 40 miles per hour and was keeping the distance from the car in front. Suddenly the car did an automatic break and car slow down significantly. I got hit from behind and had damage to the bumper and trunk. Emergency break feature went out and an alert came. It is very concerning that the car stops in the middle of road by itself and being hit from behind. I would like an answer from Tesla. I have the dash cam footage of the accident.

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.

Brake feature malfunction vehicle details: •model: Tesla Model 3 •year: 2023 (approximately 1 year old) •mileage at incident: ~11,000 miles incident description: on 10/29, while manually driving my Tesla Model 3 on a public roadway, I experienced a critical braking failure. As I approached a vehicle in front of me that was decelerating, I initiated regenerative braking, then immediately applied the brake pedal forcefully. Despite pressing the brake pedal hard multiple times, the vehicle did not decelerate as expected and ultimately collided with the vehicle ahead. Throughout this incident, no collision warning, automatic braking, or other safety features activated, despite having all safety features enabled. This failure significantly impacted my confidence in the vehicle’s braking and safety systems. After the accident, I reviewed the Tesla incident report, which shows I attempted to brake but that acceleration was not reduced until the collision occurred. Despite the report documenting my attempts to brake, the system did not function properly, suggesting a potential mechanical or software defect in the braking and/or safety alert systems. Aftermath: •my vehicle sustained considerable damage. •I now feel unsafe driving the vehicle, particularly on highways, as I am concerned the brake failure could recur. Request for investigation: given the severity of this issue, I am seeking an investigation to determine: 1. Whether there is a defect in Tesla Model 3 braking systems that could result in brake failure under normal driving conditions. 2. If there is an issue with the vehicle’s safety features failing to activate appropriately. This incident has raised significant concerns regarding my safety and that of other drivers, especially given the car’s relatively new condition and low mileage. I would appreciate a prompt investigation into these safety concerns.

About two weeks ago with driver set cruise control, the phantom braking was so severe that it took me down from 75 to around 15 if I remember correctly. The braking was so severe and at the same time self steered to the edge of the road along the guard rail that my body was unable to move quicker to correct the vehicle. Your system gets jolted violently without notice which takes a couple seconds to recover from and I decided to report this one after watching the san francisco video. Fortunately, the two vehicles behind me were far enough away. This is absolutely not ok, I have had several severe braking incidents and each time it not only takes about 2-3 seconds to correct but also created back pain.

See all problems of the 2024 Tesla Model 3 🔎.

Unknown.

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?.

With the tacc system activated when traveling on a 2-lane road with a right-hand curve, if there is a semi-truck in the opposing lane, the emergency braking engages with a hard brake application. It can be overridden with accelerator pedal, but it endangers the car from collision with a following vehicle. There have been multiple incidents. I attempted to report the condition to Tesla customer support.

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.

Vehicle was in cruise control, and cruise control did not deactivate causing the vehicle to propel into a building, causing airbag deployment. Safety sensors of car failed to recognize building, other vehicles, and obstructions as required.

Seems that when brake pedal sensor can trigger a "pressed" reading when not actually being pressed. The only way to turn off the car manually is defeated by, you guessed it, depressing the brake pedal. This causes the vehicle to remain on and unlocked. Even if you are able to leave the vehicle in a locked park state, at any point, the sensor can register a "pressed" reading and essentially unlock and turn on the vehicle. I see this as a extremely serious safety issue. The issue seems to occur randomly at first and then more frequently. It can be confused with a known seat sensor issue which seems to also cause the same symptoms.

Tesla has confirmed that the firmware of the high-voltage controller of the Model 3 is known to occasionally go "missing in action", causing regenerative braking to entirely cease to function and the driving performance of the car to drop considerably. This was expected to be resolved in a firmware update, but the problem continues. The service representative advised that they (Tesla employees) are not allowed to refer to the problem as a defect and instead must use the euphemism "firmware characteristic". The impact of the issue occurring while driving is that braking and acceleration are significantly reduced, thus reducing the ability of the driver to respond to unexpected situations and operate the vehicle safely. The impact of the issue occurring while parked is that the vehicle cannot start until such time as the controller resumes responding. The driver has no control over when/if this will happen, and the car may ultimately require towing. We encountered the while-parked case on 2024-07-07 and the while-driving case on 2024-07-27.

On [xxx], I was driving my Tesla Model 3 from California to my new home in idaho as part of my move there. During the day, I had 6 or 7 situations where the car would suddenly go into full regenerative braking, or outright apply the brakes for no apparent reason. Most of these events took place of freeways at freeways speeds, or on highways (not freeways) at the local speed limit. Every situation was when I had supervised self drive or traffic aware cruise control enabled. These situations were extremely startling and in my opinion potentially dangerous. I don't want to imagine what might have happened if one of these "phantom braking" events had occurred with a heavy 18 wheeler behind me in traffic. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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.