Table 1 shows one common service brakes related problems of the 2014 Tesla Model S.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Service Brakes problems |
Have experienced phantom braking at high speeds which could cause a rear end collision involving the vehicle or vehicles behind me. The phantom braking occurs about once per 500 to 750 miles and always occurs while traveling on the freeway at 60 to 70 mph. Approximately 80% of the time, it occurs at exactly the same place just before a large freeway sign. The occurrences are regardless of surrounding traffic. Sometimes it occurs with many other cars (at safe distance from me), sometimes with a few cars around me and sometimes with no cars within 100 yards in any direction. This one location is located in mid-California, at the north end of ventura, on us 101 (freeway) northbound about 200 yards south of the highway 33 (ojai) cutoff.
This is a follow up to my last two complaints of sudden swerves that are probably causd by suspension failure. It is in my opinion highly probable that the suspension is likely to snap when brakes are suddenly slammed on hard at speed. This is known as Tesla "phantom braking" and you have hundreds of complaints about this on file. This situation is extremely dangerous. Not only might a Tesla that phantom brakes be run over by a following truck but if the suspension snaps it can cause the Tesla to veer into the oncoming lane with fatal results. As a precautionary measure I believe you should immediately ban Tesla adaptive cruise control and autopilot because these are the reason that phantom braking occurs. People are getting killed almost daily. Please stop this deadly experiment. Here is a near miss event. . Read more...
This vehicle has a faulty parking break that will enable it to roll when placed in park. Tesla previously recalled this issue on Model S and x but wants us to pay $1486. 66 to have this repaired.
My car has severe phantom breaking due to adaptive cruise control. When I use my Tesla's cruise control on the freeway, on a complete flat straight away that has no vehicle in front of me, no sign/bridge in front of me, and no items/object in front of me, my vehicle while randomly/violently slam on the break violently hurling me and all passengers in my vehicle forward. This is even more dangerous when there are vehicles being me in close proximity who could easily could have rear ended me all those times. I am forced to not use my cruise control due to these dangerous conditions.
The autopilot will apply the brakes in what is basically a panic stop any time you are decending from a hill and there is an overpass crossing the roadway. It happens to me on a particular stretch of the freeway almost every single time, and has happened multiple times. Each and every time it occurs it is as the vehicle is decending from a rise and there is an overpass ahead. For some reason the vehicle detects the overpass as an obstruction and slams the brakes. This has happened at least half a dozen times. Fortunately there was never a car following me very closely. I make it a point when I use the auto pilot to be ready to take over at a moment's notice whenever there is an overpass ahead. The vehicle did this with the old (original mcs) and the new one Tesla just installed.
I have experienced many times that I press the brake pedal and the gas (acceleration pedal on the Tesla) pedal at the same when I try to use the brake. I have own 4 different cars and I never experienced that I am pressing the brake and the gas pedal at the same time. So I pay a bit attention on how the gas pedal and the brake pedal design. I notice the gas pedal is bigger in size and the clearance between the brake and gas pedal is less than all the cars I own (two Lexus and one mercedes bens) or another word, the brake pedal and the acceleration pedal is too close. Also the brake pedal seems a bit higher. Anyway, such design layout seems to cause the driver pressing the brake and the gas pedal at the same time and hinder the action to stop the car. I even experienced that the car accelerate forward when I try to brake the car. I saw the news today that there is a car crash involving a Tesla. I hope the above may be something interesting for you to look into and see if it is related to what I have experienced. Any question, please feel free to contact me. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6). '.