Vehicle Speed Control Problems of Tesla Model X - part 1

During a recent incident where a tire issue caused damage to the wiring harness for the parking brake, resulting in a parking brake failure notification on the screen, the vehicle would not stop or turn off. The vehicle displayed n for neutral on the dash, but the vehicle would drive forward unless the brake was depressed. In addition, we were unable to place the vehicle in park, which meant that we were unable to shut it off. The only way to stop the vehicle from driving on its own and crashing into something was to place concrete blocks under the tires! unplugging the 12v battery also had no effect! the vehicle kept driving as if it was in drive, and there as no way to stop it without placing the foot on the brake pedal the entire time or placing the blocks I referenced. The only way I was able to shut it off, was to pull what's known as the fireman's loop, which I'm guessing firemen pull in the case of an accident. I wasn't aware of this mechanism, and only learned of it after posting on numerous social media apps regarding this issue. This is a major issue, as we are talking about a moving and unstoppable car! Tesla needs to build some mechanism that allows the car to be shut off by the driver or to override the screen and place the car in park. Pulling this firemans loop and unplugging the 12v battery, required me being in front of the vehicle, risking my life, as the vehicle could've easily moved if the concrete barriers didn't stop it, and also required me taking 30+ minutes to remove components from the frunk, just to access these components!!.

See all problems of the 2018 Tesla Model X 🔎.

On January 31, 2026, at 10:30 pm, I was driving from fort lauderdale to my home in boca raton, florida. I was using fsd supervised mode. Close to my home, a big red image suddenly appeared, the car started accelerating fast, and I had no control over the car or its steering wheel. The car hit several electrical posts and only stopped after the airbags engaged. My wife was in the passenger seat. The front of the car was totally damaged, and I will have to total it.

See all problems of the 2022 Tesla Model X 🔎.

I am writing to formally document a life-threatening mechanical failure involving my 2022 Model X on January 30, 2026. While my wife was operating the vehicle, it suffered a simultaneous and catastrophic collapse of all primary safety systems. During operation, the vehicle experienced a total loss of steering and braking control. This was accompanied by a rapid cascade of critical system alerts on the primary display, including “abs malfunction,” “stability control disabled,” and “steering assist reduced/disabled. ” most critically, the vehicle exhibited sudden unintended acceleration (sua), increasing speed in direct opposition to the driver’s physical application of the brake pedal. This resulted in a near-miss where the driver narrowly avoided a construction crew.

I own a 2019 Model X which I have been driving for six years without any driving issues. I did have a few incidents in which the screen went black while driving. That was scary - driving without controls. These issues reported to Tesla and were addressed by Tesla. Today I was pulling into a parking lot when all of a sudden my Tesla automatically accelerated to high speed. I could not control or stop the vehicle despite applying hard brakes. The car crashed through a metal fence and continued to accelerate through the wall of a building. The only reason it finally stopped was because the back tires got stuck on the ledge of the wall. The Tesla went through the metal gates and walls of the building, but the safety airbag never deployed. The car has been towed away and reported to the insurance immediately after the police report. There was no warning messages or indication prior to the incident.

See all problems of the 2019 Tesla Model X 🔎.

The vehicle experienced serious drive control failures on three separate dates: September 21, 2024; October 2, 2024; and July 26, 2025. On each occasion, acceleration was either severely delayed or completely unresponsive, and the vehicle rolled backward when attempting to move forward on an incline. The following warnings appeared on the dashboard: “stability control disabled,” esc (electronic stability control) warning light, and air suspension system warning. These symptoms occurred both while stationary and while driving. The vehicle was brought to Tesla service centers twice—on October 10, 2024, and September 2, 2025. On both occasions, Tesla stated that the issue could not be reproduced and returned the vehicle without performing any repairs. During the second visit, Tesla performed a $275 wheel alignment adjustment. The service report noted that the warning lights “may be restored on next drive. ” I was verbally told that adjusting the alignment might help identify the root cause, but Tesla never explained how this adjustment was related to the actual symptoms. After performing the alignment, I was simply notified that the vehicle was ready for pickup. This kind of propulsion failure and rollback on inclines presents a serious safety risk to the driver, passengers, and other vehicles on the road. The issue remains unresolved and could occur again at any time without warning.

See all problems of the 2024 Tesla Model X 🔎.

I took an exit form the highway on i405 towards bothell. As soon as I did and ended up coasting towards the first red light, all the warning signs came on on the car and my steering wheel locked up. And my braking also got reduced. Only thing that worked was the acceleration pedal. I struggled to get the car towards any safety. There was a message on the dashboard saying that assisted steering is reduced will require more power. However it was locked. I tried with all my might to steer the car in any direction but it would not budge. I was super scared I was going to be in an accident. With the limited braking as well I had to find a curb in the road to be able to safely park the car or a slope where the car could slow to a halt. Luckily I was able to do that and slowed down. On a curb like area and then I was able to turn on the parking brake. On contacting support they told me to reset the car and in doing so it should bring back functions. However, it did not. This was extremely dangerous and I was very lucky to get out of this alive without harming anyone else as well. Had this happened on the highway I was a sure goner. They had to finally get the car towed from there.

See all problems of the 2023 Tesla Model X 🔎.

While I was driving, I got an error on my dashboard that "acceleration and top speed reduced. Performance may be restored on next drive". After I got this error, from onwards the car was not slowing down even though I remove my foot from accelerator and sometimes it is accelerating itself even though I was not on cruise control or auto pilot. Luckly brakes were working when it was causing sudden unintended acceleration. After I stopped my car at safe location it did not start, and it got towed to Tesla dealer. My concern is that I felt it is most dangerous and it can cause life threating accident. Could you please take necessary action on this incident which causing sudden unintended acceleration. Thank you, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Tesla updated my vehicle with fsd 12. 5. 2. 1 and it is dangerous and should be recalled. The software is too much for my vehicles processor, it frequently freezes for as long as 10 seconds. This loses my speedometer, my signal information, and happened while merging and nearly caused me an accident. The lane keep assist has retrograded significantly, it often goes outside of the painted lines and is in danger of hitting curbs. The processor feels like it struggles to keep up, and the auto steer is unsettled and jerky as it changes its mind. Previous software worked great, Tesla is pushing the software beyond the hardwares capabilities and it’s going to cause accidents. Please stop them.

See all problems of the 2020 Tesla Model X 🔎.

While parking, the accelerator pedal increased in speed without being pressed and the car had a sudden unexpected acceleration and crashed into a column in a parking lot.

See all problems of the 2016 Tesla Model X 🔎.

On July 29, 2024, when my husband backed the vehicle out of the garage slowly, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and it hit the stone column causing a big damage to the car. I believe the pedal speed control and emergency brake have problems. When I reported to Tesla, they said the vehicle was not at fault. They said the issue had been resolved remotely by the engineer and cancelled my service appointment. When I asked for the engineer report, Tesla rep told me to download the data report. After I downloaded the data report, it shows no data 2 hours before and after the time of the incident. When I tried to retrieve the video on the replay function in the vehicle, the video was not there anymore. Fortunately, my husband recorded the video on his phone and I have a copy of the video. I feel very disappointed and frustrated with how Tesla handled the issue. If they are not at fault, how come the data report and video are not available? I filed a claim under my auto insurance policy and got the vehicle fixed. This sudden unintended acceleration happened to me back in June when the vehicle accelerated by itself to 41mph. My daughter, who was sitting next to me in the front passenger seat, saw my foot was in the air but the vehicle kept moving at 41mph. We were so shocked and I had to use both feet to step on the brake to stop the vehicle. Tesla eventually replaced the steering column control in the beginning of July. Then, on July 29, the sudden acceleration happened again to my husband. This safety issue needs to be addressed by Tesla more seriously. I should at least get a written explanation of what happened and not just a phone call telling me the vehicle was not at fault. Since the damage to vehicle is fixed now, we would drive the vehicle more often. I don't want this sudden unintended acceleration to happen again, hitting something or someone on the road!.

My 2019 Tesla Model X suddenly accelerated as I was going to park and ended up hitting a tree. It did not stop even on braking. The car is currently being inspected by the car insurance company, geico. I checked online and found known issues of sudden unintended acceleration with Tesla vehicles.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model X. The contact stated that while stopped at the driveway and waiting for the gate to open, the vehicle inadvertently accelerated, struck the gate, and came to a stop. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 8,000.

While driving CA-17, as is frequently the case, I had to disengage automatic steering several times to correct its poor lane keeping. Much to my surprise, the vehicle stopped maintaining speed, creating a dangerous situation with vehicles behind me as the uphill road caused the vehicle to rapidly decelerate the second I turned the wheel. After experimentation, I discovered that Tesla has completely removed cruise control capabilities from these vehicles unless you completely disable the fsd beta functionality, which makes this vehicle highly unsafe to drive in any environment where autosteer is inadequate, including CA-17. Further, this isn't just unsafe on weird highways. This poor decision on Tesla's part could very easily cause rear-end collisions on freeways. Nobody in their right minds would expect a vehicle to suddenly massively decelerate just because you correct its poor steering. This is just plain dangerous. This so-called "full self driving (supervised)" version needs to be recalled immediately, and Tesla must be forced to make cruise control fallback available regardless of the fsd state. Until they do, it is fundamentally unsafe to allow Tesla vehicles to remain on public highways and freeways with fsd (supervised) enabled.

See all problems of the 2017 Tesla Model X 🔎.

This vehicle has massive and unbearable static electrical shock when the car stopped and trying to close the door as metal body of the car. And I have several videos showing the electric shocks the auto pilot stop the vehicle on the highway for no reason that’s put the passenger in serious rear collision.

Issue is with Tesla full self driving subscription for $199/month and is available for inspection. No warnings or symptoms were indicated. The vehicle recommended I re-enable the service every time the vehicle restarted after it was shut off. Tesla's phone support stated the following is normal expected behavior, so an inspection isn't needed: 1. Automatically changed lanes on interstate into the space occupied by another vehicle multiple times. Thankfully, crashes were avoided by attentive drivers of involved vehicles. 2. Confused "40 mph minimum speed" signs for speed limit, resulting in over 30 instances were speed was drastically and suddenly reduced, without warning, every time the sign appeared. 3. Automatically changed lanes on interstate from rightmost lane to center lane despite no traffic present. This seems to be a default behavior that cannot be adjusted. 4. Disabled cruise control and lane keeping assist when driver overrode automated systems (accelerated, braked, manually adjusted steering) to avoid a crash. Kept these systems disabled as a punishment until driver parked car and restarted.

When operating under adaptive cruise control, the vehicle frequently slams on the brakes for no reason. This has become so bad that we are simply terrified to operate the vehicle under adaptive cruise control. The highway is completely empty in front of us, there are no hazards and no issues with visibility on the road. The cruise control simply reacts to a phantom in a highly dangerous manner. > what component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? the adaptive cruise control - you are welcome to inspect it. > how was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? we have suffered two near-miss rear-end collisions at high speed on the interstate. The behavior throws us against the seat belt restraints, causing near loss of control. > has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? we have raised the problem repeatedly with Tesla, and there are numerous confirming reports by other Tesla owners > has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? the system has been checked by Tesla, nothing found wrong. Tesla maintains that they are continuing to "train" the system, but after 5. 5 years, there has been no improvement. > were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? nothing - the car simply slams on the brakes.

23v-838 this recall made my car less safe, you should not have forced this change on my car I do not like it. It makes the car unsafe.

On December 9th, 2023 my 2020 Tesla Model X accelerator pedal broke off while accelerating up a hill. This caused the vehicle to stop and become undrivable on a blind curve uphill. This caused a significant safety risk to me and other drivers. The vehicle had to be towed with police assistance to block traffic due to where the vehicle became inoperable. I had to pay out of pocket about $500 for the repair plus $450 in towing expenses.

As I drove my Tesla Model X plaid into my driveway towards the garage to park, the vehicle suddenly accelerated itself (I have fsd but wasn’t using it at that time) and drove into the garage door as it was still opening, slamming and crushing into all the items that were on one side of the garage. When I quickly realized what was going on, I slammed the brakes and made the car stop. My daughter luckily was waiting for me on the stairs of the garage. If she were standing in the garage instead, it would have been fatal. I have already called Tesla about the incident and they said someone will visit and take a look in about a week. This happened on Sunday sept 17th 2023 around 8 pm. When I bought the car in Dec 2022, as soon as I took the delivery of the car, I have experienced the front driver and passenger windows that kept opening by themselves multiple times. I had called Tesla and they replaced both the doors and it didn’t happen again after that. I asked the technician at the time that if the car can’t control such small things, how can I trust my life with its fsd? he assured me that this was the safest car and had multiple sensors that are constantly monitoring the safety of the car, but in my case I am shocked to see that the sensors didn’t do anything to stop when the car slammed itself into the garage.

Many hard braking incidents ignores posted speed limits been close to being rear ended by following cars.

As I was trying to make a turn into the parking lot of a convenient store, my Tesla Model X started accelerating suddenly and unintendedly without my foot being on the accelerator. I kept pressing on the brake to stop the car, but it would not stop. I had no control and while it accelerated for 15-20 yards eventually it hit two other cars that were parked there. This happened so quickly. We all were terrified and shocked as I could not stop it from accelerating. I kept yelling "it is not stopping" to the person seating on the passenger side. I am confident that I did not press the accelerator pedal. The car was not on autopilot. My initial speed was probably 5 miles/hour, but it accelerated so suddenly that four airbags deployed, and the car is not drivable. Insurance company is evaluating whether the car is repairable, but I am afraid of driving with this car again until the problem is found and fixed. This could have turned to a major tragedy.

When driving at highway speed and using cruise control, the car periodically applies its brakes. Sometimes it will only do so for a second or two, then return to the cruise control speed; other times it will continue longer and I will have to intervene by applying pressure to the accelerator pedal. In shorter "phantom braking" episodes the speed may only be reduced by five or ten miles per hour; in longer episodes it could drop by twenty miles per hour before I intervene. I have driven the car for almost three months and have experienced this no fewer than twenty times. To be fair, I have driven almost nine thousand miles during that time, so I have spent a considerable amount of time on highways. When communicating with Tesla's service department, I received a reply message reading, in part: ". . . Slowdowns for apparently no reason are generally caused by a few reasons . . . This can easily be overridden by pressing the accelerator pedal . . . There are no faults with any of the driver assistance hardware in the vehicle . . . These behaviors are a limitation of software in the system . . . A service visit is not needed at this time. " I have owned cars for almost forty years and have never had these issues while using cruise control. That Tesla finds this acceptable is absolutely not acceptable. I believe it is an unsafe condition, as I have no control over drivers behind me and how they may act in the case of my car decelerating for no apparent reason.

Two issues that are concerning and I have told Tesla: 1. The car will be on cruise control and I will be relaxed and all of a sudden it will just brake for no reason. Praise god I am aware of it now and prepared so I have to compensate, but it is very dangerous and made the cruise control useless. While it was under warrantee I request it be fixed, but they said there was no way to do that. 2. The car's back up screen is compromised and has a distortion on the bottom that was caused by a download. I requested four separate times a service requests to fix it while it was under warrantee, but they were unable to repair it. The first time they said I needed to wait for a download, then the second time they said it was a hacker, third time they replaced a chip, and the four time they told me to repair it I need to upgrade my entertainment package for $1500 so I cancelled the appointment. All while I was under warranty. Four appointments later and I still have a distortion on my screen when I back up which is slowly getting larger and will be a safety issue I'm sure down the road. Two very obvious safety issues that while under warranty they would not fix. I wrote Tesla and asked them to review my service requests and to get some resolution. I was unsuccessful.

Full self driving suddenly speeds up while waiting at red lights.

When using cruise control the car decides to randomly hard-brake dropping instantly 40+ mph or it increases speed higher than the set cruise control for no reason. We literally have had our bodies slammed into the seats during braking and we will inevitably be rear-ended for this faulty “phantom” braking. We submitted a service request to Tesla on 5/18/23 and were told there’s nothing to be done because it’s in beta testing. This is dangerous and unacceptable. Almost all new cars have adaptive cruise and those other brands have figured this out. Tesla ignoring this and basically saying “it’s not our fault” is irresponsible.

Repeatedly, I have had my car brake harshly when travelling anywhere from 30-55 mph while using adaptive cruise control. There is nevere anything in the road or a car anywhere nearby to warrant a dramatic braking. The decelertion is harsh and alomst caused someone behind me to hit me on 2 occasions. I have repeatedly told Tesla about this and mostly gotten a nebulous response about "hardware" or 'software" issues and that they are working on it. This is dangerous and hurts when it unexpectedly happens!!.

I was turning left to northbound from westbound and as I was trying to accelerate to turn, my Tesla wouldn’t go past 11 mph. I stepped on the accelerator with all my might, but it wouldn’t go past 11 mph. On my dash, the alert said: “obstruction detected- speed will be reduced. ” this is very concerning because the car was slowing down and obstructing the southbound lanes. This is very dangerous and could’ve caused a car crash. I could’ve easily gotten t-boned. After I made my slow turn, the car got back to normal and accelerated normally.

Traveling south on I 5in CA on 2/27, weather and road were clear, speed 70 mph, the car suddenly ceased to maintain it's set speed and decelerated rapidly. At 70 mph with vehicles right behind me closely following, this is safety hazard. Same problem on return trip home northbound on CA 101 - destination brentwood, CA. Third occurrence was on CA 246 - same problems but at 60 mph.

While on regular cruise control (not autopilot), our Model X will abruptly decelerate. This has happened before. Usually on highways I. Road trips.

Dashboard or driver screen suddenly goes black while driving (and at other times will freeze on a certain speed, despite slowing down, or breaking. ) at this point, driver does not know what speed he, or she is traveling at, nor what gear. Response from Tesla is to reboot the car. However, these episodes while driving continue and are very dangerous. Tesla is pushing paying $2000 to get an infotainment upgrade to solve this safety issue which seems to be a defect in the car.

Phantom breaking occurs predictably in the same spots along the NJ garden state parkway. Most certainly I have noticed it and can easily replicate it around the toms river exit 80 in both south and north bound lanes. The vehicle will break suddenly and abruptly when enhanced autopilot or self-driving is engaged. It will come to a complete stop if allowed even when there is absolutely no other vehicles or obstacles in front of it which would justify breaking. It has happened during the day and even late at night when the road is void of vehicles. This same behavior also occurs further south on the gsp I believe around exit 50 but I can't recall with precision on that one.

Unknown.

Highly repeatable issue: driving on left lane of a highway going at high speed (60) with adaptive cruise control enabled (but * full self drive mode). Put on turn signal to merge into right lane. There was a car in the right lane directly next to me but I had not initiated the merge, was merely signaling my intent to merge. My car slammed on the breaks (very dangerous as I was almost rear ended the first time by a 18 wheeler). Did some testing at a later date- if there is a car slightly ahead of me in the right lane, the car behaves normally (maintains speed) if there is a car in my blind spot, the car indicates there is someone in my blind spot but maintains speed. If I am driving in the left lane all three scenarios (slightly ahead, directly adjacent, in blind spot) the car maintains appropriate speed. It is only when car is directly adjacent when in left lane w/ right turn signal that car always now will slam on brakes. Very dangerous- Tesla has been made aware of the issue 2x now- and had informed me that “it is beta software (?????!!!!!!) and to live with it. ”.

On Tuesday September 13th 2022 morning around 10. 55am est, I had entered the hindu temple of florida premises driving my Tesla Model X. I slowly progressed towards the parking spot and mad a slow right turn to park the car. At that time the Tesla suddenly accelerated at full speed, took off like a rocket, jumped the curb, knocked down a sign post and jumped into the ditch which leads into a pond. The car veered to the right, jumped out of the ditch back toward the parking spots, hit two vehicles ( a Honda crv and a Lexus) with a significant force and hit a tree with a big impact and finally stopped. Surprisingly airbags did not deploy. I was wearing the seat belt and was the only one inside the vehicle. Fortunately with gods grace I escaped with minimal injuries. I get nightmares every day since then thinking about how close to death I was. Had the gone gone straight into the pond, I could have drown to death inside the vehicle, had it gone in a different direction and hit those concrete walls of the temple, I could have been crushed. More significant was it did not run over any of the visitors who frequent thaw temple! this sudden unintended acceleration not only shocked me but also shocked several people who were witness to this crazy event. The cctv footage I obtained shows the car going towards the parking spot and caught the initial acceleration and take off and the big thuds twice that ensue within a few seconds. I have heard Tesla cars were involved in certain freak accidents but never imagined that I could be part of one. I’m uploading a few photos, a video clip and a cctv footage clip for your review. I read reports that Tesla blamed these type of unintended acceleration on driver errors pressing the gas pedal! I’m in total disbelief how in the USA with so many safety standards and accountability, that this can continue to happen. ~ swarnalatha chowdappa.

What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? -- cruise control system (with or without full auto-pilot engaged) how was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? -- vehicle comes to a near complete stop from highway speeds, in traffic, to avoid 'something' that doesn't exist has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? -- no, but can be reproduced on highway 54 between el paso, TX and alamogordo, nm has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? -- no were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? - no, problem has occurred since April 2022 after receiving the full self-driving beta software update. Description of problem: vehicle is suffering from the well known "phantom braking" issue and appears to be getting worse. The problem can be reproduced 100% of the time on highway 54 between el paso, TX and alamogordo, nm. With cruise control activated and set to 75 mph (auto-pilot disengaged), vehicle will hard brake to 45 mph or less and then resume back to 75 mph; essentially "brake checking" the vehicle directly behind. No injuries or accidents to report at this time.