Adaptive Cruise Control problems of the 2020 Tesla Model Y - part 1

After installing software version 2024. 45. 25. 15 (full self driving software 12. 6. 2) on my 2020 Tesla Model Y with autopilot hardware v3, I experienced unsafe behavior by the autopilot/automatic safety system. On my second drive after the software update, I was unable to engage the autopilot system. Two “phantom” cars appeared on the full self driving visualization. One “phantom” vehicle was on the left side of the vehicle in my blind spot. A second “phantom” vehicle was shown about 20 feet ahead and 50 feet to the left of my vehicle. (see screen shots). When I attempted to turn left, the automatic lane keep and blind spot warnings took over and attempted to avoid the phantom vehicle. I was able to override the system, but it caused repeated alarms and attempts to move the vehicle back into the lane.

On drives longer than 40 miles, camera faults cause cruise control systems to degrade in function and then when the faults are cleared, full functionality resumes without driver alerts. Side repeater camera feeds and rear camera feeds inconsistently load, or take an extended time period to load (10+ seconds). Tesla has confirmed that the autopilot computer (hw3) likely needs to be replaced, but this error/messaging is not directly accessible to the customer. The inconsistent failure behavior of the vehicle could easily lead less technical owners/drivers to incorrectly interpret how the car is behaving. The only message you receive while driving could be that 'cruise control is not available', and 'automatic emergency braking unavailable' with a message that the features may be restored later in the drive. My coworker has a 2022 Model Y and the same component failed on his vehicle and needed to be replaced under an extended warranty that was purchased from Tesla. I'm unsure how widespread the failure of this critical safety system is; we both purchased fsd and both had the same component fail and need replaced. I don't personally know others who own this vehicle with the fsd package to know for sure.

I own a 2020 Tesla y with hardware version 3 and after a few weeks of a free trial, purchased Tesla's full self-driving software (fsd) version 12. 3. 6. Since then, the fsd software was updated to version 12. 5. 4 and then 12. 5. 4. 1. Fsd version 12. 3. 6 had some safety issues. But version 12. 5. 4 and 12. 5. 4. 1 has had more issues that have resulted in nearly having accidents that I have had to suddenly avoid. Fsd version 12. 3. 6 issues: 1. Wandering outside of center yellow dividing stripes when on a curvy two-lane roadway 2. Failing to yield to oncoming traffic when making a left turn and oncoming traffic was not clearly in view due to a curvy two-lane road 3. Attempting to make a left turn into a busy intersection when the turn signal was still red fsd version 12. 5. 4 and 12. 5. 4. 1 additional issues: 1. Attempting to enter a two-lane roadway from a stop sign, when the perpendicular traffic was active and they had no stop sign, requiring me to slam on the brakes. 2. Sudden and erratic braking on a two-lane roadway, including directly under a signal, when no objects, people or other vehicles were in front of me, which nearly resulted in the vehicle behind me hitting me in the rear 3. Software sending a tone and screen alert to grab the steering wheel immediately, due to a "system failure. " 4. Software sending a tone and screen alert that to grab the steering wheel immediately, due to "one or more cameras blocked," when no cameras were blocked.

This pertains to the new NHTSA recall 23v-838 that forces Tesla to issue an ota update changing the use of autosteer and attention notifications. Prior to the new update, I would use autopilot to assist me while I change the climate controls or radio station. After the update, this would instantly notify me that I was not “paying attention” which I am. Eventually it would disable my ability to use auto steer. Large all screen in put makes it difficult for me to adjust basic amenities in the car such as climate controls and radio. Since the new update, I felt that my in ability to use autosteer to assist me has made this operation significantly less safe. Not being able to safely make inputs to the car infotainment has made it riskier. Being all screen, there is no tactile feedback to know where my controls are without looking at the screen. In addition, I feel that the additional more frequent notifications has become more of a distraction as I take my eyes off the road to look at the screen to see what issues I am running into. There needs to be a balance between constant notification and ability to control basic infotainment feature.

Chatgpt subject: safety concerns regarding recent Tesla autopilot changes (campaign #23v-838) dear NHTSA, I am writing to express my concerns regarding the recent required changes to Tesla's autopilot system under campaign #23v-838. While I understand the importance of updates for safety, it appears that these modifications have had an adverse impact on the vehicle's safety and increased the potential dangers of driving. I urge the NHTSA to thoroughly investigate and address these issues to ensure the continued safety of Tesla vehicles on the road. Your prompt attention to this matter is crucial for the well-being of Tesla drivers and the public at large.

Failure of all cameras, gps, and lane keeping system. It is available for inspection. It occurred after software update was pushed to the car. Tesla service has seen the vehicle and says that the internal computer has a fault and needs to be replaced. Yet, oddly enough, there are a lot of identical failures reported in Tesla owner forums. Around the same time as my failure in mid-December 2023. No prior indication of computer failure occurred. And the computer is still operational for items not related to the cameras and gps. Safety concerns: the rear windshield has limited visibility, which is not an issue when the cameras are functioning. The safety notification when changing lanes does not work without the cameras and sensors. The lane keeping and adaptive cruise control do not work without the cameras and sensors. Tesla should investigate if a software update they sent over the air created the problem with cameras and lane keeping assist.

I am writing to formally file a complaint against Tesla, inc. Concerning a significant issue that has arisen following a software update issued to Model Y and model 3 vehicles in early December. I am a Tesla Model Y owner, and following this update, I have experienced complete failure of critical vehicle systems including cameras, navigation, lane departure warnings, auto braking, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, windshield wipers, self-driving features, and car location data. The malfunction of these essential features not only compromises the safety and functionality of the vehicle but also indicates a severe underlying problem with the vehicle's computer system. The cost to replace the affected computer in my vehicle amounted to $2,400. However, upon reviewing discussions on Tesla forums, I have discovered that this is not an isolated incident; numerous other owners are facing similar failures, with some repair bills exceeding $3,000. Given the widespread nature of these issues and their chronological association with the December software update, there appears to be a high correlation between the update and the catastrophic failure of the vehicle computers. The financial burden of these repairs has unjustly fallen on consumers, although it is my belief that Tesla should be held accountable for these failures, given the direct link to their software update. I urge the national highway traffic safety administration (NHTSA) to investigate this matter thoroughly. It is critical to ascertain whether the December software update directly caused the failures of the vehicle's computer systems and to ensure that Tesla takes appropriate responsibility for the safety and reliability of their vehicles. This includes compensating owners for the costs incurred due to these failures and implementing measures to prevent such incidents in the future. Thank you for your attention to this serious matter.

Driving on highway 80, west of elko, nv. No obstructions on the road, no cars within 5 miles, no animals or birds on the highway. The vehicle aggressively brakes. It did this 4 times with the assisted driving engaged and 1 with cruise control engaged.

I was driving with cruise control on and the car violently hit the brakes when there was no one in front of us. We have noticed this is more common when cresting a hill. This happens at least once every time we are on a road trip. This needs to be addressed. We know we are not the only person having these issues with the Tesla and the “phantom braking”.

On a round trip from albuquerque, nm to tucson, az, we experienced 8-10 instances of phantom braking in our 2020 Tesla long-range Model Y. The occurrences happened when the car was in adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistance. Highway speed was typically 75 mph, weather was sunny, and roads were clear. Overall, an unnerving experience!.

On July 26 2023, fsd, camera and navigation were working fine untill I was told to update software in my car. Then the next day everything stop working. I could not use navigation, crusie control, fsd, and all cameras. So, I brought in service to check but they could not fix the issue and want to replace car computer which I have to pay for the issue I did not cause. This is unresponsible that I got it from them. I am not sure if this manufacter defect or firmware issue that cause it. But this is not something that I have ability to cause it. Now with this safey recall I could not update software since there is no option for to do so.

While driving at highway speeds, the car unintentionally went into neutral. The setup: the driver was on the highway with cruise control on. Upon turning cruise control off to prepare for entering an exit ramp, the car also went neutral. We lost power and the regenerative braking that you expect in this car. The center console stated something like “please shift into drive or reverse”. The cause is that Tesla uses an up movement on the right hand gear stalk to cancel auto pilot, cancel cruise control, and to put the car into neutral. If that up movement is too long, the car will inadvertently go into neutral regardless of car speed. We reported this to Tesla and they suggested all model 3s and ys do this. Some light searching online showed this happening to others too. This feels dangerous at highway speeds. And the point at which you are turning cruise control off could be a critical phase of driving and feels like a unsafe time for the car to loose power.

While driving at highway speeds (50mph-80mph), on 2 lane or 4 lane highways, in the day or night, in sunny conditions and overcast sky's, while using the cruise control (auto-pilot), the car will suddenly and unexpectedly apply the brakes. It happens between 8 and 10 times on every road trip, each way. Not only is it a shock to me as there is never a visual obstacle that seems to be causing the hard braking, but it is a dangerous safety issue to other motorists too. This has caused cars behind me to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision. Other motorists have mistaken this hard braking as me "brake-checking" them and very nearly cause a road-rage incident. I've had the car for about a year and have opened several service appointments with Tesla. Each time they close the case before the service appointment with a version of the reply "this is normal" and "there is nothing to repair". They also claim that the car will learn how the react next time by my reaction to the incident this time. I have reacted the same way (by pushing the accelerator pedal until it regains forward motion) each time this has happened in the 8-10 times on each of the 6-8 road trips I've made in the last year. Clearly, the car isn't learning anything from my reaction to the sudden and unexpected braking. My safety is worth my time to make them take this seriously as they don't seem to be concerned with my safety!.

On the last road trip, my car emergently braked for no reason when using cruise control and autopilot causing safety issues for cars behind my vehicle. This happened at least 6 times on my 500-mile round trip. I reached out to Tesla service and was told there is no fix at this time. In my opinion this is a dangerous problem that needs addressing in an urgent manner.

I enabled Tesla's auto pilot feature while driving on highway. Throughout the drive of ~200 miles, the car had sudden phantom breaks for four times. It was very dangerous situations and could have easily caused serious accidents.

Under clear conditions while traveling on the highway, if adaptive cruise control or self-driving is used, the car will randomly apply its brakes. The car will quickly lose 5-10 miles of speed, and poses a hazard to cars behind us. In the 7-8 times this has happened in the last two months, there has never been an obstacle in our path. Unfortunately, this has rendered cruise control unusable.

On several occasions, my car will either I) slam on the brakes when in assisted driving for no reason, ii) start beeping for a lab departure when I have no even made the slightest move to switch lanes, iii) windows will roll back down when I try to roll them up (not sure if that’s related to the fsd issues). I paid an extra $15,000 for fsd and not only does it not work, but it seems to have created unsafe driving conditions in my car.

Nearly every single day on my drive home north on az hwy 90 my 2020 Tesla Model Y abruptly disengages and breaks from cruise control. It is especially startling when I pass a vehicle and then return to my lane only to have the car dramatically slow. I could be ok if it just disengaged cruise but daily multiple times it breaks on a fast moving highway.

Prior to the incident a message appeared in the car indicating that the lane departure avoidance features unavailable - features may be restored on next drive. Tacc was activated on the car. Auto steer was not activated. The car is equipped with autopilot only. It was traveling in the furthest left lane. A truck in the center lane attempted to merge into the left lane where our Tesla Model Y was traveling. The car then steered hard left causing the car to be nearly our of control and swerving left and right. We were able to get the car under control, but we nearly were run off the road.

I was on a self driving mode enabled but it’s been raining for a while and I believe it showed the poor weather condition so fsd is not enabled but autopilot was engaged (but not 100% sure about which mode it was) it was around 2am in the morning and was on 580 southbound from dublin to sfo. I was on the second to the left lane. It suddenly tried to go diagonally to the first lane. (not like normal lane change but very abrupt almost like making turn 90 degree left) so I tried to cancel by holding on the steering wheel. And then it went out of control and start rotating until it stopped by hitting the center guard rail on the passenger rear side. The car stopped facing backward on the road (on the center shoulder). Luckily it was late night (around 2am) and there were no car behind luckily. I could have dead if another car hit into my car. Tesla insurance of course didn't admin any of this and told me it was my fault.

We continue to experience phantom braking when adaptive cruise control is engaged on major highways. On a recent trip, it occurred three times on I-90 eastbound between madison and janesville, WI, and again in indiana. Our car does not have “full self-driving. ” most of these were relatively mild, but one was so violent that objects in the cabin were thrown around. If a vehicle had been following relatively closely, a collision would have been likely. This seems most likely to happen as we approach an overpass.

While driving on the highway at 59 mph using Tesla autopilot functionality the vehicle braked so hard the wheels locked up and skidded without warning. There was no vehicle directly in front but there were two semi trucks on either side and vehicle directly behind me. The vehicle behind had to brake hard not to run into me. I took control of the vehicle and pressed the accelerator to regain speed and avoid an collision.

The autodrive features malfunctioned. The vehicle is "phantom" braking when a human could easily see there was no reason to brake. This is happening with autopilot (lane keep and adaptive cruise control) engage at freeway speeds (60-70mph). This is occurring randomly on a curve, in the day, at night, in a straight road, cars or no cars nearby. The solution being offered is Tesla service will check the tire pressure and they "remote educated" me by providing links to their autopilot description on their website which states that this can happen. These are extremely dangerous situations and these solutions are not sufficient.

Have had several issues with phantom braking. When in cruise control or auto drive there are times nothing is in the roadway but the vehicle will brake in middle of hwy. Very dangerous.

Phantom braking during a drive on highway. Out of no where, the car breaks even when there is no one stopping in front of you. This resulted in car behind panicking and almost rear ending.

While driving on highway using cruise control, the vehicle (without the driver's assistance) applied brakes to quickly slow the rate of speed. This occurred three times in the span of ten minutes. The weather was sunny and no other vehicles or objects were in the vicinity of my vehicle. After the third occurrence, I stopped using cruise control for the remainder of the trip.

On a 900 mile drive, in one day, the “speed cruise control” would abruptly brake, as if it were seeing someone in front of us. It did this at a minimum 5 times. Never was there a car closer than 1/4 of a mile in front of us. Once it went from 78mph to 38mph in about 3 seconds, when there was a car about 3 car lengths behind us. On the return 900 mile drive it continued, at a lesser rate. I have reported this to Tesla, and they claim “my” car reports do not show anything out of the ordinary, and these errors are sometimes caused by…and they gave numerous reasons, such as speed limit data inaccuracies, etc. They also have determined that my car does not show any computer faults so there is nothing they can do. Unacceptable.

During routine highway driving while using the included autopilot (adaptive cruise control) software, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning abruptly slow and apply breaks. This slowing can occur when traveling at 70mph (the posted speed limit) and attempt to slow to a speed of 45mph. This change causes a great safety hazard in the event of being closely followed or rear ended. This phenomenon is known to Tesla and been colloquially termed "phantom breaking". No hazard or other external reason is present to merit a sudden breaking.

Phantom braking in autopilot: coming back from mammoth CA in November 2022 on highway 395 and 14 we experienced sudden braking in cruiscontrol/autopilot numerous times with no cars in front of us while driving. One time there was a car behind us and almost caused an accident. This is a very dangerous situation in which Tesla must fix this issue or refund us money back for the auto pilot feature. This has happened previously on long trips. We do not use this feature in regular commuting to and from work.

Many times over the past long highway drives while in cruise control, the car will suddenly and violently brake with no obstacles in the way. Thankfully no car has been immediately behind me so far, but I can concerned that this may happen again and I won't be so fortunate. I have a mobile service appointment upcoming but Tesla tells me they need to know the exact date and exact time (to the second) that this occurred which I am unable to tell them. This is frustrating.

I was driving on a clear day with trees shading part of the road when suddenly and unexpectedly the car decelerated abruptly. If another car had been tailgating me I fear it would have rear-ended me.

I reported many instances of what is know as "phantom braking" when using adaptive cruise control when we went on our first long drives in the car when we took delivery. They recalibrated the front sensing cameras and that helped. It did not eliminate all events, but acc was then usable in certain driving situations, I. E. , when not in fast congested traffic as in metropolitan traffic. We took a long trip on freeway and two lane highways a month ago, about 3,500 miles, which had a few, non serious events. About a month or so ago, Tesla had a software update that said it was going to install "Tesla vision", a camera only senor system, elimination the radar sensing our car has. The result was having quite a few more events of pb. One particular one was on a freeway (i8) heading east at 75 mph with no traffic visible neither in front of or behind our car. It slammed on, hard, the brakes and would have brought us to a complete stop had I not applied power. I reported the high number of pb events to Tesla service, to which they replied, in essence, that acc is a beta feature and you just need to pay close attention when using it and it's not perfect. Well, its not close to reliable and is capable of causing major accidents. We avoided several because I always have my foot near the accelerator in case the car decides to stop. Tesla said that they could find no hardware faults in our car, but I suspect it is software, not hardware. I will happily join a class action suit. I will put the day the last one happened below.

The contact owns a 2020 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds with the cruise control activated, the vehicle experienced phantom braking. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that the failure would occur before crossing a bridge, or while a dark colored vehicle passed her vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to a service center and was informed that there was no fix for the failure. The contact was given tips on how to prevent the failure; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

When using the "Tesla autopilot" feature phantom braking has been more frequent and aggressive following the recent software upgrades. Many times, phantom braking occurs when approaching an intersection or when lane lines intersect. The phantom braking concern was minimal when I first purchased the car. Strange enough it would happen going under an overpass or an elevated crosswalk. With time and software upgrades this concern was resolved but now the phantom braking events are more pronounced and sometime so quick it is difficult to implement corrective action and prevent possible rear end collisions, especially in highway traffic conditions.

The gps is malfunctioning- showing the car in a random location, direction and speed. All automation needs to be disabled. The car will attempt to make a non-existent turn based on where it thinks it is, or will speed up or will suddenly decelerate because it thinks it is coming up to a cross street or traffic control.