Automatic Emergency Braking problems of the 2023 Tesla Model Y - part 1

On June 23, 2026, at approximately 7:45 am central time, I was operating my Tesla in full manual drive mode on us highway 35 westbound between denton and fort worth, texas. No driver assistance, autopilot, or automated steering system was activated or engaged by me at any point prior to or during this incident. Without warning and without any driver input, the vehicle autonomously activated an automated steering and driving assistance system, assumed full control of the vehicle, and did not return manual control to me despite my attempts to intervene and regain control of the vehicle. The incident occurred during active rainfall and wet road conditions. The vehicle, while operating under its own autonomous system control without driver consent, drifted and struck the guardrail on the driver's left side. Following the initial impact, the vehicle continued moving and did not stop. The automated system remained active and did not disengage following the collision. The vehicle did not return control to me until a wheel separated from the vehicle. This incident was not caused by driver error. The vehicle's automated system activated without driver input or consent, overrode manual driver control, prevented the driver from regaining control of the vehicle, caused a collision with the guardrail, and continued operating after impact until mechanical failure occurred in the form of wheel separation. I am requesting a formal investigation into this uncommanded autonomous system activation as a safety defect. This type of failure poses an extreme and immediate safety risk to drivers, passengers, and the public.

I have written several times before about my car's phantom braking in cruise control. When the santa fe Tesla dealer, where I bought the car, told me recently that the problem had been fixed, I was disappointed they didn't bother to tell me, but thrilled to hear the news. On may 12-13 I drove over 900 miles. I tried cruise control for significant portions of both drives and did not experience one problem. Finally, I thought, they fixed the problem. . . And how nice it was to have cruise control for extended drives. Not so soon: on may 19th I was driving 2 friends up to volunteer at the wildlife refuge on I-25 in northern new mexico. The phantom braking happened again. My friends were dismayed. . . One thought I had seen something in the road that she didn't see. The other, in the back seat, tried to understand what happened. Please, this is beyond the pale! of course I will call and take the car in to the dealer. . . An hour's drive for me. I will be surprised if they fix it, and if they do it under warranty. I did just buy new tires (see previous report about original tires with multiple flats and not even making it to their 40,000 mile warranty) so I'm no longer worried about getting a flat in the rural areas where I live and drive.

The full self driving system has malfunctioned and is failing. I was put in incredibly dangerous situations that were near potentially fatal accidents. Had someone been a little bit closer when following me, I would not have had enough time to counter the issue. Yes it has been confirmed but not nearly to the extent that I have experienced it it has been inspected by a local service center from the company. There have been some visibility warnings but nothing else.

### summary: sudden unintended acceleration (sua) from a stationary position. ### vehicle configuration: 2023 Tesla Model Y long range awd. Battery type: nmc. ### incident details: on April 19, 2026, at approximately 10:00 a. M. , the vehicle was stationary on a flat surface at 6722 vista del Mar Ave, san diego. I was in the driver's seat with the vehicle "on" but stopped, conversing with two witnesses. My feet were completely clear of both the accelerator and brake pedals. ### the event: without driver input, the vehicle suddenly and forcefully accelerated forward. I immediately slammed the service brake with full force. The vehicle traveled approximately 20 feet before the brakes brought the car to a halt. ### evidence & gaps: two eyewitnesses confirmed the vehicle moved autonomously without pedal interaction. A manufacturer data report was requested, but it showed a specific data gap for the exact seconds of the acceleration event, despite providing second-by-second logs for the rest of the day.

The computer in my car has been undergoing short circuiting, rendering all driver safety features inoperable. This is a known problem with hardware 4 and reported many places. I was backing out of my garage and the read camera and automated braking are not functional and it is nearly impossible to see out the back. When backing out, I struck another car in the driveway, resulting in damage to both cars. Had the system been functional, visibility would have been there and the automated braking would have avoided the collision. The vehicle has been seen by Tesla and I have been told that the warranty has expired and the computer must be replaced at my cost. Tesla has replaced other computers under a recall for the same issue reported. This is a serious safety issue as without a functional computer, features such as software updates, navigation, bilnd spot monitoring, lane keeping, cruise control, all cameras (rear, side, front), autopilot, autobraking etc. Are nonfunctional.

The car's computer shorts out and disables all safety features including navigation, blind spot monitoring, all cameras, emergency braking, autopilot, lanekeeping, auto headlights and wipers. This is a known issue that Tesla will not repair. This resulted in a collision due to poor rear visibility, lack of cameras, and disabled emergency braking. In addition, intermittently there is loss of power steering. Despite this being a known issue, Tesla will not replace my computer, insisting I pay several thousands of dollars for the repair. I feel they must issue a recall and cover this safety defect. The car software cannot be updated, either. Please intervene. [xxx] [xxx] [xxx] I do not have the claim information for the other car involved, but can get from state farm. I do have the repair costs for my vehicle. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I am reporting two severe 'phantom braking' incidents involving my Tesla vehicle while driving without autopilot. In both instances, the vehicle initiated hard emergency braking on a high-speed roadway with no obstacles, pedestrians, or vehicles in my path. This sudden, uncommanded deceleration created an immediate risk of a rear-end collision from following traffic. Incident 1: November 2025 at approximately [xxx]. I was traveling at 30 mph on [xxx] . The car suddenly braked to 0 mph. Weather was sunny, and the road was straight. There were several vehicles following behind me. Incident 2: [xxx], at approximately [xxx]. Location: [xxx], honolulu. The vehicle decelerated from 10mph to 0 mph without warning. In both cases, the car stopped suddenly and was placed in park. I had to put the car in drive to resume driving. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I was trying to park my vehicle on a normal street and Tesla's automatic emergency braking app_w050 kicks in and aggressively brake when I try to parallel park.

Client was severely injured (traumatic brain injury, fractured skull bone and ankle with ongoing cognitve and physical symptoms, probably permanent) as a pedestrian when crossing rt 28 in chatham, MA. He was struck by a 2023 Tesla Model Y in reduced roadway visibility conditions due to sun/shade conditions. The auto braking system failed to activate in time to avoid the collision. This appears to be directly related to NHTSA investigation pe24031.

I am writing to formally lodge a complaint against Tesla, inc. Regarding multiple critical safety failures that occurred with my Tesla Model Y (VIN: [xxx] ) during a collision on Saturday, [xxx], while I was traveling eastbound on [xxx] from the [xxx] exit to the [xxx] exit in pennsylvania. At approximately [xxx], I was driving in the left lane when a BMW SUV abruptly cut into my lane ahead of me, accelerated briefly, and then suddenly braked. I immediately applied the brakes multiple times in an effort to stop my car. Even though there was sufficient space to stop safely, the braking system failed to respond, resulting in a collision with the BMW in front of me. Despite my efforts to avoid the impact, the following dangerous and unacceptable failures occurred at the time of the accident: 1. Failure of regenerative braking / deceleration: when I lifted my foot from the accelerator, the vehicle did not decelerate as expected under Tesla’s regenerative braking system. 2. Failure of braking system: despite pressing the brake pedal twice—including a heavy application—the braking system failed to prevent collision, contrary to Tesla’s advertised safety performance. 3. Failure of collision-avoidance features: critical safety systems—including automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, and obstacle-aware acceleration—did not engage to mitigate or prevent the impact. 4. Failure of airbag deployment: despite the severity of the crash, none of the airbags deployed, exposing me to serious risk of injury and raising grave concerns about the integrity of the Model Y’s occupant protection systems. 5. Post-collision failure of regenerative braking: following the accident, when I attempted to drive the vehicle, the regenerative braking system was completely non-functional, creating a continuing safety hazard and rendering the vehicle unsafe to operate. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The vehicle in front of us came to a sudden stop, but my Tesla failed to issue any alerts or activate automatic braking. When we attempted to brake manually, the car did not allow full braking and continued moving forward, ultimately causing a collision. This strongly suggests a malfunction in the Tesla’s safety or braking system. As a result, I’ve suffered significant financial losses due to the vehicle being totaled and damage caused to other vehicles/other persons injuries involved. This incident is also likely to lead to increased insurance premiums moving forward.

The Tesla “self driving” features are inconsistent, at best, and frequently fail. I can not believe that the government approves these capabilities or the Tesla is accepting liability for road use. If these features are not reliable under supervised conditions, why would they be considered safe for robo taxi release? I have repeatedly tried to report this to Tesla and they say the systems are operating as designed.

While proceeding across the southbound two lanes of a divided 4 lane street the vehicle inexplicably braked violently to a complete stop. When stopped the vehicle was across the two lanes of the road (as I was headed for a divided left turn lane). The was traffic on the road that had to stop for my vehicle. It took a couple of seconds for the car to release the brakes and allow me to continue across the street. This could have cause a wreck if the street traffic had not been paying attention or had assumed I was going to continue as should have been expected. I had to try to hit the gear shift stock in order to get the car to continue moving, although I am not sure that the car required this action. I did not know for how long the vehicle would be immobile. I could have been injured or killed due to this "phantom braking" incident.

On [xxx] I was driving north on [xxx] at approximately 70 mph when my 2023 Tesla Model Y long range brakes violently applied by them self twice in the space of a few seconds, the sudden unexpected brake application was a shock to me causing me almost lose control of the vehicle and was almost rear ended by a truck that was a few car lengths behind me. My car was in manual mode with the "emergency braking" switch enabled (no self drive or cruise control), the weather was sunny and dry and there were no traffic or obstacles in front of my car. The onboard dash cam briefly captured the incident. The problem did not reoccur for the remainder of my drive home. There was no warning prior to the incident, I believe that emergency brakes may have flashed on the screen ( not sure because I was busy reacting to the situation). The car has not been inspected as of yet. I now have to disable the emergency braking function each time I drive my car because unfortunately the system defaults to the on position and I don't trust it. This issue appears to be a problem with the system that provides visual information to the emergency braking system. I'm making this report because this is an extremely dangerous problem that needs to be addressed by Tesla before it causes injury or worse. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

My wife was driving the car on March 7th 2025. Before she leaves the house, she had her front defroster on and the windshield was clear before she leaves the house. 5 minutes later, the front windshield became so foggy to the point she could not see anything in front of her and the front defroster was still on. And because of that so foggy windshield she moved out of her lane with no lane departure warning or anything and then she hit the railway pole without any emergency brakes going off or any warning signs letting her that she is about to hit something. The whole front of the car was gone and the car was totally lost but no airbags deployed at all and that was also concerning. Also there was no issues or any warning lamps or messages before the loss. The car was taken to a body shop and was inspected by the body shop and I believe a representative from my insurance company went to inspect the car at the body shop. So these are the parts I felt faulty or causing the safety concern: - front defroster - automatic emergency brakes - lane departure warning - forward collision warning.

I am submitting a complaint regarding a serious safety issue with my 2023 Tesla Model Y. The vehicle experienced a sudden and complete power loss while in operation, creating a hazardous situation. Below are the details of the incident: •component/system failure: the vehicle’s electrical system failed, leading to a shutdown. The following alerts were displayed on the screen: •vcfront_a191: electrical system power reduced – vehicle shutting down •vcfront_a192: electrical system unable to support all features – switching off features to conserve energy •bms_a151: vehicle may not restart – service is required •di_a227: please wait while high voltage system powers up •safety risk: the unexpected shutdown posed a serious safety risk. If this had occurred in high-speed traffic, it could have led to a crash, endangering my safety and that of others on the road. •reproduction of issue: the issue has not been reproduced yet, but it is an ongoing concern. I have not received a resolution from Tesla at this time. •inspection by authorities: the vehicle has not yet been inspected by Tesla, law enforcement, or insurance representatives. However, I am willing to make it available for investigation. •warning signs: there were no prior warning signs before the failure. The alerts appeared shortly before the vehicle lost power completely. This issue raises concerns about the reliability and safety of Tesla’s electrical system. I urge the NHTSA to investigate this matter to prevent potential accidents caused by similar failures in other vehicles.

The incident occurred while the vehicle was being operated with Tesla driver-assistance features enabled, including lane assist and cruise control. The driver experienced unexpected vehicle behavior that felt inconsistent with normal steering response. Although the driver maintained hands on the steering wheel, the vehicle appeared to react in a manner that was not anticipated, contributing to loss of control and a collision resulting in total vehicle loss. No bodily injury occurred. After the incident, the insurer assigned fault to the driver but declined to investigate any potential vehicle system or software-related issues, directing us to the manufacturer. When attempting to report a potential malfunction to Tesla, the manufacturer declined to open a report because the totaled vehicle had been removed from the Tesla app, preventing further system or telemetry review. This report is submitted to document the incident and the lack of access to any system-level review following the loss.

Cameras not working suddenly, navigation software hung in last location coordinates, auto pilot and it’s safety features not working backup cameras not working , creating blind spot while reversing the car not sure what caused the issue , there was an over wire update few days back maybe that is causing it reported to Tesla service but appointments are backed out seems many cars has this issue recently in last 1-2 months.

At 10:11 pm driving on 95 south at 78 miles per hour the car stopped on its own violently braking and swerved across the intersection. Then we kept getting alerts about the cameras. I have pictures of the alerts. There was no obstruction on the highway. Car just braked for no reason. Very scary.

When using cruise control (Tesla calls it autopilot) emergency braking is applied for no known reason. At one location on my morning commute at highway speed it occurs every day at the same location, at other times it is random. This increases the risk of a rear end collision with a following vehicle. I have not reported this to Tesla. A friend reports that his 2023 Model Y also brakes unexpectedly at that same location where it occurs for me. If driving without cruise engaged the problem does not occur.

Emergency braking and alerting engaged. There were no vehicles or objects in front of my vehicle at the time. The braking was hard enough to engage the abs and bring the car from 40mph to 5-10 mph, risking a rear end collision if someone was behind me. I have owned the car just over 1 year, this is the first time this has happened. No warnings or other errors appeared before the incident and no errors are present after the incident. Neither the dealer or anyone else has inspected the vehicle. Conditions: dry, night (9:50pm) no cruise control or lane keeping functions enabled, no cars or objects were seen in front of the vehicle.

While in an automatic car wash with the vehicle in "car wash mode" the vehicle suddenly stopped free rolling and the vehicle behind the Tesla Model Y crashed into the Tesla. The brown bear car wash reported that these types of incidents are common at brown bear car washes and that they ocurr when the drivers of Tesla cars remove their seat belts while the car is in the car wash.

2023 Tesla Model Y has frequent phantom braking issues when using cruise control. Let me clarify I am not using any sort of auto-pilot or self driving options. I am simply using cruise control. The incidents that cause many braking issues are unjustified to the point I have no idea what the Tesla may have recognized to make it slam on brakes. Very dangerous.

I have reported this same issue twice before. When on cruise control, the car brakes unexpectedly. My 2nd and most recent report was on June 2, 2024: ". . . I had already disabled "apply brakes when regenerative braking is limited" under dynamics on the screen. (see photo) he showed on the screen, under autopilot, that I could disable automatic emergency braking, which I did. I was concerned that this warning pops "the vehicle will not automatically apply the brakes even when a collision is detected" (see photo) but he suggested I try it to see if it would solve the cruise-control braking. I was hopeful, and disabled it, knowing that it might take a while to know if that solved the problem. I drove the 30 miles home on the frontage road instead of the interstate, and when there were no other cars around, I set cruise control at 50 mph, the speed limit. I came to a series of small hills in the road, and was reminded of the first time the automatic braking happened, on a 60 mph road with longer amplitude hills of greater height. Amazingly, it happened again! pretty significant braking and slowed me to 25. This time I waited it out to see if it would resume the cruise control at 50. It did not. I have since restored the automatic emergency braking as that seems important for a crash situation. I have restored the "apply brakes when regenerative braking is limited" since that obviously was not the problem either. " I did not use cruise control again until August 23, when I happened to be returning home from silver city to las cruces and was on the same highway, 180, where the problem first occurred. It is a 2-lane road and often there is no traffic, so I felt safe trying cruise control again. I set it at 55, the speed limit, and after only a few miles the car braked again. I do not use cruise control anymore, and was dismayed to find that Tesla is again offering a free trial of autodrive! this is a huge safety issue!.

The car suddenly slam on the breaks for no reason especially during night time. Happens every day on certain roads.

The automatic windshield wipers will not turn on during rain and mist. Also the wipers will not turn on when there is water and visibility is very poor. For unknow reason the car jammed the brake almost bringing the car to a stop on the freeway on cruise control and nearly caused a pile up.

On June 13 around 9:20 pm we were driving south on I-5 in vancouver, wa. The car was on cruise control (not autopilot or autosteer) at 65 mph. The car braked really hard and dropped the speed to nearly 20 mph. We do not know why the car braked, there was no one in front of us. Fortunately there was no one behind us other us we could have been rear-ended. I quickly took control of the car and increased the speed. We have not driven the car on highway since then or taken the car to the dealership yet. There was a message on the screen after the incidence but it disappeared before we could read it.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle at approximately 55 mph on autopilot, the brakes independently engaged and the vehicle decelerated abruptly to approximately 12 mph. The contact stated that there were no obstructions, or incoming vehicles on the road. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 18,000.

I bought a 2023 Tesla long-range y in June 2023 at Tesla santa fe, new mexico. I have had trouble with the brakes applying on their own during cruise control. It was very scary the first time it happened, but luckily there was very little traffic on the 2-lane highway I was traveling on. The Tesla dealer in santa fe told me they don't have a software fix yet and he simply avoids cruise control. After a few months I cautiously tried cruise control again and got away with it. . . But the third time, months later, it happened again. When the free month trial of auto pilot was installed, I did not intend to use it. Toward the end of the trial, I used it on I-25 coming home to las cruces and realized it might actually auto-brake on the freeway, which could be a disaster. After that trip a Tesla friend shared his near-accident-causing experience with the cruise control braking. Another issue is that the key card didn't unlock the car, then wouldn't start the car. I called Tesla and was told I could reset the key card using the Tesla app, but it did not work. The next day I called Tesla support; he ran the diagnostics and said "OH yes, your car needs to be re-booted". He did so, and the key card worked to lock the car, but not to unlock or start it. I asked him to send me a new key card. "we sell a set of 2 for $45" (this is what came with the car). I told him I paid $53,000 for the car less than a year ago, it did not come with a charge cable, and now the key card didn't work? he looked to see if the key card was covered under warranty and found it was not. I have been unable to reach a person to speak with at either the nm dealer where I bought it or the el paso dealer where I test-drove and attended the seminar, and have waited on the phone for exorbitant amounts of time while the bot tells me I can manage most problems on the Tesla app.

Forward collision with a deer. The deer jumped out in front of the vehicle, very close to the vehicle, at night. The vehicle failed to detect large object obstacle in front of it and apply emergency braking.

I purchased a new 2023 Tesla Model Y long range dual motor awd in September 2023. On March 20, 2024, while I was parking my car in parking lot of strip mall, I somehow became confused and panic. I unintentionally pressed the accelerator with some force which resulted in movement of car in speed and it hit a structure. The car failed to apply the emergency breaks before collision and hit the glass wall of a structure (dining room beside footpath) with great force and break the glass wall. Even then it did not stop after passing through the glass wall. I then turned the car on the foot path beside main boulevard road and then applied the break to stop the car. Front of the car, windshield and battery was badly damaged. The car was latter shifted to Tesla collision center. Battery damage was irreparable and needed replacement. Since the estimate sent by Tesla collision center to insurance was very high, the insurance decided to totaled the car. Although nobody was hit by the car and I was also safe, it could have severely injured other person or I could have severely injured if I was not able to stop the car before another collision with fast moving cars on the boulevard. This was a "complete failure of application of emergency brake" before the collision - important safety feature to save a life. Please report this to Tesla and send me the feed back. I do not know whether I will get compensation from Tesla for this technical fault as it put my life in danger and there was financial loss.

Driving on a two lane highway at 70 mph, the vehicle has applied the breaks extremely abruptly without reason, three times in the past week. Slamming on the breaks suddenly reduced our speed from 70 to 45 mph before I could return to the speed limit. I came very close to being rear-ended last time. The drivers behind me were angry as well, assuming that I was “break-checking” them. I am extremely concerned for my family’s safety.

I rear ended to another car when I blacked out for a few seconds in the city driving around 20 miles an hour. The aeb, based on Tesla manual and instructions should have kicked in, but it never did. After the accident, a friend of mine told me about aeb function and the fact that it works in those type of conditions, I tested the car in my driveway (I have a pretty long driveway to do this). Aeb did not kick in until I turned off the function and I turned on the function again. Then, it kicked in immediately, and on the screen "a" showed, which means aeb kicked in. That was the first time aeb worked and that sign appeared on the screen. Later in the day, when I tested the car again under the exact same conditions,, aeb stopped functioning again like the way it has been since I bought the car. I read all the information/instructions regarding aeb. I understand that in certain conditions like, if the driver is accelerating or putting pressure on brake pedal or steering wheel, aeb does not kick in. I talked to another Tesla owner, he said his does not kick in either unless the car is on auto cruise or autopilot. Mine is the same. This is definitely malfunction. The issue is that the car, on the screen shows that aeb is always turned on, but it never kicks in and the car does not give any error regarding this issue. Again, I tested it after turning off and on aeb function, and I now know the difference. Under the same conditions of that testing, the aeb does not function at all. The accident I had was 100% preventable if aeb worked properly. Tesla service center has been dismissive. They send me snippets from the Tesla manual, which I already have and read many times. They say they cannot test it. All they can do is to check remotely to see if the function is on, but that's where the issue is. The function is always on, but it never kicks in. Again, it did work for me for a few minutes when I turned it off and on, but that was it.

Driving 30 mph on a two lane road at night, the car suddenly sounded a warning sound and slammed on the brakes, hard enough to make the tires skid. There was nothing in front of us on the road nor on the sides of the road. Road was clear and dry. No cars ahead of us or (fortunately) behind us.

Tesla Model Y automatically and incorrectly brakes and alarms when on two lane road with large truck approaching in other lane. Adaptive cruise control is engaged. This has occurred multiple times.