2023 Tesla Model Y Speed Control & Cruise Problems

This is my 10th report; it relates to 2 issues I have reported before 1. The "phantom breaking" on cruise control that I have reported a few times previously has apparently been fixed on a software update, but we were not notified. I went in to Santa Fe Tesla where I took delivery of my vehicle and got into a discussion about my disappointments with this car, specifically the tires (see #2). I mentioned my past problems, including the phantom breaking. The man was dismissive and a bit defensive and asked if I'd made an appointment. I said I'd been told several times they hadn't figured out a software fix (and even Tesla employees were simply refraining from using cruise control, which is what I did). He said they "fixed it a while ago" and he's not had complaints since then. I tried cruise control on my 45 minute freeway drive and indeed, the problem did not occur. Interesting that they knew it was an ongoing problem, didn't deal with it, and didn't announce when they finally did fix it. I do not yet know if it is an ongoing safety problem for me but I'm planning to gradually increase my use of cruise control, since most of my driving is high-speed freeway driving. 2. I asked about getting warranty rebate for my original tires that have failed at 38K miles. He said I would have to pursue that through the distributor (American Tire?) and that he'd only had 2-3 customers ever do that. He said most customers just pay for better tires. He offered to sell me another Continental tire in the $400 range and implied that I could find tires through a tire store. I went to Discount tire who can get me a rebate on only 1 of the 4 tires because it's down to 4/32" tread. The other 3 can't be warrantied until they reach 4/32"...and I've already hydroplaned/slid on the freeway in a sleet storm with wet roads. The company knowingly provides inadequate tires and does not stand behind them. This is an unacceptable safety risk and a moral outrage.

I have a 2023 Tesla Y. The Curvature Assist function has nearly caused a half dozen rear end collisions. When in cruise control, it kicks in on (1) highways, near exits when I'm not taking the exit (2) regular roads with no curve or intersection, (3) regular roads with departure lanes that I'm not using. The car behind me only see's a sudden brake light with slow down until I press on the accelerator. Please have Tesla install a disable function for Curvature Assist.

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.

Pulled into hospital parking garage. Stopped to pull parking ticket. When the parking gate was raised, Tesla immediately took off at very high uncontrolled speed. Basically a runaway vehicle. There was no accerlation on my part. Brakes did not work. Hit parked car in the garage about 300 feet from the parking gate. I was taken to hospital with broken wrist. Car has been totaled.

When using the adaptive cruise control or “autopilot” feature on my Model Y, the vehicle will brake extremely hard without warning. This sudden, unnecessary braking is commonly referred to as phantom braking. The failure is available for inspection upon request. This malfunction poses a significant safety risk to myself and others, especially vehicles following behind, as it could lead to rear-end collisions. The issue is widespread, with many other drivers experiencing the same problem. The problem is easily reproducible on highways, particularly at certain intersections where no obstacle is present. The system will sometimes display a “curvature assist” prompt despite the road being straight, causing the vehicle to brake abruptly. I have not taken the vehicle to a dealer because the warranty has expired. The issue has not been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center, nor has it been inspected by the manufacturer, police, or insurance representatives. However, I reported it directly to Tesla and have received no response. No warning lamps or error messages appear before the failure, aside from the inaccurate “curvature assist” prompt. Cause: UNKNOWN.

The car don't run well

I have had Supervised Full Self Driving in the vehicle for well over a year. I have used the Smart Parking feature Monday-Thursday to park the vehicle at work and it has worked flawlessly. On [XXX] around [XXX], I went to [XXX] . After entering the gate to parking on [XXX], I drove slowly. I was able to select a parking spot and tapped on it on the screen for the selection and then started the automatic parking. There were no other cars around as we were all just starting to enter the gate and park. The car began to move in reverse. It then paused turned the wheel a bit, turned it back, tried to decide what it was going to do and started to move forward. The car then drove up the curb on to the walkway and almost drove into the building. I was able to hit the brake quickly to stop the process. There was no damage to the building or the car. I had never had an issue with the Smart Parking until this time. I then backed the car off the sidewalk and parked it myself. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

This is my 4th safety report about the same issue: unexpected braking while on cruise control. Since my last report, Tesla offered another free month of auto pilot but I did not take it for fear of this braking issue. On Tuesday [XXX] I was returning to my home in Las Cruces NM from Colorado. I was on [XXX] toward Albuquerque, and there was very little traffic. I decided to see if I could get away with the cruise control. As I was pulling into Bernalillo, there were some oncoming cars in a left-turn lane at a signal, and my car braked automatically...enough to lurch me forward. I decided to stop at the "new" Tesla dealer in Bernalillo (I got my car in Santa Fe) and ask about the automatic breaking and whether they'd fixed it. The 2 service employees looked at each other and one said "No". I then asked about whether I needed to re-boot my key card since my screen went blank while I was in CO, during a snow storm, parked. I luckily had my phone and on the Tesla App, under Roadside Service, it gave me the option to re-boot the screen! I did so. The serviceman said he didn't think the blank screen had anything to do with my key card, but I could re-boot it if I want to. (A prior complaint also reported the failed key card in less than a year and Tesla's unwillingness to replace it). INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked and attempting to reverse, the vehicle independently accelerated. The contact depressed the brake pedal, and the vehicle stopped. The contact regained control of the vehicle on the curb. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.

While using cruise control (TACC) or FSD, the vehicle inadvertently brakes until vehicle stops, due to detecting light glare or other things as a collision threat. This happened many times. Reported to Tesla service, they said it is a bug and I should file a bug report. I have previously filed many bug reports about this but no software update fixed the problem. Incident happened many times, Tesla should have records of all, because when there is a disengagement, driver is asked to tell what happened by voice.

Harsh braking while using cruise control. Known as "PHANTOM BRAKING". This is causing extremely dangerous situations. The vehicle slams on the brakes while at high speeds for no apparent reason. Perfect weather and road identification markers. Happens with oncoming vehicles in normal path of travel as well as when there is a break in painted lines on the roadway. This creates a serious potential for an accident injury or death. Happens consistently.

I have reported this same issue twice before. When on cruise control, the car brakes unexpectedly. My 2nd and most recent report was on [XXX]: "... 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 up: "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 [XXX], when I happened to be returning home from Silver City to Las Cruces and was on the same highway, [XXX], 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! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Driving north on [XXX] just north of Red ond Oregon on a 2 lane section at sunrise with traffic aware cruise control set the Tesla braked aggressively when a semi approached in the oncoming lane. Neither vehicle crossed the center line but the crash alarm blared and the car braked almost causing a rear ending accident. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

While driving straight on a 2 lane divided highway, the Traffic Assisted Cruise Control decided it needed to slow itself down significantly to 15 MPH under the speed limit (posted speed limit was 65 MPH). There were no vehicles in front, behind, or beside my vehicle. The breaking occurred when it came across a line break where cars from the opposite side of track could turn left onto a service highway but no one was in that divide nor in the turn lane. There was no warning or any obvious indication that the vehicle should harshly slow down for any safety reason, where in fact is there was a vehicle behind me, it could cause a crash. I made a request for Tesla to repair the vehicle, but in my attached photos, you can see that they admit to the issue being software related and insisting that it is an unrepairable problem until a software update can be issued.

The contact owns a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle misread the Route 10 road sign for the speed limit sign and the vehicle decelerated to 10 MPH. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 9,000.

The contact owned a 2023 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while driving at 30-40 MPH, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle and crash into the rear of a parked vehicle. The vehicle continued to accelerate and traveled across the street crashing into another parked vehicle. The vehicle continued to accelerate on its own forward and over a sidewalk and crashed into two street signs when it came to a stop. No warning lights were illuminated. No injuries were sustained. No air nags deployed. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an autobody center. The insurance company deemed the vehicle totaled. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 12,000.

Was traveling along the [XXX] about 5 miles north of the [XXX]. Vehicle was in traffic awareness cruise control when it suddenly applied the brakes. Vehicle did not sound any warnings. Vehicle did not display any warnings. Vehicle made no attempt to warn driver of a braking event. Vehicle traffic awareness cruise control was set to 79 or 78 mph in a 70 mile per hour zone. I was able to push the accelerator pedal to regain speed but had already dropped to about 65 mph. Vehicle did not pass under a shaded section ( I. E. no bridge or trees or big rigs) There was change in color of the road top. My foot was resting just in front of the accelerator pedal. Fortunately for us, there was no vehicles directly behind us. This incident is the 3 of this kind in this vehicle. This has me spooked to use any of the convenience software. I already do not like using the autopilot feature because of it erratic behavior. It feels very unsafe and unpredictable. We are unable to predict when this car will act on its own and feel it will cause us harm one day with actions like this. We are glad that no one was following us closely because they might have hit us. We are also upset that the vehicle never stated why it braked suddenly. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

During a 2,300 miles recent trip in Texas, the vast majority of the speed limit signs were not seen by my 2023 Tesla Model Y autosteer/autopilot (not FSD). This created issues with the autopilot/autosteer as it was not usable in several instances and can create safety issues like distractions, etc... I had the latest software revision. The key point is that this is not happening at all in Colorado where I live. Tesla support responded that I needed my cameras recalibrated which is a totally illogical response as it is not happening in CO.

You have no doubt heard the news that Tesla has deployed Full Self Driving to all its vehicles as a "free trial." My Tesla received this update in the past few days. Last night I was driving on an expressway and engaged what has up until now been traffic-aware cruise control by pressing down one time on the right stalk. I expected regular cruise control but the car started steering for me. Tesla has changed the default behavior of the cruise control activation (one single downward press on the stalk) to instead activate Autopilot. My attempt to regain control caused me to jerk the wheel side to side in a way that could have led to an accident had I been in heavier traffic. This was unexpected behavior from the vehicle and I find it unacceptable that Tesla has changed a default function in this manner. I had to hunt around on the screen to find the setting to change the behavior back to regular Traffic Aware Cruise Control from one downward press. Furthermore, on the same 20 mile trip I had three phantom braking incidents while the car was on Traffic Aware Cruise Control mode. This is more than typical and these events can be dangerous if they happen in traffic. Tesla should not be allowed to deploy changes, especially without notice, that modify basic functionality of a car in motion from what the driver has become accustomed to.

This car does not have Full Self Driving, and I do not use Auto Steer. I experience multiple phantom braking events every time I use the "Traffic Aware Cruise Control." Sometimes I can see that the cruise control set speed has been reduced from the speed I set, and I have to cancel and reset it to resume the original speed. Sometimes the cruise control set speed is unchanged, and pushing the accelerator will cause the car to resume the set speed. Yesterday I drove 320 miles and had about 6 of these events. I'm concerned about these events causing an accident from the sudden speed reduction, or getting into a road rage situation because the person behind me thinks I am brake-checking them. Internet research indicates that these complaints are very common during the past few years. If Tesla can't - or doesn't want to - solve the problem, they should at least allow us to choose basic cruise control to avoid this problem. Adaptive cruise control would be more reliable with radar, but Tesla is doing everything it can to make the cars cheaper, and radar was eliminated. Personally, I think trying to do everything with cameras is a fatally flawed approach - especially considering cars travel at night and in varied weather and lighting conditions.