2018 Tesla Model S Brakes Problems

I was entering my drive way waiting for the garage to open suddenly my car just accelerated and hit the wall.

On [XXX], my 2018 Tesla Model S (VIN [XXX] ) experienced a complete brake system failure while in motion. The brake pedal was pressed multiple times, but the vehicle did not stop, resulting in a collision. The emergency brake also failed to engage. 1. Component/System Failure: The braking system, including both the standard hydraulic brakes and the electronic emergency brake, failed to operate. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. 2. Safety Risk: This put my safety and the safety of others at immediate risk, as I was unable to stop the vehicle to avoid an accident. 3. Confirmation of Problem: The problem has not yet been reproduced or confirmed by a Tesla service center since the accident, but the vehicle previously had recalls in 2021 and January 2024 for brake and emergency brake issues that Tesla claimed to have remedied. 4. Inspection: The vehicle has been involved in an accident and has been documented by police and insurance representatives. Tesla has not yet inspected the car after the most recent failure. 5. Warning Lamps/Messages: There were no warning lamps or error messages on the dashboard prior to the failure. The brakes appeared normal until the moment they failed completely. This incident demonstrates that the recall-related brake defects remain unresolved and present a serious safety hazard. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

My car was left on the driveway for a weekend where I was out of town. Upon returning, as I got into the vehicle and started reversing to get out of my driveway; several alerts popped up on my car. The alerts included "Steering assist reduced", "Stability control disabled", "Automatic emergency braking unavailable" and lastly, "Parking brake Fault." Immediately the power steering was gone and it took several pounds of force to turn the steering wheel even a little bit. Then, the parking brake engaged. No matter how many times I put the car into Drive, it would engage the brake again. My vehicle was halfway out of the driveway and into the road and I was causing my neighbors angst. After several reboots, it still was not working. I was unable to even get the car into neutral to push the car back on to my property and out of the street. After nearly 20 minutes of trying and almost giving up; the parking brake disengaged for a few minutes and allowed me to get back to the driveway. However, when driving the brakes were extremely loud when the car was in motion. The car was completely fine with no signs of wear and tear or issues prior to the out of town weekend. The car was also fully charged so to not run into any batter issues upon my return. After some internet sleuthing, this issue is decently common and is caused by faulty housing in the steering rack. The nuts/bolts that were used by the manufacturer could not withstand more than a few years of wear and tear. I believe there was a recall on the previous years for this exact situation. I am afraid I will have to take it to Tesla service and pay several thousand dollars as the warranty expired last year.

On March 17, 2023 at approximately 4:00 pm MT, I was traveling at approximately 75 MPH with adaptive cruise control and auto pilot engaged when the car suddenly applied brakes with no obstruction ahead or behind or on the side. The car quickly slowed down to approximately 55 MPH, released the brakes and began to accelerate back to the speed limit of 75 MPH.

I was travelling on the highway at high speeds when the traffic suddenly comes to a halt. My tires were screeching without any signs of ABS kicking in whatsoever. My car slid 20-30 feet since i braked.

I experienced multiple incidences with phantom breaking today. Multiple times per hour of driving (average of 5 times per hour on a ling 10 hour drive) Events occurred on open highways/freeways with no other vehicles or objects around. Thankfully. But these incidences could have lead to a crash if other vehicles were following closely.

The car brakes when it is on Adaptive Cruise Control mode. The braking happens for no reason. It happens when the car is approaching an overpass. I have to take control of the car immediately.

My Model S routinely experiences "phantom braking". I'm driving down the freeway with the Tesla "autopilot" engaged and it momentarily hits the brakes, usually slowing 15-20mph before it either it recovers or I intervene. I've also experienced "phantom braking" with just the traffic aware cruise control engaged and not the "autopilot".

I have experienced many times "phantom braking". When I reported that to a Tesla service center 2 years ago, they did not know of this problem. It is scary and dangerous especially for the cars following me It only happens to me on the freeway when in ADAS mode. There is a exact place on the 5 freeway SB near Disneyland, that each time I drive there, phantom braking happens. Further also random without noticing any reason for it.

Phantom breaking. Car Suddenly breaked on highway going at 70 miles per hour. No crash. This has happened 5-10 times over the last year

I purchase a used 2018 Tesla Model S about two months ago. Braking is very "jerky, causing me and my passenger to "lurch forward" unnecessarily. I run into this "phantom braking" issue numerous times every time I drive. It happens both on Automatic Cruise Control and FSD and under different circumstances" and encompasses: (1) Sudden braking for no apparent reason; (2) Sudden braking that is unnecessary or is too forceful for the circumstances; (23 If the car is on automatic cruise control or FSD, it will slow down and stop too far away from the car in front. So, I push the accelerator to close the gap. When I left my foot off the accelerator, the software apparently thinks it's too close the car in front, and jams on the brakes unnecessarily. Also, when on automatic cruise control, if the car in front of me goes around a curve and then shortly thereafter stops a stop sign/light, my car, sensing that the coast is clear, will accelerate to the speed limit. as it approaches the curve, which it should not do. Then, when the car in front suddenly comes into view, my car will have to "jam on the anchors" in order to stop in time. While I'd rather be "safe" than "sorry," the degree of this phantom braking should be addressed.

This incident happened some time ago but I read recently about complaints related to "phantom braking" which I also experienced. I was driving on the highway at speed with my cruise control activated. There was no traffic close in front of me, but a large semi was in the lane to my right. This vehicle triggered sharp braking of my car. It was very scary, but I immediately overroad the braking to avoid being hit by a vehicle behind me. I have never used my cruise control since that incident.

While driving at approximately 40 MPH the car suddenly braked by itself! A sound alarm and display indicator were also activated. After a couple of seconds the event resolved without any intervention. Their was no warning lamps or messages prior to the event. At the time I was driving on a divided road and there was light traffic at the time. The car was not on cruise control or auto-pilot. My concern was being rear-ended by the vehicle behind me! The car has not been inspected by anyone since the event.

I purchased the Tesla Mold S with Autopilot feature in August 2018, then upgraded it to Full Self Driving for $5,000 and got it through a software update at the end of 2021. But this FSD feature has many defects such as hesitating before turning or stopping at a sign, which makes the car swing around like a drunk; Sometimes it doesn't turn the turn signal on when changing the line, and even enters into the reverse lane. If the above problems can be taken over by switching human drive to avoid accidents, phantom braking is a terrible safety problem that can not avoid accidents. There have been many times in which the vehicle suddenly decelerated and braked without warning while driving by FSD. Fortunately, the rear vehicle did not follow too close or the rear driver took deceleration measures in time to avoid rear-end collisions. But on January 5 this year, not so lucky, I was just out of the Tesla services center of Berkeley, my vehicle under SFD to the Ninth Street and Gilman Street intersection and is turning left from north to the east after the green light on, but the phantom braking happened when driving road central, the vehicle behind me didn't react and bumped into my car. The rear-end collision not only caused serious damage to the vehicle but also caused very discomfort in the driver's neck from the violent vibration of the collision. Although the accident was dealt with by the insurance companies of both parties and the damaged body was repaired in the Bodyshop designated by the insurance company, I contacted the customer service of Tesla many times and reported the accident to them, hoping that they could arrange a comprehensive inspection to make sure that no other parts were damaged in the accident besides the body. However, Tesla's customer services reacted badly, either prevaricating or ignoring it. The accident has been nearly half a year since the accident happened, but I have not received a positive response or solution from them.

Recently saw an article that NHTSA was looking into "Ghost Breaking" with Tesla cars. This is something we have experienced with our Model S on a few occasions in 2018 and 1029. Haven't been driving that car that much now during the pandemic. Problem reported to Tesla: While driving on US 101 in Bay Area (driving from Milpitas to South SanFrancisco), and the car on Adaptive Cruise Control, the car would suddenly break and resume driving again. This not only scares the driver, but could be very problematic in a crowded lane. Telsa has looked into it when we complained and there was not definitive answer or fix. Hope the recent considerations by NHTSA will result in a through root cause and corrective action. Thanks!

I DROVE TO WORK ON MAY 2, 2019, AND WAS TRYING TO PARK IN MY ALLOTTED PARKING STALL ON THE 3RD LEVEL OF MY OFFICE PARKING GARAGE. MY PARKING STALL WAS ALONG THE OUTER EDGE OF THE GARAGE AND THE ONLY BARRIER TO THE OUTSIDE WAS A SET OF THREE (ABOUT " DIAMETER) CABLES STRUNG BETWEEN OUTSIDE COLUMNS OF THE GARAGE, BESIDES A THIN PERFORATED CORRUGATED METAL SHEET OUTSIDE THE CABLES, ACTING AS A RAIN STOP. I WAS TRYING TO SLOWLY TURN RIGHT FROM THE PARKING AISLE TO PARK BETWEEN TWO PICKUP TRUCKS ON EITHER SIDE OF MY STALL. WHEN I HAD TURNED PARTWAY INTO MY STALL, MY TESLA SUDDENLY ACCELERATED INTO MY PARKING STALL AT HIGH SPEED, HIT THE OUTSIDE CABLES, REBOUNDED BACKWARDS AND STOPPED ABOUT 10 FEET FROM THE OUTSIDE CABLES. THE CABLES SAVED ME FROM PLUNGING 3 FLOORS DOWN FROM THE GARAGE. THERE WAS EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO THE HOOD AND FRONT PORTIONS OF MY TESLA. THERE WAS ALSO SOME DAMAGE TO THE METAL CORRUGATED SHEETS OUTSIDE THE CABLES AND A SLIGHT DENT ON THE CORNER OF THE VEHICLE PARKED TO MY RIGHT. I HAVE BEEN PARKING IN MY OFFICE PARKING STALL FOR ABOUT THE PAST SIX MONTHS WITHOUT ANY ISSUE LIKE THIS. I WANT TO KNOW WHY MY CAR ACCELERATED LIKE THAT WITHOUT WARNING AND WHY THE COLLISION WARNING SYSTEM WAS NOT TRIGGERED BY THE OUTSIDE CORRUGATED METAL SHEET. ALSO, THERE WAS AN ISSUE WITH MY TESLA THE PREVIOUS EVENING. WHEN I TRIED TO START MY TESLA AFTER WORK, I GOT THE 'SYSTEMS ARE POWERING..' MESSAGE ON THE SCREEN AND MY CAR WOULD NOT START EVEN AFTER A LONG WAIT. THEN, I HAD TO GOOGLE TO FIND A WAY TO REBOOT THE CAR COMPUTER, BY PRESSING TWO BUTTONS ON THE STEERING WHEEL. ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT, I USED THE INTERMITTENT RAIN SENSING WIPERS FOR THE FIRST TIME, AS THERE WAS A LIGHT RAIN. MY CAR IS STILL IN THE BODY SHOP WAITING FOR SOME BACK ORDERED PARTS. I HAVE ASKED TESLA TO DO A DIAGNOSTICS TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY SOFTWARE BUGS IN THE SYSTEM.