There are 2 stored owner reports matching the brakes leading-label group for the 2023 Tesla Model S in our NHTSA-sourced dataset. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
This group counts stored reports whose component label starts with one of this site's matching prefixes, ignoring case. Each matching report counts once within the group. Components mentioned later in the label or only in the narrative are not searched. How component counts work
Loaded 2 of 2 matching reports.
Open the full vehicle complaint log (all categories)Driving on straight section of highway at dusk. No autopilot or other features on. Road slightly damp from earlier rain. Driving approximately 60mph. Without me moving my hands or feet then car suddenly slammed on the brakes and speed decreased to approximately 20mph. I pulled over and reset the car computer by pressing the two buttons on the wheel and no further problems but had someone been behind me there would have been a terrible crash and my daughter was in the backseat. Looking online it seems Tesla "phantom braking" is not uncommon. I am frightened to drive my car ever again but have a 7 hour drive home tomorrow.
At least 6 times on two different trips, while driving with Adaptive Cruise control engaged, the car randomly and aggressively applied the breaks. It was so aggressive that if there had been a car behind us, they would definitely have rear ended us going 60+ miles per hour. It was difficult to hold the car in the lane when the breaks were applied so aggressively. We did some research and found that there were over 700 comments on this problem and it was being labeled as "fantom breaking". The breaking is very aggressive and very unsafe. The representatives at the dealership simply acknowledged the problem and said that Tesla will continue to try to correct it with a software download.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
NHTSA source checks for this vehicle year
Checks are recorded separately for each dataset, not for the whole page. Dates use UTC. A missing check date does not mean no records exist.
Vehicle import recorded: Apr 28, 2026. This is the stored import date, not confirmation that every source was successfully refreshed.