There are 50 owner-reported speed control & cruise complaints for the 2021 Tesla Model Yin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
Vehicle will suddenly apply brakes while using standard cruise control for no apparent reason. This is extremely dangerous as it has almost caused several accidents on the highway. I have almost been rear-ended several times. This is a very common problem and well documented problem referred to as "phantom braking" on Teslas and something needs to be done immediately.
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated that while coasting into the garage, the vehicle independently accelerated. No warning light was illuminated. An independent mechanic or dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. However, the contact was in the process of repairing the vehicle. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 38,727.
The Adaptive cruse control would stop working off an on. also it would give false land departure warnings causing driver to swerve thinking they were going to run into another care
See attached document for complaint.
Several times on residential speed control the system does not recognize yellow flashing school speed reduction signs. Never slows or breaks. The speed of 25 mph does not register on the screed (other speed signs do). I told tesla service center when other services were being done. They said they were aware. I have seen no improvement over the last several months
My Tesla still has the phantom braking problem. It is repeatable and consistent. I can tell when it will occur on a route that I drive regularly. Day or night does not seem to alter the occurrence. There is no indication on the touch screen when this occurs. Traffic volume does not matter. It always occurs at the same places so it should be relatively easy to fix if someone would just monitor my computer when it occurs. I regard this as a dangerous problem on the freeway because my car suddenly slows and if the person behind me is not paying attention, I am going to be rear ended. Such a serious fault for a vehicle that performs so well otherwise. Since Tesla does not have a service center in my town no one has offered to look at the problem but since it has been reported so often, I'm not sure they would. I would be happy to demonstrate the problem to a technical person who might be able to diagnose it.
Tesla removed the ability to use only cruise control, with adaptive following distance, and have forced the only option to now use full self driving instead (with a recent soft-ware update). I do NOT feel safe using full self driving (even supervised) and believe Tesla is being unsafe forcing full self driving use. We used to be able to just use cruise control-with adaptive following distance-a driving option in all other recent cars!!! , but cannot do that now in Tesla? Why would a company take away what I consider to be a safer option?? This is not an improvement (but a forced help-Tesla-improve-it’s-unsafe-full self-driving-software!)
Please look up my Facebook post for public safety awareness. All the details are explained [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
I was driving to work this morning, February 7th, 2024 driving at freeway speeds. My Tesla touchscreen dropped out and went completely dark. The reset process is to press and hold for about 30 seconds and another 30 seconds for the full restart. I attempted this twice and proceeded to pull off the highway. During this period, I could not see how fast I was driving, whether my brake lights, turn signals, or headlights worked at this time to safely transit through traffic to get off the road. I put my hazard lights on, but again did not know if these worked or not. The screen finally came back online and seemed fine until I could get to work, this was an extremely scary experience and a perfect example as to why all cars should have a cluster driver screen mandatory, I will be getting rid of this car as soon as possible.
My car has had a problem with TACC since the day I bought it. Brakes aggressively in what should be a normal driving situation. For instance, when I pass a semi truck on the interstate with my own lane in front of me, the car will slam on the brakes when it is beside the truck. Highly likely to cause a rear end collision.
When travelling with adaptive speed control enabled the car will suddenly and violently decelerate 30 to 50 MPH below the set speed. This happens frequently and does not appear to correlate with anything specific. Sometimes it happens when passing a large white truck. Sometimes there is no other traffic anywhere near me. At the very least I would like Tesla to give me the option of disabling the "safety" features so the car operates like every other car with adaptive cruse control. This is not just me. Search the internet for Tesla phantom braking and you will find many instances going back years. It seems to be getting worse with each software update.
driving from Albuquerque NM to Farmington NM, in approximately 1 1/2 hours of driving on hwy 550, 4 lane divided highway, encountered no less than 12 hard shadow breaking events. in all instances there were no vehicles, animals or debris in front of the vehicle. It was a cloudless day, starting around 9am, clear no fog, temperature in the 40's. high risk of being hit if a car was following close behind, incident has been reported to tesla, no inspection. there was no waring prior to all hard shadow breaking events.
On Wednesday, our 2021 Tesla Y - which we have LOVED driving for the last 3 years - took off on its own while I was sitting in traffic - where traffic was at a standstill, and the max speed was probably 4 MPH. Construction ahead had closed a lane, so there was a massive back-up and cars were creeping along each time the traffic light ahead turned green.) As any Tesla owner will tell you, the best way to slow down is to remove your foot from the gas pedal, and the car will slow down and come to a stop on its own. That had always been the case for our vehicle until Wednesday. Shockingly, for no reason at all, the car massively accelerated. I slammed on the brakes, but the brakes did not slow or stop the car. Luckily, the car in front of me was only 2 - 3 car lengths away, so my Tesla which was rapidly gaining speed stopped only when it crashed into that car. I have relatively minor injuries, but I am sure I would have been killed and/or killed others if not for the vehicle in front of me forcing my car to stop. After the crash, we flat-bedded the car to a Tesla-approved auto body shop. Our insurance adjuster will be inspecting the car on Monday. We will make the vehicle available for inspection. I am still shaken from this traumatic experience. I have never had a car accident (but for a fender bender over 40 years ago). Moreover, I have spent my life working in public service (govt, elected officials and nonprofits). I am determined to make sure that this safety problem is fully investigated and repaired - as our roads are not safe until it is fixed.
I was on the highway with cruise set to 80. With no vehicles anywhere near in front of me, the car brakes hard and the cruise was set to 50. I was able to gain control by hitting the accelerator but slowed down quickly from the phantom breaking.
While driving eastbound on the CA60 freeway and merging onto the Interstate 10 freeway, on a clear sunny day and on a dry road, without another vehicle beside the car, with the 'autopilot' (not full version) engaged, the car suddenly initiated an uncommanded acceleration which required the driver to aggressively depress the brake pedal to stop the acceleration and to disengage the automated driving feature. This sudden acceleration brought the vehicle dangerously close to another vehicle traveling in front before it could be stopped. Witnesses were in the car when this incident occurred.
While driving northbound on the CA111 freeway along an elevated ramp leading to the Interstate 10 freeway, in the evening after sunset, and on a dry road, without another vehicle beside the car, with the 'autopilot' (not full version) engaged, the car suddenly initiated an uncommanded acceleration which required the driver to aggressively depress the brake pedal to stop the acceleration and to disengage the automated driving feature. This sudden acceleration placed the driver and occupants at risk to the car traveling around an elevated tight curve with a ramp speed limit that the car exceeded. Witnesses were in the car when this incident occurred.
The contact owns a 2021 Tesla Model Y. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH, the vehicle independently accelerated at high speed. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact desperately depressed the brake pedal, and the vehicle came to a to stop. The dealer was contact, but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 42,000.
The problem I am writing about is not specific to my Tesla vehicle, but inherent to all Tesla's. I have read in the news about the issue concerning the full AutoPilot with drivers not paying attention figuring the vehicle will drive itself. Although, there is another inherent issue with vehicles without subscribing to AutoPilot while using the cruise control feature resulting in a problem referred to within the Tesla community as "phantom braking." While the cruise control is active and the driver is attentive with hands on the steering wheel, the vehicle intermittently jams on the brakes even though there are no obstacles in the road ahead. The driver and passengers are panicked requiring the driver to immediately respond by pressing the accelerator to avoid being rear-ended. My wife and I have experienced the issue on multiple occasions since owning our Tesla Y since September 2021. We have experienced the issue on clear days with perfect weather and a clean windshield. The road is clear with no vehicles in front of us on a divided highway traveling at highway speeds. We've also experienced the issue on a two-lane non-divided road with oncoming traffic in the other lane. Eventually, the problem becomes such an issue that we have to turn-off the cruise control to drive normally which defeats the reason why cruise control is desired. I had presented the issue with Tesla support, but I was basically blown off. Although, this issue is frequently commented by other Tesla owners on social media. Basically, the Tesla cruise control does not function like any of my other car's cruise control. The problem is thus software related to how the images from the camera are interpreted. I'm worried about my safety with the possibility of being rear-ended.
Driving I-80 on May 9 between 2 - 4 pm going approx 70mph using autopilot. Sudden, unexpected, rapid deceleration causing back seat contents (suitcases & my dog) to fly forward. Nothing in front of me, no visual obstruction, weather clear and sunny. Luckily no one behind me. It felt like I had slammed on the brakes. I did get off highway shortly after to get dog out of where he lodged in back seat.Tesla rep via text messaging said I caused this by tapping accelerator & no need for inspection, but I do not recall doing that. I did receive a message/warning around the approx time I think this occurred stating “Driving visualization temporarily degraded” (I have screenshot.) They did send me the spreadsheet data of that day but I can’t decipher it.
There are two concerns-first the phantom breaking using cruise control and the other is poor functionality of using the windshield wipers. I have experienced the phantom braking since shortly after ownership to as recent as 2 weeks ago. This has caused me to no longer use the cruise control. It is very difficult to engaged the windshield wipers. During nighttime driving and sudden heavy rain I could not locate how to turn the wipers on so I used the voice command button to do so. Thus had verying results it may not work at all, maybtake obe swipe or make continue to have wipers work until returning home. Thank you for your time.
Showing 1–20 of 50 complaints
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.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026