The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently launched a safety probe Tesla's
Phantom braking can be defined as occasions during which drivers' brakes come into activation without anticipation. These instances can occur at any moment, whether it is through the regular flow of traffic or when nothing is going on.
"The complaints allege that while utilizing the ADAS features including adaptive cruise control, the vehicle unexpectedly applies its brakes while driving at highway speeds. Complainants report that the rapid deceleration can occur without warning, at random, and often repeatedly in a single drive cycle," the NHTSA said in a statement.
The NHTSA is also conducting a "preliminary evaluation," which will be the step directly prior to the administration of a formal recall on the brakes. Up until now, there have been no reports of crashes or deaths that have come as a consequence of this problem, the report also says.
One of the reasons that phantom braking can be so dangerous is that it can cause accidents on the road if an individual driver is following too closely behind. Paul Reddy, one Tesla owner in particular, has stated that he faces phantom braking throughout "most long drives" that include Autopilot and Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, which are a couple of Tesla's advanced driver-assist features,The Verge reports.
Additionally, in one complaint that was filed to NHTSA on June 14, 2021, a Tesla owner in Victoria, Texas stated that her 2021 Tesla Model 3 tended to brake "without warning or provocation when on cruise control" as soon as semi-trucks came upon oncoming lanes or on four-lane divided highways with the car going from 75 mph to 40 mph in only just a few seconds.
In revealing the dangers of this particular incident of phantom braking, the driver wrote, "I have almost been rear-ended when a car is following closely and it happens. I have recorded these incidents, reported to Tesla, taken the vehicle for diagnostics, and they have no answer and imply that occasionally it may happen, however, it should not be an issue. IT IS A DANGEROUS PROBLEM and an accident waiting to cause serious injury."
