NHTSA complaint #11450014

Owner complaint summary

Our 2021Tesla Model 3, delivered in September 2021, has ongoing, repeated problems with sudden, unexpected braking, whenever cruise control or auto-steer is engaged. This happens regularly while driving on two lane highways, usually when a large sized vehicle is approaching in the opposing lane, but it also occasionally happens when there is no oncoming vehicle. Typically, an alarm also sounds and a warning light flashes in the car, warning of imminent collision risk. This happens every time we have used cruise control or auto-steer sometimes with nearly every large oncoming vehicle. This is unsafe because of the risk of a rear-end collision. The car dramatically slows. It also risks injury to the car occupants from being thrown forward unexpectedly. Along with the alarm and flashing signal, the braking is so dangerous and unnerving that it makes cruise control and auto-steer unusable. We have complained to Tesla of this problem. Tesla recently shipped the car to inspect more fully at its facility in Honolulu, but so far has reported that it is operating within "normal parameters." The rep suggested that the cruise control is not designed to work on a two lane highway such as we have on the Big Island of HI, although she says that it does not happen with every Tesla here. It occurs even on straight, level sections of wide, two lane highways with clearly marked lanes and wide shoulders. Tesla still has our car. When we read the Washington Post article explaining that many others are experiencing this problem, we felt we should report as well. We have advised Tesla that the cruise control and auto-steer functions in our car are unsafe and unusable in their current condition. We do not use cruise control or auto-steer except to test whether the problem has been fixed. We do not have full self-driving.