If the investigation in this tragic Tesla accident proves out to be caused by phantom braking, this is going to be a huge problem for Tesla and possibly the entire auto industry. NHTSA is very engaged now, and this could be the last straw that causes real policy to be put in place to regulate these 'safety systems'. Stay tuned...
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Could Tesla crash fatality be due to "sudden braking"?
- Thread starter BreatheEasier
- Start date
Will be interesting to see what the data recorders show. I haven't seen anyone report PB taking them to a full stop. Could also be mechanical failure, or the driver could have had a medical issue.
If it was phantom braking, drivers can interrupt braking and prevent complete stops by putting their foot on the accelerator. You should always be in control of your vehicle and be ready to intervene in the event it does not behave correctly. That’s part of driving responsibly.
It is likely a motor failure, and the driver was not able to get over, or didn’t see the error alerts in order to get off the road safely. Or a medical emergency.
I would think that if the driver was awake and driving, then he would have put his foot on the gas if it was phantom breaking. Doesn’t Tesla come to a complete stop if the drivers hand is not on the wheel for an extended amount of time? Perhaps the guy fell asleep and the car came to a complete stop on its own?
“NHTSA is investigating the phenomenon in Model Y and Model 3 vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years. Owners of 2019 and 2020 vehicles have also complained to NHTSA about phantom braking.”
Interesting that NHTSA hasn’t received reports of phantom braking in pre-2019 vehicles. Did Tesla implement a hardware change in 2019?
Interesting that NHTSA hasn’t received reports of phantom braking in pre-2019 vehicles. Did Tesla implement a hardware change in 2019?
If they're going to disable AP (which is purely conjecture without indication of it even being planned at this point), they will simply force the update across the board with no way to stop it other than disabling all network connections. It's been done before in Hong Kong, I think, when regulation compliance forced it to happen.
Tesla driver died, but the people in the cars that hit him were uninjured? Teslas are very protective. I wonder if he had unbuckled his seatbelt (e.g. due to a medical emergency). I don't think there's enough actual info here to come to any conclusions, even speculative.
When has phantom braking ever caused a car to to from 70mph to zero. Also, why would the driver not hit the pedal and accelerate. Maybe this dude fell asleep and regen braking slowed the car to a stop...
One thing that stands out in this article is that the term phantom braking is indeed being used to refer to both AP slowdowns and AEB events.
See also:
teslamotorsclub.com
Emergency braking error or driver error
A Tesla car came to a complete stop on an interstate, police say, causing a 3-car crash that killed the driver Tim Levin Wed, March 2, 2022, 1:50 PM The occupants of the other two vehicles involved in the crash were not injured, police said.Tang Ke/Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images A...
teslamotorsclub.com
This is what I was thinking but wouldn’t the back lights be on so people could see and slow down?
DerbyCityY
Member
sleepydoc
Well-Known Member
That occurs everywhere, not just in this article. The problem is Teslas slow down all the time for no clear reason. Sometimes it's AEB, sometimes there's no warning or beeps, the car just slows down. The most I've had my car slow down is about 15 MPH, but it always reacts to pressing on the accelerator and I didn't want to find out how low it would go in the middle of an interstate so who knows? I'm waiting for someone to say "well, if he got rear ended it was the other driver's fault!"
I agree - the fact that the other drivers were uninjured makes me think the Tesla driver's death was not due to the crash but other issues. It takes a pretty severe crash to kill someone by rear ending their car and the other drivers almost certainly would have sustained some injuries. I've never had an instance where the car wouldn't respond to the accelerator so if the car stopped to zero I have to assume either the driver didn't try to make it go or there was a mechanical failure.
sleepydoc
Well-Known Member
Reminds me of a joke my dad told me once -
"when I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep, like my father, not screaming in terror like all the passengers in his car!"
I've had mine drop from 83mph to 68 in about 2 seconds in the interstate. It typically slows to the speed of the 18 wheeler in the slow lane (2 lane interstate). I've never experienced it on a smaller road with oncoming traffic causing the braking. My area doesn't really lend itself to this type of experience.
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