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Is Phantom Braking Still a Problem?

Discussion in 'Model Y' started by JeffreyC, Mar 1, 2021 at 2:00 PM.

  1. JeffreyC

    JeffreyC Member

    Joined:
    Oct 23, 2020
    Messages:
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    Location:
    Ridgewood, NJ
    I am very interested in a Model Y, but Autopilot is very important to me as I use a similar feature on our Palisade all the time. However, I want a car with a system that is reliable (as is the Palisade system). It appears Tesla still has not solved the phantom braking issue?
     
  2. L_Mont

    L_Mont Member

    Joined:
    Jun 18, 2020
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    36
    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    Yes, I had a phantom braking event one week ago on highway I16
     
  3. SSonnentag

    SSonnentag Rocket Scientist

    Joined:
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    1,709
    Location:
    Arizona
    While it is certainly better than it was a year or two ago, it does still occur occasionally. Most often for me when rounding a curve to the left while driving on a 2-lane highway and meeting a semi truck that is throwing a shadow across my lane.
     
  4. alexcue

    alexcue Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2020
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    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Well, as of mid -January I did an 8 hour round trip and used Autopilot with Auto-Steer for about 6 of those hours. I didn't have one phantom braking. Now mind you this was on a trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and the return trip two days later.

    The only time it braked, and it caught me off guard was a semi started drifting in my lane and I hadn't noticed it, but the AP had.

    I used to have a point on my commute that would occasionally cause the phantom braking, but that one seems to have been fixed. It involved going through a small tunnel (overhead), and it got my attention the first time it happened. Now I don't even think about it, it goes right through it.

    YMMV, but as I said, I use it with Auto-steer almost 90% of the time.
     
    • Informative x 1
  5. HotIce

    HotIce Member

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    MD
    I had an instance last week.
     
  6. jpfive

    jpfive Supporting Member

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    Oct 31, 2019
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    Location:
    Pensacola, FL
    Phantom braking problem in my car has been well addressed by the updates. It's a rare event now. From habit, though, I stay alert when I see a vehicle approaching from a side street on the right. My car seems to handle this pretty well now though. I will say that the braking function is more cautious than I would be. Traffic turning in front of me causes a quicker and stronger braking input than I would use if I was driving. Much improved, however.
     
    • Like x 1
  7. UT4EVER

    UT4EVER Member

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    Jun 22, 2020
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    Location:
    Georgia
    Phantom braking is so annoying.... I would run autopilot a lot more if it weren’t for this issue. I’ve never had an occurrence while on a multiple lane highway. However, I get them almost daily if I run autopilot on a 2 lane road. I commute 85 miles on 2 lane roads so I have plenty of experience with this.
     
    • Like x 2
  8. mac9899

    mac9899 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 27, 2019
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    Location:
    Florida
    It is still an issue that happens in the same area on my daily commute, in the past 2 years it has significantly improved, only 4 times for me in the last 6 months, at this point only happens around the same 2-3 overpasses, it stills hesitates, also it very dependant on the time of day/shadow it sees. Hopefully, as they keep iterating it'll become a thing of the past, but for now it still good practice to be ready at least till you've driven in the same areas for a bit and see how it would react.
     
  9. laservet

    laservet Member

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    Mar 9, 2020
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    261
    Location:
    Williamsburg, Virginia
    Today, yesterday, and the day before. All instances I was in the left lane of three on the interstate overtaking a vehicle that was in the middle lane. The car dropped 10 mph immediately (hard deceleration) before I hit the accelerator to power on past. In all cases the vehicle I am overtaking is in the center of its lane, not moving over or encroaching or crowding the line. I can’t figure out what the car is seeing that makes it brake.

    It’s annoying enough that I turn everything off and finish my drive manually, happens about three times a week, once on each leg of my round trip about once weekly. It seems to happen more frequently now, not less.
     
  10. Cp1484

    Cp1484 Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2021
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    Location:
    Phoenix
    I’m in Phoenix and have also driven the car to la. I’ve owned it a month and it’s done it 2-3 times total, most recent was a Month ago. It does hesitate when approaching bikers on the side of the road but that’s a good thing.
     
  11. patnshan

    patnshan Member

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    Oct 7, 2020
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    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI USA
    It seems to be getting better in my experience. Happens less often. The getting dragged into the right side on ramp is also a problem, and equally dangerous.
     
    • Informative x 1
  12. db93

    db93 Member

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    Mar 31, 2020
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    Location:
    So Cal
    On EAP
    Haven't have a phantom brake case in the last few months
    Comparatively, use to have a few on the same route during work commutes
     
  13. JeffreyC

    JeffreyC Member

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    Oct 23, 2020
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    Location:
    Ridgewood, NJ
    Thanks for the input. Until they fix this I don't see how I can get a Tesla. I have this in my Hyundai Palisade and it has NEVER braked when not needed. My brother has a Model S and he said he never uses it any more because he does not trust it.
     
    • Informative x 1
  14. Koolio46

    Koolio46 Member

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    Aug 26, 2020
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    Location:
    Boston, MA
    I haven’t had a phantom braking event occur in quite a while. For me, it seems to have gotten a lot better with the latest 2020 and 2021 releases.

    The big improvement I noticed was how it handles cars merging onto the highway from an on ramp while I’m in the right lane. In the first 2021 release (2021.4.3) I got, I noticed it didn’t slam on the brakes when a car was merging onto the highway. Big improvement for me but I rarely drive in the right lane so will need to see if it is consistently better.

    In my 5 months of ownership, I’ve only had about 5-8 of these occur so it hasn’t been frequent for me.
     
  15. laservet

    laservet Member

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    Location:
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    #15 laservet, Mar 2, 2021 at 12:04 PM
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2021 at 12:12 PM
    It happened again this morning on my way to work, same circumstance. Semi in the middle lane of three, I was overtaking in the left lane. There was nobody behind me so I let the car do its thing to see what it would do, it hung back for 10 seconds at which point the semi signaled and moved into the right lane. About 5 seconds after it got into the right lane my car tentatively accelerated back up to speed.

    Edit: The system is quirky, on my drive home from work my car will work its way over to the right hand lane on the interstate at exactly the same place every single time (just past an exit I don't take about 2/3 of the way home). If I'm in the left lane and the lane is clear ahead it still starts moving over and working its way through traffic so it can move into the right lane at that exact spot. No idea why. Otherwise it seems to prefer the middle lane, I assume because it has more evasive options if something happens, that makes sense.
     
  16. db93

    db93 Member

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    Location:
    So Cal
    Not really a "phantom brake" incident though
    Cautious for sure :oops:
     
  17. Puma2020

    Puma2020 Member

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2020
    Messages:
    311
    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Yes, it still happens occasionally. Not really a phantom braking but more of a confused AI braking.
    Both involve a 2 lane road and a stop sign on the side street.
    case 1 is the side street connects to the main road at a 30 or 40 degree angle (or 140 to 150 angle depending on your reference point).
    The stop sign is visible from the main road as I can read the letters. If TACC was tied into the Navigation, it would know that the stop sign was for the same road. However, during the day, the AI reacts to the sign and is unsure what to do so it tries to play it safe.

    case 2 is a bit worse. Again 2 lane main road with another angled side road. However, you can only see the back side of the stop sign from one direction and again during the day the AI reacts to the shape (no red color and no letters).

    case 2 just showed up recently after an update. Didn't happen before 2021.4.5. Now on 4.6 and still happens. Have an update *(4.11) waiting but have not installed it yet.
     
  18. laservet

    laservet Member

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    Mar 9, 2020
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    261
    Location:
    Williamsburg, Virginia
    Yeah, I get it, it's probably why it has such a low accident rate. But still, it brakes when the lane ahead is clear and the vehicles in the adjacent lane are centered in their lane, aren't moving around, aren't moving toward my lane, aren't crowding the line. I define that as phantom braking. If defined as braking when there are no other cars on the road, that has only happened a few times in the 8 months I have had the car.

    "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
    Humpty Dumpty, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass Ch 6
     
    • Like x 1
  19. 4SUPER9

    4SUPER9 Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2013
    Messages:
    2,409
    Location:
    California
    Yep. Happens to me about once every 50 miles, and it pisses the hell out of my wife. She blames me every time.
     
    • Like x 1
  20. bmil03

    bmil03 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2020
    Messages:
    17
    Location:
    ILannoy
    THIS.

    Over the weekend I was driving on a I88 (2 lane divided for the most part) from Davenport to Chicago and while cruising in the right lane and passing by every on ramp the car would shift right due to the widened lane. Would be nice if the car stayed anchored to the center line instead of the right lane marker in those situations because some on ramp shifts were abrupt enough that I had to take over to prevent a high speed zig-zag.
     
    • Like x 2

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