Phantom braking so bad I want to return my car

[sleepydoc]

People define "phantom braking" differently. It could simply be a particular road where the speed limit database or the curve speed database is wrong, in which case the car would consistently brake or slow down in the given area. Sometimes it's camera calibration (I know in old system sometimes this was issue), but not sure if it still applies to Vision given they don't sync the radar with camera any longer.

This is part of the problem. I’ve experienced 3 ‘varieties’ of PB:

1. Minor 5-10 MPH slowdowns - essentially like the car engages full regenerative braking for a few seconds, then says ‘oops! I’m supposed to keep pressing the accelerator!’ and resumes the previous speed. These are the most frequent IME. Generally not dangerous unless you have someone tailgating you but very annoying. If you have someone prone to motion sickness your car will likely need a cleaning. I’ve had these happen every 5-10 minutes when PB was at it’s worst.
2. More major slowdows - similar to the above but the car slows 20-30 MPH. Less common but more dangerous. Also illegal if you’re on a freeway.
3. False AEB activiations - pretty obvious. Alarms blare, red alert on the screen and the car brakes as hard as possible - generally hard enough to lock up the seatbelts and throw you into the windshield if you don’t have your seat belt on. Fortunately this has only happened once or twice for me. It’s also the most dangerous. I think this is probably what the NTSB is investigating. Others have tried to use the ‘But [maker x] has phantom braking, too!’ argument (as if that’s an excuse for Tesla.) From what I can tell, the incidents in other makers are mostly false AEB events.

There are a lot of potential explanations, but ultimately I don’t care. It’s Tesla’s job to build a car that works, not my job to figure out why it doesn’t.

 

[PACEMD]

That’s because there’s nothing to brake for! (Oh..wait…that’s when phantom braking happens!)

You're thinking of phantom barking........

 

[Pianewman]

Holy crap...58 pages of insanity..."doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

 

[CyberGus]

Yup. Still nothing I have not experienced in other cars after owning Tesla for 10 months & nearly daily autopilot usage around Los Angeles

Braking is always optional in Los Angeles.

 

[Sunvalleylaw]

That does absolutely nothing. Those reports do not leave your vehicle.

The real answer is: don’t use autopilot if it scares you. Drive it like a normal car.

It does on it on normal cruise control in mine too. Operating it like a normal car.