Tesla's "Phantom Braking" Issue Leads to Investigation by US Government
The NHTSA has received a total of 354 complaints in under a year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has officially announced a new investigation into Tesla‘s phantom braking issue. In the span of nine months, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has recently received “354 complaints alleging unexpected brake activation in 2021-2022 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.”
Due to these claims the ODI has launched a preliminary investigation to “determine” the root cause of the problem and assess the situation before taking the next steps. The ODI summary reads, “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 Washington Post also noted, “NHTSA received about 250 complaints about phantom braking during the following two weeks. That compared to 107 complaints in the prior three months — a steep surge of its own — and only 34 in the preceding 22 months.” Recently, Tesla recalled yet another 578,000 vehicles over concerns with its Boombox feature. Issues regarding phantom braking has long been an issue with official complaints reported earlier this month.
It remains to be seen how Tesla will fix the issue and how the NHTSA will handle the situation.
In other Tesla news, Elon Musk has reportedly donated over $5.7 billion USD in Tesla shares to charity.
