Tesla faces safety investigation into “phantom braking” after surge of complaints

U.S. car safety regulators have launched another investigation into Tesla, this time linked to allegations that its cars could be stopped on the road for no apparent reason.

The government says it has received 354 complaints from owners over the past nine months about “fantastic braking” on the Tesla Models 3 and Y. The survey covers about 416,000 vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years.

No accidents or injuries were reported.

The vehicles are equipped with partially automated driver assistance features, such as adaptive cruise control and “Autopilot”, which allow them to automatically brake and steer into their lanes.

Documents released Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration state that vehicles can brake unexpectedly at highway speeds.

“Complainants report that rapid deceleration can occur without warning, and often repeatedly during a single driving cycle,” the agency said.

Many landlords in the complaints say they feared a collision at the back of a highway.

Last in the series of efforts of regulators

The investigation is another in a series of law enforcement efforts that include Tesla Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” software. Despite their names, no feature can drive vehicles without personal supervision.

The Associated Press left messages on Thursday asking for comments from Tesla.

It’s the fourth official Texas-based automotive survey in three years, and NHTSA has been overseeing 15 Tesla recalls since January 2021. In addition, the agency has sent investigators into at least 33 accidents involving Teslas using then-2016 driver assistance systems. in which 11 people were killed.

In one of the complaints, a Tesla owner from Austin reported that a Model Y with Autopilot brakes repeatedly opened the brakes unnecessarily on two-lane roads and highways.

“Fantastic braking varies from a slight throttle response to reduced speed to full emergency braking which drastically reduces speed at high speeds, resulting in dangerous driving conditions for the occupants of my vehicle as well as those who may follow “. The owner wrote in a complaint filed on February 2nd. Complainants are not identified in the NHTSA public database.

Conflicts between Tesla and government agencies

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been battling US and California government agencies for years, battling NHTSA and most notably the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Early Thursday, Musk’s lawyers sent a letter to a federal judge in Manhattan accusing the SEC of harassing him with inquiries and calls about his Twitter posts. In 2018, Musk and Tesla agreed to pay $ 20 million in city fines over Musk tweets about acquiring the money needed to privatize the listed company at $ 420 a share. Funding was not secured and the company remains public. The settlement set out changes in governance, including the removal of Musk from the board of directors, as well as the corporate approval of Musk tweets.

Lawyer Alex Spiro’s letter accuses the SEC of trying to “choke” Musk, largely because he is a outspoken critic of the federal government. “The huge efforts of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission appear to have been calculated to reassure the exercise of First Amendment rights instead of enforcing generally applicable laws on an equal footing,” the letter said.

Shapiro wonders why the SEC has not distributed the $ 40 million fines to Tesla shareholders for more than three years after the settlement.

The Associate Press left a message on Thursday asking for comments from the SEC.

“The amusing police forced us to do it (sigh)”

Just last week, NHTSA made Tesla recall nearly 579,000 vehicles in the US because a “Boombox” function. It can play sounds from an external speaker and obscure the pedestrian alarms of an oncoming vehicle. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, when asked on Twitter why the company agreed to the recall, replied: “The amusement police forced us to do it (sigh).”

Michael Brooks, deputy executive director of the nonprofit Center for Car Safety, said it was encouraging to see NHTSA enforcement action “after years of turning in the opposite direction” with Tesla. However, he said the company continues to release software on U.S. roads that has not been tested to make sure it is safe.

“A fragmentary exploratory approach to every problem that arises does not address the biggest issue in Tesla’s security culture – the company’s continued willingness to test its beta technology to the American public while misinterpreting the capabilities of its vehicles,” he wrote. Brooks in an email. Thursday.

The Washington Post reported an increase in complaints about fantastic braking by Tesla owners on February 2.

Other recent recalls by Tesla concerned vehicles equipped with “Full Self-Driving” that were scheduled to run low-speed stop signs, heating systems that did not clear the windshields quickly enough. seat belt rattles which do not sound to warn drivers who are not buttoned up and for a fix to a feature that allows movies to play on touch screens while driving cars. These issues were to be resolved with software updates online.

In August, the NHTSA announced an autopilot study for Teslas inability to stop for emergency vehicles parked in the streets. This investigation covers twelve accidents that killed one person and injured 17.

Previous braking problems

Thursday’s inquiry comes after Tesla recalled nearly 12,000 vehicles in October for a similar imaginary braking problem. The company sent an online software update to fix a problem with the “Full Self-Driving” software.

Tesla released a software update in late September aimed at improving the detection of emergency vehicle lights in low light conditions.

Selected Tesla drivers test beta on “Full Self-Driving” software on public roads. As cars can not drive on their own, drivers must be prepared to intervene at any time, the company warns. NHTSA also asked the company for information about the car tests, including Tesla’s requirement that testers not disclose information.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Most of the other car companies with similar software try with trained human safety drivers.

“NHTSA is reminding the public that no commercially available motor vehicle today can drive on its own,” the agency said in a statement in August 2021. “Every available vehicle requires a human driver to be in control at all times, and everyone the laws of the state apply to human drivers responsible for the operation of their vehicles “.

Musk is also a target of criticism medical research concerns It was held at the University of California, Davis, in live monkeys involving a company he co-founded with Neuralink, CBS San Francisco reported.