Recently, a New Jersey owner of a Tesla documented phantom braking on the Garden State Parkway.
I live in New Jersey and periodically travel the Garden State Parkway to visit relatives. Phantom braking reliably occurs twice in response to specific overhanging signage (not overpasses). This occurs regardless of weather conditions and is readily reproducible. […] Why Tesla has chosen not to address the problem (particularly in light of their ambitious RoboTaxi rollout) is a mystery. My wife owns a 2025 Kia Sportage Hybrid … phantom braking has not occurred over 10K of driving….
The signs triggering the braking are generic, the kind that also would be found on Route 22, for example. Hold that thought.
Tesla has had these safety issues since the 2016 Model S and X, which is another way of saying their engineering put the defect into the “autopilot” capabilities almost from the very start, and their management apparently has only made things worse. After 2021 the phantom braking reports increased and became more severe, which many would argue was a result of removing radar sensors to replace them with cheap consumer-grade webcams.
Phantom braking therefore has been a subject of many prior blog posts here. It was a very notable defect in the first place, requiring attention, but Tesla uniquely seems to be getting only worse over time requiring some kind of logic to allow them to be on the road at all. The U.S. Office of Defects Investigation received 354 complaints alleging unexpected brake activation in 2021-2022 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles when it opened PE22-002 in February 2022, covering 416,000 vehicles. By June 2022 the count had climbed to 758. Recent litigation filings put the running total at more than 2,000 NHTSA complaints.
The most severe form of the Tesla defect is their deadly “complete stop” event. NHTSA describes this behavior as vehicles that unexpectedly apply the brakes at highway speeds, with such rapid deceleration occurring without warning (even repeatedly during a trip) that it’s a hazard to anyone around. Many owners complain they feared causing a rear-end crash, and many dead motorcyclists have proven that fear, not to mention the ones being run over by Tesla.
Now back to Route 22 in New Jersey.
A Tesla stopped dead in the middle of traffic flow and killed a 91 year old Army veteran. We should call it homicide. Stopping dead in a fast-moving lane is the signature failure NHTSA has logged for years, and Tesla shipped the system that produces it. Is it to blame?
Authorities have identified the 91-year-old man killed in a three-vehicle crash on Route 22 in Bridgewater last week. The collision occurred after a Tesla driver stopped in the middle of the road.
Hugh F. Johnson Jr., of Bridgewater, was driving a passenger car that struck an SUV that had stopped behind the Tesla, Bridgewater police said.
Johnson’s car then veered into the right lane before sliding left into the center median, where it struck a tree before coming to rest at 4:05 p.m. on May 31.
Johnson died of his injuries at an area hospital. His passenger, a 93-year-old woman, was hospitalized with minor injuries.
The sequence of events began when a Tesla headed east near Grove Street came to a “complete stop” in the center lane, Bridgewater police said.
The report says no charges have been filed yet against Tesla. Meanwhile, Tesla has been flagged again for multiple recent low-visibility crashes, after the company acknowledged data and labeling limitations that NHTSA believes led to under-reporting of crashes, on top of a separate probe into Tesla filing crash reports months past the deadline.
Tesla told regulators that limitations in company data and labeling may have led to under-reporting of additional incidents.
Limited visibility, limited reasoning, limited data. Tesla is so incapable of safety, it shouldn’t be legal.