A U.S. regulator is asking Tesla to respond to questions raised in a recent round of complaints from customers.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked Tesla on Friday to respond to questions before a June 20 deadline regarding 758 reports of “phantom braking” with Autopilot engaged, according to Reuters.
The NHTSA began the preliminary evaluation in February, after receiving 354 customer complaints about the brakes activating at improper times in just the past nine months.
In the February announcement, the NHTSA said that “complainants report that the rapid deceleration can occur without warning, at random, and often repeatedly in a single drive cycle.”
IIHS Developing Nighttime Automatic Emergency Braking Test https://t.co/t6tkqeReWW
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) February 3, 2022
The investigation covers 416,000 cars, from 2021 and 2022 Model 3 and Y vehicles that have had issues with the “phantom braking.”
One owner of a 2021 Tesla Model Y said in October that at 80 mph on the highway, “the car braked hard and decelerated from 80 mph to 69 mph in less than a second. The braking was so violent, my head snapped forward and I almost lost control of the car.”
The Tesla Model Y was given the “do not buy” review from CNET Roadshow last year over phantom braking.
