The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating complaints of Tesla cars with Autopilot driver assist that suddenly brake at high speeds, the latest in a string of confrontations between the company and safety regulators, Bloomberg initially reported. The investigation covers an estimated 416,000 2021-2022 Tesla Model 3 & Y vehicles.
The agency said it is launching a preliminary defect investigation after receiving 354 complaints that “unexpected activation of braking system may cause rapid deceleration.” NHTSA previously confirmed it was reviewing complains about the phenomenon, which has been dubbed “phantom braking.”
“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 agency said.
Recently, according to the judgment of the Yuelu District Court in Changsha, Hunan Province, Tesla sued the driver of Shenzhou and the micro-driving platform for reputation infringement, which won. The defendant driver needs to apologize to Tesla and compensate Tesla for economic losses and reasonable expenses incurred to defend his rights total 20,000 yuan.
The billboard says: “Due to Tesla’s brake quality problem! In order to maintain the safety of the driving driver! Refuse to provide driving services for Tesla-branded cars”
A few days ago, the results of Tesla’s judgment in suing a driver’s reputation infringement platform were announced. The court ruled that the defendant’s proxy driver apologized to Tesla in the account used on the TikTok platform and its WeChat .
Tesla shares extended their decline in early trading, falling as much as 1.5% to $909.49 as of 6:10 a.m. New York time.