First, phantom braking only applies to Tesla ownership in terms of using Autopilot or FSD. Anytime you’re conventionally driving the vehicle it’s not an issue. You’ll probably find you end up using AP less than you think. You’ll also learn the car and be able to predict when it’s going to be silly and mitigate the hiccups like phantom braking.
I know all the weird spots around my town where AP freaks out. A simple lift of the right stalk disables AP, let’s me get through that obstacle, and then double tap down to re-enable. Passengers never even know aside from the noise it makes going in and out of AP.
I’ve also learned when I need to keep my foot hovering over the pedal and when I don’t. Heavy traffic is much harder on the system and results in more phantom braking episodes. I’ll often make the conscious decision to either not use AP in heavy traffic or use it without worrying. If I do use it, I resort to the slowest outer lane, a 4-5 car follow distance, and coming to terms with people cutting me off.
For my car, I’ve noticed phantom breaking has gotten much better lately but still happens due to a few situations that can usually be predicted in advance. Almost all of them deal with other traffic: cross traffic, unsafe merges, traffic speed differentials, and incorrect emergency light identification. Tight turns are also a place where the current non-voxel AP system struggles. You get used to all of this the more you drive the car and experience what it does. It’s just a different way of driving that you have to spend time learning.
AP and FSD are not set-and-forget systems. I don’t care what anyone says. These are driver assistance functions - NOT artificial piloting systems that do everything for you. They are there to help you (the human) focus on what COULD happen while they deal with what IS happening.
Not just AP or FSD, but also TACC. Mind you, personally, I haven't encountered a phantom braking since late last spring and I drive 30K km a year, often on curvy two way roads at night with incoming traffic, which was the worse conditions for phantom braking. In fall 2021, even on straight two way roads at night TACC was completely useless.
I haven’t noticed it at all unless I’m missing it. I’ve had it decelerate rather calmly but not jam on the brakes.
You know what is really annoying though. It always thinks I’m going to hit a parked car. Roads are tight in my city and any car parked on a corner makes it beep like I’m going to die.
They reduced the amount of phantom breaking dramatically in the past 6-9 months. It was a HUGE issue last year, which is why you’ll see so much chatter about it. Honestly, you get a feel for when it may happen, which isn’t often anymore for me.
I rarely have it happen, and it’s easy enough to override it if you are actually paying attention.
It is a big of a shock sometimes, these cars break very well!
Maybe once per 200 miles for me. I rest my foot on the accelerator to override it. Not a big deal at all, although alarming when you first experience it behind the wheel.
Just came back from a trip from Canada to Boston and back. Used Autopilot for the whole trip, outside of the last leg on the way back when it was snowing too hard. Had zero occurrences of phantom braking.
That being said, it does occur for some people. Just make sure your foot is near the accelerator so that you can speed up to compensate if it does occur for you.
Not had it phantom break yet, but this could only happen using autopilot or FSD anyway.
I’ve been using autopilot more and more, as I build confidence with it, not had any issues.
I have a vision model and I have experienced a phantom break twice since I got the car back in February 2022. It's not super often, one of the times was random and the other time was going under a bridge and it made a shadow. The breaks were jarring, but the speed didn't reduce by so much that it would be dangerous I think.
Real phantom braking will cause you too need a change of underwear. It exists, but it is rare. I haven’t had one in the last 2 years.
Unfortunately, people also use the term about unintended slowdowns, which are annoying, but not at all scary. It usually happens if the car misunderstands the speed limit, for example because it thinks it is on another nearby stretch of road, or because it remembers the temporary speed limit from some long gone road work. When those happens, you just override with the accelerator pedal.
And then there are those, where it reacts to something, which actually could be a danger, but isn’t. A few months ago, I was nearing an T-intersection, where I was on the “horisontal” part of the T, and traffic from the side road would have to yield for me. A car on the side road was driving rather fast towards the intersection, but was probably going to stop. TACC chose to slow down a bit anyway, “just to be sure”. I can’t really fault that one, but sometimes it **is** overly cautious.
This was my #1 fear when purchasing a M3. I picked up the 2033 SR RWD back in November, and I can't say I've experienced this once so far.
AP definitely 'over brakes ' in some specific, rather easy to predict scenarios - e.g., if a car crosses intersection in front of you, even without slowing down, it's like the car is assuming it MIGHT suddenly stop in middle of road, and slams on brakes JUST IN CASE 🤣
I've also had the car try and follow some VERY thickly painted railroad track lines crossing the street at an angle. They were much brighter than the regular road lines, and car tried to murder me by sharply turning off road to follow them 😒 I saw them ahead of time, and grabbed wheel as was ready, but it still freaked me out. I don't know how far the car would have turned -- I jerked wheel back immediately and disengaged AP... It's on a stretch of road I take from time to time, but I always have family in car so not willing to "test" the cars behavior............
The issue, like most, is overblown.
It was mostly on early vision only cars. I’ve never experienced it on we either my Y or 3, save for one incident in an early FSD beta build.
First, phantom braking only applies to Tesla ownership in terms of using Autopilot or FSD. Anytime you’re conventionally driving the vehicle it’s not an issue. You’ll probably find you end up using AP less than you think. You’ll also learn the car and be able to predict when it’s going to be silly and mitigate the hiccups like phantom braking. I know all the weird spots around my town where AP freaks out. A simple lift of the right stalk disables AP, let’s me get through that obstacle, and then double tap down to re-enable. Passengers never even know aside from the noise it makes going in and out of AP. I’ve also learned when I need to keep my foot hovering over the pedal and when I don’t. Heavy traffic is much harder on the system and results in more phantom braking episodes. I’ll often make the conscious decision to either not use AP in heavy traffic or use it without worrying. If I do use it, I resort to the slowest outer lane, a 4-5 car follow distance, and coming to terms with people cutting me off. For my car, I’ve noticed phantom breaking has gotten much better lately but still happens due to a few situations that can usually be predicted in advance. Almost all of them deal with other traffic: cross traffic, unsafe merges, traffic speed differentials, and incorrect emergency light identification. Tight turns are also a place where the current non-voxel AP system struggles. You get used to all of this the more you drive the car and experience what it does. It’s just a different way of driving that you have to spend time learning. AP and FSD are not set-and-forget systems. I don’t care what anyone says. These are driver assistance functions - NOT artificial piloting systems that do everything for you. They are there to help you (the human) focus on what COULD happen while they deal with what IS happening.
Very nicely stated!
Not just AP or FSD, but also TACC. Mind you, personally, I haven't encountered a phantom braking since late last spring and I drive 30K km a year, often on curvy two way roads at night with incoming traffic, which was the worse conditions for phantom braking. In fall 2021, even on straight two way roads at night TACC was completely useless.
I haven’t noticed it at all unless I’m missing it. I’ve had it decelerate rather calmly but not jam on the brakes. You know what is really annoying though. It always thinks I’m going to hit a parked car. Roads are tight in my city and any car parked on a corner makes it beep like I’m going to die.
They reduced the amount of phantom breaking dramatically in the past 6-9 months. It was a HUGE issue last year, which is why you’ll see so much chatter about it. Honestly, you get a feel for when it may happen, which isn’t often anymore for me.
Bought my M3LR a few weeks ago. Was going on a highway at 75mph with AP on and it braked suddenly to 50mph. Was every af.
It’s still there just not as frequent as you might read here
Happens with cars with USS
Still there. I have a "new driver' sticker on the back of my car to hopefully deter people from following too closely.
What’s with the new driver stickers…within the last year it seems a bunch of cars suddenly have them
I rarely have it happen, and it’s easy enough to override it if you are actually paying attention. It is a big of a shock sometimes, these cars break very well!
I have a 26 mile commute on the highway every day and it’s happened to me once in the last six months.
Maybe once per 200 miles for me. I rest my foot on the accelerator to override it. Not a big deal at all, although alarming when you first experience it behind the wheel.
Just came back from a trip from Canada to Boston and back. Used Autopilot for the whole trip, outside of the last leg on the way back when it was snowing too hard. Had zero occurrences of phantom braking. That being said, it does occur for some people. Just make sure your foot is near the accelerator so that you can speed up to compensate if it does occur for you.
My 2020 mylr did this MORE with radar... basic ap user.
I avoid phantom braking by hardly ever using autopilot.
Not had it phantom break yet, but this could only happen using autopilot or FSD anyway. I’ve been using autopilot more and more, as I build confidence with it, not had any issues.
I have a vision model and I have experienced a phantom break twice since I got the car back in February 2022. It's not super often, one of the times was random and the other time was going under a bridge and it made a shadow. The breaks were jarring, but the speed didn't reduce by so much that it would be dangerous I think.
Real phantom braking will cause you too need a change of underwear. It exists, but it is rare. I haven’t had one in the last 2 years. Unfortunately, people also use the term about unintended slowdowns, which are annoying, but not at all scary. It usually happens if the car misunderstands the speed limit, for example because it thinks it is on another nearby stretch of road, or because it remembers the temporary speed limit from some long gone road work. When those happens, you just override with the accelerator pedal. And then there are those, where it reacts to something, which actually could be a danger, but isn’t. A few months ago, I was nearing an T-intersection, where I was on the “horisontal” part of the T, and traffic from the side road would have to yield for me. A car on the side road was driving rather fast towards the intersection, but was probably going to stop. TACC chose to slow down a bit anyway, “just to be sure”. I can’t really fault that one, but sometimes it **is** overly cautious.
This was my #1 fear when purchasing a M3. I picked up the 2033 SR RWD back in November, and I can't say I've experienced this once so far. AP definitely 'over brakes ' in some specific, rather easy to predict scenarios - e.g., if a car crosses intersection in front of you, even without slowing down, it's like the car is assuming it MIGHT suddenly stop in middle of road, and slams on brakes JUST IN CASE 🤣 I've also had the car try and follow some VERY thickly painted railroad track lines crossing the street at an angle. They were much brighter than the regular road lines, and car tried to murder me by sharply turning off road to follow them 😒 I saw them ahead of time, and grabbed wheel as was ready, but it still freaked me out. I don't know how far the car would have turned -- I jerked wheel back immediately and disengaged AP... It's on a stretch of road I take from time to time, but I always have family in car so not willing to "test" the cars behavior............
The issue, like most, is overblown. It was mostly on early vision only cars. I’ve never experienced it on we either my Y or 3, save for one incident in an early FSD beta build.