The Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration has initiated a brand new Tesla security probe after receiving 354 drivers’ complaints about “phantom braking” of their autos.

Phantom braking refers to cases when a driver’s brakes activate unexpectedly, even when site visitors is flowing usually round them or there isn’t any impediment to keep away from.

The NHTSA Workplace of Defects Investigations on Thursday printed a “ODI resume” that claims the company is wanting into techniques which can be a part of an estimated 416,000 Tesla Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y autos from the 2021 and 2022 mannequin years.

Tesla house owners’ complaints of phantom braking to NHTSA spiked to 107 within the final three months earlier than Feb. 2, the Washington Submit reported, in comparison with simply 34 complaints in an almost two-year interval earlier than that.

In a single criticism, filed to NHTSA on June 14, 2021, a Tesla proprietor in Victoria, Texas, alleged that their 2021 Tesla Mannequin 3 would brake “with out warning or provocation when on cruise management,” together with every time a semi-truck approached within the oncoming lane, or on four-lane divided highways, going from 75 miles per hour to 40 miles per hour in a matter of seconds.

The driving force wrote, “I’ve virtually been rear-ended when a automotive is following intently and it occurs. I’ve recorded these incidents, reported to Tesla, taken the car for diagnostics and so they haven’t any reply and indicate that often it might occur nevertheless, it shouldn’t be a difficulty. IT IS A DANGEROUS PROBLEM and an accident ready to trigger critical damage.”

Tesla has issued ten voluntary remembers within the US over simply the previous 4 months, together with a number of in the previous couple of weeks in response to NHTSA’s web site. 

For instance, the corporate issued a recall impacting 578,607 autos within the US for its “boombox” characteristic, which enabled house owners to blast foolish sounds (like a fart noise) out of their automobiles as they drove. Pedestrians could not have the ability to hear a legally mandated Pedestrian Warning System sound if that characteristic is in use, Reuters reported.

After that recall, Tesla CEO Elon Musk characterised NHTSA because the “enjoyable police.”

On Thursday, when the phantom braking investigation turned public, Musk legal professional Alex Spiro despatched a letter to a federal choose accusing one other federal company, the Securities and Change Fee, of “harassing” the CEO with its ongoing investigations.

Earlier this month, Tesla revealed that it acquired an SEC subpoena in Nov. 2021, shortly after Tesla CEO Elon Musk carried out a Twitter “ballot” asking whether or not he ought to promote 10% of his shares.