Symptom explainer · every vehicle on the site
Brakes on its own (automatic emergency braking)
Most reported: 2022 Tesla Model 3 with 341 reports. Across the 340 model years on this site with at least five, owners filed 7,487.
- 7,487owner reports
- 340model years affected
- 19,000median miles
- 594involved a crash
- 14involved a fire
Phantom braking is a car that brakes hard on its own, often at highway speed, with nothing in the road ahead. About one owner in five mentions a near miss with the car behind.
Which cars report it most · By model · When it happens · What it is and what to do
The 25 vehicles with the most reports
Each row is one model year. The bar is its count of phantom braking reports; the share is how much of that car's complaint file this problem takes up. Bigger sellers draw more reports, so read the share alongside the count. Red dots mark crashes and fires in these reports; amber marks a recall on the same system.
- 12022 Tesla Model 34 crashesrecall34145% of its complaints4k mi
- 22021 Tesla Model Y7 crashesrecall33031% of its complaints5k mi
- 32022 Tesla Model Y10 crashesrecall25429% of its complaints5k mi
- 42018 Honda CR-V5 crashes24411% of its complaints25k mi
- 52021 Tesla Model 34 crashesrecall23936% of its complaints8k mi
- 62023 Tesla Model Y21 crashesrecall22920% of its complaints4k mi
- 72018 Honda Accord5 crashes22812% of its complaints15k mi
- 82017 Honda CR-V4 crashes18711% of its complaints30k mi
- 92019 Honda CR-V4 crashes18617% of its complaints18k mi
- 102018 Nissan Rogue5 crashes18027% of its complaints14k mi
- 112019 Honda Odyssey1 crash11412% of its complaints59k mi
- 122018 Honda Odyssey4 crashes10411% of its complaints59k mi
- 132018 Tesla Model 39 crashesrecall10010% of its complaints24k mi
- 142020 Honda Odyssey1 crash9721% of its complaints51k mi
- 152020 Tesla Model 37 crashesrecall9521% of its complaintsfew mileages
- 162023 Tesla Model 313 crashes1 fire9222% of its complaints5k mi
- 172019 Honda Accord7 crashes9013% of its complaints18k mi
- 182025 Hyundai Tucson18 crashesrecall8129% of its complaints5k mi
- 192019 Tesla Model 33 crashesrecall7713% of its complaints21k mi
- 202019 Nissan Rogue4 crashes7623% of its complaints7k mi
- 212019 Honda Pilot2 crashes657% of its complaints68k mi
- 222017 Nissan Rogue8 crashes6311% of its complaints25k mi
- 232023 Fisker Ocean3 crashes1 fire576% of its complaintsfew mileages
- 242024 Honda Prologue3 crashes577% of its complaintsfew mileages
- 252015 Ford F-150recall533% of its complaints51k mi
Where it dominates the complaint file
Model years with at least 25 reports, ranked by the share of all their complaints that describe phantom braking. That takes most of the sales-volume effect out (small sellers still swing more).
- 12022 Tesla Model 34 crashesrecall34145% of its complaints4k mi
- 22021 Tesla Model 34 crashesrecall23936% of its complaints8k mi
- 32021 Tesla Model Y7 crashesrecall33031% of its complaints5k mi
- 42022 Tesla Model Y10 crashesrecall25429% of its complaints5k mi
- 52025 Hyundai Tucson18 crashesrecall8129% of its complaints5k mi
- 62018 Nissan Rogue5 crashes18027% of its complaints14k mi
- 72019 Nissan Rogue4 crashes7623% of its complaints7k mi
- 82023 Tesla Model 313 crashes1 fire9222% of its complaints5k mi
- 92020 Tesla Model 37 crashesrecall9521% of its complaintsfew mileages
- 102020 Honda Odyssey1 crash9721% of its complaints51k mi
By model, every year together
The 12 models with the most reports. Each chip is a model year; the darker chip is its worst year.
- Honda CR-V819
- Honda Accord494
- Nissan Rogue365
- Honda Pilot252
- Ford F-150192
- Ram 1500163
- Honda Civic138
When it happens
2,002 of the 7,487 reports state a mileage. The middle half fall between 6,000 and 41,875 miles; the median is 19,000. Each column is a 20,000-mile band.
Reports by model year
Every report of phantom braking, grouped by the model year of the car. 594 involved a crash and 14 a fire. 377 people were hurt.
What owners describe
Share of the 7,487 reports that use each phrase. One report can use several.
What got replaced
Reports that name the part, across every vehicle.
What it is and what to do
The system doing the braking is automatic emergency braking. NHTSA describes it as braking applied automatically when a forward collision is imminent. Its warning-only cousin, forward collision warning, uses sensors to spot slower or stopped vehicles ahead. When those sensors misread something, the car brakes for a threat that isn't there.
This is one of the youngest problems on the site. The median mileage owners give is about 17,000, and the top vehicles are all recent: the 2022 Tesla Model 3 and the 2021 and 2022 Model Y lead a group of about 7,500 complaints. About a third mention the highway. Around one in five mentions an overpass, a bridge, a shadow, a sign or a truck. And the outcomes are serious: 595 of these complaints mention a crash.
NHTSA has several open cases. Engineering analysis EA24-002 grew out of 1,294 complaints of automatic braking with no obstruction in 2017 to 2022 Honda CR-V and 2018 to 2022 Accord models, 31 of them alleging a crash. EA25-002 covers 2019 to 2022 Honda Insight and Passport, and EA24-004 the 2019 Volkswagen Atlas. In each file NHTSA noted the same thing owners here describe: dealers who couldn't reproduce it, or who told the owner it was normal operation. Recalls have fixed some cases. Tesla's 21V-846 sent an over-the-air update for false collision warnings and unexpected braking tied to one software release, Hyundai's 26V-316 updated front camera software on some 2025 and 2026 Tucson and Santa Cruz models, and Ford's 24V-440 realigned a radar module on some 2023 and 2024 Escapes that could mistake an overhead object for one in the lane.
The recalls point to what a dealer should check: sensor alignment and software. Besides the Ford radar, Tesla's 23V-489 adjusted forward cameras that could be misaligned. Mention any recent windshield or front-end work too.
Keep a following distance that gives the car behind room, and learn how to switch the feature off from your owner's manual if it keeps happening, then get it inspected. Tell the dealer the speed, the road, the light and weather, and exactly what was ahead. Dashcam footage helps if the answer comes back "could not duplicate."
File a complaint with NHTSA. Its investigations above were built from reports like these. Check the VIN for recalls, and report it during the warranty so it's on record; the FTC says a defect reported in that period must be fixed even if coverage ends before the repair.
Sources
- Driver assistance technologies (automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning), NHTSA
- NHTSA investigations EA24-002 (Honda CR-V and Accord), EA25-002 (Honda Insight and Passport) and EA24-004 (Volkswagen Atlas), inadvertent automatic emergency braking (NHTSA investigation files)
- NHTSA recall 21V-846, Tesla forward collision warning and AEB
- NHTSA recall 26V-316, Hyundai front camera software
- NHTSA recall 24V-440, Ford Escape radar module
- NHTSA recall 23V-489, Tesla forward camera alignment
- Check for recalls; from complaints to recall, NHTSA
- Warranties, FTC Consumer Advice
- Complaint counts, mileages and phrase shares: NHTSA complaint files as tallied on this site
Counts are unique NHTSA complaints on the 1,040 vehicle model years that have a page here, grouped by the word patterns described on the method page. A vehicle needs five matching reports to be counted in this ranking. Checked Sep 27, 2026. All problem explainers.