Your Tesla just threw itself into a hard stop at 70 miles per hour on an empty highway. It is not a fluke. Phantom braking is a documented, fleet-wide concern, and under California Civil Code section 1793.22(b)(1), only two failed repair attempts are needed before the statutory presumption swings in your favor.
Phantom braking is a sudden, unprovoked deceleration event triggered by a Tesla's Automatic Emergency Braking, Traffic Aware Cruise Control, or Autopilot system when no actual obstacle is present. Owners describe it as the car slamming the brakes for a shadow, an overpass, a parked vehicle on a side road, or absolutely nothing visible at all. At freeway speeds the deceleration is violent. The rear-end collision risk is the core hazard.
Tesla has addressed phantom braking iteratively through software: vision-only transitions from radar-equipped builds, Hardware 3 and Hardware 4 camera upgrades, and multiple over-the-air updates. For many owners the events have never fully stopped. That is where the lemon law comes in.
Civil Code 1793.22(b)(1) creates a presumption in favor of the consumer when, within 18 months or 18,000 miles, the vehicle has been subject to repair "two or more times by the manufacturer or its agents for the same nonconformity resulting in a condition that is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if the vehicle is driven." Phantom braking checks that box. A vehicle that decelerates unexpectedly at highway speed is a vehicle that can be rear-ended by the driver behind you. That risk is the statutory definition.
You do not need to have actually been hit. The statute is risk-based, not harm-based. Nor do you need a national-scale pattern. Two presented repair attempts at a Tesla service center or via mobile ranger, for the same underlying phantom braking complaint, are enough to trigger the presumption.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received thousands of phantom braking complaints spanning Model 3 and Model Y, and opened preliminary evaluations into automatic emergency braking performance on Tesla vehicles. That public record matters for your case in two ways:
If you have not already filed an NHTSA complaint on your own vehicle, consider doing so. It is free, it creates a dated public record, and it does not compromise any claim.
Tesla's standard playbook on phantom braking claims includes:
Call before your next service visit. We will review your repair history and tell you whether you are already at the statutory trigger under Civil Code 1793.22(b)(1). Tesla pays your attorney fees under Civil Code 1794(d).
A strong Tesla phantom braking case is constructed in five layers:
Phantom braking complaints have appeared across Model 3, Model Y, Model S Plaid, and Model X. The shift from radar-equipped Hardware 2.5/3 to vision-only Tesla Vision produced a wave of new complaints in 2021 through 2024 model year vehicles. Hardware 4 cars have their own set of reports. For every build, the legal analysis is the same: if Tesla cannot bring the vehicle into conformance with its written warranty after a reasonable number of attempts, the vehicle qualifies for a Song-Beverly buyback.
What if Tesla says the event was "tailgater-induced"?
Dashcam footage showing no vehicle ahead rebuts that defense. A repair order documenting the complaint is still a repair attempt.
What if the software version changed since the event?
Changed software does not erase the warranty history. Each version that failed to resolve the defect is an attempted repair.
Does my Tesla have to be out of warranty?
No. The defect must have first presented while the warranty was in effect; the claim survives after expiration if the defect was timely reported.
Free consultation. No fee unless we win. Tesla pays your attorney fees under Civil Code 1794(d).