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NHTSA opens Tesla Autopilot phantom-braking investigation

US safety regulators opened a formal investigation covering about 416,000 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles after 354 complaints of unexpected braking while Autopilot was active.

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CURRENT ASSESSMENT · REVISION 1
AWAY FROM DOOM34confidence 88/100

Why it moved the index

The formal investigation imposed scrutiny and evidence collection on a deployed driver-assistance failure affecting hundreds of thousands of vehicles, strengthening external safety oversight. NHTSA later closed the probe without finding a safety-related defect, which limits magnitude and confidence in the underlying hazard claim.

Assessment history

  1. R1
    Away 34 · confidence 88

    New February 2022 federal safety investigation with later closure evidence, distinct from the rolling-stop recall and emergency-vehicle probe.

    12 Aug 2026

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  1. DoomBench assesses “NHTSA opens Tesla Autopilot phantom-braking investigation” as evidence moving away from doom, with magnitude 34 and confidence 88 out of 100 in the safety and alignment category.

  2. The DoomBench assessment of “NHTSA opens Tesla Autopilot phantom-braking investigation” is based on reporting from Axios and records the editorial rationale, source quality, attribution, and revision history.

  3. DoomBench summarizes “NHTSA opens Tesla Autopilot phantom-braking investigation” as follows: US safety regulators opened a formal investigation covering about 416,000 Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles after 354 complaints of unexpected...

    https://www.doombench.com/news/nhtsa-opens-tesla-autopilot-phantom-braking-investigation-2022-02-17