Tesla owners in Australia join class action for phantom braking, Autopilot issues affecting Model 3, Model Y

Tesla owners in Australia join class action for phantom braking, Autopilot issues affecting Model 3, Model Y

A class action lawsuit in Australia initiated against Tesla in February this year is gaining momentum as around 10,000 Tesla owners in the country have registered interest in the lawsuit for claimed issues including phantom braking, battery issues and misleading Autopilot claims, reported ABC News.

The class action lawsuit alleges that Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles “have a propensity to autonomous engage Automatic Emergency Braking [Autonomous Emergency Braking, or AEB] abruptly in inappropriate circumstances, leading to a risk of collisions,” Drive quoted law firm JGA Sadler as saying.

An owner of a Model 3 allegedly experienced sudden braking on the highway, which resulted in a truck nearly colliding into the rear of the Tesla, and the unintended braking has occurred to this vehicle owner on numerous occasions, according to the ABC News report.

“The issues that have been reported to us are that vehicles can be driving along on the highway at 100 km/h or 110 km/h and all of a sudden the brakes are applied suddenly and without reason. We’ve had many reports of people who registered for this class action, telling us that they’ve been driving with their hands on the vehicle, fully alert, and these issues have occurred nonetheless,” class action lawyer Rebecca Jancauskas told ABC News.

In addition to the phantom braking issue, the class action lawsuit also looks to address battery range figures which have allegedly not come close to the advertised range figures, the report added.

Last month, Tesla demonstrated its Full Self Driving (FSD) driving assistance suite in Melbourne, showing the feature’s ability to navigate the vehicle around traffic encountered on its journey, including changing lanes to get around stationary vehicles, crossing a junction, and perform a hook turn, which is to turn right across traffic from the far left lane (in Melbourne, this is to free up space for the movement of trams).

The American EV maker announced last September that its Full Self Driving assistance suite would be released in right-hand-drive markets from late in the first quarter, or early in the second quarter of this year, following its release in Europe and China in Q1.

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Mick Chan

Open roads and closed circuits hold great allure for Mick Chan. Driving heaven to him is exercising a playful chassis on twisty paths; prizes ergonomics and involvement over gadgetry. Spent three years at a motoring newspaper and short stint with a magazine prior to joining this website.

 

Comments

  • Aussie ni kecoh je. Here we have EV break and lock all 4 wheels rilek je.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 3
  • opmanmy on Jun 12, 2025 at 4:19 pm

    Ya lor…buat kecoh aje…here we have accidents fatality higher than anything else…and yet still the same old thing happen again and again and again. Tarak class action suit pun.

    Buat apa class action suit these Ozies. Rilek la.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 2
  • Always need a radar + stereo camera to be reliable. Cost cutting just won’t work no matter how good is the image processing part is, it need to be fail safe.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
  • Mike Tee on Jun 13, 2025 at 10:14 am

    Use AP in Malaysia and every time a motorcycle splits the lane next to you, it jams on the brake. Borderline unusable

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • vatia lucia on Jun 13, 2025 at 12:21 pm

    While our no 2 asa 3.0 was better with less ‘Phantom braking’, just “front camera mulfunction” error always comes out at the dash.

    Those adaptive auto cruise, autonomous emergency brake or tarik steering lane keep assists becomes scary hazard when it goes wrong, i rather trust my own eyes, hands and foots.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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