Tesla hit with Australian class action over ‘phantom braking’

The action comes at a time when Tesla has been swept up in the increasingly negative perception of its chief executive Elon Musk, also the world’s most wealthy person, who has been accused of assisting US President Donald Trump dismantle the nation’s government and regulatory system. Bumper stickers have appeared explaining that owners regret supporting the billionaire, while some high-profile Tesla owners have switched to other brands.

Teslas are the most popular plug-in battery-powered cars in Australia, but they’ve faced constant controversy around Autopilot, culminating in the recall of more than 2 million vehicles in 2023 after a US safety agency deemed the system hazardous.

Tesla vehicles come with “Basic Autopilot”, which will control steering within a lane and hold a speed while monitoring traffic and applying brakes as needed. This is the feature allegedly at fault regarding “phantom braking”, which has been documented by Tesla users online since 2016.

In one example posted to YouTube last year from the United States, a Tesla travelling along a barren stretch of road with no other cars nearby appears to rapidly apply the brakes on its own, lowering speed from 112km per hour to 72km per hour in around five seconds. There are many less extreme examples posted as recently as this month.

A legal complaint was first lodged about this issue in the US in 2022, eventually becoming a class action that alleged Tesla knew about but obscured the problem, resulting in raised insurance premiums when cars recorded false proximity warnings. Tesla applied to have the case thrown out, but in December last year a judge ruled it could go ahead with modifications. Specifically, the claim that Tesla concealed the phantom braking defect is still set to be tested in court.

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Tesla also offers additional autonomous features for an extra cost when you purchase a car, but many of the features are not active and are awaiting development or regulatory approval. In Australia, you can pay $5100 for “Enhanced Autopilot” which includes autonomous parking and may in the future include the ability to summon the car to your location. For $10,100 you can get “Full Self-Driving”, which may in the future operate the car with minimal driver input.

While Tesla advertises its range estimates with many caveats, the new class action alleges they are systematically overstated. A Reuters report in 2023 found that complaints about range were so numerous that Tesla established a “diversion team” specifically to cancel range-related service appointments so it wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

Tesla has been approached for comment.

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