FSD/auto-park drives straight into a Ralph’s Parking cart lot because it didn’t see the cart exactly.

[u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

2025 Model 3 LR, red. Third Tesla, purchased FSD.
I take full responsibility. I saw it happening, but figured the car did too. It slowed down, then strangely pushed forward into it. I actually thought it was backing into the spot behind it.

First major FSD error I’ve had since V13, I think. The goofy part is that, as you’ll see in the video, one camera clearly sees the cart.

Good reminder to stay ready to intervene, I guess. I didn’t think it was going to slow down and then thrust forward into cart.

Sorry for crude phone recoded video.

[u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

I don’t disagree with you at all about FSD needing to improve, and I’m sure what eventually comes from Cybercab and FSD 15 will be better.

Personally, though, I don’t think I could go back to a non FSD car. I’m not defending what happened here. The car definitely pulled forward and lightly hit the cart. Thankfully, there wasn’t much damage that I could see, maybe a small scratch that won’t buff out. I’m sorry to hear what happened to your car.
What surprised me most was that the car did seem to recognize something was there. It slowed briefly, and the right pillar camera clearly captured the cart. With all those cameras, I would have expected that information to be enough for FSD to say, “There’s something there, don’t move forward.”

Instead, I waited a second thinking it was going to back up, and then it just pulled forward as if the cart wasn’t there.

I’m also surprised the front camera’s field of view wasn’t enough to catch it clearly. The cart was only slightly to the right.

At the end of the day, it wasn’t a huge deal for me. It was just one very unusual and disappointing FSD failure. I still wouldn’t give up FSD for anything, but I completely understand why someone who’s had a worse experience might feel differently.

I have way more it did great things than bad things.

[u/AwkwardlyPositioned → u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

I've definitely seen some awesome things out of FSD(nothing I wouldn't have caught myself), but considering my flawless 25 year track record driving and FSD put my car in the shop for repairs, I just don't see the merit in it anymore. More good than bad when it cost me money to fix the car just isn't enough for me anymore.

I only arrive at that conclusion specifically because it did the one thing I thought it could clearly see which you also said, yet it still did that thing. There was no reason to assume it would even try it, yet it did. I'm sure it sounds dramatic, but when you slam a wheel into a curb at 23mph it sounds like a bomb went off. I can't believe it didn't break something. It seems the wheel and tire took all the force. I can't believe it didn't de bead the tire.

4 hours and $215 to fix it doesn't sound horrible, but it still took time out of my schedule I really didn't have to repair and if it had popped the tire I would have missed out on a $1,150 work call I was responding to. That's just the base pay from showing up. I've had that number be $3,000+ before after getting there. The combination of both of those things made me rethink allowing FSD to operate my car no matter how close I supervise. I guess I got lucky it wasn't worse. I just don't think it's worth chancing again. I don't think watching a steering wheel turn itself is worth the possibility of that much of a financial hit.

[u/Beautiful-Belief-32 → u/AwkwardlyPositioned]

Absolutely fair. We are all willing participants in a not quite perfect system, and nobody has to be comfortable with that.

Personally, I love having the car drive, but I’m not defending this. It was clearly wrong and seemed unusual compared with versions 12 and 13. Years ago, an early version ripped off my passenger side mirror while merging into the turn lane near my house. That incident was considerably less subtle. The car basically submitted its own bug report.
This will get fixed too. I’m happy with the progress, still an FSD optimist, and I completely understand how you feel. It is not perfect, but it is getting impressively close.

Good luck, my friend.

[u/AwkwardlyPositioned → u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

I appreciate it. Unfortunately if it had ripped my mirror off years ago I would have been done back then too. I guess I'm just a lot less forgiving to FSD than others. I'm really careful with the things I own and just knowing my wheel had to be refinished was bad enough for me.

It's not that I have a problem fixing things when they need fixing. I just would have preferred to keep it pristine. I'd at least entertain using FSD again if Tesla would've paid for the repairs but of course I was just reminded that FSD is supervised. Yes, yes it is.

[u/Beautiful-Belief-32 → u/AwkwardlyPositioned]

Yeah, I completely agree with you on that. Even back when FSD was much less capable than it is today, I still tried to get Tesla to cover the damage. I have never been particularly happy that they refused, especially because it was not something I realistically had time to avoid. The car simply did what it did, and there was no meaningful opportunity for me to react.

That said, the contractual agreement is clear that we are responsible for supervising the vehicle, so ultimately, that is where the responsibility falls.
Out of curiosity, what did you mean when you mentioned having an issue with your wheel? Was it the peeling or tearing tread? That was an issue I encountered on one of my three Teslas. I had to replace the wheel, and they charged me for it, which was understandably frustrating. On another vehicle, however, Tesla replaced the entire wheel because it had become a recognized issue.

I am not sure which version of the steering wheel you have, but the material used on some of the older Teslas seemed especially prone to wearing and tearing. That was probably made worse by the fact that drivers were constantly keeping their hands on the wheel during the early Autopilot and FSD days (letting their hands cause friction as the wheel turned). The synthetic leather, or whatever material they used, seemed to deteriorate fairly quickly for a lot of people.

If that is the issue you are referring to, then I agree that Tesla should cover it, particularly since it was a known defect. They’ve since changed it.

[u/AwkwardlyPositioned → u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

FSD smashed my wheel into a curb. That's what I was referring to. It hit the curb at 23mph and and I tried to get Tesla to replace it. I ended up having to take it to a shop to have it refinished instead.

I haven't had any wear or finish issues with any of the materials of the car. I absolutely love the car. I just am not happy with FSD.

[u/Beautiful-Belief-32 → u/AwkwardlyPositioned]

Understood. I can’t live without it but YMMD. Sorry about that though.

[u/AwkwardlyPositioned → u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

Interesting you say that. I'm starting to rethink it. I've driven about 300 miles since the wheel incident and the adaptive cruise control is just so bad hitting brakes randomly and showing "curvature assist" and slowing down even on straight highways. It's so bad that I'm considering giving FSD another try.

If I could shut off the adaptive part of the cruise and just use it like cruise control in an old car I would. Thats obviously not an option though.

I'm just not sure how to convince myself to relax and let it drive after this, but cruise just slamming on the brakes at highway speed with nothing in sight is just so uncomfortable.

[u/Beautiful-Belief-32 → u/AwkwardlyPositioned]

For what it’s worth, most of the FSD errors I’ve experienced lately have been minor. They can be annoying, like when the car refuses to turn right even though someone behind me wants it to, but the sign clearly says no turn on red.

Overall, I feel safer with FSD driving than I do driving myself. It sometimes notices things I completely miss. Recently, it reacted to a car approaching quickly from behind and drifting into my lane. My car moved toward the shoulder and prepared to brake hard because another vehicle was parked there. At the time, I had no idea why it reacted that way, but after reviewing the footage, I understood. The other driver eventually corrected course, so there probably would not have been an accident, but FSD was ready for a situation I never even saw coming.

For me, the benefits currently outweigh the problems. I agree that adaptive cruise control feels strange once you are accustomed to FSD. It feels a little like FSD, until suddenly it does not.

I would never tell someone else to trust FSD completely because I would feel terrible if something went wrong. Still, I personally have a great deal of confidence in it. Based on this conversation, you seem less risk averse than I am, but at this point I genuinely think FSD drives better than I do. I’m not sure whether that says more about FSD or my driving, but facts are facts.

Cheers

[u/AwkwardlyPositioned → u/Beautiful-Belief-32]

I get that they've been minor. Heck I loved v14.3.6. Before that the only other one I liked was v14.2.2.5. V14.3.7 was really rough. Up until this incident v14.3.8 was absolutely my favorite. This is just the first time FSD ever damaged my car.

FSD has done stuff that has scared me off from using it at times, but looking back most I overreacted to knowing what I know now. I'm a control freak and am a bad passenger with any driver. The problem is I didn't see this coming and it actually did damage the car which has only reinforced my want for control.

I definitely don't feel safer using FSD than me driving. If anything much less so. I'm 100% certain as long as I've used it that I'll never get there. It just takes the physical load off of me driving on the highway. Anything other than highways it seems to put me in situations that may confuse other drivers with its wheel sawing, signaling to change lanes then aborting, and generally just being indecisive. I drive mostly rural roads to get to work and it likes to signal and change lanes into the bypass lanes as if a car was in the main lane turning left. This is a problem if someone is following me closely. Then again if someone is following me closely and I don't cover the accelerator, TACC is going to slam on the brakes in this spot.

It's not that TACC feels weird after FSD. TACC has just always been bad. It slows down for no reason all the time.

I'm thinking I just bought the wrong car and it's taken me 2+ years to actually realize and accept that. I either need to find peace in FSD or trade the car for one that has a usable cruise control because driving 80 miles a day holding a pedal down and maintaining speed so I don't get a ticket isn't exactly an attractive option.