Tesla FSD v14.3.7 Exposed with Critical Flaw: Ignored Active Railroad Crossing, Attempted Unlawful Entry

Recently, a vehicle equipped with Tesla's latest Full Self-Driving (FSD) v14.3.7 system failed to automatically brake at an active railroad crossing in the U.S., driving straight toward an oncoming train. Fortunately, driver Lei Xing intervened manually at the last moment, averting a serious accident. He shared the dashcam footage publicly on social platform X (formerly Twitter), sparking widespread attention.

The video shows the vehicle approaching the crossing at approximately 9 mph (≈14.5 km/h) with the 'Autopilot' indicator lit; the crossing warning lights are flashing, the train's horn is clearly audible, and part of the train's body is already visible in frame. Yet FSD did not initiate braking — only slightly decelerating before attempting to beat the train across the tracks. Lei Xing manually applied full brakes, stopping just inches from the rails. His caption read tongue-in-cheek: "If I hadn't hit the brakes, I'd have been hit by the train 🤣🤣🤣"

Notably, this incident occurred on FSD v14.3.7 — the latest official release as of August 2026 for vehicles equipped with AI4 hardware. The version's release notes specifically touted improved detection of "rare or anomalous objects extending, overhanging, or tilting into the travel path" — a capability theoretically covering lowered gates and moving trains.

This marks Electrek's third documented case this year of FSD attempting to drive onto active train tracks. Earlier incidents include a near-collision in West Covina, California in March — where the vehicle struck and broke the crossing gate — and another in Texas in April. In Pennsylvania in 2025, a Tesla operating in 'Autopilot mode' was struck by a train. According to NBC News, over 40 publicly reported incidents of Tesla losing control at railroad crossings have occurred nationwide.

Regulatory scrutiny has intensified. Since October 2025, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has conducted a dedicated investigation into FSD, initially covering 58 collision cases. The probe has now expanded to approximately 2.9 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD functionality. Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal have jointly written to NHTSA urging that railroad crossing failures be classified as a distinct high-risk failure mode requiring urgent, independent review.

Although Tesla continues branding this system 'Full Self-Driving,' its owner's manual explicitly requires drivers to remain fully attentive and ready to take immediate control — a fundamental contradiction starkly exposed in life-or-death scenarios like railroad crossings. When even the most basic 'stop' signals — flashing red lights, audible horn, and a physically present train — remain unreliably detected, the company's pledge to achieve unsupervised autonomous driving by 2026 faces unprecedented real-world scrutiny.