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<\/div>\nU.S. auto safety regulators said Friday they have opened an investigation into whether Tesla\u2019s recall of more than 2 million vehicles announced in December to install new Autopilot safeguards is adequate.<\/p>\n
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was opening an investigation after the agency identified concerns due to crash events after vehicles had the recall software update installed \u201cand results from preliminary NHTSA tests of remedied vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agency\u2019s new probe comes after it closed its nearly three-year investigation into Autopilot, saying it found evidence that \u201cTesla\u2019s weak driver engagement system was not appropriate for Autopilot\u2019s permissive operating capabilities\u201d that result in a \u201ccritical safety gap.\u201d<\/p>\n
NHTSA also cited Tesla\u2019s statement \u201cthat a portion of the remedy both requires the owner to opt in and allows a driver to readily reverse it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agency said Tesla has issued software updates to address issues that appear related to its concerns but has not made them \u201ca part of the recall or otherwise determined to remedy a defect that poses an unreasonable safety risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tesla said in December\u2019s its largest-ever recall covering 2.03 million U.S. vehicles\u2014or nearly all of its vehicles on U.S. roads\u2014was to better ensure drivers pay attention when using its advanced driver assistance system.<\/p>\n
The new recall investigation covers Model Y, X, S, 3 and Cybertruck vehicles in the U.S. equipped with Autopilot produced between the 2012 and 2024 model years, NHTSA said.<\/p>\n
Tesla said in December Autopilot\u2019s software system controls \u201cmay not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse\u201d and could increase the risk of a crash.<\/p>\n
The auto safety agency disclosed Friday that during its Autopilot safety probe it first launched in August 2021 it identified at least 13 Tesla crashes involving one or more death and many more involving serious injuries in which \u201cforeseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role.\u201d<\/p>\n
NHTSA also on Friday raised concerns about Tesla\u2019s Autopilot name \u201cmay lead drivers to believe that the automation has<\/p>\n
greater capabilities than it does and invite drivers to overly trust the automation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
In February, Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization that evaluates products and services, said its testing of Tesla\u2019s Autopilot recall update found changes did not adequately address many safety concerns raised by NHTSA and urged the agency to require the automaker to take \u201cstronger steps,\u201d saying Tesla\u2019s recall \u201caddresses minor inconveniences rather than fixing the real problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tesla\u2019s Autopilot is intended to enable cars to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within their lane, while enhanced Autopilot can assist in changing lanes on highways but does not make vehicles autonomous.<\/p>\n
One component of Autopilot is Autosteer, which maintains a set speed or following distance and works to keep a vehicle in its driving lane.<\/p>\n
Tesla said in December it did not agree with NHTSA\u2019s analysis but would deploy an over-the-air software update that will \u201cincorporate additional controls and alerts to those already existing on affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
NHTSA\u2019s then top official, Ann Carlson, said in December the agency probe determined that more needed to be done to ensure drivers are engaged when Autopilot is in use. \u201cOne of the things we determined is that drivers are not always paying attention when that system is on,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n
NHTSA opened its August 2021 probe of Autopilot after identifying more than a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles hit stationary emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n
NHTSA said in December it found Autopilot \u201ccan provide inadequate driver engagement and usage controls that can lead to foreseeable misuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Separately, since 2016, NHTSA has opened more than 40 Tesla special crash investigations in cases where driver systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used, with 23 crash deaths reported to date.<\/p>\n
Tesla\u2019s recall includes increasing prominence of visual alerts and disengaging of Autosteer if drivers do not respond to inattentiveness warnings and additional checks upon engaging Autosteer. Tesla said it will restrict Autopilot use for one week if significant improper usage is detected.<\/p>\n
Tesla disclosed in October the U.S. Justice Department issued subpoenas related to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) and Autopilot. Reuters reported<\/a> in October 2022 that Tesla was under criminal investigation.<\/p>\n Tesla in February 2023 recalled 362,000 U.S. vehicles to update its FSD Beta software after NHTSA said the vehicles did not adequately adhere to traffic safety laws and could cause crashes.<\/p>\n Topics<\/span> USA<\/a> Tesla<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n