WASHINGTON – U.S. auto safety regulators said Friday that they have opened an investigation into the appropriateness of Tesla’s recall of more than 2 million vehicles announced in December to install new Autopilot safety measures.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it opened an investigation after the agency identified concerns about crash events after vehicles had the recall software update installed, “and results of preliminary NHTSA testing of repaired vehicles.” “.
The agency’s new investigation comes after it concluded its nearly three-year investigation into Autopilot, saying it found evidence that “Tesla’s weak driver intervention system was not suited to Autopilot’s permissive operating capabilities,” resulting in a “critical safety vulnerability.” .
NHTSA also cited Tesla’s statement that “part of the remedy requires both the owner’s consent and allows a driver to easily reverse the action.”
The agency said Tesla has issued software updates to address issues that appear to be related to its concerns, but has not “made them part of the recall or otherwise decided to correct a defect that poses a disproportionate safety risk.” “.
Tesla said in December that its largest recall to date, affecting 2.03 million U.S. vehicles – or nearly all of its vehicles on U.S. roads – was designed to better ensure drivers’ attentiveness when using its advanced driver assistance system.
The new recall investigation affects U.S. Model Y,
Tesla said in December that Autopilot’s software system controls “may not be sufficient to prevent driver abuse” and could increase the risk of a crash.
The auto safety agency said Friday that its Autopilot safety investigation, first launched in August 2021, has identified at least 13 Tesla crashes with one or more fatalities and many more with serious injuries in which “foreseeable misuse of the system by the driver appears to have occurred.” role played”. “
NHTSA also raised concerns Friday about Tesla’s Autopilot name, which “could lead drivers to believe that the automation has greater capabilities than it actually is and could lead drivers to overly trust the automation.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In February, Consumer Reports, a nonprofit that evaluates products and services, said its testing of Tesla’s Autopilot recall update found the changes did not adequately address many safety concerns raised by the NHTSA and called on the agency to revoke to demand “stronger steps” from automakers. Tesla’s recall “addresses minor inconveniences rather than correcting the real problems.”
Tesla’s Autopilot is designed to allow cars to automatically steer, accelerate and brake within their lane, while the Enhanced Autopilot can help change lanes on highways, but does not make vehicles autonomous.
One component of the autopilot is the automatic steering system, which maintains a set speed or distance and ensures that the vehicle stays in the lane.
Tesla said in December that it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis but would provide an over-the-air software update that would “incorporate additional controls and alerts to those already present in the affected vehicles to provide even more driver support.” to encourage them to meet their ongoing driving responsibilities at all times. “Autosteer is activated.”
NHTSA’s then-top official, Ann Carlson, said in December that the agency’s investigation found more needed to be done to ensure drivers were engaged when Autopilot was in use. “One of the things we found is that drivers are not always paying attention when this system is on,” Carlson said.
NHTSA opened its Autopilot investigation in August 2021 after identifying more than a dozen accidents in which Tesla vehicles struck stationary emergency vehicles.
NHTSA said in December it had found that Autopilot “can provide inadequate driver engagement and usage controls, which can lead to foreseeable misuse.”
Separately, NHTSA has opened more than 40 special Tesla crash investigations since 2016 in cases where driver systems such as Autopilot were suspected to have been used, with 23 crash deaths reported so far.
Tesla’s recall includes increasing the importance of visual warnings and turning off automatic steering if drivers do not respond to inattention warnings, as well as additional controls when activating automatic steering. Tesla announced it would restrict Autopilot use for a week if significant misuse is detected.
Tesla announced in October that the U.S. Department of Justice had issued subpoenas related to its Full Self-Driving (FSD) and Autopilot. Reuters reported in October 2022 that Tesla was under criminal investigation.
Tesla recalled 362,000 U.S. vehicles in February 2023 to update its FSD beta software after NHTSA said the vehicles did not adequately comply with traffic safety laws and could cause accidents.
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