DETROIT – WE safe car Regulators have launched another investigation into TeslaThis time tied to complaints that their cars might stop on the road for no apparent reason.
The government says it has had 354 complaints from owners over the past nine months about “ghosts”. brake” in Tesla Model 3 and Y. The poll estimates 416,000 vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years.
No accidents or injuries have been reported.
The vehicle is equipped with partially autonomous driver assistance features such as adaptive cruise control and “Autopilot”, which allows the vehicle to automatically brake and steer within its lane.
Document posted on Thursday equal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that vehicles can brake unexpectedly at highway speeds.
“Complainants report that rapid deceleration can occur without warning and often repeats within a driving cycle,” the agency said.
Many of the owners in the complaint say they fear a rear-end collision on the highway.
The probe is another in a series of agency enforcement efforts that include Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” software. Despite their name, no feature can drive unattended.
A message was left early Thursday seeking comment from Tesla.
This is the fourth official investigation of the Texas automaker in the past three years, and NHTSA is overseeing 15 Tesla recalls as of January 2021. Additionally, the agency has dispatched investigators to at least 33 crashes involving Teslas using driver assistance systems since 2016, of which 11 people died.
In one of the complaints, a Tesla owner from Austin, Texas, reported that a Model Y on Autopilot brake continuously without reason on two-lane roads and freeways.
“Virtual braking varies from slight throttle response to slow down to full emergency braking which dramatically reduces speed at high speeds, resulting in unsafe driving conditions for my occupants as well as other drivers. who might be following me,” the owner wrote in a complaint filed in February. 2. The complainants were not identified in NHTSA’s public database.
Michael Brooks, acting CEO of the nonprofit Car Safety Center, said it was encouraging to see NHTSA’s enforcement actions “after years of taking a different turn” with Tesla. But he said the company continues to release software on US roads untested to make sure it’s safe. A piecemeal investigative approach to each issue that emerges does not address the larger issue of Tesla’s safety culture – the company continues to be willing to beta test its technology to the US public in the coming weeks. misrepresenting the capabilities of his vehicle,” Brooks wrote in an email Thursday.
washington articles reported an increase in virtual brake complaints from Tesla owners on February 2.
Just last week, the agency made Tesla recovered nearly 579,000 VND in the United States because the “Boombox” function can sound through the speakerphone and mask the audible warnings of approaching pedestrians. Tesla CEO Elon Muskwhen asked on Twitter why the company agreed to the recall, answered: “The cheerful police made us do it (sigh).”
Other recent remember by Tesla for “Completely Self-Driving” equipped vehicles programmed to run stop signs at slow speeds, heating doesn’t clear the windshield fast enough, seat belt bells don’t sound to warn drivers that they’re not wearing seat belts, and fixes a feature that would allow movies to play on the touchscreen while driving. driving driving. Those issues were fixed with online software updates.
In August, NHTSA announced a probe of Teslas on Autopilot no emergency stop parked in the street. That investigation included dozens of accidents that left one person dead and 17 others injured.
Thursday’s investigation comes after Tesla recalled nearly 12,000 vehicles in October for a similar virtual brake problem. The company sent an online software update to fix the problem with the more complex “Full Self-Driving” software.
Tesla made a software update in late September that improved its ability to detect emergency vehicle lights in low-light conditions.
Selected Tesla drivers have been beta testing “Full Self-Driving” software on public roads. NHTSA has also asked the company for information about the test, including Tesla’s request that testers not disclose the information.
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