The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating whether Tesla’s recall of more than 2 million vehicles in December 2023 was sufficient to fix the safety threat posed by its Autopilot feature, a CNN report on April 26 read.
Tesla had issued a recall of nearly 2 million vehicles on US roads owing to a software update designed to address safety concerns related to the company's Autopilot feature. The NHTSA launched an investigation into the feature after finding that it gave drivers a false sense of security and could be easily misused in dangerous situations. The software update required owners to opt in and allowed drivers to easily reverse it. The NHTSA is now expanding its investigation to evaluate the adequacy of the remedy.
The NHTSA's investigation found that at least 13 crashes involving fatalities and many more with serious injuries were caused by "foreseeable driver misuse" of the system. The software update was designed to give drivers more warnings when they were not paying attention to the road while using the Autopilot's "Autosteer" function. The feature is intended for use only on highways and limited-access roads with a fully attentive driver, according to Tesla's owner manuals.
