NHTSA questions if Tesla recall fixed Autopilot faults
There have been at least 20 crashes involving vehicles that had Autopilot issues addressed, according to the NHTSA.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a recall query to determine how effective Tesla, Inc. was in remedying safety issues with its Autopilot System Driver Controls, according to a letter the administration sent to the automaker.
The recall was initiated because the self-driving system didn’t sufficiently prevent driver misuse, according to a letter the NHTSA sent the car manufacturer in December 2023. More than two million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada were impacted by the recall, which was rolled out in a five-part process that involved changing the self-driving system and adding new features.
The automaker began addressing the problems with an over-the-air update (OTA) on Dec. 12, 2023. Since then, there have been at least 20 crashes involving updated vehicles, the NHTSA reported. Those accidents included nine in which a Tesla vehicle’s frontal plane hit a vehicle, object or person its path, and five that involved inadvertent override of Autopilot or the traffic-aware cruise control system.
The OTA updates were designed to address the following concerns:
- Issue 1: Confusion about Autopilot activation
Solution: Add a feature where Autopilot can be activated with a single pull. This will make it easier for drivers to understand when Autopilot is on. If the system detects that the driver accidentally overrides Autopilot, it will slow down the car more noticeably to alert the driver to take control.
- Issue 2: Autopilot activated off-highway
Solution: Make it stricter for the driver to use Autopilot when not on a highway. This means the driver has to be more attentive when approaching traffic controls away from highways.
- Issue 3: Delay in driver taking control after Autopilot activation
Solution: Improve monitoring of the driver right after Autopilot is turned on to ensure they are ready to take control if needed.
- Issue 4: Drivers not staying alert
Solution: If a driver disengages Autopilot multiple times due to not paying attention, they will lose Autopilot privileges for a week. This is called a “strikeout” and happens after three disengagements, with exceptions for certain circumstances.
- Issue 5: Alerts not noticeable enough
Solution: Make the alerts for driver attentiveness bigger and move them closer to the driver’s line of sight, specifically for Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
Another OTA update, which was separate from the Autopilot-related recall, was sent out to address hydroplane crashes. The NHTSA is investigating the effectiveness of this update after receiving six crash reports involving Tesla vehicles in low-traction environments after the update.
During its testing of the OTA update, the NHTSA was “unable to identify a difference in the initiation of the driver warning cascade between pre-remedy and post-remedy (camera obscured) conditions.”
Recall claims
More of these types of recall are likely to occur as automakers lean further into new technologies when designing vehicles, according to John Turner, global director of crisis management for claims services provider McLarens, said.
While Tesla will be able to mend this problem with an OTA update, Turner noted the recall will not be cheap.
“Even an OTA-related software update remedy will be costly when covering two million vehicles, and for the culpable component or software supplier, if one is partly or wholly to blame, they will likely be under pressure from Tesla to provide reimbursement,” Turner said.
However, even when a faulty component can accept OTA updates, that doesn’t mean an automaker necessarily can or will turn to them.
“McLarens is seeing instances where OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), for various reasons, are not able to deploy an OTA solution,” Turner said. “This can cause commercial tension where the OEM asks the supplier to foot the bill for the corresponding increased costs of a dealership-based repair solution.”
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