Over the years, there have been multiple accidents involving Tesla vehicles that were allegedly operating on Autopilot at the time. Autopilot is Tesla's semi-autonomous driver assistance tech. To use Autopilot, drivers are supposed to keep their hands on the wheel, but some owners have found ways to defeat that system.
The US government has opened an investigation into Tesla's Autopilot, after multiple crashes where the electric cars have driven into first responder vehicles. There have been 11 incidents recorded by the NHTSA since January 2018, the agency confirmed, and as a result it's now looking at Autopilot on all four Tesla models from the past 7 years.
GM is recalling more than 400,000 pickup trucks, having identified an airbag fault that could see the safety equipment unexpectedly explode, sending pressurized gas and potentially broken components into the cabin. The recall, confirmed by the US NHTSA, affects select Chevrolet and GMC trucks, and comes after a handful of reported incidents where airbags have erupted.
Porsche is recalling almost every Taycan and Taycan Cross Turismo around the world, after identifying a flaw which could see the electric vehicles unexpectedly lose power. Approximately 43,000 cars are impacted, Porsche confirmed today, though those currently being manufactured or on dealer lots have already been fixed.
US road safety regulators are set to dramatically increase the reporting requirements for car crashes where driver-assistance tech like Tesla Autopilot was engaged at the time, the NHTSA confirmed today. Under the new policy, serious incidents involving vehicles equipped with SAE Level 2 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), or SAE Levels 3-5 automated driving systems (ADS), will need to be reported to the agency.
Tesla's decision to drop radar from its Model 3 and Model Y and rely solely on cameras for the Tesla Vision safety system has cost the two EVs some of their top safety ratings, at least for the moment. The change, announced earlier this week, has been billed by Tesla as a way to accelerate its plans for camera based driver-assistance and, eventually, full self-driving.
In cooperation with the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) annual ‘Look Before You Lock’ pediatric heatstroke prevention campaign, South Korean automaker Hyundai and its Genesis luxury arm will now offer rear-occupant alert technologies as standard in its vehicle lineup.
Nissan rolled out the 2021 Rogue SUV, and the vehicle is completely redesigned with a fantastic-looking exterior and interior. Recently, the NHTSA published its crash test results for the vehicle, and it earned four-stars overall. However, the 2021 Rogue had a terrible front-passenger crash rating which is highly unusual for a brand-new vehicle that was just redesigned.
Tesla is recalling almost 135,000 cars, finally conceding that the touchscreen displays that dominate its dashboards have a fault that could present a real safety danger to drivers. Both the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV are impacted by the recall, which sees some of the electric vehicles' displays black out either in part or completely.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), part of the US Department of Transportation, plans to speak with Tesla about the 'yoke'-style steering wheel featured in its newly updated and recently unveiled Model S sedan. In the two days since the redesign was introduced, critics have argued that the steering wheel design is unsafe.
The rules for autonomous cars in the US are being updated, with the NHTSA announcing an overhaul that addresses driverless vehicles with no traditional controls, and AVs that aren't designed to carry people at all. Billed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as an "historic step" that should help remove regulatory barriers to deploying autonomous vehicles, it also exempts some types of AV from certain crash-testing.
Yesterday we mentioned that Hyundai had issued a recall on well over 100,000 vehicles in the United States. Kia has also announced a recall of 294,756 vehicles in the United States due to the same risk of an engine compartment fire. Interestingly, while the risk of fire for Hyundai models is blamed on machining debris, the NHTSA reports that the cause of the problem in Kia vehicles is undetermined.